'Top Twenty Faves' countdown for 2020: Position #14, the slightly effulgent Hinako Sakurai!

 

 Links to the previous positions: #16, Yume.... #15, Miru

 A bit of a drop from last year as she was fifth(!), it was a combination of not being as busy but more so is the fact that this year's faves may be the strongest to date. Not as many were eligible as previous years but the quality of my faves seems to have increased so this is really not a bad position and did recently flip flop the 13th and 14th spots. Briefly have talked about the what the yearly list really is and how it's much different than an all time list. Will talk a bit about that now as to me this is the best example from the twenty which will make it easier to understand. Actually things may be better to understand if I didn't try to explain them....

 So there's of course twenty on the list, if I was to rank them on how they would be 'all time' Hinako would probably finish around eighth. But as you can see she's 14th for this year and that's the difference between the two lists. The yearly one just looks a the period from December 1st until November 30th, so while Hinako did enough to warrant a spot on the list she didn't do as many activities as previous years. But for the last three years she was very busy which is why she would be eighth on an overall list for the twenty faves and often the opposite happens but will wait for one of those posts to come up.

 Was hoping to have some good news about how much more popular she's become but it's only half and half. Last year 29 Japanese women had six or more posts, out of them Hinako's post average was the lowest as they just averaged 235 but sure it's gone up over the past year. By comparison #1 in that category last year had an average of 1,110 or almost five times higher!!!! This year 28 had six or more posts and really thought she wouldn't bring up the rear again but was sadly mistaken as in what could be a yearly tradition she's claimed last place. But the other half is good news as that average went from 235 views to 310(!) which to me means she does have a growing fan base here. That's close to a 32% rise in average and bet none of the other 27 will touch that figure. Hmmm, better get ready as Hinako is on her way here to celebrate....

.... sigh, two weeks later she finally arrived but she never listens when I tell her to keep her mouth shut while swimming! On to the main things and it was kind of a quiet year for Hinako or at least compared to 2017-19. She had fourteen drama recaps for two series she had the lead role in but only six in this vein for new happenings which is the huge reason for her drop in the rankings Next year though I think will be a bit busier as she does have a new drama starting in February and once again Hinako will have the lead role, she's had about five in a row now. Not much info yet but the title of the series is "Milenovich" which is based upon a manga. It was supposed to air this Autumn but got pushed back because of the health crisis. It's been a domino effect as Spring dramas began airing in the Summer, then Summer dramas in the Autumn and so on.

 Hinako usually does a decent job updating her Line blog with pics and news. Not as many recent pics but all are quite superb to me.

 I really think that bottom pic is just out of this world.... few more newish pics which are from the Mitsuboshi Kimonos site.

 That pic I said that was out of this world was from an October 26th tree lighting ceremony, there's plenty of pics and info in her last post for it and they could be my #1 event pics of the year.

 More event pics and it's from one that took place yesterday. It's for the stage play "17 Again" and positive this will be the last we hear of it for a while as it won't be opening until... May 16th! Makes you wonder what the need was for to announce it now but least someone did look overly adorable.

 That's a musical play and wonder if Hinako will be singing? She's got a fair voice and did sing the theme sing to her fine 'Janus' drama. No real reason but it is that time of year....

 Here's an old batch of stupendous pics from a November 2018 interview with the SGS109 site. They were for her "You, I Love" film that came out on November 9th of that year and they had never been posted here before.

 There's been so few mag spreads this year and hope that changes in 2021. Will go back in time with this set from the April 17, 2017 issue of Big Comic Spirits. She turned twenty in that month and it features outtake pics from her second photobook.

 Of all twenty faves on the list have a feeling Hinako would be the most fun gal to be with. She's always been into sports and games, one that she's really gotten into so much more recently is darts and think I brought that up two posts ago with a YT video. She's now a spokesperson for the Darts Hive site and plenty of fine pics from them.

 Honestly, how many other actresses or Idols I post about would be a dart fanatic?! Actually I've played in a league for seven years so I'd like to challenge her in a game of 501.... perhaps 50,001 so we could be together longer! We've hit the end, was worried about these first three positions as I didn't think there would be enough new pics but that worrying was all for naught as they were all terrific and will be getting better. Will end off with some super duper Hinako pics but she's never done gravure ones which to me is a plus and she doesn't need to do those kind. Though I wouldn't mind it if she did, following the pics is an oddish video for Horipro Stage that's new and titled '12 Quick Questions'.