S/mileage new member audition!

[Menno]

Nothing wrong with these new members. JFC, people need to calm down.

Indeed.

The new members where thrown into the concerts and the events at such short notice and without even being sure that they would become new members. It's not that surprising they are not up there with the 3 remaining original members, even for Takechan and Rinapuu with their egg training.

Now we will hear their recording voices, they can truly start to develop their idol personality and I don't think all 4 new members will have the same look when the new single will be released.

My impressions from my 17 handshakes with the new members:

It's not that different from what you might have seen in the streams of the concert and the event, but still...

Rinapuu - dreamy

It was the posture when shaking hands, standing a bit back wards and just looking with her big eyes at you. And not as active as the other new members, also just simply saying arigato. It didn't make her stand out yet from the others, but it was something only she did. I think she could become the sexy girl addition for the group that Ayacho talked about after the audition was announced.

Takechan - confident

For example she was the only that replied with her own name in English after I introduced myself with "My name is Menno". I liked that. She and Kanyon will be competing for who is the most fearless girl in the group, that could become interesting.

Kanana - happy

Well, the way she looks makes me smile every time I see here. And she was pretty much the same at handshakes, it just looked like she really enjoyed it. I think that she's the one that still can go several ways personality wise. She did her Gorilla and E.T. impressions, but I don't really see her as the funny girl. It will be interesting to follow her as she grows into an proper idol.

Mei - enthusiastic

You've seen her jump already. At the handshake she was also the most enthusiastic, I already mentioned before that she gave the firmest handshakes, jumping up and down saying "thank you, thank you, thank you". I really hope she keeps up this enthusiasm, it can be a good asset to the group. Btw, I just call her Mei, as the original members would call her most of the time.

[Sohee]

From what we've seen, I just don't like Rina nor Meimi. Rina is far too stuck up (being confident is good but the way she's been on tv shows and all really is just too much for me) and she's boring. And to me Meimi is just way too childish. Sure, she's just 12 so she's bound to be a child, nothing wrong with that, but I don't want that in S/mileage.
But now they are the members and all so we'll have to learn how to live with it. It'll just take hell of a lot of time before them, or at least Meimi grows on me. Rina at least has a pleasant voice which is at least one positive thing about her, Meimi just sounds like dying cats.

[iceymoon]

though i'm sure they'll grow better over time, it's gonna be painful for a few singles. :<

[Sohee]

Oh I'm sure they will. I just don't like that they're in there from the start. S/mileage as a 7 member unit in general is just a bit ): too.

[iceymoon]

that wasn't in response to you, it's in response to the comments along the lines of "they only just started,".. even if they get better later on, until then i think we're perfectly in our right to ugh at them, because that's what they're currently delivering.

i don't like the idea of a large S/mileage either, now our smallest group is ℃-ute. i think that'll be easier to get used to though (especially if he makes a new smaller unit, 3-4nin?), the members will take longer. i'm still not really used to 9th gen, and i like all of them.

[Sohee]

Ah yeah, well. ): Seriously. It'll take me quite a while to get used to them having 2-row-photos, and not liking all members ): I loved 4nin.

Tsunku needs to get Karin to do a solo debut, and then make new 3nin group from the eggs/auditions. Or maybe just a duo, would be cool too. Just. MORE GROUPS GDI.

[iceymoon]

i would love a duo, but i have yet to find a pairing that i think would be perfect (that doesn't involve someone who is already graduated or who will graduate within a year or two).

[Sohee]

auditions for it could be nice? so we could get to follow them and get to know them and stuff. it'd be almost like in the good old days.

[Menno]

Of course everybody is entitled to make opinions about the new members straight away.

But you got to remember that we have seen more of them then any other new girl in H!P (at least for the last couple of years) in the 2 months since they joined. And with the streamed concert and the event everybody got to see it, and not just the people who where actually there. This is good of course, the more we see of the better, but it's also tricky since first impressions do tend to stick for a while. And we had much more 1st impressions with these girls then for example with the 9th generation that only really started a couple of months after they joined. The time they had to rehearse and learn without anybody looking the new S/mileage members had to perform in public and do their Egao u p campaign as well. We've really have seen them raw, untouched by Tsunku or autotune.

[MrMoondoggie]

I think with new group additions it's always the same for me. There's always one i like instantly from the auditions or from first seeing them after joining and then maybe a couple of others who months later i'll warm up to and in many cases one who i just don't take to for whatever reason but when it comes to a group thats fine i don't need to like every single one of them tons to enjoy the songs. It took me like 6 months to shake my opinion that Ai Takahashi was boring after she joined but then i really liked her after that so sometimes the members that i initially think indifferently about can become favourites later on when they settle in and show more of their personality. I think Rina and Kana will be this for me.

Though going by the 5th gen metephor i feel Meimi might be a Konno for me somebody i never really like no matter how long she's around but at the same time i can understand why she was put in the group and even if she's not my cup of tea she appeals to a group of fans. In Meimi's case mostly the girls i find and with S/mileage having a sizable fanbase percentage which are girls it was a good idea to include a character like Meimi.