Kakizaki Memi (Memitan) / 1st Generation

Nice new blog post with pics of Memi with five of the second-generation members. They must all have been up in Tokyo for something, since it appears that the members from the provinces haven't moved to the big city yet (Hiyo-tan hasn't, anyway).

I'm glad to see Memi reaching out to the new girls. I was afraid she was so attached to her status as youngest member that she wouldn't eaily accept younger members like Hiyo-tan, who is now the youngest. Hiyo-tan turned 15 in September; Memi turns 16 just over two weeks from now.



Hamagishi Hiyori - Kawata Hina - Kosaka Nao - Watanabe Miho

 

Love to see them bonding and Memi accepting them so easily. Though, I think the 1st gen had the time to warm up to the idea of 2nd gen and are more than ready to welcome them in Keyaki.
Can't wait to see Hiragana going full force.

 

@ukifune wow Memi-Senpai took quite a few photos with the 2nd gen members #CaptureThemAll

 

@CutePanda -- "Memi-senpai" Lol. Has a nice ring to it.

@Dill -- For me, "full force" is the key. I feel positive about the new members, not just for themselves, but because they make the group stronger both in numbers and in talent of all kinds. I think the 1gens may be realizing that being a bigger group opens real possibilities for them.

There is, however some bad news: in last week's handshake ticket application period, Memi did not sell out any of her remaining five lanes. Thinking of her as I do, I really don't get this, but maybe there are reasons: 1. Seems too young; 2. Not enough like an idol (fake but believable smiles are hard for her to do, or want to do, I think); 3. Her subtle appeal (soft smiles, slow speech) doesn't get through to people when there are so many louder, faster voices around her; 4. Not a standard form of beauty; 5. "How dare she steal Techi from us?" I have to admit that if I hadn't got hooked on her from the time of the audition, I might not have learned to like her just from the little bits and pieces we see.



It makes me feel a bit better to see posts talking about how good her singing voice is. Someone just wrote that her voice is better than an idol's. I can't be sure, since I haven't knowingly heard it enough, and don't know what technical wizardry was applied on Soredemo. I do like the one line in Soredemo that I can actually identify as her voice (line 4: Nanika mabushikatta no darou ka). Anyone have more detail on who sings which line in that song? And she had a real voice in her KeyaKake duet with Kiku-chan, with some presence, and closer to in tune than all but 2-4 other members there.

 

New Memi blog post: Foound it! A poster of Yurina at Shibuya rail station. It's a big station, jointly run by three rail lines and the main subway company. I've also included the comic strip of Hirate, Memi and Neru that's going around. And some stills of the Techi-Neru pool play from the making-of video on the Zankoku na Kankyakutachi disks.

 

I can't stop thinking Memi covered the whole station just to find Techi poster lol
Like always, thank you for your translation

 

Memi blog: World's cutest Santa. With pics from Sunday's handshake event.



@Dill -- There are apparently a couple of the posters in Shibuya station. Fans have been tweeting pics of them both. The little pic of Memi in the second photos is a photo card being held in the photographer's hand.

 

Memi blog post: Memi with a puppy, plus Memi on the radio.



Link to radio show.

 

The BLT magazine just out (January 2018 edition) features all 20 Hiraganas on the cover and in the magazine. Each member has a feature page. Here is Memi's page, translated. She says Hiragana is excited to have such a big venue as Makuhari to work with, and that they want to make themselves a group that brings a smile to people's faces. She also says that her idal Christmas this year would be to go see the illuminations in some quiet spot on the outskirts of Tokyo.

 

Love the picture and the interview.
I have to admit, I love that skin tone on Memi.. it suits the - probably heavily distorted - image of a japanese princess I have in mind.

I read your comment after the translation and I swear, the more I follow idols, the less I get their fans.
Perhaps only in kindergarden you were dating someone based on where you two sat lol

Anyway, hopefully Memi will find a nice spot where to see xmas illumination; date or not (with Techi or not), being in a fully clouded space always takes away a bit of magic.
As for Hiragana's future, everytime I see them I think "they are growing so much..." so I don't doubt they will get better and better.

 

Memi blog post: Hiragana on the cover of BLT magazine!!!



@Dill -- Maybe if we get her in geisha costume or Heian lady costume I will be better able to accept the ghostly pallor. I also think of her as a bit of a princess, the pampered daughter of a well-known artist who only reached his peak after she was born. I think of her more as "Hime-san" than "Memi-tan." It tears at me that I can't post the Keyaki Message pics of her blowing out her birthday candles at home last weekend. Full princess mode, lol. I may post them in a couple of weeks, so they can be a come-on rather than a leak.

 

Please do.

 

Two videos of Techi and Memi. Not new, since the stills have been around for months, but I've never seen the videos. For the first, the Japanese tweet said Memi looked cute just listening to Techi, nodding and saying "yes." She made a lot of different expressions through the few seconds of that clip. Then in the other, Memi must have said or done something funny, since Techi cracks up and pushes her shoulder.

https://twitter.com/SSMK0813/status/936013126947893248/photo/1

https://twitter.com/SSMK0813/status/936013784417689600/photo/1

 

Kakizaki Memi blog: BOG magazine. Nice offshots of Memi. New penlight colours.

 

Happy Birthday Memi



source

 

Happy Birthday Memi!

 

Memi's birthday party is in full swing on Twitter. Peak hours of the day usually produce around 20-25 tweets about Memi (I follow a Yahoo search of Memi posts). Right now, the number is over a thousand.



One fan, @keyacrhyme, went from wherever he lives to the Zenkouji temple in Nagano, where Memi and her family greeted the New Year 11 months ago, and wrote an ema board congratulating her on her birthday and praying that she have a good year. He also posted that when he did the divination, he got "great good fortune" (大吉　daikichi), the same fortune he got a year and a half ago, at the time of her Showroom auditions, when he prayed that she be accepted. This is the most auspicious of all possible fortunes.

　　

Someone else posted the pic below left of a Memi button with a beautiful persimmon. The word for persimmon in Japanese is "kaki", the same kaki as in Memi's surname (which means "persimmon slope"). I myself tweeted the pic below centre, a cropped screencap from Memi's 20 August Showroom. And the birthday pic from the KeyaKise game (right) is getting plenty of postings, too.

 

beautiful pencil drawing for Memi



source

photos from Memi blog - Sweet sixteen♡





source

 

And here's a translation of her blog post. She calls the post "Sweet Sixteen," in English.

 

Memi and Katoshi on radio (12-4-2017)


if the video does not show watch the video here



source


source



source



source