She's always pretty but I feel Nagi looked absurdly beautiful in this stream. Its so hard not to oshi her
The beauty of this girl is second to none. Just absolutely stunning. The 5th gen girls have pretty elite visuals but Nagi is on a different level altogether. Her personality and professionalism is also top-tier. I've seen some Japanese comments on some vids of her on YouTube and the one that really stood out to me was a comment saying that if Nagi was a 1st gen girl (and around the same age), she would have competed with Shiraishi and Nishino for Nogizaka supremacy. An opinion that I myself share. She just has an "it" factor. At first, I kept thinking she was giving off the same vibes as Kakki but something was off... then I realized that Kakki is more of a gentle breeze while Nagi is an impending storm. Her desire and ambition to be great, both as an individual and as a Nogizaka member (her love for the group and her respect for her predecessors have been made quite clear on several YouTube vids), on top of her personality, visuals and natural charm all combine to make her the perfect next-gen ace. She has a fire to her that the 4th gen aces of Kaki and Endou just don't have. If I was a Nogizaka member, I would feel comfort knowing that our group has a bright future with Nagi present. But at the same time... I would be painfully aware that once this storm known as Nyagi makes landfall, I would simply be living under her reign... she would stand unchallenged at the peak like Asuka did, and that Nogizaka would truly then be entering the Inoue Nagi era. p.s. Not throwing shade at Yamashita or anything, she was my OG 3rd gen oshi and the current face of the group, but I personally feel that her only advantage over Nagi is her age and experience. Nagi at 23, I feel, will surpass even Yamashita. And this is a good thing as a whole for the group as Nogizaka is at its best when there are multiple aces. If we thought global warming is a problem now, then wait till the heat from that Yamashita/Nagi double-center hits!! Dancing, singing, visuals, facial expressions... SHEESH. The 1st Nagi center in the future definitely gonna hit different lol.
I have said it before, ever since Maiyan I haven't seen a beauty so perfect and unrivalled until Nagi came in. Although beauty is subjective but when it's so outstanding, many can agree. 1ki is full of beatiful girls still many can agree Maiyan is just outstanding among these. Now the same can be said with 5ki and Nagi. But to be successful as an idol and in the entertainment world in general, you need more than just beauty. Nagi is an all-round talent, she seems to be able to do anything (apart from variety skill which needs some work imo) but she still needs to find her niche and perfect it. This is something Mizuki has done better with acting which she has pursued since her younger days.
Although I may not agree with 100% of what you said (Saito Asuka is also top tiered next to Shiraishi and Nishino), I do agree with the general sentiment. Nagi is most likely the future ace of Nogizaka, as she seems to have all the qualities to get there. Her dancing skills are improving rapidly, with projections to where Nishino and Asuka are at. She can sing. Her beauty is there. Her personality and passion are there. It seems to be a matter of time for her.
Nagi in the cover of Weekly shonen sunday https://twitter.com/shonen_sunday/status/1650877841175904256?s=20
I translated an excerpt from Nagi's Triangle Magazine interview where she talks about becoming an idol: Spoiler: Interview It’s been one year since you joined Nogizaka46. Do you remember when the 5th gen introduction videos were released in February last year? I remember it clearly. Each day at noon, a new member was introduced, one by one, but I was the very first. When I learned about it on the day before its release, I was quite flustered: “I’m first!?” (laughs). My profile video was released right when I was in class at school. I was restless and couldn’t calm down throughout the whole class. Then, when lunch break came, I thought I’d watch it with the club activity members I got along with, and we decided to all get together and watch it. My friends were happy and said, “They shot you super beautifully, didn’t they!” (laughs) It made a big splash when it was released, it broke past one million views in a flash. But when I was watching the video, my eyes suddenly started to fill with tears. That was the first time I ever showed myself crying in front of my school friends, so everyone was bewildered too. What sort of tears were those? I had almost never stood in front of people before then, and now I would be attracting the attention of lots of people… my heart was beating at the thought of that. I couldn’t put my emotions in order at all, and my tears didn’t stop all throughout that lunch break. Why did Inoue-san want to become an idol in the first place? I don’t know if this phrase captures it, but I always wanted to become “special.” What do you mean by special? When I was a student, I was ordinary at studying and athletics, I was like the utterly average person who excelled at nothing. I was taking lessons for ballet, but it’s not like I was great at it. I got average marks in whatever I did, there wasn’t a single skill I could boast about or take pride in. You believed you were an average person with no distinctiveness? That’s right. For that reason, I had a strong yearning to be a person with something special. Also, I said my marks were all about average, but in terms of communication skills, I was anything but average, I was at the bottom level (laughs). During junior high school, especially, I was aware of how bad I was at talking to people, and I had few school friends too. There were girls I got along with that I could call close friends, but from those girls’ perspectives, I feel like I was nothing but one among many of their friends. When I thought about that, it troubled me that ‘there isn’t anyone who needs me most, is there?’ You didn’t feel very needed by people? It was especially like that in junior high. I wanted to become a person who was special to someone, but I wasn’t in a school club at that time, so I didn’t have companions I could share my joys and frustrations with. Then, when I entered second year of junior high, my close friends were divided into different classes. It’s strange now that I think about it, but for some reason back then I became convinced that if I befriended anyone else, it would be like a betrayal, so I couldn’t get along with any other kids. In the meantime, April [the first month of the Japanese school year] ended and before I knew it, various groups had formed around me... You missed the chance to join a circle of friends. Yes. But, the reason it ended up like that was my lack of communication, so it’s my own fault. The result was that I spent more time alone, reading books, totally submerging myself in the world of anime though (laughs). I think it was like full-on delusional teenager syndrome [chuunibyou]. Even now, do you feel you’re bad at communication? Quite often I don’t match the tempo of conversations around me. It’s been that way since I was a child, but it’s things like, if I try to join in on a conversation everyone’s having, the topic I thought they were discussing has already ended and I’m the only one left behind. When I’m talking to friends too, I don’t know about what everyone’s interested in or paying attention to, sometimes I think, “Huh? I’m the only one who can’t keep up…” You’re bad at reacting while keeping in tune with other people’s rhythms? Really, really bad (laughs). That’s why I admire girls like Sacchan (Sugawara Satsuki). She has big reactions, she has many ways to draw out conversation, and she can say clever things without hesitating. Above all, talking to her is interesting, so I think she could probably open up with anyone right away. Compared with her, my communication skills are poor, even if there’s something I want to convey, I lose confidence, I always trail off at the end of sentences. When I’m watching the programs we’ve appeared on, I can hear Sacchan’s voice clearly, but my voice gets smaller at the end, like, “Hm? What am I saying?” On the bright side, that might be a way of speaking that attracts listeners. If I could converse skillfully like Sacchan, then that might make it enjoyable for others, but unfortunately I don’t quite have that communication skill. That’s why, whenever I see Sacchan and senpai looking like they’re having fun chatting in the dressing room, I think “How nice~” (laughs).
Nyagi being guest in Nogizaka Fractal's "Yakubo's Room" (#10) (Can't recall the date when this live happend on Twitter) if the video does not show watch the video here Credits to the official Nogizaka Fractal Channel
Saw this on a matome... An interview with Nagi, ace of the 5th Gen: https://wpb.shueisha.co.jp/news/entertainment/2023/06/14/119721/ Not my wording. It's in the title!
