by Shoujo Q » Thu May 15, 2025 12:06 am
The only time they put worthy KSS in Morning Musume is when they don't have any audition winners worthy of putting into Morning Musume. (See 11th and 13th gen.) If they do put in KSS they will be girls that don't outshine the off the street girls. They usually have some sort of flaw to them. Not the best dancer or not the best singer.
This tends to be the case with any Morning Musume audition and kss additions. If you think about it. Girls that are being picked off the streets come in with no fan base, they are relying on pure talent to grow their fanbase. While KSS have months to years of work and fans built in when they join groups. Management don't want popular KSS to outshine these new girls, so it's rare that you'll get the good girls going into a legacy group unless they are going in without audition winners.
And it goes without saying, but UF love to hold Morning Musume auditions because they tend to get a nice pull of kss out of them. Slap Morning Musume or Hello!Project on that audition notice and you get more interest.
now the rest is speculation but, after Ikuta leaves and maybe the next graduation is announced (but I have a feeling it will be before that), you'll definitely be seeing another audition being announced.
I'm betting it will be a H!P general audition. Ocha Norma need to decide if they want to be a generational group. If they do, chances are they'll be getting a new member or two. Beyooooonds is still up in the air. Tsubaki and Angerme are another option. Juice don't really need any members, but if Ruru or Rei decide to graduate and they are getting very close to that time, they'll need one or two girls to help fill the void when other girls take over their lines.