I’ve only really been able to delve on the collective 01familia talents in passing, reserving the main spotlight for its idol groups. But thanks to my all new sorter for them, I am able to give them all the full picture this time. Obviously, I ran through it in its entirety for myself, and here’s what I found…
NSFW within.
1. Kisumi Amau
It’s been 9 months since Kisumin kicked off this whole charade with me finding her by accident. She still isn’t getting old.
It feels like a cliche to claim every new shoot of your oshi’s is their best yet. Kisumin’s Young Gangan shoot these have come from may genuinely be her best yet. She is relentless.
This isn’t just about her gravure, though. When I first introduced her on this blog, I concluded that the rate at which she’d risen in my mind, within a matter of weeks of finding her, had made her the first idol I’d truly wanted to invest in. I didn’t realise how literally I’d be taking that until recently.
Before I begin, though. I mentioned plenty of her backstory in that post, but there’s a few more gaps to fill in that I’ve learnt about over time. The abridged version is, she’s been making a go of being an idol for a decade, getting through at least five groups and three identities (one of which is her real name, admittedly). What we don’t say is that you absolutely must not talk about one of those groups with her. Needless to say, it ended with her getting a stalker, which the management failed to properly handle. So she’ll cry instantly if you mention it. There was, as mentioned, the trip to hospital that knocked her out of her current idol group before she’d barely even started. She still has to do check-ups there every now and again, and in her own typical style, she spares no detail on what she goes through during them. It’s gnarly. Her asthma gets in the way, too. It’s audibly and sometimes visually noticeable on her streams. She’s fought through a lot.
Oh yeah, and did I mention the time she ended a live in the hospital? That happened, too.
She slipped and fell off the stage, hitting her head, on the very first song. She wasn’t badly hurt, but you’d anticipate a decently long break after that sort of thing. Kisumin was back doing a live again five days later. Then again, this is someone who still does shoots like she does despite having a reasonable scar on her leg. (You’ll see it when it first came up in pics from about 2021. It’s better now.) And she has no qualms with showing those.
She’s been through the wringer throughout her career, but she lets nothing stop her. And she’s been recognised for that. Which explains why she was put forward for this.
Tokyo Idol Festival is serious business. It made Bambi stars when they won its top prize last year. And here was a chance to become its PR ambassador.
Now, you’d look at Kisumin’s following compared to her competitors and think this was gonna be a piece of cake. It wasn’t. It started easily enough. She was leading pretty cosily from the off, but had someone pursuing her. And as the points climbed and climbed, into the millions, the race got closer. But Kisumin pulled away in huge chunks when she could, even when she had to visit hospital for one of her routine check-ups, culminating in her promoting her stream on Twitter while still high as a kite from the anaesthetic. Like I said. Nothing will stop her.
This all lead up to a 15-hour stream on the penultimate day. It was here that I decided to pitch in. Not being massively familiar with the reward system on the streaming platform with which this was all being held, I might have slightly overdone it on my first real go. But who better to overdo it on than Kisumin? I saw that through to the end, by which point her lead was some 1.8 million. As Kisumin started her last stream, the gap was back down to about 700,000, but picked up rapidly off the start. I woke up in time for her to give me a shoutout, as I spent a bit more. That said, my username is incredibly hard to pronounce in Japanese, if you’ve written it out in English. She managed it eventually, to her credit. She gave herself a 2 hour break in this time, too.
Things looked relatively comfortable at this point. They wouldn’t stay that way. The gap was closing all the time. She even took the time to stop by Mooove’s debut stream on 01tv, with her fellow groupmates, before getting back to business. She was feeling the pressure. She was tearing up a little from the start. Then the gap disappeared entirely. All this time, Kisumi had a rank up on the stream she could see. It had said 1 the whole time, now it said 2. She started breaking down again. This was painful to watch. This kick-started the rewards from her fans all over again, but you had to wonder if it would amount to anything. She dashed off with the rest of 2i2. There were less than 3 hours to go. As she hopped in a taxi, I dropped my last gift, which could only, in the circumstances, be a limousine.
The tension was unbearable. I had nothing more to give, I’d already spent enough over the weekend as was (on flights and hotels for my next two Japan trips). I couldn’t bear to see it go towards a losing effort. But it wasn’t so much the money spent I feared, but rather how Kisumin would handle the crushing awfulness of losing so late on. She’s emotional enough as is, this had only brought that out in spades. For my own sake, I tuned out here, fearing the worst. I was reckoning without my fellow fans.
The charge they went on down the stretch was insane. She’d been close to 9 million when the lead was lost. By the end?
Absurd. I dare say many of those points were earnt from those who had joined me in the September flurry of followers that really made her take off. Her fanbase is something extraordinary now. And being like-minded souls, I imagine some of them would be good blokes, as well. You’re all stars out there, too.
They let us take screenshots of the stream as the contest reached its end at 10pm. They can speak for themselves.
Just sheer ecstasy.
Don’t you start telling me this sort of thing doesn’t matter. This is someone who has worked a good 10 years to get this far. All the toil and effort put in is finally coming to roost for Kisumin now, and not a moment too soon.
That still wasn’t it, though. She still had to interview in the final audition. All these points and likes gained would count for her, but she still had to convince the powers that be in the middle of this week and wait until today for the final result. And sure enough…
…There it was. She gets to be the main face of the biggest idol event of them all.
Her celebration stream was predictably emotional. So much so she needed two goes at it. But she was all smiles by the end.
So, there you go. My favourite idol is more than just another idol. She’s someone who is getting recognised by her peers as a genuine star. She is an undeniable beauty, a genuine character who tells everything straight from the heart, a persistent worker and now, the main PR ambassador for none other than the Tokyo Idol Festival itself. Quite simply, there is no one better.
But don’t listen to me. Just take it from Bard.
Bet it doesn’t think your favourite idol has a perfect figure, does it?
2. Nashiko Momotsuki
You haven’t seen me talk much about Nashiko yet, not least because the period when I fell for her fell between my hiatus from here. Now is the time, because she has made clear why she is 01familia’s ace.
Please observe, if you may, my recent JP Kindle collection.
She is a very, very popular client for magazine photographers, it seems. As it turns out, she wasn’t doing gravure for long periods of last year, up to months at a time, but she’s making up for lost time now. She’s been averaging what feels like a cover a week, and she’s nowhere near finished yet.
The thing with Nashiko is, quite apart from her multi-faceted talents which have given her unqualified success in tokusatsu and cosplaying, plus her Pokemon fandom which has given her ties to the official side, she is a Swiss army knife among gravure idols. Every single aspect of her work is at least 9/10. Best of all though is the demeanour she always carries throughout her shoots. It’s a perfect combination of coolness and sex appeal.
As the face of the agency, she appears front and centre in a lot of 01tv, which means her personality comes to the fore. And this works for her too. Even if trying to sand off her rough edges didn’t go entirely to plan.
It feels like she’s gotten quite a lot better and more open since this, but then it was never immediately apparent this shyness lay within. Certainly, she still produces great humour when doing things at odds with her aloof attitude.
She does cuteness too, you see. And she’s another social sort who happily gives her thoughts on Twitter when she wants, sometimes at 3am, or beyond.
That YouTube channel of hers has behind the scenes stuff from her myriad gravure shoots, too. All the better for you too to realise just what an incredible superstar 01 have on their hands to lead their charge.
3. Meruda Ikeda
Ah yes, my favourite idol that no longer does idolling…for now. Meruda’s biding her time at the moment, unlike her fellow graduate Akanen, but she’s getting her first action post Bambi, in the form of a solo photoshoot. And she’s getting ideas for what to do now, starting streaming a bit more.
I already covered in my post on my Japan trip how I felt about Meruda’s departure so I won’t repeat myself again here. But there is going to be something out there for her, for sure. It’s just a question of her finding it, and ideally finding it as soon as she can. She’s met with success by any idol’s standards, it’s just that compared to the rest of Bambi it was all made to look quite relative with her. But she’s got enough clout to make something happen, I’m sure.
4. Komari Nakamoto
Here’s the new kid on the block, in more senses than one. Komari has previous idol experience, but she’s new to 01 and their newest group, Mooove. They had two members of Yoyoyo moved over to them and then two more newbies thrown in on top. Komari is one of the newbies, and already the group has been making waves. Not least on social media, and specifically Tiktok.
Such has been their success here that Yoyoyo have been moved to try and emulate them. Whether it will do anything for them remains to be seen, not least due to the awkward handle they chose.
But of the Mooove members, while it’s a close-run thing, Komari has made the biggest impression early on. Hinano had a good headstart from her growing catalogue of work, and Saki has improved clearly. But the rate at which Komari has become so highly rated by so many is extraordinary.
There’s a few reasons for this, the most obvious of which you can’t miss.
That smile…has to be one of the best anyone will ever wear in our lifetimes. It is a glorious sight to behold and pictures in which Komari isn’t deploying it are the exception, not the norm. For sheer wholesomeness, she is a match for absolutely anybody.
And that wholesomeness extends to her personality. She is incredibly grateful for her fans, even if she has her doubts about pleasing them all. Her photoshoots are selling out in a matter of seconds. The only one of the idoks who can pull that kind of thing off right now is Kisumin. Her interactions with them are often amusing, and she, like Kisumin used to do before in the days before she had 400k Twitter followers (unless you congratulated her on her TIF success as well), will like your tweets back. She is doing everything right.
She can go right to the very top, I reckon. I can’t quite envisage her hopping on the gravure bandwagon, but she shouldn’t need to anyway. And in 01 terms, that would make her a welcome exception as well. The sky’s the limit for Komari.
STOP PRESS: I’ve now seen some gravure from before she joined Mooove. So actually, I can envisage her on the gravure bandwagon.
5. Mei Angela
Truthfully, I have a lot to thank Angela for in this context. After all, she was the first of the non-idols that got my attention, which consequently led me into watching some 01tv which by extension exposed me to many of these names for the first time. As is the way with just about everything I’ve gotten into, though (iM@s excepted), the first to interest me is not the first in my mind now. Angie’s still brilliant, though. And she even fleetingly went back to something she doesn’t do very much any more.
This was her first gravure shoot for a couple of years. It was just as good as I’d hoped. Maybe it’ll open the door for more to come, but to be fair Angela seems perfectly happy where she is at the moment. Given some of the unique laughs she can come up with on 01tv, I’m fine with that too.
6. Mea Shimotsuki
There are girls who keep the extent of their powers hidden until they need to, before coming out in a blaze of glory, and then there are girls who will flaunt what they have to the most of their ability. Mea is unquestionably the latter.
It takes a special kind of audacity to wear what she does time and time again, and nowhere is this demonstrated more than in the popular occasional series on 01tv, in which numerous girls at a time are invited to wear the skimpiest clothing they dare.
And whereas a number of girls bear some degree of discomfort about it, Mea has no shame about what she’s in. She knows no fear.
Other than this, there’s her plentiful and frequent gaming which makes up a lot of her content, usually through Twitch streams. If not that, she’s to be found cosplaying and putting up yet more pictures of her assets. You’ll be seeing a lot of gravy for the rest of this, but Mea is a more loose cannon than most.
7. Yura Yura
Cuteness is served best with a little naughtiness underneath.
Yura caught my attention early on, and with good reason. Her cuteness leans just on the right side of genuine, without tipping over into seeming forced. But she does give us stuff to chew on as well from time to time.
There’s one picture I’ll spare you on the basis of it being in a PB, but if you find it… Hoo boy. You’ll know for sure she’s not an innocent sort. But then you would also have known that if you checked out some of her work under her previous name. Otherwise, though? Still the cutesiest of the cute here.
8. Akane Yoshizawa
An idol who was slated to become my oshi for her group, apart from the small issue that she was graduating as well. Oh well. Akanen isn’t hanging about, though, as she’s going down the magician route. She wouldn’t be the first to do this, but either way she’s started prepping for it by going to America. She’s mainly been around Vegas, and most recently did Arizona and its many and varied canyons. She won’t be kicking around for too much longer though, as like Meruda she’s due a shoot of her own soon.
I suppose there was one consequential thing I didn’t flag up when mentioning her graduation: her chronic lateness.
This video apparently wasn’t a one-off. It’s a mild inconvenience in most places, but in Japan lateness is treated as one of its absolute humiliations. She’s got time on her side now, though.
9. Naomi Majima
If you went to a lab and asked them to make the general public’s ideal of a woman, it would probably come out something like Naomi Majima.
You won’t be at all surprised to know she features very prominently on 01tv, in all manner of projects. She’s very much seen as the #1 eye candy of the group, and she’s only too happy to lean into that and oblige. Up to and including revealing some of her more extreme hobbies. I can mention her DJing, at least. She’s got that in her locker, as it turns out. It gets to the point where, seeing her showing only a bit of cleavage and leg, makes you think “That’s very conservative, for her.”
There is some substance to Naomin, trust me on this. There’s a compelling person here too, and her numerous appearances on YouTube will only prove that. I’ll have examples under other people of some of the skills she’s got, too. But it’s hard to see it through her frankly ludicrous, yet undeniably wonderful, body. It’s overshadowing to the point where you just have to sit back and admire it.
10. Toomi
There’s been a lot to learn about Toomi of late for me. And a lot of it comes from the series of skimpy video challenges. Most of the girls face up to it while hiding the slight embarrassment they only reveal upon actually arriving on camera. Toomi, though…
There’s so much to unpack from this here. First of all, her actually arriving in a taxi as opposed to making the walk like absolutely everyone else does. Secondly, the fact she bought clothes solely for the purpose of the challenge. Thirdly, and most importantly, the short walk she does has to make to the office is still treated as if it’s the most terrifying experience of her life. That stumbling about is the sort of thing you normally only see after midnight on the average night out. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen from anyone here and it is just adorable.
This wouldn’t be her last rodeo, either.
And this from someone who is unquestionably one of the best at gravure here. But gravure shoots aren’t carried out in public. That’s why she’s fine with it when it’s just her, but that means nothing when the eyes of the world are on you. That’s always worth remembering with gravure idols. Or, at least, some of them. But few of them are quite as cute, naturally, as Toomi. Her small frame helps here, too.
Of course, there’s the small matter of her actual idol work with 2i2. What I picked up on is that, through the wild and forceful nature of the group’s music, she routinely goes into breaks, after three or four songs in a row, looking like she’s stepped out of a warzone. She’s got a little bit of everything she needs to embody the vibe of the group, between her singing and dancing, but boy does she let the effort she puts in show.
By the way, if you think you or I love Kisumin, no one loves her more than Toomi does. That was evident from the celebrations seen previously, but even aside from that her closeness and support for her is on another level. This group’s bond is for real. Arigatoomiii~
11. Mio Minato
Mio was already going to be in line as my new favourite Bambi member, but she’s actually improved even since then. Mostly because her already attractive short hairstyle became even more attractive when she experimented with going down the no-bangs route.
Alas, not long after this she went back to her old style. Which is still perfectly fine. I just prefer her this way. Oh well.
She is also responsible for one of the funniest clips of all these members.
Such a metaphor for life.
12. Miyu Kishi
Dishy Kishi is one of the more famed names among this group, on account of her exceptionally small height and resulting shortstack nature. She leans into her outward image by being incredibly cutesy, and packs the sort of confidence that allows her to convincingly call herself the most pure idol of all. She might have a point, but her extremes are a bit too excessive for me for that to be the case. That’s not to say I still don’t find her brilliant, though.
13. Seina Takeuchi
I have mixed Seina up with Rea Hanasaki before, actually. Perhaps that’s why the latter has taken to wearing lenses in her eyes so often. But for what it’s worth, Seina is better. Not least when she gets to wear lingerie as good as this.
She’s simply a very good looking person indeed. Someone to just sit back and admire. She gives us opportunities to do this in spades. So just take a look at her socials and dig in.
14. Yui Oku
You know why I try not to tweet any more these days if it kills me? Well, yes, because I don’t like Felon Musk. And because his brand of nonsense in directing the features, programming and policies of Twitter mean innocent men and women get their accounts removed for no readily apparent reason, including 01’s very own Yui Oku.
She had to make an all-new Twitter, too. All the lovely posts of her from before aren’t coming back. Which is a shame, because Okuyui is really quite nice to behold.
Just going off her hairstyle, she’s always given me Liyuu vibes. Perhaps there’s an alternate universe in which I oshi Yui as a result and Kisumin is but a mere footnote to me. What a parallel universe that must be.
15. Yurika Wagatsuma
Now time for someone a little bit different. Though not in the sense that she doesn’t do gravure.
I’m detecting a general sense of thiccness in Swagatuma here. That might just be down to how soft her face is, though.
Her differences tend to come from stuff like this.
Speaking about the hard topics. And in English. You don’t get this from most others. She’s also got a hearing impediment. So she’s well placed to go beyond just this.
So I’d consider Wagamama very much underrated on the whole. It’s up to you, therefore, to actually rate her.
16. Sumire Yokono
There’s a contest that’s formed exclusively in my own mind, a contest for the best Sumire I know. It’s a heated one between Sumires Uesaka and Yokono.
Obviously, Uesaka has some of the greatest assets of any seiyuu, to the point of reaching near-succubus vibes. But you know what? Quite apart from Yokono being a singer herself, I reckon she might be even better to look at.
Especially from this side. Look at that cake!! I’m not gonna call that the best I’ve ever seen – it’ll take a special effort to dislodge Arisa Komiya from that position. But it’s definitely top 5 all time. Maybe even top 3. That sweet, sweet smile is just the cherry on top. This Sumire is more than worthy of being my real Sumzy.
17. Rea Hanasaki
It’s time for the in-house declared ‘problem child’. And she is a naughty girl. In a couple of senses.
Firstly, and most obviously, the gravure.
Secondly, she likes to get tricky with some of her colleagues. Nowhere was this more blatant than the time she tried to sneak up on Yura and touch her much-beloved Kuromi, a move that in an 01 sense caused mayhem.
Rea coming back for more there was real naughty. But doing it right in front of someone like Angela meant it was never gonna really kick off.
Her sense of cheekiness extends to the clothing challenges. For example, this one, in which she came up with an idea that was a stroke of genius, apart from it not being allowed.
Rea’s certainly a compelling sort, even if none of this exactly adds up to being my type. But with her around, you know things aren’t gonna be dull.
That said, she has to take a knock on the basis that she might not even be the best girl in her own family.
That’s Noa “Non” Hanasaki. She looks sweeter and softer than Rea’s more edgy look, and I prefer it that way. They really should sign her up, too.
18. Hinano Himeno
A change of group has not dulled Hinano’s continuing rise. She remains a serious talent for all the reasons that came to the fore at the end of her time with Yoyoyo.
She’s certainly got one of the most unique looks in 01, if not all idolling. That couples nicely with her boundlessly positive attitude and her evident willingness to get involved in some gravure, too. It’s quite possible separating from Yoyoyo has improved them, even. Hinano’s voice was always quite powerful for them. Now she’s got her own group, in which she’s very much the current center and most popular, and she’s in an even better position now. She is undoubtedly excellent.
19. Kaho Mori
When you see Kahotaru’s typical output from her social media output, it’s no wonder she didn’t stay in the seemingly innocent confines of Yoyoyo. She’s another absolute dime.
Her follower count does not reflect the effort she is putting into this. Even by 01 standards, her rate of content is intense.
She also had arguably the greatest appearance of anyone in the skimpy clothing videos.
Now that takes real boldness. It also might be the only scenario anyone will ever get to wear nothing but a towel in. Just don’t tell Rea.
She’s got what she needs for success. And indeed she has her first DVD due for release imminently. Get your order in, for her sake.
20. Saeko Kondo
Perhaps it should be Saeko who becomes my Bambi oshi after all? She’s got a compelling case in some respects.
I love her look in her Bambi getup, with the hairbuns, and she doesn’t sound like she looks. She sounds better than that. I’d have thought she’d sound cutesy, and instead when talking normally she sounds…perfectly ordinary. In a good sense.
21. Saki Ishihara
It took me a while to really ‘get’ Saki, in a way that never became apparent during her Yoyoyo period. Since moving to Mooove her true talent has become clear. This is as big a sale as any for keeping idol groups as small as possible. You just don’t need something along the lines of your AKBs or your Nogizakas of this world to create idols that will make an impression. (Said the Cinderella Girls fan.)
She, like Mio, is looking better without bangs now as well. Her face is so soft and sweet.
Obviously, there’s a long road still ahead for Saki. She is, after all, still only 15 years old. But she’s been put in a better place for her now, like Hinano, and she can go on to be something very good indeed now. Those who admire her, really admire her.
22. Usa
U-S-A. Now with the undisputed widest eyes in Bambi since Akanen’s graduation, Usa is another solid idol who is plenty enjoyable when she crops up in my feed out of nowhere from time to time.
I’d argue she’s also one of the more unique lookers in 01 at the moment. And it’s in a good sense. She’d do well to preserve what she’s looking like right about now.
23. Yume Hayashi
If anyone carries onee-chan vibes among this group, it’s probably Yume. But despite her own extensive and successful backlog of gravure, she doesn’t feel like edging towards the ‘ara ara’ sort that would make her an absolute weapon for me. The vibes come up every now and again, but they’re not predominant for her. Rather, Yume just seems like a very cool person to chill with. She does have to live in the shadow of her fellow ‘big three’ members in Nashiko and Angela, both more distinctive in their own way, but Yume is still no slouch.
24. Mayu Kawahara
The most notable news from Mayu’s side is unfortunately not so good: her bar’s closed down.
It’s a real shame, not least because Mea was there on a day when I was still in Japan. Sadly I was in the wrong part of the country in question (Kobe, that evening, to be precise). Judging by the one video of her and Mayu (and Yume, and Yuki Odera) I posted of them drinking up a barrel of beer, a night out with the pair of them would be an experience to savour. For someone so relatively calm, Mayu has tales to tell of her drinking madness. There’s more out there of Mayu getting others involved in drinks, too. But mostly she’s involved in the gaming side of things. She does seem like an incredibly cool person to chill with, on the whole. Not the most spectacular, but sometimes you don’t necessarily want that. You can’t have the wild ones without the calm ones. Mayu proves that in spades.
25. Ralumu Fujikawa
Sadly, this sorter I did came a few hours too late for Ralumu. Shortly after I did this, I checked her out some more. And I found someone who, if I did this sorter again, would probably get into the top 5.
Why is this? Well, let’s just look at her for starters.
That incredibly broad smile is not like any other I’ve seen before. That upward curvature is a true distinction, coupled to lips with just the right amount of thickness. I dare say these truly unique looks may be the result of her ethnicity, which has a mixture of Thai and German. I can’t say I’ve seen that one too often before.
The other thing about her? Those incredibly long legs. She knows she’s got them, too. Which is probably why she walks like she’s constantly doing her job at a fashion show.
Of course, this by itself wouldn’t be enough for me to rate her that highly. But she’s got real character behind her to boot. Which brings me onto this pretty extraordinary video of 01tv’s.
There’s little more the channel likes than a good old prank. They can vary from Uno reverse type deals, to physical shakeups, to ones designed simply to get under someone’s skin. Ralumu’s fate, at the hands of Naomin, was more brutal than most.
Firstly, it’s pretty clear that Naomin is an obvious candidate to be senpai to Ralumu. They do have incredibly similar frames, after all. Secondly, I love how it goes from Naomin telling Ralumu to cover her arse so the tattoo doesn’t get seen, to Ralumu switching to the metaphorical ‘covering your arse’ when the cameraman “notices” it. I suspect the term doesn’t strictly translate to Japanese, but as a casually observing Englishman the irony was amusing. Thirdly, both girls come across really well here. The acting job Naomin puts on here proves for sure that she’s not all mouth and no trousers. (Not that I can envisage her wearing actual trousers.) Ralumu, for what it’s worth, stays surprisingly calm through the apparent sight of both an elite-level gravure idol getting ‘fired’ and her corresponding ‘suspension’. Only when the prank is unveiled once and for all does poor Ralumu’s real feelings throughout it come out. And then they all make up with a hug and everyone lives happily ever after. This, more than anything, helped appease Ralumu to me. Everything else just came after, and then I found someone even more appealing than what I’d just seen.
That was the second time in less than a week she’d been brought to tears by a prank, by the way.
But let us not dwell on that. Only on this.
Follow Ralumu Fujikawa. I promise you’ll be seeing a lot of her for the next several years. She’s still only 20. And she’s gonna make it big.
26. Yui Kato
We’ve had a big Yui, now here’s a little Yui. She’s a former SKE48 member, sister group to AKB. Her general demeanour makes it quite hard to imagine her in that sort of context, to be honest. She’s clearly pretty shy, as her videos trying to busk in public make clear, but she’s also pretty quirky too away from the public and on streams and in videos. She is undeniably cute, though. And she has the kind of spirit you can’t help but get behind.
27. Aya Kawasaki
Yes, I know she isn’t working any more. But such was her influence and stature in 01’s history that even to this day she remains listed as a talent. But she prefers these days to promote the rest of the girls who have followed in her footsteps. Would that make her the 01 equivalent of a non-executive chairman, then? Is she their very own Niki Lauda? That would be fitting, I suppose. She did a lot of race queen work, after all.
28. Anri Morishima
Anri hits very much differently to others in this list, in that she has a collection of more specific appeals that attracts her to a rather different audience. An audience that loves her deeply.
She packs probably the single most powerful voice of anyone in the idol groups, something I noticed in the frequent amount of solos she got in their songs through the lives. And there’s no denying she has a very old-school manner of beauty that is subtle, quiet but undeniable. It is perhaps a little too subtle in the face of her peers, the wide-eyed Toomi, the much-varied Yui and the all-out Kisumin.
Not that it’s stopped her getting involved in TIF’s next contest.
This one’s about singing. Hence Anri being put forward, for she is genuinely very good at it.
But did she not see the suffering Kisumi went through in her quest for glory? Does she really want to live through the same kind of thing again? Especially as her popularity doesn’t match up to Kisumin’s.
Oh, never mind.
Nii-ni, indeed. Make way for the 01 idol train. I doubt they’ll ever regret starting these groups.
29. Shiki Akama
The last member of Mooove here, and the one most inclined towards gravure so far. She got a shoot in not long before joining, and it got tongues wagging.
You can’t sleep on any one of these girls in Mooove. They’re all terrific. Pound for pound, in an all-round sense, they might even be good enough to rival 2i2 one day. They’ve hit upon a real gem here, even if it may take a while for it to really bear fruit. All four of these girls’ time will come.
30. Hikaru Aoyama
Even by the lofty standards set across the entire agency, Hikaru Aoyama is a real tits McGee. So much so even her Wikipedia page has to admit it.
She’s a big gamer, which has led her to a very close relationship with fellow big gamer Mea. Her unhinged behaviour has led to…well, the kind of clips you’d probably expect.
It’s a wonder it took this long to get something in this blogpost with an age-restriction on it, but there you are. That’s Mea, and that’s Aomin. And there’s really not much more I need to say on that.
31. Nagisa Tsuki
If you had to give a list of girls on this list who, if you didn’t know them, you’d have to guess did gravure, Nagicha would hover pretty close to the bottom of the list. How foolish you would look.
Yes, this is from the same Young Gangan issue which Kisumin graced the front cover of. That doesn’t take away from what a good first effort this is.
Her unique looking face, coupled with her oft-twintailed hair in her regular idol get-up, would indicate that Nagi pivots towards pure cuteness on the idol spectrum. Then she announced this was coming out, and people didn’t know quite what to expect. They needn’t have worried, as it’s gone down very well indeed.
She’s not my kind of thing, but I totally see where her appeal comes from.
32. Chocolat Ikeda
The only reason Chocolat Ikeda was really ranking this high is because of her truly hilarious name. But as it turns out, even she does gravure as well.
Turns out she’s part of the gamer group as well. There’s more layers of chocolate in this Chocolat than you might think.
33. Himeka Araya
Just a rather attractive person indeed.
A lovely smile, coupled to some lovely, shining eyes. Lovely.
34. Saya Yabuse
Saya Ya🅱️ussy, someone who’s taller than I expected. But then I shouldn’t have been so surprised, given her main work as a race queen for the Pacific Racing Team, who revel in that sort of thing.
It’s just a shame that this, her very first appearance on a grid, was rather overshadowed by a monstrous crash for Super GT legend Tsugio Matsuda, which put him in hospital, where he is stable but remains and continues to give rather sobering updates from where he has to stay.
Oh well. That’s motor racing for you. Sorry, Yabusaya.
35. Ruri Koto
Still a youthful idol, Ruri goes her business in classically innocent fashion.
She’s got appeal and cuteness, for sure, and a sweet enough smile to attract. But she’s still at the start of her journey, relatively speaking. It’ll be fascinating to see where she ends up in 5 to 10 years time, because while she’s got enough about her to go at the start, you feel she’ll have to go out of her comfort zone at some point…which will undoubtedly have some bearing on what happens.
36. Madoka Natsume
I’d say there’s potential in Madoka that has yet to be realised.
That’s perhaps an unusual statement to say of someone with six-figures of followers like she does, yet it does feel like she goes underused by the powers that be at 01. She carries a similar vibe to Mea – no surprise given her gaming and cosplay inclinations – but perhaps a bit more reserved. Perhaps that works both for and against her – she’d be to others’ tastes more, but doesn’t carry the air of chaos that attracts so many others to Mea.
She’s another one who’s a mixture of cultures, in the mould of Ralumu in that she has part of another Far Eastern and European country in there. Hers are the Philippines and Spain this time, yet she evidently knows a bit of English as well. I feel I should like her more than I do for this. But then again, there’s so much competition ahead of her. How is she supposed to break through in my mind at this rate?
37. Rui Takanashi
I know a lot of people who love Rui a lot, for all manner of valid reasons. But when put next to so many good others in Bambi she just doesn’t float my boat. Again, I’m not exactly a twin-tail man. But at least with her STEM degree she’s safe no matter what happens to her idol career. With her success in Bambi to date, though, she has nothing to worry about.
38. Moe Kawase
Moe’s a lot taller than I expected, as I found to my surprise in one of MG Takayama’s challenges. Not as surprising as her constantly forcing their censors upon her, though.
I suspect that will be my overriding memory of her, for better or worse. That’s fine, I guess. She’s sweet enough. Another race queen, a Chinese-Japanese mix as it turns out and another beautiful person.
39. Io Iori
Here’s a genuinely popular sort, one who leans into her assets happily and with no shortage of self-awareness either.
File her down as another one who knows what she’s got and flaunts it. She does not apologise for it or deny it. No wonder she’s picked up one of the largest followings of anyone here.
40. Hayaka Igarashi
There’s two things to note about Hayaka: she’s ex-SKE, and she’s fluent in English. That latter point comes from her Filipino origins. She’s also not too bad at gravure either.
She’s her fellow ex-SKE member Yui Kato’s partner in crime these days, and they do bear a similar quirkiness to each other, being visible in one another’s streams and/or content. Obviously, the eigo factor has some appeal on this side, but it largely doesn’t affect my likes these days. I see it as a nice little bonus for those I like, where it might come in handy if I ever come to talk to them one day.
41. Saeka Takayama
A unique figure in this, on the basis of not being an actual talent. Her role in all this? She’s the manager who hosts some of their things. But ‘MG’ Takayama is a solid figure in her own right.
You’ve mostly seen her in the skimpy clothes videos here, but she’s often to be found on some of Yume’s videos too. She is, evidently, her manager at large. And she seems like a really cool sort to be around, professional as you’d expect yet also bubbly throughout a lot of the videos she’s in. That might go with the territory of working with Yume, I guess. They both just seem like cool people to be around.
42. Ran Kurusu
Here’s another one angled towards the gaming side. She’s in the same sphere as Chocolat and Madoka in that regard, but doesn’t seem nearly as remarkable in most regards than either. Not that she doesn’t have something in her.
She wouldn’t be kicking around 01 if she didn’t have something like this in her.
43. Kotori Kaiga
Last of the original Yoyoyo members remaining here, Kotori also stands as the group’s oldest. That means time’s not quite as on her side as some of the rest, but she’s still picked up a reasonable enough following. She’s one of the more unique lookers in a way as well, with her more sleepy-eyed appearance. That will have appeal to some, but while she’s been in the group long enough to keep her lines healthy one wonders if she’s got enough to get by. She’s kept going in Yoyoyo long enough to show something though, so I’m sure she can stick around for a while yet.
44. Sakura Asaoka
You know what I didn’t tell you about that TIF contest? Sakura was in it as well. She wasn’t really in the hunt, but she did well to rank where she did in the end. She’s one of the new members who came in to fill the void left when Hinano and Saki upped sticks and got a new idol group to play with. But it’s a tough position to step into. And that’s evident in some of the queues she’s been getting for the meet-and-greets. I know a fair few guys who frequent the Yoyoyo lives, and oftentimes Sakura’s left sipping her drink well before time’s up. It’s never what you want to see as an idol, as I can attest to from Meruda’s struggles in that respect, but it goes to show how hard this kind of thing can be to start with. Sakura’s not without appeal, she’s got a wholesome smile. But there’s always gonna be teething troubles when others in the group have gotten a headstart, especially someone as popular as Yura. Maybe some of those guys who paid up on her Mixch should pay up some more.
45. Rie Momose
A surprisingly popular person for what she is, most prominently on her bio the editor of a notable fashion magazine. But then it should take someone who looks like this to get to that stage.
That’s very much my kind of short hair. It’s a shame she posts pictures only sparingly, because when she does they’re really quite good.
I’m getting the vibes here of a certain fictional idol oshi of mine… Perhaps I should have noticed them earlier on in my sorter. Alas, Rie’s probably not likely to climb the heights she has, by her very nature. When her content comes, though, I’ll be there.
46. Ion Kusunoki
Hey look, it’s how you’d pronounce my name in Japanese. Take note, Kisumin.
This ranking is too low as of this post now as well, because I wasn’t sure about Ion at first. Something about her look didn’t feel quite right. It turns out it was probably the mouth, as she likes doing peeking pics with just her eyes that look fine. But she’s been looking better in my eyes of late. Especially as she has a backlog of work from her previous groups.
And that sort of thing is helping with her lines at the buppans as well, she got a long one at the last concert she was at. Though that might have been helped by the presence of her last group being there as well. She’ll be fine here.
47. Yuki Odera
Here’s the other main magician that Akanen would do well to emulate. In fact, they don’t even look a million miles away from each other.
Yuki has quite a prominent backlog of work, actually. She’s another one who’s done acting in Kamen Rider before, on top of her appealing magician act. She’s been going for a while now, which makes you wonder quite why she doesn’t have a more prominent following. She probably deserves it.
48. Miyu Kataoka
Here’s someone especially chaotic. She’s an ex-idol, out of Niji no Conquistador, and you will rarely see a picture of her in anything approaching ordinary clothing. As her Twitter profile will undoubtedly tell you. But I’m not kidding when I say her levels of chaos are comparable with someone like Rea. She really is one for you to see and make your own mind up on. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
49. Hikari Kuroki
The only thing I could think to say about Hikari for a while is that her agency pic looked vaguely like someone I know. One of my closest acquaintances at work, for that matter. But Hikari isn’t as interesting as she is. (That’s not a knock on Hikari as much as it is a defence of my colleague.)
She actually seems more like a conventional actress, which in many ways is a breath of fresh air after the sea of girly flesh above us. More surprising is that she is still only 22, so has plenty of mileage to go already. Indeed, she’s already picked up the kind of solid following that exceeds quite a number of the names here. So you go, girl.
50. Risa Haruka
This is the small flaw with all these sorters. If you pick something at the start, it can make you look a proper mug come the end. Hence the supposed fifth-lowest rank idol here being capable of something like this:
Yeah, she’s fine. She’s actually ensconced in stage plays mainly, for what it’s worth. Another cool and trendy route to go down these days. She’s a relative newbie, but already has plenty of content to look on. She’s one for the future.
51. Liz Nanase
A soft face, and a lot of inviting pictures for another one of the newest members of the agency, but… I don’t really feel anything.
She’s also relatively fresh-faced, but is picking up a reasonable following through her charms. That’s what others have picked up on certainly, and it’s no surprise that they’ve helped Liz out. Again, she’s one who it’ll be fascinating to see where she ends up in five years’ time. But who knows where I’ll be in that time, too.
52. Marupi
Now here’s the one reasonably prominent talent I’m not really sold on at all. Sometimes she gives hints she might be alright, but the overriding sense is that her eyes are too wide.
Now this shouldn’t really be an issue by itself. Someone like Akanen or Usa, for instance, has huge eyes and still looks alright. I know some people in person with very big eyes, but they still manage to look soft, warming and inviting. It’s more the rest of the eye itself. It doesn’t hit the spot for me, and the wideness of her eyes actually accentuates that.
Otherwise, she seems like another perfectly solid gravure idol. But not one that’s to my tastes. Yes, I’ve actually slagged someone off here. Fight me.
53. Riko Imai
Here’s somebody who I simply didn’t know at the time of making the sorter. And I still don’t really, actually. Turns out she’s another one of the newbies. She’s only doing more standard modelling, for the minute. Not terribly frequently either. And she actually has the same kind of thing going on with her eyes as Marupi, now I think about it. So she’s not in my sight for the time being. But maybe that’ll change some day.
54. Ami Iseki
I don’t know what she does, either. But she did post this just in time for me to put it here before publishing.
She was an idol once elsewhere. But that was an awfully long time ago. So now she’s just chilling, posting the occasional pic here and there. Ami’s obviously got fans from back then to keep entertained, for sure. But I wonder if she too hopes she were doing more. If she’s cool with it, that’s fine. But I suspect some of the idols here wouldn’t accept the same fate.
Of course, there’ll be more talents coming on song as time goes on. Even since I did this sorter, there’s been two that 01 has picked up:
Momo Suzu, who is comfortably the most baby-faced talent they have now…
And Maho, who looks like she might be a(nother) genuine stud.
I’ll duly keep up to speed with adding these talents as they come to the sorter, because a) keeping up to speed is no trouble for someone who has made a sorter that stretches to over 300 girls before, and b) as you can tell, I am well and truly in deep with 01familia now. And that’s before you take into account the due arrival of Bambi’s new members. Unless, of course, the above two have something to say about that… Ooh, have I accidentally exposed their plans? Probably not.
That said, there will always be one talent who is too strong even for this…
mariblog 