Kakizaki Memi (Memitan) / 1st Generation

Whoa, @ukifune that first Memi pic above is really "dangerous" now I am imagining a SnowPri photobook. That would be nice.

I remember Memi had a strong showing during the Re:Mind drama - if she could channel that into anime voice work, it would be great. Memi as a seiyuu...why not?

Now, a Cat Day without a pic of Memi doing a nyan or wearing nekomimi is pure injustice. Here's hoping...

 

Memi used Message to get the Cat Day message across. Great photo of her as a sleepy cat, with an amazingly cat-like look in her eyes. She says that her father sent a slew of LINE messages featuring cats in the morning. "I thought: we really are father and daughter." 5ch is fascinated by her father, who it turns out is in regular communication with Kyouko's father (they said so on Showroom).

 

I'm getting quite excited about the possibilities. On GanaOshi a few hours ago, it seemed that Memi was featured, not just in a yukata on the show, but prominently in a couple of clips of the group performing. I think they're pushing her for something. Could it be centre on the single? Or a drama?



I'd say Miku, Nibu and Kono-chan are getting some push, too.

Next week on GanaOshi: Memi x Manamo bum-sumo.

 

Memi Mama. Apparently from the Black Sheep video extras:





Smiles all round. Especially on Memi. (To see larger, hit the "d" that shows up at the top left when you click on the image.) Still photos:

.

Memi Madonna, that left-hand one.

 

From Bemiho-chan blog.



She looks so cute.

 

Still no blog post, but other members are helping out. Besides those great pics from Miho, there's this from Kono-chan. She said Memi and Suzu-chan were all over each other. Those two seem to have become good friends (actually, the first we heard of that was around a year ago or more, when they went together to an UVERworld live):



But Memi was prominent in the Showroom announcement of the new single, and then just blew the doors off with her performance in GanaOshi last night. She and Manamo were competing in "bum sumo," but they quickly turned it into a burikko performance/competition. And the opening mic-throwing challenge was hilarious, with Memi pulling out her acting skills to show reaction to what Manamo said. They worked wonderfully well with Audrey, who gave them time to perform and then tsukkomi'd them for not competing, lol. As someone said, the group is all learning to be bokes to be tsukkomi'd by Waka-chan. That second-last pic shows Memi winning the sumo. The last pic is a Memi double-whammy, wink plus tongue-loll, celebrating her win. And showing that this is performance.

Spoiler: animated gifs

Here's a little gif from the Showroom, showing the group performing the calls they have designed for Kyun!. Memi's right there dead centre. Everyone wore a pony-tail. I've posted the whole thing, with the whole group, in the single thread. AND I just found a version centering on Memi (with Manafi and Kyouko). I'm so happy to see Memi right into being part of Hinatazaka46, with her early resistance clearly diminishing:

Spoiler: animated gif plus video

if the video does not show watch the video here

One more pic, from the Black Sheep video extras, of Hiyo-tan and Memi getting on the bus to go to the video shoot.



No blog post, as I said, but Memi has posted some outstanding pics in Message. Click to enlarge all photos here except the gifs.

I had convinced myself that a Memi centre was a possibility, so I was a bit disappointed in the formation. But Nao-chan's excellent. I think there are plenty of people in this group who could centre it, and I'm pleased to see some of the 1gen "veterans" up front -- and of course I'm glad Memi's still up there. Looking at the line-up, I thought that almost all members of the group could be put in the front row without a problem. But I'm still hoping to see Memi at centre some time. She is developing so quickly: in variety right now, and in singing she grew a lot over 2018. Huge growth in self-confidence.

 

Interesting observation in a 5ch post: Memi is a "cool burikko," which is "a new type of character." Thoughts? I think she's an actress performing burikko, rather than an actual burikko (if there is such a thing). Her triple whammy of right wink, tongue lol, left wink was not just effective but admirably complex.

Miho has posted another Memi image. They look great dancing together in the Kyun MV.



Here are some shots from the MV (via 5ch):

 

Modern artist Kakizaki Junichi 柿崎順一 has long been reported to be Memi's father. He has dropped hints in tweets over the past couple of years, but now it appears he has decided to just let everyone know it's true. He posted a tweet 19 hours ago with a pic of Yokohama Arena, emblazoned with his daughter's picture (and those of all the Hinatazaka members):



He posts mainly about art shows and meetings, and always posts twice: one in Japanese and one in English. He has had numerous art shows and art performances in Sweden. He specializes in using flowers and plants in art, and also does floral design for big events. The first time I realized he probably was her father was when she posted about gathering mushrooms, and then he posted about gathering mushrooms around the same time. And he is from Nagano. Posters in the 5ch Memi support thread call him "Papa" or "Father-in-law", lol.

He has been mentioned twice that I know of by Keyaki-chans. Memi said in her first appearance on KeyaKake that she was in her rebellious phase and hated him for petting her all the time. And later Neru said she had met him and really, really liked him. He and Memi are clearly quite close. She says he LINEs her every morning, usually with cat pics and videos, and sometimes just emojis. But when she was applying for the auditions, she didn't let him know until the last minute, when she needed him to take her to Tokyo: she knew he would make a big deal of everything. At the start of GanaOshi, she said the person she most admired was her mother. I imagine Memi knows the trouble an artist husband can cause, lol. Here's a not-very-recent pic:



EDIT: He has now (7 hours ago) tweeted a similar pic with the text "HIRAGANA KEYAKIZAKA46 LAST LIVE HINATAZAKA46 DEBUT COUNT DOWN LIVE" and with his daughter's face framed by branches of a tree (keyaki?). No doubt remains (unless he's her uncle, lol). How must it feel to see that little daughter's face up there in lights?

 

April EX Taishuu, coming out 15 March, features Memi and Kyouko on the cover and also other Hinata-chans (Mao, Meimei, Buu, Hiyo-tan). There is also a MemixKyouko poster and clear file-folder (and a Buu poster):



It's ironic to see Kyouko and Memi so apparently intimate after seeing Kyouko so, so upset with her a year ago when Memi invaded her Showroom and romped around. But their wonderful Showroom together a month ago showed that Memi has matured and Kyouko has cooled down.

Memi continues incommunicado. No blog post for almost two months. No Message for a week. I think she probably doesn't know what to say. Still getting used to the new name. Probably knew about Neru's graduation before it was announced. Now her father has admitted who he is. And she was madly preparing for the lives, in her majime way.

I continue to be amazed at how few magazine appearances Memi has. Her choice or management's or the magazines'? Since I think of her as the most attractive of all the Hinata-chans, of course this seems inexplicable to me, lol.

Here's a brief video from a Wednesday morning news show. The latter part is the little comic interview where Memi uses her burikko tricks to get Toshi-chan to break a serious face and smile:


if the video does not show watch the video here

It was a wink/tongue combo that got her. And it apparently also made Kumi and Miipan's skin crawl, lol.

Did you notice Nao-chan's wink? Previously, Nao assimilated Memi's staring into the camera (not that it's unique, but Memi does it more than anyone, and better). Now it's the wink. I could feel as if Nao was stealing, lol, but I prefer to feel that Memi keeps making these important little contributions to the whole group's style. At Memi's first wink, you could hear one of the TV hosts bursting out: "Kawaii!" A few shots of Memi from the lives:



And finally, three shots of Memi with her great friend Neru:



Backstage before the two lives this week, Memi was weeping before they went on, and was also weeping during Hiragana Keyaki, if not more songs. This is not a simple name-change for Memi, it appears, but the death of a part of her life. She recovered, but it is clear that she remains upset. Neru's graduation must make her feel even worse.

From Suzuka's blog:

 

Memi went and spent the night at Neru's "flat," as Neru called it in her Message. There's a pic of Memi's face in bed, close up, and a pic of the upper part of the two's faces, with them lying very close together in bed. From mid-forehead up, lol. On the bed, you can see the shadow of their hands (Neru's right, Memi's left) holding the camera above them. In the pic of their heads, Neru calls herself "Nerusuke" (which would be a man's name) and Memi "Memi-tan".

Neru says Memi coming both made her happy and helped her out. Perhaps Neru has just moved into a new apartment. Neru says she spent the time giving pajamas to Memi and telling her to get a grip (at least that's how I interpret "mou mattaku" with an emoji face with pursed lips).

In the Sakidori feature about the Debut Countdown Live concert, you can clearly see Memi weeping as she comes down the staircase in front of an image of Neru. And it wasn't just Memi weeping as they did -- perhaps for the last time? -- some of their Hiragana songs.



Memi hasn't appeared in many magazines. But that appears to be changing. Suddenly last week we learned of three coming up: cover and feature gravure with Kyouko and Katoshi in the Weekly Shounen Champion for 28 March. A special edition of BLT magazine featuring Hinatazaka, coming out 28 March. And in another BLT coming out 23 March.

And Memi is featured much more in the Joyful Love video than in any previous one (not counting the new ones), at least since the early days when she was double centre with Neru.

And I don't know if this is as big a deal as I think it is, but Hinatazaka is working with the big Shibuya 109 fashion mall in a campaign including a ten percent discount for students for a few days at the end of March -- just the time when the single goes on sale:



Part of the promotion is a bag with drawings on it by all the members. Memi's cat-Memi and (I think) Take-chan's archer are the best, for me:



Memi has never gotten the praise I think she deserves for her drawing. She may not be the greatest draftsman, but she manages to convey character and attitude in most of her drawings. Note the wink, the two sets of ears, etc. And there is simply an artistic quality to her work. In my opinion as an art-lover, lol.

 

Memi-chan and Kyouko-chan will be cover girls on EX Taishu next month issue.

Here the preview pictures.






EX Taishu Web.

 

With no new blog post from Memi, but too much new material for a post here, I've made a blog post with new pics, comments from Japan, pics from the Memi-Kyouko gravure (kindly posted by Xiphyas above), and info about Memi's father.

 

Onward and upward: Memi and Kono-chan will be regulars on an NHK Education show broadcast for schools during school hours. details here. I think this is a really important thing for the group.

One 5ch poster wants to encourage NHK to do a documentary on the flower artist who has represented Japan and his daughter, the idol.

EDIT: From the recent Magia Record signed poster event at Tower Records Shibuya, four of the top performers in the play (actually everyone was good, lol).

 

Memi fans' hopes are up for a drama. NHK Nagano has released a promo for a locally-produced drama. No info on plot or cast, but it will be set at Suwa, in Nagano Prefecture:



Suwa is the site of Suwa-Tokyo University of Science, where various scenes in the Kyun MV were recorded. A relationship has already been set up....

Neru's participation in a locally-produced NHK drama in Nagasaki seems to have had a big effect on viewership. I hope to see Memi produce a bit of the same effect in a Nagano drama.

 

From Kumi's blog:

At the pairs handshake event last week in Nagoya,
I was paired with Memi...



Memi enchants fans without speaking.
I was really interested in how she did it.
But even there right beside her, I didn't get it.



This is after Memi bashed her leg
And was cooling it against a metal door.
Even during treatment, she did not rest from being burikko.



Note: I'm not sure I see any burikko in that pic, just Memi's inescapable personal attractiveness. Maybe she said something at the time. Here are a few quotes from handshake fans that might explain what Kumi couldn't see:
-- just hearing Memi's voice bewitches me
-- her very existence is bewitching
-- she's even nice to virgins
-- after saying hello, I asked her to "fish" me. She gave me the most wonderful wink and brought her smiling face closer to mine. I had prepared things to say, but they all vanished. it was great.
-- Mii-pan's shoulder still seems not have healed (note: they were a pair in Thursday's Osaka handshake event), but our princess just continued in normal operation, making people fall in love with her in an instant
-- when Memi's eyes met mine, my heart seemed to stop
-- one guest says she was feeling down when she got to Memi, and Memi noticed, expressed sympathy, and said she wanted to hug her (note: the handshake set-up prevents this -- and I'm just guessing that the guest was a girl).
-- twitter‏ sekkatijaime: Kakizaki Memi is an idol among idols. She's so cute that at the handshake event I was shocked that such cuteness existed. And add burikko to that, and fishing. there is unimaginable power in seeing such cuteness. was the word "cute" invented for her?

Personally, I might add different explanations: that her gaze seems able to create a direct contact with the audience. I think the burikko stuff is like shock treatment to help people feel the eye-to-eye direct contact. And I am always impressed by Memi's inner calm, which is probably what allows that feeling of contact.

And unlike most idols, I just about never see any hint of fear in her eyes. Like in Kumi's in these pictures. To me, Memi is the happiest part of the happy aura. It just comes welling up from inside her and she does not have to push the appearance of it with any kind of forced smile (although she has now learned how to do that when she needs to).

In Message a few hours ago, Memi recommended the YouTuber KouichiTV. YouTube Twitter -- surreal humour aimed at a high-school and college audience. She says she watches every day.

She also recommends kombucha, a slightly fermented drink made from seaweed -- in particular, she recommended umekombucha, a kind including dried plum. This is not to be confused with the "kombucha" now sold widely in North America, which is fermented tea given the wrong name, lol.

EDIT: I've made a blog post of this. It's basically all the same info as here, with bigger photos (although clicking these will show you larger versions).

 

I enjoyed Memi's SHOWROOM with Kyouko on 5 Feb so much that I have laboriously made a sub of it. Hope others enjoy it, too:


if the video does not show watch the video here

Memi and Kyouko are both really funny in their different ways, and they get along very well this time. They talk about many things, among them:

• Hirate Yurina -- Kyouko tries to promote the romance, but Memi says she's not sure whether she has anyone whom she is really in love with, or who is her number one. "I like what I like." But if she were in love, "Yuri" would be the closest.
  
• studying for school – Memi says that right up until time for the show she was studying, and lists the subjects: English, Modern Literature, World History, Foundations of Biology.
• handmade Valentine's chocolates -- Kyouko is impressed when Memi says she used to make chocolate macarons every year for friends and family. Memi says Kyouko should try it. Kyouko says she can barely make cup ramen, so macarons are out of the question.
• persimmons (“kaki”) – Kyouko says the fruits she doesn’t like include persimmons. Memi’s surname Kakizaki means “persimmon slope,” and Memi is very funny expressing dismay that Kyouko doesn’t like them.
• fathers – It turns out that, unbeknownst to the two girls, their fathers have been in touch with each other, at least by LINE.

When Memi speaks, she can come up with phrasing that sounds both cute and elegant in Japanese. I hope I have been able to convey some of that in translation. Kyouko has a more straightforward style, but is a real conversationalist. I remember how hilarious she was cooking with Neru.

I've made a blog post with the video and a number of notes about the show.

EDIT: I've moved the video to YouTube. It seems to be working now. Please let me know if you have any problems.

 

When I try to watch the video it says "Publishing in progress, video will available soon."

 

Thanks for letting me know. Reload and try it again. I got that once, but reloading fixed it. I'll look into what can be done to improve things. DailyMotion is a bit clunky. Maybe I'll find another place to put it.

Meanwhile, the version on my blog seems to work smoothly.

 

I been meaning to mention too, it still says publishing; on your blog as well. I tried multiple browsers and what not to no avail

 

Thank you both. I've moved the video to YouTube. It seems to be working now. My apologies for your trouble.