Nao's 'Top Twenty of All Time Faves' list #2.... Position #18, the adorable Kie Kitano

 

Previous positions

#20, Nashiko .... #19, Kazusa

 Perhaps the word adorable isn't an apt description these days but it certainly was a decade ago plus back then was there ever a female who was more kawaii?! Don't know why but that top pic is my all time fave of hers and really can't give a reason why but one may not be needed, recall the first time I saw it and needed to superglue my eyes in once again! One thing I've always been confused on is her name. Most refer to her as Kie which I use for post titles and labels. But in the post use Kii as that's how it comes out using her Hiragana and have always wondered why is she called Kie, does anyone have a good answer for that? 

 Not too many holdovers from that first list done four years ago and wish there were more. Various things happen and the biggest reason seems to be faves getting married, settling down and for many they then retire. Did read in an interview two years ago Kii really has no ambition to get married and if she does get serious better start thinking about it soon as she'll be turning 32 next March, where have the years gone? She's one of the holdovers from the first fave's list and even moved up a position. This has been a bit of a comeback year for Kii as I did do a regular post for her back in April plus am currently watching my second drama of the year starring her. Do wish there were a few other activities such as events or mag spreads but after such a long break with her in semi exile it's nice to finally post about her.

 Have mentioned that a few of these posts won't have a large amount of recent pics and this is a prime example of one. However it's also a prime example why someone has been such a fave of mine for over a decade and though 95% of the pics are much older this could be the largest post of anyone on the list! Would think very few of you have ever seen Kii's older pics from her 'prime era' which was from about 2008 to 2014 so have a slew of them for today and most should enjoy them. Makes me think that perhaps I should do some encore posts of those older pics and that may be something that has a good chance of happening. Won't go into it here as I've talked about it before which was what happened back in September 2014. She became a co-host of the "ZIP!" variety show which airs very day and that really put a kink into her acting schedule. So for the next few years she was in so many fewer dramas and films, if you look at her bio you will see such a gap 

 Those above two pics are from her March 2011 photobook "Twenty" as that's when she hit that age, it's also her last set of gravure pics. Back in June finished recapping Kii's drama "Nanji no Na" which I enjoyed, I've seen more of her films than dramas. Am currently recapping her "Cinecon e Ikou!" series which is a thirteen episode drama, she plays the role of Kaori who is a new co-manager at a cineplex. Have recapped the first four shows, the next pair will be coming up within the week.

 To me the best thing Kii has been in was the 2008 movie "Halfway" and bet I've viewed that 25 times. So it's kind of odd that I've never reviewed the film as have done most of her others so that's something I need to correct and will do a post or two for it this year. Posting IG pics is a rarity for her as this is all there's been for the last few months.

 Kii was a host of the 'Girls Lock' radio show from February 2009 until March 15, 2012 which was her 21s birthday. Back then many of my fave actresses used to be hosts for that show and you were a host for one week a month. These pics aren't too large but surprised they still had some at the Tokyo-FM site which is the channel it aired on.

 Whew, hope you're not worn out yet as we may not even be halfway through this post! The 'Girls Lock' show also had rock festival each year but think that ended a long time ago. The headliner for their September 2011 festival was Kii and these are pics from it. To me her singles and albums were so enjoyable, here's the link to the PV for her 2010 single "Sakura Saku" which I really like and it hit #7 on the charts, it's on AVEX  and they don't allow embedding: "Sakura Saku" PV

 How about more event pics and these are also from 2011, June 1st to be exact. Kii made an appearance at 'The Great Fifth Nationwide Proposal Contest' and it was to promote the falling marriage rates in Japan.... know one Baka that would propose to her in a heartbeat. Some pics from the event and they're kind of on the smallish side. Over the years photos at news sites have gotten much larger, up until 2014 they were commonly about 300 X 400, 400 X 600 or other sizes in that range. These days the photos at news sites are almost twice as large and have been posting too long to notice those things!

 We're on a roll with events so have one more set of pics form one. These are from July 2017 and an event to promote the mini series "Gintama: Mitsuba hen" which only had three episodes. It was based upon the film but she wasn't in that.

 Whew again, could go on forever but will end off with a trio of mag spreads that covers a large period of time. It's hard to believe how many magazines Kii appeared in from 2007 to2012, she must have had seventy or more spreads and was often the cover girl. This is a real oldie set which is from 2018 and the MeMew magazine which is no longer around.

 This next set is from nine years later and the June 15, 2017 issue of Tokyo Walker Plus.

 We've finally hit the end and this is one of the most enjoyable posts I've done in a long time. Did have fun going back through her older posts getting many of these pics and for so long she was knocking on my door of being #1 which sadly will never happen. Final set is one of Kii's newest spreads and once again she was the cover girl for the December 21, 2021 issue of Flash.... still looking oki-doki to me! Will end off once again with a video for this spread as it's just so darn good....