I know it’s a bit late, but hey better than nothing right? Let’s see what Tsunku said about all the current Kenshuusei and their progress and their wants! Also to see if I agree with Tsunku (some I won’t know because I’m not there…but still as a fan XD. Credit to Lurkette from H!O for translating all of the videos…yeah all on youtube!
Nanami Tanabe
“When she first became an idol, she couldn’t do anything at all, singing dancing, talking, acting, or expressing.
The voice lesson was focused around her capacity to express emotion in singing, which also caused problems during rehearsal because she was trying to be sad but ended up looking down to the point where her face was covered up.
She was asked how she felt about trainees who got to debut, and she said that while she wanted to congratulate them, she was bothered as to why they got to go before she did and what they had that she didn’t. Her desire to debut is very strong.
Her rivals are the three who joined shortly after her, Kurumi, Ayano, and Natsumi, because they can all sing and dance pretty well and it would be bad for her to lose to them since they joined after her.
Tsunku’s comments on the past year: You’re going to become even better at singing, I bet. You need to practice finite muscle movements to be able to bring out the sharpness in your rhythm, in particular. The “suddenly bothered for some reason expression” that you do is wasteful. Also, you slouch over, which is very wasteful.
Her dream is to debut and perform in large venues for lots of fans.”
It’s great to see Tanapyon wants to debut so bad and she has been through so many instances where younger KSS got to do more things then she did. Remember she was in Shugo Chara Egg! for a hot minute too so she’s definitely wanting that chance again.
As for Tsunku’s comment, how much better can she get though, she’s definitely at her prime right now. Though a bit shady with the “suddenly bothered” expression and the slouching (which OK she does sometimes I can’t lie but hmmm can she get even better?
Kurumi Yoshihashi
“There have been a lot of hard times for her, but she believes that because she experienced those hardships, it made the fun times that much more enjoyable, so she doesn’t regret anything.
She doesn’t have much self-confidence. She knows she should, but every time she looks around her and sees people more skilled than her, she gets down on herself.
She has a low voice so it’s difficult for her to sing in a high pitch. Her voice coach told her to try singing more through her nose for that, but she isn’t good at doing that well so it will be a battle for her.
She is good at dancing, however. She likes showing her ability in cool songs, and wants to put accents and emphasis on moves to help her stand out in a good way.
Her rival is Hamaura. She’s gotten good at singing and even dancing, even Kurumi can feel it, so she wants to have a friendly rivalry with her.
Tsunku’s comments: Growing your skill as a singer is your fastest route. It might be good to copy a Western style of singing or something like that. If you can make your impressions of them good, then your singing will get better just as much. Your dancing has gotten good. Your facial expressions are also good.
Her dream is to debut in H!P. She’s loved Morning Musume for a long time, and would be happy to join a new unit. She says that there will likely be difficult times ahead but they will help to make her that much happier.”
For Kurumin, yeah it’s very obvious that she’s one that sings deeper tones but seeing her struggle trying to hit higher notes is quite surprising to me. I think she’s great though so she shouldn’t need to feel bad because she’s one of the best KSS right now!
Tsunku didn’t seem to have much negative to say and for him to say adopt a Western style of singing might bring something cool to the table. Still, I’m quite good with Tsunku here!
Ayano Hamaura
“She says that even though she likes performing, dancing, and singing, she’s bad at them, so she tries her best to be energetic and give that to the fans instead of skill. She’s now able to get comfortable with the routines, though, which she couldn’t do before.
She wants to become the KSS ace.
When the other KSS got to debut, she was mortified and cried about it. When she heard their song about a month later, she wondered if she would ever be able to do that, and she figured that it’s because they were chosen as the members that they were able to pull off a song like that. She would be happier to join the next unit instead.
Her rival is Yoshihashi. They’re in the same generation, and she wants to study how good she is in every regard, especially in her bright smile and ability to be strong and stable.
Tsunku’s comments: I want to hear how far you can extend the notes, I want to grow your strength there. If you discipline your rhythm you can also discipline your ear. You’ve put some expressiveness into your dancing. If you develop a gag or make your self-introduction a classic somehow, your personality will be brought out.
Her dream is to get skilled enough in singing and dancing by learning from her seniors to join the next unit, and her dream for that unit is to become even more famous than Morning Musume.”
It’s weird that Hamachan says she’s kind of poor at the things she does, yet wants to be the KSS ace which kind of demands that kind of talent all-around. At least she’s getting the hang of it and while her voice isn’t full…it has cute written all of it.
With what Tsunku said, it seems that after the vid, he’s kind of chosen her to be the kind of mini-him and be there for certain announcements, so it’s kind of nice that she does have a gag now plus her opening line in “Oheso no Kuni Kara Konnichiwa” also seems to push her more…I wonder if Tsunku is planning something with her.
Natsumi Taguchi
“She’s really excited Funaki joined because she’s shorter than her. When she and Hamaura joined, they were about the same size, but Hama-chan has gotten much bigger and she has not so she was worried she would always be the smallest.
Her generation mates are good at dancing and they both got support from fans pretty quickly, so she hopes she can rise up to their level.
She takes a while to learn the dances, but when she has to do them alongside singing and expressing she gets really nervous and starts forgetting her dance moves. Because she’s small, she draws attention to herself, so if she messes up then people might think that that’s how the entire program is and might toss them aside. She thinks she needs to improve herself as part of the quality of the program.
Her rival is Ogawa. She reminds her of herself, since they have the same weaknesses and get told the same things, but after getting criticized Rena will pick herself up and has an attitude like she will work harder the next time. They’re friends, but Taguchi still doesn’t want to lose to her.
Tsunku’s comments: I want a little more strength in your dancing, so you need to work on your muscles. Your sense of rhythm often still comes across as unstable, so I want you to work hard so as to improve your self-confidence.
Her dream is to debut from KSS and have a lot of people see her singing and dancing. She’ll work hard to be able to stand on a large stage when she debuts.”
Taguchi definitely had the least amount of presence this year as she was quite absent in PVs and everything. To see that she looks at the program as a whole and her presence equates to how people will think is pretty mature and adult in a way, but that also kind of says she kind of thinks she could be the big problem, so it’s a bit of a conundrum.
Tsunku seemed to think nearly the same when it comes to her performance level. There wasn’t a lot of positive comments here, but hopefully Natsumi will work on these things!
Rena Ogawa
“Her problems with singing are that she has a very quiet voice, she has trouble staying on pitch, and vibrato and things like that, but she is good at keeping rhythm.
She joined the KSS because she loves singing and idols, and she wants to be able to give energy to people like idols do.
Her rival is Tanabe. She’s good at so many things and it motivates her to get to her level.
Tsunku’s comments: Your singing is unstable, I want to work on that. When you’re singing a song, you need to more and more project an image of the protagonist in the lyrics, you have to sing while understanding what sort of a person that is.
Her dream is to debut soon, and even though she knows it will be difficult and she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to do it, she’ll continue working even harder so that one day she can get somewhere like Kouhaku.”
Is it weird that it seems there wasn’t a lot talked about Renako. It’s true though, in the video her voice is surprisingly quiet and she does have some issues on sounding good but at least she keeps rhythm which is also important.
Tsunku also seemed right on the money with Rena. Though I’m curious to what he meant by “project an image of a protagonist”…I’m guessing he’s meaning to be able to emote better…yeah that would help.
Fuyuka Kosuga
“She’s able to more enjoy singing and dancing now that she has greater skill with them. Her main issue is her decisiveness and coming across as though she’s doing things half-heartedly.
Everyone has gotten so good at dancing that she has to do everything she’s been doing to an even greater extent.
At first she was embarrassed to sing Pittari Shitai Xmas but then she had fun with it and it got easier.
Her teacher criticizes her during rehearsal for appearing half-hearted and not performing her “Santa-san” line well, which causes her to cry since she’s continued to have trouble with it, at which point the teacher says that her emotions are fragile and that there’s no reason for her to be crying in response to the critique. She wants to get stronger in general.
Her rivals are everyone. She has friends within the program but every single person there has something great about them and that makes her want to work harder so as to keep up with them.
Tsunku’s comments: Your dancing has gotten good. I think you’ve grown to a great extent. In the beginning you were the type to not be able to do anything so I was worried, but now you’ve probably come to a position in the top half of the group. However, you can aim even higher. Get your rhythm under control!
Her dream is to be chosen for a group in a year from now, and thinks it would be nice to combine her strength with everyone in the group and become the most energetic and powerful group anywhere, and she’ll keep working on her singing and dancing to be chosen for such a group.”
Fuu-chan does seem like she’s kind on the lower end of the scale when it comes to performing as a KSS. Though with her trying twice as hard, it does show on occasion and she looked good in the Oheso PV so that seems to be working.
Though I don’t know if I’d agree with Tsunku saying top half (then again that’s like what 15?, I suppose so but who knows). Though with Fuu off on sick leave AGAIN…it really makes me wonder if Tsunku is going to continue or not with her.
Mizuki Murota
“Her weakest point in singing is rhythm, which is what the voice lesson was about.
Her rival in dancing is Inaba, because she’s so good that she actually learns from her, and her rival in singing is Danbara, because even though she just joined, her voice is so beautiful that it brings her to tears.
Tsunku’s comments on her this past year: Your dancing and singing have gotten more than reasonably good, so I want you to focus on your expressions in singing. It’s necessary to completely immerse yourself in the world of the lyrics. Also, your impressions are good, but that might be their limit. You’re growing more and more, so do your best! Your dancing is sharp, it’s good.
She cried in response to the progress she still has to make in singing.
Her dream is to debut soon like JJ and have people remember her name and face, and appear on Kouhaku as a famous idol.”
Kind of a lame video in comparison to others, but Murotan is interesting because her rivals are in the newer batch.
From Tsunku, his comments did lead to Murotan crying, but honestly, she’s so ready to join a group or rise among the crowd. This is one of those times where I think he was just searching for something for her to work on…because she just seems SO READY otherwise.
Riko Yamagishi
“She says that everything has gotten easier since she joined the program. She’s progressed in singing and dancing and has gotten people below her. She thinks she’s probably competent when it comes to rhythm but not so much with pitch. Still, she finds the lessons fun and is glad she joined the program when she did.
When it comes to dancing, she isn’t one to move her upper body much. She thinks she’s pretty good at it, but there’s definitely still more she can work on, like making her big movements more visible.
Her rival is Nomura. They joined at the same time but Nomura has gotten more reliable, so she wants to become a presence that stands above the rest in something.
Tsunku’s comments: You’re still developing in dancing, so I want you to apply yourself more to getting down the fundamentals. If you do that both your singing and dancing will grow. You need to apply more and more delicate muscles in your rhythm. You have a character, which is good.
Her dream is to join the unit that follows JJ. She wants to join a group like MM or Cute with cool dances. She’ll be in high school in a year so she’d like to debut by then, but if not she’d still like to improve her singing.”
It’s great when a member recognizes her weakness and tries to do something about it like Rikoriko does. In the video about her, it does show that Riko has trouble with her upper body movement.
Tsunku nailed it with this one at least. I feel like he knows what needs to change for her to become better so hopefully she takes it to heart and becomes better!
Minami Nomura
“She’s worse at dancing than at singing, but it’s fun to her now that she can actually remember the moves. She wants to work hard at being sharp and doing more than just what she’s supposed to.
She’s bad at expressions. The mood is different for every song and it’s difficult for her to focus on everything and be able to change her expression while still singing well.
She wants to be center for a song (Number 0 refers to the placement at the center of the stage). She doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to, but she’ll work hard.
Her rival is Yamagishi Riko. It’s precisely because they’re generation-mates that she doesn’t want to lose to her. They both started from the same point, with no experience in anything, so she wants to keep pace with her.
Tsunku’s comments: I want to make your singing develop more. If you can extend your singing and dancing abilities than you’ll see some results. For dancing, you’re pretty sharp. It looks like it will grow even more! With facial expressions, you have strength in your smile.
Her dream is to join a unit like JJ and be able to cry together with the other members. She wants to perform at Budokan and large venues like that and become a big idol group.”
Maybe it’s just me, but this one didn’t seem to make me think too much differently about Minamina. I do like that she and Riko are rivals to each other because they joined at the same time.
Tsunku is also right with his comments, just needs to work on things and hopefully she’ll do better.
Reina Ichioka
She’s often told that she’s very my-pace, always doing things slowly and as she wants to, which isn’t wrong, but she does hate to lose.
She goes too fast with the rhythm. Even so, it looks like she doesn’t care, so it’s something she has to work on every single time.
She listens to the songs she’s given all the time at home, but since she doesn’t catch onto the rhythm, once she starts trying to sing and dance to it she misses some steps. She doesn’t feel she’s improved much in dancing, so she wants to be able to dance even bigger.
Being able to do live performances in Nama Tamago every few months has made her realize how much stronger and able she’s gotten, and that makes her really glad she joined.
Her special skill is being able to put just one tooth out, which is why she does that backstage.
Her primary rivals are her generation-mates, but also Sasaki and Murota. She sees how they’ve all improved and how far they’re going and it makes her want to go even further, as well.
Tsunku’s comments: Let’s go further with your dancing. But you do have some sensuality in your expressions. Don’t give up halfway through, let’s follow through decisively until the end. You’re developing rapidly in that regard, so work on your dancing first, and then your singing.
She still has a lot of things to work on and needs to learn how to be able to do them, so she hopes to debut in a year or so. She wants to become an adult and become a woman in her ways of thinking about things, since she’s still very much a child right now.”
Reina has slightly come a good way since she joined. Her kind of own way does make her stand out but also hurts her in learning in the ways of H!P. The rhythm problems is of course ok right now as she’s only been in the KSS for a little over a year.
With Tsunku’s words, he’s also seeing something nice in her dancing, but his saying of don’t give up halfway is kind of nailing it on the coffin on Reina’s more laidbackness.
Yumeno Kishimoto
She can’t always attend the lessons because she lives in Osaka, but since so many people have joined after her she has to keep working hard.
She can get the atmosphere and mood of a song down easily, but not the rhythm, but since the mood is useless without the rhythm she has to keep trying. The same goes for dancing, since she goes too fast and breaks formation. She’s also prone to shrinking her body down and getting hunched over, as well as holding the mic weird.
Her rivals are Makino Maria and Wada Sakurako. They spend a lot of time together, they’ve known each other for a good while, and they’re friends, but lately she feels like Maria has been getting better than her at the performances so she feels more of a rivalry between them.
Tsunku’s comments: Put forth a lot of effort into making your singing better. Work on your impressions. I want you to memorize anything and everything about the way Western singers work.
She cries because she feels like her generation-mates are getting better and getting more work as a result and she wonders why she hasn’t improved as much as they have.
Her dream is to become a perfect performer like Suzuki Airi, and she’ll keep going to improve herself so that she can debut.”
Yumeno’s video really showed off a lot of what she talked about, mostly the varios negatives she has. She has a lot of things to work on it seems and she’s taking it as well as she is able to.
Though Tsunku shooting down the only thing Kishimon thought she was doing well in was a bit of a punch in the stomach. Though another Western singer comment…I wonder….>.>
Maria Makino
She used to be nervous for lessons every day. She feels like she’s only improved in singing and rhythm by a little bit, but she wants to keep getting better and keeps listening to the music to find ways to improve.
At first she couldn’t dance at all because she had no experience in it, but lately she’s been getting even 16-beat songs down easier and has been having fun doing it.
She doesn’t find the lessons strict. The teachers are there to help her learn these practices and minute details, so she’s very grateful for their presence. They’re there to help her and watch her grow, and she likes that.
Her rival is Kishimoto Yumeno. They’ve always been together between the MM auditions and the KSS, and Yumeno has a great smile and is so funny, which Maria thinks she’s lacking, and very good at dancing, but Maria won’t lose to her in terms of energy and eagerness.
Tsunku’s comments: Please get a better sense of the rhythm and details in dancing. You have a look that you give too often where you seem so serious, so it would be good for you to have something individualistic about your self-introduction, or a gag, or a catch-phrase so as to overcome that wall.
She is going to always work hard as a KSS. She might not be able to debut this year, but her dream is to be able to join Morning Musume.”
I love that Makino is so grateful to be in the program and enjoys the sessions she has with her mentors. It’s that kind of attitude that’ll help her get places in H!P (hopefully). It is a bit interesting that she said she’s only gotten better by a little bit lol.
With Tsunku, of course they usual (just get better overall) comments but added the serious face, so u need something that’ll make you more comfortable…it’s a little odd.
Sakurako Wada
She finds the program hard, but there are so many fun things about it, like doing shows or back-up dancing or handshakes.
She thinks of voice training as studying for a test. If she applies herself and really studies and works hard, she’ll see results. She says that once she has decided to do something, she has to learn how to do it.
She had danced a little before doing the program, so it wasn’t that hard to start, but she starts to mess up when she thinks too hard and gets nervous. She’s the type to easily succumb to her nervousness, she’s often been told.
Her rival is Sasaki Rikako. Rikako got to participate in things like the C-ute tour, which she also wants to be able to do. Rikako’s dancing is energetic and is a very reliable person in the program, so she wants to work hard to keep up with her.
She doesn’t want to lose to anyone in terms of her smile. She’s also not shy around people, so she thinks she’s better at meeting people for the first time, like at handshake events, and getting them excited and feeling good.
Tsunku’s comments: I want to train you more in dancing. If you don’t train in rhythm you won’t be able to sing, right? Let’s see you apply yourself to those detailed aspects! Your smile is good. You have elegance, and that’s good.
Her dream is to be approved as a member of a group within the next year. Then, after three years, she wants to have a concert with that group on a huge stage.”
With impressing the judges in last year’s test, Sakurako seems to really have found her place and is having fun with being a part of H!P. Of course her current problem is her nervousness which to me is alright to have at a young age, but it’ll go away with more performances.
Tsunku caught on and addresses her nervous dancing which is great since Sakurako will definitely focus on it. Adding rhythm makes sense too…though she has elegance…isn’t that a bit of an oxymoron to say?…unless Tsunku is just saying she’s pretty lol.
Kaede Kaga
She spends her time thinking of how she can stand out not just in the KSS, but in H!P as a whole.
She’s not great at projecting her voice cleanly.
She goes too quickly in dancing and when she notices it, she stiffens up. Then other people notice that she’s stiffening up and point that out rather than the rhythm.
She’s training to join MM. Until the day she graduates from KSS, that’s what she’ll be working for.
Her rival is Murota Mizuki. She’s the most well-rounded overall at everything in the KSS, among the top at singing and dancing, so Kaedi thinks of her as a rival to try and get up to her level.
Tsunku’s comments: You’ve grown in both singing and dancing. Next will be your character. You can decide where you stand if you can make yourself improve more and more in your singing, dancing, and the fact that you’re not super beautiful, as well as creating a character that other people get attached to. It should be a character that stands alone as “Kaedi Kaga!”
Her dream is to join MM. She doesn’t think she can at her current level, but she wants to be able to pass the next audition by the time it comes around.”
For as someone that’s quickly impressing me from the KSS, it’s surprising to learn she has problems cleanly projecting her voice and does have some dance issues, but she’s such a great member now and her rivalry choice to Murotan is sooo good, also her devotion to joining Momusu is just hard to pass up!
Though Tsunku’s comments did make me frown XD. I mean the whole “not super beautiful” comment was a bit out there, but then again Japan is weird with how they determine beauty. Otherwise he didn’t have much to say except build a character. Weird
Rikako Sasaki
She’s always dreamed of being an idol or being on TV, and she thinks it’s important for idols to have actual skill. H!P idols can all sing and dance well to any given song and have a lot of ability, she thought they were all so cool and that’s when she decided she wanted to join H!P. She does everything with seriousness.
She’s bad at singing. She has a small range and can’t get any high notes out, so she wants to be able to do that and above all be able to say she has confidence in her singing.
She does have confidence in dancing. However, she’s quick to start sweating and all of her make-up comes off, so she wants to work on her metabolism to fix that (she has trouble with the word ‘metabolism,’ ‘shinchintaisha’).
Her grades are “below the middle of the middle.”
Her rival is Murota Mizuki. Murota is good at singing and dancing and is very energetic and emotional during MCs, and she thinks that’s amazing so she wants to be like her and someday exceed that.
Tsunku’s comments: Your dancing has gotten better. Because of that, I want your singing to get better, too. Within that, the details in feeling the rhythm, like we always say, and the feeling of conscientiously putting your heart into it. That feeling might be the part you’re lacking the most. Your expressions are big, like “look at me!” and that’s a good thing.
Her dream is to become the top idol in the universe. She wants her name to be spoken whenever someone mentions “Hello!Project” or “idol.” She wants to gain a lot of experiences.”
Whoa, Sasaki wants to be the top idol in the universe? She has BIG dreams for someone as young as she is. As a KSS her singing levels I thought were good, but she doesn’t a large range which is something surprising. The sweating thing was a bit strange to hear, but I guess she has a point that it does get in the way.
Tsunku wants Rikako to have more feeling when performing as well as her singing, but as much of a force she is in the KSS as it is, it won’t seem as difficult for her to do.
Karen Tanaka
She wants to be cool. She’s not all cutesy or perky, but, as she says, “a realistic 15 years old.”
Singing is tough for her. Getting the rhythm, hitting the notes, there are a lot of things she can’t do. Even when she practices at home, there are still parts she messes up on. She tries to get the rhythm better by listening to music on the train and patting out the beat.
Her body is stiff. Her mother’s is, too, and so that makes her particularly bad at dancing. She’s bad at it, but that’s a dream she wants to make come true, and it’s still fun working so hard with her generation-mates.
For things like Nama Tamago and other live performances, the thing she looks forward to the most is seeing the faces of the fans that are having so much fun watching her perform.
Her rivals are her generation-mates. They joined at the same time, so it was immediately apparent who she didn’t want to lose to. It’s made her heart stronger in wanting to keep up with all of them.
Tsunku’s comments: I think that if you can establish a character, you can achieve a singular position even in Hello!Project. It’d be good if you had a nickname that both the fans and the other members could really get into. Let’s try thinking of one.
She says that she might not be a KSS a year from now, so it would be the best if she could debut, but even if she doesn’t, she’d still like to be able to increase her abilities and strength many times over while she’s here. Her dream and her goal is to someday go to Kouhaku.”
By the things she said during her video, she seems like she’s the worst of the bunch. It’s a little surprisng to hear, but it’s good she notices her faults like that and still manage to say she’s having fun training and being a part of it (though her comment on maybe not being a KSS in a year’s time is a bit sad, I hope she does gain a lot of progress).
Strange that Tsunku didn’t even mention singing or dancing and went straight to working with her character and trying to find a nickname for her….weird…also he said with a character, you could have a singular position within H!P…is he saying he’d give her a chance to be a soloist?!?….that’s shocking!
Manaka Inaba
She’s from Hokkaido, so going to the lessons and things has been a lot harder on her than the others, and so she puts all of her strength into every single one. She’s already seen a lot of improvement in herself and it’s been very fun.
At voice training they teach her how to project her voice and change the accent and things like that, but even if she practices at home she won’t be able to get those little details, so she wants them to continue teaching her things like that.
She’s trying very hard at singing while dancing, which she finds very difficult. Sometimes she has a tendency to do her movements in the choreography too big and she’ll trip or be at risk of breaking her leg, so she’s learned to get a better feel for her body to protect it while toning down the dance. However, she has a long history doing dance and never really had any seniors in that regard, so she definitely doesn’t want to lose in that.
Her rival is Fujii Rio. As generation-mates they have a sense of wanting to work hard together, but her dancing is very powerful and they have been challenging each other to do better.
Tsunku’s comments: Your dancing is amazingly good. Your legs are improving beautifully. For expressions you have a nice smile. Because you’re from Hokkaido I don’t think you’ll be able to attend everything, so I hope that you’ll watch videos in your normal life and regularly copy the dances and singing so as not to fall behind.
Next year she will be a 2nd year high school student so she wonders if this next year will be her last chance, so her dream is to debut within the year. She wants to become a singular presence that brings smiles and energy to lots of people.”
It’s surprising how filled out Manakan’s profile was, but she’s gotten a lot of hype being in an idol group before. It does suck that since she’s from Hokkaido, she has to travel quite far for her practices. Seems like she’s been learning and having fun doing it too.
Tsunku didn’t have any bad to really say about Inaba interestingly enough and praises her for her dancing, though his hopes sound like she’ll continue to improve and practice from home as to not lose to her fellow mates. Not bad, not bad…seems like she’s ready to debut!
Kana Mikame
She’s bad at finding the rhythm. When she first joined she couldn’t hear it at all, but even now she’s bad at hearing a 16-beat so she wonders if she will be able to soon.
She finds it weird to do all the steps for dancing while moving her arms around and she’s bad at it, so she tries putting her earphones in while watching the videos at home to try and learn how to do it.
Singing and dancing are the most important things for this job but she’s bad at them, so she wants to be the best at MC and talking, the funniest and most ridiculous to make everyone in the audience laugh.
30 second MC:
What is your most feminine aspect: My sneeze
Who is the most airheaded in KSS: Yamagishi Riko
If you could have your way, where would you like to go play: California
Out of H!P, what are your favorite lyrics: “Kisu wo ageyou” “I’ll give you a kiss”
Makoto asks why that tortoise, and she said it’s because it’s small, only like 40 cm (not that small).
Her rival is Fujii Rio. At first she didn’t think so because she’s so bad at dancing and Rio is so good, but they’re also generation-mates and she thinks she’s a good person to aim to be like as a result.
Tsunku’s comments: When you overdo the dance movements I can see you falling out of step, so I want you to work on getting smaller, more stable movements down so as not to do that.
Her dream is to become great at singing and dancing, even though she’s the worst right now she’ll build up her abilities. She would like to be an idol but if she can’t she’d also like to be an actress or the funniest talent on TV.”
Mikame was initially the least interesting member before her video, but seeing how she admits she’s bad at mostly everyhing and setting her sights with MC-ing (the only gal who seems to wanna go for that first), she’s quite quirky!Tsunku though focuses on her dancing and trying to tighten up certain areas so that’s pretty cool, hopefully that’ll work.
Rio Fujii
She loves H!P, which is why she took the S/mileage and MM auditions, but when she failed after becoming a finalist, she was really upset and embarrassed so she tried the KSS audition to still be a part of it.
When she joined, she found out how much H!P focuses on rhythm and she was really bad and couldn’t do it at the start. However, she’s been practicing every day at home and has finally gotten some praise from her teachers, so she’s happy.
She dances earnestly, but it doesn’t show on her face and she looks scary, so she wants to be able to put on a natural smile when she dances. Her mother even tells her she looks scary when she practices at home. The teacher keeps reiterating that that’s the main thing she needs to work on.
Her rivals are the other 19th gen members. They’ve all had the same lessons and time to improve, so she doesn’t want to fall behind. She definitely doesn’t want to lose to anyone who joins after her, either.
Tsunku’s comments: Your dancing is incredibly good, so I want to focus more on your singing. I want you to mimic people who are much much better than you. It might be good to try copying Western singers. Dancing, good. Expressions, good.
She only listens to H!P music so she thinks this is valuable advice and is also a little surprised but happy about his comment on her expressions.
Her dream is to join the H!P she’s always loved and admired, be it a debut in a new unit, in MM, or in another established group. She wants to perform at year-end TV shows and specials and wants to become popular.”
When it comes to Fujii, I remember clearly when we first saw her trying out for S/mileage’s 2nd Gen and how she stuck out with being a powerful dancer and a little arrogant. Nowadays, it’s great she’s learning tons of things and doing pretty well, though her expressions in dancing are a bit rough lol.
Tsunku definitely knows she’s a great dancer too and now wants her to focus on her singing and once again threw in the Western voices XD. Seems like once her voice gets going, she’ll be a powerhouse 😀
Hikaru Inoue
Tsunku’s lyrics resonated with her and so she wanted to become a part of the H!P world.
The rhythm is most difficult for her. She can’t get the hang of it and perform the details well, so that’s where she has to work hardest to improve. Even when she gets the song down and thinks she’s memorized it, once she starts dancing, she forgets it. During the rehearsal, she stopped singing halfway through.
H!P is very strict. The teachers get angry a lot and she has a difficult time preparing for everything, but it’s so much fun and makes her happy to perform at Nama Tamago and see people supporting her, so she wants to continue her activities in the program.
She really admires Tsugunaga Momoko. Earlier at a play, she saw her singing and she looked so cool that Hikarun started crying. Her admiration for her and desire to be like her makes her want to put forth more effort into singing and dancing and hopefully debut someday.
Her rival is Inaba Manaka. Of course because they’re generation-mates, but also because Manakan’s singing and dancing both stand out among all the KSS. She has a lot of cuteness and is idol-ish, which Hikarun doesn’t think she has much of.
Tsunku’s comments: I want to teach you more strength in dancing. I definitely want you to work on smaller muscle movements to get the rhythm down. Singing is on the next floor up. Start with the rhythm first.
She doesn’t know if she can debut soon, but in the future she’d like to debut in any way possible, be it in a new unit or MM or anything else.”
To me, it sounds like she, Mikame, and Tanaka are the worst of their generation which kind of surprises me since we don’t really see them perform as much as Inaba or Fujii. Back to Inoue, she seems to have the roughest time out of the three above, but she’s learning, just not very fast.
Tsunku got this one as well, basically pointing out the things that she needed herself said she needed work on. She’s got a loooong road ahead though it seems.
Ruru Danbara
She’s happy to be able to become a KSS, because she wanted to join and get the chance to continue her singing and dancing lessons. She had learned different methods before so she has to learn new ways of doing things, but she’s still happy to be doing the lessons. She has to work harder in dancing than singing.
Before the show she was nervous, because she had spent most of her time in lessons just watching herself and others, but now other people are going to be watching her.
She’s also happy and reassured to see the people she had watched on YouTube and find that they’re very kind and teach her lots of things.
She had a lot of fun seeing the audience wave their glowsticks in time with their dance.
Her rivals are all of her generation-mates. They were rivals in the MM audition, and because they all joined KSS at the same time she doesn’t want to lose to any of them.
She has a positive personality. She hates losing. She works best in the things she likes.
Tsunku’s comments: You can’t call yourself a pro if you don’t have both the rhythm and a heart-felt song down. You can’t just be good, you need to feel the more subtle rhythms and include emotions, so I want you to try copying more and more of the world’s best singers to get to that point. Memorize everything about all the female singers you can.
Her dream is to debut and join MM after getting a lot of lessons and practice in KSS.”
Moving to our newest generation, I was surprised they’d make videos for them as their only performance is only dancing to “Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne”. Though since after the video they’ve performed “ROCK Erotic” so I can sort of say things. She was already known prior so we’ve gotten to hear her and she sounds good. It’s nice to see she’s humble about it and enjoys learning what H!P has to offer.
I think Tsunku really wants Ruru to get emotive with her vocals and honestly that might not take to long to do, but with the amount of Tsunku wanting this to happen, I feel like Ruru might be put to use real soon.
Akane Haga
She’ll continue working hard even though it hurts to have so much criticism in lessons because it means she’ll get better. She’ll keep listening to what the teachers say because she’s bad at dancing.
She got nervous seeing how big the venue was and how many people would be watching. However, she wants to have the biggest performance out of all 7 in the group so that she stands out the most and gets everyone to look at her. She made some mistakes during the performance and wasn’t completely satisfied afterward. She wants to work harder at the parts she can’t do even in songs she isn’t performing.
She doesn’t really have a rival, but Funaki Musubu is the closest thing to it. Even though she’s younger, she’s better at singing and dancing so she wants to chase after her.
After a sudden tryout for the 20th gen to join other group performances, Akane did not make it. She practiced for it, but she’s sad it didn’t show. She thinks she’ll have other chances, though, so she’ll do her best to make the most of those opportunities.
She wants to become the sort of artist that everyone around the world knows, and the people who know her would want other people to know her, too.
Tsunku’s comments: The number one thing above all else that has immediate strength is “a smile.” I want you to practice putting on a smile every day for an hour in the mirror.
She wants to continue improving her singing and dancing for the next year as a KSS, then the year or two after that she wants to join MM, graduate at 24, and then become an announcer like Konno Asami.”
Akane to me isn’t one that’s standing out currently, but it seems like she’s got a lot of work to do. Though her dream is weird like she wants to be well-known (like Rikako) and yet graduate at 24 and follow Konkon’s path (interesting to see another member mention someone that isn’t a KSS currently).
Tsunku seemed to be outside himself here by just saying “work on your smile”. It feels so…vague almost…
Hirona Oura
She’s having a lot of fun being able to see all of the H!P members that she likes.
She has trouble with finding the rhythm in dancing. Every time the music starts, her mind goes blank and she can’t remember. It’s making her appreciative of how hard everyone works, though, because they’re always smiling and happy on stage but now she understands all of the preparation that goes into that behind the scenes.
After the performance, she was so happy to hear people calling her by name and making eye contact and waving glowsticks, it made the fun of it outweigh her nervousness.
Her rival is Niinuma Kisora. They have the same lack of experience and are bad at the same things, so she doesn’t want to fall behind her.
There was a tryout for 20th gen to also participate in the two all-KSS numbers of Ten Made Nobore! and Kanojo ni Naritai!!!. Haga and Hirona were told they wouldn’t be in either because they hadn’t gotten the dances down, Funaki and Kisora could only be in one, and the rest were allowed to do both. Hirona said she had practiced at home, but she must not have understood the dance correctly because she doesn’t know where she needs work. She messed up by tripping on her shoelaces, and after that she just forgot all of the dancing she had learned. She’s also upset because Kisora got to be in a position in the center even though they had the same level of dance experience.
Tsunku’s comments: Don’t covet what others have, first let’s just get you feeling the rhythm. Going straight into 16-beat is the fastest way to do it.
She wants to keep working and improving her skills to become a person that makes people smile by listening to her sing.”
Wow, to be honest, I don’t notice Hirona much either from this new bunch of KSS that joined. Though she seems to be on the lower end of the girls alongside Kisora and Akane. She also kind of reminds me of Taguchi surprisingly enough.
Interesting to hear Tsunku say, don’t strive for what others have…but let’s get you working on rhythm…I don’t know…maybe it was a weird way to segue into things, but whatever works.
Kisora Niinuma
She is very bad at dancing, but she has more confidence in singing. She hasn’t actually gotten to practice it while holding a mic, so she wants to be able to do voice lessons soon. She’s bad at memorizing the moves and remembering them when the time comes, so she wants to practice more at home and get everything down.
The toughest thing about being a KSS is coming to rehearsals, and greeting and bowing to everyone and then not being able to do any of the performances and having people who have worked harder and are better than her have to stop what they’re doing and help her because she’s so far behind. Having so many chances to work with her seniors is rough, but she thinks it’s worth doing.
She wants to become someone who leaves an impression with people even when she’s performing with all of her generation-mates. They are all her rivals, because they joined at the same time but there are girls better at singing and much better at dancing, so she wants to be able to catch up to them.
She tried during the performance to be aware of her facial expressions, since she’s prone to gloomy ones, but seeing the crowd get excited during their song made her feel happy more naturally.
Tsunku’s comments: Your dancing is still half-hearted, I want to focus on the rhythm. The movements overall are very subtle, and so it’s good to be able to show those subtle movements visibly, so I want you to go on to working on those subtle gestures. When your bangs are longer you look gloomy, so it might be better to keep them cut.
Her dream is to have a major debut, so she wants to continue her activities in the KSS and work on her expressions so that her smile can reach everyone.”
With hearing Kisora’s voice recently, it reminds me of Momoko’s…cute and very pitchy, I hope she loses that squeak soon because I’m just not a fan of that. She, like Hirona also feels negative about being passed up by their gen-mates so it does hopefully make them want to be better and hopefully surpass them.
Tsunku got it right with Kisora’s poor dancing, though first time I heard Tsunku mention how hair makes a girl look gloomy lol…so weird bro xD.
Musubu Funaki
She joined the KSS because she wanted to improve her singing and dancing so that she could take the MM audition one more time and be able to pass.
MM’s level of technical skill has gotten stronger and stronger, and she’s worried that she won’t be able to keep up.
She took the MM audition because she liked them. Her friends had been talking about how much they admired them, how cool they were with their singing and formation dances, and wanted to be in the group. From there she started to get into them and decided to audition.
Her personality is shy. At home, she does whatever she feels like, but when she goes out she gets embarrassed, so she wants to be able to show people a bright and cheery side of her.
After the performance, she said that she had been so scared beforehand, but once she saw everyone’s faces as she stepped foot on stage, she felt relaxed and happy. She thought the glowsticks were pretty and wants to see that sight again.
Her rival is Haga Akane. They joined at the same time and they’re friends, but she feels like they have a rivalry for who is going to be the center.
Tsunku’s comments: Please try copying different songs and dances from what you would usually listen to so that you can dance to most any kind of music. Your singing isn’t quite there yet, so first is rhythm.
Her dream is to keep working hard and improving so that she can challenge the MM audition again and become a part of the group. If she joins, she wants to keep doing her best to improve.”
Omg, Funaki is such a cutie and how she wants to be in Momusu is almost as cute lol. She’s shy so hopefully she’ll get over it pretty quickly.
Tsunku though seems like she wants to get her going with dancing and singing…though since this video was before the recent Nana Tamago….something happened and Funaki sounded AMAZING doing “ROCK Erotic”…seems like she’s making big strides already with the training!
Risa Yamaki
She wanted to join the KSS because she wanted to join H!P, but she only has eyes for MM. She doesn’t have interest in any other idols.
When she started dancing she realized how stiff her body had become. When she was younger she played volleyball a little and was very flexible, and she was shocked at how stiff she was. Starting the lessons helped a bit, though.
Every time she has a rehearsal or a lesson, she realizes how far behind her seniors she is and needs to work harder.
Before going on stage, she was the most nervous she’s ever been in her life, to the point where she almost cried. Once she saw the faces in the crowd, though, all she could do was have fun with it. It made her glad she joined.
She doesn’t have a rival yet. She just joined and has so many seniors that do well with things. She wants to find someone who will inspire her to do better.
Tsunku’s comments: I want to teach you more dancing strength. I want you to dive right into the rhythm, especially 16-beat. I also want you to have a pattern in smiling or expressions.
Her dream is to join MM. She hopes to have one more chance to audition and be able to sing and dance with everyone.”
Yamaki seems to kind of ride in between sticking to me, but at the same time being forgetful at the moment. I like she’s certain that she wants Momusu and nothing else. Her training is loosening her up which is good.
Especially since Tsunku points it out as well as being more expressive. We’ll see what happens!
Yumei Yokogawa
She wanted to join MM because her mom had always liked them and her sister had started singing their songs around the house so she started liking them a lot.
She took dancing lessons before so she can manage with it, but with singing she has trouble hearing the different notes and wants to get better. She’ll work hard at both.
She had stage fright, but she was happy to hear people yelling and calling her name. She wants to work hard in the future to hear the music better and enjoy it as much as everyone in the audience.
Her rival is Danbara Ruru. They have similar skill levels and dancing but she’s better at singing.
Tsunku’s comments: Your rhythm isn’t sharp so you have noticeable bad habits in dancing, so work on putting the 16-beat rhythm into your muscles as subtly as possible.
Her grandparents believe that she will be in a big group, and she wants to debut in a big group that a lot of people admire.”
It’s great that Yumei came in with dancing lessons and admits her meh voice so it’s great to see that and knowing that she has the same skill at dancing as Ruru.
Though Tsunku shot that down. Has to work on getting rid of them bad habits…though doesn’t mention anything about voice…odd…
Overall, Tsunku’s comments are pretty well made and hopefully these girls can work on that all. Hopefully some of the KSS do get to debut in 2014, here’s hoping!
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