48 Franchise Member Meta 2012, Team A non-bias girls
Series Index in links sidebar
Key
* = I recognize the name
** = I'm sure that I can recognize them by face
*** = I have a good feel for their personality
! = I have some measure of bias for them
!! = I pay attention to them in a group
!!! = homg I love them
Iwasa Misaki*
Warota member, but now better known for having released a solo enka single. One of the best voices in the franchise, of course, given that she has enka chops. I can almost say that I can recognize her face,(the words "slightly foxy" come to mind) but often only in the the context of members I do already know. Will probably confuse her face with Fujie Reina's. Most all of Warota are friends with each other, and Wasamin is definitely in Mayu's harem circle of friends, so at first I thought she was a pre-shuffle B, but it turns out she wasn't.
Oota Aika***
It's amazing watching how the original gens have grown, and Labutan is no exception. When watching a AKBINGO! history clip compilation, it became clear that Labutan has a lot of pride. She was pretty competent in the games, and she had the "smart-mouth loli" thing going before Myao stole it. Unfortunately, she was good enough at the games to lose screentime to the shenanigans of the losers, and never quite managed to follow up on her tsukkomis or modify them so as not to appear unlikably bratty.
But for me, what Labutan represents is how forgiving the industry is of prettiness, because at the beginning Labutan was following the same "super loli!" track as Mayu. But unlike Mayu, who has universal prettiness (almost inhumanly so, lol) Labutan got stuck with Tonari no Banana and Team Loli in Majisuka Gakuen, and has never quite broken into senbatsu, always hanging around the upper end of Undergirls, watching the likes of Rena, Sasshi, and Akicha pass by. The same things that fast-tracked her at first (DIMPLES, the cheeks, the sassy attitude) now work against her from ever trying to portray a more mature image. She's basically had to force us to not write her off as Dimples-tan by growing into a smoking hawt bod, and even then it's a neverending battle thanks to her babyface. She's like Selena Gomez now, trying to combat the babyface by flaunting a grown up attitude.
I would bias her, but I'm a shallow, shallow creature and more forgiving of pretty people. Also, her Tenshi no Shippo unit kind of creeps me out with the cat tail thing. I can't even watch it for camp value.
Notable pairings: Warota, Mayu, (of course) Myao, (loli brats gotta stick together!)
Katayama Haruka*
All I know is that she got picked by Aki-P for the title of a concert, wherein she was addressed as a club president of something. Also, she covered Itohisa no Accel pretty well, but without that little extra bite that Takmina gives it. Instead, she went for dramatic.
Takajo Aki***
Like I said before, Akicha reminds me of Berryz's gentle giant Yurina. And gentle sums up Akicha pretty well. Even when she's trying to be all yankii it just comes off very gentle to me.
Except for when she's dancing. Akicha has excellent form, making use of her skinniness and long limbs for maximum impact. Akicha has quite a lot of stage presence when she's in the zone dancing. She looks amazing when in the Genie smoky-makeup style. Unfortunately, her stylists have avoided this, instead playing up her girl-next-door demeanor, especially as a member of French Kiss. Which is probably responsible for her rising through the ranks, but it does make her kind of boring to me.
Notable pairings: Kitarie (Team Hormone FTW! and I suspect that she's an honorary member of the Province Buddies)
Nakagawa Haruka**
SHE'S ADORABLE.
Also, I have a grudge against her, because she does not know how to fucking play a snare drum and damn nearly ruined Idol no Yoake for me because of it.
Can't hate Harugon, though, because she's a puppy from the tip of her head to the tip of her toes. It's why she seems to be friends with such a wide variety of girls in the franchise, from Mayu to Nacchan to Acchan. And these are genuine outside-of-work have-sleepovers friendships, it seems.
Nakata Chisato*
Lol, seriously I just kind of recognize her name and that's it. Her nickname is Chiichan.
Nakaya Sayaka*
She can dance! (This is her, btw) And she wrote a book about being an unranked member in the franchise. That's kind of awesome.
Maeda Ami**
I'm so fucking shallow. Guesses at the two things I remember about her. Hint: One of them is the fact that Gekikara almost crushed her with a piano in MG2.
Key
* = I recognize the name
** = I'm sure that I can recognize them by face
*** = I have a good feel for their personality
! = I have some measure of bias for them
!! = I pay attention to them in a group
!!! = homg I love them
Iwasa Misaki*
Warota member, but now better known for having released a solo enka single. One of the best voices in the franchise, of course, given that she has enka chops. I can almost say that I can recognize her face,(the words "slightly foxy" come to mind) but often only in the the context of members I do already know. Will probably confuse her face with Fujie Reina's. Most all of Warota are friends with each other, and Wasamin is definitely in Mayu's harem circle of friends, so at first I thought she was a pre-shuffle B, but it turns out she wasn't.
Oota Aika***
It's amazing watching how the original gens have grown, and Labutan is no exception. When watching a AKBINGO! history clip compilation, it became clear that Labutan has a lot of pride. She was pretty competent in the games, and she had the "smart-mouth loli" thing going before Myao stole it. Unfortunately, she was good enough at the games to lose screentime to the shenanigans of the losers, and never quite managed to follow up on her tsukkomis or modify them so as not to appear unlikably bratty.
But for me, what Labutan represents is how forgiving the industry is of prettiness, because at the beginning Labutan was following the same "super loli!" track as Mayu. But unlike Mayu, who has universal prettiness (almost inhumanly so, lol) Labutan got stuck with Tonari no Banana and Team Loli in Majisuka Gakuen, and has never quite broken into senbatsu, always hanging around the upper end of Undergirls, watching the likes of Rena, Sasshi, and Akicha pass by. The same things that fast-tracked her at first (DIMPLES, the cheeks, the sassy attitude) now work against her from ever trying to portray a more mature image. She's basically had to force us to not write her off as Dimples-tan by growing into a smoking hawt bod, and even then it's a neverending battle thanks to her babyface. She's like Selena Gomez now, trying to combat the babyface by flaunting a grown up attitude.
I would bias her, but I'm a shallow, shallow creature and more forgiving of pretty people. Also, her Tenshi no Shippo unit kind of creeps me out with the cat tail thing. I can't even watch it for camp value.
Notable pairings: Warota, Mayu, (of course) Myao, (loli brats gotta stick together!)
Katayama Haruka*
All I know is that she got picked by Aki-P for the title of a concert, wherein she was addressed as a club president of something. Also, she covered Itohisa no Accel pretty well, but without that little extra bite that Takmina gives it. Instead, she went for dramatic.
Takajo Aki***
Like I said before, Akicha reminds me of Berryz's gentle giant Yurina. And gentle sums up Akicha pretty well. Even when she's trying to be all yankii it just comes off very gentle to me.
Except for when she's dancing. Akicha has excellent form, making use of her skinniness and long limbs for maximum impact. Akicha has quite a lot of stage presence when she's in the zone dancing. She looks amazing when in the Genie smoky-makeup style. Unfortunately, her stylists have avoided this, instead playing up her girl-next-door demeanor, especially as a member of French Kiss. Which is probably responsible for her rising through the ranks, but it does make her kind of boring to me.
Notable pairings: Kitarie (Team Hormone FTW! and I suspect that she's an honorary member of the Province Buddies)
Nakagawa Haruka**
SHE'S ADORABLE.
Also, I have a grudge against her, because she does not know how to fucking play a snare drum and damn nearly ruined Idol no Yoake for me because of it.
Can't hate Harugon, though, because she's a puppy from the tip of her head to the tip of her toes. It's why she seems to be friends with such a wide variety of girls in the franchise, from Mayu to Nacchan to Acchan. And these are genuine outside-of-work have-sleepovers friendships, it seems.
Nakata Chisato*
Lol, seriously I just kind of recognize her name and that's it. Her nickname is Chiichan.
Nakaya Sayaka*
She can dance! (This is her, btw) And she wrote a book about being an unranked member in the franchise. That's kind of awesome.
Maeda Ami**
I'm so fucking shallow. Guesses at the two things I remember about her. Hint: One of them is the fact that Gekikara almost crushed her with a piano in MG2.