When it comes to memorable moments of “Produce48”, it’s the story of how 8D Creative Kang Hyewon (of Korea) and AKB48’s Sato Minami (of Japan) became the closest of friends on the show.
So popular was this friendship that there are many videos on YouTube:
Both were F-ranked members, Sato Minami is an AKB48 Kenkyuusei (Training member) who joined the group back on December 8, 2016. She’s a big anime fan (especially for “Love Live!”) and loves dancing and singing. She hasn’t made it to Team A, K or B yet but she’s a person to keep your eyes on.
In episode 3, they were in the lowest ranked team. They were trainees that no one wanted on their team and when they were chosen by a good team who wanted to compete against them with the song, BLACKPINK’s “Boombayah”, Kang Hyewon bursted into tears.
In fact, even when they performed for the trainers…things weren’t looking so good:
But they eventually came together and performed. It wasn’t spectacular but for a group that looked as if they had no chance, their determination and improvement won over the voting audience.
But in the end, in episode 4, Kang Hyewon and Sato Minami’s team won the competition.
The same for 8D Creative’s Kang Hyewon. Also, a trainee for 8D Creative for the past nine months prior to appearing on “Produce48”, plays the piano and is also a fan of anime.
On episode 8, unfortunately Sato Minami was eliminated (which she expected) but the episode no doubt highlighted their friendship. Right up to the surprise announcement that Kang Hyewon, who also thought she was going to be eliminated, was voted #3 in the top 30.
Let’s take a look at the friendship between the two:
Even some of the other trainees thought it was like a mother/daughter type of relationship and that Kang Hyewon was like Minami’s mom.
When Kang Hyewon was on stage, she showed her appreciation to Minami:
And the goodbye between the two at the end of episode 8 was no doubt sad…
But it’s not goodbye for these two as a teaser for this coming Friday’s episode shows Sato Minami cheering for Kang Hyewon:
In fact, on Sato Minami’s Showroom 58 minutes into her video, she shows her support for Kang Hyewon:
Needless to say, this is a friendship that blossomed on television. They may not be able to communicate with each other fluently but their interactions have shown how these two trainees, one from South Korea and the other from Japan, would grow on the show as performers but also as friends.
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