Reika – Yumi – Rina – Sayuri – Marika – Inoue
Asuka – Kazumi – Hashimoto – Erika – Manatsu – Minami
MisaMisa – Nanase & Maiyan – MaiMai

Oh My God! Maiyan and Nanase are Nogizaka’s first ever W-Centers?! Holly Molly! I wouldn’t have guessed it would them! Darn it Nogizaka, why do you have to drop surprises like this every darn time?! Shiraishi Mai and Nishino Nanase – The first ever double centers for Nogizaka 46!

Mine = Blown!

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Nice desu ne
 
 
 

Poor Nanase and Ikoma-kun T.T

Not even a month since the release of the 12^th single and Nogizaka as usual is already working on its 13^th single.

This week’s Under Construction was about announcing the Senbatsu for the next single. Everyone who was watching the intro probably already knew what was going to happen before the announcer even mentioned it. Nogizaka is following the still questionable trend of the 48 Family thingy with Double Centers! This would be the first time Nogizaka has done a Double Center. Frankly I am more surprised it has taken them this long!

Even less surprising were the said Double Centers! Actually the only shocking thing for me this time around was the fact that there wasn’t a single 2^nd gen member in Senbatsu! Why does that Gen actually exist!? It’s not that they suck either, nay, Nogizaka’s 2^nd gen is actually really, really great! There wouldn’t be a single loss if they decided to create two Senbatsu, one for each Gen because they would equally be successful.

Instead of them using what great assets they have, what did they go and do? They introduced another group! Some kind of Sister group to Nogizaka, or was that a rival group? I don’t even know anymore! If those two start getting mixed, the poor 2^nd Gen girls!

Really, who was surprised at the Double Centers?! Forgive me but I thought Nogizaka’s Senbatsu wasn’t affected by popularity? Oh, who am I kidding, it has always been that way. They just covered it up with the switching Center illusion but by now the illusion has lifted! Money always floats to the top and it is that time in Nogizaka! If they have fallen to temptation, they might as well stop using Ikoma-kun as their Face! They needed her when she was the cutest in the group back in the day and now that they have money magnets they don’t need her anymore and I wish they would stop with the Face farce!

Pulling her out of the Deities for the very first time ever was probably their only way to put the shock factor in this Senbatsu but no one was surprised! Hell, even the members them selves didn’t react as strongly to the elections this time around! Usually there are tears even with those at the back lines but this time? God, they even skipped about 50% of the speeches! No one was that bothered by this elections it seems!

Their first Double Center and they chose to go back to the 16 member Senbatsu! What is wrong with this organization? How are they still in business? Seriously?! It makes no sense to me! These types of bad decisions should have sent any company under ground ages ago!

Think about it dear Readers – Double Centers, two generations! Do you see where I am going with this? So many opportunities are available to AkiP and co! They could do so much better! They have everything to be greater and yet they are doing nothing but letting those assets go to waste by under-utilizing them!

I am not even a Business person and yet here I am feeling sorry for the way those guys do things! Really, it’s such a shame!

Just for the sake of spoken word, I am mad about Ikoma-kun. Far from it. If she was even as remotely upset about it herself, maybe I would have risen to defend her but even she didn’t seem that bothered by the fact that despite being Nogizaka’s face, she had lost her status as one of the Deities for the very first time. Worse this was the highest number of Deities (10) and yet she was out!

She has grown up so much in the past year and with every moment I see her I am more proud to have her as my Nogizaka Kami! She said that this was her opportunity to learn by being put in a different position. She saw it as a necessary move for her development. That was what nearly brought me to tears!

Even more awesome was the way Minami-chan supported Ikoma-kun in the way she saw things by saying that she too got a chance to improve herself, to see things differently when she lost her place at the front lines like she had been in the early singles. And she was right. It wasn’t just Ikoma-kun who had changed, Minami-chan too has changed.

By the way, Minami calls Ikoma-kun ‘Ikoma-chan’! I finally learned how she addresses Ikoma-kun and the way she said the name, the way it sounded when she said it…Aaaah! I nearly died when I heard her say it! I ship those two so much I feel like I owe them something!

All in all, blandest announcement ever! Not even the Double Center thing was that alluring especially since the 48 Family have used it so much they are even sick of it now (BwT) and while SKE started it with WMatsui, while it made sense there, now with the way things are not even they have a reason to keep doing it. Even if they continue doing it, it will be meaningless now. Unless of course Jurina isn’t either one of the Centers but lightning never strikes twice!

Unless you are Shiraishi or Nanase from Nogizaka that is.

If a member is unlucky enough to be paired with Jurina as the other Center from now on, I pray for her.

Not even SayaMilky are still fit for the WCenter role. They might be the Top two but the gap between them is just so wide! HKT still has a chance with NakoMiku and they still have a slim chance of turning into another WMatsui but management haven’t pushed onto them hard enough and now the gap between them two is also widening to point of no return. The only to go now for WCenters to work is if the Centers are new faces. It worked for Ryoha/Mai and Fuuchan/Mirurun because of this reason. If it would work when they used the same members again for another single is questionable.

Mayuki are probably the only WCenter that would make a marginal difference now. I have a feeling though that it will never happen. Or if it does, it will happen too late because this is AKS! And as we know they are Masters in the Art of Fail!

But back to Nogizaka, I really think they should have made it a 1^st Gen/2^nd Gen WCenter for their first attempt. It makes more sense for them since they only have two gens and the 2^nd gens are picking up steam! Instead they are still letting them rot! Without their shows I probably wouldn’t know more than 4 2^nd Gen girls. Yet now, I love more 2^nd Gen girls than I do 1^st Gens! It’s really crazy!

At the very least give us a new Center! We still have yet to see a Hashimoto Center. There’s Reika, Mai, Yumi, Manatsu, all these are potential Centers when you think of Nogizaka’s latest trend. But that money magnet is too strong I guess!

Speaking of Money Magnets, kind of coincidence since I was watching Doctor X all weekend and that is a series about Doctors falling out of grace because of money and power. AKB is turning away from its initial symbiotic relationship with fans to being leeches and that is not going to end well. If they live another 10 years as the Emperors of the Idol Dynasty, there is no justice in this world! Forget 10 years, I give them much less that that.

They need to change their ways.

Sigh, why didn’t they drop Ikoma-kun out of Senbatsu completely? I would have then looked forward to seeing her and Miona one more time together in the Undergirls PV but now we aren’t even getting that. Oh well, at least we can be rest assured that the song will be good. They haven’t let us down yet in the aspect at the very least. Be it coupling or the A-side, Nogizaka singles always deliver a song to remember. I know this will be the same.

I hope