Oi Samu, watch your gayism  >.<

Well, this isn’t exactly how I planned to introduce the 4th Generation of Nogizaka 46 on this blog but I am most definitely not complaining!

It’s been oh so long! It’s been so long since I was looking forward to a family drama! Not only did we get one but it is starring my latest crush in the family and that is the 4^th Gen of Nogizaka 46! Sadly it doesn’t seem like the whole roster will be here but I am a beggar and we can’t be choosers too! Especially not since almost all my favorites were here! Just Ayame-chan was missing (a shock to the system really, I expected her here).

Another great surprise was seeing my absolute fav of the whole Gen, Mayu, being included in here! Come on, raise your hand if you really thought she would be in a selection for drama! I see none! Ayame-chan is almost on par if not surpassing Sakura-chan in terms of image power for the gen which is why I am very surprised she is not in this!

Now, they might show up later in various support roles a la NGT48 members in Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni drama! So I guess I shouldn’t be quick to judge but come on, Ayame-chan not in a supporting role? Though I guess since this is about the characters in their adulthood, Ayame-chan wouldn’t be a good fit!

I know I am obsessing over this but how did Mayu make the cut?! Even her name is an outcast! All the other girls’ given names start with an S (and yes, they are the only ones in the group so there wouldn’t have been another fit) so while there are no other Ss, why not just make it a four girl group then?

I am not complaining!!!!

I am just finding it hard to believe! I am very, very happy that not only did we get a yurilicious new series but that it stars my disadvantaged Oshii! Yes, the curse lives on! You know, that curse I have where the girls I stan end up on the management’s black list!

Before we kick things off I just want to give a brief history with this gen! You see, I have been following them for a while, not from the beginning but for a while! That while of course means with their recently ended TV show – Nogizaka doko e. There, I came to know the girls and also decide on a few ships!

Yes, unfortunately, my disease still persists! I ma of course talking about that disease where I lock onto a ship and anything else is basically enemy territory! The first ship was of course Mayu/Ayame! The never losing formula of oldest/youngest mixed in with the good old, FCFS (first come first served) rule, meant that Mayu and Ayame were cemented in my brain like a genetic feature that one could never get rid of no matter what!

Then the more I dug deeper into the girls I stumbled upon another ship that also has a pretty powerful secret weapon and that was Mayu/Saya! The weapon being, at least at the time, that they were the ‘real’ couple, so to speak, seeing as they were the backstage couple! While in front of cameras Ayame and Mayu were glued together, even sitting together on Nogizaka under Construction, when the cameras stopped rolling, Saya and Mayu might as well have been born glued together!

So, why did I make an exception in the case of Saya? You know, since I never ship the same girl with someone else (I have a weird shipping life). You see there are exceptions, like you know, in Yukirin’s case! If the girl is my Oshii, she can be shipped with other girls that I like a lot! And really, who here doesn’t have a crush on Kanagawa Saya?!! You who raised your hand, you are lying!

Yes, Saya! As if her name wasn’t unfair enough, she is also from Hokkaido!!! You know, the same exact prefecture that Kawamoto Saya (AKB48) is from!!! Not only are they both Saya they are both from the same place and even their initials are the dame same (K.S) like, come the heck on!!! And it’s not just that, just like Kawamoto Saya, Kanagawa Saya is also personality-wise super interesting and hooked into my veins the very first time I saw her, like Kawamoto Saya did all those years ago during the first draft kaigi!!

Okay, enough with the history lesson because if this goes on, I might not get to talk about Samu no Koto at all!

So, Samu no Koto – This is the new series starring the four 4^th gen girls along with the captain of Nogizaka46 – Akimoto Manatsu. Manatsu plays the girls’ dance teacher back when they were still Idols. Their group name was Uragawa White Bears, if I got it right! From the brief history lesson the narrator of the first episode gave us (Ari – played by Hayakawa Seira), they disbanded pretty quickly because they were going nowhere!

Hopefully they don’t just smooth over those times because if this episode was anything to go by, those were the more interesting times!

The episode starts with Ari, who meets up with the other girls; Sumi – played by Kanagawa Saya, Kimu – played by Tamura Mayu and Momo – played by Kakehashi Sayaka. They are all dressed in back which of course means that they are going to a funeral, which Ari tells us about. Apparently someone named Samu (played by Endo Sakura), died when she was hit by a truck on her way from doing shopping!

They seem friendly enough, even though one has to wonder how they were friends given the short time they spent in their group. And when a series starts with a funeral and a bunch of seemingly friendly people coming together, you know there will be chaos!

Chaos that we get a taste of in this very first episode when we learn that Samu’s death might not have actually been an accident at all but rather, suicide! Kimu’s reaction at the news also while makes my gaydar go haywire, other flags are also raised! But that is the very last thing that happens so let’s shelve it for now!

Shit hitting the fan is pure fact so there is no need to dwell on it. Let’s instead focus on the important stuff that this blog is interested in and that is the gay of course!

If the caps did not give it away, this is going to be one of those series to add to our family shows vault! Now, I am going to drop some bad news but I assure you, do not let this news discourage you because it is just the tip of the iceberg!

The bad news is that, of course, Samu is dead! Samu, who is the one that initiated the two kisses that we see in this first episode! Secondary, there was no ‘love’, nay, not even feelings behind these kisses! See, I told you chaos is abound! Now, while what she did was fury inducing, yes, Samu kissing Ari and Sumi was fury-inducing!! Why? Well, because she apparently thinks of gayness as one thinks of fashion – cool!

Now, I can’t deny being gay is kind of cool but not like this! Not when there are emotions involved, or lack thereof on her part! Don’t just go kissing girls just for the heck of it because you are looking for something!!! First, she attacked a defenceless Sumi, who was actually sick! Then she kissed Ari, who was obviously in a state that one should definitely not be doing any sort of coming on to her!

Yeah, it goes without saying that Samu came off as a bit of a bitch in that flashback from Ari! This of course also is more fuel to the truth bomb dropped at the end of the episode where we find out that Samu committed suicide! What if her brazen-ness extended to more than just her wanting to be a cool lesbian?! What if she was actually dealing with something far worse?! But we can’t just stop there, what if this was just a taste of her dark side that might have pushed the other girls to do something drastic which led to Samu wanting to die?!!

See, this is already one series we are going to watch till the end, eh!

But going back to the point at hand, while Samu is apparently not gay, she does actually say this to Ari, there is a 100% gay girl! Ari is so obviously in love with Sumi too! She had it so bad back then that she couldn’t even put her hands on Sumi! They had to change positions so Sumi was behind Ari! That all following a moment where she adoringly watches Sumi practice her dance moves with Momo.

Then of course came the couch scene when Sumi had to lie down and rest having caught a fever! The anxiety she had just sitting there watching Sumi sleep was just…She was so far gone she could not resist holding Sumi’s hand and even threading their fingers together. All the while keeping an eye out to make sure no one caught her. It was like she was in the middle of a serious crime!

Which is all the more funny when Samu just showed up and kissed Sumi like it was no big deal and right in front of Ari too. The jealousy and envy on her face at that…This of course led to her pulling Samu to the side and having the talk! I nearly expected a fight to break out but apparently Ari is one of the nice lesbians so all she did was actually ‘talk’ to Samu. All she wanted to know was that she wasn’t alone and maybe Samu too was into girls like her!

Unfortunately, like I said, Samu is not interested, having not felt a thing when she had kissed Sumi! Well, dear Samu, Sumi was sick and asleep when you kissed her! You might as well have been kissing a sponge cake!

As if to bitch-slap me, she kisses Ari right there and then, with as little enthusiasm as she did Sumi. Unfortunately, it was the same result for her even as she kissed an alert and well Ari! She did not feel a thing! Ari though definitely felt something given her reaction and I am willing to bet that was the final straw and evidence for her!

Sadly, other than that one scene I forgot about, that is all the gayness we go this episode but hey, it is significant gayness! While they were not romantic, we did get two kisses and in addition to that, we got some scenes of Ari gaying up Sumi! And finally we know for sure Ari is gay so, yeah!

As for the scene I forgot about, that happened after the awkward scene where Ari refused to put her hands on Sumi. After that she had gone to the bathroom to freshen up and calm down from the high of having Sumi’s hands on her. There she of course couldn’t get the ghost of Sumi’s scorching fingers from her skin!

God, she had it bad!

Sadly we did not see any of this crashing in the current timeline but hey, this is just the first episode! We still have a lot of time and chances to catch up with the times!

Also, I am interested in the other girls! Will they also have complicated feelings for each other like Ari does Sumi? Does Sumi know of Ari’s crush? Does she like someone else (OMG if it is Kimu I’ll lose my bloody mind), what of Samu? Does any of the girls love her? Kimu’s reaction at learning she killed herself was suspicious but she did not display enough grief like someone who might have been in love with Samu. But then again, there was that preview…

Ahhhhh, so many questions?!!!! Can’t wait for the next episode!

Ja

~

~