30 Day Idol Challenge, Day 06 – My Favorite Subunit

I was looking ahead at this challenge, and tomorrow will be “favorite idol pairing”, so I’ll leave what would otherwise be today’s answer for tomorrow. Let’s go with my second favorite subunit then.

no3b

My first encounter with no3b was their Relax! PV. I saw the torrent and downloaded it thinking it was a new H!P subunit or something. I only figured out it was AKB after watching the whole thing and being confused by the unknown girls. I liked Kojiharu, thought Miichan looked weird and adorable, and wondered what Takamina was doing there. It’s still my favorite song by them, and probably AKB overall. The music itself isn’t that special, but I love the lyrics – a fresh approach to the tipical “Ganbare!” idol song, that instead of repeating the same old “work hard towards your dreams” mantra, goes for “I know you’re working hard already, so relax for a bit, your dreams won’t run away”. Perfect song for ending a day.

My opinion on all the girls changed quite a bit since then. I like Kojiharu even more – now not only for her first class looks but also her carefree personality. Miichan is one of the most perfect idols around – great charisma, great looks, great dancer – I’m always surprised by her (relatively) low rankings in senbatsu. Also, I really like her “South” gravure DVD, which was my second AKB download right after the PV. My first favorite in the group. And you can read more here about Takamina, but let’s say I like her very much.

Following the pattern, my third AKB download was Mendol, the low budget no3b dorama. To think a subunit would get a whole dorama built around them back in 2008, when even AKB wasn’t that well known… just shows how much weirdness AKB’s multiple agencies approach can cause. It looked cheap, but it was still funny, and it ended with me thinking it could go on for longer, so I definitely approve of it. And Kojiharu looked great crossdressing.

I like every single they released. That’s not normal. I’m expecting to be disappointed, like Buono!, but it still didn’t happen. So right now I’m in the “happy in love” phase.