Generation 3rd Gen Thread

@JaeRoler Yes, That sob was from Rika. If you noticed the more the concert was closer to its end (and the Keyaki song) the more her sentiments were overflowing. Call it anxiety, call it eagerness, she couldn't wait experience the weight of wearing that Keyaki uniform (I would bet anything that it was Hirate's uniform).

Remember that Rika is the most fanatic Kayaki fan of all 3rd gen (her age also supports that, as she was 13 when Keyaki was formed). Also remember her basketball uniform with the "46" on her back. Also her pen-light combo...

If I were in her place I would have melted by the mere thought of been given the chance to perform a Keyaki song...

Rika is a mixture of sensitivity, innocence, responsibility and maturity, splashed with a gint of maternal instincts and a lot of wifu qualities. She reminds me of Mai Fukagawa, the Madonna or Holy Mother of Nogizaka 1st gen, also the oldest member. I came to worship her as a co-oshi (together with Miu) after watching her wonderful early-youth TicToc videos and her being the very first image of Saku 3rd gen: Remember that teaser before starting presenting the girls one-by-one? That girl, captured from behind with a steep angle of her profile? I loved the shape of her nose, Rika's nose...

And what can I say about Miu? I don't remember being hit so hard by an idol as Miu and Nogi's Terepan. These two are (well, in my mind and the way I personally envision idols) trully unique! As for her performance, I accept that technically Shii-chan and Yu-chan are better dancers in that they have already considerable "mileage" in dancing behind them, but personally I prefer to see those grand, sweeping, accurate and maniac moves from Miu, while her eyes sparkle like torches in the dark waterfall of her hair and her "yaeba" underlining and reverberating the beauty of the corners of her face... What an elf girl!!!

Plus, Miu can sing as well (with a deep contralto voice)!

This doesn't mean that I overlook all the other nine girls: I can speak about each and everyone of them, praising them! This gen is even above 5th gen Nogi in quality, determination and speed of adaptation to the harsh demands of being Sakurazaka!

As a fan I've never been more happy and proud of my favourite group...

 

I think it is such a great idea for this Shinzanmono live. It gives the girls a lot of opportunity to perform and grow, rather than just waiting for the chance to break into senbatsu.

They also get the invaluable experience of headlining a live with all its emcee parts and performances all by themselves.

 

I finally catched up too with the second 3kis performance and guys and girls... sit back or just jump over this post because I alredy know it will be very long lol
I have so many thoughts....

First thing: I'm absolutely in love with this generation.
I may criticize them from time to time because they are growing up and still lack some skills or experience, or even because I'm ignorant about what they go through as dancers and singers... but I want only the best for them, I'm proud of them and the greater compliment I can give them is how I wish that they were a separated group from Sakura.
Their own group.
And not because I dislike Sakurazaka - of course! I would be in the wrong place all the time if that was the case - but because they are so perfect together, as a group, it almost feels wrong to break them up for senbatsu and backs concepts. Right now, in my mind it's simply not right.
This is why I'm really happy mngmnt decided to give them this chance to shine together.
Not only it give us and new fans the chance to see them perform and get better, but watching last Shinzanmono performance and comparing it to the previous one made obvious to me how this is giving them the oppotunity to improve each song each time.
And this is something you can't do if half generation is in senbatsu and the other half is in Backs.
Sakura members sings well and dance better, but the synergy 3kis have can only be compared to 1st gen keyaki, because they never shared their spot with any other gens.
Something I always sort of envied to 48groups is the theater... which surely has its cons, but it's also the place where every single 48's Team can work together every day.
3kis got this kind of performance and they are capitalizing it well.
Just imagine what they could be if the stage was just theirs...

Second thing: As soon as the concert began I had the feeling the girls were more energetic than in the first concert.
Not just energetic; at some point I though that someone like Takahiro sensei or even the girls themselves, watched their previous performance and saw where they lacked something and tried to work on it. This impression went on from start to end; I never though "ah this part went a bit down in matter of energy" or "this could have been better" it felt more like a progression of energy and it was impressive.

Third thing: from the first moment to the last Buddies did an amazing job.
I felt they too raised up their fan-skills to the max this time around. Not just at the start but through the whole concert. They have been part of the show almost as much as the girls and from outside is a beautiful thing to see. It's important for us watching through a screen, but also for casual watchers to see the partecipation of Buddies. It makes you wanna cheer for the group too.
Side note but not so much: I started following a new boygroup in these last days, and today I watched last episode of their audition show and the public was sooooooo silent! They weren't exactly cold, because they liked the kids, but.. their lack of enthusiasm and response to what was happening sort of chilled the air even though the event was an emotional one. So to jump on this concert and see the way Buddies filled up the venue and answered to the songs and called the girls made a very strong impact on me. I was incredibly touched by it, so if any Stage Buddie was there: GOOD JOB!!!! You have my Respect.

I have 3 general negative thoughts and then I'm gonna talk about the girls singularly like last post and close with last considerations:
1 - The stage is still too small for our choreo. (lol I know... when I dislike something I go on and on and on...)
2 - Even with the stage smaller than we should have had, the camera managed to lose the girls from time to time, especially in Mamoribito, which irks me to no end. They had 1 job.... 1 single job!
3 - Nobody's fault costumes look like they come out directly from Picnic at Hanging Rock or some bad horror movie about '700/'800 crazy nurses... I can't stand them... and I swear it's not because I have a grudge with the song itself lol

Anyway...
The girls:

Rika: Way more stable through the whole performance than she had been previously. I felt all the girls had fun and it shows, but Rika in particular shone positively through the whole concert, alway smiling when the song allowed, always present, more confortable than I saw her been so far.
Microscope is one of those song I didn't like until they were given to Backs lives and even though Marino did a great job with it and made me like it very much, Rika's sort of eclypsed that.
I dont' think it's Marino's fault or Rika being suddenly a superstar; I think it's because Marino sang it with members that could have been any Sakura member, while Rika performed it with her own members and this made all the difference in the world. Here I started to be really aware of the synergy between the girls. The contrast with a song I love has been so impressive it surprised me and made me really think about what I was witnessing, about 3kis collectivity
Same thing with Ban; it's getting better each time Rika perform it and it's both Rika's merit and other members too, they own the song like it's theirs since the start. I also had to clap Rika's smile... she grew so much, it's a pleasure watch her be confident.

Riko: She's the one I want to praise the most and the one I can't. On my notes I wrote Riko too looked more present than in the last concert, more energetic, especially when she had a part with Reina in Sore Ga Ai Nano Ne, I thought they stole the song from their senpai and managed to make it theirs, which is something we discussed about on these pages if I don't remember wrong... I was very happy to see this. But as the concert progressed it looked like Riko's energy went down and down only to recover in the final part. Maybe it's just my impression, but it felt like she need more time to learn to be on stage, which is absolutely normal, or maybe she just asks to much from herself practicing and then can't keep up with the final stage, which is also very normal.. I see it happen all the time even with older people when I have tournaments.
Also, I wish they would give her a different song.
There's a part in Nagaredama in which she looks like she's completely disconnected. Like she doesn't know exactly why she's there.
It's a shame because I think every of us is waiting for Riko to explode with the obvious talent she has and even though my girl Yuzu loves Buddies very much, I would switch the song to Riko and see how she'd do.
I think it would be much more suited for her and she would deliver it even better than Yuzu. Mngmnt never listen to me though.... lol

Reina: Still no center which I'm a bit disappointed about. Like I said she shone with Riko and evertime she was on screen she looked at ease and smiling and "there". I have nothing extraordinary to say about her, but she was consistent through the whole concert. I'm still on waiting with Reina, and I really really wanna see her challenging our Renaa. Not sure she would come up on top, because Renaa is growing up a lot too, but... I think it would be interesting and positive for both girls.

Nagisa: I'm so so happy about Konnagi you have no idea. She maintained the same level of energy through the whole concert and had some great moment too. She stole my attention even when she was near Shizuki performing and that is not an easy task. With Rika's MCing and Yuzu being her lovely fool-self she made me laugh with her "what? Me?" good to see they are getting more confortable with their speech too.
Every time I say the same thing but Mamoribito is such a great song and Nagisa lead it perfectly. I hope it will become our farewell song someday, but also our hope song, our promise song. I loved it.

Airi: Everytime I think she's already there... and every time she shows me she can take another step forward, get even better, level up like it's a videogame. Amazing.
If I have to find something she can improve, but just because I have to, it's Guuzen no Kotae performance. It's a beautiful song and Airi is a great idol already, but Karin has a way to perform it, to act, Airi has not mastered yet.. and maybe never will need to, because they are very different people. I would love to see them work together on something dramatic though. To see which kind of influence they could have on each other.

Yuzuki: Everytime I'm ready to write she got better at Mcing and everytime she gets something wrong lol I love it. But she gets better and better so, it's part of the fun of being Yuzu's oshi. Anthem time so far is the most fun 3kis song, not the best one but the most fun and she obviously enjoys it and makes me enjoy it too.
Yuzu has been one of the most stable members so far, again, not the best one, but consistent everytime she performs, so she may gets a bit lost in the middle of the group but I think this is also part of Yuzuki strength. She appears, smile and everything is better, she appears and it's obvious she's working hard and everything is right in my Sakura world. It's the first time I really liked this kind of member and it's teaching me a lot.

Mio: I watched Mio for half concert asking myself what is about this girl? Like, there's something I can't put my finger on that makes me like her and something that throws me away. What? I have no idea. But she's one of those who never falter through the whole concert, and she looked like a pro in Naze Koi, she managed to resolve the problem without lose her cool and not lose her steps. And her smile is just beautiful as she is. I'm sure I've already said it, but I hope she'll have a chance at modelling even though so far, sometimes she looks more like a girl who plays at being a woman that a girl growing up... but this is part of her charm so far.

Itoha: Another consistent performance! I'm really pleased by Itoha this time. She was always smiling, always delivering the song, always giving her best. It shows thought the whole performance and I appreciated it a lot. Itoha is super cute, but especially in Mamoribito her espressions were great, almost painful to watch... and because of the contrast with the energy she filled her performance with, I could appreciated and be moved by her tears too at the end, when in other occasions I felt they were too much because she cried at every chance she got. She growing up and she's doing it so well I'm happy.

Yuu: Loved her from Anthen Time onwards. Until now I felt that no matter how much I liked her, she was always lacking something and I couldn't put my fingers on what. The lack of consistence of her performance was probably what I felt kind of wrong, while this time she was on point since the start. She also got better at talking during MC time and got even better on Blue Moon Kiss... not on Renaa level because is completely different from her but better than last time performing it. It's incredible how little time it took all of them to get better. And she was on fire on Nobody's Fault. I loated the song but Yuu was perfect! ...even with that awful costume on lol

Miu: She smiled a lot more than I'm used to see lol and I love her voice a bit more each time I heard it, it's mature. It matches Miu very well and like Mio's is very different from all the other voices in the group, giving personality to the song they sang. And it's clear she's working on it, getting better at singing. Her performance was already on top last time, but her MCing got better too. I was really surprised when she yelled lol ...just to go back talking at Pe's level of voice! And I loved how she is more playful with the other members and being more at ease in front of the audience.

Shizuki: And finally - FINALLY - she's growing on me. She starts rocking the songs in the first moment and finishes at the end. Her voice in Samidareyo is especially stable and I loved it. Her Seijaku no Bouryoku is simply beautiful. 3kis don't have many song and I love every single one, but this one just speaks to my soul; especially the part in which they yell before the silence.
I remember Takahiro sensei telling 1kis to not push so much that they didn't have anymore energies for the next songs.... well, I feel Shizuki and the other 3kis members completely ignored this lesson and give everything they have and even more.

It would be impossible for me not close this up with the Keyaki bit our wonderful girls gave us...
it was perfect.

I knew they were gonna sing it because I spoilered myself reading it here, yet, when lights didn't go up after Sakurazaka no Uta (beautiful like usual) and the girls appeared on Keyaki uniforms, my heart went wild anyway. Buddies reaction was also so on point tho lol
No matter who was chosen to give the talk before the song it wouldn't be an easy one.. but Miu did a good job.
After, I wondered who chose that song, which now felt a bit conservative, so I presume it was the staff.
Breaking some powerful Keyaki song like Saimajo or Fukyouwaon would have been probably too much for them to bet on, even if I'm pretty sure 3kis would have rocked it.
Like I said, they have been perfect.
Everything they did before Kataru Nara Mirai Wo was forgotten, the good, the little bad, the lack of energy at the very end of the concert, everything was obviously put aside and they managed to find and invest even more energies they shouldn't have had anymore, and put everything they are in this performance without making the weight of it and the pressure of Keyaki legacy crush them.
Beautiful, powerful, amazing. And the buddies too with all the green lights made it perfect.
I'm so happy, so proud and so satisfied! I wanna more!

And I also hope, wherever they are, whatever they are doing, our former Keyakids watched this too and be proud of this new gen with Sakura Heart and a Keyaki Soul.

Like I said, perfect.


Of course, this spurs a question some people would have put us in jail for just thinking it some time ago..... but since our girls opened the Keyaki gate, I'm gonna ask you: hypothethically, which Keyaki song would you love to see each 3kis girl center?
It took me 3 hours to write this thing so I have no idea yet, but I'll think about it too... so many possibilities!

 

@Dill That is indeed a very difficult question to answer.

I feel like Shizuki and Miu can center most of the Keyaki songs without any issues but Eccentric is the one I want to see being centered by either Yuzuki or Rika.

It will let us see a different side of them and actually, I think Rika will do a great job centering it as well. Rika's experience centering Ban would prove useful here and the way she keeps improving her delivery speaks well of her ability to grow.

 

Gonna post something here.
Miu went for some Yakiniku by herself

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

A simple girl, moving with subtlety and simplicity, with simple human reactions, yet so superb and magical! Such a lovable kid...!

 

...and wearing a black jacket (of course) AND a black blouse (of course too!).