Hinatazaka46: Their (un)eagerly awaited first group post for 2024!

 

 First group post but in a way you could say it's already the fifth Hina one already for this year! 2023 was a solid year for them but perhaps not as good as their previous three, seems like they're stuck a bit in a rut though least it's not a bad one. The group is now down to seven first generation members and would think we'll be seeing a few more depart this year, Kyoko would be the most obvious one but I don't want to see anyone leave. They are the busiest J-Pop group around though would like to see a few more different activities compared to 2023, a group drama would be nice if it focused on the older members plus some photobooks would be terrific also. Think there were just three last year and the more popular members have all had a book so wonder if someone may have a second? 

 Been a few weeks since the last group post so things did pile up and this should be a large one, will probably have another next week plus also one for Keya. Why not begin off with some 2023 cards and there's still many of them that have never been posted. Hinano leads off and she's someone who I often don't include in these posts and there's really no reason for that! After her is the second oldest 4G member Mitsuki who will be hitting the age of 21 on April 9th, Hinano's b-day is three days later.

 On the first day of a month these 'greeting messages' are added to the Hina site, as usual will just have the first three generations that begin off with Kyoko and end with Mikuni. Was just looking at Keya's monthly messages for January and they appear to be so much better and personalized.

 There's eighteen members left from the first three generations, perhaps only about fifteen by the end of the year? Mikuni was the final gal above and a month ago opened her own IG page so won't be posting pics at the group blog. Here are her first ones and do like the way she look dressed as Santa....

 Hmmmm, we've been seeing many more photos of that pairing in the bottom one above and why has that been? Who we don't see often enough lately are pics of the Hana-chans so how about some sparkling IG pics of the duo's better half(!) who of course is Konoka!!!!

 Have more pics of Hinano who was the center for the group's last single. Their sales are just so consistent as just about every single sells between 440-500,000 copies and it doesn't matter who the center is. Nao has had that honor more than any other member and she's teamed up with Hinano in this post's only mag spread that's from the January issue of UTB.

 Did want to have more solo posts in December but that didn't work out so well. It did for the more popular members but nothing wrong with only being featured in these superb group posts and do vow to work on more of them this year but do need some cooperation from the gals. The promo pics for the 'Uni's on Air' game have come out for January, will break them up into 2-3 posts. For today will have the game pics for the seven remaining first generation members, two batches and each member has four pics. Kyoko always leads things off as she's my #1 member and in 2-3 days will have the next trio of recaps for her recently finished drama. Second up is Shiho and may not do a post for her until February 2nd as that's when he celebrates her 26th birthday. Mei is third and though just a semi-popular member she does have a photobook which I thought was decent so if she has had one who else is deserving? To me the last gal in this group is that member who is Ayaka and as I've said before no member's looks have improved as much as hers in these past 7 1/2 years.

 There was no Christmas theme for December but these game pics for January have a New Year's theme and the fourth pic is with another member. Second group begins off with Hina's captain Kumi and will try to have a post for her right around January 22nd as that's when she hits the age of 28, would like to see her remain until she's thirty. Second up is the youngest 1G member Mirei who hit the age of 24 a little over two weeks ago. Third up is Mana and after all of these years she's still the most unknown member of the group or to me that is.

 The fourth member in the set is right above and of course that's Sarina. Those will be her final game pics and they were for her 26th birthday which happened the day after Christmas. Was thinking of doing a solo post for her but then thought why cram a hundred pics into one post and then have her forgotten about? So for the next 3-4 group posts will be having some photos of her and have a slew of Sarina below which will end the post. Her farewell concert took place on December 10th though she remained as an active member until the end of the year. On December 9th her final appearance on the group's 'Aimashou' variety show took place and it was a send off for her, better than most recent episodes. The good thing about me is that I take a huge amount of screenshots of these shows so you can start from the first and follow the action that way. It being her final time on the show Sarina was the honoree and her wish in life had been to have her fortune taken on the show.

 Sarina's favorite number is 8 so most things on this show revolved around that. The challenge was to compile as many Seconds as possible which would happen if the members completed a challenge, there were thirteen but only seven were attempted. If the members could complete some task then Seconds would get added in to a total, that total would be how many Seconds Sarina could talk with a fortune teller. You can see all of the challenges and games below, three were successfully completed so Sarina had 224 seconds to talk with a teller but barely needed half of that. The challenges were fun and the action moved right along, it did help that the focus wasn't on Mr. Pink Sweater!!!! Sarina will be missed and though I didn't discuss her as often as other members she really was someone I liked quite a bit, you could almost call her Hina's co-captain. After the screenshots is Sarina's last group video which was a behind the scenes one for her final concert.