1. Check the 2023 Stage48 Member Ranking Results, how did your Oshimen rank this year?

Alice Project

Discussion in 'The STAGE48 Idol Emporium' started by Sadia23, Apr 3, 2014.

  1. SummitSlimegirls

    SummitSlimegirls Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Location:
    Montréal, Canada
    KAMENJOSHI 『RIOT☆DAISY』

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    KAMENJOSHI 『POPPING☆SUMMER』

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    KAMENJOSHI 『Fanfare☆』

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
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  2. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    It might have to do with whether they continue in the industry or remain somewhat public figures. Erina, Yuki, and Misa all continued their social media (different accounts though) almost immediately after leaving despite going into normal talent activities, politics, and freelance acting, respectively. Maki might be a closer example since she stayed hidden for around 4 months before making a post on her old official blog, and now she just does normal people stuff, along with hosting a cheki session with a futsal game.

    This is the first time I've liked all the new songs. Riot☆Daisy is especially fire.

    Tomoka wrote the lyrics to Fanfare☆, and Maipu did the choreography for Riot☆Daisy (Maipu has also returned to the gravure scene, with bigger boobs this time around).

    P.S.: Shihori is really, really hot.
     
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  3. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    I really enjoyed all 3 songs as well! I am liking Harumi with the blonde hair & Fue is moving UP for me! Nice to see current & former members working with new material! That's interesting about Maipu (who was always noted as having wealthy parents) returning to gravure FruitPunch, does she go by a different name now not 水沢まい?
    Hmmm... Doesn't look like it https://twitter.com/coco_mai52
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2020
  4. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    Yes, I actually think Harumi is much cuter with blonde hair. At some point late last year I realized Harumi is very cute, promotions really do make the members grow. She had gotten permission to dye her hair back in June and she did just a basic brown, but I think last month she went full blonde, she even says herself that her personality brightened up after lightening her hair color. Her and Satsuki are more or less the same age, but it's neat to see the gap between both of their images, Harumi being cute like a small animal, and Satsuki being more sexy and showing herself off. Fue is probably one of the members to pay attention to as she's Steam Girls' best dancer aside from Yuuka, and last week it was revealed that she's Steam Girls' vice leader.

    After Maipu did the one-day comeback live with Nodoka and Juban, I thought she'd just go back to being a normal person, but in May she restarted Twitter, and this month revealed to be a part of a well-known gravure agency, R. I. P., and even hosted a photo session. It's probably not her real name but yeah she's still going as Mai Mizusawa, occasionally she writes a blog post in English.
     
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  5. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    ^^^Thanks for the very informative response FruitPunch! :D I appreciate it!
     
  6. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    Making of the 3 new song music videos:

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    Aside from the bikini shots, my favorite part is Ao trying to peek up Maopi's skirt. (Supposedly Ao also kissed her in a couple places later on)

    Recently they performed the 3 new songs at Kawasaki Club Citta during a multiple artist live last week, I have to say it really fires me up when they perform on a wide stage in a big hall. The day before, Shihori did some practice by herself, but got lonely and called in Seri and Maopi to help, and their practice really paid off. Shihori probably danced the best she did in a while. I have some problems with them doing such an important thing not at PARMS, but I had fun anyways. The new songs really make it feel like a new chapter has begun in KJ history.

    On 9/19 Saria, Mitsuki, and Ao joined White Milk and Cherry Blossom respectively. I think that Saria and Mitsuki both fit the image for White Milk, but I don't think Ao fits Cherry Blossom. The funniest thing is that Cherry Blossom outfits are quite revealing, and Ao was too tall for the original outfit so she had to get it custom made, if she wore it as-is, she'd probably get arrested for exhibitionism since it looked like an ultra minidress. The new Armor Girls formation has Saria promoted to the front left standing next to Moa and Waka with Ao and Mitsuki in the back.
     
    • Informative Informative x 2
  7. SummitSlimegirls

    SummitSlimegirls Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Location:
    Montréal, Canada
    Cerisier West「Flying Summer!」MV

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2020
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  8. Oddball82

    Oddball82 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Hitomi Momose
    While I write this it is at my location still the 30th, but in a few hours Momomin will wake up in Japan on the 1st and for the first time as a free woman, no longer bound to the rules of the idol/talent world (except for her mandatory "stay away from sns" period) I know I said I would write sooner but I am a man that believes that everything has its right place and time and writing earlier then this just didn't feel right.

    From the moment Momomin graduated to the last chat I had with her last Sunday I have logged around 20 hours in her LiveOne (by the way, I can now register a foreign country instead of a Japanese prefecture, however liveone still doesn't accept foreign names [a name in kana is mandatory], foreign adresses and foreign telephone numbers). I think over the time I started talking with her on LiveOne till our last chat I must have logged hundreds of hours and chatting with her had become a part of my weekend routine.
    Suffice to say that I am going to miss that girl a lot the coming time.

    We have talked about a great variety of subjects these last few sessions and I tried to keep the chat as normal as possible, I did not wanted it to turn in a overly sentimental thing (although we offcourse had those moments to, maybe later more about that) as I am genuinely happy that she is going to have a free life (atleast as free as Japanese society let´s it be. I am well aware that the "free" in my country is a different "free¨ compared to Japan [just to compare: next year I am facing up to 39 days of paid vacation time, almost 4 times as much as Japanese people usually get])
    However, except for her going to Oita to visit her parents and grandparents, she hasn´t said anything about what she will do in the future. My guess is that she either doesn´t know or that she just isn´t allowed to tell about it. What I am sure about though is that she will keep living in Tokyo. One thing that I noted is that, once she had her graduation she didn´t refer to herself as an idol anymore but as a talent and sometimes even looked annoyed if people called her an idol. She also said that after the 30th she also wouldn´t be a talent anymore.

    The last session I talked with her was offcourse, even though we tried to make it not to hard, a bit of a sentimental one. Even though we hope to get the chance to one day meet again we both agreed that it was a sad day when the reality hit that this would be our last chat.
    I did ask her what she would do with the free time she suddenly would be getting, when she said she didn´t know yet, I adviced her to pick out a lot of Netflix movies/series and buy a good amount of icecream. She liked that advice and probably this is what she is going to do for the first few days/weeks.
    She bought a new schedule book (Moomin themed) and said she did had a good amount of things scheduled.
    She currently is completly hyped about a new kpop group called "Enhypen", one of her regular female visitors (Shinopi) is also hyped so it was very funny to see them go all crazy about it. I did some searching on them so I could talk about it with Momomin, it made her happy I showed interest but she also agreed that, as a man, I did have some trouble listning to their songs (having men/boys sing things like "i run to you" etc. isn´t really something I like).
    She said she eats to much Korean chicken.
    I complimented her a lot, on various things to which one of the other visitors replied that she should tell me KamenJoshi has lots of other cute girls. I replied to this buy telling what other girls I will go cheer for next time in Tokyo, who currently, 3 out of 4, all have short hair which Momomin teased me about. Like asking in a teasing way if I liked short haired girls even though she knows how much I like her long hair :p
    I did say though that I didn't think that any of the girls currently have the ability to take away the Kami-oshi title away from her, for this I was rewarded with a big smile.
    We also talked a bit about how I look at girls/women as she was curious about that. (Momomin concluded that I look at "balance" and I don't think it is a bad description)
    At 23:50 (jst) she said "10 minutes left" like she always does, seeing I still had around a 1200 points left I told her that I had some last things to say, after saying those things and sharing a bit of sentimental moments, I deicided to spent a good amount of these last points towards gifts and when 24:00 started I still had some 200 points left which I wanted to use today.

    HOWEVER...

    After sharing a few words more we suddenly realized something: The chat wasn´t going to end at 24:00 but at 25:00!!!
    I have never seen Momomin so horrified when she realized what happend and she apologized way to much for it. I told her not to worry and that it was good to end things with a funny memory. We agreed that now we definetly should meet once again to make up for lost time and I told her to spend the money from the gifts towards some nice icecream.
    Then the last moments just ticked away and I managed to take a picture of the literal last second I would see her on LiveOne. I ended the chat with the same words as I always say goodbye.

    On the subject of, because I mentioned this before, Momomin and I saying that we wanted to meet again. First of all, I know to take this literally is for 95% wishfull thinking, the other 5% is the hope that it might be true. Offcourse we said this to each other to make saying goodbye easier and who knows, maybe we both might indeed bump into each other in the future, if that is in real life or online is up for the gods to deicide though. However, when she said that she is going to miss talking to me I have no doubt it is true. She has said more then once that I am the only one who, on regular basis, would come to visit her for more then an hour and even between an idol and a fan, if you talk so much as we did, some form of bond will form.

    All in all, for me this is the end of an era in life. I had the joy to really get to talk and know an idol, something I never dreamed of of happening when I bought my first ticket to the Kamen Joshi cafe. Some of you, through my reports, have been with me in this journey and I hope you enjoyed it.
    With the departure of Momomin this also is the end of my LiveOne reports. Sadly LiveOne, as mentioned before, doesn´t allow me to properly register the required adress and so I can't buy points anymore.

    I will stay active in this thread, but with the only acces to the members being twitter the amount of things I can talk about will be greatly reduced.

    For now, have a good one and see you again soon.
     
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  9. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    Thanks Oddball82 for your truly heartfelt last virtual trip with Momomin, I am sure like myself, all of us have enjoyed your story time, and sharing your experiences with Hitomi, I always thought she was easily one of the best members. I look forward to your continued presence on the forum... I will be interested to see who peaks your interest next even if she is not a new kami-oshi lol.
    AND you never know, you may run into her again someday, I can tell you I ran into her (or actually spotted her - I may have told this story already lol) by Shibuya crossing in 2018 when she was out shopping (must of been her day off - on a weekday) on my way to a taiban, wearing some of the same clothes that she wore as civies in the Daily Alice youtube videos. She stood right out to me, even in that busy area, due to her trademark good looks! I was too far to say hello and probably would not have anyways (her day off - although I have chased spotted idols down the street literally - ask Spark Speaker lol) I also spotted 3 members of Ladybaby that day (Rie, Emily, & Nana) as they walked by me giggling with umbrellas while I was eating at a restaurant near where they were playing an "all-girls show" also in Shibuya about a 1/2 hour after the Momomin sighting.
    *Luckily I met them all last year & had a group cheki taken at Mawa Loop before they went on hiatus but that is another story lol.

    Oddball's post inspired me to write a bit more lol.... As it's momentous times like this that I reflect on my own former KJ oshis, as Anna was always my original big fave, followed by Moa. I always had a top 10 Golden (SSA) era bunch of girls... and as time moved on I realized how much a loved Sora Kurumi (you guys all know this) and how surprisingly hard her graduation actually hit me on it's announcement, one of the hardest of ANY idol graduations for me because I saw her as KJ's future, and thought she left their ranks & opportunities WAAAAAAYYYY to soon. Especially when I see her current status, as she works at a maid cafe mostly now and I think Alice Project could have given her much more (& better) opportunities (Ultraman was such a good opportunity) & who knows what else they could have got for her, but I digress. I'm just a guy who really wanted the best chances for her because I liked her so much. ~_~ As I think about my top 10 KJ members now... with steadfast members like Moa & Nanaka (who was not in any of the new KJ MVs btw), & newer faves like Maopi & Satsuki... & future Japan cheki targets like Fue, or Harumi ...my KJ journey still has a long way to go lol.

    Now a quick question for our lucky man on the floor, the mighty Fruit Punch, this year I understand is different of course, but in the time before the pandemic, which 5 KJ members (not including cadets etc.) in your observations were the LEAST popular members? Have I asked this before? hmmm...maybe I have... I am always curious about this lol... As we can always see the more popular members from week to week in ranking tweets. But I wonder (especially as foreign fans) if our perceptions would change, & we would like other lesser favored members more if Daily Alice had continued as regularly as it once was... I bet it would, as it would give more opportunity for some to shine. For example, in my 4 years being a KJ fan, current member Mia (no offense) is the least memorable Tokyo member I think ever for me, she doesn't stand out in the sea of KJ awesome sauce & I don't know why.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2020
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  10. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    @Oddball82
    I'm glad you were able to get the most out of your time with Momomin. I am always thankful that I can still meet my oshimen despite everything going on. I will say that I will miss your reports as they were fun to read and gives a view into a world that I'm not part of. On the last minutes of Momomin's final live one day (last night, perhaps I should say this morning), Shihori was doing live one, and it's been a while since she called for people to come in since nobody was coming, and it turns out everyone had been at Momomin's live one to send her off. (I had already said my goodbyes to Momomin at her White Milk graduation, so in my case I was finishing work before a midnight deadline). When I came into Shihori's live one people like Bucchi-san came in too (Bucchi-san is very kind, he gave me an extra ticket he had a few weeks ago for one live since it was a Shihori celebration day, and he managed to get a "day of" ticket (they are now usually only reservation only), as I was only able to get one for the 2nd live).

    I will hijack this part to say that I went to Shihori's live one 3 times in 24 hours, and she was still streaming when I woke up, so I managed to catch her before I went to bed and right after waking up, a rare occassion. She was also wearing glasses, something that most Japanese girls won't usually due in public. It was only 10 minutes, but I'm glad I got to see her before I left for work. She had been staying up because she needed to get points? She attempted to buy the remaining points with her mom's credit card, but failed and so had to spend the rest of the time streaming. Makes me wonder if they have quotas or something for Live one.

    @blurryeyes
    As for Sora, she does have a role in a play lined up this month, so theres that to look forward to. I honestly don't know how Sora thought of me since during (what I thought was last, now likely to be second last) my last Armor Girls cheki at Misa's graduation, Sora basically just wandered off instead off listening to what I was saying. A couple months ago I got a twitter DM from her saying to come to her maid cafe (I want to go since I didnt go to her graduation, but I don't really think it's super safe to go), so I'll probably go when things die down.

    As for the 5 least popular members? Pre-pandemic includes some who were cadets before, so I'll make two lists.

    For least popular members that were KJ before the pandemic and after:
    Saki Mitsuki
    Riru Kuwana
    Mia Miyase

    After this it gets kind of fuzzy since members like Yurie are lots of people's #2 oshi. I do agree with you that Mia lacks a little presence in KJ, but recently I saw her posting pictures of her going to the gym, and she's in charge of training Slime Girls, so I think her time to shine comes later. As for Riru and Saki, Riru came into the picture just 2 years ago, and back when things were still at 7F, she only had 1 or 2 people in her line anyways. I, like most people, do like Saki, but I wouldn't put her as my oshi. She only really has like 2 or 3 dedicated people for her, unfortunately. From an otaku aquaintance I know who went to her birth fest last year, I was probably the emptiest one he went to.

    For the current KJ? I'd include Mitsuki Sena, even though people are slowly flocking to her. Her birthday fest goods went on sale and they were not even close to being completely sold, so I feel kind of bad for her.

    It's hard to use the weekly otaku satsifaction ranking since there's only 40 people (times 2) allowed in to vote per day. Shihori does have a fair bit of fans, more than Yurie from what I remember, but lately it's usually me, Bucchi-san, a Moa oshi who has Shihori as his #2 oshi, an Ao oshi, and 2 of her fan club leader otaku that come to KJ cafe to see her often.

    I have more I want to talk about but saving it for later.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2020
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  11. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    Thank you Fruit Punch, I hope you do go see Sora at her cafe someday when it's safe again & tell us about it. I would like to visit her at the cafe when Japan lets foreigners in again (if that is still possible, as it may be a loooooooonnnnngggg while unfortunately.) First year in 4 that I have not been able to visit the land of the rising sun, but not in my control.

    Thank you very much on your input on the least popular KJ members. Riru is probably my current least favorite member (no offense to her) for various reasons, but I do like Saki & think she is funny... I already spoke of Mia, and I used to like Mitsuki a lot when she had cadet rainbow hair, but she has become totally bland to me now, I considered getting a cheki with her last trip, but she did not impress me live on stage at all (she is pretty though).

    Now for the birthday of a national treasure...

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2020
  12. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    So most these stories are almost 3 months old already and I don’t quite remember most of what went on but here they are.


    So back when they did the re-opening of PARMS, Shihori did a live one session the day after. Tickets sold out within 20 minutes, so at least I got into her live one. At that point they hadn’t released the schedule from July 20 onwards (probably due to virus uncertainty), but I put in a vacation day for the 27th just in case. During that live one I asked her if they would have a live that day, but she said it’s most likely going to be Cerisier, and I got kind of sad since I wouldn’t be able to meet her on my birthday (last year they were at an event where you get splashed by water, those unfortunately were all cancelled this year). I told her that if she did live one that day I’d go, and she said “If I can I will.”


    Fast-forward to the 26th, (I had bought tickets to the event on the 25th, the 26th, and the 28th as a sort of birthday present to myself) I asked her to do a “7” pose, and she immediately realized that it was for my birthday. At that time she told me she’ll do live one the next day for my birthday. I had to wait until sometime after 9pm, but she started it up and I ended up staying for two hours or so. I can’t remember in detail what we talked about but I was really happy she did it for me. Last year was an outdoor live where you could splash them and get splashed by them with water, and I was able to meet Misa, Hino, and Yurie miraculously, but those events all got cancelled this year, so I’m glad I could meet my oshi, at least digitally.


    On the August 8, Steam Girls did a trip to Mishima Skywalk in Shizuoka prefecture for the fireworks festival, so they did 4 lives starting from a little before noon to all the way in the evening. Most of these events were cancelled, but I’m glad this one I was able to do something “summery” this year. (I will say that going on a trip in the middle of a pandemic was a little concerning, and I took as much precautions as I could. Funny enough, I got a weird tan on my face from wearing a mask all the time). Since it was outdoors, photography was allowed (no videos), so I decided to rent a zoom lens for my camera and take as much pictures as I could. I think the last time I took pictures at a live it was at PARMS photography OK day in April last year. It honestly was really hot outside, and even though they were wearing sleeveless outfits, you could tell the members were sweating it out too. I think they did 3 Steam Girls songs for every KJ song, which I’m thankful for. At the very end they were supposed to do destiny as the final song, but because the cheki session lasted too long, they had to cancel it, instead everyone lit their penlights yellow for Tomoka Igari since she couldn’t come.


    I put some pictures here.

    https://twitter.com/p01samurai/status/1292295727511568384

    Some of my favorite Shihori pictures here.

    https://twitter.com/p01samurai/status/1292432182359633920

    They also did recorded a junketsu of the event (Shihori makes a really dirty joke here, when she goes to put the stick of meat in her mouth she says “You think it’s okay for me to put this in my mouth?” in a sort of “too lewd to show” manner haha… I think she knows she’s more of the sexy type rather than cute)


    if the video does not show watch the video here


    The most important thing to Shihori that happened in August was in the 2nd last week, as part of the 2 year anniversary of her becoming the main personality of a radio show (and as part of the 8th anniversary of said radio show) they created a radio play. Shihori’s dream is to be a voice actress, so she really wanted people to listen. Her radio show runs every week, and you can listen to it for free through a phone app or internet radio streaming everyday (it’s prerecorded so if you miss it you get multiple chances to listen to it). The radio show is Shihori+cadets (once you become a full KJ member you graduate the show), and I feel like it’s a chance to let the cadets grow by giving them a job. At the beginning of the year the show was Shihori as main, with Saria, Mitsuki, Wakaba, Rena, Otoha, and Kanna as sub personalities. Saria and Mitsuki left sometime in January, but they were given roles in the play too.


    Anyways, the program is only an hour long, so the radio play itself was only 38 minutes long. The production was put on hold due to the virus, but they managed to get recording done in early summer. There were other normal actors hired as well, and each role was assigned via audition. In the end, Shihori got the main role, Otoha got the secondary main role, with Mitsuki getting next most important role. Every other member got bit parts.


    The plot is basically Shihori plays an assistant high school teacher during WW2 Japan, with Otoha playing one of her students, and Mitsuki playing that student’s university age granddaughter in the present age, and how the war affected them. Shihori has been part of Alice Project’s acting group for years now, so it’s not surprising that she did really well. There was also a very touching moment where she makes sort of a heartfelt prayer for the safety of a guy going to war, basically in tears. I was very impressed with her acting. It was Otoha’s first time acting ever, and I must say she did a really good job. There was something a little unpolished about it, but that worked in her favor since she was playing a high school student. After hearing her performance multiple times, I now have a better opinion of Otoha. The biggest shocker was Mitsuki though, it was also her first time acting, but she totally captured a university student. Probably next to Shihori she did the best, and I think acting comes naturally to her so I was also very impressed.


    Moa Birthday Festival 2020 report


    As blurryeyes has posted above, Moa played bass wonderfully all throughout it, while appearing in every unit. I was actually there at that specific one, my seat was the perfect Shihori seat, left most seat in the 2nd row (Shihori gave me lots of looks, which I am thankful for). I have to say I really liked that she did flute this year too. It’s still unfortunate they have to cut 3-4 songs due to air exchange time. I must admit something, and that in the Prism with Slime Girls opening act, Coharu was basically right in front of me, right where the acrylic board doesn’t cover, and the Prism sailor outfit top is just a little to short for Coharu, a girl who is very skinny and fit, so I got a full view of her very fit stomach, which basically caught my attention the whole time… I saw a tweet from someone saying that they also watched her stomach for 75% of the time haha… Later on I admitted this to Shihori during live one and she said “I don’t blame you, Coharu’s stomach is out of this world.”


    As much as I love Armor Girls, I think that I get less excited to go if I don’t get to see lots of Shihori, something which has changed since last year. Mitsuki designing the T-shirt customizations was a nice touch too. An interview that came out later said that Moa is not currently thinking of graduation, and she didn’t make it seem like it was her last birth fest either, so I think we’ll be okay for a year maybe.

    Other reports later.
     
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  13. Oddball82

    Oddball82 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Hitomi Momose
    first of all I want to thank @FruitPunchSamurai once again for his great input.

    The question of @blurryeyes about the least popular members is an interesting one, seeing as during my last visit I deicided to support Saki Mitsuki. Sadly I know why she probably isn't popular. In terms of looks (compared to the other members) I just have to be honest, there are a lot of better girls on stage. However I do think she has a great aura on stage and a willingness to accept who she is and still have fun on stage and I think that is worth some support.
    I will never forget her face when, during the last cheki I got that trip (group cheki of Juban) I told them that I wanted her to sign it, she clearly didn't expected that.

    Sena is an interesting case. She has made a compleet 180 in terms of image. It´s like suddenly leaving your rebelious (puberty?) nature behind and suddenly going for the classy girl look like Momomin was. However such a change offcourse comes with the price of loosing all the fans that liked that rebelious image and getting a new fanbase with being all classy and pretty is hard in a group where being pretty is one of the selling points of something like 90% of the members (offcourse not the only selling point). She will have to try real hard on stage to win over a good amount of fans.

    I think calling Moa a national treasure an understatement. Everytime I went for a cheki with her I was reminded that this truly is the embodiement of a Kamen Joshi idol. I am glad that she hints at wanting to stay for a good time longer.

    Talking about the embodiement of Kamen Joshi we offcourse have to think of the center, Morishita Mao. Today I got a pleasant surprise by getting a twitter notification that she started following me (I already follow her for a long time). In itself not that really special but seeing she (like most KJ members) is pretty carefull with followbacks (I think I remember something that followbacks were connected with all previous KJ accounts being terminated by twitter?) it is a nice thing to see. In concern with her being a center: in general I think she is doing a great job, but she is hampered by her young age that just doesn´t allow her to go full out in her job. It will be interesting to see if she can do more once she turns 18.
     
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  14. AloNeko

    AloNeko Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2015
    Only Kamen gods knows ,,,

    Anyway where is Alice#10??
     
  15. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    I think Mitsuki's image suits her better now (most people were saying that she fits the traditional idol image of cerisier more than KJ (which she was originally part of). The classy look also is better since she's supposedly from a well-off family (maybe not as rich as Mai's family is). After looking at her birth fest goods sold, I think it's safe to call her one of the least popular members (there are quite a bit of yellow penlights during Armor Girls, but she's likely those person's 2nd place oshi). She is quite pretty though, I was very tempted to get a cheki when she had twintails or a ponytail. And yes, Saki's lack in popularity is likely due to her looks, but (it sounds cliche and cheesy) she has a lot of heart, and is a hard worker. I find it kind of sad that when she did a makeup video on tiktok people said many hurtful things like call her "gorilla" and "ugly" (when she told the story herself, she did it in a funny way so I had a nice laugh, and Anna+Mayu+Maki+Mana were known as "gorillas" long before anyways), but she doesn't let it get to her. She also earned the solo part for Popping Summer despite being in the 3rd row (possibly due to her own hard work, possibly due to her being from an island in southern Japan). Mao should be in her last year of high school, so once she graduates, she'll be allowed to stay beyond 10PM (not that lives can go on that long anymore due to Tokyo restrictions), and she'll be able to appear in the Countdown Live. She says she won't move onto university since she doesn't think she's smart enough for it, although I do think she's selling herself short. She's on the "model" path for Alice Project, but I kind of want to see her in more movies since she got bit parts in those.

    Yuno Mochiduki and Wakaba Yamagami are graduating from KJ and KJ cadets.

    Wakaba's reason is due to the coronavirus (and other unsaid factors). Yuno wrote a very heartfelt blog entry about how she just became an idol on a whim and didn't really think too much about graduation until she kept seeing the people before her constantly graduate. Also, she is still a university student, and when she talks with other students they mention things like finding a job, insurance, living independently, etc. and became concerned about her own future. She realized that she cannot keep going like this just doing things she finds fun, and she doesn't have a bigger goal as an entertainer, so she's going to work on her future. Sometime a couple weeks ago she dyed her hair pink, and I thought that was the most shocking thing to come from her in a while, but looks like graduation is a much bigger shock. I'm a bit sad since she really improved every time I saw her, and thought she could help support Easter Girls with Ao gone.

    Waka Nozaki Birth Fest 2020
    So there was a small chance I could've become a Waka oshi, especially due to her being Armor Girls, but I was drawn more to Shihori. That being said Waka is very cute and I do like quite a bit, so I went to her birth fest. She joined in every unit, and I liked her hand picked setlist (I went to the morning edition, which I think had a better one than what was broadcast, since it had Cherry Blossom). Waka also designed really cute outfits for Armor Girls. Waka has an absurdly bright smile and I think she's two steps away from Armor Girls center should Moa leave (while her dancing improved a lot this past year she could be better, and her fan treatment is kind of iffy).
    While I do like Waka, and it is fun to talk with her, she can be very blunt sometimes. When I took a cheki at her birth fest she was like "Yurie designed the banner over there", so it seems she hasn't realized I switched. A Yurie oshi otaku aquaintance of mine, who also is a fan of Misa, began waving his penlight for Waka after Misa left, had Waka say "but you're really a Yurie oshi arent you?" to him during cheki time.
    I should mention that when he told this story to me, another one of our otaku aquaintances said "You should go cheer for Moa instead" and he responded with "I can't, since I'll get real into her." and he mentioned how Moa's fan treatment is next level. When he'd get select cheki's of Misa+Moa, Moa would always say "Is it really okay for me to be in it?", and he mentioned that's the reason she has so many fans. I also feel kind of the same way since she always managed to chat me up during photoshoots, and it's really fun talking to her. My last Moa select cheki with Shihori (I intended it to be a sort of "I'm devoting myself to Shihori and so probably will not take anymore cheki with you" sort of deal) had her telling me "Isn't it wonderful you were able to find an oshimen?". Also, she surprisingly reads fan tweets, since she mentioned to me a tweet I made about Misa's last photoshoot (which she wasn't even part of and I had never mentioned to her before).

    Last month, Shihori and Yuuka both celebrated their 1 year of being Steam Girls leader and Center respectively. Shihori herself always says that she is supported by other members and doesn't make a good leader, but I noticed that she tends to put other members first, and thinks about the overall impact of the group rather than herself, which I think is perfect for a leader. I used to be against Yuuka moving back to Steam Girls center but after time passed, I don't think there's anymore more appropriate other than her. She has a good combination of ability, fans, popularity, and is very kind during fan encounters. Thinking back, she was part of Steam Girls when they were strongest with Maipu, Sara, and Yuuka together (I happen to like this Steam Girls the most though). Shihori also celebrated her Slime Girls 5th year stage debut anniversary a couple days ago; looking back she's changed so much (she calls herself fat during that time, but I think she looked pretty cute). As an aside, I had lots of fun and was so happy to see Shihori loved by many people, but I got the far right table seat both times, the absolute worst spot to see her since it's the complete opposite of her position (she gave me some looks and pointing though, I'm happy she noticed me despite the whole place being filled with white penlights). At both celebrations, the head otaku of her fan club asked if I wanted to be in the fan group picture they usually do and post on twitter afterwards, and I'm glad I get to join since it truly makes me feel like a fan (even though I can't really do much aside from be there).

    As a small aside I find the fan club names for each girl very interesting, here's some of them:
    Moa→Tsukino Light Music Club
    Waka→Waka-chan's
    Yurie→Hashimoto Research Seminar
    Yuuka→Yuuka Clan
    Shihori→Yukino Empire
    Mao→Maopi's Forest (Morishita means "under the forest")
    Saki→Jellyfish Island
    Tomoka→Igari Family
    Saria→Saria Shooting Star Empire
    Erina→Erina Family
    Momomin→Momomin Observation Squad
    Misa→MissaMisa People

    Almost caught up with reports, should be caught up soon.
     
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  16. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    I know I was happy once the mighty Maopi started following me shortly after her last birthday. :blush: She is one of my very favorites. I admire her dedication to KJ but think she is selling herself short with University. It makes me wonder how she is treated in High School, does being KJ's center make her more popular or disliked, I have heard such things can work for or against you in school with other students.

    Fruitpunch's posts always offer a lot of food for thought, like that epic list of fanclub names lol. Mitsuki's background, Saki handling unkind remarks, Waka's bluntness (my only nitpick with Waka - who is a very nice girl, is that she OVER sings when she lip syncs the songs - as in opens her mouth too wide while pretending to sing - which makes it look even more unrealistic), Moa is as amazing as ever...

    Anyone watching ex-KJ members Kanon & Mana's new channel "MMM," noted as the past KJ funny girls (although Kanon was the much more entertaining of the 2 imho)

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
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  17. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    The 3 new songs debut live 9.24.20!

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
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  18. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    I will occasionally watch videos of past KJ members YouTube channels, but I don't quite often. I occasionally watch Mishan's channel since she's still cute and does interesting stuff. Mana and Kanon are both really funny, and last summer Mana and Kanon did a talk event which I came to see which was reminiscent of a talk show livestream Kanon used to host as KJ (I've been planning to translate it someday...). I've only ever gotten 2 chekis with Kanon, but she's always been kind to me (she used to do (and still does sometimes...) very questionable tweets though that's a topic for a different time), and although I've thought Mana was cute, she's never been "warm" to me with the 2 chekis I've gotten with her. It's rude to say it, but she also looks very different without makeup, and she posted on her Twitter a photo of the weight she had gained making her stomach jut out pretty far (she's always been teased about being "fat", during her time in KJ though).

    Maopi hasn't mentioned much about her current high school life (I think she should be in her final year? Time sure flies) except she does like English class from what she's said before, and it's her best subject. She wrote a blog post a few years ago when she graduated middle school (shortly before, she had become a full KJ member), where she mentioned after the graduation ceremony to her classmates that she's a member of KJ. Apparently, a good number of them already knew due to rumors since she never told them up until then. Sometimes I wonder whether she enjoys her school life since back then weekdays were focus entirely on school, Friday take the bus from Nagano to Tokyo, then the entire weekend was Slime Girls/Cadets activities, with pretty much no time to make friends/spend time with any school friends she had made. She now lives with her big sister in Tokyo and goes to high school here, so it should be much easier, but KJ has been bigger in the public eye these days, so even though she has a stage name her classmates probably do know about her (I do think she probably hasn't told them directly). Mao writes good blogs for important times like that, so I'm a little sad they don't write them as often anymore.

    Speaking of the high schoolers, Yuuri (even though I think she finished high school this March) has caught my eye recently. A recent #10 MC had Mayu talking about being into "lateral thinking puzzles" (hard word problems that require different ways of thinking, and asking questions to figure out the puzzle), and doing one with #10 members. Yuuri was able to figure it out after asking Mayu 2 questions, when the rest of them didn't figure it out before they ran out of MC time. The next MC they did, Mao asked for another one since she wanted revenge. This time Yuuri figured it out without asking any questions, which surprised everyone. Only Saki was able to figure it out as well after they all asked many questions. I like people like that so I've started paying a bit more attention to her. She's also become very pretty over time, and even though I'd probably never make her an oshi (mostly due to Juban being my least favorite unit out of the four, and being a Shihori only oshi), I do want her to succeed. Everyone says that her and Mao are practically polar opposites since Mao is very outgoing, and Yuuri is more of the stoic type, and I've also come to that realization. At the live last Monday, she tripped right infront of my eyes when moving across the stage over Seri's legs landing on her side. It's been a while since I saw that kind of accident during a live, but it's good she managed to get up, move to where she needed to go, and do the cool rap part despite falling over (she's also substituting for Nanaka, who has recently only been there at cheki time). Apparently only Riru and Mayu noticed, with Seri apologizing profusely when she learned about it.

    Yuuka Kojima Birth Fest 2020 (morning version)

    I managed to get a seat right in front of Shihori again, so that was great. The theme was "Yuuka's History" so Yuuka joined in every unit she had been part of up until now. Shihori also got a lot of stage time so I'm thankful for that. Yuuka's mom also handmade some additional accessories and outfit additions for each unit handmade from some of Yuuka's old clothes, Steam Girls got leg warmers and arm sleeves amongst other additions. Yuuka's very good at dancing and is very friendly, so I can see why she has so many fans. I didn't go last year, but I'm really glad I was able to go this year. I was able to take a select cheki without masks (because I had bought a backup "2nd cheki time" ticket in case I didn't get in) so story time:
    [​IMG]
    I took this because both Satsuki and Shihori have nice long legs, and when I told this to them (Shihori already knew) Satsuki said, "Most guys like my boobs, then butt, but liking legs are how I know you're a well-grown pervert" haha...

    Magazine Sign Event

    So they restarted the event where you can get the magazine signed by the member that appears in it (it costs 1000yen to enter, and you must bring the magazine yourself since they don't sell it there), and they held it right before Satsuki's birth fest evening part. Previously, you could join the event without the magazine and just go there for a handshake, but they have stopped the handshakes for now. I had bought the pachinko magazine that Shihori and Mayu are regulars in back in May, so I was able to get in. The theme for that day was "Autumn Date Outfit" so they all wore pretty cute outfits (incidentally, the last time they did the event, the theme was "Spring Date Outfit"). Shihori wore a very cute outfit with a beret, and I'm pretty weak to girls in hats so it was perfect for me. The biggest shock was Saria came in there wearing a hoodie, which I thought nothing of, until an otaku aquaintance pointed out a little while later, when she opened the hoodie, that she was just wearing only a bikini. Saria recently became the host of the Princess live stream, which also includes a gravure photobook every month or so, inheriting the position from Hiyori. She had also done a gravure photoshoot last month as well. It doesn't come up often, but Saria has a pretty good figure. She's a bit taller than the average Japanese girl, and she has a decently sized bust. I myself almost fell into the temptation and took a cheki of her... (in hindsight I should have; Shihori also went over and started snapping pics of Saria with her phone once she took off the hoodie, haha).

    Satsuki Mine Birth Fest 2020 (evening version)

    Initially I was a little upset since I had gotten the seat in the front, but on the far right for the third time in a row once again the exact opposite of Shihori's spot. PARMS is really wide, so I had to constantly strain my neck looking left. There was no special outfit for anyone, but Satsuki wore each unit's outfit. Armor Girls started, and Satsuki wore the pink armor, and it suited her really well, I hope when they do an outfit shuffle again they have her with it. It was also this time where I realized Satsuki is extremely cute, and she'd fit into Armor Girls no problem. With Juban, she wore the pink version of the outfit that looks like a net; you can tell she's on another level because aside from Mayu, her boobs were bouncing quite a lot... I personally loved the hand picked Satsuki setlist since it had my favorites for each unit. I used to think Satsuki was the serious stoic type, but she looked like she was having so much fun and was just altogether being cute and pleasant. I had fun despite not having such a great seat.

    Fue Mizuno Birth Fest 2020 (livestream)

    I had things to do today, so I didn't see it in person, but I watched the livestream. Fue told everyone they could do whatever outfit they wanted to match the T-shirt; Shihori wore skinny pants and the beret and parted her hair like Momomin did which was really pretty, so I immediately contacted someone I knew who was there and asked to get a cheki for me haha. Fue also wore the pink armor for Armor Girls, and because she's pretty cute and good at dancing she didn't look out of place at all in it, or during Juban either.

    I think that's it for reports for now. What's coming up next week is an outdoor photo shoot, unfortunately it's at night, and I heard that there's not much light...
     
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  19. blurryeyes

    blurryeyes Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2016
    Thanks for the wonderful & insightful stories FruitPunch, they are always a fun read & I always learn something new about all of our favorite girls!
    I found Maopi's & Satsuki's blurbs (& Satsuki's answer [hehe]) particularly interesting! The part about Yuuri too, she and Mao are always together (like that time I ran into them on the elevator lol)
    Has anyone ever seen that children's show Satsuki was on back in the day (where she was like a princess?) I remember seeing a clip long ago...

    Also Kanon's questionable tweets!?! :yikes:

    Japanese girls in hats are the best!

    I wonder if Saria wants to pursuit gravure further, seems to be at least of some interest to her. :flower:

    So what's the deal with Nanaka these days, not in any of the new MVs, only doing buppan... Injured? To busy with training? Phasing out?
    I find Nanaka always DEMANDS your attention when she performs & it's hard to take your eyes off of her, I dread the day she leaves.:blink:
     
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  20. FruitPunchSamurai

    FruitPunchSamurai Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Shihori Yukino
    So on Wednesday there was an outdoor Steam Girls photoshoot featuring Koharu, Yuuka, Fue, Satsuki, and Shihori. On the day of I was very skeptical and kind of in a bad mood since:
    • It was outside at night in the dark, and from what I heard about another time they did an outdoor one, there wasn't much light
    • It was over an hour away from where I live
    • It was pushed back from its original starting time 30 minutes, and then while I was on the way there they pushed it back another 30 minutes
    • I could only attend the 2nd session, and that's with leaving work early
    • Shihori was originally going to wear the outfit she wore for her birthday fest in the 2nd session, but since she had to leave right after the photoshoot part was over (without doing chekis), she changed it to 1st session and wore her regular clothes in the 2nd session so she wouldn't have to switch out from the outfit and go home immediately
    • I got there about 7:30, and had to wait until 8:30 for it to start, and while waiting, Shihori managed to change her schedule so that she could stay the whole time without leaving early (but that means that she could've worn the outfit during the 2nd session in the end...)
    • They bumped up the price by about 1000yen, usually indoor studios are 10,000yen and outdoor is 8000, but now it's 9000
    • There's no normal cheki session, 10 chekis are taken at the end of each session by the other members, they sign 5 random ones, then you pay 1000 for one of those random 10 cheki
    • You have to be at least 4m away from them (in hindsight this wasn't strictly adhered to, but there was at least 2m between us (normally it's 1m), I'm not too upset about this since there's a pandemic going around and their safety is #1, but still
    • Photography style is everyone circles around the model instead of lining up and taking turns, the model will pose and look at cameras at their own discretion
    Despite all this, I was surprised. They had a decent number of lights with them (although they were on battery, so a few lights died during the session) so it wasn't super dark, and the new style meant that you couldn't really request for poses, but I ended up getting more good photos since I don't have to wait in line. At first I didn't really try chatting with Shihori since it could mess up someone else's photos, but she started chatting on her own to everyone who came to her so I figured it was okay to do it. I stuck with Shihori the entire time because I felt that moving to another model's location would be a waste of photography time (each shooting location is surprisingly far away from each other) and that I genuinely only wanted to take pictures of Shihori, (Satsuki and Yuuka had nice outfits on though, would've taken some of them if it wasn't like this). I think I've changed from before since even during the Hino/Misa/Yurie portion of my time, I always took pictures of other members (ironically, every time I was at a Yurie photoshoot I always made a point to take pictures of Shihori too...), but this is the first time I've ever only took pictures of 1 member. Even though I couldn't take pictures of her birthday fest outfit, her clothes she wore were still really pretty, and honestly the outdoor part of it made it feel a lot like we were on a date (minus the whole other people also taking pictures of her part, haha). I rented a lens worth 100,000 yen since it was going to be dark, but I misjudged how far we would be (I picked a lens with no zoom and the distance for it was too far to take full body shots decently), so I mostly took close up pictures. I managed to have nice chats with her, which I wasn't expecting, and I took a lot of nice pictures, so aside from the cheki part, I was pretty satisfied. Also, when members are taking chekis of each other, you're allowed to photograph that too; coincidentally Yuuka and Shihori took chekis of each other, then did bonus posing for everyone together so I snapped rare pictures of them together since normally you can only take individual pictures of them. This photoshoot session only had around 10-12 people come though. What surprised me most was that the staff in charge emailed a polite apology to me about the event starting late and to improve the events from then on. Next month it will be 3 sessions starting from the afternoon, so at least one portion will have daylight.

    I'm curious, would you guys go to photoshoots too? They are pretty expensive compared to going to a live, but it's a whole different experience. In the past, lots of people joined them just to chat with the idol, and I can see the fun in that. I bought a DSLR camera over 6 years ago without really knowing how cameras work, and then a year later I took a photography course to learn, so now I have a small hobby in photography. Being to take pictures and chat with your oshi is therefore a win win for me.

    This weekend there were no lives at PARMS most likely due to 2 cerisier birth fests, so it was 2 days at Shinagawa Intercity Hall with other idol groups performing too.
    The venue was entirely chairs, first come first serve seating. Day 1 KJ was the very last group to perform at 8:30pm, so there was barely anybody there. I got to sit in the 3rd row and got a close view of Shihori (she said she was surprised to see me so close, I'm glad she noticed me), but I picked the wrong section and so Fue was blocking her 40% of the time. Day 2 they were at a more reasonable time of 6:30pm, but I ended up sitting in like the 15th row since so many people were there. I have to say all of them are working really hard, and the choreography for the new songs is really cool. I've always viewed Shihori as cute and beautiful, and sometimes sexy, but these past couple months she's just been really cool.

    While I like lives outside of PARMS since a lot of the time the stage is really spacious, I don't really have much interest in watching other idol groups (I didn't even think I would ever become an idol otaku), but what about you guys? I find that paying the entry fee for ~35mins of KJ isn't good value, but for people that watch other groups it's quite the bargain.

    I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I think you can find older Satsuki stuff like her audition for Morning Musume (she managed to make it to the final round before getting cut) if you look up her old stage name of Satsuki Miwa (三輪咲月). I still find it crazy that she's only 21; both Yuuri and Maopi met her for the first time as part of the "underage group" who can't stay past 10pm (they were surprised that she was underage).

    The program she hosts releases a photobook of her every month, so I think she'll be doing gravure for a bit (I'm not sure if she's interested in releasing DVDs, she might not have the figure for it maybe?) She actually wants to be a radio DJ like Shihori (who is the guest this month on the program).

    So I should've mentioned this way earlier, but a few months ago, Nanaka came down with a fever. There was an announcement saying that they tested her for coronavirus, and it came out negative. From what I hear, she's still recovering, but recently she tweeted she'll be coming back next month. There were also lots of rumors among otaku that claimed that Alice Project was covering up the test result and lying about it, and that might be possible, but I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt. Former Armor Girls Jun Amaki and Misa both caught corona a couple months ago; Jun managed to get better after a couple weeks, and Misa did as well, but Misa missed a stage play she was waiting to do (I wanted to see it, but didn't have the money, in the end it worked out okay). As you can see on Twitter and Youtube, both Jun and Misa look to be back to 100%.
     
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