Well as the title says, I will be talking about S/mileage here.
To me, S/mileage represented the future of H!P. They hold the hope that all those talented Eggs will be used and the potential that the marketing team behind H!P has to promote not only the S/mileage girls but H!P as a whole.
Their image has a distinct theme, the group with the shortest skirts in Japan. Their music, although not my cup of tea, is Catchy and cute and the fact that they are polished performers (by polished, I mean that they could be crying their hearts out and still sing and dance on cue) is another reason to love these girls.
So when it was announce that UFA would be looking for girls who can add what is missing to this group was a huge kick in the teeth, not only to the girls but also to us fans. To me, the only thing missing from this group was promotion (which also happens to be the main problem with UFA anyway), so i kept thinking “why not just look to the eggs if you think something is missing? Adding random girls who have no training to a group that perform like idols 10-15 yrs older than them is stupid” nothing would convince me that this is they right move for this group.
So they streamed the auditions live on Niconico Douga and i see quite a few girls that have that polished feel that wouldn’t hinder the group and a few girls that H!P should take on as eggs since the eggs seem to be getting smaller and smaller these days. On to another live streaming, this time from the training camp and again, with the exception of the 3 eggs that made it through, the other girls looked like candidates for future eggs, I was getting a little excited to see the girls that want to debut but i kept thinking “these girls are not ready to join S/mileage”.
When the day came to finally hear who passed, i was quite disappointed in the selection and the term used for these girls.
Katsuta Rina, 7th gen Egg (2yrs experience) – a pretty girl but the only thing that stood out to me about her was her experience as an egg
Kosuga Fuyuka, no experience – has that intelligent look to her but she resembles DAWA too much for me and I’m not talking about her looks.
Nakanishi Kana, No experience – pretty smile but didn’t stand out to me, I actually had to look her up in the auditions just to find out what she sounded and danced like.
Tamura Meimi, Played Yuiki Yaya in the Shugo Chara Musical so knew 3/4 members of S/mileage before auditioning (all members of Shugo Chara Egg were in the musical though only Kanyon and Yuukarin had roles) – this girl stood out from the very beginning mainly for her projection. I felt that she might be a good addition for the group just for the power she has when projecting.
Takeuchi Akari, 4th gen Egg (3yrs experience), Yajima Maimi’s cousin – Akari stood out as the egg most likely to debut. She can sing and dance and wouldn’t need to feel that awkward feeling that people get when talking to her senpais due to them being eggs together.
My reaction after hearing that these girls got though was still "meh" but i was excited for the 2 eggs that go in until i re-read the title of all the blog posts that was coming in. WTF is with the SUB member thing?
No offence but adding the term Sub is basically another way of saying that they weren’t sure that this was the right decision. And to that I agree, although I didn’t agree with this whole process and what bloggers were comparing to the system that AKB has when different members are selected to be a part of a single.
Then the shocker came. All this was to find a replacement for one of the original members, Ogawa Saki.
Sakitty was going to graduate 4 days after the graduation announcement.
Now i agree that school is important and that without an education, you have no back up plan, something that has been drilled into me since I was a kid. What I don’t agree with is the way Saki graduated.
In the past, with the exception of the eggs, whenever a member decided to graduate, they got a graduation ceremony. The only members not to get a ceremony were the ones who were involved in a scandal. So for Saki to not get the standard ceremony at the end of a concert was not only shocking but had a bad taste to it.
So the “true” reason for the rushed audtition was to replace Saki? I still don’t buy it and i don’t think i ever will. No matter what the reason for her departure is, as long as it wasn’t a scandal, she deserved a graduation ceremony as one of the founding members of S/mileage.
The next departure was Kosuga. Due to Illness she had to leave. The decision to place her in the eggs was a welcomed one for me because it should have been made since the announcement of the new members. All i can say is Have a speedy recovery Fuuchan.
October 16th...........Happy 26th Birthday Kira. Shame your bad luck started then. And Wow, All 4 Sub members became full member, the 2nd most disappointing thing to happen to S/mileage. At least 2 of the girls should have been demoted to the eggs. And WTF was Tsunku thinking when he was placing Kanyon in the sub members? I know she has a great sense of hummer but still, mess with DAWA, not Kanyon. Anyway, i’m glad that Takechan became a full member, this means that both the 4th Gen Eggs, Fukumura and Takeuchi, have not only graduated from the eggs but have both debuted in the same year.
Now onto more upsetting news.
Maeda Yuuka is to Graduated on New Years Eve.
WTF IS GOING ON WITH THIS GROUP?????
Again education IS important. AGAIN it’s another graduation without a ceremony.
What is with H!P and not giving these irls who have spent the last 7 years of their lives not only doing everything they have been told to do by UFA but also entertaining us with their talents, looks and personalities?
Yuukarin is S/mileage’ and one of H!P’s most popular member having been apart of numerous units and Sakitty had one of the best voices in H!P and with a few more years, could rise to the height that former MM and H!P leader Takahashi Ai had. It’s still shocking that the OG S/mileage members are dropping like flies. It seems to me that the audition has shaken up this group both for the better in terms of the OG’s roles and personalities coming out more and for the worst.
Since Saki left, I’ve seen another side to the girls. Kanyon has been getting better at self promoting and has been teaching the new members how to introduce themselves, Yuukarin has been showing a motherly side to her and DAWA has finally decided to become a leader. I’m glad that the girls have improved greatly but i still can’t help but think how all of these sudden changes to the group have also affected them negatively but i hope that they can pull through this and not lose fans.
On a separate note. TAMURA MEIMI SCARES THE LIING DAYLIGHT OUT OF ME!!!
It might be just because of her teeth.....and eyes.....and her forehead.....okay it's her whole look that scares me. I think she need a frigne....
i know my photo shop skills are bad but i think she's a lot ess scary looking with a frigne. What do you Think?
PS:A youtuber named ShugoCharaUniverse has uploaded the whole musical. It's not subbed but if you've watched the anime (season 1 only) then you can gather that they are saying.....sort of. and i think that Meimei dyed her hair for that role because her hair looks more real that some of the other characters with different colloured hair.
