Hiragana Keyaki photos: Memi, Shiho, Mii-pan, Kyonko, Kage-chan

The Hiragana Keyaki Omotenashikai was such a success that they have already had it on TV once and are planning an extended version next Sunday at 9 pm, Japan time, on TBS.

The Hiraganas' performance of Dare Yori mo Takaku Tobe on the special Keyakizaka46 show this weekend was a big step up from their already entertaining MV.

My enjoyment of them is only rising -- as it is for the main Kanji Keyaki group, as well.

Of curse, Memi is the one who always seems to find a way to intrigue me. Like this:

That's Kakizaki Memi (3rd year middle school) with Saitou Kyouko (1st year university) on her shoulders. Memi is a strange kind of frilly French doll: one with the strength to carry her seniors on her shoulders. Kyonko is slight, but Memi does have more grip strength than any Kanji Keyaki member did at their athletic event a year ago. And she has run almost as fast a 50m as the top runner, Akanen. Her calves are noticeably solid.


In her blog today, Katou Shiho (she calls herself Toshi-chan now) says she tried and failed to imitate Memi -- although with the clearly heavier Takamoto Ayaka:

 Memi isn't the only strong one. Here's Mii-pan (Sasaki Mirei) holding up Kyonko (Saitou Kyouko, left) and Higashimura Mei. Meimei's dancing continues to stand out for me, as does her ability to do toss a rifle around like a majorette tosses a baton:

And there is Manafi (Takase Mana) photo-bombing them from the left rear. Mii-pan was a solid leader in the Omotenashikai, especially as director of the chorus club. She sounded the tuning note (from her phone, I think) and then directed the singing, mainly with her flashing eyes.

In the pic, Mii-pan is wearing a BabyMetal T-shirt, as discovered on 2channel:

Kyonko was one of my favorites in the Showroom auditions last April, and she still is, with her smile, her deep voice, and her active emotional intelligence, drawing the group together.

Toshi-chan, on the other hand, is flighty and has a droll humour, and is thought by many to be the beauty of the group:

 For me, however, she is more like Memi's older girlfriend. They seem to have hit it off from the start: the innocent country girl who is, however, confident and a bit of a sadist; and the flashy broad from Tokyo who is, however, flighty and insecure.

These photos of Memi and Toshi-chan are from Katou's blog, a post she titles "Rabu-rabu" ("Lovey-dovey").

All these pics are from their practice rooms, but I can't help observing cruelly that the floor looks like Toshi-chan's messy room, which she accidentally gave us a view of in an August Showroom broadcast. She had to end the broadcast early because she was uncontrollably weeping in embarrassment.

Here's Kyonko with Kageyama Yuuka, the other middle-schooler in the group. Miss soccer fan. She was highly noticeable in the DareTobe performance on Saturday night. Not only was she competent as a dancer, but she was more than Nagasawa Nanako-level in her assiduous courting of the camera.

Here's Kage-chan, having crept up as close to the front row as possible, winking at the camera over Neru's shoulder.