Hi everybody! I’m back to regular schedule, for now. I think that I won’t have a lot of free time in the next 3 months either, but I’ll surely figure out something to do about it in order to keep updating the blog regularly. As a side note, I got a comment yesterday from someone named Sutocu who said that this blog is “nothing special” So Mr/Ms Sutocu, don’t worry, it’s aim is not to be special, just a blog about my favorite idol group, so you’re most welcome to come and check it out every now and then, just for the fun factor, nothing special, really :D

Anyway, today I bring you guys the second part of Maririn’s profile And as I said before, I have Stage screencaps too, so you all can see the awesomeness that is Mariko live!

10. Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILbITvG9VRE Mariko wasn’t prominently featured in SNH’08 but still, she looks very cute in the moments where she was onscreen.

 

Hmm… this is the only one I could find of her XD But still, she’s rocking the long hair, right?

 

Special Stage Performances: Ok, so starting from A2, Aitakatta, we’ll take a look into Mariko’s best live moments! I left A4 out of it, because I’m slowly but surely writing that track by track review, so you can watch those screencaps there.

1. A2 - Namida no Shounan: This song is all kinds of awesome, and not just because Maimai pwned it! I like the choreography, it’s somehow very fitting. I was in awe when I saw Mariko in this, she was SO into this song, she nailed the mood perfectly, and when whe winked, she totally killed me!

She looks like she’s inspired… or something! She difinitely put lots of spirit into this one!

 

I don’t really know if her fierceness translates well into this screencaps, but I picked the ones that showed more… “oomph” in order to capture that special attitude of hers on stage

 

Ohhh!! The wink that made me swoon! This is the best wink I’ve seen in my whole life as an idol fan, because it wasn’t cute at all, it was very “come hither” and sexy

 

Sexy Mariko > you

 

2. A2 - Aitakatta: Mariko-sama has lots of energy always, which works perfectly for a bubbly song like this!

 

There is some sort of pointing fetish in AKB48’s choreographies… I swear that I’ve seen it n at least 6 songs, if not more…

*random* She looks a lot like Team B’s Kikuchi Ayaka in this pic! I like her expression, though

3. A2 - Senaka Kara Dakishimete: This song is one of my personal favorites, but it also shows what a push Mariko was given ever since she became a part of Team A, because the “All-Star Cast” of the time were chosen to sing this, and Maririn was one of them

 

See, this is why I think that she stands out so much in Team A. All the other girls were trying to be cute as hell in this song, but Mariko made it sexy! That’s so cool…

 

She only had one line, and it was great because her deep powerful voice was a perfect contrast to the rest of “cutesy” voices that plague this song (I have nothing against cute… but it can be a bit overwhelming at times)

 

All in all, I think that Mariko’s best stage so far was A2.

4. A2 - Rio no Kakumei: Whee! A song about the Rio de Janeiro Carnival! This is one funky number, and IMO, the catchiest AKB song ever! You listen to it once, and you’re doomed to have it stuck in your head forever.

 

Mariko is REALLY into the groovy carnival mood. Nice!

5. A2 - Dakedo…: I’m not a big fan of this song. I mean, it’s pretty and stuff, but too slow for my taste.

 

The only reason why there’s a screencap of this is because i don’t understand how the hell can she choose to hold Haruna’s hand when she could’ve held Mai’s instead…

 

Oh, see?… now she’s regretting it! I knew she would… silly Mariko…

6. A2 - Dear my Teacher: Well, Kiss me Baby indeed! I already said it, but it’s still the truth: Sexy Mariko > you

7. A3 - Warning: Well, here all of the girls are trying to be sexy but still, Mariko can do sexy AND cool. That means that she’s better, in case you hadn’t figured it out…

 

Mariko-sama is watching you!

8. A3 - Bird: You know, this song is all kinds of awesome, but I feel like this wasn’t Maririn’s best effort… she kind of faded to the background while Takamina and Maimai stole the spotlight. I don’t really understand how this happened (well, I mean, Takamina can sing better than almost everyone else, and Maimai is an excellent performer, but Mariko should’ve been able to hold her own) Still, she looked liked she really enjoyed the song.

 

Fierce!

 

Uhh… is it “Dance like an Egyptian” a step in this choreography? Oh well, at least they aren’t pointing at me

 

Well, nice effort. Still, she shines so much more in many other songs… which is funny, because I wonder how does she manage to steal the spotlight when there are 16 girls on stage, but she can’t when there’s only 2 more girls? That’s weird… Maybe the one that was recorded just wasn’t her best performance

9. A3 - Seifuku ga Jama o Suru: She’s at the top of her game again here, which is always nice to see~

 

I love her pout!

 

  10. A3 - Koike: This was a big part for mariko, because she was the girl who did the monologue and also the only one to get a solo line.

 

I like her angry faces, they are very good!

She really makes you feel the frustration of the dumped girl of the song with her body language

 

Oh God! This became so long! I had to screencap the 2 DVDs and that was exhausting O_O Anyway, I’ll update some more soon, so please remember to come again! Ciao!

 7. Boku no Taiyou:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHKm9FhLo1M  Such a happy and lighthearted song goes really well with Miichan’s personality. I loved her cheerfulness in this PV, even though she wasn’t one of the main girls

 

She does look good in that hairstyle and with the long earrings <3 I actually think that Miichan is one of the few girls who rocks the horrible dress she was given. Although, admittedly, her dress isn’t all that bad… She looks very cute in yellow.

 

Her natural cheerfulness works really well with this song, she’s very pleasant to watch, somehow

 

9. Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_rrSPsFs8M  I loved Miichan’s small part during this PV, she was the one who went and cheered Harunyan up, it was really cute. Again, the mood of the song fits her perfectly

During the race, she’s the one with the megaphone and taking everybody’s timing. She doesn’t really look like a very sporty type anyway, right?

 

Yay! Having fun with friend Tomochin

And then having fun with Acchan and the others. I seriously think that Miichan is one of the girls who enjoys being an idol the most, and it definitely shows in everything she does

 

I love her eyelashes, they make her eyes very expressive

I don’t think that this is an exaggeration, Miichan can surely put a smile on everyone’s face

And without a doubt, even within a bunch of hyper-happy idols, Miichan’s smile seems to be always the widest, the most radiant somehow, like it is a TRUE smile…

 

9. Romance Irane  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7HAsjhTfh4 Not a lot of Miichan to be seen in this PV, but I like how they teamed her up with the other lolis (Kasai and Tomochin)

She looks kind of dopey here <3

 

The amazing Loli Trio! (sucky screencap though)

 

A Miichan close up! In all its shaky glory and all

10. Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILbITvG9VRE Miichan is the best student from her class in this PV, which gets her to read the graduation speech. She’s very cute in this PV, and the scenes she was in are some of the most beautiful ones of the whole video.

 

Wow! That actually looks like the auditorium in my high school! It brings memories from my graduation, even though it was like 5 years ago…

 

I don’t really get who the girls in the black blazers are… or why are they standing up… but then, I don’t really get a lot of stuff in AKB48 PVs… Maybe I should switch back to Morning Musume? Their Resonant Blue PV was pretty self explanatory

 

Miichan wipes her tears, because she is very moved and feeling so nostalgic of her old high schooldays… Or maybe she just got dust in her eye, who knows…

 

And here she is conforting crybaby Kasai Tomomi <3 She always seems to be the shoulder to cry on whenever you’re feeling sad (well, not YOU, except in you’re an AKB girl, sadly)

 

But esentially, it’s all fun and games when you have Miichan around!

This was a beautiful scene. Miichan and the sakura tree… I can’t decide which one is prettier! XD

 

And that beautiful smile of hers again!

Just showing the world Miichan’s l33t jumping skills! Wow!

 

And now, the Youtube videos!

1. Minegishi Minami Private Video (subbed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRjVEdsMaxk She shows off some of her stuffed animals and the such, which made me realize how much of a kid she really is. This is very cute, and you can see here how much starpower she has! Ever since elementary school she was chosen as “The most likely to become famous” Wow! The only title I got in my high school was “The most spoiled one”… XD

2. Minegishi Minami Up to Boy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yCTeJVE6t4&feature=related This is a really cute photoshoot of Miichan, I love her adorable and pretty she is in it, so I whought I would share!

3. Team A 4th Stage - Junai no Crescendo: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ScECI1T-wkg&feature=related The reason why I’ve recommended this performance in Kojiharu, Takamina and Miichan’s profiles is because it’s THAT awesome. Please watch it if you haven’t yet, words cannot describe how cool this song is!

 That’s all for now! Remember to check Aitakatta! often, because I will try to update on a daily basis now that I have a week off!

Yay! I have a week off! That means that I will have more time to update my blog! Ok, so today I’ll profile a member who has quickly risen to become almost everyone’s favorite girl! (Hell, even my mom loves her! The only response I ever got from my parents about JPop at all, was my dad commenting that Risako is very pretty…)

Name: Minegishi Minami (峯岸みなみ)

Nickname: Miichan (みぃちゃん)

Birthdate: November 15th, 1992

Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan

Favourite flower: Lavender.

Favourite drama: Kids’ War

Favourite food: Fried prawns.

Habits: Clicking her fingers.

Height: 157cm

Bust: 77cm

Waist: 60cm

Hips: 80cm

Miichan is a very “genki” girl, she is always making funny comments and it’s really entertaining to watch her interact with other members because she just seems to be having *so* much fun! She is a good singer, nothing spectacular, but what makes her stand out are her dance skills. Mii has been taking dance lessons ever since she was on first grade, and it definitely shows whenever she’s dancing. She’s also a very focused performer, and even though her personality is kind of wacky and happy, she can do serious songs just as easily, and is believable in them too.

My personal opinion of her? Well, I do like her, and like I said before, I especially love seeing her in the Making Ofs and the such, because she looks like she’s everyone’s friend, jokes around with everyone and stuff like that, which I like. Also, during the A 4th Stage performance of Daruikanji she appeared wearing her glasses and the crowd went completely crazy over her! I like this fact, because I’m a megane-ko myself, and it’s nice to see that (even if it’s in wota world) some people appreciate glasses and find them pretty

1. Sakura no Hanabiratachi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6XHLUwJMek What I find interesting about Miichan is the fact that it was on nobody’s plans to make her a front girl, and she kind of pushed herself to the front. She wasn’t very prominent in the first single, and in the first Stage, but she quickly fixed that and made it happen proving everyone that she had enough talent to be a lead.

 

Minami & Minami make a heart sign! This is a very cute picture, and somehow it kind of shows how Miichan is a friendly girl and always committed to her idol-self (well, you probably don’t see ALL that on this picture, but I do.  I read too much into things, maybe…)

Miichan was also one of the girls who benefited greatly from puberty! She looked kind of awkward and alien-like at first, but now she’s blossomed into a very pretty girl (of course, her features are probably an acquired taste, but she knows how to work her look to the best, and that’s something that she has learned through the years)

 

She’s the one on the far left, and yes, I’m aware that this is a kind of sucky picture, but I just picked it because it shows that whenever there’s fun around in Team A, Miichan is probably involved!

 

Miichan with a huge video camera! Not really the best picture of her, but it’s just to show that she’s had lots of improvement in the beauty department!

 

Miichan’s arms stretch out weirdly! Just like mine!

 

Emo Miichan. She seems like an emotional girl, so I’m ready to bet that those are happy tears! I know I’m posting like every fram of her in this PV, but that’s because I suck at screencapping her, somehow she always appears blurry, so I’m trying to make it up to you all but posting as many good quality screencaps as I can possibly find!

 

It’s interesting to see the contrast between this Sakura no hanabiratachi and the 2008 version, where she is one of the main characters and is featured rather prominently.

 

2. Skirt Hirari:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc5mKEgl9kY  Miichan wasn’t one of the Sukahira Seven, so she barely appears in this PV. However, if anything, it shows how much of a good sport she is, because her recommended song of AKB48 is this one, even though she didn’t even get one line in it!

 

Er… I told you that there was going to be major screencap lack… This is the only decent one. They seemed to try to make pigtails her trademark look for a while, and even though she looks adorable in them, it’s too much of a kiddie look for her

 

3. Aitakatta  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFvpkiNOVU This was the first PV where she stepped it up. She didn’t really get all that much screentime (but then again, nobody except for Yuko, Acchan and Takamina did) but she appealed to us with her natural spunk in every second the camera was on her!

Yay!!!! Her head looks really big here somehow O_O

That hairstyle was the one that stuck with her for the longest time. She doesn’t just look happy, you simply know that she’s happy deep inside. And that’s what I like the most about her, she can definitely light up a stage with her smile

 

We Idol fans know how difficult it is for a girl who’s been in the background to rise to the front, or get some recognition, which is why I think that this girl is a force to be reckoned with! She climbed that steep ladder herself, by proving that she was more deserving than some of the girls who were picked to be leads from the beggining, and it’s worked for her! She’s been a lead in every single, consistently, ever since Skirt, Hirari.

 

 4. Seifuku ga Jama o Suru: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_1ObyG2-1 Yay! She got close ups in Aitakatta! But Seifuku was her big break. She was one of the main characters of this PV, and her awesome dance skills made her an obvious choice for an intense song like this one. As a side note, when my mom watched this PV she said “Ohhh! She’s so cute!! She looks like a dolly!!”

Her type of sexy is loli sexy, same as Tomochin and Team K’s Kasai Tomomi. She’s very compelling at acting like this, in spite of her personality being radically different.

 

Center position and all! She was awesome in this PV, she really committed to it, and in every live performance she nails the choreography and mood of the song perfectly

 

Wow! Beautiful! Whenever she is on a shot, she just makes you look at her! And God knows how hard it is to accomplish that when the other girl is Acchan…

 

She does look like a doll though, she has that kind of vibe to her. In the drama she acted in she played a ghost doll character, she was obviously perfect for that role!

 

It’s a mirror-cle world XD All kididng and Ayu-references aside, this is one of my favorite scenes in the Pv. The determined look on her face is very fitting for the story that was trying to be told in the PV…

 

And this cap is a perfect example of the dicotomy presented in the PV and to a lesser degree in the song, I like the contrast between her child-like awkard front teeth and the lipgloss she’s putting on.

And then she looks kind of startled at her image… Like she’s saying to herself “Am I really going to do this?” The fact that she was the only one who put make up on also reveals a lot of what her image is, or can become. She goes one step ahead of Tomochin in the loli-sexy department. And this is very clear, especially in A4. Sure, she wasn’t in Faint with the sexy costumes and dance, but the kind of sensuality that she portrayed in Junai no Crescendo is somehow more “real” than what Tomochin achieved with her number.

 

 5. Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLIenqQ2jzs I don’t really remember her much on this PV. But my Yuko infatuation prevented me from paying attention to anyone else, so it’s probably not her fault

 

She’s next to Maimai here. I like how this pigtails look very different from the ones she had in Skirt, Hirari, she has definitely grown up a lot!

I have a feeling that Kasai and Miichan are quite close friends, from what I’ve seen. Or at least they like being around each other.

She reminds me of a cat in this PV, but I have no idea why. Maybe it’s because she looks kind of distant?

 

 6. BINGO!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzp6tTAYoF0 Oh! The happiness that is BINGO is perfect for bubbly Miichan! Also, the hot pink costume was an excellent color for her, it really fits her character!

 

Wow! Nice! (completely unrelated, but Maimai looks awesome here)

Nevermind the fact that she looks on LSD here… She’s just this happy on a regular basis

 

She’s kind of in the background here, but I love her natural happiness. It makes me happy too!

 

 

:D Kidding. I want to make this my wallpaper or something. Shame it isn’t focused, it brightens my day!

 

Ok! I’ll do the second part of this later on

 

 

This will be short and sweet, mainly because poor Rina hasn’t appeared in the latest AKB48 PVs (yuuhi wo Miteiru ka, Romance Irane) and she appears just in like 1 frame of Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008. so we will try to focus in Chocolove.

 Chocolove is a group which was formed around early 2006, and even though at first we all thought that it would be a One Shot deal, like most AKB units, they seem to have prevailed. The members chosen to be part of this group were Team A’s Angel Girl Nakanishi along with the tough and cool characters of Team K, Akimoto Sayaka and Miyazawa Sae. This seemed like a strange combination to me, because I would’ve expected Sae and Sayaka (who are going to be called Saeyaka from now on) to be involved in rock units or something with a tough girl from Team A, so I was kind of surprised at first when I heard that their first song was a ballad. Boy, was I wrong!

Chocolove kicks some serious butt. Really. Their songs are mostly ballads, but they are so beautiful that you’ll just want to listen to them constantly, and they will surely bring a smile to your face.

Their first single was “Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru”, and it was the first chance we got to see how well Rina’s sweet voice blended with Sayaka’s powerful and kind of lower range vocals. Sae has a type of voice that just fits comfortably into anything, but she definitely contributed a lot to the group.

I’ll leave it just like that for now, because I’m planning on doing a post on all of AKB’s subgroups later, so we’ll get more into Chocolove then.

Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9lzsBMjPSg I fell in love with Rina in this PV. She was an instant favorite as soon as she opened her mouth and led me to heaven with her beautiful voice! I always figured that she would be the center girl (kind of like Rika in Biyuuden) because she had the pink dress and the most lines, but I found out later that Saeyaka are actually more famous than Rina..

 

And for starters… Dead Rina! I was a casual fan by the time I watched this, and I remember thinking “WTH? They’ve been prostitutes, they’ve killed themselves, and now this?” Yes, now this. It’s a bit sick, actually, but the concept is pretty cute in a really twisted way, isn’t it?

 

A basic rule of the idol world: The girl with the pink dress is usually the lead singer. The girls with dresses that look alike, are background singers. It isn’t exactly like this with Chocolove, but it was the case with this particular song

I laugh at my n00b self whenever I see this screencap, because I couldn’t tell Maimai and Rina apart to save my life when I just started trying to learn their names. They are so freaking different (especially personality-wise) that I just want to slap myself whenever I remember…

 

Anyway, our dear Rina is riding a bus, and reading a letter that she received (from her 2 friends wearing brown, perhaps?) This is like Aitakatta, only less hyper and more understandable for the weak of mind as myself She looks like Abe Natsumi in this screencap, right?

 

The choreography is ridiculously simple, so much that the girls only move their arms for it. But it goes perfectly with the song, and their movements are so fluid that they kind of entrance you (more like relax you, though. I don’t want you all to think that you get high on AKB…) (although you can, but you have to be a wota -like me!- in order to get there…)

 

Apparently, there was some chocolate included with the letter. Very romantic! Oh, wait… this is a song about GIRLS, right? Maybe females usually give chocolates to their girl friends. I don’t, I can’t possibly interact with anyone of my gender to save my life. (or maybe this is just MORE girl on girl fanservice from AKB48?)

I like her smile, this type of song helps her gentle personality shine a lot more than the hyper ones.

 

Hmm… looks like her brown friends weren’t the ones who wrote the letter, or else she wouldn’t be this surprised… (who were you expecting, Rina-tin? Maybe Takamina? for some more Kinjirareta Futari love?)

 

Anyhow, she meets Saeyaka, they are all really happy to see each other, and walk around chatting and eating some of that “magic chocolate”

 

And then they get shot by a crazy guy who’s hiding behind a wall for no reason at all (I suspect that Takamina was jealous because Rina shared the chocolate with Saeyaka, and thus arranged with a wota to do a private concert just for him if he got rid of treacherous Rina and her friends :D Ok, probably not, but I like MY version anyway)

 

The Making Of was pretty interesting to watch, this girls have some skills at dying on camera!

 

But fear not! They are so sweet, that they bleed chocolate! (And are apparently immortal…) Ahh… I love this song! And the PV was just irresistibly cute to me, in the same way that that dead cartoon girl who kills hamsters is very sweet and makes me want to adopt her (Dead Lenore, I think?)

 

Mail no Namida http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjAQyHDBZXs Ashita wa ashita no kimi ga umareru is an awesome song with an awesome PV, sadly, their second single was a boring song with a boring PV, but the girls looked positively stunning in it (especially Saeyaka, but we’ll get to that whenever I finish profiling Team A XD)

 

I seriously hate this song, and the PV is so boring that I only watched it all the way through when I had to screencap it. But no, the first seconds are boring, but it gets better after a while. Or at least we get to see some interesting interactions between the girls (and their cellphones)

 

Rina is apparently locked in a glass elevator. It’s kind of weird, but I have a recurrent dream about a mall that looks just like that set (well, not JUST like it, but pretty much). Even this freaky fact didn’t make it intresting for me anyway…

 

Here Saeyaka have different colors of dresses, which in the idol color-code of clothing means that they aren’t backup singers anymore! Still, this set is stupid, they look like Barbie Dolls on stands and the set is reminiscent of GAM’s Lululu. God, I just hate this PV…

 

Then the circle thingies they are standing on start twirling, which only adds to the stupid effect, so I will spare those caps. Rina’s still trapped in the elevator…

 

That’s Sae’s cellphone, and you can’t see it here, but she’s completely ecstatic to watch Rina on the screen… I won’t even comment about it, I’m a dirty person…

 

That mesmerized face of Rina’s is because she’s looking at Sayaka in her cellphone. So I guess that now we all have the nice hidden topic of this PV: Voyeurism! So let’s count… Flashing panties, enjo kosai, suicide, people traffic, getting murdered, voyeurism and a love triangle between girls! Niiiiiiiiiice! I bet Morning Musume are jealous, so far it’s only been “be happy” “be hyper” and “be happy and hyper” for them… (I’m only joking, so please take all of this with a bit of humour :D) If the next AKB48 single really is Dear my Teacher (I have to look into that information…) then we’ll have another nice topic to dwelve on.

 

Then they all appear in what seems to be a recycled set from Star Trek and stand there looking like robots again…

 

The flash of light! The only one who worked with it was Sae, but this is about Rina, so here’s her shot…

 

Ugh, it’s finally over… Ok, it didn’t really get any better after the first few seconds. But if I said that up there none of you would’ve watched it!

 

The Youtube Videos

Team A 2nd Stage - Nageki no Figure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12gx7qrDWsU I LOVE this song! It’s awesome1 The lyrics are very cute, and kind of sad too, about a girl who doesn’t want to be just like a collectible figure to her boyfriend, but she feels like that because he never calls her, never goes out with her and stuff like that. The song is super cool, but the choreography kicks so much butt that it’s ridiculous. Dressed in white poofy skirts, like typical idols, the girls dance like robots to this awesome song! You must watch it, I guarantee you, it’s just a genius idol moment. Along with sweet Rina are mighty Takamina, ubiquous Acchan and Loli Tomochin, and they are all awesome!

Team A 4th Stage - Kikyou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g7zWBGakmM Hmm… I’m thinking of featuring this song in the next Idol Battle, but we’ll see about that! Many people complained that this was an ugly country number (their words, not mine) and that those costumes made them look like hillbillies, but it isn’t true. Sure, there’s some weird country thing going on for the main melody, but the bubbly mood of the song is pretty contagious, and the girls vocals are spot on. Along with Rina sing Shinoda Mariko (the tall girl with short hair) and Sato Yukari, but Rina is the star here, and her beautiful voice just makes you drift to happy places, or, if you live far away like me, in your hometown, which is what the song is about.

AKB48 - First Concert Aitakatta Hashira wa Nai ze SHUFFLE VERSION - Kinjirareta Futari http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVGezcsmN-k Remember the post about AKB48 music? Remember the lesbian song? Well, this is it, only not the original version, but the shuffle. The shuffle concert of AKB48 featured members of opposite Team’s singing the original songs (ie Blue Rose is a Team K song, in the shuffle, it featured Team A members only). This didn’t work for all of the songs, and most of Team A was so damn pwned in this version that it’s kind of painful to watch, but Kinjirareta Futari was one of the songs that were a highlight. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather have Yuko singing anything at all, but Rina was flawless here. Her voice is perfect for the type of character she’s playing, and she pwns Kasai (the original singer) like crazy here. So, to sum it up, it’s a song about two girls who fall in love but can’t be together, thus, The Forbidden Pair. Now, if you’ve read all the way here, and you watch this performance, it will shed some light about my Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru theory, which includes Takamina sending people to murder Rina out of jealousy

Want more Rina? Well, you can raid Youtube on your own, but that’s pretty tricky with AKB48 because most of the stuff has tags in japanese. Or, you could also go back to my profile of Kojima Haruna or my Youtube Special post and watch Shinkirou if you haven’t done it yet. It’s just fantastic!

That’s it for today! Now I’m off to study some really fun lung cancer stuff (that I’ve been neglecting for the past month…) Please keep in mind that I like all types of feedback *hint hint*

Welcome to the new home of Aitakatta! I’m very grateful to everyone at Intlwota, and to all of my readers. Thank you very much!!!

This time, it’s the angel of AKB, the sweet Rina-tin!

 

• Name: Nakanishi Rina (中西里菜)
• Nickname: Rinatin (りなてぃん)
• Birthdate: June 26th, 1988
• Star sign: Cancer
• Blood type: A
• Birthplace: Oita, Japan
• Hobbies: Cooking
• Favourite artist: Matsuura Aya
• Favourite movie: Peter Pan.
• Favourite colours: Pink, black.
• Favourite flower: Tulips.
• Charm point: Dimples.
• Audition song: Koizumi Kyoko - Anata ni Aete Yokatta
• Height: 156cm
• Bust: 78cm
• Waist: 58cm
• Hips: 80cm

 

Rina-tin is one of my personal favorites, mainly because I love her super sweet angelic voice. Rina isn’t the best dancer, but she puts a lot of effort into everything she does, and it shows. In the first concert, I remember thinking “Wow, this girl looks always so focused and serious” but now she’s been enjoying herself a lot more at shows, and is always beaming in performances. She has been a front girl almost always, but she’s been featured less and less every time in the latest singles, so I’m worried about this, because she’s awesome, and she should be in every single. Rina is part of the only permanent AKB subgroup Chocolove, along with Sae and Sayaka of Team K, which is beyond cool, but I’ll go into that later.

Personality wise, she seems like a very grounded girl, and she is very gentle, which is what makes me call her “The Angel of AKB48″

 

1. Sakura no Hanabiratachi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6XHLUwJMek Rina looks the same even as time goes by… I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but I guess it sould also be due to the fact that she’s older than some of the others.

Here she’s the one on the right, I had another screencap that showed how she was placed on the front row of singers, but it was really blurry so you’ll have to do just with the data

One of the things I like the most about Rina is how happy she is, without being overly genki or hyper or anything. It’s a breath of fresh air in the mob of young girls who appeal by looking on crack all the time

The fact that she was placed in the front row in the first PV means that she was one of the girls with more potential, even from the beggining. I don’t think that has changed, but like I said, she’s been a consistent performer ever since the first single, and lots of other girls have improved a lot, and she might be a little outshined by so many different personalities that are more “out there” than she is

 

 

If anything, Rina’s gentle approach to her fans and her idol status is a part of her persona, but we can’t deny that she blends in the middle, especially in Team A, where there are so many distinct characters.

 

2. Skir Hirari:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc5mKEgl9kY  Rina was one of the sukahira seven (that is, the 7 girls who got solos in the single version), but she was the one who got less lines and less camera time She nails her line perfectly, nonetheless, which is a welcome change of pace from the awkward vocals of most of the leads in this song.

 

 Even though she has a kind of passive character, she looks like she means business here! I like how commited she is to her work, but I guess I’ll talk more about that later.

 

 She is the only one who looks down in her shot, but the way she is standing and her hands communicate something very different from “Hey, I’m shy…”

 

 So, in the little camera time that she gets, she makes me think of a “good girl” who really isn’t all that good underneath it all.

 

 The fact that she makes it work here wows me, but it also makes me wonder where did all of this attitude go? Because the Rina-tin we know now has no “twist” to her sweet personality whatsoever.

 

 I like this bad girl Rina a lot, and I wish that she would reappear sometime soon…

 

Sadly for me, this is more like what we see of her usually…

3. Aitakatta  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFvpkiNOVU I think there’s not much to be said about her in this PV, she’s one of the background characters. The only thing that I can think of is the fact that she’s always super happy when performing this song live, so it’s pretty cute

 

She’s the girl in the middle here, and apparently is one of the girls who cheers on Acchan to go… and do whatever it is she does, I’ve said it a million times before and I’ll say it again, I don’t get this PV at all.

 

 Close up time! Sweet and lovely Rinatin…

 

 And another close up, she isn’t really all that expressive, but she’s cute nonetheless

 

Oh look! It’s a glimpse of Bad Girl Rina again! I like how she’s glancing at Mii-chan like “Shut up. You have no idea…”

 4. Seifuku ga Jama o Suru: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_1ObyG2-1 Rina barely makes an appearance here. In live performances of this song, she always looks so serious, it’s almost scary! She’s not trying to be playful or sexy like the other girls, she just seems to struggle to get this song and choreography RIGHT.

 

Emo Rina. She’s trying hard though, so I won’t be mean. Hey, this seems to be the only screencap I have of her in the whole PV O_O I figure shedidn’t get a lot of screen time because she wasn’t playing along with the song’s theme at all. Fun fact is that she got all of Yuko’s lines in the Stage Version of this song. I don’t want to sound like a hater but… they should’ve been Maimai’s…

 

 5. Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLIenqQ2jzs She makes a nice sucidal girl. But she didn’t get much screen time (again )

 

This screencap sucks big time, but it was like a split second of PV so I had to do it really quickly. Anyway, here we see a happy Rina posing for a picture with Yuka. The fact that she is happy in this PV leads me to think that she’s part of Maimai’s gang of bullies, and that makes me happy in turn

 

 However, this is what I meant when I said that she makes a good suicide girl. She looks so heartbroken! In live performances she is very fierce when doing this song, which is nice to watch, considering how much of a gentle girl she is

 

 I guess you never know what to expect of her, if she gets in the mood of a song, she rocks it hard (like we see here), but if she doesn’t then it’s kind of bleh.

 

 6. BINGO!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzp6tTAYoF0 And this is where Rina-tin started to really get shafted. She’s not a white front girl, she doesn’t get a good mugshot…

 

On the right, Rina in yellow! I don’t mean to be mean… but I’m sure that she would’ve looked a lot better in any different color of dress

 

 Here camera-whore Maimai is blocking half of her face, but you can still see her, right? This is a bit of a reminder of her position in Team A, sadly. But I guess that if you’re an idol, a passive approach isn’t really the best you could be doing in order to stand out…

 She has a big fanbase though, I think. Or at least, she has me then, I’m a big fan *waves Rina flag*

 

 I still think that her great vocals are underused. She should try to stand up a bit mroe, so that she can be in the front, because she desserves it.

 

 7. Boku no Taiyou:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHKm9FhLo1M  She was in this PV, but she didn’t get even one solo shot, or close up, or shot during the group dance, or anything whatsoever. This PV included MAJOR chocolove shafting, which makes me sad

 

I’ll wrap it up later, and I will include screencaps for both of Chocolove PVs too. Also, expect to see some awesome performances from Rina-tin, because even though she’s apparently not much of single/PV material, she’s a great singer, so she gets tons of lines in cool stage units!

 Again, a big thank you to everyone at Intl Wota, thank you for supporting me! *bows*