The reason why I love you Amina

In this week's Weekly Playboy magazine, for the AKB Break History section, they talked about last year's Senbatsu Election. A huge part of it was on my oshi, Sato Amina.

It's a very touching article about her which I think everyone should read. It is the very reason why Amina shot to the top of my ranking and became my Oshimen. Even if you are one of those Amina haters, give this one a chance. Hopefully this will change how you think of her.

Translated by Whiteyuri. Some unimportant parts not translated. After the jump because of length.

Also viewable here: http://stage48.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=268559#p268559

More after the jump

..Election result now only left with the Best 10

There was one member in the corner who was looking down, sobbing.

「Continuing..next will be the 10th girl...」

The place was surrounded by heat
In that member's ear, Togasaki's voice seemed very low as if she was far far away from him.

That member's name is Sato Amina


「I knew that I was not that popular like the other girls...
Like in handshake event..my line would stop faster, and my fan letters were little compared to other girls.
But even if they were little, I was happy to see fans cheering for me, and I really enjoyed singing in AKB48 Theatre.
So at first, I tried not to care about it too much..
But from Oogoe Diamond, 5th gens, who were in AKB shorter than me, started to get chosen for senbatsu... (Amina is a 4th gen AKB member and the 1st batch of Kenkyuusei)
So I started thinking that I should appeal myself more.
But I did not have much chance for TVs nor Magazine shootings..so I pondered how I should appeal myself.」

「I started out from borrowing K4th - Saishuu Bell Ga Naru Stage DVD.
I borrowed the Lesson place and started memorizing dance moves by myself.
At first, I started out one by one. Stage performances usually starts out with everyone singing 4 songs, then next comes the self introduction.
So, if I memorize 4 songs, I can stand in stage until the introduction.
and if I memorize until the middle of the stage setlist, I can participate in MCs.
By doing that, I gained more and more time to stand in stages, one song by one song.
So, those fans who comes often knows that " Hey, Amina memorized set till this song"
I didn't want to let them think "Ah It's same as last performance"
Plus, I wanted to stay on stage as long as I can..so I memorized it desperately.」

In conclusion, she learned all Team A,K,B, RS, G Rosso's stages dances/songs by herself.
and continued to participate in all those stages.

Of course, in all the 50-ish members, No one knew all team's stages
except Sato Amina.


「That day..I was in G Rosso performance.
It seems like I stressed myself out..I got hyperventilation tetany.
So Staff was nursing me in the back stage.
While I was suffering with excessive breathing, one staff came, running.
Then gave me one paper which was Early-result notice.」

There was "15th Sato Amina" on it
A name of a girl who was never on Senbatsu before.

「I rested thinking nothing. Then I realized.
"Hey..I'm actually doing okay!"
After that, Mocchi, who was same gen, sent me message saying "I'm in 14th! We are next to each other! Let's be in senbatsu together!"
That message made me realize that this many people actually voted for me」

Sato Amina tried not to look at the Mid-Result.

「After seeing the Mid-Result, if I didn't see my name, I knew I would hesitate on everything.
So I wanted to challenge the election without looking, except early notices.
Before I went to Paris, I talked to my mom saying stuff like " If I get chosen in Senbatsu, everyone will be surprised right?"...well that being a surprise was kinda sad too LOL.
But even in the flight back to Japan, I was like "I'll do something big!!" 」


Then the day of Election came.
And the first one to be called, 21st, Kuramochi Asuka was called upon.

「The Early notice said I was 15th..so I thought I'll be able to join Senbatsu.
But then for last result, Asuka was called 21st..so I was like "huh?.."
When I looked at Asuka's face, she also looking confused.
After that I got confused more and kept thinking "What was my rank in early notice??"
"Asuka chan sent me a message saying Amina is next to me......so I'm lower then 21st, okay so I'll be Undergirls.."」

After the call for 21st to13th, the 9 girls for Undergirls were also called out.
But even in Undergirls, Sato Amina's name was not called.

After that, Amina could not look up straight.
Only thing she was looking at was her skirt, and fist.
Her tears starts to drop down to her hands.


「No one notices me after all.....people only notice girls on TV...」

....The thought : "I'll do something big!!" which she had in the flight back home dissappeared at that point.

「How long has this election been going on?..I wish this would end as soon as possible..」

When Sato was thinking this, one voice arised.


「8th... Sato Amina」

As soon as Togasaki called her up, Sato Amina stood up.
The place was full of applaud which was the loudest one of that day.

She couldn't walk properly. Even when she cried a lot before this call,
As soon as she stood in stage, even more tears came out in her eyes.
While crying, she started her speech

「I....decided to become AKB48 not as a step for becoming an actress nor singer..
I joined because I really liked AKB48...and I really wanted to be AKB48..
Because I wanted to participate be in different stage performances, I learned different team's dance by myself..
I was not shining like the those AKB48 girls whose shown in TV/magazines..so I thought I was not helpful to AKB48..
But...I'm very happy that I was able to join Senbatsu...」

From the Mid Result to Final Result, the votes Amina received were 1423.
Which was the highest amount gained after mid-result.

This result taught us that something "People trying their best even in place where spotlight isn't hit, will always be noticed by someone" would come true.

It's this type of passion, dedication and effort which shot her from 11th on my ranking to number 1. She didn't want to be the top, neither did she want to be famous, all she wanted was just to perform in AKB and get noticed by the fans. To reach that goal, she learnt the dance for ALL THE STAGE SONGS IN AKB BY HERSELF. There are few other girls in AKB who work as hard or harder than her. Such an awesome girl. I'm very proud to have such a girl as my Oshimen.

This article also got me thinking. What Amina said also is also what a lot of other girls in AKB feel. Those girls that have never been in Senbatsu, they too want their chance to shine but they are never given one because like Amina said "No one notices me after all.....people only notice girls on TV...". So guys reading this, give those girls a chance to shine too.

I hope this post makes you think of Amina differently, not only Amina but the other lower ranked girls too. Hopefully after this you won't skip a performance just because it doesn't have Acchan / Kojiharu / Mayuyu in it, and notice the lower ranked members. I'm not asking you to make them your Oshimen, just simply noticing them will do. I also wrote this post as a motivation for the other wotas with lower ranked oshis who just like Amina didn't have a chance to shine. One day, they will too.

Very late but still a big thank you to all the amina fans who voted for her during the election last year. You have made her dream come true.

Now excuse me while I continue BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLING.

(Translation by Whiteyuri)