Yesterday , Mgt allowed the members to use Official Twitter . Momoko's Tweet got the most likes (currently 37.2k ) and 5k retweets among the members that uses the Official twitter that Day. The nxt highest is Captain Manatsu with 28.4k likes , Kaki Haruka with 27.8k likes and Endo Sakura with 27k likes
Momoko's (& Yoda-chan's) interesting interview for their BLT shoot earlier last month. (trans cred to @krymsun00) They talk about their thoughts on happiness, the graduations of their Nogi mentors (Maiyan & Naachan), 3rd gen camaraderie, and more. Momoko's response to the "What kind of group is Nogizaka?" question makes me think she's staying in the group for loyalty more than anything else. I think she definitely had thoughts about graduating, probably during her hiatus last year, but ultimately returned due to her bond with the members and staff.
That reminds me of Momoko's Reaction to them winning the 2018 JRA . Momoko said to Asuka " Nogizaka isn't bad either " . Momoko didnt apply to Nogi by her own will , Her Senpais in Kagoshima is the one responsible in changing her life. But as time goes by , The bonds and Camaraderie kept her in . She gained weight and that causes her to have anxiety and insecurities during the end of 2018 and the first 6 months of 2019 that led to her Hiatus . You can clearly notice it on her Appearance in TGC Kumamoto. Kubo and Momoko both undergo Hiatus due to weight Issues that led to Hiatus . Fortunately for Momoko , Maiyan talks to her and showed her Love during her Hiatus. Her 3ki peers like Den, Ren and tama also helps her cope with her problems during her rest. Right now, She's much stronger person than her pre-hiatus self. She now understands that she needs to be Stronger and Independent.
I really didn't notice Momoko's weight gain tbh. I have to double check, but she looks just as pretty and normal in Sing Out! or Heikousen PV. Unlike Kubo which is very noticeable, Momoko doesn't change much to me, if anything she is certainly prettier compared to debut. And to be honest, if the weight gain was the reason for their hiatus, I think Kubo still looks noticeably chubbier when she came back.
Kubo is an interesting case because she's still noticeably gained weight from her debut but I think she was underweight at that time period- like others, I think she lost weight for the audition but in her case lost too much. I remember seeing the 3rd gen cheerleading episode of nogibingo where you can clearly see her limbs and she looked shockingly thin. I think where she's at now she's in a pretty good place weight wise- not as thin as debut but not as heavy as right before she went on hiatus.
Kubo was super thin when she went on hiatus and then gained weight during hiatus and kept it mostly (though she's lost some since then). IIRC she went on hiatus for mental health reasons (too much stress).
I think Kubo looks just fine these days and Momoko always looks fine. I remember in a few of Sing Out live performance, Momoko looked so down and worn out, she was not smiling at all. So it could really be her health (either physical or mental) or exhaustion.
The way her right arm is positioned seems awkward to me but that doesn't lessen how cute she is in the picture [or how cute she is in general]. Cheers!
here's kubo before she went on hiatus with chubby cheeks March 2018 Momoko - TGC Shizuoka January 2019 Momoko - TGC Kumamoto April 2019 As you can see , Momoko gained weight in March , I think you may noticed it on Eto Misa's Grad con. She's still pretty but for an idol it causes anxiety and other issues. Kubo after Hiatus Dec 2018 - Promoting Tohoku at Taiwan Momoko after Hiatus Nov 2019 They both become stronger after finishing their rest/hiatus
Weight gain looks more like the symptom than the disease here. It might have triggered her hiatus, but I doubt it’s why she’d consider “abandoning” the group. Significantly, Momoko says in that interview that she’s “stopped agreeing to things I can’t do and things that are unreasonable.” But watching your weight isn’t something an idol can stop agreeing to do, so she’s concerned about other things. I think the underlying problem is/was Momoko’s doubts about whether being an idol suits her, as she said in the 2nd documentary. I see two issues. First is the massive pressure to perform well. (Apparently why Yoda lost an insane amount of weight when she joined.) From the interview, you can connect Momoko’s quote about “stopped agreeing to things I can’t do” with Yoda saying, “...even if we were asked to do [Nigemizu] again we’d have to say there’s no way.” In other words, Momoko doesn’t believe she can handle centering now, and if management asks, she’d say no. (Although that begs the question, would Nogi management even ask? Aki-P forced Maeda Atsuko to be center against her will, so he’d probably center Momoko if he was in charge, the bastard.) “Things that are unreasonable” could then extend to other responsibilities that Momoko doesn’t feel up to doing. Performing more songs in Lives? TV appearances? It’s impossible to know, but she’s probably declined some kind of opportunity. Second would be that the idol industry is full of lies, and Momoko seems like the most honest person in the group right now. A lot of members have commented on that purity; I think Kubo said meeting Momoko changed her way of thinking about life? Momoko seems to be wary of the performative genki-ness of traditional idols, as shown by her worrying about Rei smiling all the time, or Momoko telling members it’s okay to fail when they’re doing some task on Koujichuu. From other recent interviews I’ve read, Momoko basically says that she wants to smile to connect with people, and doesn’t want to fake her smile or else she’ll be sad (in contrast to when she joined the group, she was talking about deceiving people with her smiles). On the subject of growing up, she says: “It’s not that I don’t want to become an adult. But I don’t want to become dirty.”* Based on that, “things that are unreasonable” could be things that clash with being true to her feelings. Maybe not pretending to be agreeable or confident, or to like things when she actually doesn’t, which would preclude activities where that’s especially necessary. All her recent interviews indicate she’s happier now though. She says she tells her troubles to other members now, and they sympathize with her, which helps a lot. As a fellow member who had/has angst about her identity, Asuka’s current take on her own position is that this job doesn’t suit her, but she’s a big fan of Nogizaka46, so she’s willing to do it for the group. I’m sure Momoko can reach a similar balance, if she hasn’t already. *“Smile” interview was in BLT Graph, vol. 54. “Adult” interview was with Renka in EX Taishu, April 2020. They’re long interviews so I haven’t translated them…
I think this is just different camera angle and a result of her smiling so big. She doesn't have the slimmest arm even before and her face has slight chubbiness when she smiles. Here's from Bomber-E (Dec 2017) And same dress from Jikochuu Produce (Manatsu no Zenkoku Tour 2018) And here is her showroom on 12 April 2019, her face looks normal to me. I think I agree with GofindNova above. Momoko is a complex person, I think she probably had lots of doubts about being an idol, an identity crisis I guess, she was on hiatus more to re-evaluate her options in life.
I don't think Momoko had an identity crisis tbh. She said she's always showing her true self whether it's in magazine or tv show that's why when some fans doesn't like her 'chara', she thought it's mean they dont like Momoko as general. Momoko's part on 2nd documentary is the best part of the documentary and it's makes me love her more.
I think it's a semantic argument in that she always was the same person, but was unsure of whether she wanted to continue to be an idol or not and that was her "identity crisis"
Momoko and her 3ki peers They will have online conference on May 23rd for 46hr TV hosted by Captain Manatsu and Umezawa Minami
https://form.run/@joqr-sousenkyo2020 Vote For Ozono Momoko In Recomen 2020 Female Idol Pretty Face General Election 2020 ! Reminders : you can only vote once Spam votes won't be counted Just type her name in Kanji Fill out your radio name Fill out your age and email Results would be publish on June 3 2020 on Recomen Recomen is a radioshow cohosted by Sakamichi
Make sure you format the name submission correctly too! You have to include the group name, so the correct submission for Momoko should look like this: 大園桃子(乃木坂46) This is a contest that is voting *solely* based on an idol’s face! Last year Maiyan was the winner and KTK was second place. Momoko didn’t make the top 20 last year but I hope she ranks in this time around!