Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

In which we chat about Hello! Project. And TNX. And Nice Girl Project. Yup.

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DonJuan
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Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Because I like the format that Shoujo has been working on.
I'm also doing this for myself because I don't know shit about OCHA NORMA :ph34r: so this gives me a good opportunity to get around and do some research about them.

Nearly one year ago, on March 7 2021, Fukumura announced on the KSS recital that H!P will get a new group. The first members were the Hello Pro Kenshuusei Unit members Yonemura Kirara, Ishiguri Kanami (Hokkaido KSS), Kubota Nanami and Saito Madoka. 4 months later the TV show Hello Dream revealed 4 more KSS as members: Nakayama Natsume, Hiromoto Ruli, Nishizaki Miku and Kitahara Momo. The group was complete with two more members from the H!P audition, Tashiro Sumire and Tsutsui Roko.

The group started activities with the Winter concerts 2021 and is credited with the opening song of the drama Mayonaka ni Hello!, "Koi no Crouching Start".



They also released a digital single in January, a cover of Kobushi Factory's "Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san no Uta".
In fact, they have a total of 3 original songs under their name, the aforementioned "Koi no Crouching Start", "Go Your Way" and "Date Zen'ya Kyousoukyoku".

Onto the members!

Saito Madoka

19 years old, from Saitama.
Joined the KSS after she participated in the H!P ONLY YOU audition 2018.
Member of the KSS Unit.

Hiromoto Ruli

18 years old, from Hiroshima. Was a member of ASH and member as well as leader of the units MAX♡GIRLS and Kakumei Shoujo.
Fan of ANGERME and Sayashi Riho.
Participated in the H!P Shin Member audition 2017, but didn't join the KSS until 2019.

Ishiguri Kanami

17 years old, from Sapporo. Former member of the Hokkaido KSS.
She won the guest judge's award at the Kenshuusei Test 2018, the singing award 2019 and the best performance award 2020.
Took part in MM'19's LOVE audition.
Member of the KSS Unit.

Yonemura Kirara

17 years old, from Aichi.
Joined the KSS after she participated in the 2015 ANGERME audition. She was the member with the longest tenure since the name change from Eggs to Kenshuusei with a total of 5 years, 10 months and 28 days.

Kubota Nanami

17 years old, from Chiba.
Joined the KSS after she participated in the H!P Shin Member audition 2017.
She is basically the cute character, naming Sayumi and Momochi as her favourite senpai.

Tashiro Sumire
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16 years old, from Kanagawa.
Won the H!P Shin Member Audition 2021.
Her older sister, Tashiro Hikari, is an actress and former member of the bandol group Le Lien.

Nakayama Natsume

16 years old, from Ishikawa.
Joined the KSS after participating in MM'16's Shinseiki Audition.
Won 2nd place for her performance of "Kioku no Meiro" at the KSS Test 2021.
Studies English. Has known Matsunaga Riai from before joining H!P due to a modeling gig when thei were both junior models.

Nishizaki Miku

15 years old, from Okayama, and the first H!P member of this prefecture.
Joined the KSS after participating in MM'19's LOVE audition.
Is a fan of Satoyoshi Utano.

Kitahara Momo

15 years old, from Tokyo.
Joined the KSS after participating in MM'19's LOVE audition.
Won the happy character award at the KSS test 2021.
Is said to be very ambitious.

Tsutsui Roko
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14 years old, from Saga, and the first H!P member of this prefecture.
Won the H!P Shin Member Audition 2021.
She seems to be a decent singer.

No solo vids for Sumire and Roko yet.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

I get flashbacks from Tsubaki Factory's indie period with this group. Their performances so far have not been great, but there are flashes here and there. They don't have a Kishimoto among them yet, but it took Kishimon a couple of years to really become Kishimon, so I'm not ruling that possibility out.

Momo and Roko are probably their best singers based on the limited footage I've seen so far. The solo vids are definitely tuned, so you can't judge their intonation on those, but you can ascertain feel and personality from them, and Momo definitely has both. Roko's "Aisare A or B?" is even more revealing because it's raw and unprocessed. Her intonation is outstanding and she definitely has her own thing going on. (I do hear a bit of Layla in her, but that might just be her singing Layla's parts.) Either way, she's really good for her age, and I predict that she and Momo will be the standout singers of OCHA NORMA moving forward.

It's odd that, three months on from her joining the group, we still don't have any footage of Sumire singing. That can't be good, lol.

Bottom line, OCHA NORMA feels like a cross between the two Factories to me: Kobushi's vibe coupled with Tsubaki's talent level. H!P is pretty shrewd about not debuting groups until they're ready for prime time, so I'm not surprised that their first single still hasn't been announced, and I'm confident that when it does arrive, it'll be good.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

Might as well drop all of their ONE PLUS ONE videos here while we're at it.

Kirara Yonemura x Karin Miyamoto - MI DA RA Matenrou

Kanami Ishiguri x Risa Ogata - Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne


Momo Kitahara x Miyabi Natsuyaki - Koi no Jubaku


Ruli Hiromoto x Ruri Danbara - Fiesta! Fiesta!


Nanami Kubota x Rei Inoue - Suki Kamo Shirenai


Nishizaki Miku ​​x Kawamura Ayano - Aisare Route A or B?
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

I've also got my eyes on Kanami. While I've never been completely won over by her she had a few good performances.
They do not have a great singer from the get-go though, that's certain. Momo and Roko are young enough to improve, though.

I wish we had more audition or Kenshuusei recordings, since the solo and duet shots are tuned to the max lol.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by kira »

So I thought this group was a UFA group but now I see it's actually part of H!P... the only video I saw was the one with Reirei and then I was confused because it wasn't on the KKS channel.

Agreed with JPope, definitely does feel like early Tsubaki.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by Shoujo Q »

This group almost feels like the child of Kobushi and Tsubaki. They weren’t finished with Kobushi so they decided to make a new group in their spirit but with a bit of Tsubaki charm.

While I like a few of the girls I probably won’t pass full judgement on them till I see them go all out on their own. Hina Fest will probably be that mark for me. When mixed in with everyone else in Hello!Project you can’t really gauge a group very well and especially when they are broken up.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by Solarblade »

A little more information, in technicality, the group kind of started as a 5-piece back in 2019 (Yonemura, Ishiguri, Saito, Kubota, and Ruru Kanemitsu), though she'd leave the KSS/group at the end of the year. They also have a song as a 4-piece, "Mistake" which has been performed since with the rest of the OCHA NORMA members (cept Roko and Sumire). So that'd be 4 original songs for them I think?
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

I think "Mistake" is technically considered a KSS song, but H!P is weird with its technicalities. Kurumi is saying she was told Biyo will be the first H!P group to perform at Budokon with all of their original members, despite the five member J=J having done so. Well, Aina was technically an original member, even though she was gone before their major debut.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by Shoujo Q »

Mistake was a KSS song for the H!P Kenshuusei Unit but I wouldn't be surprised if they re-covered it for OCHA NORMA as like a b-side or something.

Speaking of the Unit, the group did a lot of work at festivals and mini-lives to get them use to performing as a group away from the Kenshuusei. So from 2019 till early 2021 it was literally just Yonemura, Ishiguri, Saito and Kubota once Kanemitsu left. So if you weren't paying any attention to them you'd probably think nothing of it. Since once the new KSS joined it was like, BAM now they are OCHA NORMA. It was pretty quick.

For me, Yonemura was the temp leader as far as I'm concerned. Mainly built on seniority alone. But Saito is the oldest. They haven't really talked about it yet and I have a feeling they are still working out on their dynamics as a group. So that's why I'm interested in their HinaFest debut. Because that's literally the first time we'll (meaning us foreign fans) really get to see them as OCHA NORMA as a full working team. Not as an opening act or part of the Kenshuusei. I mean, they'll only get to perform like 1 or 2 songs but that's fine. Roko at least gets to be part of a mini-group and Sumire will continue to be a mystery.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Though to be fair there were rumors about a new H!P groups even before Mizuki announced one. Considering that pretty much all debuts in the last years were KSS (the last group to be formed by mostly non-KSS seems to be Country Girls, with Chisaki, Mai and Uta coming from the MM audition) and the KSS Unit already existing it was kind of a given that they'd debut.

OCHA NORMA will have a variety show! I guess it will be similar to Tsubaki's, so I'm very happy about the news.

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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

Giving them a variety show before a single is pretty aggressive, lol.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

According to my Twitter feed, OCHA NORMA's major debut single is set for July 13. Apparently announced at a KSS event.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Yup, and it will be mentioned in tomorrow's HaroSute.
Not sure if it's a major debut, though.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

DonJuan wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:09 am Not sure if it's a major debut, though.
Interesting.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Yeah. Kobushi and Biyo debuted on the major label right away, but well, Tsubaki didn't. They might be given a year to solidify.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by Shoujo Q »

All I’ve read on Twitter is that it’s been debut single. Everyone just assumes major. Probably won’t know for sure till we see who puts out the single. I assume it’s major just because of the amount of time this group has been floating around in some form.

And it’s HaroDori (The KSS show) tomorrow not HaroSute.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

My guess is it's a major debut. They're releasing so few singles across the entire stable that I can't see them fucking around with physical indies releases.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Oops, thx Shoujo! I'm getting confused with all the shows.
And since Solarblade has made a single thread already and named it their major single it might as well be.

I guess going indie first is also not a thing anymore..?
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by Shoujo Q »

If Covid wasn’t a thing and UF wasn’t scaling back promo and releases they might have had physical stuff released instead of a few songs sprinkled out digitally and what not.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

Major debut confirmed.

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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Good. Means the MVs might be a bit better.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by arcobaleno »

DonJuan wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:43 am Good. Means the MVs might be a bit better.
Come on, Juan, we’re well overdue for another masterpiece like Coconuts Musume’s Halation Summer.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

A-absolutely.

I don't remember this MV at all and I think my brain was trying to do me a favor with this.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

New ONE PLUS ONE features Natsume Nakayama with Reina Ichioka singing Biyo CHICA#TETSU's "Toei Oedo Sen no Roppongi Eki de Dakishimete"

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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Announced at today's event:
Leader is Saito Madoka, subleader Hiromoto Ruli.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

Worst kept secret ever. :lol:
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

Yeah nobody is surprised, but there's still a few fans who say they would've prepared Kirara - it's the Juice=Juice scenario, where Yuka was "picked" over Karin.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by DonJuan »

They've taken their sweet time, but there's finally solos for Roko and Tsumire:

Roko's Love Take it All:



Tsumire's Ai no Sono ~Touch my Heart!~:



I think they might make Roko another vocal lead.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

Roko and Momo are already two of their best singers, but it's hard to tell if either will get a push right out of the gate or if the company will wait for an organic group dynamic to set in before anyone gets a push. Of the two, Momo seems like more of a complete idol from what I've seen, which admittedly isn't much. It's good to finally hear Sumire, and a relief that she's not a disaster.

I'm ready to go all in on OCHA NORMA, but I need a major release first, lol. Kobushi got me to take the dive with their debut single, Tsubaki with their second, and Biyo with their album. So long as "Omatsuri Debut da ze!" is good, I think they'll get me pretty quickly.
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Re: Geting to Know OCHA NORMA

Post by JPope »

Oh hey, look who's on the cover of the Summer issue of CD Journal?

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The art department at CDJ is top notch.
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