BREAKING NEWS: Idol Group Known For It’s Ever Changing Line-Up to Replace Popular Former Member

Links: The audition announcement (in Japanese)
             The same announcement, but in English and on a different website

Morning Musume ’16 will soon be holding auditions for the 13th generation of members, and this is exciting! I love hearing about new Momusu auditions and I always look forward to seeing the new arrivals and judging them on a first look alone. Usually, an announcement of this kind is met with much the same kind of reaction from the wotadom at large, but not this time, it would appear. Why?

Well, because the fans feel that the management are looking to REPLACE Queen Riho Stormborn, First of Her Name, with a younger girl, or maybe MANY younger girls! And they may be – gasp – PRETTIER than our beloved RihoRiho! And – whisper it – they may have a better singing voice than her. They may even be a better ACE than Riho.

Oh, the HUMANITY! How utterly BARBARIC! The very IDEA that Up-Front would even THINK of replacing a former member of Morning Musume with a complete unknown, some simple little girl with dreams of becoming an idol or starting a career in the entertainment industry!

Oh, hang on a minute, that’s happened before! Fukuda Asuka, 1st gen member of Morning Musume waaaaaay back in the day, graduated suddenly from the group halfway through 1999, and was REPLACED months later with this upstart, Goto Maki. Huh; that sounds familiar…

And what’s this…?

Why, that’s former ace and notorious chipmunk Kusumi Koharu! She was chosen in 2005 to replace Iida Kaori, who had graduated from the group at the start of that year, but also to replace Yaguchi Mari, who had resigned following a scandal. You’ll note the choice of verb I used twice in that last sentence: REPLACE. Because, when we get right down to it, that’s the whole point of these auditions: replacing former members with new ones in order to keep the group going.

I don’t want to push the point further, but I will, just in case there are wota reading this who are slow of brain. Here are two more pictures:

This girl REPLACED both a God-tier member of the group, and an underrated and underused one, AND SHE’S SINCE SURPASSED THEM BOTH!! Where was the outrage for them both?! #justiceforGaki #justiceforAika

And finally:

Management needed not one, not two, but FOUR GIRLS to replace Michishige Sayumi. And listen to how much better at singing they are than she ever was! I’d comment on how prettier than her they are but come on, that’s not true. (Sorry, 12th gen.)

Honestly, I could post a picture of every single girl who won their respective auditions and joined Morning Musume and make a point of saying how they replaced a graduating member, but what would be the point? Until today, I thought that we all knew that Morning Musume’s ‘gimmick’ is adding new generations of members in order to keep the group alive and relevant.

I just don’t see what the huge backlash is about. Yes, I’m sure it’s very sad that Riho has graduated. If you remember older posts on this blog, you’ll know that I have never been Sayashi’s biggest fan. I was well on the way to be her biggest anti, if I’m being brutally honest. I was so happy when she said she would be leaving. My only complaint is why management waited so long to announce the audition.

Riho wota: I get that you’re upset, I do. We all know what it’s like when your oshi announces graduation and all you wanted was for them to remain in the group forever and ever (cough Tamura Meimi cough). Looking at it from your perspective, I guess I can see why it would seem insensitive for UFP to announce the prospect of new members when Riho has only just gone. But for God’s sake, guys, don’t you think you’re being a wee bit over-dramatic here?

Of bloody course they’re replacing Riho! THAT’S ALWAYS BEEN THE CASE WITH MORNING MUSUME GOD ALMIGHTY. But it’s not the end of the world! Management can’t very well NOT add new members. There was a period, several years ago, when there were no graduations in the group for two years. That also coincided with a sharp decline in Morning Musume’s popularity, which has only just started to recover in the last two or three years. If you’re so offended by this decision to keep Morning Musume relevant, then they’re probably not the idol group for you, and you’ll probably be far more interested in a group whose line-up has never ever changed ever.

On a related note, I saw a comment somewhere on the Internet about UFP wanting to add ‘too many girls’ and turning MM into AKB48. I’m not sorry to say that I laughed at this. Really? REALLY?!

1. Up-Front have only announced an audition for the 13th gen. That’s all.
2. They have NOT announced the mass addition of 20+ girls all at the same time, which is what AKB48 do a couple of times a year.
3. Every time UFP have added a new generation to Morning Musume, they have only added between 1-4 girls at a time. Oh no, that will surely turn Momusu into AKB this time!! The lineup will go from 12 to 16 MAXIMUM!
4. There are around 130 girls in AKB48 alone, and about 500 spread throughout all of the sister groups, both national and international, as well as the rival ’46 groups.
5. I repeat: a maximum of 16 girls in Morning Musume with the addition of up to 4 girls who’ll make up 13ki. A maximum of 130 girls in just ONE ’48 group.

This statement is so ridiculous that I’m not going to argue it further. For Christ’s sake.

What a weird reaction to a piece of non-news. Good luck to the girls who are auditioning, at any rate! I can’t wait to see the new arrivals!