i like just the way you are

I worry that with a lot of these Team 8 entries, we are simply reiterating the same facts over and over again, but I really want to treat the stories of each of these girls as special and individual, so I don't care. If I have to repeat myself, I have to repeat myself, and with that said, Yaguchi Moka passed AKB48's Team 8 auditions and joined the group alongside Abe Mei, Okabe Rin, Okubora Chinatsu, Nagano Serika, Fujimura Natsuki, Onishi Momoka, Kuranoo Narumi, Shitao Miu, Cho Kurena, Hamamatsu Riona, Fukuchi Rena, Honda Hitomi, Yokomichi Yuri, the other Yokoyama Yui, Yoshino Miyu, Oda Erina, Oguri Yui, Yoshikawa Nanase, Hayasaka Tsumugi, and Hirose Natsuki, debuting in the SKE48 theatre performance of PARTY ga Hajumaru yo in 2014. Already highly thought of, Moka appeared with her peers in the opening number, Skirt, Hirari, and also Hoshi no Ondo alongside Nanase and Natsuki.

With the release of 47 no Suteki na Machi e on the B side of Kokoro no Placard in 2015, Team 8, with Moka amongst them, set out on tour, performing in a number of prefectures, not least of all her home ground of Miyazaki. Throughout this period, Moka and Team 8 were propping up the B sides of almost every AKB release, joining Tsumugi by making it as far Teacher Teacher before her graduation. I had stepped back at this point in time, but I can't help but wonder what these days must have been like for newer fans at the time, especially those brought in by the nationwide tour. It must have felt like there were two AKBs at this time, the "underground idols" doing all the hard work touring and actually being "idols you can meet," and, in contrast, AKB the institution, what remained of the Kami 7 and the golden age. This conflict can be seen in the results of the general election, for which Moka failed to rank each year of her time in the group right up until her final year when, like any sensible person, she chose not to participate.

From the age of three, Moka had been studying ballet, and whilst idols represent a very different kind of dance, I think it's obvious that, unspoken, she was part of the changing trend in the idol industry and AKB itself that saw the group pivot towards a more complex focus on dance than previous generations. Being an idol often implies having a number of talents, yet dance has become so integral to the identity of the medium, partly following the explosion of the Hallyu Wave, that I cannot fault management for wanting to make use of the inordinate number of trained girls that came of age and turned up at auditions during these years.

In 2017, as with other members of Team 8, Moka was afforded a concurrent position, joining fellow Team 8 member Yokoyama Yui over in Team K. Unlike Yoko-chan, however, Moka did not stay. Lasting almost a year, her graduation arrived in November 2018, this self-described flirty girl desperate to lessen the divide between fans and members finally heading out into adulthood and leaving her former teammates behind.

Like Nanase, like many members of Team 8, Moka isn't the kind of girl that gets invited back for reunions and anniversary, but also like those former teammates of hers, Yaguchi Moka was one of the girls who brought AKB48 shouting and dancing into where it is now, a place where anniversaries and reunions can be celebrated.