Sleep-speaker

I am talking a lot about Team 8 members recently because there were a lot of Team 8 members to talk about. An original member of the team, recruited to represent Kochi Prefecture, Hirose Natsuki auditioned for AKB48 in 2014 and debuted alongside her peers, Abe Mei, Okabe Rin, Okubora Chinatsu, Nagano Serika, Fujimura Natsuki, Onishi Momoka, Kuranoo Narumi, Shitao Miu, Cho Kurena, Hamamatsu Riona, Fukuchi Rena, Honda Hitomi, Yokomichi Yuri, the other Yokoyama Yui, Yoshino Miyu, Oda Erina, Oguri Yui, Yoshikawa Nanase, and Hayasaka Tsumugi. She was on stage during the revival of PARTY ga Hajumaru yo during Team 8's "business trip" to the SKE48 theatre and went on to perform in Nagasaki and Hokkaido during the Team 8 National Tour 〜47 no Suteki na Machi e〜 2015. During PARTY, she shared the stage with Nanase for performances of Hoshi no Ondo, and in Nagasaki, she performed Nageki no Figure, whilst in Hokkaido, she was in the lineup for Blue Rose, a song I always approach with caution and reverie, such is its significance.

Towards the end of 2014, Nacchan began to appear on B sides, firstly the Team 8 theme tune for which their later tour was named, 47 no Suteki na Machi e, a song that made it to the number #1 spot during Request Hour in 2019, just in case you had any doubt as to how significant Team 8 were, and began to make her appearances on successive singles after, all the way up to High Tension. Friends, I don't often get hit with stirrings of fond feelings about a country and its national identity, but 47 no Suteki na Machi e is one of those moments where I really think about how many places on this island nation half the world away I have grown fond of. I know, I know, yes, I am a massive weeb.

In 2015, like other members of her team, she went on to appear in performances of the Aitakatta revival before Team 8 went on tour, continuing her duties on stage all the way through to 2017 when she first announced her impending graduation, and finally, in March of the following year, when Team 8 came full circle with a further revival of PARTY and Nacchan graduated.

Whilst a member of AKB48, I didn't follow Nacchan. In many ways, working on these Team 8 profiles for this silly little Wednesday column that has gone on far too long already and really needs an index post—working on these entries has been a chance for me to get to know many of the unsung heroines of Team 8, a chance to celebrate them. Reading about Nacchan's life, about how she used to cycle two hours there and back to school, about how, whilst in elementary school, she participated in a Yosakoi festival, a celebration of particular form of dance native to Kochi, all of this fills me with a kind of wonder. Underestimating the determination of young girls really is a grave mistake.

Even after graduation, in 2019, during Team 8's concert in Osaka on the cusp of their six-year anniversary, Nacchan returned to stand on stage with her peers once again.

Moments like this give me hope. I really, really want to believe that we will see a Team 8 reunion again soon, and I really, really hope that the occasion will not be Oguri Yui's graduation. Team 8 means so much to so many people, and I really want them to get their chance to celebrate the way I have been able to celebrate original AKB during the last year.