Kakizaki Memi turns 17. Happy Birthday, Memi-chan!

Kakizaki Memi turns 17 today, December 2 (it's already Sunday in Japan). What a year it has been for her:

• Breaks her wrist and can't perform in the final tour live last December. Faces this with fortitude and quiet tears.
• Triumphant Hiragana live performances at Budoukan. 
• Duet with Mirei, doing Sanrinsha ni Noritai on the album. Memi can sing!
• Hugely entertaining video extra with Hirate Yurina on the Ambivalent release.
• Finally able to give convincing fake smiles on Hiragana Oshi and elsewhere (as idols must).
• Complete and utter triumph as star of Magia Record stage play. What a voice!
• New prominence on Joyful Love videos and in recent ad campaigns.
• Good acting in Sakamichi stage play, Zambi.

She does her first gravure in a fashion magazine in the January bis:

An actress. As a comment on 5channel said: "Wow, wow, wow! What an expression! What a worldview!" People have used the age-estimating site How-Old.net to say she looks 6 or 13 in various photos. But that site says she looks 16-20 in the vast majority of her photos. It says she looks 20 in this image, and the next:

I don't know why she has grown as an idol so much over this past year, but I can suggest a few things:

• Just time, age and experience giving her the resources to do things she couldn't do before.
• The stimulus of competition with/emulation of 2nd generation members.
• Being able to face and survive her broken wrist.
• The joy of performing with her friend Yurina in that video extra. In fact, Memi shepherded the somewhat recalcitrant Hirate through that feature, doing Keyakizaka as a whole a big favour. 
• Going to karaoke alone and being able to belt out songs without worrying what others think. The volume she produces in Magia Record is amazing, considering that earlier this year she complained that her voice was too soft. And she just about always hit the notes dead on.
• Being given more opportunities to show what she can do, with each success increasing her self-confidence. Being partnered with Mirei was major.

Anyway, although she is still far from being the most popular Hiragana -- something I personally cannot understand, lol -- her popularity is growing as she finds ways to make an impression: with her cute little come-on winks and gestures; with her singing; with her acting; with her reactions on Hiragana Oshi and her nice comic timing.

She is by far the most posted-about Gana-chan on 5channel (the former 2channel). At this moment, she has a total of 17,302 posts in her support thread. The next highest number is Tomita Suzuka's 10,294. Saitou Kyouko 10,016. Iguchi Mao 9,049. Sasaki Kumi 8,341. And her lead keeps growing.

 
What does she need to do now? She needs to keep her voice improving, as it did between Sanrinsha and Magia Record. She needs to do some TV/film acting, to practicing acting more subtly. She needs to keep refining her appeals. She has discovered via her "burikko" winks and gestures (they aren't really burikko, but okay) that sex sells. (Who knew?) But I think her ability to openly gaze into the camera, seeming to actually make contact with each viewer, eye to eye, is her best gesture.

The thing that set Memi apart for me in her auditions two years ago was the openness of her gaze. She seemed to be natural and open, gazing interestedly at the audience and letting it gaze at her. She had none of the fear in her eyes that I believe I see in the eyes of most idols. Calmness is a recognized part of her character. I could see small emotions flitting across her face as she read the comments.

With her ability to smile on cue comes a greater ability to hide her emotions, so I think she will have to find the right balance there, one that preserves her unique kind of naturalness. Not easy, since being an idol naturally involves artifice.

And now she is 17. Here are photos from various times over the past two-plus years.