Maybe, just maybe, they should transfer Mifu to the new group. She'd be more comfortable there because her kss mates are there too. She'd start with them, instead of a 10 year old group...
Hello! Project has announced several new members for their groups.
Morning Musume ‘23
Inoue Haruka (井上 春華) (17)
Yumigeta Ako (弓桁 朱琴) (14)
They’ll introduce themselves to the fans for the first time on June 26th at the group’s Nippon Budokan concert.
ANGERME
Gotou Hana (後藤 花) (14)
Shimoitani Yukiho (下井谷 幸穂) (16)
They’re both from Hello! Pro Kenshuusei and will introduce themselves to the fans for the first time on June 11th at the group’s special concert in Nakano Sun Plaza.
Juice=Juice
Kawashima Mifu (川嶋 美楓) (15)
She’s from Hello! Pro Kenshuusei and will introduce herself to the fans for the first time on May 29th at the group’s concert in Nippon Budokan.
Hello Pro Kenshuusei Unit ‘23
Yoshida Hinoha (吉田 姫杷) (15)
Kamimura Rena (上村 麗菜) (13)
They’re both members of Hello! Pro Kenshuusei and have been promoted to the official Hello Pro Kenshuusei Unit.
Yonemura Kirara: Since the period we had been working as Kenshuusei Unit was amid Coronavirus Crisis, so we were always anxious if we would really be able to make our debut, if we would, in what kind of form and when. We didn't know what to aim for, and the four of us were always struggling with the situation and searching for a way forward, so there were days when we couldn't help but feel down. Even if we did our best to perform at an event, our atmosphere would be perceived as low-spirited, and the trainer would sometimes warn us, like "It gets uncheerful when Kenshuusei Unit is on stage, so you don't have to perform any more". There were a lot of hard times, and I was also impatient with my age like "I couldn't go on like this" as I thought in Hello! Project it's very usual that elementary and junior high school students make their debut. The reason I didn't give up and was able to keep going in spite of all that was definitely because I was always with the three comrades! Since we had decided that we would continue together, or we would quit together, I felt that the other three were always my allies. We're like a group sharing a common destiny that have gone through struggles together. And I think it's precious.
Beauty magazine VoCE interviews Yonemura Kirara of OCHA NORMA on makeup, her days in the Hello! Project Kenshuusei, and working towards debut.
Original article found here.
── Which member do you want to exchange makeup bags with?
K: Kitahara Momo-chan. She has a lot of pink cosmetics, and many things that are cute and girly! If we exchanged, I think you'd see a me you haven't seen before with a lot of pink. But actually, the truth is I already borrow a lot of her stuff without much thought now anyway (laughs). Next time I want to properly trade with her.
── What kind of makeup do you usually do for yourself?
K: For work, my eyeshadow is always brown. It makes the area around my eyes look deeper, and I feel like that makes me look cuter and overall better aesthetically. When it's my free time, I don't particularly need to look cute (laughs), so I do my makeup how I like, like winged eyeliner or pink eyeshadow. Sometimes I feel like just doing the makeup that I like for work too, like using the pink eyeshadow, but when I look at the videos and photos afterwards I think "this doesn't look good" and regret it... so basically I always end up back to brown!
── What kind of makeup is essential for live performances?
K: I love using glitter. When I go to a cosmetics department I always check out all the glitters, and I buy them right away. The area around my eyelids is so small, so honestly there's probably a lot more makeup I need to buy (laughs). I love big glitter that looks holographic! When the light shines on me, it reflects the glitter and sparkles and I think that looks really cute. I do sometimes worry how it looks from a male perspective, but I don't think much about that and apply it anyway!
── What do you think your personality is like, according to you?
K: I'm really unrefined. If I'm somewhere that I'm familiar with then I'll sit with my legs wide open, or I'll open and close a door really loudly. But when it's my first time somewhere I tend to freeze up out of nervousness, like today at the beginning I was actually really nervous. So I also think I'm a bit of a chicken.
── Yonemura-san, before OCHA NORMA made their debut, you spent 6 years as a Hello! Project trainee ("kenshuusei"). What kind of existence to you are the other 3 members who walked that road with you in the H!P KSS Unit?
K: When we were working as part of the Hello! Project Kenshuusei Unit, we had the effects of the Coronavirus happening around us, and we were always anxious about whether we would really be able to debut at all, or if we were to debut, what kind of debut that would look like. We had no idea what to aim for, so the four of us continued worrying and searching for some kind of answer, and there were days where we couldn't help our mood being down. There was actually a time that we got scolded by a teacher who told us, "The Kenshuusei Unit brings down the mood of the stage when you perform, so you don't have to perform anymore". There were a lot of painful times, and Hello! Project also has an image of people getting their debuts in elementary or middle school, so there was also an impatience with my age that made me think, "I can't keep going like this". The reason that I carried on without giving up despite all of that is definitely because I was always with the three of them! Of course if we were going to continue we would be together, but we also decided that if we were going to quit, we would quit together as well, so I felt like those three members were always my allies, and we had a special connection as a community of fate who had been struggling and fighting together.
── When you were in the KSS Unit, and you couldn't see your debut coming, was there anything the four of you did to keep up your motivation?
K: When we performed at events, we performed with the determination to turn the guests who were there into our own fans. For example, one thing we tried to be conscious of was making a lot of eye contact with audience members. Of course, we were also polishing our performances, but we also studied up on makeup and did our makeup together, and did strength training in the dressing rooms... We also put in a lot of effort to up our visual appeal.
── You don't always show a lot of what you're feeling on your face, but when you debut was announced, it left an impression on everyone that even you cried. What were your feelings at that time?
K: I had been aiming all this time to debut, so of course it was "happiness", but there was also a huge sense of relief, because my family, friends, and the members I had spent such a long time with had all been supporting me the whole time, and now I was finally going to debut properly. I think my situation had uneasy for a long time, and I caused a lot of worry for the people around me, so I was filled with a lot of gratitude.
OCHA NORMA’s 2nd single “Uchira no Jimoto wa Chikyuu Jan!” / UNMEI CHACHACHACHA~N" was released on November 30th, 2022.
At this rate I'm more excited for the new Kenshuusei unit than about OCHA NORMA, even though their skill level seems lower than what OCHA debuted with. I really hope the new group gets a really good concept and songs.
So for the past... almost a year or so, I've been working on making an all-inclusive, comprehensive, overly convoluted Hello! Project database.
The aim of the database is to include everything related to Hello! Project and its members. While the obvious things are included, I'm also cataloguing things that feature members who were not in H!P at the time.
Basically, if it features a Hello! Project member in some capacity, it counts.
These are examples of what I've been working on, albeit only snippets. You can see the record count for each table (H!P Members, H!P Songs, Releases, Concerts/Events, Performances) at the bottom, if you want a sense of scope/size.
I'm going through things chronologically from the beginning, and I'm currently working on 2007 concerts & events. I've filled out all releases up until the end of 2007, too. (TV/radio shows, movies, and theatre/film appearances are lower priorirty and I'll get to those later!)
If you want a more detailed explanation and some stats, please read on!
The tables I have at the moment are:
H!P Members: Anyone who was ever a part of H!P, incuding the Gatas-only members (they may not count but I'm putting them there anyway) and the H!P Kansai Kenshuusei (Miwa Satsuki & Kawamura Mahiro) who did nothing.
Non-H!P Members: People who appear in collabs etc but aren't part of H!P. Examples are Tsunku, Tokitou aMi, Itsuki Horie, Banba Hirofumi, etc.
Artists: Used for releases, songs and music videos as well as concerts/events.
Units: Separate from artists because not all things are credited to the unit(s) that participate in them. For example, THE Possible perform at a lot of Tokitou aMi's early concerts, but the concerts themselves only have Tokitou aMi in the artist field.
H!P Songs: Or, more accurately, songs featuring H!P members.
Non-H!P Songs: Songs that don't feature H!P members. Used for songs members cover at concerts or on TV, since some songs are covered multiple times.
Staff: For song credits, producers, music video directors, photographers, etc.
Releases: Anything released for retail purposes. CDs, DVDs, books, games, digital releases, smartphone apps, etc. Merch does not count because there are way too many photocards and whatnot to catalogue, sorry.
Music Videos: All types of music videos.
Other Videos: For interviews, making-ofs, livestreams, YouTube videos, etc.
Concerts/Events: Any live event featuring someone from H!P (that isn't a movie or a theatre production).
Theatre/Movies/Etc: Since these are somewhat different to concerts, I have them in a separate table. This includes stage plays and musicals.
Sports: Sports events other than the H!P sports festivals. Mostly Gatas stuff and some Rakuten Eagles support events.
Shows: TV, radio and internet shows. This table is for info on the shows themselves.
Episodes: For individual episodes.
Commercials: Commercials featuring H!P members or advertising H!P-related products.
Magazines: Magazine and other serialised print/digital releases featuring H!P members.
NOTE: I've found the Releases table to be quite overwhelming, so I've moved a bunch of lower priority things to another table. This includes anime DVDs, DVD magazines from after 2007, digital books from after 2007, most movies and TV shows, and anything else I can't be bothered dealing with until later lol.
But why not just use the H!P Wiki?
The Wiki is a good resource, but I find it's often inconsistent (though UP-FRONT themselves are incredibly inconsistent to the point of me wanting to cry over a few releases) and frequently missing details. It's also not as filled out as I want my database to be. My database is convoluted to the point of being ridiculous, but like, that's the entire idea with it.
Also, Fandom is a terrible platform and the search capabilities are very limited too. I hope to make my database easily searchable.
So... when will the database be public?
No idea! I work on it when my brain lets me. As I said, I'm currently on 2007 things. Which means I still have 14-15 years left before I catch up. I'm thinking I might try and fill out all releases until 2009/2010 (around when the Elder Club mass exodus happened) and then make it public.
Since more recent things are easily available, I'm focusing on the older stuff.
Can I help?
I still need to make a website for all of this somehow and I cannot code to save my life. I've tried playing around with a few platforms but nothing is quite how I'd like my database to be displayed, so I may ask around for some help with coding later on. But right now it's not a priority.