Sasaki Kokona

## Sasaki Kokona佐々木(ささき) 心菜(ここな)

Sasaki Kokona, December 2023

**Sasaki Kokona** (佐々木心菜) is a Japanese idol as a member of ME:I, the group formed in PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS. She made it in the final lineup after placing 6th in the finals.

## Biography

### Early Life

Sasaki Kokona was born on January 30, 2006 in Mie, Japan. Her family comes from an agricultural background, and they have their own farm.

### 2023

On September 3, Sasaki was revealed to be a contestant of PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS.

On December 16, she placed 6th in the finals, making her a member of ME:I.

## PRODUCE 101 JAPAN Participation

### Teams

* **Audition Team:** Team NANA
* **Group Battle Team:** Minx (sub vocalist 2)
* **Position Battle Team:** Final Love (sub vocalist)
* **Concept Battle Team:** Charm Holic (sub vocalist 1)
* **Debut Evaluation Team:** Souzou Ijou (sub vocalist 4)

### Rankings

Online votes
* **Week 2:** 6th place
* **Week 3:** 6th place (=)
* **First Ranking Announcement:** 7th place (-1)
* **Week 6:** 10th place (-3)
* **Second Ranking Announcement:** 11th place (-1)
* **Third Ranking Announcement:** 7th place (+4)
* **Final Ranking Announcement:** 6th place (+1)

On-site votes
* **Group Battle:** 9th place in team (tied), 75th place overall
* **Position Battle:** 4th place in team, 13th place overall
* **Concept Battle:** 4th place in team, 11th place overall

### First Voting Period

In episode 1, Sasaki was first evaluated by the other trainees as 86th place, tied with Tabuchi Miu. When she performs "FLASH", the trainers comment on her lack of expression and general skill, but they also love her innate innocent aura she radiates. They evaluate her at level **B**. She keeps her level after the level reevaluations.

In episode 3, Sasaki is chosen to perform "Body & Soul". Unfortunately, she felt unwell during the first days of practice, but she learned the dance formations thanks to Aita Rin's notes. At the end of the group battle, she placed 75th.

Even though her on-site ranking is low, her rank in episode 5 is 6th place. She obtained a total of 1,414,136 votes.

* **First Ranking Announcement (Hint):** "初回よりデビュー圏内をキープしている練習生です。" (This trainee has been in the debut range since the first week.)
* **First Ranking Announcement:** "(quote incomplete)ピュアでクールな美しさはまさに伊勢湾に眠る天然の真珠。光を浴びてさらに輝いていくことでしょう。" (Her pure and cool beauty is truly a natural pearl that lies in Ise Bay. She shines even more while basking in the light.)

### Second Voting Period

In episode 6, Sasaki is the first trainee to pick "First Love" as her song to perform in the position battle. She develops her singing voice and places 11th place3overall.

To her surprise, Kokona is voted by the national producers to perform "TOXIC", contradicting her pure charm. In the second ranking announcement, she barely stays in the debut range at 11th place, receiving 1,435,067 votes. This is almost the same amount of votes she received in the previous ranking announcement.

* **Second Ranking Announcement (Hint):** "ポジション評価で見せた新たな一面に国民プロデューサーから驚きの声が上がっています。" (National producers were surprised by the new side she showed during the position battle evaluation.)
* **Second Ranking Announcement:** "第１回順位発表式では７位でしたがその翌は１０位。そして今回は１つダウンと なりました。「First Love」では実力者チームで切磋琢磨することで才能を開花させました。" (She placed 7th at the first ranking announcement ceremony, but placed 10th the following week. And this time she went down by one. In "First Love", she worked hard in a team of talented people, and her talent blossomed.)

### Third Voting Period

Despite not fitting the mature concept well, Sasaki still wants to perform "TOXIC". She remains a member of "TOXIC", almost being voted out. Nakasone Rino lets Sasaki try to imitate the other members dancing to develop a natural feeling for the choreography. She also works more on her vocals. At the end, she places 11th place in the concept battle.

Sasaki rises back to 7th place, having received 341,153 votes. When choosing her position in the debut evaluation afterwards, she chooses to be sub vocalist 4 in "Souzou Ijou".

* **Third Ranking Announcement (Hint):** "この番組で未経験ながらも大きく成長を見せた練習生です。" (This trainee has shown a lot of growth in this show even though she has no experience.)
* **Third Ranking Announcement:** "ピュアが魅力の彼女にコンセプト評価で求められたのはセクシーさ。自分の壁をぶち壊し、本番ではテレを風韻。妖艶なパフォーマンスで惹きつけました。" (As a girl with a pure charm, what she needed in the concept battle evaluation was sexiness. She tore down her own walls and showed her charm in her performance. She attracted attention with his captivating performance.)

### Final Voting Period

In episode 11, Kokona's family make a surprise video message to her while the trainees prepare time capsules. On the final stage, she performs "Souzou Ijou" and "FLY UP SO HIGH". She places her initial ranking of 6th place, with a total of 593,913 votes.

* **Final Ranking Announcement (Hint):** "デビュー圏内から度も落ちたことが ない練習生です。" (This trainee has never dropped out of the debut range.)
* **Final Ranking Announcement:** "三重県ながらピュアの魅力で人気を得た心菜さん。ピュアだからこそどんな色にもり様々なコンセプトに合わせてたくさんのりを見せてくれました。三重県が誇る天然の真珠はますます磨きをかけて世界を魅了するでしょ。" (Even though Kokona is from Mie Prefecture, she has gained popularity due to her pure charm. Because of her pureness, she displays a lot of colors to suit various concepts. The natural beads that Mie Prefecture is proud of will continue to be refined and enchant the world. She is a natural pearl that Mie Prefecture is proud of, becoming more and more polished and captivating the world.)

## Personal Life

* Family
* Education
* Friendships
* Nicknames

In episode 11, her mother and younger sister make a appearance in the surprise video message.

When Sasaki auditioned in PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS, she was a senior (fourth-year) in high school.

Sasaki Kokona showed close relationship with Saito Serina on the show. After the third Team NANA left due to sustaining injuries, Sasaki and Saito relied on each other and had to fill in.

The following list are nicknames that have been used to refer to Sasaki Kokona:

* **Chochona** (ちょちょな) : Nickname made by Iida Shizuku. Her preferred nickname.
* **Sasakoko** (ささここ) : Used during PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS to differeniate from Sasaki Tsukushi.

## Trivia

* Her hobbies are to sing, to sleep, to watch audition shows, and to play badminton.
* Her special skills are playing basketball and being able to eat the same thing several times.
* Prior to the show, she had no training experience.
* She is the third trainee in the series to be from Mie and is the only one to debut.
* Her pledge for debuting in the top 11 was showing the other members around her home prefecture of Mie (known for many scenic tourist attractions).
* She likes inexpensive chocolate the most.
* She thought of her ending pose in "LEAP HIGH! ~Asu e, Meippai~" on the spot. (One of the more iconic ending poses)
* She likes spring.
* She wants to visit to the Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS Profile" PRODUCE 101 JAPAN. 2023-09-04.
2. ↑ "1分PR┊✧ 佐々木心菜（SASAKI KOKONA）✧┊ PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS" (in Japanese) YouTube. 2023-09-04.

 Agency

 Extended Plays