Thoughts on Lovetan Growing Up

Last spring, during the fourth episode of Majisuka Gakuen 2, I really noticed Oota Aika, Lovetan, for the first time. And when I say really noticed, I noticed what I thought had been a change in her that caused me to begin to focus much of my attention on her. And when I say her, I have to say I mostly mean photographs of her. I have read just the smallest bit of her blog and I was also able to enjoy an older appearance of hers in an honesty chess segment of AKBingo! that had been recently subtitled into English.

Last Spring, in episode four, Lovetan appeared to do battle with Youran (Miyazawa Sae) and as she circled her opponent, it struck me that she was not a little girl anymore, but a young woman playing at being a young girl. (Nearly the exact frame is at the side.) I was quite surprised to learn she was not quite seventeen (as of this writing she is now seventeen). Despite her Gothic-Lolita attire, Lovetan struck me as a much more mature young woman. Since then I've been paying a bit more attention to her than I had and her calendar is one of the six from AKB48 members I purchased this winter.

Since engaging in this completely unscientific study of Lovetan's work I've come to some conclusions that are more than likely not entirely well founded, but I thought I'd share them anyway in the hopes that others who know more of Lovetan might be able to provide me with more insight into her character.

Oota Aika is a member of Team A and was an original member of Team B dating back to 2007. She was around thirteen years old when she began working for AKB48 and has working hard for the past four years or more, consistently placing in the middle range of senbatsu elections. When she began she was genuinely child like and cute. It took no acting on her part to play the cute little girl part as she would hide in confined spaces for AKBingo!

In the past four years, Oota Aika has grown up. She is a lovely young woman and I think she now has to make an effort at being 'cute.' She is still young enough to be cute, but there are moments when she has been photographed in more adult like ways. There are other moments still, when the look in her eyes seems to indicate a desire to be seen as a woman and not as a cute child. There are instances when I think Lovetan is dissatisfied with playing a little girl and wants to explore more of her range as a performer.

Part of this conclusion comes from my observations of Watanabe Mayu and the contrast that appears in what comes across in their photographs. The blessed and perfect God, Watanabe Mayu, is almost a year older than Oota, and she is just as consistently portrayed as a cute little girl. The difference I see is that Mayuyu has every appearance of taking pure joy from everything she is doing. Of course Mayuyu and Lovetan have been working hard for the same period of time and often work side by side in Watarirouka Hashiritai 7, but Mayuyu is one of the chosen, one of the most popular of AKB48. Watanabe has worked hard and everything is coming to her- a solo single, a staring role in a drama, an anime voice work. The world is here to make Watanabe Mayu happy, and she knows it. Watanabe, in her unbridled joy is portraying an image that is very close to who she is and needs no opportunity to show another side that she keeps hidden.



Oota Aika has worked about as hard for about as long, with a similar child-like image. Unlike Watanabe Mayu, who can remain more child like at her core as the world exists to please her, Lovetan has matured into a beautiful young woman that wants to been seen as a young woman and not only as child. I don't think it is the case that Lovetan minds being cute and child like, but that she minds only being cute. This touches her with a little bit of darkness as being cute has become a job where she might not quite respect those that only want to see her as cute. There is a beautiful young woman in Oota that is more and more demanding to be recognized and seen. Lovetan is now an adult and wants to be seen as one, and just a hint of this discontent appears in her more recent work.

Of course, this is the analysis of a fellow who fell in love with Kimoto Kanon when her character Miso stabbed Gekikara and she smiled about it with such beautiful menace. Young people go through a lot of changes from ages thirteen to seventeen. I think Oota Aika has experienced some of the rather typical growing pains for young people and I think it can be seen in her work. I'm curious as to how much others think I might be hallucinating all of this.