Saturday 20 January 2018

My Hello! Project predictions for 2017 - How wrong was I?

Over a year ago, I wrote a blogpost titled "Hello! Project's future", in which I made several predictions for 2017 and said I'd get back to it after a year, so here I am! I'm at the same time very impressed about how many of my predictions actually came true and very confused about some of the things I said. I know it was reasonable to think so back then, but the change in my opinions - especially concerning Yokoyama Reina and Tsubaki Factory - have been so drastic it's hard to believe it's been only a year.

So! Here are the actual predictions I made:

- Graduations for Angerme and maybe also Morning Musume. 
- New members for Country Girls, and for Angerme and Morning Musume if graduations happen.
- Tsubaki Factory either finding balance or adding charismatic members.
- Morning Musume album
- Sub-unit releases

I'm kind of shook that I was right about graduations. I did not think it would be Duu and I hoped it wouldn't be AiAi, but that's what happened. Both groups also gained members, although not as a result of graduations or in a way I or anyone was expecting, as you can tell by my guess that Country Girls would also be gaining members. More about that mess in a tiny bit!

Tsubaki Factory definitely found balance. Hell, it was the year of Tsubaki. They totally found themselves and they shine so bright now. Of course they're still a new group, but it's been such a strong start I hope they keep it up.

We got a Morning Musume album, bless! And what an album it is. I love it.
We also got sub-/shuffle-units in the form of Upcoming Music Delivery. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't follow these releases too closely, and there's been some critique about them, but personally I don't think releasing these digital songs took away from other releases, so they were a nice addition.

In addition, I want to point out these extracts from the text (that I didn't include in the final predictions):

"I think the management has something planned for Ruru. Possibly also for Momohime."
"I hope there won't be another Kenshuusei group."

These predictions about the Kenshuusei are a bit amusing as well as hard to talk about, as the results are still kind of hanging in the air. The first one turned out to be true, as Ruru and Momohime were announced as members of the acting unit, and for the second one, Ichioka's group was announced. But since, not much information about either group has surfaced. We'll just have to hope it's around the corner. So, in a way I was both right&wrong to state that there wouldn't be a new Kenshuusei group before 2018.

And finally:

"Juice=Juice with new members...? A wild card! That would be very interesting although I don't think it's very likely."

This brings us back to the Country Girls case: Making the group part-time and adding 3 of the members to other Hello! Project groups - Morito to Morning Musume '17, Yanagawa (with Danbara Ruru) to Juice=Juice, and Funaki (with Kawamura Ayano) to ANGERME.

So, the "wild card" addition to Juice=Juice came true, in an even more surprising way. But frankly, now that everyone has adjusted to these changes, I'm pretty happy about the outcome. The new members fit the groups they were assigned to perfectly, heck, I even started liking Morito a bit more. The only downside is that I'm not good at following digital releases, so I've completely fallen behind in following Country Girls. This, alongside with Duu's graduation, were definitely the most shocking things to happen in 2017. But they were not bad changes. I accept that things sometimes need to change, and things are looking so good for Duu right now I'm only happy for her. I worry about AiAi, but her graduation wasn't that shocking, although it is very sad.

Best things about 2017 definitely include going to my first ever Hello! Project events. I didn't know in the beginning of the year any of these would happen, but I went to both Morning Musume's Spring and Fall tour concerts and a Juice=Juice single release&handshake event (Jidanda Dance / Feel! Kanjiru yo). I feel like it brought me closer as a fan, and I "discovered" love for members I was neutral about before. Ikuta Erina, Yokoyama Reina, Uemura Akari and Miyazaki Yuka rose fast on my rankings this year. I also think it was a great year musically, I enjoyed all of the releases and was particularly delighted by Morning Musume's album and the various OG collaborations they did. Especially Ai no Tane. Gets me every time.

Predictions for 2018

Naturally I should now come up with some? I don't have anything particular in mind, so there are not as thorough as last time, but just for fun:

- Ichioka's group will debut! Really hope so, haha. I wish Ono Kotomi and Maeda Kokoro would debut with her.
- Drastic changes for Kobushi Factory. Three members already left, and the group will need a big push to get back on their feet. I'm thinking 3 new members or something like that.
- I'm pretty sure both graduations and member additions will happen, but have no specific guesses or hopes for that. (Other than don't graduate my faves!)

♥♥♥

This text ended up way longer than I initially thought, I hope it was entertaining to someone! See you again, maybe in a month, maybe in a year..! (I've had this blog for 7 years. Wow?)

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