Rii, is everything all right ?

At first I was starting to wonder why my beloved Berryz girl was always wearing loose blouses. It was rather odd choice from her because Rii looks much better with tighter fitting clothes. For example in Berryz vs. C-ute Battle concerts Rii had that unflattering pink blouse that was like tent on her. You can call me sexistic or what ever but I love girls whose body shapes I can clearly see. And this doesn’t mean that she should be anorectic thin or something like that. It rather means that she should feel comfortable with herself and her body. In Rii’s case it seems that the girl is desperately trying to hide her body. She sure does not look like feeling comfortable.

Then I thought her recent dressing style could be a result of UFA making her a sexy cover star of BK. As she has already been doing many photo books with plenty of bikini shots this could be now kind of defense reaction for that. Maybe Rii just don’t want to be that kind of sex object and I really can’t blame her about that.

But now when I watched that new battle concert DVD I got even more worried about dear Rii. If we are talking in percentages I think she is giving only 70% of her in these spring concerts. She is even looking clumsy in some scenes and we indeed have seen her much more spirited and lively before. My heart is almost crying when I see Rii’s confused face. During those spring concerts her fitness must have been at her careers all time lowest point. Does she have enough night sleep? Is she eating too much junk food? Is the stress of being photographers pet object killing her? Does she feel ashamed of her maturing, fine and shapely body?

I’ve been chatting on Rii’s condition with Jam at our kakko-ii forum. This dialog started with my cautious remark on Rii’s fitness. Our chat sums up pretty clearly how much we care about Rii and also other H!P kids.

zush:
Been watching that concert now three times. There is something… uh, I’m a little bit worried about Rii and her fitness.

Jam:
i’ve been a little afraid to say it, but the child is getting fat. and not even maasa fat, actual fat. i wonder what’s behind it? people keep saying it’s her age, but i don’t think so. i don’t know a single person who would have just suddenly gained so much weight. and risako does practise lots of dancing, so it shouldn’t be lack of acitivity either. i seriously am a little worried about her, because it is a bit weird to suddenly go from normal & healty to chubby.

though, i don’t really think her as fat. but if she keeps going with this speed, it won’t take long to reach that goal.

p.s. i’m not being rude. really.

zush:
@ Jam > No. you are not rude. That’s what it looks now. She just have some kg:s too much and that’s why it affects to her dancing, overall genkiness and all. Yeah, that’s what worries me a lot these days.
I guess I’m with those ppl who say that at least partly her recent fitness is a result of her growing up. But yeah, that can’t be the only reason.

Hmmm, when I’m worried about her it shows how much I like her.

Jam:
@zush
came to my mind that i hope she won’t turn this into anorexia or anything. because it could easily happen; suddenly gaining weight, feeling insecure about herself, then starting to loose weight and wanting to be perfect. it wouldn’t be the first time among h!p either (call me stupid, i don’t care) but i’m 100% that’s what happened with yossi. she was a little chubby at one point, and then she became a skeleton. stress doesn’t do that, images in your head do.

i definitely wish risako to loose her extra weight with the healthy ways, and not to quit eating.

zush:
@ Jam > It’s not easy to be a cover girl as she has been. And I think Rii has always had a bit low self-esteem because she is the youngest of them all. Maybe that’s why she tries so hard to be a perfect girl.

And maybe she at this moment she is in the middle of some kind of personal crisis. There are many expectations she is facing all the time. “Try to learn to be a better singer”, “Try to please UFA when doing for example those photo books” etc. etc. And what if she really has a boyfriend now? It’s more than ordinary stress when you try to keep your private life hidden and away from Friday and such magazines.

Jam:
@zush
yep. everytime i see people going all “omg i so wanna be part of h!p they’re having so much fun”, i really would like to slap them in the face. seems like it does take some brain to realize that these girls aren’t only physical miracles, but also emotional. they can very easily be compared to britney spears in their stress level imo. and it also makes me mad to see people ranting about airi’s, miya’s, maimi’s and risako’s succes (yes, i hate the fact chisato will never publish a photobook, but i accept it. airi has deserved her 3 PB’s, so has risako.), they don’t seem to get that the girls actually have worked for it. i’m not saying the others don’t, but it’s true. chisato, kanna, captain and maasa could be cover girls if they wanted to, but to me it seems like they don’t; they just want to be theirselves and not fake it all the time. the cover girls of these groups are total hardcore’s at stress handling.

.. and my mind goes also to momoko. the girls is a miracle. i don’t give a shit to people who complain about her nasal voice, sticking out her butt and pinky, doing everything perfectly cute. because those people could never do the same. i mean c’mon, there’s no way momoko really is like that- no way. she’s the perfect idol. she can pull herself together in any kind of situations. people who say she just happens to be a kawaii-kind of a person are wayyyyy wrong. she’s pro.
a great example of this is the video where she and bitchy!chisa are trying to find a unit partner. when chisato says that she’d never want to duet with momoko, you can see her emotionally crushing down for a second. and then she gets herself together. she’s really strong, she must be facing shit like that everyday in her job. at times i just really wonder how many times momoko has sat on her bed and simply cried out because of the stress she gets from always being so perfect.

zush:
@ Jam > as you said, it’s not never ending holiday & just having fun when you are an idol and especially if you are a child or teen star. It’s hard and stressful WORK with lot of sweat & tears. If you have seen clips from those training sessions they are having when learning new choreographies and stuff you can have a slight sense what’s it all about. That’s why I give them my highest respect.