Hello! Project / Beyooooonds New Member Auditions 2025

[JPope]

So MM will announce their new member (members?) at 8 PM JP time today, or about five hours from now, and Biyo will do the same on Friday. There seems to be confusion about the language used in the announcement -- whether there will be multiple members announced together, or if there will be multiple videos announcements over multiple days for some unspecified period of time. Even the Japanese fans are unsure, lol! Anyway, we'll just have to see how this all plays out. But MM and Biyo are definitely announcing at least one new member each today and tomorrow respectively.

[Shoujo Q]

Video up for Morning Musume.

They also teased on their social accounts that it’s two members. One of whom is KSS, Ishikawa Hanano.

[Shoujo Q]

Dear, whoever is in charge of UF's new social media department.



Sincerely,

A long time fan who can't put up with this shit.



Now, if I was in charge I would have done it this way.

Day 1 - Announce that you're revealing new members on X day.
Day 2- Announce the new members as a whole. Just names.
Day 3-X- Showcase a single member from the generation. Like a, getting to know you post.
Day (Last)- Final video could have been the reveal of the members to the group.

See how nice that is? Simple, clean, less anxiety inducing?


Anyway, I'm gonna throw the rest of this under a spoiler.

Spoiler: [+]

Fans (obviously newer fans) are in an uproar over the fact that a 12 year old got in. Uhm, hello. Do you forget what group this is?

24 yrs
Nakazawa Yuko

19yrs
Ishiguro Aya
Junjun

17yrs
Yasuda Kei
Fujimoto Miki
Kaga Kaede
Morito Chisaki
Inoue Haruka

16yrs
Iida Kaori
Abe Natsumi
Linlin
Iikubo Haruna
Sakurai Rio

15 yrs
Yaguchi Mari
Ishikawa Rika
Fukumura Mizuki
Ogata Haruna
Yokoyama Reina
Kitagawa Rio

14 yrs
Ichii Sayaka
Yoshizawa Hitomi
Takahashi Ai
Kamei Eri
Ishida Ayumi
Nonaka Miki
Okamura Homare
Yumigeta Ako
Sugihara Meisa

13 yrs
Goto Maki
Konno Asami
Ogawa Makoto
Michishige Sayumi
Tanaka Reina
Mitsui Aika
Ikuta Erina
Oda Sakura
Makino Maria
Yamazaki Mei

12 yrs
Fukuda Asuka
Tsuji Nozomi
Kago Ai
Niigaki Risa
Kusumi Koharu
Sayashi Riho
Suzuki Kanon
Haga Akane
Ishikawa Hanano

11 yrs
Kudou Haruka

Between 14-12 is standard for Morning Musume. Now this is just debuted at that age but actual first single release may age them up a year. Like Duu wasn't 11 when they released their first single.

[JPope]

I was a little leery of selecting a 12 y/o, tbh, but Ishikawa is so clearly ready to go that I'm pretty stoked for this. Looks like MM is getting a pretty strong class here.

[Shoujo Q]

If it was only one member debuting and she was 12 then I’d be running off to UF and filing a complaint but in a package of members it isn’t so bad.

[DonJuan]

Tbf they haven't debuted a 12yo in some time and the last really young ones did suffer quite a bit (Akane literally said her first few years were hell and no fun, Duu was the most frail member for some years, Zukki got hit by puberty like a truck). I would have also preferred an older member, but hey, at least we know Hanano can sing! I'm very okay with that!

[JPope]

If it was only one member debuting and she was 12 then I’d be running off to UF and filing a complaint but in a package of members it isn’t so bad.

Yeah, having gen-mates to help pull you through is probably especially important to the younger n00bs. Also, you forgot Maa in your list, who was also 12 when she joined, which only strengthens your argument.

[Shoujo Q]

Video for Bynds member reveal.

From previews is most definitely not a KSS but also, some are speculating she’s a former Stardust girl named Kojima Hana who is 22 and far above the age limit UF usually go for.

I look forward to seeing who it is and how many members Bynds ends up getting! It’s going to be a long week.

Spoiler: [+]

Wota are so scary….


Kojima Hana is a former member of the stardust group, AMEFURASSHI, 3B junior and Namie Yoshihatsu Kumiai.
She’s a big fish.

She’s the one in black, short hair.


In AMEFURASSHI (The group disbanded in March of this year.)

[JPope]

She looks like Miyo's twin sister, lmao! Or maybe they just share a stylist ... And as I watch a bit further, Miyo is kinda her favorite, huh?

She's obviously a high-end, fully formed idol, which is pretty cool since her only learning curve will be the actual songs and dances -- she already knows the "how to be an idol" stuff. I really hope there are a couple more additions, because shoehorning a n00b into an existing sub-group just feels wrong to me. I was totally ready for Biyo to just play out the string, but I won't lie, this is pretty exciting.

Anyway, here's the full video of AMEFURASSHI's final concert, interestingly uploaded to the group's official YT channel just yesterday. Pretty solid of Stardust to do this.

[DonJuan]

Okay, that's a lot better than what I feared. In fact, this is pretty big lol.
I welcome Hana with open arms. No weird age gap, someone who already knows the stage.

Shiori confirmed that we'll get more members though. Considering Hana came from a different audition? Was scouted? Whatever, I do wonder if the next member will come from the latest audition or not. They never said the new members were the audition winners to begin with...

[JPope]

I'm watching this final AMEFURASSHI concert, and they were pretty good -- total pros. A lot of their stuff was very K-pop inspired, so it's almost like Hana is taking the reverse path that Kassa took, lol.

Has this ever happened before, where a long time, successful Japanese idol jumps from one major company to another?

[JPope]

So each group will be adding two more n00bs over the next two weeks:

MM announces tomorrow and next Thursday.
Biyo announces this Thursday and next Tuesday.

So MM 18th gen will be four total, and Biyo's new gen will be three. They're really stretching this out, lol!

[JPope]

Today's addition to MM is Moa Suzuki from KSS! She's the one who froze during her introduction before giving a really good performance at this year's ShindanTest.

[JPope]

Mano Otsubo is the new Beyooooonds member!

[Shoujo Q]

Last member of Beyooooonds was revealed today.

Sugiyama Yuna (13) - March 29, 2013 from Kanagawa (Newbie off the Streets!)





I'm curious what they saw in her that they didn't see in the latest batch of KSS that came which were rejects from the latest audition.
She previously auditioned in the 2024 audition as well but was eliminated in the 3rd round. So I have to assume she showed a lot of growth within the last few years.

She's now the baby of Beyooooonds!


All the new girls will make their introduction debut at Kurumi's graduation at Yokohama on June 16th!
. They have a pretty good mix, a veteran, a trainee and a new girl. I look forward to see how they are incorporated into the group and if they make up their own unit or are put into the existing groups.

[JPope]

She's so cute it made Honopi cry lmao! Her audition footage isn't wildly amazing, but she definitely has a solid base to grow from, especially as a dancer. I'm just glad we finally have the full class announced.

[Shoujo Q]

Group photo of everyone together.

[DonJuan]

Oh, I'm not a fan of having a 13 yo here.
Generally speaking, Kojima Hana aside, I'm not that amazed with the newbies. Mano is an ok pick, but not really a WOW one. Yuna also seems to be pretty ok but only, well, ok. Considering Biyo was made up of mostly extremely popular or talented KSS (Yuhane, Rika, Shiori, Kurumi... Miimi... Momohi... the others weren't that far off) this feels kind of meh, considering they held out adding new girls to the group for so long.

With MM I feel somewhat similar so far. Meisa seems nice, but she's never been a wow pick either (great dancer though). I'm extremely neutral towards Moa. Hanano is the only one I'm somewhat excited for. Hoping for an auditionee to actually wow me.

[Tsukiki]

Welcome Yasuda Miyu to Morning Musume! She is 14 years old and the first Momusu member from Oita prefecture.

[DonJuan]

She was a part of a local idol group called Floraphia before (literally graduated last month).
Girl looks very shy. I mean Harusan also grew a lot and I love her now, but Miyu definitely is not the wow member that I hoped for lol.

[JPope]

I think they're counting on Meisa, Hanano and Moa to be the backbone of a strong generation, which allowed them to add more of a developmental girl, and they see something in Miyu worth developing. If the KSS 3 are as good as I think they can be, it'll push Miyu to keep up with them, which is ideal. I'd dislike this selection if her gen-mates were no more advanced than her, because it would feel like another 12th gen to me.

[Shoujo Q]

Miyu did show a lot of potential in her training videos. She comes across as someone who wants to be an idol but doesn’t necessarily know Hello!Project. Being a local idol is one thing, and we’ve had many of them over the years. They tend to know how to interact with the crowd but failure when it comes to learning H!P’s strict methods of dancing and singing. So I’ll give her a pass. Now it’s more in how well she meshes with the group. I have the same issue with Kojima. While she’s more established she probably won’t have as much of an issue keeping up, but it’s all in how she blends into the group.