Know your AKB Members: Oshima Yuko

Hey guys. Remember a month ago when I asked for volunteers to write a post about yourfavourite member? This one: http://melosnomichi.blogspot.com/2010/02/volunteer-writers-wanted.html
Very sorry for the long wait. Well good news is that the first batch is finished. By the way I need more volunteers for the rest of the members or I will have to end with 4 posts. Anyway let's start this series with a post about Oshima Yuko, AKB's Idol entertainer and 2nd most popular AKB girl from the Iiwake Senbatsu elections. And also 2nd on my ranking! I love Yuko. She's energetic, funny, cool, and is an awesome singer.

Written by Cat / garnetjester / Maria Catalina, who also runs Aitakatta!
http://www.intlwota.com/aitakatta/


More after the jump

Hi people! I'm Cat, and I'm about to tell you guys about my favorite idol, Oshima Yuko of AKB48 Team K!

Here are her basic stats, stolen from wikipedia! Yay!

Team: K
Name: 大島優子
Name (romaji): Oshima Yuko
Nickname: Korin (コリン), Korisu (コリス)
Blood type: B
Birthdate: October 17th, 1988
Birthplace: Tochigi, Japan
Likes: Red Things
Special Talents: Sleeping, impressions, snowboarding, long-distance running
Charm point: Eyes and dimples
Pets: A rabbit named Marty (I haven't seen him around in AGES. I think he must be dead or something XD)
Height: 152
Bust: 77 cm
Waist: 55 cm
Hips: 78 cms
Agency: Ohta Pro (http://www.ohtapro.co.jp/)
Blog: http://ameblo.jp/oshima-y/

OK, so here I'll give you guys a little background info on Yuko and why I love her so so much, hopefully, you'll get to love her as much as I do, and if she's not your type of idol, then you'll at least know a lot of data about one of the top girls in AKB48

Yuko has been in the entertainment business for the longest time in all of AKB, she was a child actress since she was 7, and she was part of the old idol group "Doll's Vox" which unfortunately only released one single ^^:: Here's their PV, can you spot young Yuko there?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHYnaUeTMsE (sorry embedding not allowed)

Yuko was also a young model, and had 2 photobooks before joining AKB.

She joined AKB and was placed in Team K, and according to what she said in an interview recently, Akimoto decided to make her the center girl because she was the most experienced out of all the other girls. According to her, he said that he didn't think she could get any better than she was already, but she could be of some use while the other members improved. That's really mean! XD

However, Yuko proved that there was so much more to her than simply being an experienced idol! And managed to come in No. 2 in the Iiwake Maybe election! Go Yuko!

So now, I'll tell you a bit about Yuko the idol first of all. The first time I noticed Yuko was in the Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru PV, I thought that she was the prettiest girl of the bunch and I instantly liked her! So I tried to spot her in Aitakatta, and I was surprised at how different she looked XD In Seifuku, she has make up on and looks all sexy, while in Aitakatta you can see her smiling in such an adorable way!

But it was Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou that sealed the deal for me, after I watched that PV I knew I had to find out more about her and that she would be my favorite member no matter what! She was so intense about her acting, and not only in the part where she cries on the roof (although that is truly amazing too) but also in the dance parts. While all the girls look kinda sad when they're dancing along to the song, Yuko looks positively heart broken, it's amazing!

 was into acting back then, so I admired her a lot for it! And set on the quest to find more about her! The next step was watching a Team K stage, naturally. Actually, my first contact with stage performances was when I watched the First Concert Aitakatta, because I didn't quite understand, I downloaded the shuffle version first XD So I had to go back and download the normal version to watch KinjiFuta, everyone was hyping about that one song, and I felt that I had to watch it if I was to become a Yuko fan!

I usually like my idols to be decent singers, most people say that if you're into idols it must be for a different reason other than music XD But it is kind of important for me, and I was dying to find out if I'd like Yuko's solo singing voice!

It was kind of unexpected, I thought she'd sound all high pitched and cutesy like idols usually do, but to my surprise, she has a very nice husky voice! I was instantly impressed, and finally cemeted my love for her. She's always been my favorite and that'll never change until she graduates. XD

There's something very special about the way Yuko performs, she's very passionate about it, even though it might not show at first sight, like in Sayaka's case, when Yuko is on stage, she simply gives it her best shot, and you can relly tell that she's enjoying it a lot! I really like this about her, I like idols who enjoy their work

And also, there's the acting bit. I'm not into J-dramas, so I usually don't even notice if someone can act or not, but with Yuko it's been kind of easy for me to follow her acting career because she tends to be featured in stuff alongside other AKB members too She was the main character in Akimoto's AKB scary movie, Densen Uta. The movie sucks of course, but Yuko was great in the role she was playing nonetheless! Also, more recently, we get to see her playing the top yankii of Rapappa in Majisuka Gakuen. She's managed to make the tough character multidimensional by portraying Yuko-senpai as a quirky happy-go-lucky girl albeit a bit scary whenever things don't go her way! XD

To sum all of this up, Yuko is my favorite girl because she's talented at everything she does also, I really love the fact that she seems very genuine, Yuko is a naturally goofy and quirky girl and I like that she's made that her trademark instead of trying to become more idol-y. Chances are you'll probably recognize Yuko in no time, as she's one of the big stars, so please watch her closely and support her because she's always trying her best for AKB48!!