Kawaii desu, ne...

I'm not so sure if you gonna come back and look at this comment or not, but I'll post it anyway.

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The fact that Saaya's pictures look good most of the time couldn't happen only because of her 'gifted look'. Well, it could have been the only factor if you just look at the pics taken by her fans. And, believe it or not, it actually happened. I have heard a statement like "she looks good in every pic" before I came to read your blog.

At any rate, one thing is certain: for those photos and DVDs, her gifted look definitely isn't the only factor for success. I've seen it myself, when I saw her DVD.

I don't know Japanese, but at least I can comprehend what was going on there in DVD. From the first fews minutes, it can be seen so clearly that the guy who took the photos (and videos for DVD) really know how to do his job. Basically, he knew

1) what to tell Saaya so that she does the 'right' movements, and
2) the right time for him to take the photos of her, so that she would look as cute (or sexy) as he wanted.

For almost the whole DVD, I heard this guy telling her what to do, and she did as he said. If he wanted her big big smile, he just said something to make her laugh; if he wanted some shots with a sexual look, he just told her to move her clothes around, or to bend over. If his voice became a bit too loud, they covered it up with background music, etc... You get the idea.

So, what I'm really want to say is, it seems like Saaya herself doesn't even know that some(/most) of the stuff she did will make all lolicons go wild: all she really did was just taking orders from the camera guy and just, you know, smiling.

So, comparing Saaya to Hoshino Aki is a bit too far in my opinion. I'm pretty sure Aki knows what she really is doing (making sexy pose, etc.). But judging from the whole DVD I saw, I don't believe Saaya knows what she have been doing at all. And that's understandable, considering that she has just turned 12.

And I don't find that all surprising her photos look so great. It's a work done by "the master" Garo Aida anyway... Combining his skill with Saaya's beauty, it's easy to feel that Saaya already is proficient in being a gravure idol, when she actually isn't.

Mind you that I'm not attracted by her sexual appeal. Well, this's not to say that she doesn't look sexy in bikini, but honestly I just like her cute side and innocent smiles even more... If you have ever seen a girl's smile that is so warm and peaceful that you can't help smiling with her, you know what I'm talking about.

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Anyway, I saw you mentioned a couple of times in a blog that you don't find Saaya attractive; I think it's understandable. If you compare her to other idols, it's easy to see that her face doesn't have that eye-catching, drop-dead kind of beauty. But then, I'll argue that her face has a smooth, natural kind of beauty that couldn't be found in other idols.

There was a Thai saying (now you know where I'm from), that 'exciting, eye-catching' kind of beauty can make males go wild at first, it will become dull and boring (in men's eyes) over time. On the other hand, it's the 'plain and ordinary' kind of beauty that can stand against time, eventhough it doesn't captured men's hearts as many.

I believe Saaya has this 'plain and ordinary' kind of beauty. Heck, I would even say that she has both kinds of beauty. But, over time, as this hype dies down, her ordinary beauty will shine even more. :-)