Saturday, 16 March 2013

12th Generation Already!?

Wait... what? Tsunku, what? You.. you... YES! OH MY GOODNESS YES!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!! -Chiima proceeds to roll around-


... That was not my reaction to this news, actually. In fact, I was a lot more tame than that, to the point where I was not surprised. At all. I was so prepared for the news that my reaction included and a smile and a little 'YAY' before I stopped caring and decided to carry on putting make-up on.

... Seriously, I am not that excited. Though I did talk to Serenyty of Happy Disco about it a bit more because I wanted to know her thoughts and such and to basically, y'know, talk about it.

Okay, maybe I am excited about it; but it seems I get more excited about it when I talk to others about it... but other than that, I don't mind too much. I was sort of expecting this to happen anyway, it was actually pretty obvious... despite that random bit I read somewhere regarding the fact that Management don't want MM to have any more auditions in order to march forward and improve the new girls more (especially that Riho girl, you know).

So that aside, I do have my own speculations about the auditions, such as the fact that I want/think 1 or 2 girls will make up Gen 12. But that's just me. Some people want it to be 1 to keep it consistent with the other generations, and I just want 2 so that dark purple and light blue can be taken up as colours again. It's all about the rainbow with me, guys.

I also hope that the new girl they bring in will be a bundle of personality; the theme for this audition is Mirai Shoujo, meaning Future Girl, basically reads to me as 'A girl who will bring forth the Future of Morning Musume', or something along those lines, so I think that a girl who has an amazing personality will do well for the new Generation of MM. Not that any of the girls now have great personalities, because they do, but I would love to see someone who has a lot of energy and happiness and something that stands out about her. I would also love someone who can fire up an audience and really get the crowd going. Looks and singing? They currently don't matter to me, because Idols don't necessarily have to be good singers, and whilst looks do play a huge part in an Idols success, so does a personality, and I love it when someone has a personality that can translate beautifully on camera, so for me a personality is the key thing that I, as a fan, would love for the new Generation of Morning Musume.

Anyway, my own thoughts aside, here is some additional information for everyone regarding the auditions and requirements:

- Girls between the ages of 10-17 can audition
- The application period of the audition starts from March 16th 2013 until April 30th 2013.
- Tsunku hopes for the new girl to be Tanaka Reina's successor

Also, someone on Hello! Onlin or Facebooke kindly translted the Oricon article concerning the Audition announcement. Please check it out! (Sadly a link can not be provided, boo hoo~)
I have translated the Oricon article on today's audition announcement:「Tsunku♂’s desire for Tanaka’s ‘successor’ in the 12th generation “Mirai Shoujo” recruitment after she graduates in May」 
On March 16th I went to idol group Morning Musume’s “Michishige☆Eleven SOUL ~Tanaka Reina Graduation Special~” first day concert at Olympus Hall Hachioji in Tokyo. Producer Tsunku♂ came onstage suddenly during the opening MC. As fans were stirred up the announcement for “12th Generation Mirai Shoujo Audition” was announced, and the members who were not told beforehand were so surprised they crouched down. 
While 11th generation member Oda Sakura (14) entered the group last September, 6th generation member Tanaka Reina (23) is graduating on the final day of the tour on May 21. This tour would be the first and last with the current 11 members, and they are quickly making their next move. Tsunku♂ said, with heart-pounding excitement, “To be able to take on the future of Morning Musume, I want to discover a spontaneous girl with an original image as if she’s from the future who will surely establish the era of tomorrow. 
Tanaka Reina, who is graduating on May 21 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, said: “I want a yankee to join, because there won’t be a problem child anymore. Someone with strong self-assertion, and can think ‘We won’t lose’ with regards to others.” She hopes for a yankee character to join as her successor. 
Leader Michishige Sayumi (23) said: “(In the current Morning Musume) I am the cutest, it’s not a joke.” Hoping for a full-throttle narcissist character, she added: “In the 12th generation, I want a girl who can make me a joke with that.” 
The 12th generation audition, which aims to recruit girls who fit the description of “Mirai Shoujo” (Future Girl), is targeted at girls aged 10 to 17. The application period is from March 16 until April 30.
So yeah... I really have nothing else to say concerning the auditions, other than that people have their speculations and that a lot of International fans want Cuca for Gen 12 or don't want Cuca for the new generation. Personally it does not matter to me; I would actually love to see Cuca in the Kenkyuusei for a while rather than be added into MM straight away if that were to ever happen. Yes, I like Cuca, but if she gets in or not is not something I have the power to decide, and personally it does not matter to me, though it would be nice to see someone who already has a fanbase get into MM.

... I swear, I care more about this audition on Facebook, but then again there is a lot of debate and hype going on over there, so of course I would get into the swing of things.

Anyways... thoughts?

Chiima~

PING!!! Idolminded Recommended Reading: March 16th, 2013

6 comments:

  1. Just hope this doesn't mean Sayumi's leaving any time soon.. Pretty shocked to be honest since Sakura just debuted... Hope the 12th gen don't debut anytime this year because i wanna see Sakura shine more.. (pardon my oshi bias) Anyway i know Tsunku knows what hes doing so i wish all the best to the girls auditioning =)

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    1. I hope so too, but really, we can't stop that from happening; she's passed the 10 year tenure, and that's a long time.

      I think a lot of people are shocked, because auditions haven't happened since 2010-2011, so to have the so frequently again is weird and shocking... I personally don't mind, but if no one gets in I won't mind either, because then we can see the girls grow more.

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  2. The news does give me an impression that it's to add another member/s after perhaps the 6th generation go but with Morning Musume's success, they might be looking to focus more on getting another spotlight member perhaps. I hope there are two girls this time.

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    1. Hm I agree, it may be another spotlight member. I think they need to try and highlight the girls they have more, though. I mean, the girls are promoted nicely (all but Zukki, however she's shining more in album songs and b-sides I have found) and they all have decent fanbases I think, but they need to try and train them and let their personalities shine. I think they need to focus on finding a member who can sing AND dance, like Sakura and Ayumi, and not a spotlight member. Riho is enough.

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  3. I think it's bloody weird that /anyone/ was surprised by this. I mean, sure, between 2008-2011, there were no auditions at all, so it's new to a lot of people, but, if they had actually taken to time to check the frequency of previous auditions, they wouldn't be surprised at all. Though, granted, this is maybe a little more frequent than /some/ past auditions. However, this 'But Sakura just joined!!' reaction confuses me. She's had two singles (technically) already and the auditions normally take a year or so. By the time the auditions are done, Sakura will be a fully accepted member, just as 10th were by the time Sakura joined.

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    1. Same here, I do wonder why people are surprised, it has happened before where the auditions happened one after the other. And whilst I do think that Sakura was JUST added, I am not surprised still; 9th gen had just been added when 10th gen auditions began.

      By the time 12th gen come along (or not) Sakura will have recorded songs for the first album she will be included in since joining, and it will be 10th gen's 2nd and 9th gen's 3rd..

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