☄ of stardust

you will remember the name ↣ saito manami 
alias ↣ nami
I also go by ↣ mana, macchan, matty, manami-sama, princess saito - j-idol-esque nicknames, thanks to the members/20 fans of spade ace.
on top of the world ↣ 153 cm 
heavy-weight champion ↣ 55 kg
my day ↣ june 13th, 1991 + 22
in my blood ↣ japanese
for the motherland ↣ japanese (as much as she'd like korean citizenship, it's a huge hassle and her parents wouldn't like it.)
where are you from? ↣  sendai, miyagi, japan
tip of the tongue ↣ japanese (fluent; spoken with touhoku dialect unless she's really trying) korean (enough to get by as an idol and slowly learning more)
what's your sign ↣ o
mastermind ↣ troubledwater / ttw / like 11/10 honestly


this is me ↣(+) cheerful, charming; (-) prying, doesn't think of negative possibilities 
don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation ↣ 

if there's one thing you can say about nami, it's that she's a happy person. she makes the effort to be happy, even in situations where no other human being would do so much as smirk; in manami's opinion, there's no reason to be sad when you can be happy! she also does her best to spread her happiness around to other people. is a member of of stardust or spade ace upset? no! alack! this cannot stand! manami will immediately try to find their problems and solve them. she's a total busybody and meddles in everyone's affairs (she, being the eternal ray of concentrated happy that she is, has no problems...publicly, anyway.) and is very annoying in that sense. do people always want to tell manami their problems and secrets? of course not. does she pry until she either gets them or the person in question snaps at her to leave? yes, yes she does. it's not like she's the person who pries until everyone spills their secrets, and then there's tissues and ice cream and nobody regrets anything; she's exactly as annoying in that regard as she sounds.

in addition to that, manami is way too trusting when it comes to other people. she sees the good side in every situation, which is good, but she doesn't think of possible negative consequences whatsoever. living an extremely happy life is nice and all, but in the end, if you don't think realistically you're screwed. for example: spade ace got a recording offer from a normal looking businessman. manami, who was super excited, encouraged her girls to go for it. she didn't think he'd steal the money the girls had or harass kana, and yet that's exactly what happened. she also went into the k-pop world post-scouting without thinking of the work she'd have to do, and ended up absolutely exhausted until she got used to it. she rushes into doing what she wants to do on whims without thinking about it, which bites her in the 99.9% of the time.

you can say, however, that nami is an awesome idol for two reasons. her cheerfulness and desire to spread said cheerfulness is one of them; if her performing  makes other people happy, yes! let's do it! her second reason is that she's fun to watch. it's hard to explain. spade ace and of stardust have better dancers, singers and rappers than her, and it's not like she's the prettiest member. however, the fact that she loves what she's doing makes her fun to watch. she tries to make sure her fans feel loved, because there's only 23 confirmed ones, and she can do that just by performing onstage. luckily, that translates into k-pop pretty well. her onstage charisma also translates to being the kind of girl you can take home to your mom and dad. she seems wholesome and pure and...well, perfect. parents love her. it's only after she starts prying/does something stupid because she didn't think about it (both of which happen too often for comfort) that her charm fades.
different, yeah i'm different ↣ tennis! she was on the team in high school (though she only joined because yui was in it, too) and found herself a natural at it. though she's okay at volleying the ball back and forth, it's her serve (which is brutal and probably something out of a sports anime) that is her best tennis skill.
little treasures ↣ 
☄ j-pop (she was about 6 or 7 when morning musume's first single came out and has been hooked ever since.)
☄ karaoke (one of manami's fondest memories is going to karaoke after school with her friends. and oh, did she do that often.)
☄ rainy days (the world smells clean afterwards. trademark.)
☄ rilakkuma (who is adorable, thanks and goodnight.)
☄ sakuramochi (because it's delicious.)
☄ cereal (makes her feel like a little kid again.)
☄ purikura (she's got two albums filled up with pictures from home, featuring seven girls and so many god damn sparkles.)
☄ the ocean (reminds her of home)
don't even ↣ dislikes (same)
☄ earthquakes (she was literally in the middle of a performance when the recent one began...like she loved them before, but i digress.)
☄ people getting mad at her for prying (makes sense...ish.)
☄ scary movies (oh gosh blood and gore that's not very cheerful!)
☄ boy bands (for whatever reason - probably the guyliner - she can't take them seriously in the slightest.)
☄ record company executives (manami can hold a mean grudge.)
☄ visual kei (they're like boy bands but way louder.)
passing time ↣ 
☄ learning j-pop dances - she was in a dance cover group for a really long time and though she's not anymore, she still loves it.
☄ playing girl's mode on her 3ds. (there's an alternate universe where manami got into fashion instead of idols and this is it.)
☄ watching videos of idols being dorks/cute/flawless.

all the little things ↣ 
☄ her favorite colors are yellow and pink because they remind her of flowers.
☄ she prides herself on being ranked exactly in the middle of her class throughout high school; her grades got her into a university, barely, but thanks to wanting to cover dances she didn't end up going.
☄ she lived off of microwave yakisoba for almost a month when she was living with the members of spade ace + being without a job; soon after she got a job at a bakery and started eating way more sandwitches.
☄ she hates bugs more than pretty much anything else.
☄ she loves magical girl anime - especially light and fluffy ones a la cardcaptor sakura and NOT madoka (which scared the pants off of her)
☄ she's bought every morning musume single since 2001 and illegaly downloaded the ones that came before that. 
☄ loves cramped spaces. 

☄ she gets drunk really quickly, so if you want a secret out of her, grab a beer and offer it to her. she'll definitely say yes. she's not wonderful at keeping secrets sober, but definitely will spill everything while drunk.
☄ she only listens to idol music.
☄ kamei eri is,  and forever will be, manami's favorite idol. she owns all of kamei's photobooks. 

our song ↣  omakase guardian (especially the translation: "lucky, happy, leave it to me!")


thank you, all of you ↣ family
mother // anno satoko // 56 // schoolteacher // kindhearted; motherly; sensitive. // her mom is way more approving of nami's current career than her father is, so in general, manami up to her mom while ignoring he dad loudly disapproving in the background.

father // saito ichiro // 54 // doctor // strict; quiet; caring when nobody's watching // see above.
once in a dream ↣ 
manami was born and raised to a happy young couple in sendai, japan, where her childhood was marked with morning musume. she was hooked on idols by the time she was seven, much to the slight annoyance of her parents (who naturally would prefer her to have an actual career as opposed to being a wota). she converted six other girls who lived in her apartment building into idol maniacs too, each with their own obsessions. they also learned how to dance to songs together, by watching the videos over...and over...and over again; being the most obsessed of the girls, she was the one who picked up and perfected the dances fastest. as such, with the help of her friends, nami formed spade ace, a dance cover crew elaborated on below. however, she didn't have a lot of huge dramatic drama in her childhood.
c'est la vie ↣ she lives with the members of spade ace - or, well, just yui, but they're on the same floor of the same building and more often than not they're having sleepovers. at night, she works at a bakery making the fresh bread and cupcakes and the like for the next day; in the daytime, she dances on the streets of sendai (and akihabara, but that's just once a month when the girls save up) with her girls.
true friend ↣ she's been friends with the members of spade ace since she was a kid in her apartment building; here they are.
abe rina // 22 // recently appointed sub-leader of spade ace; waitress // clever; disciplined; stiff; strict // these two spent a lot of time together, espsecially when learning new dances, because rina is easily the stiffest dancer out of the girls while manami picks the dances up the easiest. long days spent repeatedly practicing to just not be so stiff caused these girls to have a really close friendship. rina is nami's second best friend within the group.
nagato tatsuko // 22 // spade ace member; college student // forceful; determined; hardworking; overthinking // the older of the twins doesn't like manami as much, because tatsuko actually thinks things through while manami's the type who rushes into things without thinking of them whatsoever. they're fairly awkward with each other but they can certainly stand each other.
nagato mitsuko // 22 // spade ace member; college student// innocent; timid; feminine; passive // manami adores mitsuko way more than she loves tatsuko because jesus, girl is adorable. she's the kind of cute that you want to protect from the bad stuff, which is nami's favorite kind of cute. 
takahashi kana // 22 // spade ace member; convenience store clerk// critical; eloquent; elegant; crafty// they were close - once - but not anymore for reasons elaborated on below. basically, manami just wants closure and for kana to accept her apology and kana refuses to forgive manami even if she wants to. which really is a shame - kana's easily one of the best dancers in the group.
jessica suzuki // 22 // producer and composer of spade ace; hostess // cold; aloof; caring; motherly // jessica, the japanese-american producer and youngest member of the group, doubles as the second-worst dancer thanks to the fact that her musical talents are certainly elsewhere.



pretty kitty ↣ park girim
cutie patootie ↣ park sung sin
i'm in charge of the ↣ lead dancer, visual
my mask is ↣ the dandelion (bright gold and happy whilst simoultaneously being horrible to get rid of.) 
s.i.n.g ↣ ☄  ☄ (kusumi koharu)
lovely vocals ↣   ☄  ☄ (sooyoung)
get funky ↣ ☄  ☄ (yoona)
shake it ↣  ☄  ☄ (yura)
so hip hop baby ↣☄ (yoona - i could find one decent link and this is it, sorry!)
so hood ↣ backup twin ☄ (namjoo...and the situation is the same as above. i was going for not great rappers. so uh yep.)
superstar ↣ let's be honest here - nami sounds like a 13 year old when she sings recorded and not much better live, and she can't rap in korean to save her life. she is, used to be, and always will be a dancer; she puts all her energy into dancing, but she is by no means the best in her group - namely because k-pop dances are a lot harder than j-pop dances. manami's got all the passion that the group's main dancer has, just not as much of the stamina. she doesn't get a lot of lines in songs thanks to a. the fact that her korean is still shabby and b. her voice is really, really grating. she's not great at choreographing songs, but she does pick up the choreo she has to do extremely fast; that, and if you want a j-pop esque fluffy love song, she will pen the lyrics with the help of the girls who actually speak good korean.
started from the bottom ↣ manami and six other girls who lived in her apartment building formed a dance crew - spade ace - out of love for their idols when they were in their last year of middle school (their average age was 14). they'd practice the songs via sleepovers, then have shows right outside their apartment building. however, the only people who were interested were little kids living in their neighborhood and the occasional old person happy about the youth today staying active. as the girls grew up, their dances did get better, but outside of sendai they were completely unknown. when the girls entered their last year of high school, they took a trip to akihabara, where they certainly weren't the only dance crew on the streets...but gosh, did they love getting a bit more attention. by the time the day was done they had one new fan, which isn't a ton but is certainly enough.

the year the girls graduated high school, with the help of jessica (who, before moving to japan from the states, knew a thing or two about music production), released a digital single to commemorate their high school days - going my way. it got, not including the girls downloading it themselves, 20 downloads. which is not a ton. that didn't discourage the girls, though; they continued to release jessica-produced digital singles: end of the season, beautiful days & uppercut. they finally gained the attention of an idol producer...which, as i'm about to explain, did not go well.

after the events of what i've explained below, one sobong luna was taking a trip to tokyo for recreational purposes and noticed the girls dancing. naturally, they were all decent dancers, but nami was the center. she stuck out the most and clearly was the best or second best dancer in the group, and that's what luna wanted - natural talent in its own place.
until now ↣ during a trip to tokyo, the girls were approached by a record producer who offered the girls a contract. it wasn't even that bad of a contract - naturally there was  a requirement for the girls to move, which at the time, but was doable. manami especially was ecstatic and wanted to go for it as soon as it was offered. under the contract they'd release going my way with an official music video and everything, then later the three other songs the girls had recorded and choreographed if going my way took off well. the girls were provided housing near the record company's office, and things were looking up for spade ace.

naturally, things went wrong. specifically, while the other girls were in the studio, kana (who has one of the best voices in the group as well) had already finished re-recording her lines. the ceo took her off to the side, outside of the booth, and proceeded to make a move on her. naturally, kana wasn't interested; the ceo, however, forced himself on her. kana was terrified - who wouldn't be? - and told the girls. they immediately terminated their contracts and went back to being a dance crew and that's all - they haven't even released new songs since. kana has yet to forgive manami.
fashion monster ↣ manami borrows from everything - gyaru, kfashion, pastel, lolita, fairy kei, punk...  she just puts on cute clothes with no real rhyme or reason to it; however, she still wants to look like she doesn't belong to a subculture (her logic is basically "i'm not a subculture, i'm a dance crew member!"), so she tries to tone it down by mixing everything together into one big pile of madness. and she still looks adorable doing it.  [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10] as for extras - nami's tiny, only 153 cm, but she also has meat on her bones - specifically, her weight is in her thighs and her calves. it's not like it's mostly muscle, either (remember that year of microwave yakisoba?); by k-pop standards nami is considered "fat" or a "bagel girl", both of which are terms she actually hates a whole lot. she has her ears pierced and a birthmark on her back shaped like a blob.


crazy he calls me ↣ yasuda yui (lee sung kyung)
to the beautiful you ↣ february 15th, 1991 
beautiful soul ↣ the leader of spade ace is a lot of things - ten times more mature than manami could ever dream of being is probably the first one. on the outside she seems like a statue because she doesn't have a lot of facial expressions when she doesn't want to bother with you; it takes a special person to break her shell, because damn, it's thick. when you first meet her she'll say her name and then put her headphones back on, chances are. that's considered rude just about everywhere, but yui is a loner. she doesn't have a lot of people she's actually close to and she's okay with that; yui's favorite person is herself and though she's not one of those annoying "i am the best" types, she'd rather spend time with herself than the majority of other people she knows. when you're attempting to break yui's shell, she makes that known - when manami was getting to know her she literally said "i don't need your friendship" to her, though that's certainly different now - and isn't that afraid of offending people, honestly. she doesn't even get mad if you annoy her; she keeps her blank expression on her face all the time. when you do break her shell she's still the stoic about 99% of the time. yui's just not an emotion person. however, she'll actually listen to you, which is the main difference. she doesn't do emotions but she'll care about yours. 
love at first sight ↣ they were next-door neighbors growing up; the girls are just a month apart from each other and were actually born in the same hospital, but they weren't close until they were in middle school. (manami was mitsuko's best friend before she was close to yui.) that's when manami started really trying to break yui's shell. it worked.
I think I love you ↣ manami's almost always energetic; yui's almost always stoic. so manami's always talking and being cheerful and talking about how different korean is or showing off her skills, and yui...says nothing. however, if manami so as much smiles at yui, her stoic expression is tainted by a blush. yui has one of those blushy-blushy schoolgirl crushes on manami and is in very deep denial over it, though it doesn't really matter because manami is totally oblivious to it.
me and the bae ↣ they're currently in a very, very intense friend-love that's being dampened by by yui's feelings for manami being more than friendship and nami...well, living in korea. 


final words ↣ hello there i'm absolutely in love with kay & also after writing this it's pretty safe to say ever k-pop group needs a j-pop fangirl. and i'm really lame so every letter of the password links to a different song. and lastly i may or may not have been looking through your blog and your taste in music makes me smile.
your input ↣ for some reason i feel like dal shabet's bling bling fits this fic really well! 
any requests? ↣ after being in korea for a while, nami goes back to japan to visit her original girls and reuintes with yui.
manami looking at an idol photobook in the dorm and the other members are like "yo what's with these pictures of girls in bikinis and school uniforms nami are you into this"
the golden ticket ↣ supernova