Minami Umezawa: Sadly her final post as a Nogi member but....

 

 .... of course there's no way this will be Minami's final post here and have a feeling she'll be having her posts on a consistent basis for a while and that hasn't happened often the last year with an ex-Nogi gal. Somehow my brain got all mixed up and that's been happening too frequently lately. For a few weeks had been thinking that Minami's graduation concert would be on May 24th at the Tokyo Dome but the event is taking place tomorrow! It'll be the final show of three Nogi 14th birthday concerts and just got the today's show for it was streamed, tomorrow's show is the historical one but to be honest I don't enjoy watching final concerts for a member or group as I hate knowing that could be the final time we'll see that person in concert.

 For Nogi members their graduation concert has always been the final one for a gal as I can't think of one that has continued on being a singer. Doubt if Minami will but she does have such a bright future and is leaving Nogi on a high note. She currently has the lead role in a drama, is a model with a clothing site/line, appears at those huge fashion shows and perhaps will do more as she won't be tied down with Nogi activities. I'm often sad when a huge favorite of mine leaves their group but that's not the case for Minami and she has been with Nogi close to ten years. Knowing she'll be having a good amount of posts over the next few months does help keep my spirits up but how I hope she doesn't follow in the footsteps of too many other Nogi graduates who stay busy for 8-12 months after leaving the group and then see such a decrease in activities or just disappear.

 For a while Minami's posts did draw a high amount of views but there was a huge decrease starting in 2022 and think the main reason was her posts were done so sporadically. But her last five posts have seen a nice increase in popularity and for the fourth time Minami will qualify for the yearly faves list, three times she's made the top ten. So for you fans here's what to expect in the near future and am keeping my fingers crossed there can be at least one post a month for the rest of the year. On June 1st will post Minami's second photobook that came out at the beginning of February. Then was thinking of doing a post near the end of June with many photos from her graduation concert, that would probably be the first of a two part graduation series so the second of those posts will be July. Then Minami will be having a post for whatever position she ends up at on the 'Top Twenty Faves of All Time' list. As of now really have no clue what spot Minami would end up at, could be anywhere from eighth to seventeenth and she's been helping her cause out with all of these recent posts.

 That's such a nice threesome above, all have such fabulous photobooks and glad to see so many are enjoying Rina's. Konoka left Hina about six months ago, she's been busy but not doing activities which you can post about and I do miss her. Today's post is a large one but am trying to make them smaller as to have more but making them a tad tinier is not always easy for me. First up are these recent photos from  Minami's IG page and she's had so few from the past couple of weeks but did enjoy some time with her semi-Nogi mentor and she's been too easy to overlook these last few years.... check the video at the bottom of the post with this dynamic duo! The bottom five photos are from today's birthday concert but as mentioned tomorrow's show is the biggie! Sure that's when Minami will announce who will be taking her crown for being Nogi's captain, bet my prediction is wrong but think Nagi would make for an excellent fourth captain. Looked at the setlist and the group only performed 27 songs, their catalog must be over a hundred tunes by now so too much talking and not enough performing?

 What'd been lacking as of late are new Nogi group cards though they tend to be released in bunches and there should be some for her graduation. It being May have some older cards below for the month and the bottom five are ones for Minami's second book which sadly may be her final set of gravure photos....

 The "Shitsuran Kurata" drama began on March 31st, to date eight episodes have aired and have them all. What's surprising is that the series is being subbed even though it's not a mainstream show as it airs at 1:00 am. It's an okay show which is mainly a romance/coming of age drama, I've viewed the first two episodes and the first was really just kind of so-so but the second one was a better view. But a show is only 25 minutes in length so will view a few others, maybe I'll enjoy it more if I watch a bunch in a row. Below are some screenshots from the second episode and in the drama Minami plays the lead role of Chinami, at one time she had been working at a floral shop and through an odd occurrence which only happens in dramas Chinami met her 'dream man'. Quickly the pair hit it off and even moved in together but just as quickly the romance sputtered out, that boyfriend split and since then Chinami has remained unlucky in love.

 In the present day Chinami has gone from working at a floral shop to getting a much better job at the fashion company ARCO. But Chinami's fortunes in love haven't improve and she would often spend her nights playing cards and getting sloshed with her two best friends. Hikaru was her guy friend and that's not a name I've seen a male use before, the third of the group was the female Ayase and all are 27 in age. In this second episode Chinami did appear to meet Mr. Right but during a dinner she didn't quite agree on the man's thoughts of how a couple should live but she should grab him for the man is a doctor and his family owns a hospital! If you've read my drama recaps you know I'm not a fan of romance shows and much prefer action/suspense/horror/fantasy types of dramas. But this series has been okay through two episodes and think I will finish it up as a show is only 25 minutes in length plus who can get tired of looking at Minami....

 For that "Shitsuren Karuta" drama Minami has done quite a few interviews to promote it, the below pics are from the Encount site and she is dressed like her Chinami character. Have the link to the interview and in it of course Minami talks about other things besides the drama: Encount site

 Didn't think it was going to happen and wish it didn't which is of catching up with all of Minami's modeling pics at the Classy site. Have posted hundreds of terrific photos from their site and have mentioned how the word Classy suits Minami so well. There hasn't been as many of these modeling pics lately which could be because of the current drama and Nogi graduation so hope they pick back up real soon. That top pic has been in previous posts and I'll never get tired of it, there's certain photos that are so stupendous to me and can't explain why, that first pic is definitely one of them....

 Don't have any new magazine spreads for today but Minami is the cover girl for the current issue of UTB and hope to have that for her next post. Let's go way back in time with this mini spread from the magazine's February 2018 edition, it was right around when Minami hit the age of nineteen and haven't her looks changed in 8 1/2 years????

 Will end off here and as mentioned Minami's second sizzling photobook will be posted on June 1st. It's such a large book so may have to whittle it down a bit or save some pictures for a later date, will explain it all in that post. Below are some pictures from the book and they do show why for over five years have been saying Minami 😍 is my all time hottest/sexiest/alluring Nogi member and wonder how she would fare against other Idols? After the pics is her final video at Nogi's streaming channel that features member's videos, believe me when I say it's a must watch and don't need to tell you why....