With age 14 Atsuko Maeda [Atz-ko Mie-da], nicknamed Acchan [At-tshan], was one of the founding members of AKB48 (Original Team A) in December 2005. Being beautiful and at once their probably best singer she soon became the most important member. She was often called "the face of AKB48", since of 28 singles released in her time she participated in 26 and even was the center of 22. Being on the peak of her career she graduated in August 2012 (clever girl!).
Already in June 2011 she had started a parallel solo career with her first single "Flower" of which this is the title song. It is also used in the movie Moshi Koukou Yakyuu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no "Management" wo Yondara (2011) featuring Atsuko as the main character (it cannot be related to this video according to its plot).
This is again one of this cryptic japanese videos that cannot really be interpreted (the lyrics give no hint either). One can only guess that Atsuko and the little girl are in fact the same person. In any case, the song is really nice and the little girl in the clip is outstandingly beautiful - she reminds me of some other girl, but I don't know who ...
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Lyrics (translated):
Spoiler:
In the crook of my heart
Is a flower
A tiny flower has blossomed
On that day I wished
For it to blossom in the sun
Little by little
It's a long way until then
It's blown by the wind
And struck by the rain
In all honesty
Just keep believing
In the things you can do
Your wholeheartedness
Just like the sun
Gives me courage
Even when I'm broken
The little petal
From that flower
Has given form to a dream
Reach out your hands
Straight ahead
And the sun will grant you life
When you fix your gaze
Tears fall from your eyes
To the point where they won't stop
But if you choose to give up
Nothing will bloom
From the soil
Without us even knowing
The seasons leave behind only sky
The scenery around us changes
Into unfamiliar flowers
In the crook of my heart
Is a flower
A tiny flower has blossomed
On that day I wished
For it to blossom in the sun
Little by little
A flower cannot blossom
With only the power of one person
Because you
Stayed by my side
My wish came true
The most beautiful
Of all flowers
Is the one that has grown
In the sunshine of your smile
As for this this flower
It's made entirely of love...
I have found some additional material about the little cutie in the video ...
[Image] Manatsu Kimura
Her name is Manatsu Kimura, she's an actress and was about 10 1/2 by the time of filming (BTW the name Manatsu means "Midsummer" well fitting to her beauty ) ...
Furthermore there is an 32 minutes Making-Of-Video that has many nice back stage scenes with Manatsu. It's not easy to steal the show from an Atsuko Maeda but this little starlet manages it every time she is present. And if you thought her cute in the video you'll find her 10 times cuter in real live :