Touki

I don't know, but it looks like she donates her hair

I'll give the MV about 7/10. Both the choreography and quality of the MV are quite nice to watch. However, the song is also an epic fail and it's much much worse than Junjou Evidence. I've been skeptical about Tsunku songs for a few years. I tried my best to listen to this song, but it's among the worst MM song ever. I'll give this single a skip

 

With all that taken into account, it really does make sense that Rio banked on going the visual route right out the gate, because she's made it clear that she does want to be famous and maybe become a well regarded person within the industry the way Golden era MM girls are. And it's worked out for her well, considering the fact that her first photobook is the second highest selling photobook between all the new faces in H!P, second only to Maria herself. I just wish UFP would've went about it a different way considering that she was only 15 when they shot it.

it's an unfortunate but highly successful part of the idol industry, and i think rio knows that. doing photobooks in general makes bank, but considering rio's a teenager, it sells WAY more at that age for obvious reasons. if rio was 18+ i doubt her photobook would've sold as much, and i think rio knows that too. photobooks are the best way to get attention and make money as an idol, and i'm happy rio is benefiting from it, but it's disappointing that it was at the cost of her being so sexualized. i mean i'm pretty sure if she did a visual photobook like her genmates it wouldn't have sold as much. >_<

 

Bullseyes. To be honest, there will almost always be the cost you mentioned for being popular in a short period of time. I'll be honest, even though I'm totally OK with the PB itself, when I saw the videos, there were some parts that didn't look right to me. However, it's how the industry works. When J=J Aari started to get away from PBs, since the way the manager talked her into it was uncomforting, her popularity has also been declined since then. I apologize for mentioning this story a lot since I believe that was an inappropriate move from the company for suggestion of doing PBs while she was not ready, and the result was severe. I'm glad that it didn't happen to Rio, since she aimed for that from the start. In Japan there's a way to become successful artist without doing PBs and still be able to date, marry (I mean not through idol route), but it'll take years and luck. LiSA is a typical artist who had successful single sales whose song is "Homura", and it took her over 10 years to achieve it, and that was when she was 33. And if you look at Rihoriho right now, I predict that it will take her almost 10 years or over to become successful in showbiz during her post-idol career. Even Airi has lots of stepping stones on her pathway

I must admit that it's been quite a long time since I listen to her great singing again.

I never consider Fuku-chan fat, and I never consider Chel fat either. It's just that from Japanese's perspective, any idols who are near 100 lbs or 45 kg are considered fat. Both Fuku-chan and Chel have thicker bodies than most idols, but fat, never to me. Both of them won't look good if they are so skinny, but I don't know how Japanese fans think. Therefore, whenever we see them trying to lose tons of weight, even with current situation, we'll find the real answer.

P/S: Off topic a bit, there are members who don't need to be skinny to draw in fans: Rikoriko. She's not tall, but her body is quite thick. One more thing, people seem to love her PBs. Therefore, I don't think there's a definite formula regarding body shapes of idols