Of course I am going to talk about my Team 8 Kami’s Birthday Performance! Really, with Yuri, Ikumin and Cho-chan here, there was bound to be drama and boy, drama did we get!

In addition to all the yuri happenings, I also found another crush in new arrival Utada Hikaru sorry, Utada Hatsuka! It has been love at first sight for me with this girl. I was simply drawn to her personality and I hope against all odds that she keeps it and doesn’t lose it down the road. I have a feeling though that she will change, which is unfortunate but until then, looks like my Super 8 List is going to be shifted once again!

To tell the truth though, it is way overdue for an update because team 8 is just soo awesome and with every video I see of them on YouTube my love shifts gears! In fact the list is going to be so different the next time I reveal the updated version you might be shocked. Ah but Yuri is still No.1! She is now THE Kami of Team 8. Nothing can happen to change that now.

But that is not the point of this post. Let’s get back to the birthday performance of Yuri-chan’s that turned into a Love Wars episode…

 
 

Thank you Cameraman
 

Enjoying the view, are we Hatsuka-chan ^^

 
 

Eyes only for Yuri-chan
 
 

 
 
EYES ONLY FOR YURI-CHAN!

First off let’s begin with my new crush Utada Hatsuka. This day was her first appearance on stage and you can see it. She made a few mistakes which were easy to spot because she was mostly within Yuri-chan’s space and since this was Yuri’s Sentansai, the cameras were focused on her and Hattsu was always there. This was really great for me because I got a great deal of Hatsuka that made me love and love her more and also got me shipping her with Yuri-chan as she could not get her eyes off of her.

Maybe it was because she is new and is only looking to Yuri for pointers and also as she said in one of the MCs where they were talking about the Birthday Girl, it seemed that Yuri was the one to help her during practice. She said Yuri sent her short clips of moves that shocked her so much (at the effectiveness care) her jaw dropped. With that knowledge maybe she was only looking to Yuri for clues but since they are in different positions, that excuse holds little water so there is only one other explanation.

But really, who can blame her? Yuri’s performance demands your head to turn, as we will see later even with old comrades like Ikumin, because she is just so full of life when she performs that you just can’t help smiling. Which really impresses me how effective Team 8’s management is in deciding to let Hatsuka-chan shadow Yuri. She is still new and hasn’t perfected that ‘always-on’ smile the others have so being in the presence of such an energy source helped her out greatly.

She seems like a ‘no bullshit’ kind of girl so smiles are not something I am expecting from her that often but seeing her here, Yuri making her smile like that, well, how can I resist shipping? I can’t that’s how! But since she is still new, Hatsuka is on the side-lines for this one. So who are in the Red and Blue corners then?

 
 
 

Yep! Ikumin is a gonna…
 
Cho-chan and Yuri-chan are having a moment when…
 

Yep! She just did the thing! Not even Cho-chan and Yuri held hands dammit!

 
 
Love Triangle…visualised!

Ikumin, Ikumin, Ikumin…Yes, I am still all over this first ever rivalry in Team 8 (when they were picking the Centre for their first AKB entry, which was dat TDC BTW) and even if it is no longer valid, what with these two not being Team 8 fan favourites, I am still all for them. And I am happy that at least Management still let’s them centre even if it is only in Theatre and LIVE performances.

Seriously, is there a 48 group that hasn’t succumbed to that slavery of popular girls always centring songs? I fell in love with Nogizaka when it first appeared because they had seemingly avoided that! But that shit went out of the window! Even Keyakizaka has fallen victim to that cancer! And let’s not forget NGT as well! Now of course I understand that this is somewhat natural but what pisses me off is that every group does it like that but AKB!!!

Why?!

No, actually AKB does it as well. It did during the AtsuYuko days, even now Mayuyu is still centring! IT IS ONLY WITH YUKIRIN that AKS says ‘To Hell with That!”. Within AKB Yukirin is still dominating handshakes. She is still selling out faster than anyone else, yes, even Mayuyu! Ever since 2011, she has been in the Top 4, until, understandably, last year. But tell me this, have you seen Yukirin on the front line in a single that wasn’t a SSK single?! Actually here is a combo-breaker for you all.

Out of al the Kim7s in the history of AKB, she is the only one that hasn’t had a solo centre! Like, how is this right!? Why has no one sued AKS for this yet?! Well, I guess they are lucky they are not in ‘Murica because that is just so wrong!

And there I go getting side-tracked once more. Though anything about Yukirin is never off-topic on this site! But I must resist and return to business…

Ikumin was still Ikumin, she is still holding that love whip she has for Yuri with her even now. She did not waste an opportunity to tease Yuri and I was kind of sad that she did not do the honours for the day in congratulating Yuri on her 16th.

But really, that wasn’t necessary for what she did almost rivalled what her opponent in the Blue Corner did. She held Yuri-chan’s hand and led her in the centre almost like she was leading a bride to the altar! You all know what hand-holding does to me and in this case, a tsun-dere like Ikumin doing it to Yuri-chan, who actually was surprised as well, is just…

MAGNIFICENT!

Seriously, if Cho-chan did not do the thing, Ikumin would have won the Yuri-bowl but Cho-chan happened. Cho-chan won the cake!

 
 
 

Cho-chan: ‘Today is my Dearest Yuri-chan’s Birthday so I’m gonna do my best’

 
 

 
Cho-chan: ‘Since you love me, say something nice about me’
 
 

Not hand-holding but I will take it!
 
 
 
 
 
You asked, why are crying Cho-chan?!
 
 

It’s Love!
 

Love I tell ya!
 
 

I thought you said Yuri was the one in love here dear Cho-chan? ^^

Um yeah, that just happened! And no, this isn’t Cho-chan’s birthday but Yuri’s! Watching this performance though you will find yourself questioning whose birthday it is really!

I have of course already shipped Cho-chan and Yuri before from the Anta Dare web show. I was drawn to their differences and connection back then. Since then I have grown to love Cho-chan a lot but also started shipping her with other, the newest being just last week when I finally got to see them arm to arm, her and NGT48’s Mahohon (Yamaguchi Maho). Those two are so alike and they had hit it off right away during the RH2017 days when Cho-chan couldn’t go to the bathroom alone and Mahohon volunteered to take her, that I just couldn’t resist. Their flattering of one another with that laid-back personality of heirs was just heart-stopping!

But inside, Yuricho was still my top ship with her and it reached boiling point with this LOD. Seriously, I knew that the battle had been won by Cho-chan all the way back in the introductions when she called Yuri-chan her dearest and promised to out-do herself today because it was Yuri-chan’s special day. Like, what love!

Before the cake moment, Cho-chan kept teasing us and Yuri but starting a sentence with ‘It;s Yuri-chan’s birthday today so…’ and then she would leave us hanging only to troll us! But the final trolling came during the cake moment and I was glad it backfired on her grandly!

Instead of reading a letter from someone who loves Yuri-chan as is the custom on these events, or even having someone say something nice about Yuri-chan, our dearest Cho-chan went and did the opposite! She made Yuri-chan instead say something nice about her! She bribed Yuri-chan with the love she knew Yuri-chan had for her with the ‘You love me, right? Since you love me, say something nice about me’.

She wasn’t prepared for what she got! Yuri-chan let her have it! The eye sex in this scene was earth-shattering! What was funny was that despite her trying to sell it like the love was mostly one-sided from Yuri, all we could see was the love in Cho-chan’s eyes for Yuri!

Seriously, thank you Cameraman!

Yuri-chan gave Cho-chan what she asked for and she couldn’t handle it. She broke down in tears in front of everyone like this was her day or something!

As for what Yuri-chan said, she said that she did not think of Cho-chan as a ponkotsu like everyone else does. Ah, ponkotsu can be roughly translated as, in this context, Cho-chan being a glass half-empty. Yuri said she does not think of Cho-chan like that. She thinks she is the kindest person she has ever known and that she is the member that cares for the others the most. She will try to cheer you up if you are down and all that.

Poor Cho-chan couldn’t contain her heart from bursting with tears of love and joy. It was better than any other birthday event and I was totally raising the flag in the Blue Corner’s direction because sorry Ikumin, you may have pulled the Ace of hands but this is just on another whole level!

These two were just into their own world, in turn making Ikumin’s jealousy stronger! I bet she wishes she had written a confession letter, not that it could have been read…

Ah, what a lovely performance! I only wish it was in HD, which really is a disappointment given that the other performance of that day is available in HD! Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers and really, I got yuri and a new love in Hattsu so what else can I ask for?

 
 
 
 

Hama-chan~
 
Oi, Hattsu, Cho-chan, Baby-face and Yuri-chan together? That’s Cheating!!

What a lovely performance!

And here is where I get off. Have a good day dear Readers…