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Entry tags:
bnk48
(l-r: tarwaan, mobile, pun, cherprang)
with a caveat that i am not thai and i know nothing about 48g beyond bnk48, a guide to bnk48:
before i start, like i said in my thai music primer post, there's limited english subbed bnk48 content and few english speaking fans. the international fans they do have tend to be SEA fans (which makes sense) so i feel like half the time i am just squinting at my bnk list trying to figure out what's happening. there's like a single bnk fan on reddit who is kind of an asshole. i say all this to tell you that this is going to be a lot of surface level stuff but maybe someone will find it interesting!
eta 6/27: i literally started this on april 4, before D.AAA teasers had even started dropping and half of the descriptions of the girls were written over the last two months. i apologize if anything is already out of date!
tl;dr:
bnk48 is an akb48 sister group based in bangkok, thailand. they currently have 35 members and 23 trainees across three generations of girls. their captain is cherprang and they have two teams, team biii (captain: pun, vice-captain: jennis) and team nv (captain: tarwaan, vice-captain: pupe). as of writing, they have had ten singles and three albums. they've held two general elections, with the most recent being in april 2020. they have a sister group based out of chiang mai called cgm48. many bnk48 members are involved in acting projects, including an upcoming gl(!!) featuring three couples from the group.
recommended videos (biased towards more recent videos bc i am a new fan lmao): D.AAA mv, D.AAA relay dance, heavy rotation mv, tsugi no season mv, jabaja mv, warota people relay dance (featuring cgm48 members), bnk48's blackpink - pretty savage dance class, lyra - lyra dance practice, one take documentary trailer (excellent documentary!!), music box 2: don't wanna know cover (starring wee and fond, with orn, noey, jane, music, and gygee as band), and music box 2: i'd do it again cover (starring wee, orn, pun, mobile, and myyu with niky, cherprang, music, and gygee as band).
history:
bnk48 is the thai sister group of akb48, located in (as the name would suggest) bangkok. the first generation was announced in february 2017 with 29 members, later 30 when izuta rina from akb48's team 4 was transferred to bnk. cherprang was announced as the captain in june 2017. they officially debuted in june 2017 with their version of aitakatta and the single was released in august 2017, with music being the first center. they released the mv for koi suru fortune cookie in november 2017 (center: mobile) and this is still probably their biggest hit. team BIII was announced in december 2017 with pun as captain and jennis as vice-captain. it was also announced then that they'd be recruiting for second generation members.
their third single, shonichi (centers: noey and music), was released in may 2018 with the mv dropping in april. at their first concert (starto), the senbatsu announcement for river (center: orn) was dropped and the mv released at the end of april. later, it was announced that it would be bnk's first album. also in april 2018, the second generation was announced. in august 2018, their first documentary, bnk48: girls don't cry was released and made its way into film festival circuits in 2019.
from their fourth single, kimi wa melody (center: noey) was released in september 2018 and its coupling song, tsugi no season (center: mewnich), featuring the new 2nd generation trainees was released in august 2018. in may, several members participated in the akb48 senbatsu election, which was open to international groups in honor of the 10th anniversary. both cherprang (#39) and music (#72) ranked in the final results.
the first bnk48 senbatsu general election was announced in september 2018. their fifth single, bnk festival (center: pun), was released at the end of 2018 and was the first senbatsu for 2nd gen members mewnich, june, wee, and fond. ballots for the senbatsu election were included in the bnk festival.
the journey to the first election is covered in their second documentary, bnk48: one take (later released in june 2020 on netflix). the first preliminary vote was released in december, with cherprang ranked first. the election was held on january 26, 2019 and cherprang continued to hold onto her first place rank, becoming the senbatsu center. here are some of the subbed speeches from the election. satchan, a first gen member, was center of the undergirls. their sixth single was beginner (center: cherprang), with kimi no koto ga suki dakara (center: satchan) as the coupling song.
their second album, jabaja, was announced in april 2019. (editor's note: this is probably the most heartwarming and emotional announcement video i've seen I LOVE IT ;__;) the mv for jabaja (centers: fond and pupe) was released in july 2019. its coupling song, reborn (center: izurina) was released in august 2019 with 19 senbatsu members. they also released an mv for bye bye plastic (center: cherprang), a collab with 7-eleven, in april 2019.
the sister group to bnk48, cgm48, was announced in june 2019 to be based in chiang mai, the biggest city and tourism hub in northern thailand. soon after it was also announced that izurina and aom would be transferred to cgm48 to lead the new group. (the first single, chiang mai 106 (center: sita) was announced at the end of 2019 and released in feb 2020 but that's all i have to say about cgm.) in fall 2019, the unit mimigumo with music, jaa, and kaimook was formed and released a single with songs candy, myujikkii, and heart gata virus. also in fall 2019, their seventh single, 77 no suteki na machi e (center: cherprang), named for thailand's 77 provinces, was released.
(cgm48's most recent single, mali)
in november 2019, team nv was formed with tarwaan as its captain and pupe as vice-captain. the eighth single was announced in december 2019. along with the lead single, high tension, a solo song for mobile and bnk48's first original song dode di dong (center: namneung) were announced for the ost of thibaan x bnk48. bnk48's second general election was announced in december 2019 and ballots were included in both the high tension and chiang mai 106 singles. the high tension (center: namneung) mv was released in february 2020.
originally, the 9th single election was scheduled for march 2020, but was rescheduled to an online event on april 19 due to covid-19. 66 members participated, including cgm48 members. first preliminary results were released in february with mobile and jane as #1 and 2 respectively. in the end, the final rankings had jane as #1 and senbatsu center, kaimook at #17 and undergirls center, and jaa at #33 and next girls center. pim was the highest ranked cgm48 member at #22. as the winner of the election, jane got to pick the ninth single and chose heavy rotation (center: jane), which was released in july 2020. (a lot of people (including jennis) didn't like this mv, because it's too dark but it's by far my favorite bnk48 mv soooo maybe the people are Wrong. also compared to other versions, the bnk48 version of heavy rotation has such a full and nice instrumental ♥___♥) hashire! penguin (center: kaimook) and wink wa 3 kai (center: jaa) were released in august 2020.
meanwhile in december 2019, the members selected for a unit in collaboration with universal music group were announced, including pun, jennis, fond, noey, niky, and new. the original plan had been to send them to los angeles for training, but once again covid-19 got in the way and they trained in thailand with instructors over zoom. their training was covered in a reality show, lyrality show (which was released through the aisplay app and therefore limited to thai viewers ;~;). a final test was released in september, hinting at the group's style, and then they debuted with the eponymous song lyra in october. they followed up with vanilla in november. in february, noey announced that she was leaving the unit and the name was later changed to...vyra (to represent five members or something...idk). they had a comeback featuring thai-chinese singer sunnee in april called hurry up!
(lyra, l-r: pun, new, fond, niky, jennis, noey)
the bnk48 janken tournament was held in september 2020 to determine the senbatsu and center for bnk48's third album. gygee was the overall winner, with 11 bnk48 members and 5 cgm48 members. the title song was announced in november and the warota people (center: gygee) mv was released in january 2021. also included on the third album are their cf singles, can you...? (center: cherprang) sponsored by grab, and ma ma milk (center: jane) with milkland.
they held their first music box live session in november 2020 and their second music box 2: love lessons in february. for the second one, in addition to singing, the girls got to learn or practice a variety of instruments and every cover was a delight.
their tenth single was announced in march 2021 with a title of ดี-อะ (lit: dee-ah, trans: that's great), their first original single(!), and mobile as center. two coupling songs, sukida sukida sukida (center: music) and only today (band version and acapella version). D.AAA teasers started being released in may (with three versions per 8 teasers, sorry i am not linking all of those) and the music video was released on june 2. then on the 15th we got a wealth of content including only today band version (with panda and nine on vocals) and acapella version, sukida sukida sukida performance video, and D.AAA performance video.
D.AAA group photo
overall, bnk48's peak popularity was definitely early on with koisuru fortune cookie and the pandemic has not helped, given that much of their regular work is theatre performances, roadshows, and handshake events (all of which have been put on hold or altered). i assume this is the case for most 48g groups, but their recognition and popularity is very dependent on a core group of members, some of whom have hinted at graduating in the next year. however, my impression is that they're the? one of the? most popular international 48 groups and they're maintaining 5-digit sales so i wouldn't say they're totally unsuccessful. it's just that within the thai music scene, kpop groups (namely bts and blackpink) are so much more popular than homegrown kpop groups. as of right now they have 4m+ views on their video in less than a month while warota people is still sitting at 2 so does that mean it's a success? i hope so.
links:
music videos: playlist (not mine)
dance practices (in no order): high tension, heavy rotation, jabaja, wink wa 3 kai, warota people, hashire! penguin, lyra, dode di dong, can you...? D.AAA (bonus: warota people relay dance, D.AAA relay dance, D.AAA performance video)
official links: twitter, instagram, facebook, website
helpful links: stage48, bnk48subs, bnk48 engsub, bnk48 lyrics, cher subs, iam48 playback (unsubbed lives and other streamed bnk and cgm content), 037m2 (fancams), ระวังโดนตก ! (fancams)
filmography:
members:
my impression of bnk48 members is mostly 1. politically outspoken and 2. gay. i literally do not have enough time to tell you about each member nor do i know most of them well enough to tell you about them meaningfully, so i am going to focus on a few of my faves and some of the more notable members.
cherprang areekul (เฌอปราง อารีย์กุล)
dob: may 2, 1996
joined: first generation
position: overall captain, team biii member
centers: beginner, 77 no suteki na machi e
cherprang is like...that girl where your parents are like "why can't you be more like her?" and you're like "that is a completely unrealistic standard." she's that girl next door who also happens to be smart, kind, and pretty. cherprang has a kind of unique backstory among other thai celebrities that i follow (a lot of whom went to specific elite high schools). she was raised in a southern province that borders malaysia, where the population is majority thai-chinese and her grandparents are both chinese. in high school, she attended this outdoorsy alternative school where she developed a passion for math and science. right now, she's majoring in chemistry and minoring in physics and would like to do graduate studies in chemistry or space science. she's been a research assistant and has participated in various science related events/talks. she attends an international school so she's fairly fluent in english and since she has an interest in japanese culture, she's one of the better japanese speakers in bnk. she can play the violin and has learned some instruments for bnk's music box sessions.
as a leader and kind of the face in bnk, i think cherprang feels a bit of distance between herself and other girls. there's this really heartbreaking moment in one of their documentaries where they ask her what she would like the other members to say to her and she tears up immediately and just shakes her head. she feels a lot of responsibility for the success of bnk48 and she takes her role as captain seriously. that being said, she also has a warm heart and all of the girls really respect and admire her ♥ ultimately she's just a weeb with a heart of gold and an incredible work ethic.
fancams: river, hashire penguin, 77 no suteki na machi e, heavy rotation, bnk festival, literally just a video of her being gorgeous
wee weeraya zhang (วีรยา จาง)
dob: october 23, 2001
joined: second generation
position: team biii
centers: none yet
wee is a second generation member who grew up in chonburi in eastern thailand on the coast. she's half-chinese. she also identifies as bisexual!! which i do not have a citation for but have seen stated at least twice by thai fans so i am taking as legitimate. wee has several prominent ships in bnk48 like wee/fond, wee/gygee, and wee/minmin. outside of collecting girlfriends, wee is known for being interested in competitive video games like pubg and she starred in a video game themed movie, mother gamer, in 2020 alongside trinity's third lapat. she also plays the guitar and has performed on her lives as well as concerts and other official bnk events. she is participating in the indy camp project along with some other bnk/cgm members, where they will take composition classes and ultimately release self-produced songs. she's also acted in "one year" along with other members. wee's image is one of being a no-filter tomboy (speaking of which, her fashion style is definitely more comfortable and boyish), but i think she suits all of bnk's concepts. she pulled off bubbly and cute for tsugi no season perfectly, and it's easy to see why she quickly became a popular member with her duality and friendships with other members.
fancams: tsugi no season, tsugi no season with cute blue hair!!, heavy rotation, jabaja, hashire! penguin, birthday edit
pun punsikorn tiyakorn (ปัญสิกรณ์ ติยะกร)
dob: november 9, 2000
joined: first generation
position: team biii captain, vyra member
centers: bnk festival
pun is a first generation member from bangkok. she is one of the more dance-focused members. she did ballet growing up as well as hip hop and kpop dancing later. you can see her practicing 2ne1 here (in pink docs) in 2014 and covering bts at a dance contest here in 2016 (she's the one with light hair who starts the intro!) pun attended an international high school and finished at 16. she just graduated from an international university with a bachelor's in december 2020. pun has a more boyish image/style, especially with her interest in rap and hip hop dance, and i think she's one of those members who attracts both male and female fans. here is another video of some of her dancing. given her dance skills and leadership experience, she was an obvious pick to join vyra (previously known as lyra), aka the bnk48 unit co-created with universal music. pun also plays guitar! this arrangement she did of vyra's hurry up is so cute, look at her sing and rap and play guitar ♥ i can't mention pun without mentioning her best friend jennis. they're probably one of the top bnk48 ships and they're one of three couples that will be in an upcoming gl "the girlfriend planner" (along with wee/fond, and namneung/noey), which on its surface might sound easily problematic but it's going to be directed by jojo tichakorn WHO I TRUST. anyway when i first checked pun out, because she is a bit of a tomboy i expected her to be rougher but she's a soft and silly member who's good at a little bit of everything.
fancams: bnk festival, bnk festival in 2020, lyra, koisuru fortune cookie, heavy rotation @ akb48 group asia festival, and being the prettiest shark baby ft. bonus new being beautiful next to her
fancams: heavy rotation, beginner, bnk festival, tsugi no season
noey kanteera wadcharathadsanakul (กานต์ธีรา วัชรทัศนกุล)
dob: april 9, 1997
joined: first generation
position: team biii member, former vyra member
centers: shonichi (shared with music) and kimi wa melody
noey is a first generation member from central thailand near bangkok. in thai, noey means butter, which makes for some disastrous google translate results. noey is known for her shy and warm image. (see: her crying when orn faked an injury in this hidden camera) she's shared that her parents thought she was too attached to them and she was afraid to do many things alone. she's said that she matured a lot in bnk, being able to approach people more easily and showing off more parts of her personality. she said her fans might find her annoying because she likes to tease them and can be quite stubborn :') still, i get the impression from the documentary and poorly translated interviews that she worries a lot and can be her own toughest critic. i don't know if this is why she dropped out of vyra, or if it was more of an image mismatch (given that she's very Soft) or what. noey has a pretty good natural sense of flow/rhythm to her dancing and she was clearly chosen to be in vyra for a reason but ultimately she did decide to leave the unit in february 2021. she has a group of really close friends in bnk--the chara (elderly) line including namneung, kaew, tarwaan, and orn, as well as mobile. her main ship is with namneung and they're also going to be in the girlfriend planner as mentioned above!!
fancams: kimi wa melody, heavy rotation, shonichi, oogoe diamond, and not a fancam but oshibe to meshibe to yoru no chouchou with minimin
music praewa suthamphong (แพรวา สุธรรมพงษ์)
dob: february 24, 2001
joined: first generation
position: team nv member
centers: aitakatta, shonichi (shared with noey), oogoe diamond (b-side), sukida sukida sukida (b-side)
music is a first generation member from bangkok. music is, like, the quintessential idol. she's excessively cute, she's an effortless performer, and she can pull off a variety of concepts. i read in an interview that she was attached to her dad growing up and started watching anime with him. she also said that her parents let her play a lot of games (like final fantasy, devil may cry, dokapon kingdom) and her dad would translate the english games for her. it was also her dad who got her into akb48. she's said her first dream was to be a voice actor and she apparently did some voice acting for the thai dub of kamisama minarai: himitsu no cocotama. music acted in where we belong, a slow-paced slice of life movie directed by kongdej jaturanrasamee. for her role as the best friend to jennis's character, music won "best supporting actress" at the thailand national film association awards in 2021. music also acted in the underclass, a netflix original series starring a bunch of bnk48 girls about the corruption at an elite girl's school. honestly i couldn't finish the underclass but from what i saw music was great as the tomboy underclass gang leader, completely contrary to the cute, sic-achu image i have of music. oh and she is in the sub-unit mimigumo!! she's described herself as introverted, preferring to sit alone and play games on her phone when all the girls are gathered together. she can be sensitive/a little emotional, and i think that she struggled a bit with starting as the first center and then watching other girls get to be center. she is close with a lot of the first gen girls and her main ship is with cherprang (#chersic) which i honestly thought was like...more the company's push than their own but they do seem close and cute tbh!! (we do know that music will probably graduate in the next year or so because she's been pretty honest about it but we'll see~)
fancams: myujikkii, heavy rotation, oogoe diamond, shonichi, aitakatta
orn patchanan jiajirachote (พัศชนันท์ เจียจิรโชติ)
dob: february 3, 1997
joined: first generation
position: team nv member
centers: river
orn is a first generation member from bangkok. orn is an interesting member—she's experienced a lot in her life, and she has been pretty open about most of it. she's said that she was talkative and enjoyed the stage since early childhood and would often dance at school events. her parents separated when she was in elementary school and orn initially lived with her mom, then moved in with her dad and stepmother. eventually her dad and stepmother divorced and when her dad needed to move abroad, orn was permitted to live alone even though she was only (from what i can tell) maybe 13 or 14. obviously this was hard on her and she described being sad watching her friends interact with their parents or having no one show up for her at school events, as well as classmates saying negative things to her. this culminated in orn attempting suicide. she credits god for saving her and said that seeing god loved her as she was helped her to love herself. (she's very christian as this might suggest.) she's also talked about feeling less worthy than her older brother because men were valued more in her chinese-thai family. she initially wanted to be an idol growing up (like suju's kibum lmao) and even auditioned for SM, but then decided she wanted to be a rural doctor to help people. she ended up dropping out of high school because she couldn't keep up with the science courses and getting her GED. she ended up studying fashion at a design school before joining bnk48 after one of her mentors encouraged her to think about what she liked to do since childhood. as a bnk48 member, orn has been super active. she's had a few support roles in movies and three main roles in dramas. she's also written a book about traveling in italy with tarwaan called "orn the way". orn has a strong personality and isn't afraid to tell it like it is, but i find her openness really refreshing. she also has a playful personality and loves to tease (especially tarwaan) (but she's also totally shippable with all of charaline).
fancams: river, bnk festival, heavy rotation, beginner, and a handshake fancam
jennis oprasert (เจนนิษฐ์ โอ่ประเสริฐ)
dob: july 4, 2000
joined: first generation
position: team biii vice captain, vyra member
centers: 365nichi no kamihikouki (b-side)
jennis is a first generation member from bangkok. jennis actually spent her first few years in western thailand and she's reported to be of thai-chinese-lao descent. prior to joining bnk48, jennis was a child actress and was nominated for best supporting actress for her role as an abused child in the film "the 8th day". she also learned ballet and street jazz and eventually attended a dance academy (the same one that pun also attended!) apparently jennis was also a pretty gifted student and she ended up studying at an international school for her secondary education, where she switched from her thai nickname (kraten) to her given name, which she thought would be easier for her international friends. jennnis is known for being straightforward and speaking her mind. last august she got into kind of a controversy for speaking out about politics, leading to #liberated_idols trending and her going so far as to say that she would leave bnk if talking about the thai government interfered with her job. she and fye (graduated member) even set up a bnk group chat to talk about what was happening in the government at that time. she's stubborn, in both how she holds herself as well as in her idol work, her studies, etc.
fancams: heavy rotation, aitakatta, 77 no suteki na machi e, beginner, lyra, let u go (from where we belong)
mobile pimrapat phadungwatanachok (พิมรภัส ผดุงวัฒนะโชค)
dob: july 9, 2002
joined: first generation
position: team biii member
centers: koisuru fortune cookie, d.aaa
mobile is a first generation member from bangkok. she is currently 18 years old, which means that she was 14 when she joined bnk and 15 when she was the center for kfc. she's close with charaline (elderly line) (especially kaew) and is seen as their daughter, though she's said she wasn't initially close to anyone until she moved into the dorms. mobile auditioned for bnk48 initially because she was interested in japanese culture (in particular cosplay and anime) and she went from not being in the first single senbatsu to center of their second single. since then mobile has been a pretty popular member (#4 in the first election, #5 in the second). mobile is one of the better singers in bnk and she even got a solo song on the thibaan x bnk48 ost, but along with a lot of the other girls she's been practicing her dancing. mobile is known for talking a lot and being clumsy, which means that sometimes she ends up stumbling over her words or getting tongue-tied. i read some google translated articles that kept referring to her as "leaky" which after some confused searching got me to the slang definition, which means acting crazy. but she's almost 19 now and while she's still a silly kid, mobile has worked hard to be more confident and improve her skills.
fancams: heavy rotation, koisuru fortune cookie, river, seifuku resistance @ akb48 group festival, jabaja
pupe jiradapa intajak (จิรดาภา อินทจักร)
dob: january 8, 1998
joined: first generation
position: team nv vice captain
centers: jabaja (shared with fond), yume e no route (b-side)
pupe is a first generation member from northern thailand. pupe is a member largely known for her personality. she's got this kind of gruff, deadpan image but she's also loud and loves making jokes. she can be kind of tsundere and her nickname is boss (boss pe~), which means that sometimes she can be misunderstood but she's loves her fans (which are called ducks or the duck flock) and reads all their comments. i think it was in "girls don't cry" where pupe talked about feeling pressured (due to not making it into the first single) to play up her intense image to get more fans, then realizing that she'd rather be herself than gain popularity. off-stage, pupe has been described very serious about separating work and play time, as well as being quiet and private with people she's not close with. watching pupe in the two documentaries, i got the sense that she's very honest about her feelings, but can be firm about her boundaries. pupe graduated from university with a film degree in 2020 and even produced her own bnk48 concert.
fancams: jabaja, ma ma milk, heavy rotation, heavy rotation at a radio station, wink 3 wa kai
kaew natruja chutiwansopon (ณัฐรุจา ชุติวรรณโสภณ)
dob: march 31, 1994
joined: first generation
position: team biii member
centers: none yet
kaew is a first generation member from eastern thailand. she is the oldest member of bnk48 at 27 years old. she is a talented piano player and taught piano before joining bnk. she graduated university in 2017 with first honors in fine arts for piano. (i believe she also passed her exam for a masters but idk any more info.) she held a solo concert called "a passage to fly" in 2019 with guest appearances from charaline+mobile and pun. kaew is nicknamed queen and she's known for having a mature and elegant image. i saw some fans describe her as sensitive but stubborn, and straightforward in her manner in speaking. she's said she cries easily and she also got into a couple minor scandals in 2019 and 2020 that i am sure were a blow to her confidence. at the same time, she's said that she's stopped thinking of ranking as important and wants to be content with what she has. and what she has is a daughter named mobile (but for real they are so cute together!!)
fancams: koisuru fortune cookie, high tension, beginner, jabaja and fancam of being beautiful
tarwaan isarapa thawatpakdee (อิสราภา ธวัชภักดี)
dob: december 18, 1996
joined: first generation
position: team nv captain
centers: namida surprise (b-side)
tarwaan is a first generation member and captain of team nv from central thailand. i know you don't audition for an idol group if you don't have any interest in singing or dancing, but tarwaan especially enjoys showing off her skills. here are some vocal covers she did on a live, for example, and a cover in korean. she's also done a ton of kpop dance covers (even more, now i'm done.) she's been chasing her dream of being a singer since she was young and has said that she auditioned for every singing and dance competition she could, including kpop star hunt 2 where she made it to the top 12. a lot of bnk48 girls love kpop, but tarwaan even graduated from silpakorn university majoring in korean. she's said that she had kind of given up on her dream because she was getting old and decided to focus on university, but then her friends encouraged her to audition for bnk48 and she ended up applying on the last day. other than her singing and dancing, tarwaan is known for being good at domestic tasks like cooking (which she picked up from her mom), doing traditional thai dance, and being chatty. while tarwaan has been in like...every bnk48 single, she's still not really had her chance to shine, but tarwaan has said she views bnk48 as more of a competition with herself to improve or show a better image rather than being sad about it. she really views herself as a role model and she's always upbeat despite any setbacks, which is probably why she was picked as team nv's captain. tl;dr tarwaan is a total all-rounder and deserves some more spotlight.
fancams: namida surprise at her uni graduation, bnk festival, high tension, kimi wa melody, and just being the cutest little otter.
namneung milin dokthian (มิลิน ดอกเทียน)
dob: november 11, 1996
joined: first generation
position: team nv member
centers: high tension, dode di dong (b-side)
namneung is a first generation member from central thailand. namneung is also part of charaline (elderly line). prior to joining bnk, namneung actually auditioned for another idol group (sweat16, which is just about the worst name i've ever heard.) namneung is known for having the most fangirls. i actually found a thread where someone asked why she has so many fangirls and most of the responses agreed that she's handsome in addition to being beautiful (especially bc of her arm veins and strong jaw) and that she's funny and approachable. another comment said that she has the vibe that you could be friends with her easily irl and i totally agree. she studied environmental science in university, which she said was inspired by participating in an environmental research project around reusing wastewater and from traveling in nature with her family. we love an environmentally conscious queen!! i said earlier that the jabaja announcement is the most heartwarming, but the senbatsu announcement for high tension is also super heartwarming for the way that charaline are so hype for each other as the names come out and they cry along with namneung at the center reveal.
fancams: high tension, dode di dong, jabaja, heavy rotation, and just a video of her being cute
fond natticha chantaravareelekha (ณัฐทิชา จันทรวารีเลขา)
dob: december 3, 2002
joined: second generation
position: team nv member, vyra member
centers: jabaja (shared with pupe)
fond is a second generation member from western thailand (on the malay penninsula). she's also a member of vyra. prior to joining bnk48, fond played some supporting roles in a few dramas and acted in some advertisements. she was apparently a children's correspondent at the 2012 london olympics with mcdonalds (she would've been 9 then....tiny...) she also did thai dancing in school and sang in her church choir growing up. all of this is to say that she was definitely prepared for the stage when she debuted with bnk. fond is known for laughing a lot and being energetic, but don't let her sweet face fool you. her representative symbol because she loves spicy foods and her personality is also spicy (i'm not sure what her fans call themselves bc i saw at least one translated tweet call them "chili farmers" and another "chili garden" but either way that's cute). she was also quite studious before joining bnk. after joining the second gen, fond made senbatsu for bnk festival, but ultimately placed #26 in the general election. her popularity was still enough to get her the double center with pupe for jabaja and she placed #16 in the second election. most recently she participated in the acapella version of only today. she's also gonna be in the girlfriend project with wee!!
fancams: lyra, jabaja, tsugi no season, heavy rotation, and kimi wa melody at the bnk48 digital live studio
myyu khawisara singplod (กวิสรา สิงห์ปลอด)
dob: october 28, 1999
joined: second generation
position: team biii member
centers: none yet
myyu (which is pronounced my-yu, not mew) is a second gen member from bangkok. she was interested in singing and performing prior to bnk48 and even auditioned for sm entertainment, making it as far as meeting other sm rookies for a final test. i think(?) she might have turned it down to be in bnk48, if google translate is to be trust. she also competed in cover competitions prior to joining. myyu gives off kpop vibes. she has a very curated instagram and she definitely keeps up with trends. she still does both vocal covers and dance covers of both thai and kpop songs. her sister, mewyu, was in a girl group called violetwink but recently left and joined another group, daisy daisy. in the most recent election, she ranked #48 and joined the next girls' single, wink wa 3 kai. she also participated in the acapella version of only today.! as you can see from her fancams, she pulls off the bubbly bnk48 image super well on stage, but off-stage she is more serious. apparently she was close to june before she graduated, which makes sense because they're both Cool.
here are some fun facts about other random members--
miori: japanese but grew up in thailand, acted in the underclass, shared that cherprang took care of her since auditions and she really admires p'cher <3 she also has a lovely and underrated voice
jane: most recent general election center, can be shy and a little slow on the uptake but bubbly and cute
satchan: she's half-japanese and half-thai, close with piam who is another baby from the first gen
namsai: the tallest bnk48 member at 172 cm, known for her loud and fun personality
kaimook: she's just tiny and cute, her nickname is "khunkai" (ms. egg) and she likes baking, was the undergirls' center in the second election and member of mimigumo
jaa: she is a talented flute player, was the next girls' center in the second election and member of mimigumo, prior to bnk48 she was a child actress
new: she is a member of vyra and starred in nadao bangkok's great men academy, known for her beautiful smile, does a lot of vocal covers
gygee: winner of the first bnk48 janken tournament and center of warota people, she has a goofy and talkative image
niky: she's a member of vyra and regarded as one of the best dancers in bnk48, mixed thai-dutch
nine: she is a first generation member without much spotlight, but she apparently used to ride 478 kilometers to and from her school outside of bangkok to practice until she graduated high school ;__; she also loves pupe (check out her acoustic cover of heavy rotation)
(graduated) mewnich: starred in the underclass, known for her super professional image and i saw someone say she was even thought of as the potential next captain after cherprang before her graduation announcement 💔
(graduated) june: june has kind of a sophisticated and icy image, made it into the senbatsu in the second election but shortly thereafter announced her graduation. since then she's starred in bad genius: the series and recorded a song with her co-star that's still charting months after its release (and they're an adorable ship tbh!!)
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edit: omg wait i just saw your username, i didn't realize you wrote that bnk royalty fic lmao. i think i commented on it but i really enjoyed that too!