Yui Kobayashi: Without a doubt has the best news of the year!!!!!

 

 Did say that August 7th was the cutoff point for doing posts for anyone who will be in the top ten for the second 'Top Twenty Faves of All Time' list. Well that cutoff point didn't even last for three days(!) and who knows, there may be others. Not that she has a large fan base here but thought a few may not have heard the news which to me is the best of the year.... on October 4th Yui will be releasing her second photobook!!!! If you've read her posts the last two years you know how much I've been wishing for a second book but was was losing a bit of hope that would happen. Yui went on hiatus for three months at the end of last year and after that return she wasn't nearly as busy as she once was. But these last two months have seen a bit of a comeback for her and this is her fourth post since the beginning of June, for the third year in a row she's qualified for the yearly faves list. Shame this book didn't come out in April or so, that may have clinched her for being my #1 fave of the year. But there's still over three months to go until the countdown begins so there's still time to make a run at being number one.

 Though that news is fabulous will admit I have a bit of dread about it. Am wondering if a new book may be a signal for Yui's graduation and hate to say it but just have this sinking feeling it could happen but of course hope I'm way off base. As mentioned Yui did take a hiatus last year and returned to Keya in December for their first anniversary concerts. For so long it didn't seem her heart was into being an Idol though think starting in May she's reverted to her old one of a kind self, her activities have really picked up so much since then. Wonder if she was beginning to miss all of her mates who have graduated and wouldn't doubt if that was a reason. But on the other hand it also means the 2G members look up to someone like her and how I hope she stays with Keya at least another two years.

 For so long have said that Yui is the most likable woman I post about and these days may enjoy doing posts for her over anyone else. Perhaps an SKE member could give her a run for the money and those two will be battling it out for the third and fourth positions on that all time list, perhaps for being #1 this year too! So the news of this book just came out yesterday so there's very little info save for the release date will be October 4th, that's nineteen days before her 23rd birthday. Three advance pics for the book were revealed and bet we'll start seeing a slew of them in September.

 Yui's last post was just seventeen days ago and even though there was some terrific news to share didn't think this post would be possible. But naturally it did happen and this should turn out to be a decent one as there's more new pics than I thought and of course will go into the vault for some more. First off are some recent pics from Keya's 'Diary' blog, she still hasn't opened her own IG page yet.... whew, there's something so steamy about that first pic.... or most of hers....

 In those bottom two pics Yui is with Fuyuka and those two do appear to be close friends. For August there's no individual promo pics for the 'Uni's on Air' web game, instead members are paired up such as this duo.

 These days Keya(Sakura) doesn't have regular monthly group cards, just for special occasions such as singles and anniversaries. But there are so many cards from 2016-19 that have never been posted before and have slowly been getting to them, this batch here are from 2018.

 A week ago Keya released their first album since their name change. "As you know?" is the title and it was #1 on the charts last week selling about 121,000 copies, lower than their first two albums but higher than I thought it would be. What hurt was that Yui and eleven other members caught the virus so their TV appearances were cancelled along with their two 'W-Keyaki Fes' concerts. However they're having a pair of makeup shows on August 19th and 20th so hopefully will help sales. She's done at least three interviews for the album though always with a pair of other members, these pics here are from the Model Press site and also have the link to it: Model Press interview

 Seems Yui has done more interviews than any other member and wonder if management began to notice they weren't using her enough? Have even more fantastic news which is that she'll be at the September 3rd 'Tokyo Girls Collection' show, for some odd reason she wasn't at the May 'Girls Award'  show. I love the way she looks at these fashion shows and since the health crisis only seven major shows a year are held instead of 15-20. Here's some truly outstanding older TGC pics which are from their January 11, 2020 show.

 With this new photobook on the horizon hope we see some mag spreads featuring her, there's been no solo ones since June 2021 and at one time she had more spreads than any other member. In July Yui celebrated her fourth anniversary of being a With model but in May they ceased having regular mag issues. For such a long time there was such a shortage of new modeling pics for her but that's changed as these are all from the last two weeks. 

 I'm not 100% certain but think Yui will finish in the third post on the all time faves list. To me if she stays with Keya another two years she could be the front runner for being number one if a third list is dine but that wouldn't be until 2026.... doesn't that seem like an eternity from now?! "Kanjo no Kozu" is the title of her first photobook that came out in March 2019, of all the hundreds of books that have been posted had that ranked as my 14th top one of all time! So while it's been Yui's most popular post it really has deserved twice as many views as it's received so will end off with the link to the post in case you missed it. Last night she hosted 'Showroom' to promote the new book though it won't be coming out for two months, have a segment from the show after the pics: "Kanjo no Kozu" book