Inaba Manaka jumped on the “#9 Favorite Faces Among Japanese Female Idols” hashtag trend on her X (formerly Twitter) account, naming nine idols whose looks she’s drawn to. The list included names like Hiromoto, Ogawa Nanako, and Ebamifu — but notably left out Ruru-chan (Suzuka) and any members of Tsubaki Factory. On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, replies split over both the pattern behind her picks and what Inaba might have been going for.
This is—— Re: #3
Yeah, this is bad on more than one level
5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:41
There's gotta be something else here worth calling out
7AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:41
Don't throw Hiromoto in there just to camouflage the real picks
9AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
If you didn't like Marin's face to begin with, there's no way you'd have stayed a fan of her
10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
Women pick girls less cute than themselves — that's just how it is, not Manakan's fault, it's DNA doing its thing
12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
Because she can't pick Chii-chan or Rito Kame (a nickname) either
13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
She even threw in Ogawa Nanako, who's a dead ringer for Hiromoto, so she must genuinely be into that Hiromoto-type face
14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
After all that "Marin, Marin" talk, and yet…
17AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:43
The way she just casually slips Ebamifu in like it's a given, though
20AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:44
I thought Manaka knew where the line was…
Farewell…
21AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:44
She's dead serious about this
Stuff like this needs to feel more like a joke
22AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:44
Who on earth is center pick Ogawa Nanako
26AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:44
Doing something like this just makes her look extra shady, lol
27AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:44
Everyone's going "cute, cute" over this
Where's Ruru-chan though?
32AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:45
Re: #27
Fukuda and Danbara's appeal isn't about their faces…
36AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:45
Re: #27
If she did this for real, she'd get cut instantly
28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:45
The top-left one's off
That photo's actually Ishii
29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:45
Disappointing that she'd hop on such a creepy trend
This is more off-putting than the Hello Project face-sort thing
33AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:45
Now that Yagi Marin isn't usable anymore, she's just moved on to the trending Ebamifu
35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:45
For some reason O-Cha (Ocha Norma) made the cut but Tsubaki Factory wasn't even an option, apparently
37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:46
She's been really active on Twitter lately
Wonder what's going on
38AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:46
So she left Tsubaki out because nobody knows them??
Disappointed in Manakan
39AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:46
I mean, nobody wants Ruru-chan's face, do they
43AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:47
So she's slipping Ebamifu in right now, just like that
Was that really the deal?
50AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:47
She's never once mentioned Ebamifu's name before this
67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:50
Re: #50
Inaba Manaka: "With Ebamifu, I've got this feeling bubbling up inside me — like she might bring back a bit of that Yagi Marin vibe again."
https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1781386261/
59AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:48
Doing this in the first place is a bad move
Especially for a public figure
69AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:50
Re: #59
Yeah, this just isn't okay
You'd think she'd realize that
75AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:52
Danbara's graduation is coming up soon and everyone knows her popularity's about to tank, so people have stopped sucking up to her
83AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:54
Re: #75
So by the time Danbara graduates, Kawanishi, Fukuda, and Yokaze will have graduated too?
80AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:53
If you're picking 9 people, pick one from each of Hello Project's 7 groups
Leaving out Morning Musume and Angerme? Better be ready to get frozen out of Hello Village
85AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:55
Re: #80
Can't help it if their faces just aren't her type
84AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:55
Manaka's a civilian now, so it can't be helped
87AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:55
Re: #84
Maybe that's just how she thinks these days
She wouldn't have posted something like this back when she was active
105AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:59
@
Ruru-chan… isn't there…?!
111AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:00
Re: #105
No way she'd be included
Read the room
Background and Points of Debate
The “◯ Faces I Like” format is a familiar Twitter trend where people list out figures whose looks match their taste. The hashtag gets used broadly by celebrities and everyday users alike, so the act itself isn’t unusual. Inaba Manaka is a former member of Morning Musume。’17 and currently holds OG status within Hello! Project. What split opinion in the thread wasn’t the trend itself, but the pattern in who got picked. Comments zeroed in on small inconsistencies — the list leaning toward certain groups, or members she’d praised by name before being left off this time — reflecting the Hello Project board’s particular fan culture, which is highly attuned to individual popularity and the balance between groups. At the same time, some replies expressed unease at an OG publicly ranking the faces of active members at all, showing that reactions went beyond simple takes on the trend itself. Note that “likes” and “not chosen” in this piece reflect Inaba’s personal preference alone and don’t imply any ranking or evaluation.
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