°C-ute to disband in 2017

Today, it was announced that the eldest group in H!P currently will disband at Saitama Super Arena in June of 2017.

Honestly, while the timing was surprising, the overall thoughts were that it wasn’t as much of a shock considering the tenure they’ve been pulling since they’ve debuted.  I love the group and as much as I think Airi, Maimi, and Chisato were the vocal powerhouses, Saki and Mai were pretty integral as well!

More news is that they’ll release one more single and won’t take part in the Winter H!P concerts.  Makes me think there’ll also be a best album thrown in like when Berryz called it a day.

Don’t know what other surprises are in store, but it’ll be a nice run towards the end!

Tsubaki Factory gains 3 members?…WHT?!?

Yup!  Announced today at a Fanclub event, the group annouced 3 new members (all from the Kenshuusei…so let’s get to know them!

Saori Onoda

Probably the most familiar face of the trio, Saorin kind of took up Karin’s mantle when she started doing the Pinkss stuff and even then she surprised many for her Shindan Test performance opting for a recorder solo!  To me she stands as a good face for the group next to Yumeno currently.  It’ll be interesting to see what she’ll bring, but I have a feeling she’ll be a lead next to Yumeno and Kiki.

Mao Akiyama

The next gal up is Mao Akiyama!  Though I am sad to say that between her and the other girl that’s coming up, I don’t have too much of an opinion on them.  With Akiyama though, she is known for her dancing abilities so that’ll come in handy for more upbeat songs.  We’ll see how things go!

Mizuho Ono

The last girl, Mizuho is really an enigmatic to the group as she kind of runs in the middle of the road leaving nothing that really sets her apart from her KSS sisters.  She has gotten better singing since her induction to the KSS, but how it’ll stand amongst the other 8 will be interesting.

Overall, I feel like moving Tsubaki to a 9-nin group might be a little overkill, but I feel like the group really needed a spark as not many fans are won over quite yet.  While I see Saori being a good choice, it’ll be worth seeing if Mao and Mizuho can add something else as well!  Though announcing this not even a week after the 6-nin released “Hitorijime / Watashi ga Obasan ni Nattemo” is beyond weird

Manaka Inaba graduates from Country Girls

Today, it was announced that Manaka Inaba from Country Girls has graduated.  For me, this isn’t all too surprising because she’s been absent and on hiatus for a couple months now due to her asthma which apparently hasn’t gotten better.  The notice did say she’ll remain a part of UF, but to what degree is unknown currently.

It’s a bitter and sudden closure as she only sung on three singles, but she was kind of the hidden ace amongst the group due to her amazing dancing skills and her voice which could go between a powerful voice and to a cutesy squeak.  While I wonder if they’ll replace with someone (as ANGERME did recently), I kind of hope one of the Hokkaido KSS gets added just for the whole Country Musume/Girls status quo.