Rika Watanabe: Her tantalizing 15th(!) post....

 

 Two reasons for doing this post, of course the main one is because of Rika who continues to be a huge fave of mine. When I first began following Keya(will always call them that) she was my #1 member until the end of 2018 and has remained in the top five even though there's been such a slowdown with her activities. Hope I don't sound too harsh or mean but just wanted to give a few brief opinions on my top J-Pop groups and what to expect for posts in 2021. Will just touch on this theme for now which I have brought up in the past and will do so more in future posts. The day will always come when your fave groups have a big change and least it's expected. But the way Nogi and Keya have become much younger was quite quicker than I thought it would be and I'm more disappointed than angry.

 When you're 25-30 in age or older which I bet 85+% of you viewers are you don't want to follow the activities of teens or at least I don't. For Keya's next single a sixteen year old will be the center which means I'll never listen to the song. In both groups the older members are being pushed aside so fast and that's the part I'm angry at and would think most long time fans should be too. Have seen those thoughts at a forum and other Japanese media sites, so what does that minor rant mean for 2021?

 There won't be many changes but know the total posts for Idols will be decreasing which it already has and in all honesty enjoy doing the posts I have been for the past month much more. For any huge fave that usually has solo posts that will continue but with so many graduations it's not nearly as many as it once was. For group posts will only be having them for Nogi's first and second generation members who are all 21+ in age. For Keya will be doing groups posts for the first generation members and perhaps two of the newer gals will be included. Will probably do the same kinds of posts for Hina but they haven't had nearly as many as their older sister groups.

 In all there's only been six J-Pop groups I've posted about since C-ute disbanded. For now there will be no change in the group or solo posts for SKE and NMB as their members tend to be much older but they do each have a pair of key members graduating. NMB does have a single coming out in a week so hope to have a pair of posts for them this month. The final group is Morning Musume who haven't had a post in ages save for one member with two photobooks. Their next single is coming out in December and would like to have a few posts for them, up in the air right now about their status.

**** On a side note am playing their 2001 greatest hits album which to me is an essential listen. No Idol group can top their tunes from 1997-04, as good as many may think Nogi songs are listen to older MM tunes and you may become a convert. Thanks if you read that, comments are always welcome if you have your own thoughts and it's good to now and again get some things off your chest.

 Whew(!) for writing the above but more so for those two pics, especially the top one. Rika was a minor reason for that mini rant as she's one of those members who is being pushed aside as she and three other first generation gals won't be Senbatsu members on the next single. No excuse for that for even though she may not be Keya's best dancer or singer she's ben one of the reasons that Keya became so popular. I'm not a betting man but if I was would place $$ that she'd be the next person to graduate as after all she will be turning 26 next May. If it does happen soon hope they give her a proper sendoff, that's one thing Nogi has done well over the years is giving their popular members a classy graduation while it never happens with Keya and it'd be nice to see a tradition start with her.

 Fifteen solo posts for Rika is a fairly decent number as very few other Idols have had as many since mid 2017. Though it's been such a slow year for Keya this is her third post for 2020 and think this will be a decent one, she does have a good sized fan base here. Back in 2017 Rika finished ninth on the top twenty faves list so she has been someone I've liked for quite a while, Back then and continuing on into 2018 she appeared in so many mags but not so these days which is such a shame. Will begin off with these older 'Keyakise' promo cards for their app game and will that be renamed too?

 Rika used to appear at so many group events, there obviously haven't been many this year but there was one two weeks ago but she wasn't there. But you'll always see her at these bigger fashion shows, this batch of pics is from the September 5th 'Tokyo Girls Collection' show, one stroll on the catwalk was a solo one while the other was promoting another new AEON Keya credit card.

 Have some terrific new Rika pics from 'Uni's on Air', it's an online game you can play that features the characters from Keya and Hina.

 Rika's first and only photobook came out in December 2017, now that I think about it she may have had Keya's first PB. It was a decent seller with over 80,000 copies sold so you know she has many fans, a nice graduation would be a second book. These pics should all be new for here which are outtake ones from the PB which was shot in Greece.

 Least Rika will have a career to fall back on as she is a model for two mags, thought she did a decent acting job in Keya's two dramas but hasn't had any other roles. Larme is one mag she models for and these are from their November issue.

 Ray is the other magazine Rika's an exclusive model for and usually represents them at those huge fashion shows, this set is from their November edition.

 We've hit the end and thought this turned out quite well but it's easy with Rika pics. Said that as it was kind of a 'spur of the moment' post as I wasn't planning on this a few hours ago but noticed the newish pics of her were piling up. This final batch of pics are from the Ray site, some are in the above spread but these are 'clean versions' and I often like site pics better than the ones in a spread. After the pics have a video which is long but one most Keya fans should like. It's from that September 5th TGC show which has the quartet of members who attended and they're the ones I will always do posts for. EDIT: Can't believe the video was deleted the day after this post was done, grrrr....