Kakizaki Memi: Fan reaction to the Snow Princess blog post

There has been a lot of fan reaction to Memi's big blog post of photos of her by her sister. Twitter and 5channel have been active. Here is a selection of posts, translated from Japanese -- as well as some examples of fan-made covers for a prospective photobook.

"Kakizaki Memi suits the snow, I think. Even in that white and shining silver word, her smile is blinding" -- Nananero [Twitter nananero_n46, who made the cover]

• the blog's destructive power is awesome. I'm shaken.
• the blog has become something amazing. Thank you, Oneesan [=elder sister]. Looking at this blog post will help me bear the wait for a photobook.
• good work. I like the variation in expressions. Memi kneading the snowball...oshi
• isn't this somewhat better quality than a magazine gravure?

• the way she brings out all kinds of expressions is really fantastic. I was grinning the whole time I was looking at the blog.
• Memi's Nee-san is terrifically skilled. I guess that no photobook without swimsuit pics will sell, but this makes me think again that not having swimsuit pics would also be good
• this finally makes it feel like New Year's
• wonderful. people were talking here about a photobook by Memi's father, but it's by her sister. bloodlines of an artist.
• Memi's sister, please marry me
• since it would cause an uproar in various places if Memi's father did this, there's a theory that he lied about not doing it, for the sake of his social role as an artist
• "Woman photographer and film director Kakizaki Mika (name provisional) began by saying: 'My first subject was my younger sister.'"
• a snow-spirit

Snow Princess Angel. Kakizaki Memi. "Kakizaki Memi is an angel princess who has danced down from the silver world of snow, a being who transports us to a feeling of comfort" -- Akimoto Yasushi.

• a blog post that's just like a photobook, right to the offshots (weep). I have to send her a letter
• I love Memi's ears
• even the offshots are high quality. I want to meet Memi soon [note: there are offshots in Message today]
• Memi's posts today in her blog and in Message have been the greatest. the photos are like a mini-photobook, lol. with such high quality, thank you to Memi and her sister. Memi's father and sister are welcome to do more, please.
• "Ohhh...truly the snow princess"  -- Koroyasu Yuusuke, director of episodes 7 and 8 of Re:Mind.
• the director reacted again, lol. he gave her high praise at the time of Magia Record, and again when she became the champion burikko
• amazing! a snow princess festival
• since noontime, 5ch and twitter have been boiling with this [note: the blog post came out at 11am Friday]

Being a winter girl as much as she wants.

• can't they make a series of it and do something like this every season: spring-summer-autumn-winter?
• next, in April, how about Snow Princess Angel "Spring"?
• I'd like to see Kakizaka Pro do each of the four seasons "as much as she wants"
• this girl's feeling of being a wholesome little devil is irresistible
• an idol needs to give a feeling of being a little devil, along with the feeling of not being able to leave her alone. that's more suitable for an idol than being pure white and always perfect.
• the Nagano Fairy
• the day I saw a fairy snow princess
• again, yesterday's blog and Message made my chest throb
• although I look forward to the next work by Onee-chan, at the same time I would really like to see what Papa's photos would be like.
• they would probably not bring out the same natural expressions as Oneesan's...In Father-in-law's [note: this means Memi's father, lol] photos, we'd likely see tsundere expressions
• everyone's getting too excited: it's just a blog post with many pictures of a fairy snow princess....
• Memi's magnetism is so strong, lol

I've bold-faced some things that particularly struck me. It often seems to me that professional photographs of Memi are not as good as her own self-taken photos. Or, now, her sister's. I think it's that they realize they have to avoid having bright and even light across her face, which obscures its contours and makes it seem broader and flatter than it really is. And it's better to shoot her at a slight angle, rather than straight on. They both also use the hair down the sides of her face to make her face seem narrower, and to cast shadows. Stage photos and formal photos, and even most gravure photos, seem to ignore all this.

I can't say that Memi's sister is a better photographer than the pros  -- technically, her shots are just okay --  but she is an artist and knows her subject.





And that idea that an idol has to have a bit of devil in her is interesting, too. I've always seen Memi as being at least as close to devil as to angel. She used to be very interested in vampires and had fake spiders on her bedroom walls. And there have been several episodes where she annoyed people rather than trying to please them: her running around in Kyonko's Showroom and tickling her against her will, for example. I like the idea that she's a "wholesome little devil" (健康的な小悪魔). I can't say about other idols, but Neru is another in Keyaki who has a bit of trickery about her.


Anyway, as her parents apparently said, Memi has always had a strange magnetism. For them and for me, at least.