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Iwasaki Moeka passed the Team 8 auditions in 2014 alongside her peers, 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, Hirose Natsuki, and Yaguchi Moka. Unlike so many of the members we have covered already who saw their debut at the SKE48 or HKT48 theatres, Moetan's first appearance was actually in Akihabara, in the famous theatre at the top of the Don Quijote store and the two floors of arcades sandwiched in-between them... though I can't actually remember if those arcades would have been there in 2014. I get the feeling that at that time the building was all still Don Quijote all the way up, but I can't say for sure. I digress! Moetan debuted! The Team 8 revival of PARTY ga Hajumaru yo was the stage! Two years to the day after, she graduated!

Wait, what?



Even during the Team 8 era, it's sometimes tempting to think of AKB48 during these years as mandatory military service, yet if we entertain the idea that someone can become a ghost whilst still living, then to this day, Moetan is definitely haunting the AKB theatre. Maybe. Born in 2000, a true Millennial, Moetan was also the first ever member of AKB48 to be born in Nagasaki Prefecture, a testament to how far reaching the popularity of AKB had become at the moment, the group being a true national institution at this point. In keeping with the idea of AKB being so all encompassing at the time, Moetan never actually planned to audition at all, but rather her mother and sister sent in an application for her and she only discovered two days before the big event! It's kind of cute imagining Moetan being completely oblivious to everything, sitting there talking about her admiration for Watanabe Mayu and then suddenly finding herself thrust on stage with a real shot of following in Mayuyu's footsteps.

If there's one thing I like about Moetan, it's how enthusiastic she was regarding the members that were important to her. She was always talking about how much she loved Mayuyu and fellow Team 8 member, Shimoaoki Karin, how much she loved HKT48's Moriyasu Madoka, also from Nagasaki Prefecture. You don't need me to explain to you how adorable Moetan was during her time in AKB, she's more than capable of conveying that herself:



The gap between the idea of AKB48 as this coming-of-age-rite-of-passage and the pressure of real life is never more telling than in Moetan's story, however. In early April of 2016, Moetan announced that she had been accepted for her first choice of high school and really wanted to push forward towards her dream of one day become a doctor. To make this all the more tragic though, a day after this announcement, she was hospitalised with influenza and was unable to graduate properly, her name being quietly removed from the books without her ever being able to properly say good-bye. Ah, physician heal thyself, eh, Moetan? And yet, at the same time, it's easy to imagine how Moetan might want to haunt the theatre for the rest of her days. Good news though! In 2019, in Osaka, Moetan came back even if only for that concert! Joining Nacchan and Pena, Moetan finally got to say her good-byes.