2019 Member Rankings?

With announcement of the annual Stage 48 member ranking, I though it would be interesting to put together another list this year. It feels like Japanese idol culture is all about rankings, and it is interesting to go through the exercise of which members are standing out to me, even if the absolute rank isn’t that important.

To start with, my final Top 20 from last year (so technically the Stage 48 2018 ranking, as it’s done in the first quarter of the year, with their assigned points):

1. Saito Fuyuka (+15) — Kanji Keyakizaka46
2. Okada Nana (+10) — AKB48 / STU48
3. Yabushita Fu (+9) — STU48
4. Yamaguchi Maho (+8) — NGT48
5. Sugahara Riko (+7) — NGT48
6. Hasegawa Rena (+6) — NGT48
7. Akimoto Manatsu (+5) — Nogizaka46
8. Ota Yuuri (+5) — NMB48
9. Saito Kyoko (+4) — Hiragana Keyakizaka46
10. Kanemura Miku (+4) — Hiragana Keyakizaka46
11. Murakawa Bibian (+4) — HKT48
12. Furuhata Nao (+3) — SKE48
13. Matsuoka Hana (+3) — HKT48
14. Takino Yumiko (+3) — STU48
15. Watanabe Miria (+2) — Nogizaka46
16. Hori Miona (+2) — Nogizaka46
17. Yamane Suzuha (+2) — AKB48
18. Koike Minami (+1) — Kanji Keyakizaka46
19. Ma Chia-Ling (+1) — AKB48
20. Oguri Yui (+1) — AKB48

Of course the Fu-chans up there at the top with Naachan (my Sakamichi to AKB to STU bridge), then my NGT trio. Interesting to see now that I had also met in person (in 2018) all of my 2018 Top 5.

Looking back at it from a year on I’m pretty happy with that list, though maybe Chia-Ling is a little low. Also from my notes, there were four members on the edge, ending up right past the cut-off:

1. Nibu Akari — Hiragana Keyakizaka46
2. Hama Sayuna — AKB48
3. Yoda Yuki — Nogizaka46
4. Yamauchi Mizuki — AKB48

And how did they actually do against the English-speaking fan community? The 2018 final ranking results for my choices:

The notation is: My Rank. 2018 S48 Rank. (2017 S48 Rank) [# of Positive Votes | # of Negative Votes] [Group] Member {+ Points, - Points}, Overall Points

01. 155. (178) [6|1] [K46] Saito Fuyuka {+30,-5}, 25
02. 1. (1) [50|4] [AKB] Okada Nana {+338,-8}, 330
03. 136. (88) [8|0] [STU] Yabushita Fu {+29,0}, 29
04. 6. (108) [34|1] [NGT] Yamaguchi Maho {+212,-4}, 208
05. 28. (194) [16|0] [NGT] Sugahara Riko {+94,0}, 94
06. 23. (78) [19|0] [NGT] Hasegawa Rena {+108,0}, 108
07. 40. (44) [17|1] [N46] Akimoto Manatsu {+82,-3}, 79
08. 24. (23) [21|0] [NMB] Ota Yuuri {+107,0}, 107
09. 136. (194) [9|0] [K46] Saito Kyoko {+29,0}, 29
10. 185. (265) [5|0] [K46] Kanemura Miku {+20,0}, 20
11. 111. (131) [8|0] [HKT] Murakawa Bibian {+36,0}, 36
12. 51. (50) [12|0] [SKE] Furuhata Nao {+63,0}, 63
13. 155. (186) [8|4] [HKT] Matsuoka Hana {+33,-8}, 25
14. 69. (44) [13|0] [STU] Takino Yumiko {+50,0}, 50
15. 147. (121) [8|0] [N46] Watanabe Miria {+27,0}, 27
16. 11. (11) [25|0] [N46] Hori Miona {+164,0}, 164
17. 104. (108) [9|0] [AKB] Yamane Suzuha {+38,0}, 38
18. 67. (80) [10|0] [K46] Koike Minami {+51,0}, 51
19. 45. (27) [20|0] [AKB] Ma Chia-Ling {+72,0}, 72
20. 21. (17) [22|3] [AKB] Oguri Yui {+121,-8}, 113

So three of mine in the Top 20, which was expected, but a few surprises, for instance Kanemura coming in so low. While the rankings are technically for the year prior, of course it’s hard to separate all that happened in the first quarter of last year around NGT.

---

So how are things looking for 2019? No spoilers on my final 20 (also I haven’t decided yet), but I went ahead and ordered my current favorite members (plus 2019-eligible graduated members) for each group:

• AKB48
  • Okada Nana*
  • Yamauchi Mizuki*
  • Murayama Yuiri*
  • Kashiwagi Yuki*
  • Hama Sayuna
  • Okada Rina
  • Oya Shizuka
  • Iwatate Saho
  • Oguri Yui
  • Onishi Momoko
  • Ota Nao
  • Ma Chia-Ling
  • Yamane Suzuha
  • Tada Kyoka
  • Takahashi Ayane
• SKE48
  • Furuhata Nao*
  • Goto Rara*
  • Matsui Jurina*
  • Nojima Kano
  • Kumazaki Haruka
  • Suda Akari
  • Oba Mina
• NMB48
  • Ota Yuuri*
  • Kawakami Rena*
  • Murase Sae*
  • Shibuya Nagisa
  • Kawakami Chihiro
  • Shiotsuki Keito
  • Yamamoto Ayaka
• HKT48
  • Matsuoka Hana*
  • Murakawa Bibian*
  • Imamura Maria
  • Tanaka Miku
  • Yabuki Nako
  • Ueno Haruka
  • Miyawaki Sakura
  • Tanaka Natsumi
  • Moriyasu Madoka
  • Fuchigami Mai
  • Tashima Meru
• NGT48
  • Yamaguchi Maho*
  • Sugahara Riko*
  • Hasegawa Rena*
• STU48
  • Yabushita Fu*
  • Imamura Mitsuki*
  • Torobu Yuri*
  • Takino Yumiko*
  • Kadowaki Miyuna*
  • Sakaki Miyu
  • Ishida Minami
  • Tanaka Kouko
  • Morishita Maiha
  • Kai Kokoa
  • Oki Yuka
  • Otani Marina
• Nogizaka46
  • Akimoto Manatsu*
  • Hori Miona*
  • Watanabe Miria*
  • Yoda Yuki*
  • Kitano Hinako*
  • Ikuta Erika*
  • Shinuchi Mai
  • Nakada Kana
  • Saito Asuka
  • Umezawa Minami
• Keyakizaka46
  • Saito Fuyuka*
  • Matsuda Rina*
  • Morita Hikaru*
  • Kobayashi Yui
  • Suzumoto Miyu
  • Sato Shiori
  • Koike Minami
  • Takemoto Yui
  • Fujiyoshi Karin
• Hinatazaka46
  • Saito Kyoko*
  • Kanemura Miku*
  • Miyata Manamo*
  • Nibu Akari
  • Kosaka Nao
  • Tomita Suzuka

The * are the ones I think will make it into my final ranking, though the edges are always a bit blurry… Also there’s clearly some spill-over of 2020 knowledge and events here, so my eligible HKT list, for instance, is actually much smaller. Despite her intense focus this year, I’d actually say Zukky still has a good chance to rank high, so she’s probably made the biggest jump in my considerations since last year.

Biggest surprise for me? The Keyaki 2nd gens making a surge! Maybe because new Keyaki content in the last year has been so variety-focused, these new powerful personalities are really shining.

The voting period ends March 19th, so I guess I’ll return with more discussion once the final results are out.