Sunday, September 15, 2013

Featured Article - the Alluring yet Mellow Sakurai Reika

Original post from JPHIP, posted on 2013.05.17, updated & expanded with altered wordings & more contents!



A post dedicated to the alluring yet mellow...
桜井玲香

Sakurai Reika

Nogizaka's dear captain.

Regardless of which group one follows, there is always that special member that is revered & respected, that hold special responsibilities different from all other members. For Nogizaka, it is no different that there is a captain. What that is different tho, is instead of being revered & respected, she is known more as someone who is sporty yet mellow, someone who can dance alluringly & sing rly well; & someone who fails embarrassingly but cutely at her gags. Here's introducing a captain that members can tease at, Nogizaka's dear & unique captain Sakurai Reika!


1. Tan-Skinned Beauty!
    
    
In a society where pale-skinned is preferred, & in a group dominated by pale-skinned members,Reika's tanned-skin is certainly an unique drawing point! Considering the next point, maybe this should come as no surprises.


2. Athletic Prowess
Nogizaka is not known for their athletic abilities. However should Nogizaka need to call on someone to do some athletic hard-lifting, Reika is definitely a candidate! As shown here, boy she can run! Look at her birthday special, & you will see that she can run since elementary school. In fact, maybe cuz she's such an awesome runner, her bonus video for the first single consist of pretty much just her running around, which is kind of sad. But the point is, she can run!!


3. Singing!
Reika is not only an athletic girl good at running, but also one of Nogizaka's top singers! You can see this in when Reika sings in NogiDoko's Best Hit Setlist singing segment, such as when she peforms Friends (フレンズ), by REBECCA, Kobayashi Akiko's Koi ni Ochite - Fall in Love- (恋におちて -Fall in love-), & Kuraki Mai's Love, Day After Tomorrow.


4. Alluring Dancer!
Reika can dance alluringly, not a surprise I guess considering her prior hip-hop dance lessons. This is something I started noticing after seeing her Halloween pose, hence this pic. You can see her Halloween posture here, & might wanna start paying attention to her when she dance!



5. Fail Chara!
Reika is known to some fans for her fail chara, which is ironic considering her position as captain lol. Being able to fail cutely is no easy task too however! But what exactly does she fails at?

Maybe fashion. Personally I don't see anything wrong, but the fashion person do lol. ^^;;

On Tore maybe. View it here! :D

Singing, sort of...? Click to see! :D

Designing mascot? ^^;;

Most memorably, on her gag!? Here's Reika performing her gag on the request of young fans, & the subsequent awkward reactions. This is only one of the many times she fail on her gag, here's another one of her gag fail for Megashaki making! How cute yet very embarrassing. :3


6. Talented Ojousama!
Password: nogizaka46

Despite her fail chara, Reika is by no mean talent-less. In fact, like many other Nogizaka members, Reika have since elementary been schooled in various different talents & specialties. These include swimming, piano, tennis, gardening, & hip hop dancing. Here's a birthday episode, introducing Reika's many talents!



7. Leadership!? 
Despite being captain, leadership is something Reika is more often teased on rather then praised of. This is especially true on recent appearances on NogiDoko & NOGIBINGO. This might be a running-gag, but maybe there do exist room for improvement on her leadership.

Despite being often teased by fellow members however, Reika is loved. After her bungee jump, many of the girls were teary; maybe they sympathize for Reika, but I think rather, that maybe they were moved. On the 4th single bonus video, Reika confessed to having difficulties with her role as captain, & she practiced leading in this video. A quote was cited in this video, "A leader is a dealer in hope." Considering this quote, I think for this instance, & I'm guessing many more,  she fulfilled her role as a leader rather adequately no? ^_^



Summary: an Alluring yet Mellow Captain?
Random 5th Single Bonus Video (with sub! \O/). Nothing to do with content lol~

So, in summary, what is so special about Sakurai Reika? Reika is not your normal captain. Despite being captain, she's often teased at. Rather than leadership, she is known for her mellow character, her impressive running speed, alluring dance, great singing, & her fail chara lol. Nonetheless she is one that understand where she needs to improve on, & works hard on it. She is someone that can be teased at, but still loved.

With that that in mind, I wish the best for Reika, & may you achieve further success & enjoy your time in Nogizaka~ \(^o^)/

2 comments:

  1. thanks for posting this! as expected from my oshimen, thanks for pointed out her characters so well \(^^)/

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  2. that last video is really cute thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete