New Country Musume auditions (Country・Girls)

[otaku_blue]

excited for the girls!! Yamaki Risa wouldn't be my pick.
I hope they get a unique sound and image from all the other groups within HP right now.

Not at all fond of the idea of Momochi becoming a member.

I facepalm everytime someone says "why isn't Tanabe in the group?"

[sukibeam]

^^ I doubt another new group now. What with Smilege being the new KSS-fed group, this new Country Girls group is likely the replacement for Berryz in the H!P lineup. If it's anything like the original Country Musume, it will also have gens that are likely to include KSS as well.

[Zunu]

Why are we inserting a nakaguro mark (middle dot character) in "Country Girls"? It serves a meaning in Japanese orthography, to separate the two katakana words, because spaces aren't normally used between words in Japanese. But there's no need for it in English. I mean, you write 「ブラッド・ピット」 in Japanese, but you don't write "Brad・Pitt" in English, that looks cray.

[aerosuffly]

MANAKAAAAAAA!


I will add more comments after I have time to read the rest of this thread. But for now I am so damn happy for Manaka.

[otaku_blue]

Yes Manaka!!
Someone on HO said that they'll have their music produced by someone other than Tsunku?

I really appreciate this idea of older girls mentoring newer girls, and UFA transitioning to a system not so heavily reliant on Tsunku.
Kinda gives me peace for the future if the worse were to happen. Also gives me hope for Sayu coming back as a producer or manager hehe

[BerryzCelebration]

Manakan! Yamakki! Yesss!

All I need now is Fujii Rio and Kaga Kaede. Maybe they'll pull a UUG and a form a new KSS-based unit under Up Front.

[Celedam]

People scoff at shadow H!P, but shadow H!P continues and grows. Shadow H!P is strong.

And yes, I believe this new unit will be shadow H!P because there would be more PR and news reports if it was official H!P. Or at least it will be shadow H!P while it tries to build a fan base...

The defining characteristic of official H!P is that it's produced by Tsunku. It's his music and creative direction. But if his workload is limited by illness and/or Up-Front has realized it needs a contingency plan, then I have a hunch the line between shadow H!P and official H!P will become blurrier.

The next few years could be very interesting.

[Mixi]

Mandatory poor-Kurumin-and-Tanapyon comment

Still excited for this! I really hope Momochi isn't a full member though.

[LiamMusume]

This really came out of the blue, I am not sure if I want this group to be part of H!P or not, will this group perform Country Musume songs or are they now a different country themed group hence the new name?

[Celedam]

Naming every thing "<blank> Musume" was a Golden Era gimmick that quietly and ingloriously ended with Ice Cream Musume, I think.

Besides, they can't afford to dilute the brand even further, not when the current Morning Musume already struggles to distinguish itself from Dream Morning Musume / Morning Musume OG.