Yui Kobayashi: Is back in the hunt to be my all time #1 woman.... and may have achieved her ultimate dream!!!!

 

 Three non-drama posts in a day and when was the last time that happened? Don't know but bet it's been years though luckily two of them were for photobooks which are easier to write and though this isn't too large of a post is always my favorite one of a month! Any post that features Yui 😍 is right there as far as faves go and she's had a slight comeback this year so as the post title says she's still in contention to end up being my all time #1 woman when I do that list exactly a year from now. It's no record but this makes it six months in a row she's had a post, Yui does hold the record off 22 consecutive months with a post. That streak was snapped in April 2024 which was two months after her graduation from Keya, that was such a low point for any fan as she took a hiatus for six months and it's taken a while to regain that momentum she once had but is getting there.

 It's almost impossible for an ex-Idol to have as many activities or be as busy as they were with their old group but one SKE graduate has been an exception to the rule. So hasn't another SKE gal plus a second generation Nogi member but both have been way too quiet the last two months. What pleases me immensely is that Yui will be continuing her musical career, she's so talented so it would have been a waste to see her musical abilities not used. Will have more info on her first album in the post, that'll be released at the end of August so perhaps there will be two posts in one month for her?! That hasn't happened in quite a long while and though Yui does have the record of 22 months in a row with a post think only the ones near the end of 2022 may have had more than one post.

 2022 is also the year Yui finished number one on my faves list and think that's the only list she's ever topped. However as mentioned she does have an excellent chance at being my #1 woman of all time when the third list is done, that takes place every four years and she was in the sixth position on the last list done in the Summer of 2022. One category I don't have a list for is the woman who I enjoy doing posts for the most and she would easily top that. There is one other list Yui would be number one on and that's for the most likable women I do posts for. Granted I don't know her but Yui seems like such a fabulous woman and one that's easy to root for, not enough room for all the positive adjectives I'm thinking of! So I really hope this new album is a success as she is working hard on it, call me a Sap but I like it when good things happen to such likable people.

 No birthday for this month but her 26th isn't that far away, October 23rd to be exact and it's kind of odd how my all time top two women's birthdays are just eight days apart.... plus some years! Just did a post for Yui twenty days ago so there's not a huge amount of newish pics, a little over 25 for this post but there's some oldies that could be new for here plus have a pair of older mag spreads. But just as long as the photos in a post are of Yui of course it instantly becomes a classic as who cares if they're new or old?!!!! First off have are some older Keya cards but there's an added theme to this one as besides Summer cards have some for the group's first four singles. There's nothing wrong with the songs the group put out after the name change to Sakura but prefer these, actually my top Keya songs are the B-sides with "Wareta Smartphone" from the fourth single being my all time fave Keya tune. Not many cards were released for the singles, from the top there's three each for "Silent Majority" and "Sekai ni wa Shika Nai". There's also three each for the "Futari Saison" and "Fukyowaon" singles, the four cards after that are for the group's "Tokuyama Daigoro" drama and ending up the batch are some Summer cards from 2017.

 Quality wise the photos Yui has posted at the Keya blog and her own IG page are honestly second to no one but she's never posted enough of them. Below are from the past six weeks and most are from the videos for two songs from the upcoming album but least all are so oki-doki....

 For the album and perhaps any future releases Yui is using the name of Yousti which is a combo of her name and of an Ostrich(!), it signifies escape from reality. In her last post had the first video from the album "Day Dreamer" which was an okay song but will confess it's not one I will listen to often but maybe it needs to grow on me. Eight days ago Yui released a second video for an album song, the title for this tune is "Fake-Perfect" and this song is one I do enjoy quite a bit! Yui looks fantastic in the video and she was by far the best dancer of anyone in the three '46' groups. So I recommend viewing this video as I give the song a huge thumbs up even though I'm much more of a rock fan. Yui did write most of the lyrics for the album but don't know if she played any instruments, she can play the piano, guitar and sax. The first three pics below are behind the scenes ones from the making of the video, then have some screenshots from it and finally the video which I once again recommend viewing.

 

 More new pics which are from the andGirl site, Yui has been a model for them since March 2023. Not too many photos but her last post done just twenty days ago and we need to see her return to appearing in magazines once again.

 From July 2018 until June 2023 Yui was a model for the With magazine, not sure why her gig ended with them and also for a Nogi member. Five years I've noticed is a long time to remain with a site as a model and am having an encore viewing of those older modeling pics in posts for those who had forgotten all about the photos. Or perhaps had never seen them and this mini batch is from the Spring of 2020.

 Have a pair of prehistoric magazine spreads with this first being from the March 2017 edition of EX-Taishu. That makes it 8 1/2 years old, from mid 2018 until the Spring of 2020 no Keya member had as many magazine spreads as Yui did but did they slow down for her after that.

 The spreads didn't just slow down for Yui but also most Keya(Sakura) members and for most J-Pop Idols also. Other set for today is from the November 9, 2022 issue of Weekly Shonen, what makes it semi-historical and also a bit sad is that it's her final time being a cover girl to date.... will Yui ever grace another cover?

 We've hit the end, once again will end off with some better than perfect photos of Yui 😍 and even after all these years can never get tired of these! In a another mini down note what a shame it is we'll probably never see any more gravure photos of her. There were plenty of sizzling pics in her two photobooks so if Yui never has any more in that vein I can live with that but even a partial gravure digital book would be nice to see and sure it would also help out her career. After the pics is a video I had once before but at least three years ago. It's from September 2020 and the making of a CM for 'Uni's on Air' which was a web game featuring members of Keya and Hina. It is quite an interesting video which would have been better with subs.