Late to the party but I'm loving the tea spilled here so here are my unpopular opinions: 1. Nanase is not that pretty. By no means is she is ugly, but I find her quite average in Nogi. For example, there are some moments when I pause the video and feel "wow nanasemaru looks pretty here!" but most times she just looks average to me. It still surprises me she's as popular as she is because other than her protect me persona and cute vibes she doesn't stand out much. I think she shined the most as center during her graduation single. I made her one of my top oshi because I felt she broke a lot of 'conventional center' standards for which I have respect. Like she's not extremely pale and has a very girl-next-door appearance. 2. Ikoma is a better center than Nanase. Even though Nanase is a better dancer - Ikoma seems more powerful and impactful as a center for all the singles she centered as compared to Nanase. Because of Nanase's shy, passive personality and lack of stage presence she sometimes blends into the rest of the 1st row and it's hard to tell who the center is if you're new or don't know Nanase. But even if you don't know Ikoma or Nogi and watch Seifuko no Mannequin you'd immediately recognise who the center is because of her impact and presence. 3. Synchronicity > Influencer 4. I see a lot of lost potential in graduated first gen members, like Wakatsuki. I feel she had a lot of potential to have been 1st or even fukujin. 5. Speaking of Wakatsuki, I think had she stayed - she could have been a better successor as Captain than Manatsu. Her or Kazumi. 6. Manatsu looks like Asari-chan (the anime). 7. I don't like Yoda, at all. Something just seems off - like she's pretending to be all innocent and naive. 6. This might not be unpopular but I think a large part of the narrative of how Nanase rose to fame is the Manatsu incident. People talk about how other members pushed Nanase on variety and other moments they got and then she got massively popular because of that but I disagree. I think Nanase was not a contender for center until 4th single when Manatsu replaced her and Nanase got attention for being that girl "who got the shorter end of the stick". If you check her HS sales in the 3rd single and then the 4th, Nanase gained momentum and a massive fanbase then - climbing all the way to the top 3 member's HS sales. This is no coincidence. Manatsu returning was a big attention-grab and people kept asking "Manatsu's back? And she's in senbatsu? Who's place did she take!?" and that's when attention got moved to Nanase. So she just became an underdog which wotas then spent money on to come see, and basically console. This was around the same time she never went back to row 3.
Interesting opinions and well written as well. I just want to comment on some things because I have different POV. Not sure why you consider Nanase is a better dancer, but perhaps given Ikoma is rarely in the front row apart from her center songs, maybe her dance skills is not much apparent. If anything, maybe most people only recognize Ikoma's dancing skill in Seifuku no Mannequin or AGAINST. We rarely got the chance to examine how she performs the more elegant choreographies. Being a Waka oshi, I somewhat disagree. Waka got that ikemen vibe and somewhat strong presence, but she is somewhat kinda inconsistent and I find she was easily letting people taking over the flow of conversation whenever she was speaking up her mind. I think the fact that Wakasama Gundan failing so bad, not in terms of promo but in terms of unity as a Gundan kinda shows that she lacks the leadership quality.
That's true and that's the narrative that mgmt wants to push, a girl who looks ordinary can be a popular idol and the face of the group. Probably this type of girl resonates better to idol fans because they are not too 'out of reach'. Mgmt does the same now with Sakura and Yoda, whom I also find 'not that pretty' (but beauty is subjective though).
I never even thought Influencer was that good. Although the intro for me is one the best. Only the intro. I don't listen to it except for times when the group performs it. Pretty sure there's more than just one member pretending in front of the camera. Manatsu is not that clumsy but I guess many already know this so not gonna elaborate more. Maaya is definitely not that 'baka'. Idk if anyone really thinks so, but I don't buy it. It's funny, sure for variety. It's mostly all for show and I actually have a good laugh at it. They will put crazy answers on the questionnaire or say it in the studio because that's a good few minutes of camera time. Tomorrow is one of those episodes in Kojichu. KojiHaru of AKB is also an example. The airhead often gets attention. The same goes for the innocent/naive type of girl. It's just that some members are good at doing it. I always believe management won't (allow to) show a certain member's true/full potential, or even hold them back, so the girls they want to push will not be overshadowed by such members. This is one way another member is used to push such narratives. The drama, the struggle to reach one's goal, that something or someone blocking their way, the rise to the top - this kind of stuff And since Manatsu is mentioned. I think she has benefited a lot from being the captain. Maybe it's just me but Reika's time as captain was pretty quiet. What I mean is Manatsu got a lot more exposure since becoming captain if you compare it with Reika. I don't mind any correction if my observation is wrong on this one.
This certainly has to do with her "I don't wish for people to look at me off stage, however it's the opposite when I'm on-stage" stance which she mentioned in her grad speech, she definitely capable of charms you all the time, however there are times when she doesn't even want to be looked at. Instead of striking as a beauty, her image being so soft-spoken and reserved resonates well with her sweet appearance. Well, this is a fact. As a Nogi fan, a group with beauty, elegance & being refined in their image. A song like Synchronicity certainly suit the groups image more than Influencer (not that I particularly hate the song). Upon listening to her commmentary in Okinawa Koujichuu & the recent episodes focusing/ ended up leaning on her. I'm quite convinced that she's the genuine type. For pretending, to some extent, I believe it's acceptable, if anything it can even be said necessary. Even Himura himself can be said pretending, Shitara & Okura once mentioned in their radio that Himura aren't always as bright as he is portrayed in TV. I mean who would be bright/ happy 24/7?, it's simply impossible to be bright or funny all the time. Beside that, being in the entertainment industry, pretending is also necessary to keep things going which is vital. Thus I believe that faking/ pretending is necessary however in it practice it should also be done accordingly. This however come to my dissatisfaction towards one member, Akimoto Manatsu. From the very beginning (heck she shouldn't even return in the first place), I never liked how OVER THE TOP her pretending & how wickedly-calculative she is. Pretending to be klutz, failing, tripping. Literally anything you can think of. If it gives her camera screen/ focus, she'd do it with no hesitation. I particularly hate those 2x when they do unison quiz, once in Nogidoko and once in Nogichuu. She'd answer wrong (the whale/ elephant & persimmon thing), ruining the bigger picture, it doesn't mount as much importance to her as long she could be the center attention of the fuss she caused. edit: typos
On the contrary, I am liking Yoda much more recently. At first she seemed to me another Nanaseish girl who brings the "pure boring shy chara" who does literally the minimum and gets all the glory, but it is already used by other girls like Endo. Yoda is much funnier and interesting and brings a different color with a bit of fanservice too. I respect her more now.
told u same reply before, result depends on the person doing it. Yep, last few months Yoda definitely growing on me as well.
Another: 1. Ikuta Erika does not look like Acchan. Mizuki looks more like Acchan. 2. Momoko deserved better. 3. Umezawa looks like a walmart version of Shiraishi. Yes, the resemblance is there. They both even have a mole above their lips but Shiraishi is on another level. Umezawa needs to find her own identity other than being the girl who looks like Shiraishi. Kid: "Mom! Can we get Maiyan?" Mom: "We have a Maiyan at home" The Maiyan at Home: Umezawa.
I don't know if you're talking about me but if you are referring to my Yoda opinion - I feel she is trying to copy Nanase's protect me persona. But the difference is that Nanase is naturally like that while Yoda is not. So my oshi is not calculating because Nanase has always been that way - to me Yoda was more outgoing during her early days and became more quiet, shy and 'smol bean' ish recently. Now if that is because of management's narrative or her own doing idk - but either way I don't like it. On the other hand, Nanase has always been that way - if anything she has come out of her shell to become outgoing now. I think it's worse when a non-innocent person tries to act innocent rather than a shy person trying to act outgoing. The second one requires pushing oneself while the first requires refrain so seems more manipulative than the first. But that's just me.
I don't really understand what you mean by this because I don't think Ume has ever been "the girl who looks like Shiraishi" and she does have her own identity that has nothing to do with Maiyan. Even though she does look similar to Maiyan, it's not really something I hear brought up a lot, especially within the group and it's not like she was pushed as a pair with Maiyan like Momoko was. The only aspect of Ume's appearance that has become part of her identity is her height and I think more people would think of her as "the tall girl" rather than "discount Maiyan".
lemme correct you.^ Faking being dead terrible at sport/ calculativeness against her mom/ faking her home town, being azatoi isn't even the biggest reason why I don't like her (our convo in other thread). Can't you see how far she would go to satisfy her thirst for attention? Her azatoi isn't even the cute ones, it's wicked. I can't accept such existence in Nogizaka. edit: edded replies. Def, no resemblance with Ikuchan & for Zucc, if I force it, maybe like 10% resemblance or less. As in more center chances?, I find the selected centers post Nigemizu befitting the song, so perhaps more song to fit her else.. Looking at beauty alone, I find no one contesting Ume for the throne at the moment, really. If anything I find her beauty is more potent. She doesn't have the cute air around her, like Maiyan that would sometimes act cute/ playful, aside from being beautiful. Ume on the other hand have this beauty, up-right image on her & she also not really the type to mess around. As long no one surpass her beauty, being overshadowed by Maiyan doesn't really matter. some people in this forum having hard time grasping the idea of Unpopular Opinions.
If you can't be entertaining naturally, being calculative is better than being boring. Just another unpopular opinion.
Im here to say: Thank god, im not the only one who thinks that Yamashita looks like Maeda Atsuko But that was at the beginning, now she doesnt looks like her so much... Ume looks like Maiyan also in the first years, because she look up at her so much... she was like her "older sister". Now, Ume found her own beauty and she looks more gorgeous than that time. And I think everyone agrees in this: Momoko deserves better... MUCH BETTER
Not everyone can be entertaining, beauty & talented like Ikuchan. To survive ofc many members must resort to being calculative to some extent, even Chima last week explained how was trying to play hard-to-get with the staffs for hit campaign, however it unfortunately didn't worked well. However the thing I have against Akimoto is that her way of doing things is way off the trail as a Nogi. What actually happened with these Momoko deserves better, were she treated poorly in any way? Please elaborate.
unpopular opinion ≠ something incorrect yeah bro, Yoda is holding back so much these days that even she was the only one to get her own episode in Koujichuu
My unpopular opinion is that she was more outgoing in her early days than she is now, which makes me think she wants to be seen as/have an image more shy and introverted like Nanase.