Ikoma-kun~

Yes! Oh God, Yes! She’s back! Right after her Kennin with Team B ends and she gets to Centre another single after, what, 6 singles?! Those Nogizaka Management, they are so great sometimes! Kennin isn’t easy, most especially in Ikoma-kun’s case where the two groups are more different from each other not to mention the girl herself, it had to be hard for her so to see this puts a wide smile on my face! This right here is the best reward for her hard work I can think of.

The Face of Nogizaka (Yes she is the face despite a few I have seen that think of her as a failure just because she doesn’t sell well at hand shakes like the ones that shan’t be named) other than that, Ikoma-kun is no failure. Perhaps Nanase was on the way there but no other will have the status of Nogizaka’s Face, it’s not just about popularity!

Any way it’s just so good to see her back to Center position and she is flanked by a whole new supporting cast, well, Iku-chan was her right hand man a couple of times during her Center days but Nanase is new! I all but simply adore this new front line! Ikoma-kun’s singles are in the top of my Nogizaka single rankings with her very last centre – Kimi no na wa Kibou, still topping that list! That song was just so alpha! Like, did you guys watch that LIVE performance with Iku-chan on piano? I know you did not forget it!

The Centers so far

Speaking of the Kimi no na wa, that is the 5th single, right? Ikoma-kun had centred six singles now with the 12th included! Looks like my worry for her being upstaged was unwarranted. Nanase is the 2nd in line with 3 singles to her name and the only other with more than 1 centre to her name. Not just me but Ikoma-kun has to be happy about that. We know she loves Nanase the best! Speaking of these two…

When it came down to them (and Miona) my heart was drumming so hard I think I stopped to breathe for a while there! Would it be Nogizaka’s Face and the girl with most Centers to her name or Nogizaka’s currently most popular girl and with the 2nd most Centers to her name? And the suspense was that more spiced by the fact that Hocchan is also still present and uncounted for.

Then all through this, a strange image invaded my mind! Take a look at Ikoma-kun and Nanase there and the girls behind them! Don’t they look like they under questioning? All we need is someone to shoop in Ikoma tears and these two will look like they are being testimonied about having an indecent relationship! Look at Ikoma-kun with her her boyish get-up, then to Nanase, looking like the girliest girl ever girlied! Think of that coat as Ikoma-kun’s that she put around Nanase to comfort her before they were called forward in front of the Judge for hearing! Then see how happy Nanase was after being called. The previous times she was Center she was crying but not this time. Look at that smile…

My mind can’t take anymore…

But my heart was still in limbo because even as Nanase was called for No.2, the two left were my favourites in Nogizaka, Ikoma-kun and Hocchan!

 
 

Was the fact that Nanase was hiding Hocchan fore-shadowing? Anyway, my heart rate at this point was in unsafe levels! There was only 1 spot left and two girls that are the aces of their individual generations left as well! This was not going to end well, it’s what I thought of in that moment! But then for the briefest flashes I had a thought – Nogizaka’s first ever Double Center! Could it be!! Suddenly my anxiety was of a different kind!

Only for those ridiculous hopes to be shot down like flying ducks! I had a moment where my heart was literally cut in two! On one hand, my Nogizaka Kami has re-claimed her spot at Center but on the other, my 2nd fav is out of the damned senbatsu! Hocchan is out of senbatsu! 18-nin senbatsu and she is out! Like, WTF!

I mean I totally understand about the hair (I really don’t like that short hair of hers! Y U do that Hocchan?!!) but surely that is no cause for this! Losing senbatsu just because of hair is too severe a punishment!

 

Sure 2nd Gen were also represented by a new face (her name is Mai too, yes there are 3 Mai’s in this senbatsu!) but seriously, only one?! What’s with all the love Miria has been getting? At the very least add her in too!

This is where Nogizaka’s Management are failing! It’s not like they are AKB where they have no choice since the earlier Gen members are that popular too,nay, even AKB doesn’t give a tick about that anymore. This is not the way Nogizaka does things, they have shown that they can do anything for their senbatsu (well except take Shiraishi and Hashimoto out of the Deities, but anyway they call all the shots so they can do whatever they want like having the same number of 1st and 2nd gens in senbatsu but alas! Instead it’s a 17:1 1st:2nd gen ratio! Is there no perfect management in this world!?

 
 

The Babies are still in too. After this week’s Nogibingo and seeing Asuka-chan’s nightie, I just knew she was going to make it! Yes, yes, I am lewd, so what’s new? I only wish to see Minami-chwan with Ikoma-kun again, hopefully in the coupling maybe? Nah, I think it will be Nanase and Iku-chan that get to do the cheeky business with Ikoma-kun.

ANywa, I can’t wait for this single! Nogizaka is the only group you can count on to deliver quality singles, especially the A-sides! I still stand with my conclusion that Yasusu writes a bunch of song, selects the best one and gives it to Nogizaka and the rest he dumps into the 48G! There is no other explanation!

Here are more caps for yous all…

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

The girls looked really beautiful during the announcements though, huh?

See ya around…