Konoka Matsuda: It's hard to believe but this is her first bewitching post for 2025 though....

 

 .... it won't be her last as there should be another around Christmas! My top set of J-Pop Idols has been Nogi's second generation, my top two members were from that group of nine and really all are or were quite likable. Hot on their trail was Hina's second generation, actually their top five members I liked more than Nogi's but after those five is what made Nogi come out on top. All those 2G members have been gone for almost three years now and sadly soon joining then will be Hina's 2G members, they too had nine. Two weeks ago Hina Kawata graduated which left three second generation members and to me think the trio was the most popular of the nine. However remaining at three won't last for too long as on December 1st Konoka announced her graduation and that will be a month after Hina's 16th single. That's scheduled to come out at the end of January so we'll still have three more months of Konoka and hope those won't be quiet months.

 I've been following J-Pop for a while and what's happened with Hina the last three years is unprecedented and it's not a positive one! For every first and second generation member save for two has graduated or is about to, I've never seen such an exodus like this before! What makes it worse is that Hina's biggest positive had been their stability, you knew a few would leave but not at such a frantic pace. I don't blame the 4G members individually but management gave them too much of a push and kind of ignored the first two generations for too long, think that plan backfired. For though Hina is still one of the bigger J-Pop groups their popularity has decreased since this exodus began, in all honesty how many members can you name from 4G? I can only name two and bet most long time fans couldn't name many more than me. No 4G member has had a photobook for no gal is popular enough and the book wouldn't be a big seller. Plus their tours aren't drawing as many fans and management didn't think too wisely with their decisions yet are probably blaming everyone except themselves for what's happened to the group. I have a strong feeling that Konoka and her two remaining 2G mates Miku and Nao had wanted to leave a while ago but Hina's top brass convinced them to stay for as long as possible, sure many more yen were thrown their way! Miku and Nao have been Hina's most popular members for a while, what's going to happen when they depart?

 I haven't gone on a minor rant like that for a while and do try to remain positive with my comments. But I really hated to see what happened with Hina and sure many others who are reading this feel that way too, have visited some other sites and forums where Hina is not nearly as well liked as they once were. When Keya did their rebranding and switched their name to Sakura plus took that long hiatus Hina was my top J-Pop group during that stretch of time. But that stay at the top didn't last long enough which does depress me to a bit as they have so many likable members or at least did. What's kind of sad is that not many from the first two generations have gone on to a successful solo career, it sounds hard to believe but have never done a post for a member after they've left! Some are doing okay being busy actresses but that's it as it seems Kyoko, Shiho and Miho keep busy enough acting but other members have kind of disappeared. Never see any graduates appear in any magazines, have modeling pictures or any kinds of photobooks, Hina is popular but outside of their fan base don't think many know of their members and will that continue with Konoka? Hope not and I would think Miku would have a successful solo career, bet she leaves within the next year.

 Enough of my rambling but there's been so few Hina posts this year so had to put all of those thoughts into one post! There were four for Suzuka and all were very popular with you viewers, that's her right above with Konoka and the two are the best of friends. Suzuka graduated four months ago and has completely disappeared so is there some sort of curse for those who graduate from Hina???? Don't think so and as mentioned would imagine Miku could have a successful career but she's also a college graduate who majored in photography and opening her own studio may be an option, I vow to have something for her real soon. Konoka's graduation announcement was like most others where she used so many words yet didn't give a lot of concrete answers to what may be happening in her future. She did mention 8 1/2 years was a long time to be an Idol and had been thinking of leaving for the past year but had been advised to wait a tad longer. Konoka also added in that Hina fans shouldn't be surprised with the announcement and she was right with that. What I'm hoping for is that she goes out on a busy note and that doesn't happen often with Hina members. It does with Nogi graduates and what would be fabulous is a second photobook, Hina K had one for her graduation.

 Am not disappointed or sad at all that Konoka is departing, this is her first post in close to a year and though busy she doesn't do a lot of activities you can post about. When I gave some negative comments earlier all were meant for Hina's management who dropped the ball with focusing on the 4G members too much and for too long. I can never say anything bad about Konoka 😍 and only positive things about her, recently have talked about a few other faves who would would make for the best girlfriends. For me Konoka has always been way up there and I would place her fifth on that list, perhaps even a spot higher. I can only think of one other woman who is more likable than Konoka and her photobook from the Spring of 2024 was the most pleasant surprise of the year. For so long I did follow Konoka and her Hina mates so it seems like an Era is about to end and doesn't that happen with most J-Pop groups? It has for me with Keya and also Juice=Juice who had the best singles from 2016-19 but after all five original members left so didn't I as a fan. Soon Hina will be joining those groups and sure Nogi will be within 2-3 years, you could also add in Morning Musume and soon posts for current J-Pop Idols will be so far and few between.... hmmmm, actually they already are!

 That may have been my longest ever intro for a post and sorry if I rambled on for too long, didn't have anything of what I said scripted out and the words just flowed endlessly. Today is a big post but the plan is to have another for Konoka right around Christmas. Though this year wasn't a good one as far as her appearing in magazines, at events and doing other activities sure I can whip together many missed things plus add in some golden oldies. Then with any luck will have a post in both January and February and why not have Konoka for the second time qualify for the yearly fave's list? Sounds good to me and she did finish in the eighth position on last year's list. First off are some ultra super duper Hina cards that stretch back to June, will have the ones from January to May in Konoka's next post. The type of cards Hina has are very similar to the ones from Keya and Nogi but I've always thought the photos on their cards easily top their sister groups and is it because the members are more attractive?

 Even more terrific pics which aren't quite cards but Monthly Message photos the members add on to the Hina site the first day of a month, Keya also does it. These go backwards from November to April, those are the uniforms for the group's past two singles and they should have a new uniform for the next single "Cliffhanger".

 Konoka does post many photos at her IG page and they're also added onto the Hina blog, have quite a few below from the past few months and could have had more. My favorites are the top photos, Konoka is just so darn adorable and she'd still be such a favorite of mine without that sweltering photobook. There's also some pics of Konoka with her other 2G mates, some of their final ones. Hina K did have a graduation book and I haven't forgotten about her but didn't have time to work on a post for her but will be doing that soon. The captain of Hina is the 3G member Mikuni and she is a member who I do like quite a but unsure if I'll be doing posts for her in the future. Mikuni was sick for a November 24th streaming event so Konoka filled in for her, those are the bottom two pics. There's also a video after this batch of the trio promoting an event called "Shinzanmono 2025 Live" which featured the newer members of Hina, Keya and Nogi each doing a performance at the Theater Milano, it could be viewed by streaming or at the 109 Cinemas. With Konoka was Keya's captain Rina and of all things she has her first book coming out soon. The third gal in the group is my top current Nogi member Minami whose second photobook is also coming out soon and it could be impossible to top her first one!!!!

 

 Just have one solo spread for the year and Konoka was the cover girl for the September 9th issue of Young Champion. She used to have 5-6 solo spreads for a year but like most Idols her appearances in magazines has really dwindled the last two or perhaps even three years.

 Will have one more spread which is a semi oldie and is from the June 5, 2024 issue of Weekly Shonen and it featured outtake pics from Konoka's first photobook.

 Konoka is 26 in age and will turn a year older next April, she's currently Hina's oldest member and that could have been a factor in her leaving. After 2 1/2 years Konoka left "The Time" variety show in March but is a reporter for another show plus has two radio shows but will those have to end with her graduation? Hopefully Konoka will have a graduation photobook and her first one may have been my top book for 2024! With 4,470 views it's been a popular post and in case you haven't seen it will end off with the link to that post, knew she was so attractive but never realized Konoka 😍 had such an outstanding figure!

Her unsurpassable.... "Furimuite" photobook scans!!!!