Nao's top sixteen Faves for 2023: Position #3, my(!)(your?) 𝓓𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶 𝓖𝓲𝓻𝓵..... Yui Kobayashi!!!!

 

 Previous positions

#16, Risa Y .... #15, Rika I. .... #14, Miyu M. .... #13, Marupi

#12, Shiho .... #11, Yuzuha .... #10, Maria M .... Mai S

#8, Risa W .... #7, Iori .... #6, Miku T .... #5, Nene

#4, Kyoko

 Am now over the shock of her graduating and am back to being normal but in the case of Nao what could normal mean???? Yui's posts have always been upbeat and positive, over the last four years there's no woman who I have enjoyed doing posts for more than her. Shock is a good word as that's how I felt at the time of her graduation announcement and won't be talking much about it after this intro. Really felt confident her leaving wouldn't take place until next Spring at the earliest so was stunned when she made the announcement. The timing wasn't the best as it was just four days after another Keya graduation plus her departure date was just two months into the future. But we all knew it would happen sooner or later and wish it was the latter but Yui is such a cheerful and likable woman so will make sure she goes out on a high note here and as mentioned will keep these posts upbeat and positive, this will be one super duper post!

 Am now three days in front of the pace I set for finishing the list. The original date was the 20th but should have it completed this Sunday which is the 17th. That's good as there's other posts I would like to work in and now will have some time for them. In the post for position #4 said that lead off pic was my second favorite of all time. Number one by a country mile is that top photo and that's been my #1 for well over three years, it still leaves me at a loss for words and in all honesty no photo will ever top it as my number one. How about that title and that's a term never used here before, Dream Girl! While Yui isn't my #1 of all time it's hard to say she isn't, it's not easy right now to put my thoughts about her into words but in a way you could say she's been my number one the past two years. When you look at the other names above what a headache you would get sorting them out into an all time list, of course #8 has been my numero uno for long time.

 Photos to me don't need to be gravure ones to look overly alluring, hard to top those above two! Up until January 2020 Yui had never had a solo post but she had to have been featured at least twenty times in group posts. Her first post was done three months after she hit the age of twenty, she had ten posts that first year. Then in 2021 she had nine and the reason it wasn't more was because she went on hiatus from September until December. Then for the first four months of 2022 Yui only had one but then things exploded and she had fourteen more for the rest of the year for a total of fifteen. In 2023 she broke her record with seventeen posts and this is her first for the 'Nao Year' which began on December 1st. Only one other woman can top that mark of 52 solo posts since January 2020 and have also mentioned her often in group posts all along.

 Yui now has a streak of having a post for twenty consecutive months which is a record, the old mark had been sixteen. Have to figure she'll have at least one in January and February which would bring the total up two 22 months, no one will ever touch that. But beginning in March is when I wonder how much longer this streak will continue and how busy will she remain after leaving Keya? Hoping that Yui will keep appearing at those large fashion shows which she's done for seven years, the first in three months will be taking place in January and then there's many in the Spring. No sense thinking about what take place beginning after her graduation and that's still seven weeks away, what I'm praying for is that Yui will have her third photobook! And why not as three of the last four first generation members who have graduated have had a book, haven't heard much from her since that grad announcement so could she have taken a few days off to run off to a photo shoot for a book?!

 For 2022 Yui was my number one woman of the year, there's zero wrong with dropping two spots and up until August thought she would repeat as my Queen. The positions between second and fourth were so tight, wherever one ended up would have been the correct spot.. Sure Yui will make the list next year too but as of now can't make any predictions on what spot she could end up at, leaving Keya does mean a big decrease in activities and that's the case when most J-Pop Idols leave their groups. It's time to get to the meat of this post and as usual was needless worrying if this could end up being a fabulous post. Of course it will be and it just may be the best of all sixteen position posts. Also perhaps the largest as there will be over a hundred pics and at least seventy will be new for here!!!!

 Birthday #24 took place on October 23rd, that's not a bad age to graduate as you're not too old nor too young. Up until May Yui's 2023 posts were getting a good amount of views, they've dropped quite a bit since then and wonder why? That's been the case for number four also, have Keya and Hina become unpopular here? First off are these group cards which have all come out in the last two months and all are new for here. Some are for the new single while a few are for Keya's(Sakura) third tour, the four with the black tie were for Halloween.

 Smaller batch of pics which are new for the 'Saku Koi' simulated dating game that began in July, for some reason Yui seems to have fewer pics than most members.

 One more set of game pics which are for 'Uni's on Air' and have said for years how fantastic their promo pics for the game are. First five are for December, no Christmas theme(?) while the other four are for November and weren't in Yui's last post. So this set and the above two contain 31 pics, when you leave your group these kinds of pics cease which is why it's harder to do posts for graduates.

 On December 25th Keya's latest single will be re-released as a special edition but it's really only because there's adding Yui's new solo tune which would have to be considered her grad song. For the second time on November 20th she appeared on the NTV show "The Gift", those segments last for just two minutes. Back in July Yui appeared in her first stage play which was titled "The Three Villains of the Hidden Fortress". The main actor was Takaya Kamikawa and he's an actor who I have liked for a while. On the show the celeb/actor/Idol chooses a gift for someone, Yui chose Kawikawa as he helped her out immensely for the play. So here's the screenshots from the show and can't believe there's no video on YT of it, there was for her first appearance.

 Would think that Yui will be continuing with her acting career, have seen her in three dramas and she seems like a fine actress to me but want to see her in some larger roles. Modeling is another thing Yui will probably keep doing, it appears she's no longer with With as she hasn't had any pics at their site for over five months. But back in March she became a model for the andGirl magazine, these are some ultra terrific pics from their site. Few of them were in the magazine's October issue but these are 'clean versions' of the pics.

 Ooooh, for some reason almost overlooked posting this set of pics! Which are from Yui's IG page and that bottom one could be the last time we see those five together, same as the four that's two pics above that. Yui doesn't post enough pics at her IG page but in my eyes only one other (ex)Idol posts better photos than she does. Posted two older ones near the beginning which are tough to beat, so aren't these first four which are of course brand new and isn't she looking better than ever?.... HOW????

 What surprised me was how many pics she had for Christmas! Could have had more than these and about half were in a 2022 December post when Yui was crowned as my Queen of the year but the other half are brand new for here.... few are quite ancient.

 Considering that there were zero new event pics nor any magazine spreads didn't this turn out to be a tremendous post? I think so and bet her fans are in agreement and why not end off with some overly alluring photos which most have seen but how can you ever get tired of looking at someone as perfect as Yui!!!! This is why we should be praying for a graduation photobook as that would probably be the final time she ever had any gravure pics. Four nights ago Yui hosted "Showroom", the hour long video is after these searing pics. Hmmmm, have to admit after doing this post it's made me wonder why I didn't have her number one for the year.... guess the top two spots will have the answer to that!