Umezawa Minami (Minamin) / 3rd Gen

Name: Umezawa Minami (梅澤美波)
Birthdate: 1999-01-06
Birthplace: Kanagawa
Height: 170cm
Wiki48: http://stage48.net/wiki/index.php/Umezawa_Minami

 

First blog translated

http://yasukuansoni.tumblr.com/post/154768998399/umezawa-minami-nogi-3rd-gen-first-blog-series

It's difficult to give her a good nickname. Especially since she's so adult the typical nicknames don't suit her. (she sounds older than Maichun in this blog)

 

It really, really was.

When I started there were 260 comments. 463 when I finished. (I took breaks of course but still took more work than any blog I've done before)

 

I think this is a good way to do it. Only one per day, and hopefully each member is featured in at least one other member's blog. Then in January our dreams come true and they appear in Nogichu (pleeaase)

 

2nd gen and 3rd gen are shaping up to be so different.

I can't recall very much as I was a very surface-level fan at the time. I watched all their shows, concerts and bought CDs and stuff but I didn't discuss them nearly as much. TBF back then the international Nogizaka fan community was TINY.
So keep in mind I could be wrong about some of these. (Though rest assured, I am of course trying to verify everything as best as I can)

Fans of the 2nd gen might be jealous, and might even be angry. In some ways it's justified but a lot of the differences are due to Nogizaka's grown popularity.
Personally, I'm just extremely glad to see how much Nogizaka's management has learned from their wanting treatment of the 2nd gens, and that they're popular enough to give all these great opportunities to their new members.

The major differences.
The only thing the 2nd gen had better than the 3rd gen is that their appearance on Nogidoko was only 2 months after the auditions ended.

1. The 3rd gen's first event was their omitatekai at Budokan.
The 2nd gen never had an omitatekai. They were announced on a throwaway TV show 2 months after the auditions and nothing before that.
Never mind an omitatekai, at Budokan no less, they never even had any comparable solo event. The closest they have had are the Under Lives.
The 3rd generation debuting at a solo event in Budokan is mindblowingly huge.
It's such a prestigious location that a decade old group would love to perform at someday, and these girls debuted there.

2. They'll have their first stage performance "3nin no Principal" in February.
As I said, the second gens never had a solo event, and never had a solo production like Principal to perform.
The 3rd gens are getting their own one whereas most of the 2nd gen have never been to the "full" group ones.
They were in the group a full year before 16nin no Principal Trois but only 3 members (Hori, Kitano, Shinuchi) participated in that stage.
The 3rd Gen's Principal stage starts 5 months after their debut.

3. The 3rd gen made their TV debut on FNS Kayousai, a major year end music show (and year end music shows are a very big thing in Japan) just 3 months after their debut.
Most 2nd gens have never appeared on FNS Kayousai, despite 4 years passing since they joined. Usually it's only senbatsu. This year it was senbatsu plus new members.
This was probably only possible due to Keyaki also having new members. Still an incredible opportunity.

4. "Kenkyuusei"
I could be wrong in this, but I'm pretty sure I've never heard the 3rd gens be called kenkyuusei officially. Ever.
It seems like management are intentionally avoiding the term.
Here's an example. When the 2nd gens shared a blog user it was called "Kenkyuusei", but now the 3rd gens share a blog it's called "3rd generation blog"
Even when you click "Kenkyuusei blog" below "management blog" it links to the old kenkyuusei blogs, not the 3rd gen collective blog user.
They might be trying to rebrand the "new member" theme, and especially after showing how battle ready Kanji Keyaki were after such a short time it sounds like a great idea.
Or I could be just looking too far into things.

Some might read this and be angry that the 3rd gen are being blessed too much and that.
I can see where they're coming from, but reading their blogs, they're all very aware how lucky they are, and I'm just happy to finally see Nogizaka do new members very, very right.

I'm gonna post this in the general thread as well. Doing all this research got me curious about what the rest of the site thinks.

 

I unexpectedly lost access to pcs and haven't the patience to translate on my phone (so that's why the other 3s have been kept waiting) but for now I don't think she ruled out umechan. She seems to have forgotten to count it but I don't think it's intentional.