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Five years: a look back

Posted by goratnik, 23 April 2017 · 579 views

Eto Sayaka Watanabe Miyuki NMB48
I've got an idea today to search for my posts on Stage48 by forum to circumvent results being limited to 200 posts (I have over 1000). Obviously I've checked the NMB48 forum and to my surprise I found out that my first post in one particular thread was made on 2012-04-23... Exact five years. I love such coincidences. I made six posts out of 12. One of them makes me thoughtful: the 2012-09-26 one. Seems quite unusual compared to what I was writing at that time, was this an indication of something I have missed back then..?

I's almost funny that my last post in the thread was on 2016-04-24 - I missed the anniversary by one day. Totally unintended, so just see how close I was.

As I was browsing my old posts, I found another one:

Akari, Milky, Shiori, now Kei... NMB floods with awesomeness ^O^

That was a reaction to a good gravure photo still present in preceding post - it's so weird to see it again after such a long time. I almost forgot that I have noticed Keicchi before :( Now she is a Legend.

A lot of posts in Akarin and Milky's threads... and another cookie:

Add Yamagishi and promote Ishida, please!

And after that silence for two and half years until Natsumin's graduation... :omg:

Yuumin is still around, it's really good to see her still going. She was so close to getting promoted [as oshi], it's now too late, I think, but it would be still very sad to see her leave. A cornerstone after all.

---

What about other groups?
I'm tempted to summarize oshis and their groups... Let's start with those promoted since second half of 2012, in roughly chronological order (along with estimated time, when they made onto my list):
  • Fuuchan (not sure when, end of 2012?) - for years a weirdo, making me unsure why she is my oshi at all, but after all she is on the winning side.
  • Ashu (I though that this was around 2013-03, but I found the relation from watching Nogiromance in 2012-09 and this series was definitely a kickstarter for Asuka) - for some time she was the strongest group oshi, but now she is withering away, losing feelings and interest. PB was probably a swan song. A bit better summary could be how she failed to promote anyone in both Sakamichi groups after Nanase (really, Ranze was ready and what came out of this? And I'm aware that Keyaki are not her direct responsibility, but another oshi in Sakamichi would benefit her greatly).
  • Komi (??? somewhere here, apparently before NNS) - doing well enough to make AKB48 safe! Remember: "well enough".
  • Nanase (somewhere in 2013) - almost done for. Simply a pretty girl now.
  • Naachan (2014? I would have to check Twitter, a scary idea with 67000 tweets) - suspended and totally irrelevant, as I don't believe she will make it again, if she is still keeping the hairstyle that made me turn away with shock and sadness.
  • Mikurin (2014) - begged into position to keep HKT48 afloat, yet the ship still sailed towards the bottom of the sea... the only their performance I still hold onto is Manatsu no Sounds Good! - the one with Saayan in it, the only her recorded performance I'm aware of...
  • Yuriyan (2015) - after suspension I still don't trust her, she seems unstable and crazy in not a good way.
  • Kanochan (2015-10, roughly) - actually doing something, but she is heavily limited by grandmas in her group, that don't make enough space for youngsters to thrive. A plus in the sea of agony, even if her hair like *always* has that scary, borderline length.
  • Aachan (two months ago) - the longest pending candidacy *ever*, in a big part due to her age; still not fully acknowledged, but she is here.
  • The New Generation of Namba (this month) has a beautiful beginning. They were as if prepared for this: I was almost completely doubtless when promoting them. Just compare this with NGT48 that didn't make me really attached after a year of following photolog nearly every single day and also seeing some performances... Maybe Hinatan? Not convinced. 5th gen in contrary just blew up the door and came in like a commando well trained by superiors (Akarin, yay). Another comparison could be made with Keyakizaka46, that failed even with almost all fans I know throwing themselves into the new group.
In other words - most groups are a disaster. I'm not bothered with STU48, condition of almost every other has been already described.

Now time for oshi preceding the mark, in reverse chronological order this time:
  • Milky (hard to believe, but she might have come after Saayan, not along with Akarin) - for a long time seemingly more of a background member, even if she was in a close rivalry with Akarin as my most liked girl in NMB48, but over time she grew in and is like the best friend (or more?), that I love and would run to for advice and support if I had a problem. Or without reason, simply so. She seems to have asserted that as my oshi she did what she she was supposed to, considering when she announced graduation and even when she probably caught my deeper attention (was that when the audition for 3rd gen started?), but I still feel that I need her, as not everything has been polished and is working as expected, so I was so close to just begging her to come back... I don't know how such prayers work, but two days ago she has started a blog and what is great, she looks almost amazing here (amazing = happy and ageless, almost = hair still has few centimeters to regrow, so it's so close to full happiness of mine!!!).
  • Saayan (2011-11) - she trampled through, crashed and this was the end of the song. One of the strongest ever, 2012 was the time when I was really a top fan, a true wota. I had to rethink her case recently, along with the early negotiations for the switch, and I came to new conclusions, how her influence could have been disastrous: she was a group oshi, I was heavily invested in the group, sure, but Saayan didn't really make me like her groupmates, all attention was for her or due to her; no other girl made it on her own. This can be seen with how I have totally no interest at all for any other member of the group from that time (Sakura is the exception for other reasons). Considering this obvious and easy to notice part, my new discovery is as follows: this led to the point that when she was being fired for breaking the contract on 2012-08-19, she had another contract broken already, my oshi contract. Being a group oshi, when she aimed to be my kamioshi since the beginning of August, she essentially abandoned her group. The rest is history of the biggest damage dealt to any 48 group with a single strike of scandal... And that scary feeling of how this coincided with my thoughts about girls, plans about how to be their fan - and of whom...
  • Akarin (2011-07) - needless to say, after years of being a group oshi, losing to other groups, being neglected, watching with her teammates the backs of whoever I was interested in at that time, as for three years between 2012 and 2015 I don't think I paid a lot of attention to NMB48, maybe except for gravure, just this, I just don't recall anything serious otherwise... she is now walking in the glory of victory.
  • Yukirin (2011-01) - it took her two weeks to join Mayu and she still lives and thrives. After the time she spent with NMB48 Nambas might consider her as one of their own, what would be great. She helped NGT48 a lot over past year and still keeps AKB48 relevant. One of best ever, even if she seems to take too much work on her plate to keep the quality - but she does keep after all.
  • Mayu (2010-12) - the god of idols. She built me as a fan almost from scratch, using an old system as a framework and expanding on it as I got deeper and deeper. She seems now tired after so many years. As my kamioshi, she has initially agreed to upcoming changes, as they would give her more freedom and allow to retire peacefully.
Landscape is getting so much simpler, yet the world is more beautiful! Such a happy world! Just one Name and everything is so different! Better! More lively! So many mysteries are solved!

May the Sun shine on you all!