Speaking of the next MM generation, we're still waiting on the the rest of the 18th, and I'll be honest, none of the performances from the 2024 KSS class screamed "DEBUT ME!" I know the Shindan test isn't the be all, end all determinant of who debuts, but I suspect it plays some part. If one of them ...

My notes taken in real time while watching the peformances.

Sakamoto Aoi (13) – Rock no Tegi: She strikes a solid “cool idol” look, but her vocals are pretty rough, and she appears to be new-ish to dancing. On the positive side, she stayed composed this time, and has improved a lot from last year’s ...

I remember this from Hina Fes. I approve of H!P tapping P-Funk as an inspiration moving forward.

We used to be on the three-year album cycle, which has become the four-year album cycle, and now H!P's hottest group is getting an EP in what should be their album year. Add to that the 8-12 months between singles, and I think I have an explanation for my extended absences from H!P. But hey, at ...

Mappira Datte ba! PV has dropped!



I really like this.

Not sure where to put this, but this is awesome and I want the full version asap.

Mei, Ako and Haruka are all better than Miki, and Homa is better than people think. I don't need a singer on the level of Sakura if the overall group is strong, and once Maria leaves, Rio will be their weakest singer, which ain't bad. I'd prefer they have a real utahime, but a strong and versatile ...

I've secretly wished for Shiina Ringo to compose a song for an H!P group for forever now.

Maria had a stage presence that most of her contemporaries other than Maa couldn't match consistently. There was a point around 202-ish where I though she was going to become a solid singer, but that passed along with covid, lol! In terms of personality, I found her to be mostly annoying, but I'm ...

Sweet. Summer gonna be packed with releases.

Live band performances are the best.

Zoe wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 3:45 pm So which baseball player is she dating?

j/k (... maybe)

I mean, it's not that far fetched.

Sakura powering through several English language tunes was impressive, considering she clearly doesn't understand most of what she's singing. I think the only one who could actually speak English was the dude in the suit, whose pronunciation was quite good.

Well, this is unexpected. I wonder what happened to push her ahead of Sakura? Either way, I've been done with Maria for a minute, so this is good news for me. We'll get a few months of charged-up Oda sans Maria to close out the year -- and this era of Morning Musume -- which should be awesome if ...

Y'all thought you were gonna get out of here without hearing More! Mi Amore? LOL, it's 2026, bitches! :silly:

That was pretty fun, though. I knew more of the Japanese songs than I thought I would, thanks to the many covers H!P has done through the years, and one that Shiina Ringo did, as well ...

J=J's performance on Music Station:

Tokyo Girl's Style is officially done.

https://twitter.com/TokyoGirlsStyle/status/2038966028294820251

They had a really strange run. Ayano leaving and the "We're not an idol group anymore, guys, we're artists " declaration kind of killed their magic. They still had a few good songs after that ...

And in other news, they had their last release event over the weekend and managed to jumped right back up into the Oricon charts at #2


I know that a lot of fans are taking the piss out of the extreme promotion of More! Mi Amore, but this is what having a hit looks like in 2026. I don't blame ...

The AI channels have slowed down their output quite a bit, and most of the more recent stuff isn't really worthy of mentioning, but this Hello Cover channel KPop version of OCHA's Peek a Boo is pretty good. I suppose this could be seen as lazy, since the original is obviously pretty KPop in and of ...

Meisa singing Imasugu Tobikomu Yuuki



She's got a bit of Maa in her voice, no? I like it, and she's a pretty good dancer, too. I think MM got a good one here.

From last year's Shindan test:

After watching the HinaFes 6-nin MM performances, I wish it was Maria leaving instead of Sakura. Oda seemed to be having more fun on stage than I can ever remember with the small, younger lineup. Just free and easy and really happy. The energy from all of them was incredible.

About the KSS premium, hey, i love to see it :lol: We do have a bunch of former KSS among the current members, and they have great releases that other groups can cover. On top of that, the current roster is pretty exciting. That being said... I wouldn't be surprised if some of them debuted this ...

Juice=Juice world domination continues apace with a Music Station appearance next month.

BaBaBa is another Indian themed song for Anju. It's a bit more serious than Acha Acha, although it would be tough to be less serious than that, lol!

So both Maria and Miki missed the 3/20 HinaFes shows, leaving MM as a 6-nin unit, and they were the most fun MM sets I've seen in years. Homatan and Haru got some much deserved burn, and Sakura seemed especially fired up. I really love this lineup, to the point where I'd be cool with it sustaining ...

The verse has a platinum era vibe, but the rest is very modern H!P.

Graduation is set for June 16th. Announced at HinaFes Tsubaki-Biyo Premium.

Just announced at the HinaFes Tsubaki-Biyo Premium: Momohime to return for Spring tour.

I suspect that until the first n00b has appeared on an official release, those added after her will be also be considered 18th gen, at least until the next release.

The way the translation read sure made it seem like this was first, with more to be announced later. Could be that they're gonna dip into the KSS after the Shindan test.