Morning Musume. '17 13th Generation : Kaga Kaede & Yokoyama Reina

[Jessi]

Yeah Sakura's first profile pic didn't do her any favors but make up is a wonderful thing and we all know that the girls are going to blossom and transform during their time in the group. I personally think Sakura is beautiful. She also has a sweet personality and is really talented and personality and talent are more important anyway.

when did I disagree? all I said was her make-up was bad.

Oh otaku blue I was not talking about you AT ALL! I was thinking of all the Japanese fans who still judge her as ugly... many of which probably are still judging her from that first picture they saw.

[Zunu]

^ I dunno where you're getting that the group was never about aces, Morning Musume has pretty much lived and died by it's front girls.

*Before I say this I wanna state for the record I never thought Ruru and Sakura were ugly*

Semantics on who as called ugly first or not, the point still remains Ruru is a source of contention about part of the fandom that believes Talent should overshadow everything and the other part that believes an idol's only job is to be beautiful. We kind of forget the Idol business is shallow by nature - it's more about appearances than most of us would like to admit to, and even though Sakura, Kei, and Aika got into the group - none of the them were faces of the group. Should Ruru become a FACE of the group it would cause quite a stir. Even I have to admit the faces of Morning Musume have been VERY conventionally beautiful.

I don't much follow the KSS or rumors attached to them, but personally from a looks perspective I don't see anything horrible with Ruru that a good H!P makeover can't fix. I guess there are people who feel that single lidded or 'dark' = automatically ugly, can't really argue with their personal opinion but I don't agree. I'll take your word she's contentious. Whatever, the "fans", or more like, the 2ch wota, have been wrong before.

And if there's anyone who feels that an idol's only job is to be beautiful, following H!P is probably not for them. It has a history of transforming girls over time into better versions of themselves, which does include "more beautiful" but certainly not only that. Tsuji/Kago were always more adorably cute than beautiful and they were certainly among H!P's most enduringly popular figures until Kago's smoking incident (and for Tsuji that was a mere speed bump.) And I'm sure there were some who thought Yaguchi beautiful but I wouldn't say that was her main attraction to fans in general, either. Plus, worrying about the "FACE" of the group, whatever that means, seems a bit arbitrary. In what way is Sakura not a face of the group? They don't hide her in the back. She's not the front girl but as I stated above I think that's more because of her personality than her looks. (For example Maachan is not only super-pretty and a decent talent but she's lovably batshit crazy in a way that demands attention. Take that away and she's another Akane.) If by FACE you mean "front girl" I think it's better to stick with a term we all are familiar with, or at least to define exactly what you mean, otherwise it starts to get hard to figure out exactly what's being asserted. "Girl X is an ace and a front girl but she's not a BEAUTY TOP so I win."

Bottom line I'm not even saying you're wrong about what might happen. I'm saying I don't agree it's something that needs to be a major consideration at this juncture. Causing quite a stir is a good thing, isn't it?

[Amped]

Shinseiki (New Century) audition
・歌やダンスが大好き (someone who loves to sing and dance)
・自分の未来を信じて突き進みたい (someone who believes in their future)
・自分の可能性を試してみたい (someone who wants to test out their potential)
・新しい自分を見つけ出したい (someone who wants to find their new self)
そして
・誰よりモーニング娘 が大好きな女の子を募集します。(applicants who loves Morning Musume. more than anyone)
参加方法は、PC・スマホ・郵送の中からご応募ください。
皆様方のたくさんの応募をお待ちしています。
http://www.helloproject.com/news/4083/

Morning Musume. '16 Shinseiki audition site is now open
http://musume-audition.com/

theme :
Shinseiki = Atarashii Jidai (New Century = New Era)

Applications starting 1/7/16, ends 2/14/16

Kenshuusei will audition separately in parallel to the audition
＊ハロプロ研修生は、並行して別途「モーニング娘。'16 新メンバーオーディション」を行います。

[Jessi]

^ I dunno where you're getting that the group was never about aces, Morning Musume has pretty much lived and died by it's front girls.

I want to clarify that I meant the group is not a group where all the girls are equally ace quality. It is always one or two max with the rest of the group being growers. Its not when MM had 14 girls in it that all 14 were Rihos or Makis. Its always one ace + a group of girls who have strengths and weaknesses but aren't all around perfection.

Yes having the one ace/front girl is an important part of MM's history as well. That's most likely why we are having this audition, but the majority of MM's members have not been aces or front girls and the choosing of girls for the group based on the girls potential rather than immediate skill is something I don't think we see with the other groups in H!P.

[AyuHikaru]

^ I dunno where you're getting that the group was never about aces, Morning Musume has pretty much lived and died by it's front girls.

*Before I say this I wanna state for the record I never thought Ruru and Sakura were ugly*

Semantics on who as called ugly first or not, the point still remains Ruru is a source of contention about part of the fandom that believes Talent should overshadow everything and the other part that believes an idol's only job is to be beautiful. We kind of forget the Idol business is shallow by nature - it's more about appearances than most of us would like to admit to, and even though Sakura, Kei, and Aika got into the group - none of the them were faces of the group. Should Ruru become a FACE of the group it would cause quite a stir. Even I have to admit the faces of Morning Musume have been VERY conventionally beautiful.

I don't much follow the KSS or rumors attached to them, but personally from a looks perspective I don't see anything horrible with Ruru that a good H!P makeover can't fix. I guess there are people who feel that single lidded or 'dark' = automatically ugly, can't really argue with their personal opinion but I don't agree. I'll take your word she's contentious. Whatever, the "fans", or more like, the 2ch wota, have been wrong before.

And if there's anyone who feels that an idol's only job is to be beautiful, following H!P is probably not for them. It has a history of transforming girls over time into better versions of themselves, which does include "more beautiful" but certainly not only that. Tsuji/Kago were always more adorably cute than beautiful and they were certainly among H!P's most enduringly popular figures until Kago's smoking incident (and for Tsuji that was a mere speed bump.) And I'm sure there were some who thought Yaguchi beautiful but I wouldn't say that was her main attraction to fans in general, either. Plus, worrying about the "FACE" of the group, whatever that means, seems a bit arbitrary. In what way is Sakura not a face of the group? They don't hide her in the back. She's not the front girl but as I stated above I think that's more because of her personality than her looks. (For example Maachan is not only super-pretty and a decent talent but she's lovably batshit crazy in a way that demands attention. Take that away and she's another Akane.) If by FACE you mean "front girl" I think it's better to stick with a term we all are familiar with, or at least to define exactly what you mean, otherwise it starts to get hard to figure out exactly what's being asserted. "Girl X is an ace and a front girl but she's not a BEAUTY TOP so I win."

Bottom line I'm not even saying you're wrong about what might happen. I'm saying I don't agree it's something that needs to be a major consideration at this juncture. Causing quite a stir is a good thing, isn't it?

This is why I'm saying some people may not want Ruru in Morning Musume, especially as an ace. Regardless of whether or not YOU think it's not worthy of consideration, it's definitely something some people think about and argue about. I'm bringing strengths and weaknesses of potential candidates. Some fans (Mostly Western) are seeing Ruru as a lock, I'm pointing out why she may not even be considered or that the Japanese fandom may not want her as their ace. And obviously I was talking about the Ace position, I thought that was obvious in context of the conversation.

[Shoujo Q]

Shinseiki (New Century) audition
・歌やダンスが大好き (someone who loves to sing and dance)
・自分の未来を信じて突き進みたい (someone who believes in their future)
・自分の可能性を試してみたい (someone who wants to test out their potential)
・新しい自分を見つけ出したい (someone who wants to find their new self)
そして
・誰よりモーニング娘 が大好きな女の子を募集します。(applicants who loves Morning Musume. more than anyone)
参加方法は、PC・スマホ・郵送の中からご応募ください。
皆様方のたくさんの応募をお待ちしています。
http://www.helloproject.com/news/4083/

Morning Musume. '16 Shinseiki audition site is now open
http://musume-audition.com/

theme :
Shinseiki = Atarashii Jidai (New Century = New Era)

Applications starting 1/7/16, ends 2/14/16

Kenshuusei will audition separately in parallel to the audition
＊ハロプロ研修生は、並行して別途「モーニング娘。'16 新メンバーオーディション」を行います。

I hope they at least show that footage on Green Room. It would be nice to see some sort of audition footage.

[AyuHikaru]

I miss the old way they used to do Auditions, for real. The fandom wars over who should get in where always part of the fun.

[Solarblade]

I miss the old way they used to do Auditions, for real. The fandom wars over who should get in where always part of the fun.

Now it makes me wonder how people would've thought about the auditions would've gone during the two 12th Gen auditions vs. to where those girls ended up.

I'm more curious to see who were the finalists after the ANGERME auditions though too

[Chibs]

unfortunately there are other groups that are more than willing to gobble up mm finalists

[AyuHikaru]

We pretty much know at this point who was at the 12th gen audition right? Uta was, Ozeki was. I could see people raging against the machine for Uta to get into Momusu. I have a feeling she probably would have been the Kikka of the 12th gen audition, just butthurt fans everywhere.