The girls are deep into preparations for their first single and rumor has it that it will contain multiple singles instead of just one. Double or triple A-sides aren’t uncommon among Japanese idGols and they often do it either when the producer feels that the time is right for it, or if the group is celebrating a milestone. In this case, it’s the latter as everything points to MNL48 raring for a huge debut.
In Moe-sensei’s short time with MNL48, she gave the girls some very important advice regarding dancing. While they impressed her with how they danced lively songs, the slower ones (like SakuHana), would need to be done “softly” and more “feminine” than the they are currently doing. It’s this attention to detail that many fans have been waiting concerning the girls’ performances. She also admonished the girls to always keep up with the teacher. As a student of a Japanese martial tradition, I really, really empathize with them. It’s always tough to keep up with your instructor, especially if her lessons overturn your previously established techniques and styles. When your body is trained in a certain way, it is difficult to instantly “un-learn” those with only just one session.
I guess Moe-sensei was just trying to maximize the little time she has with the girls. With time being of the essence, she can’t walk them through the basics again. But I’m sure, being MNL48’s main choreographer, that she’ll be meeting with them a lot in the future.
MNL48 is teasing its fans with lots of merchandise coming, as evidenced by the #iponing (saving in english) in last week’s MNLife episodes. I can think of both the CD and the photo-cards, but could HHE also give us more, member-focused merchandise? Member towels, perhaps? Personally, I’d love for them to release special limited edition photo-cards that are inserted into each set at random.
Last Monday, the girls of Team L return to MNLife with the topic of “back to school”. Co-hosted by Jewel, we learn that at least some of the girls will be home-schooled (because the Mansion is quite literally their home these days). This is especially important to those who haven’t yet finished senior high school. The snippet showed the girls going through a diagnostic exam to determine their current levels. I’ve never bothered finding out how distance learning works, but it’s a good thing that the management takes the members’ education some serious consideration.
It might not be the same for those who were already enrolled in Universities and Colleges prior to joining. Again, it should be clear that nobody really knows what they can or cannot do which is between the member and the management (and it’s highly improper to ask the girls directly). It would seem though, that Alice at least, is still continuing her nursing studies alongside her MNL48 duties. I’m not sure about Abby, or any of the other members who are already in college level.
It would be remembered that several girls have decided to withdraw from the group due to studies. One of them a little more than a week before the General Election. So it is at least safe to assume that the demands of the job are too great and the toll on their education a bit unbearable to some that withdrawing from something you’ve given a significant time and effort on, would seem a much better choice. Unless of course, you’re like Grace, and you’re happily done with school for the meantime.
The episode also showed Team L during one of their training sessions in what could be seen as choreography for their songs. Once again, the fans were hard at work trying to guess which songs those poses belong to. I’m not that concerned so I will leave that to the nit-pickers to find out what those songs are.
A funny highlight from that episode is Gia tripping while going down to do a dance. What made the scene funnier is that she hit the TV on the way down, and some of the girls were more concerned with the TV getting broken! Shaina came to her rescue, but we did hear one of the girls exclaim that they still don’t have a TV in the mansion. Well, I guess given that the girls all need to be focused, then having the lack of TV is understandable. Not that they have much time to watch their shows anyway. Besides, it’s the smartphone generation, and I’d bet the girls would be watching You Tube or Netflix or whatever streaming app the have, than watching the communal TV. But next time girls, check on poor Gia first before you check on the TV.
Yesterday’s MNLife featured Team M-II with Dana doing the co-hosting duties. It marked the return of Essel after taking time off after her mother passed away.
The theme is still back to school, and it featured some of the girls’ notes and even some personal doodles. There was a split-second where Quincy’s personal e-mail address was shown on TV. It was funny, but I’d definitely recommend that the staff sanitize anything the girls might be told to bring for their shows. Hashtag Luke was quick to catch-up on those personal stuff, but it should have been filtered long before that just to be safe.
Cess is starting to really grow on me these past few weeks, especially with how she provides comic-relief in MNLife. She has come a long way from when fans really put her to task for her impromptu dancing to Heavy Rotation during the auditions. I’m feeling very positive that come next year’s General Election, she would no longer be the lowest.
The show also featured the girls doing a photo-shoot for the new photo-cards. It seems we would have a lot more variety in the cards this time, with multiple outfits and poses. Sheki, Princess, and Erica featured prominently on the video clip shown.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to feel as if we would really need to save a lot this time around. The girls are shown wearing their official training T-Shirt, and I’m sure they would also have one with their new uniform (of which I am really dying to see in person).
They also showed a few pictures from Sheki’s debut. Because of her really busy schedule, the shoot was done on a Sunday and showed her dressed up like a princess. She looked really stunning, and while I’m not sure she was able to hold an actual debut party, she at least will have these stunning pictures to mark it.
Lastly, towards the end, Luke realized that Andee and Essel haven’t spoken yet. I feel that this might be a sign that the girls have outgrown the MNLife as their go-to show to promote them because too often the sheer number of the girls coupled with the time constraints limit the effectiveness of the medium. The show is at its best when the discussion is focused and natural. But there will always be someone who won’t get a chance.
Now, we can say that it is up to the girls to try and grab attention to themselves, but I feel that it would greatly benefit the girls to have another type of show with a different format (possibly also hosted by Luke because he’s been really great as a host for the girls so far), that will further enhance the girls’ skills and abilities in front of the camera.
I have the feeling that we’ll know in the coming weeks the big news concerning MNL48. New photo-cards? New member-focused merchandise? The CD-Single/s? The fact that MNL48 seems to encourage its fans to save up money probably means it will definitely be big and the time for us fans to do our part is coming at hand. The first fan-meet would seem to have been just be a test run for what is about to happen next. Till next time!
