Mori Kaho (Kahotaru) / 1st Generation

Mentioned it somewhere else, the common deal is for SHOWROOM to keep 80% of the income (which is shared between Apple/Google, the event sponsor if the broadcaster is participating in an event, and the SR site itself), and give 20% to the agency of the broadcaster (or the broadcasters themselves if they don't belong to any agency, for example most of the people broadcasting in the amateur section). From what I've talked with other broadcasters, agencies can take as little as 3% (giving 17% to the broadcaster) or keep all for itself.

A few examples: During auditions (Popteen audition, 48G auditions, Zipper auditions, etc): SR: 80%, Agency: 20%, broadcaster: 0% (since the broadcaster doesn't belong to the agency itself). In 48G case, Sasshi mentioned they get 3%, SKE48 Kohachan mentioned 1.7%, someone else mentioned 200 yen out of every Tokyo Tower (so it's unclear whether they get money out of every gift or only from Tokyo Towers). Tsukushi mentioned the agency and herself keep 17% of the total. In Kahotaru's case I believe TPS kept only 5% and the broadcaster 15%. They had a contract, which I guess implied a low salary. Everyone at TPS basically find job offers in SR.

Again, my only doubt is whether 48G members get a share of all gifts or only towers.

Kaho has been called Rikachan's clone since before joining STU48, so she's used at that. People say their faces are similar, which is kind of true, but she's shorter and plumper. Rikachan got two SR styles, a normal one where she stares at the screen, picks comments and replies them, and a depressed one where she just speaks without reading comments, usually crying, etc. Kaho got 3 main styles, a warai mode where she tries to pick up as many comments as possible while tsukkoming everyone, boke'ing people and laughing, a normal one which is similar to Tanao's main mode where she reads comments and replies to them (this mode wasn't as noticeable before since she didn't have that many comments), and a competitive mode which is when she's under pressure in an event (like during the audition). It's the normal mode of both when they are pretty similar, which is where I think both could be confused (considering "all Asians look the same").

Of course, you can't just join a group, become center and rank in elections by just "being similar to", you need to develop your own personality within the group or risk oblivion (Chiichan, Tanamin, MOUSA girls, etc). People will continue comparing her with Rikachan (especially newcomers), but I believe she'll develop a pretty different personality. For starters, she's acting as the link between the young and the older generations in STU48 right now, a role Katomina took in NGT48. We'll see how Kahotaru deals with the elections result, whether not ranking might hurt her as much as it did to Rikachan and Ogiyuka.

My real fear is that she runs with a great disadvantage, compared to most she has little knowledge about 48G. She wasn't a wota like Harurun, nor she learned the lyrics or dance steps as Cuca. While she got a privileged memory (back in her old SR I kept track of people visiting her, so when someone greeted her and she didn't know whether it was the first time someone came, I would greet them with either "Welcome back!" or "Welcome to Kaho's room!" and she would know how to greet them too. But sometimes I missed the mark, and she would correct me, and she never needed me to greet someone a second time, once she greeted someone she'd associate their avatar with their name) she'll probably have no problem remembering steps and lyrics, but that's not all, you also need to learn the tempo, which can only be done rehearsing time and again in front of mirrors and with other members around you. Not sure how much time she can spend there with so many extra activities (48H, AKB48 side B, TV programs, etc).

 

https://twitter.com/_rrue/status/863603744088313856
There should be a way to link to Twitter videos... Kouko spent the night at Kahotaru's house yesterday, and their broadcast was hilarious~

 

^ There's an alternative: https://twitter.com/i/videos/tweet/863603744088313856?autoplay=1
But I couldn't find out a way to make it embedded yet (if it's possible anyway).

 

"Dawn of my idol life"
https://twitter.com/_rrue/status/864494996782755840

"Kaho-chan had 117 Tokyo Towers in her SHOWROOM". That's kind of what we wanted when in the last day of the audition we had a 800k advantage and decided to push forward anyways, to get Kaho something to be remembered, something that even if you haven't seen her, you had still heard about her. Luckily she's building up from there.

 

In Japan's twisted mind, a BMI of 19 is considered fat, so Kahotaru began her diet project! She had done something similar between the first and the second audition, and went from 44kg to around 42kg. Now she was at 44.7kg (151cm tall), and during the day she lost 500 grs. Every day at 8:00 JST she will weight herself and update a graphic with her weight, her goal is to reach 40kg by June 1, her birthday.

Already told her several times, but the concept of losing 4 or 5 kgs in one or two weeks is insane, there's no way you can maintain that weight afterwards, and if you are doing a lot of exercise (she isn't, but she's doing lots of dancing) it might backfire. But well, it's Japan.

Rikachan mentioned recently that she was 40.4kg and 156cm tall, that's a 16.6 BMI, which she considers fat too.

 

Holy...if you use the calculator and input 151 cm and 40 kg, that's a 17.5 BMI which is underweight. 88 pounds is not healthy for a teenager. Also, losing 10 pounds in 1 1/2 week is a bad idea. There's a saying that "the quicker you lose weight, the faster you gain weight". Kahotaru should take it slow lol

If I'm not mistaken, Takamina was also around that weight and Takamina was even shorter

 

It's said that Asian have a lower BMI rate than Americans and Europeans, so what is normal for us is overweight for them.

Second day of her diet project. Compared to yesterday, she lost 0.9kg (43.8). So, apparently it's going fine. I just wonder if she's drinking enough water, the first kg you lose in a diet is liquid (it's impossible to lose fat in just one day, or even a week). Hopefully she told staff about this (or that they are paying attention) and are taking care of her physical condition.

 

I don't really think that Asians have a lower BMI rate. It's false that Asians are suppose to have a skinnier frame than any other people. It's just that they care more about their looks which causes them to go on extreme diets to look skinny.

I'm pretty worried about Kahotaru's diet. If she's cutting back on water (because if she drinks excessive water, water weight) and food, then her body is not going to be able to handle it. It will cause issues with her systems. Been there, regret it even now.

 

She once told us that she used to be overweight, but with diet and exercise she became thinner (I can't remember right now, but I think she lost 10kgs or so). Kind of worried because I'm guessing most staff in STU48 is rather new, so they might not quite be able to handle these girls yet. An experienced manager could catch certain changes in behaviour, but if the staff is new and treating new girls, they might not notice when someone is pushing herself too much.

 

Kahotaru's 2017 SSK Appeal Video

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Today she talked about that video. She's troubled right now at the way she should shape herself as a STU48 member. She wasn't nervous, but preferred to go with an "adult-like" behaviour for the appeal video so that the young members could go with the "carefree" one she has at Showroom.

It's hard, in her previous office she was one of the youngest members, so now being one of the oldest ones is making her reconsider how to behave, especially when she might lose when compared to young members (a carefree young member could be cute, a carefree older member could be seen as irresponsible).

 

I always forget how old she is, she looks so young and cute.
I hope we get to see her having fun with (the younger) members backstage and on stage, even though she wants to go with an mature image for official things. It works for a lot of girls. Being professional, but still having fun and being carefree when it's okay to be.
Unfortunately you can't see those things in a short appeal video ...

 

Wait, did AkiP visit her room this morning?

 

Yep, and threw darumas~ It took him enough time to finally greet her :3

 

Kahotaru decided to go full force (or better said, as much as her spare time allows) with this AKB48 SR Senkyo event, to get STU48's name in headlines. Harurun apparently isn't going to try, and the other members probably don't have the strength nor experience in the SR senbatsu, so it's just up to her~ Wasn't sure about it, but gonna try anyways.



She's currently at 3rd/4th position or so (I don't have Miku's data, but at 2ch they put her above Kahotaru right now):

Data is rather similar (I was without internet when the event started so I used data from previous day for Onishi, which is why my data goes above of the one from 2ch, whereas Rikachan and Kahotaru's data seem to match correctly). We'll see how she fares, she now got several events to attend (contrary to Onishi who's been rather free for the last year or so, lol).

 

. . . There is someone that actually surpass Hime? Holy...
Seem's like kaho is 3rd now. But the gap between 1st, 2nd and 3rd are too big.

 

Onishi is pretty much the winner already, since she got more free time than Rikachan. Kahotaru today was also third according to my information, widening the gap with the second (which I believe is Hinatan). This event is 3 weeks long, it's waaay too long. And they are going to get busier and busier.

 

Happy Birthday Kahotaru

 

↑ Today is Kahotaru's 20th birthday~ She has gone through so, so much in just 7 months...



Yesterday during the last portion of her broadcast, just before her birthday, when she mentioned the names of everyone in the platform the one who was first at that moment, Adotaru, changed his name to teamKAHOTARU. While Kahotaru was a bit bewildered at first, she virtually clinched the idea immediately and gave the #1 prize to teamKAHOTARU as a whole instead of a member in particular. It was a great way of reaching her birthday, letting her know that her team will always support her.



When you vote via mobile site, you get a message from the one who received the vote. Kahotaru started her message with "teamKAHOTARU, thank you very much for always supporting me". She said that she wrote the message thinking of "that" moment. There were many harsh moments, but two come immediately to my mind: when she finally decided to quit her office and try to become a member (that day it just happened, people started throwing a tower per each, making her cry more and more. We let her know we were going to support her) and during the audition, when we couldn't quite leave Harurun behind until the final day.

My small gift for her. Random memories including some very important moments since I started following her, back in November last year.



Kahotaru, happy 20th birthday! I hope she becomes a good adult, idol or not.

(Edited: Kind of sad that she has her birthday when the elections are running... which means she'll never be able to receive from us the special birthday presents unless she doesn't participate from it)