First things first: I've never been into idols.
Matter of fact, as I've written in another review while discussing why, despite being generally speaking a japanophile, I am a bit of a rare specimen since I really don't care for anime (nor for sushi, but that's another story ^_^;...): "...the whole concept of 'moe' gives me the creeps..." - and adding insult to injury, the few times I had happened to see an idol group's MV I was in all honesty bothered both by the (to me - please take no offense!) unappealing music, and by the (again, to me - really, no offense meant!) unappealing choreographies.
Dammit, I had even dropped the asadora "Amachan" halfway, when the idol story arc began - so little interest I had in the whole thing! >___<
So, how the hell have I ended up watching this show (and, on top of that, liking it too!)? ^__^;
It all started with Imaizumi Yui.
Totally by chance, I saw some pictures of her, and that adorable face got my attention right away. I then searched her on YT, found a solo ballad of hers (日が昇るまで - pretty nice song, BTW! ^__-) and really loved her voice too!
At that point it came natural to me to look for her dramas/movies, but I couldn't find her only main role (at least so far - the movie "Korogaru Bidama") and the rest are either the two dramas done with the rest of her idol group (only one subbed - "Tokuyama Daigoro wo Dare ga Koroshita ka"; watched a coupla episodes; found it terrible...) or else very minor roles in dramas I'm not particularly interested in anyway ("Hidarikiki no Eren", "The Good Wife", etc....).
Finally, I decided to give a try to one of the variety shows she took part in, together with the rest of the group, and here I am.
I've watched the first two seasons of this "KeyaBingo!" (by the time the third one started, she'd already left the group - "graduated", as I've found out they say in this, for me, still quite mysterious - though a little bit less than before - world) and honestly, it was a whole lot better than I had imagined it would be!
The MCs are funny, some of the guests were positively *hilarious*, and some of the girls are tremendously cute and/or talented and/or funny (in addition to "Zuumin", I'll name at least Nagahama Neru and Sato Shiori!).
On the other hand I must confess I got really evil vibes from some of the other girls (for those who'll know what I'm talking about: like real-life versions of Choko from Urasawa Naoki's "Happy!" manga, URGH!!! >__<), so much so that I wasn't very surprised when I read about the alleged bullying episodes that possibly had a role not only in Imaizumi's - and others' - "graduation", but also in the group changing its name later on (disgusted, yes; surprised, not really - but once again, that's another story completely).
Back to the good aspects of this show: the cherry on top is the last episode of the 1st season, featuring an überfunny "battle" between Keyakizaka46 and Ito Asako (46) - LOL, that Japanese female comedian is really *hilarious*!!! ^_______^
Now, I'm not gonna become an "idol wota" any time soon, LOL...but I can man up enough as to publicly confess that I've found this variety show to be a surpisingly pleasant and entertaining watch.
Therefore, believe me, even people who aren't big fans of the whole idol thingy can totally appreciate this. Why not give it a try? If anything, you should all be able to enjoy at least that episode I referred to, LOL! ^______^