Niigaki Risa graduated at Nippon Budokan [5/18]

[Starra]

Sohee: Was it 2003? D: Sorry!

[Rm88]

Having Captain as the leader would be so awesome, though. It has to happen at some point.

[Celedam]

The Kids were Eggs before there were Eggs. And being an Egg in the occasional shuffle group (yes, that includes Aa! and ZYX) does not count as a major debut. Seniority begins with your major debut, so Sayu and Reina win.

However, Captain will indeed be next if she can outlast Sayu and Reina.

[Sohee]

Sohee: Was it 2003? D: Sorry!

January ... 18th or 19th, I think. /is on wiki too much
The auditions started in 2002 though. (:

[Starra]

I was getting confused D:. WHATEVER IT'S CLOSE ENOUGH TO 2002.

[Lu Lu Lu]

omg tsunku stop fucking with my morning musume

[Starra]

Yes because this is clearly Tsunku's fault.

[AyuHikaru]

I'd be happy if Morning Musume changed its name to truly hand down the group to the young members. The 9th and 10th generations are really good and I wish people would give them a chance.

Ah, how refreshing that would be, but it would be more of a bane than a boon. Instant name recognition loss. Also, those girls wanted to be in Morning Musume, it'd be unfair to strip that pride away.

Anyway... <deep breath>

Given that Momusu is still one of the only groups that have this generational model, it's extremely hard to accept, because it just doesn't exist. There's no precedent. Momusu IS the precedent. Even when you do accept it, you don't really accept it. You see the girls that you watched in PVs, met at AX or in Paris or in Japan as YOUR Momusu. You want YOUR Momusu to last forever. But every few years this'll happen as long as Momusu continues to exist. I knew that from the minute T-pain announced the 9th generation auditions. It's generally hard for fans to look at the big picture, but such is human nature.

So, your interest might wane, as did the countless other fans and wota that have left over the years, but the void will be replaced by people who fall in love with these "children." I loved Gaki for a long time (until she was some Chinese girl...) and I will miss her, but she was 13 when she joined, a child in her own right. In ten years time, again if Momusu is still around, people will say the same about Riho or Haruka or Mizuki and call 13th or 14th gen "kids."

I'm obviously speaking to the choir here, but the last two years I've learned a lot about being a fan of this group and fandoms in general by observing icey and all of you. Actually, icey was my "fandom sensei" and the one who got me into all of this, so I'm sure I'm exuding a bit of her right now. xD

This is an exciting yet equally terrifying time. Unprecedented even. I'm always excited for the future, even if I'm not ready for it.

</bryanrant>

PS: Yay, my first long post on JPLOP.

This is so good it needs to be posted on every page.

[Pavlova]

I wouldn't be that surprised if Saki was granted H!P leadership though. Yes, she's been in her group less long, but she's been a LEADER for much longer. Of course, there are no precedents for this! But it *could* happen.

Either way, I'm happy. i mean whether it's sayu or captain.

i'm not happy about the grad. i won't whine, i know the reasons, sad nonetheless. i so hope ill b there for the grad

[wotakubrandon]

Doesn't H!P Kids count towards membership time? ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL! the kids(before they were C-ute) went before 6th gen AND Berryz but when they've perform it recently they amend it to Berryz going first showing their seniority right?