Morning Musume '16 Shinseiki Auditions

[TicTacAnyone]

Supposedly announced at the first Hello!Con Winter performance this year. ~DANCING! SINGING! EXCITING~. Morning Musume '16 will be holding 13th gen auditions. Currently waiting for an official statement to come out. Reported from this twitter of a user who went to the concert (unofficial announcement.) They commented that this link seems provisional: http://www.musume-audition.com/  MMthailand has posted this new info as well.
 
As this has just been announced, no dates have been set. Will update with any new information.

[momoirosaya]

Ruru. That is all.

[TicTacAnyone]

[quote="Saya"]
Ruru. That is all.
[/quote]
 
It's her YEAR 
 

[smtmissin]

If Morning Musume is looking for an ace, I don't think Ruru can get in. I don't care how good her vocal is, she's not pretty enough.

[arcobaleno]

Too early. They should've held off to see how well they fared without Riho before even thinking of new auditions. If their plan to fill in Riho's place is to add another 3~4 girls who have no presence or anything to add, they're going to bloat up an already bloated group with more members who do nothing for said group.
 
I wish they would just polish up who they already have instead of trying to pull a Hail Mary and hoping they get some Gotou-esque ace again. Sigh.

[Elpis]

I'm not surprised about this. I was expecting it to be announced a few months later though. 12th gen disappointed me a lot so I'm not really expecting much from this audition.

[Revangelis]

Okay, yeah, not that excited to be honest. They already have so many members who don't do that much, girls who have been in the group for years and are still just hanging in the background. They could try to do something with the girls they already have, but instead they want to add more and keep over half of the girls in the back row. Who knows, they might go for just one (aka the next Riho), or perhaps we might get no winners at all (that has happened before), but in the case we get 4 more girls with mediocre skills... not excited, nope.

[Derby]

I hope Kamei Eri gets through the auditions this time.

[Hotaru]

[quote="Derby"]
I hope Kamei Eri gets through the auditions this time.
[/quote]
 
Same.

[YuuakuRisa]

This is not even exciting but ridiculous. All the new groups H!P has, 12th gen is lackluster...I'm only notice 1 and its because she speaks English and dominates One and Only and NOT in a good way.


I get that Momusu is an ever changing line-up but it was far more acceptable in the past when the girls did something more to make up for the lack of lines in their main group. If H!P wants to go in the direction of bursting at the seames than maybe shuffles or a music special like AKB48's Kohaku is in order. Didn't Miyabi announce she has a new group that will debut later?

[TicTacAnyone]

[quote="arcobaleno"]
Too early. They should've held off to see how well they fared without Riho before even thinking of new auditions. If their plan to fill in Riho's place is to add another 3~4 girls who have no presence or anything to add, they're going to bloat up an already bloated group with more members who do nothing for said group.
 
I wish they would just polish up who they already have instead of trying to pull a Hail Mary and hoping they get some Gotou-esque ace again. Sigh.
[/quote]
 
This seemed to be the general feeling on a number of Japanese tweets I saw... Things along the lines of "I wanted to see what this line-up was going to be like...." and such. Now me, I'm excited because Ruru could be put in MM in this gen. They usually tend to throw at least one egg in every gen since LinLin. But I'm not excited for the reasons you guys listed.... But but but we have to remember that Riho had a *lot* of solo lines in singles as well as concerts, so there is a big chunk of lines now open. Hopefully, these lines can be given out without completely ignoring the back girls.
 
It's also a sticky situation because even if Ruru were to get in, she shouldn't be getting tons and tons of lines simply because of the # of girls in the group, and that's just a waste for her.

[Mukuro]

If this means Haruna/Erina is graduating I'm all for it.

[YuuakuRisa]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Mukuro" data-cid="193981" data-time="1451770269">
If this means Haruna/Erina is graduating I'm all for it.</blockquote>


I'm really irritated by Erina and she can graduate next but Haruna I like.

[WonderBuono]

By the time these members actually get added it'll be nearly two years since 12th gen, so... yeah, it's time. I'm excited. :D
 
Just one or two members (12th gen still needs a little time to grow, especially Ogata. The last thing they need is more members dragging them down.)

From Kenshuusei I'd like to see Kaede (Momusu has too many high-pitched singers right now) or Saori. Maybe Kizuki. No Ruru because I'm still hoping for a solo career.

[Elpis]

I want Ruru to debut but not in H!P. She's too good and they wouldn't know how to use her talent. From what I know, she's not too popular among the Japanese fans and if she did get added, I'm afraid she'd get stuck in the back or her voice would be abused.

[Anderei]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="YuuakuRisa" data-cid="193970" data-time="1451754743">
This is not even exciting but ridiculous. All the new groups H!P has, 12th gen is lackluster...I'm only notice 1 and its because she speaks English and dominates One and Only and NOT in a good way.


I get that Momusu is an ever changing line-up but it was far more acceptable in the past when the girls did something more to make up for the lack of lines in their main group. If H!P wants to go in the direction of bursting at the seames than maybe shuffles or a music special like AKB48's Kohaku is in order. Didn't Miyabi announce she has a new group that will debut later?</blockquote>


Miyabi's group will be announced at the Budokan event in August or whenever it is.

[JPope]

What you're hoping for: The next Maki Goto
What you'd settle for: The next Kei Yasuda
What you'll get: The next Asami Konno
 
I don't know who this Ruru is, but if she can sing, I want her in the group. Then they can cut some of the dead weight free. If this turns out to be another talentless generation of tin-eared hacks, I'll be really disappointed. 

[mrsross]

Konno was good, except vocal wise until after she graduated. Anyway I want three girls to get in this time, but we'll probably get another set of four. I'm not sure if Ruru is going to be in MM this time or they're going to put her in another group. I guess going on by what everyone says about her I hope she gets in and I think she could be front girl material, probably not the ace, but at least a couple of solo line thrown her way.

[momoirosaya]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="193999" data-time="1451794447">
I don't know who this Ruru is, but if she can sing, I want her in the group.</blockquote>Ruru is the best singer in Kenshuusei, and better than most girls in H!P. She went to the Actor's School in Hiroshima just like Riho.


This video is from 2013, but it's my favorite one of her, it's really good! <a class="bbc_url" href="http://youtu.be/jQEEmw_L4cM">http://you ... mw_L4cM</a>


These 2 are from the Kenshuusei Tests:
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://youtu.be/Apvm5yx8z0M">http://you ... 5yx8z0M</a>
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://youtu.be/nZfw1j8vukY">http://you ... 1j8vukY</a>

[Elpis]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="193999" data-time="1451794447">
What you're hoping for: The next Maki Goto

What you'd settle for: The next Kei Yasuda

What you'll get: The next Asami Konno


I don't know who this Ruru is, but if she can sing, I want her in the group. Then they can cut some of the dead weight free. If this turns out to be another talentless generation of tin-eared hacks, I'll be really disappointed.</blockquote>


Here's a cover of a song she did a while back. <a class="bbc_url" href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AO2vHf-Vj ... Hf-Vjs4</a>

[TicTacAnyone]

[quote="Mizura"]
I want Ruru to debut but not in H!P. She's too good and they wouldn't know how to use her talent. From what I know, she's not too popular among the Japanese fans and if she did get added, I'm afraid she'd get stuck in the back or her voice would be abused.
[/quote]
 
I guess what management needs to decide is if they want a girl/girls that would be popular with the wota either at first or shortly after, or if they want more straight up talent. They could have both if they add Ruru and a good auditionee, but we'll see how this pans out. I think any more than 2 is too many but hey, I'm not in charge. If they can find another Uta-chan they'd be the luckiest people in the world. But I don't know about that.
 
Also, I'm not against any other Eggs joining--I know Kaga, Ichioka and Takase (among others) are talented, I'm just a *huge* Ruru fan so I want her to debut lol.

[YuuakuRisa]

I'm with Mizura...H!P would limit her. She's more of an artist and less of an idol.

[TicTacAnyone]

[quote="YuuakuRisa"]
I'm with Mizura...H!P would limit her. She's more of an artist and less of an idol.
[/quote]
 
I agree, but she's already dropped out of Hiroshima Actor's School to be in the Kenshuusei program, and she wants to be in H!P. If she wants to do it this badly, even if it's a limit to her, she should get that chance if management wants to use her.... If not H!P, she might just go back to doing amateur idol groups/performance groups. Who knows if she'd even get signed anytime soon.
 
My point being, if this is her dream and she's okay with being limited, I don't see an issue. Not everyone who spends a lot of time pushing themselves gets famous anyway.

[JPope]

<div>Ruru can sing a little bit, eh? I want her in Morning Musume tomorrow. She'd be the best singer in the group from day one. She's clearly got power, which MM sorely needs after the loss of Riho.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I guess I'm crazy in that I want high-level talent currently associated with H!P to stick with H!P. Based on those clips, I want Ruru in Morning fucking Musume, not some other group and definitely not some other agency. </div>

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Saya" data-cid="194005" data-time="1451800071">This video is from 2013, but it's my favorite one of her, it's really good! http://youtu.be/jQEEmw_L4cM</blockquote><blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="TicTacAnyone" data-cid="194010" data-time="1451809207">she's already dropped out of Hiroshima Actor's School to be in the Kenshuusei program</blockquote>
Wow, talk about the worst career move ever.
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JPope" data-cid="194012" data-time="1451811219">She'd be the best singer in the group from day one. She's clearly got power, which MM sorely needs after the loss of Riho.</blockquote>
For that to happen it would take competent management and right decision-making on UF's part. And they're lacking in this department even more severely than MM does in talent.

[Shoujo Q]

Okay first before I begin. I'm not very good at stringing my thoughts together so I kind of go all over the place. So excuse my tangents.
 
Yes I'm ready for another audition and these are my reasons. While I don't really care how many members it brings in, I do hope a one or two of the more talented trainees join. It really must sting to them seeing Tsubaki Factory. (I'd be bitter.)
 
They didn't have an audition last year. They very well could have, but they let the 12th gen have their year. Now of course they probably didn't see it coming that Riho would leave. I'm sure they were thinking and everyone else was thinking it would be Kanon considering what a crap year 2015 started out as. But then she pulled herself together just as Riho was unraveling.
 
Now a full year isn't something even the 9th gen really got because the 10th gen joined at the end of the year. They were reviving the group after being stuck in neutral for so long. And if you really want to go back into the Musume archives. Maki Goto barely had any time to herself before the 4th generation came in and totally changed the dynamics of the group forever. 

The 12th gen will probably have 2015 to develop. It's not like they are going to audition and add them next week so we'll get to see what Morning Musume is like without Riho. Let them find themselves. I'm sure the music team will try and experiment a bit like they did with the 59th single. The fact they don't do more of that baffles me. They are stuck in this new world where they are promoting more than one song and they don't utilize more of the members. Anyway I figure the 13th gen be announced during the fall tour and debut in 2017 like the 12th gen did.
 
Chances are that yeah, some trainees will be added. Morning Musume as a group is held at a higher standard when it comes to performance. Singing, while great is something that comes second because it can be worked on and improved even if they have a little talent. Singing and dancing is much more difficult than just singing alone. Which is where I think Riho faltered a bit and one of the main reasons she decided to leave and train better. She could do both but couldn't do both very well together without straining herself. Risako also suffered from this I noticed. Anyway I got off course.
 
When they have a generation with more than one winner, they are obviously thinking about future graduations, talent that can be worked and molded for later use, and just the need of more revenue. 
 
With the graduation of Riho, the 9th and 10th gen are basically now ticking time bombs. The older girls, unless they are fully committed to the group (Like Takahashi, Risa, Reina and Sayumi) will begin to think of other things if they feel they can't continue to give more to the group. There very well could be another graduation in the future and it seems like UF wants to keep Morning Musume at a certain amount of girls. They obviously don't like having a smaller group. They already have smaller groups and don't want Morning Musume or even ANGERME at this point, to be so condensed without having backup girls to replace them. These groups are brands now.I guess you could even add Country Girl into the mix now too. As soon as you add in the words audition and generation into a group, it's obvious they was groups to have longevity and continue to thrive without holding the girls back. In these types of groups they aren't forcing the girls to stay and not live their life. I find UF to be very strict with their girls now more so than they they were back in the day. 
 
And while it would be great to have amazing talent like Riho or Kago or Takahashi to come dropping into your lap, that doesn't always happen, not with the massive amount of idol groups saturating the market now. Sometimes it takes time for that talent to mature like Risa, Eri or Masaki. I feel like that's why they love to have the bigger generations unless they need the talent right away because they find the group is lacking a certain sound because they lost a member, like Maki or Sakura. 
 
Anyways, yeah I'd love to have a multiple girl generation only because I don't want to see Morning Musume to become stagnant. While it takes a bit of time to get the new girls integrated I feel like if gives the other generations to have someone to look out for and they grow themselves. This is what Morning Musume is about and I very much doubt you'll be seeing another era like Platinum Era any time soon. I feel like that's what Juice=Juice and C-ute are for. 
 
 
 

[MejraThea]

[quote="Shoujo Q"]
With the graduation of Riho, the 9th and 10th gen are basically now ticking time bombs.
[/quote]
 
Can I quote you on that? I love it.

[sayu1991]

I'm not at all surprised by this audition and I'm not at all excited either. The 12th gen has been so lackluster and I don't have high hopes for this gen either. I seem to fall in line with the majority opinion here about Ruru. I love her. I want her to debut. I do not, however, want her in MM. They'd waste her and with the way they make these girls sing they'd ruin her beautiful voice. Although I'm sure it's what she wants, considering that she's stuck around the kenshuusei despite plenty of in talented girls being debuted ahead of her, I don't think that Ruru has the makings of an idol. She doesn't have your typical cute idol look and has way too good of a voice and technique. That girl is an actual artist and I really want her to debut as a solo artist outside of H!P because anything else would be a waste of her talents. Morning Musume would either keep her in the back because she's not classic pretty and wouldn't be as popular with wota or they'll do what they did to Riho and force her to the front so much and give her music outside of her range and damage her voice. I really just can't see them treating her right. I love MM and I'd love for them to get some actual talent for the first time in a while but I don't think it should be Ruru. She just has way too much potential to be a real star and I want for her to be in good hands that will continue to train her properly while her voice develops.


But I got sidetracked a bit. I'm kind of hoping for a failed audition simply because 12th gen is still so rough. If we do get a gen though, I hope for a 2 member generation and actual talent. One person generations just seem so lonely but the group is already way too big to add more than two. I'm hoping they don't take from the trainee program though. Most of those girls don't impress me at all and I'd rather see fresh faces.

[Anderei]

Five bucks Ruru ain't getting in. The past like, five or six auditions have resulted in maybe two people who were anything more than mediocre to slightly above average vocally. And if they're looking to replicate Riho that's not particularly hard. She was wota popular through and through. They're not having to replicate a big mainstream loved girl like they've lost in the past.

[JPope]

<div>I'm trying to wrap my head around this concept of hoping that the most talented girls don't join Morning Musume. I mean, I get that management fucks up way more than they get it right, but why hope for them to purposely get it wrong? Shouldn't they be praised when they do get it right? </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I want the most talented girls in MM. I don't just want the next Maki Goto, I want the next Ayaya, Miki Fujimoto, Ai Takahashi and Yuko Nakazawa, too. Outside of Nonaka's english, the 12th gen has been a colossal bust so far, but we're stuck with them for probably the next 4+ years. Hopefully one or two of them grow into competant singers, ala Risa.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Here's a list of the girls who have left MM since just prior to the addition of the 9th Gen:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Miki Fujimoto</div>
<div>Eri Kamei</div>
<div>JunJun</div>
<div>LinLin</div>
<div>Ai Takahashi</div>
<div>Aika Mitsui</div>
<div>Risa Niigaki</div>
<div>Reina Tanaka</div>
<div>Sayumi Michishige</div>
<div>Riho Sayashi</div>
<div> </div>
<div>With the exception of JunJun, Sayumi and Aika, that's a pretty strong collection of singers (for idols)*, and it's a nice ratio of bad-to-good/great talent. The worst of the remianing seven is clearly Riho, but she's probably middle-of-the-pack of the group historically. The point being that by replacing their most talented girls with mediocre and poor singers, that ratio has pretty much flipped from 60%+ good-or-better to 60%+ average-to-very-bad. The only girls in the current group who can hang with the 70% above, in my mind, are Sakura, Kanon, Kudo and Masaki, and even they would fall toward the bottom of the list.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>So long story longer, if H!P has good-to-great singers in their own stable, I want them in Morning Musume. They didn't add Ruru to either of the Factories, so they're saving her for something, and it ain't a solo career (it's not 2000 anymore). Adding her to MM makes so much sense that it will probably never happen. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>*All of those strong singers managed to be strong singers despite being members of Hello! Project. Fans have been saying H!P can't develop talent since at least the 5th generation, and while there is truth to that, the fact remains that real talent tends to shine through in any situation. H!P -- and Morning Musume in particular -- offers young Japanese girls one of the best opportunities to gain exposure and a foothold in the entertainment industry. How is it that Morning Musume would hold Ruru back compared to other companies not run by Aki-P?</div>