Random Ramblings....

The euphoria over the announcement of the 9th generation of Morning Musume has somewhat died down now. Now comes the "setting expectations" phase.

---

It's too early but people are already comparing their vocal talents against each other trying to find out who is the strongest singer/dancer. Relax folks, they haven't even sung yet.

+++

There are high hopes for 9th gen member Sayashi Riho. It's not just because she can fairly sing and dance but because she can actually sing AND dance. The girl has talent...real pure talent. I've seen her dance in a video made in 2007 where she dances to Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" cheer-leader style. She's the shortest (and probably the youngest) in the group but you can see her bounce. She's a natural, no awkward movements and stuff you'd expect from a kid. Hopefully we see her more in action in 2011.

---

OK, so her singing voice is the weakest among the kyuukies, but it's still better than most of the H!P kids when they were her age. The H!P Kids sing like grade school children back then (which I find extremely adorable but can't deny it sounds like a nursery rhyme sometimes).

---

Oh wait, they actually were grade school children back then.

+++

Fukumura Mizuki was chosen to be part of 9th gen out of Hello! Project Egg. Shows that Hello! Pro Egg actually does matter to Tsunku.

---

The choice of Mizuki wasn't a "go-figure-it-out" type of choice that Tsunku loves to make. The girl has proven herself as a member of Shugo Chara Egg! Yes, the same group that spawned S/mileage. Now that another Musume has spawned from their ranks, I think people should take them more seriously. Some of them are talented girls, just give them a chance.

---

Since Mizuki is the oldest of the 9th gen, would it be safe to say that should all things go smoothly, Mizuki is a potential leader? But considering that Michishige Sayumi is waiting in the wings, I'll keep myself from making bets this early.

+++

I read a comment in a Youtube video showing Mizuki perform with Shugo Chara Egg! campaigning for one of them to be added to Berryz Koubou. Nice idea, but if Tsunku wanted to fill the vacant spot of Ishimura Maiha, he would have already done it a long time ago. Tinkering with the group dynamics at this point in time would be off the wall, even for someone like Tsunku. Besides, if he wanted to replace graduated/retired members, he would have added new ones to C-ute who lost 3 members already.

+++

The age difference between the the 9th gen and their senpais is big. Takahashi Ai is 10 years older than Mizuki. I guess this is the time that Sayumi should feel really, really old.

+++

I hope the finalists who were not chosen to be part of 9th gen be assigned to Hello! Project Egg. They have potential and managed to best thousands of other applicants to reach this far. With one Egg assigned to Morning Musume and another debuting as a soloist, the Eggs can use a shake-up too. Several of them can clearly debut and hold their own.

+++

Speaking of the Eggs, it makes me think how underrated the Eggs are. Well, they are in training of course, but because of the years spent in training, they oftentimes become more sound on artistic fundamentals. Because as much of a Berryz fan that I am, S/mileage were better performers on their debut than Berryz Kobo was.

---

To be fair to my Berryz, they were supposed to be only a training group for the H!P Kids before their eventual appointment to Morning Musume or the existing sub-groups that time (Country Musume, Tanpopo, W, etc) or formation into new groups. For reasons that are still not yet clear to me, the original plan was dropped and Berryz Kobo was made into a permanent group and the remaining H!P Kids were reformed into a new unit that will eventually be called C-ute. Ironically, the group retained Kobo in their name, which can be translated to mean "workshop" which is equivalent to "training ground" or "school" depending on how it was used. Morning Musume continued to hold auditions and several of the sub-groups simply faded away.

---

Besides, H!P Eggs should be better upon debut - because if they were actually worse than the previous H!P groups then the Eggs should just fade away so that UFA can use all the money spent on their training into convincing Goto Maki that her career is currently going nowhere and that beating Koda Kumi is currently out of the question.
---

If you look at it in a certain way, Hello! Project Egg is the spiritual successor of Hello! Project Kids. Or at least, I think that's how H!P Kids should have been: a training ground for Idols to prepare them for their debut. There are several similarities between the two programs, first of which is the emphasis on "training" them for Idol careers. Second is the existence of a training unit (Berryz Kobo in H!P Kids and Shugo Chara Egg for H!P Egg). The difference being that H!P Kids were given DVDs and got to star in their own movie (2 at the last count and finely made ones at that) while the Eggs do significantly less work and more emphasis on training. Oh yeah, and Hello! Project Kids as a program was phased out. Everything was about the Eggs from 2004 thereon.

+++

People are wondering why it took so long to have new auditions when Morning Musume is known for having rotating members. Well, look at it this way: having a cohesive and stable line-up makes the group better because the chemistry should be better and individual members can be developed properly with a proper senpai-kouhai relationship. While having rotating members is fine and helps in keeping the group "fresh", holding auditions every year is both impractical and counter-productive in the long term.

---

Impractical because any group wanting to succeed needs to have great chemistry plus the older members can properly train the younger ones. Counter-productive because the group will run the risk of being "devalued" in the industry wherein yearly auditions will open the way for too many members than what Hello! Project can actually support. Trying to beat AKB48 does not mean you should build an army like them.

---

On another note, I heard Tsunku is toying with the idea of building his own clone army. Great, now I would have to live with the idea of seeing 50 girls performing "Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance". Or better yet, he can combine Berryz Kobo and C-ute and throw in the eggs plus a whole lot of new girls from auditions and call them "Berry Many". Funny as it may seem, realizing that it's Tsunku I am talking about and his reputation for doing unexpected things for the heck of doing something unexpected, I guess I really shouldn't be laughing.

+++

Shout out to the fellows in the Sudo Maasa thread in Hello! Online. The best sort of wotas I've ever seen!