Kakizaki Memi draws rave reviews for her acting in Re:Mind #10

Episode #10 of the Hiragana Keyaki drama Re:Mind was broadcast Thursday night and it belonged to Memi. She dominated the second half of the episode with her intense performance.

Here are some Japanese posts:

-- ...for a first dramatic performance by an idol, this was outrageous. The way she went from anger to being seized by madness to philosophic despair. Her instant-by-instant series of amazing expressions made me think of Jack Nicholson. This may be carving out new territory for an idol drama.  (Twitter @erohi)

-- the director of episodes 7 and 8 wrote that the director of ep10 contacted him just before the broadcast to say that Memi had awakened as an actress in ep10. He said that it was a precious moment, and something he had never witnessed, to actually see an idol (unconsciously) sprout forth as an actress.

-- Now we've seen what Memi can really do. Outstanding!

-- The scene where she was apologizing to MiiPan and Kumi with such scornful eyes. Amazing.


-- It was fantastic the way she made that long speech with such a changing flow of expressions. I want to see her on stage. Her voice shook me, and made me wonder if I had ever seen anything like this before.

-- Continuous goosebumps.

-- Memi-chan showed the acting ability to become an actress.

-- Memi was terrific. I wonder if offers for other dramas will come in.

-- Memi was so grand at the end

And this on Twitter from @kizuna_no_21: "Really, Memi was amazing. Her acting was realistic and powerful and draining. Her changing tempo drew you along. And her expressions were beyond wonderful. Her performance of someone who was mentally overwhelmed and breaking down was immensely skilful. And her elocution and tone were outstanding.

"Her face when she was leaning back against the back of the chair at the end. Her trance-like expression when she seemed to welcome death...."

-- ...Her acting when she was driven to the wall was fantastic.

-- Memi's realistic acting was intense.

-- Memi-chan really did it. The first half was Kyonko's crying, in the latter half, Memi made me shiver with fear.

-- Memi-chan's acting when she was going mad was, in a word, magnificent.

-- Memi's acting was outstanding when she did not want to be where she was, and did not want to die, but her feelings were falling apart and she was going mad and wanted it all to be over.

-- Memi unrivalled

-- Memi's acting was amazing, superb.

I feel a bit sorry for Manafi and Mii-Pan. In ep7, I thought Manafi was excellent. And Mii-Pan has been good all along. But Memi's performance threw everything else into the shade. She seemed to be inhabited by her character. 

But note that the director said she "sprouted" as an actress. This is just the first step. She was not a pro actress, just the beginnings of one. Memi's name means "sprout-fruit," which is meant to imply she is a flower, the stage in a plant between sprout and fruit. I eagerly await the appearance of the flower.