2084 replies to this topic

[Juandalyn]

And Duu was young, the youngest girl they ever had. Personally I didn't mind her in the back because she had time to grow - I always knew she'd get to the front or second line sooner or later.

[☆RisaReinaSayu☆]

^x2 or @Kaeseki - Well, when it comes to Kudou I think the main problem is being tomboy Yoshizawa Hitomi 2.0 alone isn't going to get the job done. Eventually emulating and imitating a former member gets very stale and if you don't have something to follow up with you will flounder. It's even worse when you are only emulating and imitating one aspect of that member or don't bother to use it as a spring board now that you have peoples attention and can show them gradual amounts of who you are, and it's especially dangerous to let the momentum die down and expect emulating or imitating that one aspect of a former member to carry you to new heights by itself.

I mean Yoshizawa Hitomi's tomboy/pimp gimmick was her second gimmick (she started off as a budding girly girl, but when it became apparent she was growing into more of a sporty type she took over the tomboy gimmick Ichii Sayaka had vacated and started making it her own), and on top of this gimmick she also had regularly scheduled opportunities and outlets through which she could give people other reasons to like her.

From her never-ending drive to become a leader in the group to her rivalries (the most notable one being with Iida Kaori) to Petit Moni, even just her explosive energy and presence during performances; Yoshizawa HItomi made it a habit to make herself larger than life no matter what she was given to work with or do on stage and off during her idol career and that's undoubtedly why her post idol career ventures have been rather successful compared to that of most former idols.

Kudou Haruka may have less opportunities and outlets to work with, but she has more than the 8th generation girls had and way more than 9th gen had when they first joined, and she's much more seasoned than when 10th gen joined at this point; she really just has to work with the opportunities and outlets she has and start to inject more of herself into her idol character before being tomboy Yoshizawa Hitomi 2.0 gets stale.

[taylorniw]

^
 
Good observations. 
 
One item with 10th Gen which has perplexed me is Kudo Haruka.  I remember in weeks after this generation was introduced there was a WHOLE lot of bandwidth expended on her and her marvelous future in the unit;  the awesome husky voice, rumor she was the unofficial leader of 10th Gen due to her prior H!P experience, talk of with her young age and skill she was a shoe-in to get the Leader spot one day, etc.  But in the blink of an eye she got shunted into the background, her long hair disappeared and she'd appear in MV after MV wearing stupid hats!  She's just now edging towards the front when idols start getting into the age when graduation becomes a distinct possibility.
 
I wonder what happened?  My guess is a combination of H!P focusing so much on Riho and Duu fans having unrealistic expectations.

The tomboy thing can work for popular girls but they're almost never actually centers. I think the whole boyish thing also didn't work that well because Haruka is very obviously a pretty girl.

[Laharle]

I think they didn't have unrealistic expectations though, there was a time when Haruka's and Riho's popularity was pretty equal. I think it was allthe Riho focus, management barely tried with anyone else as hard.

Haruka has kinda dropped the boyish act, and while the push she is recieving now is welcome it's a bit...late maybe? Idk she was even surprised she is still considered as a future ace /regarding that interview with Maria / so. Management doesn't seem to want to push anyone harder than the other these days, except Maria I guess, but with Haruka my general feeling is that she had potential to be even more popular and it was wasted.

About Maa-chan I'm honestly confused about her popularity lol. The lists of prices 2ch post -and we later get- of goods has her pretty high? I've also fallen into thinking Sashihara really boosted her. But at times she does feel just mid tier.

[taskinist]

I don't think I've ever really thought of Duu as being a Yossie ripoff. They have totally different vibes IMO

[Kaeseki]

I haven't posted seriously here for a bit over a year.  Back then I was certain the next to leave would be either Harunan or Zukki.  Totally wasn't expecting Riho to throw in the towel!

 

I still feel Haruna is high on the graduation list due to her age, but with what happened with Riho I think it's important to watch attitude.  With that in mind, Eripon seems to have become somewhat distracted lately.  Perhaps she's getting ready to leave.

[Friday]

I don't think I've ever really thought of Duu as being a Yossie ripoff. They have totally different vibes IMO

I agree, Duu and Yossie have a different boyish theme to them. Even Ichii wasn't 100% boyish as she was known as the mother type to the other members~ I feel like none of the girls have ever had any total repeat gimmicks so far

[ajma93632]

I haven't come here since new year, so returning to this site, I think it's pretty obvious who I think is the next to graduate based on my new profile pic and signature, they're also my way to pray for MAsaki to not leave. Looking at how many members entered, I think UFA wants this line up to last for at least more than one year (which made me think nobody has any plans of graduating), something that UFA wanted to do with MM'15 until Riho graduated.

[dafack]

I don't believe Masaki is as popular as it can be made out. I know a lot of Western fans like her but I don't think she's major popular in Japan. She has some following but I don't think she's as popular as Ayumi or Mizuki.

Even if management didn't want to make Masaki graduate if her injury gets worse under any circumstance there is not a lot they can do. They can't risk the health of a girl no matter how popular she is.

 

Masaki is big popular now in Japan more than Ayumi and Mizuki and after her, Maria is the second more popular (rankings, sales and wotas in twitter demonstrate this) *sorry i can't explain more because i don't speak very well english

[miyooooons]

I think UFA wants this line up to last for at least more than one year (which made me think nobody has any plans of graduating), something that UFA wanted to do with MM'15 until Riho graduated.

 

I thought the same thing

[ajma93632]

This spring tour will decisive about the fact that if Masaki will announce her graduation or not. If she won't (which I want), then I don't think anybody will either, this year.

[megumibex]

I don't see anyone graduating this year seeing as they probably want to be part of the 20th anniversary, I could see someone announcing a graduation this year but holding it off until early 2018. The only exception I can see is Maachan for obvious reasons but I don't want that to happen.

[Yasser96]

^ Yeah, I agree with this.

 

If anyone does announce their graduation, they'll pull a Reina and announce it during the aki tour and graduate in spring (2018). After Riho and Kanon's (IMO, rather unexpected graduations) graduations, I'm still low-key expecting a grad this year.

[RihoZukki]

I've been waiting for someone to announce it since forever! 

[Juandalyn]

They can still graduate after the 20th anniversairy. Ai no Tane was released in early November, fall tours usually run until December. 

I do agree that nobody would graduate before, though, since summer is more or less booked for °C-ute and Momoko. Of course, a spring grad is possible too... but I doubt it. 

 

However, coming to the "who" part of the question: I don't know. I kind of fear that Masaki is rushing her comeback because she knows/feels that she can't do activities like that for much longer, but I also think she'd hold on for as long as possible. None of the members strike me as wanting to graduate either. Most seem very happy with their entertainment world job, but none of them has reached out far enough to make it in the entertainment world after a graduation. Every kind of graduation would be a surprise but none would actually be a shock.

[JennyInTokyo]

I'm excited to see Masaki is back after taking her time out to see to her injury but I still have a horrible gut feeling this hiatus wont have a good pay off. I can imagine her being stable in the next few months but then something is going to happen (I think something small) for her to go back  to square one and her injury is worse than before. If management are going to continue with complex dance routines it's not going to make Masaki any better. I can still forsee her graduating because of the injury.

[miyooooons]

They can still graduate after the 20th anniversairy. Ai no Tane was released in early November, fall tours usually run until December. 

 

I think it's less of "they wanna stay for the actual 20th Anniversary's date" but more "they wanna stay for all of the 20th Anniversary activities". I have a strong feeling the Fall 2017 Tour will be a pretty big deal and OG will show up. I doubt during that time that any of the girls would choose to graduate because it would probably take away from the fact that it's an anniversary tour which is supposed to be a Celebration (save Maachan of course, since we don't know what will happen to her). 

 

I definitely don't think anyone's gonna graduate before then either, mostly because of C-ute / Momochi. BUT.......I've been surprised so many times already so we can never truly predict what's gonna happen lol. 

[RihoZukki]

For some reason, I want Riho and Zukki to graduate together.

Well my wish came true, kinda.

[Sora-chan]

Idk why but I have a strong feeling Erina's time in MM is about to finish up. If not her, Im on board with the one everyone is already worried about, Masaki.

[IchVermisseDenSommer]

After seeing the spring tour setlist and Fuku-chan doing Silver no Udedokei which, as the only unit song so far, is practically the only thing in the A setlist where they give some members major attention and after the last tours where she also got solos (or small group songs) I feel like she's the next in line for graduation. For 2018 though.