Nao's 'Top Twenty of All Time Faves' list #2.... Position #9, the virtuous and magnetic Saki Nakajima!!!!

 

Links to the previous positions

#20, Nashiko .... #19, Kazusa .... #18, Kii(e) .... #17, Nene

#16, Nanase .... #15, Yuika .... #14, Kyoko .... #13, Miona

#12, Mai .... #11, Maimi .... #10, Minami

 Hard to explain why but that top pic would be in the running for being my #1 ever, that second pic is no slouch either! This will be the last post for August and am ahead of the pace for this list. Was going to have ten this month and the other ten in September but now it'll be just eight which is good as I expect it to be a busier month than August. This may be the largest post to date for anyone on the list and perhaps the largest of all twenty! But will try to cut down on the words a bit as I have been blabbering a bit too much and will have the pics in this post do most of the talking save for this beginning. 

 Don't know how many recall but on the first all time faves list done in 2018 Saki was #1!!!! She was also the number one fave for 2016 and though she's dropped to ninth she will always be my #1 woman from Japan or at least for the last decade or so. But as mentioned in two prior posts we're going through a change here where my old time faves are slowly disappearing or getting very few posts. This is her first post in over two years but a lot of the blame lies with me as I could have done a few and not sure why I didn't. This is post #101 so there isn't much else I can add in about this huge fave that hasn't been said in her previous posts and do recommend checking them out along with C-ute posts.

 There is one very major event that's happened with her which I'll discuss now. Last October Saki announced she would be suspending her activities to study English abroad and to learn more about environment issues. Her activities ceased at the end of December and nothing has been heard from her since so hope that means no news is good news. Rumor has it she's studying in New Zealand but that's never been verified and though I hate to see faves disappear can understand her decision fully. Saki will be turning 29 in about five months and she had been with Hello Project as a singer for thirteen years and then as a solo actress/model/radio host for the next four so the only thing she really knows about is show biz. So good to see her expand her horizons and learn some new skills, this is just a 'temporary retirement' but then again perhaps she'll enjoy being a 'regular person' so much we may never see her again, kind of torn then what I want for her....

 Er, gulp, let me finish this post first and then we'll see what happens!!!! So good for Saki making such a change in her life and of course hope she's successful with what her plans will end up being, I always thought she was the most intelligent member in C-ute. So don't think she's been posting any kind of pics or news this year and probably has better things to do. The last time she posted any IG pics was last September and this batch is all from 2021.

 Hope I'm not the only one but I think those above pics deserve a grade of A++++, she was 27 in those pics and turned 28 this year on February 5th. The last thing associated with C-ute was her 'Nakky C-ute Time' radio show that ended it's run after ten years last December. These pics are from the set of the show and as you can see a few mates visited her on occasion, the bottom four are from her final ever show on December 25th.

 Do have a good amount of unseen pics from the past few years and I honestly should have done a few posts for her. Perhaps none of the pics are gravure ones which viewers prefer but I think they look oki doki! Saki hasn't had any gravure pics since 2014 when her third and final photobook was released. She has done some regular modeling work and here's many you've never seen which are from the 2020/21 Kangol Winter collection, there's five times this amount!

 More modeling pics but older ones from 2016 and the Heather Diary site.

 After C-ute disbanded in June 2017 Saki appeared in so many stage plays, at least a dozen over the next four years and last November she appeared in her final one. Wish we saw more of her on the screen though and many years ago did review her 2012 film "Zomvideo" which I thought was so fun. Looked at the review and it could have been so much better so that's now a new goal of mine to have another review of the movie this year.

 If C-ute had stuck around for another 2-3 years then have a strong feeling Saki would have remained #1 but this is a solid position considering the lack of posts the last few years. How about some older tidbits to show you why she's still in the top ten and why she's still the reigning Queen until number one is revealed! C-ute did so many things together such as magazine spreads so there weren't as many solo sets as other groups. But do have a few of them for today and all of course are terrific, mighty old too such as this first set from the July 2013 issue of Girls! which is no longer around.

 Another spread from 2013 and the April issue of UTB, it was promoting her second photobook that was titled "Naka-san".

 One more spread from UTB and this batch is from their April 2014 issue. It featured outtake pics from her final photobook "N20".

 Though there's too many Nogi cards to count bet there's been more for C-ute and I need to do some sort of post of them for Halloween or Christmas. Speaking of cards here's some from late 2013 for the group's 'Future Departure' tour.

 Saki has my all time #1 Idol DVD which is "Bloom" that came out in October 2013. Bet I've viewed it 250 times and surprised it hasn't worn out yet! Only complaint is that it's only 52 minutes but I like the mix of it as it's humorous at times plus of course she's her sweltering self in kind of an un-Idol way, Here's some screenshots from the video and after them is a short clip from it which just may be my fave segment of the video.

 

 There are a few odds and ends from the last few years I could have added in but this post is huge enough as there will be about 140 pics. So will end off with some of my fave Saki pics and most are from 2012-15, she may not be as voluptuous as other Idols or most gravure models but I would choose her over 99.99% of them! "Kiss Me Aishiteru" from 2011 could be my top C-ute single, have Saki's solo version of the tune after the pics.