In these weekly posts, I gather all the variety appearances of AKB members and briefly summarize what happened.
AKBingo (28.1)
Members: Aigasa Moe, Iwata Karen, Iwatate Saho, Okada Nana, Oshima Ryoka, Kashiwagi Yuki, Katayama Haruka, Kitazawa Saki, Kojima Mako, Kodama Haruka, Sashihara Rino, Sato Sumire, Shinozaki Ayana, Takashima Yurina, Takahashi Juri, Tanaka Natsumi, Tano Yuka, Nishino Miki, Minegishi Minami, Murashige Anna
Summary: This week’s AKBingo was another fashion check episode that was shot on the same day as the one aired at the end of last year. The members taking part in the competition were younger ones again (Juri, Haruppi, Murashige, Ryoka, Kojimako, Miki, Saho) while the veterans and the competitors from last time remained as commentators. It also looks like they shot Shoujiki shogi episodes on the same day and one of those episodes will be aired next week.
Analysis: Just after I got to praise Murashige for finding balance in variety, she goes on and leaves me wondering whether she has made any real progress at all. Her insistence on using -shige endings everywhere was misplaced this week. The same can also be said of Kojimako and her “gag” – she blurts it out randomly and only concerns others with it. It is not cut because it looks adorable enough, but then again she could do pretty much anything else in its place and not much would change (in temrs of being adorable). Moe also has a problem she doesn’t seem to be aware of or doesn’t know how to fix: whenever she speaks, she doesn’t put enough energy into it and her comments fall flat. With a voice as low as hers, it feels out of place in Bingo’s atmosphere. Her lack of excitement could work for her benefit if she made the right comments for her style (like Tomochin), but she hasn’t really caught up on that yet.
We also got to see good Karen-Juri chemistry as Karen set up the stage for Juri and Juri responded back cleverly. Miichan yet again showed why she is so valued in variety: she can give attention to any member, ranging from her Haachan tease (that gave Haachan the attention she would have missed otherwise) to supporting the Team 4 girls with witty comments. For Haruppi, I think it was the first time she used her IKKO jokes on TV (as fans have often compared her to IKKO due to her hair style) and it was also funny to see her interact with the other HKT members.
Variety 48 