Amped wrote:In Ishida Ayumi's Tokyo Sports column, she wrote about the new members joining (her column is behind a subscription paywall).
in one of part of the article, Ayumi boldly said : "I wanted Goto Hana to join Morning Musume."
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/n51fe90fc9811
So apparently
some 2ch'ers are somewhat agitated that Ishida said this out loud after they announced the winners. Some fans are worried that it might discourage the newbies, knowing that their seniors wanted someone else to join (though not necessarily join instead of them).
The comment section on that summary site is even more rough. Some people arguing that Ishida has a point, and that MM hasn't received top Kenshuusei (Kaga Kaede being the last notable one) who have all gone to other groups, such as Murota, Sasaki, Kamikokuryo, Kawamura going to Angerme, Kudo and Matsunaga going to J=J, and all the other top Kenshuusei going to Beyooooonds and Ocha Norma. They point out that MM is the flagship group of H!P, and therefore deserves some more top Kenshuusei. A few fans of other H!P groups are grouching about how some MM fans look down on other H!P groups, and that of course all H!P groups will want the top talent but ultimately it is at the front office's disposal.
A couple of fans disagree with Ishida from another perspective, which is that newbies won't get much of a chance to shine in MM as long as the more senior members are still around, and so it's better for Gocchin to be in Angerme than MM.
My personal opinion is that while I understand why some people are not sold on Yumigeta and Inoue (they are complete unknowns), it is also silly to count them out without seeing what they can do and allowing them some time to grow. Of course every group wanted Goto and Mifu. But just like Runo going to TF instead of J=J, it might turn out to be a great decision. Not to mention, getting newbies in MM means H!P auditions will have more appeal, since the last five out of six girls to debut in MM have been from regular auditionees.
That being said, I also do think MM should get some good Kenshuusei next time around. In that sense, I think the 15th gen was a great balance. Hopefully we see more of that next time.