Welcome to this Baka's blog on his fave Japanese Pop Culture interests.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Keyakizaka46: A little it of this and that for 2020 #5....
Was going to start off with some opinions about the current state of my fave J-Pop groups and how their graduations are really affecting how closely I follow or will follow them. Will skip that as I don't want to sound too depressing as this is a solid post with a huge amount of pics, will save my grumblings then just for Keya. Have to say I'm becoming extremely disappointed with them, not the members who I like more than ever but their seemingly inept management.
It's been close to fourteen months since Keya has released any new music and it's definitely affecting the members. Another first generation gal has just left which makes six since last Summer and think just thirteen of the original 22 members are left. Of course all groups have members who leave but think the current departures are mainly due to the limbo status of the group. I really want to hear new songs from them now that the eternal center has left which finally gives many members a chance to show how talented they are.
No word on when the next single will be coming out so hope too many fans haven't stopped following them, of course many may have switched over to Hina and it could be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. Would think when the next single does come out it'll sell less than their previous ones and hope the new center isn't blamed as that blame should fall to management. Won't go on further with my thoughts but to sum it up am getting discouraged about the current state of Keya and hate to see so many faves leave the group. Upon further reflection, did take a break, those aren't exactly original thoughts as I bet thousands of fans are wondering what's going on?, if I didn't like the members so much wouldn't have wasted my time with the above.
The main reason for being a bit peeved is that there was another graduation yesterday and it was with one of my bigger faves in the group. Nanako is the latest departure and though she may not have many solo posts she's been one of my fave Idols for a while. She's such a funny, witty and interesting gal who was kind of an un-Idol as she never did gravure pics, never was glamorous in any way and was mainly just a down to earth person, to me those are all huge positives. Nanako is a talented cartoonist and has said one of her dreams was to be a manga artist, think that's what her goal in life will be. This won't be the last you hear of her here though as I will have a farewell post for her sometime next week though there are a lack of newer pics. But sure that post will rate an A+ and the bottom two pics are her last ones for Keya's Diary group blog. The thing that shocked us the most was how the graduation was handled, on March 27th it was announced she'd be leaving on the 31st?!
Not a very happy beginning to this post, am usually always positive in these posts but think the above graduation was just one too many. But the rest of the post is fairly good which is surprising seeing as how quiet they've been as a group. Back in February Keya changed their group uniforms and have to admit I like these quite a bit.
Here's some fine looking pics from the group's other Rika who we've been seeing much more of lately, perhaps because hardly anyone else is left?! Oooh, didn't mean that to hurt her as Rika has been looking so much better lately and for the most part is a likable gal. These are from the TV Daily site and an interview she did for the group's upcoming documentary.
Group pics for another interview from the 'Tokyo What's In' site. It was also for Keya's documentary but now there's no official release date for it, think it was supposed to come out on the 3rd. But with the situation as it is in Japan it is a wise decision to hold off on it's release as not many fans would go to a cinema to view it. What was interesting about two interviews I read was that a pair of members talked about filling in for the group's ex-permanent center, seems they enjoyed that position and it appears you-know-who may not have been too well liked at the end.
Yuuka was one who made some center comments in a separate interview. Almost did a solo post for her instead of this one but just didn't have quite enough pics but do plan on having one for her next week. Actually there may be about five solo posts for members this month, that's good and bad. Good because it means they're keeping busy and the posts will be for my faves. Bad because it means there aren't many group activities but that's not entirely their fault these days. A member who we've been seeing so much more of lately is Mizuho and seems she always has ten or more new pics in these group posts. Have never done a solo post for her which may never happen but that doesn't mean I don't like her, Nogi also has a pair of big faves who usually just have many pics in group posts too. She's an exclusive model for the JJ magazine and these are new from their site.
Last time any Keya member made a regular appearance at an event was the February 'Tokyo Girls Collection' Spring show. The only member who I didn't post any solo pics of from the event was Mizuho so here's some now.
Those bottom pics are from the same show but obviously they're not solo ones. She was promoting a new Aeon credit card with Risa and she's someone I've missed posting about so much. Last year she had 22 solo posts, this year just two through three months. There honestly hasn't been all that much to post about her and know many others miss seeing her in posts as she's become so popular here. Will try to have a post this month but meanwhile these are new pics from the Non-no site.
Here's a member who we didn't see for a while, say mid 2018 to last Summer. That's Aoi who took a hiatus to finish her schooling so seems like she's someone who has her priorities straight. First solo spread for her in a while which is from the April issue of Entame.
Rika will be turning 25 on May 16th, luckily no graduation rumors are floating about her. Did a solo post for last month which is a rarity but least she always has many pics in these group posts. Rika is one of the more popular models for Ray magazine, top batch are new pics from their site and the bottom five are from their April issue.
Gulp, need to take another break... a long one that is for I need hands on training too often for some things from a capable teacher, gulp again....
.... (four hours later). Okay, am back though a bit tired so am lucky this is the last section. Have been able to do a monthly post for Yui all three months for the year so far, even had two in March. Will have another one in about two weeks but like most members things have slowed down a bit but can always make a tremendous post for her. Top pics here are some ultra fabulous new ones from the With Online site. The others are from the "Joshi Kousei no Mudazukai" drama which finished it's run a few weeks back. Yui entered the show in the third episode playing a transfer student from France named Lily. Some of her segments from episode's four, six and seven have been subbed so will have screenshots in her next post and that white shirt she wears is for some reason so sweltering to me.... Following the pics have a new short Aeon feature that has a trio of members.
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