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| From Satou Shiori's post |
This is a great little pre-release campaign, involving the members themselves in the push. 2channel has been roaring with thousands of posts through Sunday and into the night, reacting to the blog posts.
We've been keeping track on the Stage48 Keyakizaka forums, but I thought I'd put everything together in a blog post, with brief descriptions of what each member has posted, and a link to each post.
So far, every member has posted with 4's and 5's except for: Hirate Yurina, Nagahama Neru, Shida Manaka, and Watanabe Risa. Are they just slow, or is there some reason they are kept for last? Such as a Techi-Neru double centre flanked by Za Cool? More about the possibilities later.
In any case, here is the list of posts, more or less in chronological order:
Kageyama Yuuka says she was born in the 5th month at 4:44 in the morning, and posts cartoon drawings of 4 guys on motorbikes saying "go."
Harada Aoi has pictures of 4 eggs, first in the shell, then in the pan.
Yonetani Nanami shows a beautiful plate of sushi arranged in two rows of 5, then all eaten but 4. Plus a photo of her with her hand on her cheek, thumb extended in a gesture for "5."
Sasaki Mirei holds up first 4 fingers and then 5.
Nagasawa Nanako asks why she should eat only 4 onigiri (rice balls) when she could eat 5?
Takase Mana tells us about her 4 favorite pens, one of which has 5 colours in it. She says she was going to go out, but saw that her phone was at only 45% charge and didn't dare to.
Kobayashi Yui shows a pic of a teddy bear with an apple on which the number 45 has been carved.
Suzumoto Miyu says she's waking up early these days and wonders why, then posts two photos of herself, first covering her face with 4 fingers, then with 5 fingers open. She also has two rows of dots, one of 18 and one of 45. Is the 18 suggesting a reduced senbatsu?
Satou Shiori with a rainbow image of the number 45, and the single word #Expectation (but of course the loquacious Shiichan had to add a second post with more words).
Uemura Rina with photos of four hats and five socks.
Moriya Akane shows herself going shopping in Harajuku (in a bit of a disguise, of course) and ending up with a new long-sleeved T-shirt she loves and will wear to dance practice...and then shows herself in the tee with a 4 written on the back of one hand and a 5 on her cheek.
Fuu-chan shows the temperature dial on her bath set to 45 degrees C.
Oda Nana show photos of first four books and then five books lined up together (and also a drawing of herself done by a younger cousin).
Watanabe Rika talks about spring and shows 4 stuffed animals and then herself holding up 5 fingers.
Takamoto Ayaka shows herself holding up 4 and then 5 fingers; talks about graduation coming in the 4th month, and says 5 hearts wouldn't be enough to hold her feelings; shows herself with her dog Gon-chan and says she met it when she was 5; and adds that she has 4 injuries on her body right now.
Koike Minami talks about spring and then shows her phone's lock screen at 4:05 and 45% charge.
Iguchi Mao talks about rushing to get to lessons on time and she and Kyonko hold up first 5 and 4 fingers, and then 5 fingers with hands making the shape of the number 4.
Aoi-chan comes back for another go, showing four macarons she got for her father (but wanted one to eat herself) and 4 bowls of pudding plus one pitcher of cream.
Zuumin talks about wanting to grow another "4...no, 5 centimeters."
Katou Shiho shows herself (wearing a Memi birthday T-shirt) with Memi and Kumi, holding up four fingers, with the fifth one in view.
Ushio Sarina shows four fingers coming down into a palm with 5 fingers outstretched, and gives us the equation: month 2 + day 12 = 2+1+2 = 5 and says that she took a daytime nap and got up at 4 pm.
Higashimura Mei says she loves the limited-time valentine sweets that cafes have right now, and shows cute pics of herself holding up 4 and 5 fingers.
Sasaki Kumi shows herself with four fingers peeking out of the end of an extra-long-sleeved ("moe-sleeved") sweater; and then with an Obi-Wan Kenobi figure, of whom she says that in episode IV he fights with everyone.
Nagasawa Nanako comes back again, showing a bowl of sashimi and saying it has 5 pieces of fish. Then she mentions that the birthday of the character Togawa Chisa in the anime Tsukiuta is the 6th day of the 4th month.
Habu Mizuho shows herself holding up her (lovely) hand showing 4 and 5 fingers.
Kakizaki Memi holds up the back of her hand showing 4 fingers (with the thumb bent into the palm so far that it looks amputated), then shows her (really cute) new padded jacket, with its pattern of 5 cats drinking from bowls together.
Sugai-sama shows herself feeding four carrots to the horse she rides for jumping, Terekishio, then has a pic of herself holding up five fingers. (2:17am Monday)
Kage-chan is back for another post, saying that she loves oranges so much that now she can eat as many as 4 or 5 a day. (9:36am Monday)
Kage-chan is back for another post, saying that she loves oranges so much that now she can eat as many as 4 or 5 a day. (9:36am Monday)
Shida
Manaka finally posts, talking about being nervous on the Pokemon TV
show she was on Sunday, without other members, but having fun. She just
tosses in a line at the end: "Somehow, the number 4 is often in my
vision lately." (4:36pm Monday)
Harada Aoi is back for a third time. Her post doesn't relate to this subject at all, but she sticks 4 hearts on one side of a photo and 5 hearts on the other. I wonder if this means she's still in the front line?
Watanabe Risa posted a pic of 5 rocks on a road. (posted 8:48pm Monday)
Nagahama Neru finally posted, drawing "45" in the condensation on their bus's (?) window. (posted 9:15pm Monday)
Now many, many members have posted again. You can scroll through their posts here.
Kage-chan is back for another post, saying that she loves oranges so much that now she can eat as many as 4 or 5 a day. (9:36am Monday)
Shida
Manaka finally posts, talking about being nervous on the Pokemon TV
show she was on Sunday, without other members, but having fun. She just
tosses in a line at the end: "Somehow, the number 4 is often in my
vision lately." (4:36pm Monday)
The happy mood and enthusiastic involvement of the Hiraganas has made some people (including me) think there might be an all-32 formation. I myself still favour an all-21, but an all-32 is okay, too. But since the number 18 is seen in a couple of posts, that raises the possibility of a smaller 18-member senbatsu, as well. Some people think that we could see two A-sides.
April 5 is a Wednesday, so that works for a release date (almost all singles are released on a Wednesday). It is two weeks after the release of Nogizaka46's new single, the same gap as for Keyakizaka's first two singles (Saison was three weeks).
These blogs are coming out Sunday. We have a whole work-week ahead of us for fan excitement and announcements from management. I expect the senbatsu to be revealed next Sunday on the Keyakitte, Kakenai? TV show, but it could be a week after that.
Imaizumi Yui has seemed particularly happy for a month or more now, posting every day and seeming energetic and optimistic. I personally favour Hirate returning as a single centre again, her health permitting, but I had come around to thinking it might be Zuumin's turn and feeling positive about that.
Now I'm beginning to wonder if management has decided that they will return to Hirate. The only four members who have not posted so far are Hirate, Neru, Shida Manaka and Watanabe Risa. Perhaps management will take pressure off Hirate by (a) appointing a captain, and (b) pairing her with her friend Neru at centre. Neru also seems to be management's second-favorite member.
Flanking them with Mona and Risa would be visually interesting, and would leave room for dancers such as Suzumoto, Satou Shiori, Kobayashi Yui, or Habu-chan (her chance to show herself) outside them. And Imaizumi's happiness might be related to getting a solo song.
But really, I have no idea what's going to happen. The key is whether Hirate is ready to shoulder the burden yet again. I think she is the face of the franchise, and needs to be there for sales to grow as much as they can. And I think she is an amazing talent, godly in the way she switches from ordinary human to something more when she goes on stage. But she looked utterly beat at the end of the Christmas live and after. They have given her a lot of time off and a much-reduced workload so far this year. Let's hope it has been enough to recharge her batteries.
Nice comments on 2channel. Praise for management for coming up with this: people read the blogs already; the blogs get checked by staff before they go out anyway; and each member can come up with their own way of doing this. People have been eagerly awaiting more blog updates, and 2channel has been ablaze. More publicity genius from this gang.
One more thing. There was a repost on 2channel of a post from 2 February saying that the new single would be called Grand Prism, and would be released on 5 April. This could just have been yet another false rumour planted on 2channel, but now it seems at least a tick more possible. The prismatic colours of Shii-chan's image at the head of this post are a tantalizing clue.
EDIT: I quit adding info after many members started posting twice. And now we know it's true: the 4th single will come out on April 5th!
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