Shinta and Sinka: A Tale of Two Sisters

No, this is not the Korean horror film directed by Jee Woon Kim. What I want to write is about the two siblings of Team KIII, Shinta Naomi and Sinka Juliani. They really fascinate me because they each have their own individual image to fans and they walk different paths in JKT48.

Shinta Naomi

As the captain of Team KIII, she is an absolute beauty. Her performances leaves the audience in awe. On stage, Naomi has a signature move which has always been a showstopper. This signature move is called “Head Bang”. She is viewed as a cool person and her gaze will likely pierce your soul.

Naomi rarely tweets in the past, but lately she has been showing her talkative side on Twitter and during MCs. This has resulted in her fans being much more enthusiastic in interactions with her. Naomi is also regarded as one of the oldest in terms of age. Her teammates like to call her Auntie because she is the second oldest in the team (The oldest is Yona). But when her nephew was born, she really became an auntie along with Sinka.

Naomi is one of the members who are frequently chosen by management to be one of the “front-liner” members for single releases that do not require any voting by fans (Senbatsu Sousenkyo). Since her first single appearance in “Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka?” she has been in every single till now, including the latest, “Pareo wa Emerald.” (Except for Gingham Check, because she didn’t rank in the prior election.)

Nevertheless, Naomi is a famed and loved member to many people, especially her fans. Hopefully, in the future she can get the chance of taking the center position. She deserves it.

Sinka Juliani

As the little sister of Shinta Naomi, Sinka has an image that is completely opposite to Naomi. By opposite, I mean that, Sinka has this cute-pretty image, while Naomi has a beautiful-fierce image. Sinka is very fond of pandas and her fans often associate her with a cute panda. That image is further empowered when she got the role of panda in the Ame no Doubutsuen unit song.

So far, Sinka never had the chance to be senbatsu for a single, but recently, she was featured as Undergirls in most of the coupling songs (Hanikami Lolipop, Inazuma, Boku wa Ganbaru, etc). With regards to voting contests, she has won 2 of them so far.

The first is for Hai Magazine’s contest for Karate Girl, which showed Sinka in a serious and fearless image. Her second win, is for the Calendar Senbatsu 2015, where she placed in the 11th position (November) and eventually wore a panda costume.

Another big break for her came during the Kokoro no Placard Handshake Event (on December 7th 2014), where Haruka suddenly announced that she will form a sub unit in JKT48 (just like Watarirouka Hashiritai 7). This sub unit which later came to be known as 4 Gulali (4 Cotton Candy) consists of Haruka (Team J) , Sinka (Team KIII) as well as Angel and Grace (Team T). Their first debut was at the JKT48 3rd Anniversary Concert (December 27th 2014), where they wore cute costumes.

Sinka and the group performed 2 songs (Kimi Dake ni Chu Chu Chu and Jibun Rashisa). So far, there are only 2 songs available for this sub unit. Further updates regarding the sub unit has not been announced by the management or the members.

Surely, I’m looking forward to Sinka performing together with Naomi in a JKT48 single. Perhaps, fans can see it happen in the 10th single *fingers crossed*. No matter what, Sinka has her own way of shining in JKT48.

Ending Thoughts

Being sisters in an idol group can have its own disadvantages. They are always being compared one another, which can be a burden for the siblings. Hopefully Shinta and Sinka can overcome this with their own distinct personality and complement each other as partners.

That’s my 2 cents on the only siblings in KIII. I would like to say thanks to those who have helped me in writing this article and to Pitra (@anakcerdas) and @expersia for their remarkable photos (some photos are taken from respective member’s twitter)