Hello!Spam :: 2017 ~Dancing Mode~

[freezingkiss]

I think the aftermath has just been so much easier to take because they are all still hanging out so much. Like..I'm less absolutely devastated by this one (although that could be because we were all waiting for it to happen after the Berryz one). 

[TicTacAnyone]

Chel's commercial saved my soul.
 
Also I thought it was always obvious C-ute was closer than Berryz was? =o

[Madara]

My blog tribute to C-ute is up:
 
https://madarasjpopblog.wordpress.com/

[showraniy]

Nice blog post, Madara! I thoroughly enjoyed that trip down memory lane. When I first got into H!P in 2008~2009ish, I remember hearing about Erika and Kanna's departure, but I never heard anything about Megumi. Now I'm interested to go through some of their older material while keeping an eye out for her.

[Anderei]

Murota Mizuki 19th Birthday Event at TFM Hall 6/13/17
 
1st Event
1. Bagel ni Ham and Cheese (C-ute)
2. Memory Seishun no Hikari
3. Hatachimae no Onna no Ko (C-ute)
4. Junjou Keisatsu K・I・S・S (Mano Erina)
5. 21 Seikiteki Renai Jijou (Mano Erina)
 
2nd Event
2. FIRST KISS (Aa!)
4. Oshare! (Matsuura Aya)
 

[DonJuan]

MM's second Budokan for their spring tour has ended. No big news, just the name for the fall tour: "We are Morning Musume". Not very creative, but well, it's their anniversary tour so it'll do. (I really miss Tsunku's wacky titles.)


In the middle of the concert Masaki had to leave the stage, looking like she was in bad pain. She returned later though and looked better.


Could be everything of course. She said sorry and that's it.

[JPope]

That concert gives me guarded hope for the future of MM. My full review is in the concert thread, but tl:dr version: They sounded really damned good, with few exceptions. 
 
Reasons for hope: The overall improvement of the singing seems to be a real thing. Ogata is the only one to not show much progress, and Iikubo's recent improvement was either ephemeral or she just had a rough night. Kaga and Yokoyama weren't great, but neither were they hopeless, and based on how much the other girls have stepped up, I'm confident they will, too. I'm not sure where this puts MM in relation to other H!P groups in terms of singing, but it's closer than it was a year ago. Add to this the likelihood of new member(s) tomorrow, and I'm a little bit excited about MM again.
 
Reasons to worry: Kudo is leaving just as her voice is catching up to the rest of her charm, and Sato's back is a looming concern. She looked really out of it in the beginning of the Budokan show, left for a couple songs, then returned still looking like she was fighting it a bit. She got into it more as it progressed from there, but if this is an ongoing thing, she'll probably be the next to leave. Now, MM needs graduations -- plural -- because they're just too big for the venues they're playing. (Am I wrong that Budokan is about as large a stage as they play anymore? Because they looked cramped as hell on that stage.) But they need to graduate the older, less talented members, not the charismatic, talented vets. Depending on who joins the group, this could be a concern moving forward.
 
Tomorrow's announcement is gonna be interesting.

[Derby]

Morning Musume '17 had a TV appereance and performed The Peace.
 
Looks like the ~Updated~ album was the best thing they've ever done, cause they've been milking the updated versions for the past 4 years.

[aine]

Time for another update, brostep is now passé.

[Derby]

[quote="aine"]
Time for another update, brostep is now passé.
[/quote]
If I have to listen to a tropical house furusato istg...

[JPope]

What was the purpose pf them performing this on TV? I mean, they're clearly doing some sort of Top-100 thing, of which MM or The Peace ranks 33.

[quote="aine"]
Time for another update, brostep is now passé.
[/quote]
It was damn near passe when they released this. 

[DonJuan]

I think it was some kind of karaoke hits ranking or something. 
 
But eh. The Peace was probably my least favourite from the Updated album. And I already hated that album. I would've been happier even with Love Machine and RR21. 

[pharbron]

[font=Helvetica;font-size:12px]Sunday, June 4, 2017, Fukumura Mizuki passes Michishige Sayumi in time as leader.[/font]
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;"> 
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">Time as Leader:
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;"> 
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">1. Takahashi Ai was leader for 4 years, 3 months, 29 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">2. Iida Kaori was leader for 3 years, 9 months, 15 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">3. Nakazawa Yuko was leader for 3 years, 7 months, 9 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;"><b>4. Fukumua Mizuki is leader for 2 years, 6 months, 9 days</b>
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">5. Michishige Sayumi was leader for 2 years, 6 months, 8 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">6. Yoshizawa Hitomi was leader for at 2 years, 22 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">7. Niigaki Risa was leader for 7 months, 18 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">8. Yaguchi Mari was leader for 2 months, 15 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">9. Fujimoto Miki was leader for 26 days
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;"> 
<p style="font-size:12px;font-family:Helvetica;">Sorry I’m a bit late with this.

[TicTacAnyone]

The fact that she passed Sayumi by this point shocks me...

[DonJuan]

Woah, same... and she's only a bit more than a year short of Yuuko's and Kaorin's leadership... It's possible that she's gonna pass them, too. I mean, she'd only have to stay until fall concert next year. Fall this year is going to be Duu, then we've got spring next year which might give us another graduation but it's totally possible that Mizuki is not the next in line. 

[Derby]

So if Mizuki stays for 1 and a half years she might become MM's longest running leader...

[Meikochi]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Derby" data-cid="208520" data-time="1498884419">
So if Mizuki stays for 1 and a half years she might become MM's longest running leader...</blockquote>


She was also the youngest member to become leader.

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="208512" data-time="1498861000">
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="aine" data-cid="208507" data-time="1498853642">
Time for another update, brostep is now passé.
</blockquote>
It was damn near passe when they released this. 
 
</blockquote>
Touché.

[Derby]

Morning Musume'17 was in another tv show and performed guess what, LOVE Machine (Updated)!!!

[Derby]

I just saw this! Fukuda Asuka singing to Summer Night Town on TV
I don't understand why the cut so many parts instead of letting her sing the damn song

[Shoujo Q]

[quote="Derby"]
I just saw this! Fukuda Asuka singing to Summer Night Town on TV
I don't understand why the cut so many parts instead of letting her sing the damn song
[/quote]
We're talking about it on the OG spam thread... 

[Derby]

[quote="Shoujo Q"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Derby" data-cid="208567" data-time="1498988987">
<div>
I just saw this! Fukuda Asuka singing to Summer Night Town on TV
I don't understand why the cut so many parts instead of letting her sing the damn song
[/quote]
We're talking about it on the OG spam thread... 
 
</div>
</blockquote>
Sorry I'm still a noob with this forum and I've never been there, so my brain has grown to naturally ignore all the threads I never visit.

[Anderei]

Someone did a tenure list for Angerme, in case anyone was ever curious just how long it's been:
 
1. Wada Ayaka: 8 Years, 2 Months, 28 Days
2. Fukuda Kanon: 6 Years, 7 Months, 25 Days
3. Nakanishi Kana, Takeuchi Akari and Katsuta Rina: 5 Years, 10 Months, 18 Days
4. Tamura Meimi: 4 Years, 9 Months, 16 Days
5. Murota Mizuki, Aikawa Maho and Sasaki Rikako: 2 Years, 8 Months, 28 Days
6. Maeda Yuuka: 2 Years, 8 Months, 27 Days.
7. Ogawa Saki: 2 Years, 4 Months, 23 Days.
8. Kamikokuryo Moe: 1 Year, 7 Months, 21 Days
9. Kasahara Momona: 11 Months, 16 Days
10. Kosuga Fuyuka: 26 Days
11. Kawamura Ayano and Funaki Musubu: 6 Days

[Haru]

It doesn't feel like we're nearing two years with Moe at all, but then again I do have zero concept of time.

[TicTacAnyone]

Y'all sleepin on the Uta-chan pics that got found? 

[Madara]

Why did she leave Country Girls again? I get her confused with the one who left S/mileage (I can't recall her name now) and the one who left Juice=Juice (Aina Otsuka). At least I know who Manaka Inaba is and why she left CG.

[DonJuan]

Disagreements with her parents and Up-Front over her contract. Quite similar to Aina actually. 

[Anderei]

Yeah. Aina's also come out and said she didn't really like belonged in a group and was better off solo.

[freezingkiss]

Uta had huge potential. I hope she auditions anywhere and we see her as an adult performer somewhere along the line. 

[aine]

Do all these cases put together strike anyone else as a failure built into the KSS system itself?
 
I know no idol group ever formed organically (you're welcome to throw maximum of 3 examples to the contrary my way, but you get the point, it's not normal), but in the whole history of Hellopro the auditions and getting picked for the group were always a huge deal. Like real huge. You could almost walk in from the street as a nobody and walk out the nation's next idol super star.
 
The KSS-based members and groups have changed this dynamic entirely. With KSS being for all practical purposes an idol school with tuition and all I feel it creates a service buyer/service provider situation and with it the attitude of expectation and demand of result on the member's (or perhaps even more on the parents') part. Now I'm sure the KSS contract states it very clearly that no debut or future success is guaranteed, but is it not natural to at least sub-consciously expect something in return for the financial investment and time spent rehearsing and whatnot?
 
What I'm trying to say, back when you were picked as the new Morning Musume after the nationally televised gruelling audition it was really fucking special. Part winning a lottery, part surviving Tsunku's personal little Battle Royale. You would cherish and defend your spot, and put sweat, blood and tears to make it work and to fit in and contribute to the group against all odds.
 
Now with Kenshuusei - yes, there are auditions, but they surely aren't as strict and demanding as the major group auditions, and you still pay to be in the program. If you debut in a group and you're not really feeling it then there's much less pressure to stick with it. You come to terms with the fact that you were sold a dud, you cut your financial losses, pack up your stuff and leave, with or without a bang. It doesn't really matter that much since whatever you learned in the program you can take with you and use it to debut under a different label.
 
Am I completely crazy for thinking this is what's happening?