Takase Mana blog: Kakizaki Memi, on her 17th birthday

Memi's Birthday  

Takase Mana
2018.12.08


Hello, everyone (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ
It's Takase Mana


December 2nd was Kakizaki Memi's birthday!

"Happy Birthday" [in English]
Congratulations


As Memi's age builds up, she has become a very amusing girl, especially recently when she's saying nothing but "meow" and has become a burikko!!

When we first met at the audition, she was 14.
That girl is now 17. It seems to have happened so quickly.




At that time, I was 17.
I never thought that this girl three years younger than me would become such a close friend.

At the time of the audition,
The candidates from outside Tokyo had numbers close to each other.
I remember her asking me how old I was and where I came from.

And when the results were announced, with us knowing nothing in advance, there was Memi right in the middle, next to Nagaru [Neru], with Kage-chan and I beside her.

I'm shy, so I said nothing,
But this girl three years younger said to me: "Please treat me well." I was really impressed, and thought: "This girl is an idol."

I did wonder how to cope when she entered a kind of rebellious phase,
But Memi-tan has steadily grown into what she is now.
When I see her standing right in the middle of the group known as "Hiragana Keyaki,"
And representing Hiragana Keyaki in all sorts of activities, I really think she's great.

After Hiragana Keyaki was formed, for our first song, "Hiragana Keyaki,"
I was standing right next such a person. But that's something that's now forgotten.

Memi works so hard at everything she is given to do,
But when a rehearsal or a performance or shooting is done, she talks about her feelings with me.

"Without Takase around, I can't do my best" or
"I'd love to be able to work together," are things she'll say.
In fact, I'm only able to support this Memi from behind, and that sometimes makes me unhappy,
But when she expresses her feelings to me -- complains and so on -- it honestly makes me happy.

So I speak my real feelings, too.
She may be younger than I am, but our opinions are similar, and we think through things and talk about anything.

When she doesn't have anything special to say, she comes and just keeps saying "meow, meow."
When Memi wants to go somewhere, she drags me along whether I want to go or not,
And on the bus or in the dressing room, she tells me where to sit: "Takase sits beside me."

Mii-pan and Otake joke, sort of, that I'm always stuck in with Memi.
And when I think about it, I wonder if she's totally bossing me around.

But what I really want to say
Is that I love this Memi.

Truly, it's great that I met her!

Let's continue to get along, eh (｡･ω･｡)



Thank you very much for reading right to the end.

Takase Mana  /(o・ω・o)＼

 _______________________________________________________

posted 2018/12/08  04:28

Love this post. This is the relationship between Memi and Manafi. I think Mana has done a lot of good for Memi by listening to her and allowing herself to be bossed around.  I wondered why Mana hadn't yet said anything about Memi's birthday: it was because she had so much to say.

A Japanese comment I read today said the way Memi speaks without honorifics to this person three years older than her makes him think less of Memi. It makes me think more of her, but then again I'm not Japanese. Memi may be young and short and quiet, but she is an enormous personality, amusing and bold and real. And Mana realizes this, and loves being  addressed as an equal.

Another interesting person outside the group has talked about Memi's birthday. Kunimori Sakura of Theatre $4.50, who participated in Zambi with Memi, wrote:

Happy birthday.

Am I just in time!?

I really think

It's so nice to be like an angel!

I've said this so often, 

But it would be great if we could get together again and just talk and talk

17 years old! Please enjoy "seventeen"!!!

Theatre $4.50 is another enterprise of Aki-P. It's his drama troupe. He auditioned and chose members who did not have that much acting experience and they have been training for a while. Kunimori-san, despite being a member with very little experience, he chose to be its "centre." For a theatre troupe to have a "centre" is a new idea. Kunimori-san is nineteen. Aki-P said he chose her as centre because she was the one who wanted it least.