Single Nogizaka46 11th (Inochi wa utsukushi) (March 18, 2015)

Nanase center I'm happy.

Marika and Asuka moving up also means massive changes for Unders, more so than the changes that've occurred in senbatsu. It'll be interesting to see the other girls get a chance to strengthen their roles, and how Sayu and Rarin will pull the group without Marika.

Now I'm just curious about Under formations, and I would also like to see if the Kotoko powerpush can result in a promotion.

 

hmm on the Shirata-Sayurin interaction, I saw another more detailed translation from nori-metal @na_fushigiyaro:

 

My reaction toward the senbatsu for this single.. well 18 member senbatsu was certainly unexpected.

Things I'm pleased with
I'm happy as long as one of Naachan,Ikuchan and Maiyan is the center so I'm quite pleased with Naachan being center again(although I wanted Maiyan to center this single if it's a cool song).
Asuka(So happy for her) and Marika have been really impressive in the UG.
Miona/Minami remain in the senbatsu

Thing I'm not all that thrilled about...

MisaMisa in the third row(she really need to enter Jyuufukujin at one point )
Ikoma in the second row/Jyuufukujin(she should have been in the 3rd row for this single)
Sayunyan not being in the senbatsu(While she will most likely get to center the UG again I really wanted her to enter the senbatsu this single.)
Iori in the senbatsu(Iori entering the senbatsu before Junna,Miria,Rena and Kotoko among the 2nd gen doesn't go all that well with me...)
Seirarin not being in the senbatsu(this is more of a bias thing)
Ringohime remain in the senbatsu(I feel that she should have been dropped out of this single senbatsu as a punishment before putting her back in the senbatsu again)
Maimai in the second row(She should have been in the front row for this single.)

 

I guess Sayuringo is too popular to be dropped out.

 

My prediction was SO CLOSE!!! so happy asuka and marika here!!!

 

The Good:

- Iori in senbatsu. As expected but still nice to see another 2nd gen addition. I'd like to see what mgmt sees in her so I'll be keeping an eye on her during lives and such.
- Hoshimina stays. Again, expected but still bueno.
- Bebitan and Ashurin. Expected a couple of returnees and these two make sense given what's going on in UG right now.
- Expanded senbatsu. It's about time.
- Sayunyan not in senbatsu. I thought they'd bring her back right away but I'm actually glad she'll have more time in front of UG instead of riding backrow senbatsu.

The Bad:

- Nanase at center. I hope this isn't a sign that she's now the fixed center with others being the variation when people (inevitably) get bored with the senbatsu selection again.
- Most of the interesting things happened in the back row. It's worrisome when even mgmt knows that that fukujin has gotten so stale that they go ahead and announce it first without any real flourish or suspense.

The Ugly:

- Ringo in back row. Tbh, I was pretty certain she'd be dropped completely and I think she knows how lucky she is that she's even still there.
- Misa is once again cheated out of a fukujin position. What exactly does this girl have to do to get in? She's popular, she's talented, she's experienced, she's easy on the eyes, she gets along with her peers... why do they insist on holding her back?
- Fukugawa at 10th position. She has been long overdue for a front row position. There's five and she couldn't get one?
- Matsui in front row. That spot should have been Fukugawa's.

 

one more reason why Nanase center is actually a good thing, after the whole Sayuri gate this is their 1st single since then so obviously mgm will want Nanase as center to get back those fans that was drove away by the scandal, afterall, Nanase is like the no 1 fan favorite, just look at her hs sales, mindblowing, also this explains why she said this is such an important single

 

What's so important about this single?

The front looks basically the same as usual. Bit boring, IMO. But hopefully the song will be amazing as usual.

 

Haven't seen the senbatsu episode yet, so i'm practically spoiled lol!

Like some i'm not that happy with Sagara getting the early senbatsu treatment, i was expecting Sasaki (or maybe Watanabe) but i guess she needed to be in the N46 map ASAP so she's going the Manatsu route, she's definitely gonna get haters for this but look at Manatsu now so if this plays out good for her then that's OK by me in the future i guess

Asuka & Marika power duo again at senbatsu, that's all well and good

Inoue most probably getting UG center again, that's good in my book, her center UG song was awesome

18 senbatsu members maybe means 2 more UG promotions for the kenkyuu's so i guess this is where Kotoko will end up and probably another one, hopefully Watanabe (yes i like her so this is bias lol!) ... and with Yamato's recent exit, probably means another slot open so i'm expecting 3 kenkyuu promotions in total

Nanase center, good, but IMO it's better with a rotating center with Hashimoto supposedly next in line but like i said, Nanase is cool, hopefully she gets a Kizuitara level song again

Matsumura at back row?, not really interested, though her slot would have been better spent on another 2nd gen or Inoue, but i guess her popularity is still present, dwindling, but present

Rena, i like her, but i don't like, scratch that, loathe the Kennin system, she's already way too popular for her own good, Kennin's almost always take a good spot deserving a regular team member, then again, Rena is great cause she's the only SKE member i actually like lol!

Wakatsuki taking back the fukujin is great, all thanks to Matsumura

Fukugawa needs to be in front, period

 

like @kk127 said, it's the single after sayuringo's scandal. nogi will need to appeal to the old fans they lost and to new fans. plus since nogi wasn't chosen for kouhaku last year, there's great pressure/anxiety about that.

 

Ashurin is in, that's done. (at least for me ).

 

Why would nanase be fixed center while last single was Ikuchan center? They are still rotating right?

 

Really if Rena's kennin never existed.... Maimai gets the #1 spot, Misa or Kazumin gets #10. Don't even want to think about the day when her kennin is over & people are fighting over who should take her spot

 

Sayuringo in Senbatsu was unnecessary. She's one of my favorite N46 members, but her scandal was quite a big deal and keeping her on Senbatsu only annoys fans more and creates a bigger pressure on her. Anyway, larger Senbatsu, yaaay. I'm very happy about Iori () and Marika/Ashurin (Going back and forth on Senbatsu was getting boring). Naachan being center it's OK. Nanamin would be cool for a change, but maybe next time. For UG, can we promote 2nd gen already? It's time.

Edit: Dante, OSR48 and rust have a point. Now I have to agree that, indeed, the best option it's to keep her on the back row of Senbatsu. The extra spot on Senbatsu also took away the idea that Sayuringo it's "stealing" a spot, so that was also a good decision from management.

 

why ikoma IS IN FUKUJIN? she should centre the 3rd row. between rena and ikoma, i prefer rena taking the spot in fukujin while ikoma can stay in 3rd row. she does nothing to the group except people know her face in which maiyan has done better job than her. she still can be in doko if she is a just regular senbatsu member. her spot should go to misamisa.

sayunyan may take the ug centre again.

 

My opinion :

FIRST ROW : BORING. Rena, Maiyan, Ikuchan, Maiyan, Nanamin. The members are the same as the previous single. Btw, I love naachan's reaction. She didn't hesitant to show her sour expression. LOL. and love her "Why (I'm the center) in this important single" And Maiyan. After Girl's Rule, Maiyan is always get position as #2. I'm afraid she will always be in that position until she leave the group. But, I'm happy that Naachan-Maiyan coming back as the top 2 \^0^/

2ND ROW : BORING. The only change that happen is Ringo out Waka in. And that's only because of the scandal. I like Waka more than Misa but I think I prefer Misa to be in the 2nd row. Based on HS, Misa is more popular than Waka. So, I think Misa deserve to be in fukujin at least once. And, I think Maimai should be in the 2nd row. She's getting more and more popular.

3RD ROW : Happy for Bebitan. Happy for Ringo. Hearing her comment, she still think negative about herself. well, it can't be help. It doesn't fans' fault. It's a consequence that she must endure because of her recklessness. Being in the 3rd row give her little spotlight, but her loyal fans can still see her.

overall : BORING but I'm Happy \^o^/

 

I dunno about y'all but I'm pretty stoked Saito Asuka is back in senbatsu!

 

Overall I'm not so pleased with the result tbh. I was expecting Nanamin or Maiyan for center rather than Nanase again. I prefer rotating center rather than having one member stand out. Even for Ikuta my oshi, I would rather her not centering this after the previous one. I don't mind for Maiyan though since it has been a while and she's clearly one of the most popular member.

Also the fukujin almost does not change at all (with exception of Ringo). Not only the members are the same, almost all of them occupy the same spot. At least they should rotate the position a little. Why are they so afraid to let Rena falls to 2nd row is beyond me. I don't think Nogi fans appreciate her taking up front line senbatsu spot from other full-time Nogi members. Does Ikoma in the front line in AKB single? No, so why should Rena?

As for 3rd row, I'm happy for Iori. And glad that Hori is still in too, I was worried that Hori would be out as some has speculated here. But I thought Sayunyan should be there too.

 

Very boring senbatsu and formation. They barely tweaked this single.

I like Asuka being in senbatsu. Other than that, they need to start removing more girls entirely and switching front girls to the middle and middle girls to the back.

 

On the "Sayurin should not be on senbatsu" topic:
Like what was said before, for me, I'd prefer Ringo at back row than placing her in UG. Placing her in UG would give a bad impression that being in UG is a punishment, which is unfair for UG members. Totally not including her in 11th single is not an option either as that might push her to graduate.