Kakizaki Memi (Memitan) / 1st Generation

Memi had the promo video on the album site today. Incredible little video full of natural expressiveness and simple elegance. Where did this new-found confidence come from? Her lines are: "Do you know what day June 20th is? It's the album's release-day."


if the video does not show watch the video here

One commenter said he ended up watching this over and over. Sounds like a plan, lol.

 

Here's another video featuring Memi: the announcement of added tour dates (two more in Tokyo for a total of ten). I believe Toshi-chan says that the tour has been sold out. Then Memi adds that, somehow, dates have been added. And they all cheer.


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Excellent MV for Kidaishiteinai Jibun. Very disappointing only to see milliseconds of Memi. But here I am to try to make up for it a bit, with screencaps of some of those excellent milliseconds of beauty, grace, calmness, expressiveness and determination:

 

Memi blog: Live concerts coming soon, in rainy June.

 

Maybe you thought I put a lot of screencaps in that post above. Well, that's nothing. Here's a blog post with more. Have to make up for the blink-and-you-miss-them length of her scenes in the MV.

 

Finding Memi is a job for few people.
And I never had that kind of patience.

I'm a bit unsure about the MV... I liked it but not so much to scream about miracles.
It has a very Keyaki feeling and Mirei's moves seems to have a link to Techi's, I liked the concept and I understand screentime is very very limited and yet it seems this is just one chapter of a bigger story... something that could be developed in future MVs and give Memi way more space than she had here.... who knows? One can hope, right?

 

well even if they put 1 frame of Memi in the mv, i am sure @ukifune will make a blog post about it in 10 paragraph + #KamiOshi

screencap from Bingo preview

 

Here's an interview from last September. I do the first part, which I don't believe has been translated yet. The interviewer discovers Memi's "gap moe" of being strong-willed and kind of masculine, in addition to her cute French doll aspect. She tried to get rid of that aspect earlier this year on Showroom, when she said that she planned to save being a French doll for her next life. Lol. But then it came back on Hiragana Oshi. The interviewer calls her "macho."

 

A good few hours for Memi. On Showroom, she was really very relaxed and natural. Very present, even able to express her opinion that although she liked the album title they chose (from several suggested by Aki-P), she would have liked to have "Hiragana-chan" in the title. The Sasakis are two members she is relaxed around. She was almost as relaxed as on her Memifi Showrooms.


if the video does not show watch the video here

On GanaOshi she was not prominent, but was shown telling us that she, too, would like to have a photobook and that she would like the title "Snow Princess Angel," which was a nickname she had in elementary school. Not that she's actually an angel, lol. Awkward elementary-school English, but memorable.

I prefer her natural reactions to more performed reactions, but it's the extreme reactions that a director wants to show. Her natural reactions worked much better on Showroom, where you could see her transparently thinking and feeling naturally, the very thing that got me interested in her in the first place, two years ago. Not that she's not performing, too, just in less intense and more relaxed way. Her natural calmness was another thing that struck me way back then, when she was 14-1/2 and appearing to an audience for the first time.

It was a very few months ago that I still thought she would simply be overwhelmed and silenced by the fast talk from other members on a Showroom with Kumi, etc., like this. Not now, especially with a script to follow for part of the time, lol.

And she was very, very cute, as tweets about her so often limit themselves to saying.

 

Did everyone notice the little wink she slipped in during the Showroom? A "secret joke" wink, without anything around it.

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1003260346713309184/pu/vid/640x360/uPRCW6p0BSan6is8.mp4?tag=3

One of Memi's trademarks is looking straight into the camera, making open, calm, direct contact with the audience. I've noticed other members looking into the camera more in recent weeks, Nao in particular, and it was part of the choreography for a number of them in the MV. But not for Memi. Sigh.

I liked the way Memi kept glancing at Neru in the Showroom. She really likes and admires her, I think. She was the first I noticed calling her by nicknames, such as Neruko. Neru just posted a pic of herself with Memi in Keyaki Message.

 

She may have spotted a comment from a viewer that asked her to wink. A lot of times the seemingly random little stuff the girls do are in response to the comments.

 

@ukifune found a Memi fanart for you



source

 

Thanks. Hadn't seen that.

What I am seeing from Japan is an eager take-up of the nickname "Snow Princess Angel" that she mentioned on GanaOshi last weekend (with an ironic smile) as a nickname from elementary school that she would like to use as the title of a photobook. People have been especially eager to use the short form she mentioned: "SunoPri." And there are some mock-ups of the cover (none using recent photos). I like the English-language one best, lol.



Comments from the Yokohama lives are quite positive about Memi's voice:
-- Memi's voice was really nice. I had no idea.
-- Memi's live singing had good volume and an excellent feeling of stability.
-- In Tricycle, the Snow Princess was really good.
-- Memi's voice might have been a bit nasal, but the harmonies with Mii-Pan were really excellent

I felt that in the a capella episode of KeyaKake last year, Memi was about as close to in-tune as anyone except Kyonko and Pon. So I hoped that would carry over -- and improve -- at these concerts. Memi posted in Message a couple of months ago that she wished her voice were louder. I think that meant she was working on making it louder. Even before that, she said she was working on her singing so that she could someday do a solo. Being in tune is pretty important to me. I really can't take most normal live idol singing, which is usually just a bit too much off-tune for me. That's why, unlike many people, I tend to prefer the recorded, autotuned sound.

I continue to be amazed that her handshake slots aren't sold out more quickly. Three slots sold this week, but three more left for the fifth sales period. Popularity is a mysterious thing. Or maybe it isn't. Handshake fans seem to have definite preferences in looks and in talk and handshake styles. Memi may seem a bit young (even if she isn't) and not eager enough to please (more interested in repartee than service).

There was something in the KeyaROOM two weeks ago that I liked (there were many things, actually). When people were telling what their hopes and ambitions were, it finally got to Memi and Mii-Pan and Mii-Pan said something like: "Well, as for us, we just look forward to enjoying the coming week. Right?" And Memi agreed. One, I like that "happy aura" attitude. Two, coupled with Memi's rather intense praise for Nao-chan, what it meant to me was that Memi is okay with not being centre, and is happy to support whoever's there. She earlier said that she never wanted to be centre, but once she was given it, didn't want to give it up. She's featured as centre in several songs on the album extras preview videos. From a couple of things I saw in those previews, I started thinking of a youth combo of Nao centre flanked by Memi and Miho, on some song in the future.

 

Memi blog post: Nagoya handshake event dresses, reports; Paripi pics; Neru pic; more pics. A handshake guest reports that Memi said she was still "super close" with Hirate, and has been all along.

 

I swear those two.....
(loving the pic with Paripi btw)

 

I could be wrong, but I think it's likely that Memi, Techi, Hina and Paripi all go to the same school (wherever it is and whenever they have time to go). The first three would be in the same grade, and Paripi a grade ahead. Actually, I expect that most of the girls in high school go to the same school. From discussions last year, I think that there are two schools members go to, one sort of average and organized so that numerous entertainers can go, and one at a higher level, to which Neru and Yone went.

 

Special posters that can come with the August issue of UTB magazine, which comes out 23 June:



Memi-Hina have the cover and a 15-page gravure, wearing "doll fashion" in an English-style mansion. There's also ten pages each of Mii-chan and Akanen. And a 20-page separate "mini-album" including MikuxNao and offshots from a previous Neru gravure. And there's a special extra of a poster of MemixHina, Mii-chan or Akanen (randomly chosen). The magazine appears to be #3 with a bullet (or in this case a crown) on Rakuten. If you buy from Rakuten you also get a (randomly chosen) postcard of either Memi or Neru. Whew.

I love that right-hand pic of Queen Memi, lol. And Hina is rising fast. Her straight cuteness is an arrow to the heart of a lot of fans, it appears from comments. She and Memi seem to actually be friends, and they are billed here as two 16-year-olds who are like French dolls and give a transparent feeling.

 

Memi and Hina on the cover of UTB

 

Memi blog post: she likes the name "Memiipan" for her performing unit with Mirei, but it appears she likes "Furansu-Pan" ("French Bread") even more. A photo with Neru, a photo with Mirei, and excitement for the Wednesday release of the album.



I'm really looking forward to the UTB gravure. From the little smile we see on the cover and in the poster, I think they are letting Memi be herself, exuding calm pleasure rather than forcing bright smiles.

EDIT: I've added to the post a fantastic gif I found of Memi getting Ozeki to listen to her voice on the album. It's too big to post here, unfortunately.

 

fanart of Memi



source


https://twitter.com/keyakizaka46/status/1009032612684296192


https://twitter.com/keyakizaka46/status/1009006901558833152

this is the outfit that Memi showed on Bingo4 for exchanging gift with Kumi

https://www.wunderwelt.jp/products/w-29219

source

fanart of Memi and Kumi



source