Tashima Meru (Meru) / 2nd Generation

For some reason, Meru's SSK appeal video wasn't loading for me on that website, even using a proxy website. But luckily, I found the video uploaded to this Meru Facebook fan page:
https://www.facebook.com/TashimaMeruTW/
Couldn't find a link for the video individually, but you can just browse videos only too if it's hard to find (later on if you are reading this post much later): https://www.facebook.com/TashimaMeruTW/videos

She's so genki, it makes me feel so happy & cheers me up.

 

Meru on her subliminal message game with that appeal video.

senbatsu

As if we didn't already know.

I'm honestly pretty disappointed with her election poster (and a lot of others actually) this year. It's cute, but her previous poster was all like she was coming to snatch weaves while this year it looks like she wants to plait them.

Might watch the prelims live since I'm usually still up around that time anyway. Even if the results are hardly reflective of finals beyond the very top spots, they usually still cause some entertaining controversy.

 

Meru's and Naopon's senbatsu poster are very similar... I wonder if they agreed on this beforehand or was it a coincidence? I mean, I don't even know how the production of those posters work, I am assuming the girls get to decide over that?

 

I think they have a lot of autonomy with their posters. Yuriya for example had her mom take her picture for hers

 

And the prelims just get weirder and weirder lol.

I wanna say #49 is Meru's worst prelim but I can't be arsed to go looking for the previous years. She (and quite a few others) will be much higher in the end but it's not looking too good for UG center.

 

Meru's Sousenkyo Preliminary & final results history:
(1st Day) Final Result
2013: (#42 | 3,077) #55 13,246
2014: (#46 | 4,021) #38 18,875
2015: (#27 | 7,698) #32 22,191
2016: (#49 | 5,930)

I noticed they added 20 new spots this year, even though the number of eligible members remained about the same as last year (This year: 308 eligible, Last year: 304).
It is worrying that it is a decrease from last year...

 

These 20 new spot was just for they who "almost made it" in prelim. Actual rank will stay 80 in the real count.

 

Oh no! I'm quite disappointed with the prelim... I'm hoping Meru supporters will fight harder until the final results. I would like to at least see Meru moving up a few spots this year, but now with these numbers I'm starting to really worry if we will see Meru ranking lower I'm going to buy more codes!

 

Hi there! You're going to buy codes to vote for Meru in the Sousenkyo, right? So how do you do that? Well I'm thinking of doing the same and since I'm kinda new here, I know nothing lol

Oh and hello to other fans of Meru! /how do you say that? Meru-oshi? Lol/

 

Hello! I'm sort of new myself! I actually found a person on Craigslist selling the codes, he hasn't gotten around to send the codes yet, but I have high hopes that it's legit lol...

 

Mm, yeah the actual vote count going down definitely isn't good. *sigh*

Well, let's hope other Meru oshi have the same response to this as you two do and go out to buy more votes (and welcome to the Meru kingdom, イロナ!) . I won't be able to assist this year unfortunately, my return to employment status hasn't gone exactly as planned. I finally landed a job but I won't even be starting it until late into the voting period so no way I'll get paid in time, I don't even think I'll be able to stay up to watch the results. :/

If you're looking for more codes, here is a seller on ebay I've bought a lot of J-pop stuff (including voting codes) in the past. He's a little more expensive than other sellers I'm seeing but I can at least tell you from my own experience that he's legit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/AKB48-45th-...334036?hash=item5687ab3d94:g:dbYAAOSw9~RXJfW8

 

Oh, thanks for the valuable tip, in case I find myself with a little leftover money this week I will make sure to buy some more votes! Too bad you can't join this year, but it's my first time this year so I guess that evens things out, right? Lol...

I'm just worried because nobody else seems to mention that they voted or will vote for Meru in this thread, but I hope the fandom will work hard to get a nice rank for Meru! She has had a tough time the past year (as she confessed during her seitansai) and I definitely don't want to see her dropping in ranking this year!! Go, go, Meru!!

 

Is it the angle of the picture or her face look slimmer?

Now that I think about it,I think she did seemed slimmer in the past few pictures of hers!I don't really care about how she look like since she's pretty either way but I hope it's not lost of weight because of stress or other reasons!

 

well I've transferred my vote to meru so all I can do now is hope for the best. Yes I think some of the people here is not originally from japan, love meru but don't know how to participate, But still I feel thankful for all of the support for her. Meru is always kind of a cheery girl who hide her problem well, I hope she won't push herself too hard and get skinnier because of that

 

Wow thanks for the tip!

I honestly think that Meru deserves more votes. Uggghh her center charisma! *watches Hatsukoi Butterfly for the 16382748273837381738th time*

 

Well, Meru seems to always look slimmer in privat photos, but from the recent LODs and official photos she seems to have kept her shape the same (as far as I can tell I haven't noticed weight gain or loss)... Yes, she is pretty either way! I'm just a bit upset about how the hkt wardrobe has been fitting her in an unflattering way, they tend to sew the waistline way up close to her chest because she has a short torso, which makes her look even bulkier... I've seen her outfit on idol no ouja for the first concert at Nishitetsu and it look dreadful compared to the original outfit on the PV for the song. However when she was performing KIV's stage (don't know the name of the stage, sorry), she was using an outfit that shows her belly and she didn't look fat at all, so I'm thinking she is having a wardrobe problem...

 

agree to this, her outfit issue is getting worst these day..shees

 

Honestly, I would post a picture of the idol no ouja outfit, just to illustrate how awful it looks, but I'm on my cellphone, so I can't. Maybe when I arrive home... She looks huge in it, it looks like a sack and it doesn't quite match the rest of the team (imo)... I feel like Meru isn't getting the attention she deserves from management, maybe even being forcefully pushed aside...

 

It's been only her outfit for a while now, none of that weight talk. I personally don't really care though.
It's not easy to learn how to dress to your body type at such a young age, right after puberty. Hair is also a factor.
And especially recognizing that something you find cool or cute may not look well on you despite all of that.

She has been getting better at it in private though, like the outfits during a recent HS weekend. I loved this:


But it is true that a big part of the costumes 48 has, makes her look bulky.
It's difficult to get it that way when most don't share your body type, as it has to be a uniform, i.e. sorta look the same for everyone, and that 48 has a lot of old ones for stages.
Not all of them though, some quick ones I came across:


But in the end for costumes it's probably something you can't avoid.
How you look in a costume is also just one factor of many, look at her expressiveness during performances, it's top.

Anyway, I translated the two posts after the prelims!
She has a nice mentality, and warm towards her fans, as you might expect.

I hope her rank goes up a bit, and I think there's a good chance that it will.
Personally I kinda feel like she (and fans?) will already be glad that it does, instead of the senbatsu dream.
Kinda the Natsu SSK route in some sense. I still feel like Meru has a big fanbase, but maybe not the most wealthy one. Which is nothing to be ashamed about.

 

Meru is young... See haruppi, gore push, 19 years and no senbatsu last year. Meru still have at least 3 years, and i think she will be already in senbatsu this time