Welcome to this Baka's blog on his fave Japanese Pop Culture interests.
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Minami Sengoku: A Happy 30th Birthday to such a mega, mega, mega, mega fave!
Saying Mega may even be a bit of an understatement!!!! If you a long time visitor you've probably forgotten all about her which is somewhat understandable and if you're new viewer in the last two years you may be thinking 'WHO?'. Well, from 2014 to 2017 there weren't many bigger faves of mine than Minami and that top pic is one that got me introduced to her, still one of my top ones of all time. She also had a fair amount of posts during that mini stretch but wish there could have been so many more. However back in the Spring of 2017 Minami announced she would be graduating from Up Up Girls, it was probably the right decision as she had just turned 26.
But also thought to myself after her September 15th graduation we would be seeing so little of Minami which sadly has been correct. Like so many J-Pop Idols she became a stage actress, vast majority who become one tend to disappear quickly. Not her as she's still in so many plays, about fourteen since her graduation but only a few small film/drama roles in the last 3 1/2 years. I often wonder how much $$ can stage actors make? Can't be too much as the casts are usually large plus the halls don't have a huge audience which is even lower these days so how do these ex-Idols make ends meet?
You may wonder than how mega of a fave was Minami at one time? A very large one obviously and though there's been no activities to post about for so many years she's still right up there as far as faves go. On the yearly faves lists for 2016/17 Minami finished third and then second, on the 'All Time Top Twenty Faves' list she was in the second position and not all that far away from being #1. That list was done in the Autumn of 2018 so obviously because of the lack of posts and activities since then she'll drop a bit in the next list but not as far as you would think.
So this will mainly be a 'greatest pics' post as there really hasn't been many new ones since her graduation. But it could also be an intro post for those who know zero about Minami and she does have a good amount of older posts to check out. After her graduation on September 15, 2017 said I would still be following Up Up Girls but that lasted for just two singles, just wasn't the same.
The group is still active and has been so-so popular over the years. They've had three top ten singles but have never been able to rise above being a 'cult group'. But do recommend checking out their videos on YT as their older songs from 2012-17 are just so catchy and energetic. Live there aren't many groups who top them, they usually perform in smaller venues which is actually a positive as far as videos go.
Here's the link to her Ameblo blog which she updates once a week, you can also find the link there to her video channel but think you have to pay to view them: Ameblo blog
Really the only new pics today are these from Minami's Instagram page. All are from this year and though a tad conservative I think she still looks ultra seductive to me, especially the bottom pic which she just posted two days ago.
At 150 cm Minami is one of the shortest faves I've posted about, perhaps the shortest. You don't really notice it when she's alone in her pics or videos but it's definitely noticeable when she's with others. On her September 15, 2017 graduation date her first and only photobook was released. What a superb set of pics that was but the DVD for the photo shoot is one that's a highly recommended watch, few pics from the book.
Birthday #30 actually took place yesterday, today her best mate Yuu celebrates her 29th and is a gal so overdue for a post. This pair is closer than any other Idols and I sometimes wonder if.......
It's kind of sad in a way we'll never see any more gravure pics from Minami nor any more mag spreads. Her final set ever was this mini one from the August 1, 2017 issue of Weekly Ascii.
How about a stupendous gravure spread that's from the November 28, 2014 edition of Young Animal, she was the cover girl for quite a few mags in her 'heyday'.
Could have stretched this out for a bit longer but will end the post off here, you can always check out her older ones. Was talking earlier about how high Minami has finished on my fave's list but never had a number one position. That would be the case too for my all time hottest Idols, she would be #1 in that category if there were more sweltering pics since her 2017 photobook but of course that never happened. Would still her way up there, second or third(?) as she just has that spark very few others do. Will end off with some cold shower inducing pics and hopefully she's garnered a new fan or two. Talked about the DVD that was for the photo shoot of her only PB. The title of it and the book is "Minami no Koibito", it's in two parts on YT and have the first following the pics which is a highly recommended view.
No comments:
Post a Comment