Hello! Project -Official Site-
Elder Club members to graduate from Hello! Project (Hello!Online)
Hello! Project’s Elder Club members to graduate (Tokyograph)
Wow.
As of March 31, 2009, all the members of the Hello! Project Elder Club–including popular soloists Matsuura Aya, Abe Natsumi, and Fujimoto Miki, as well as full groups like Melon Kinenbi and Ongaku Gatas–will graduate from the H!P umbrella. So if your favorite soloist isn’t in Morning Musume, Berryz Koubou, or C-ute, or an H!P Egg, they’re probably leaving. H!O has a full translation of the list, Tokyograph brings the essentials to the table, and you can of course read the original announcement on the H!P website.
There’s no word yet on whether or not any of the graduating members will be moving to a new record label, TNX or otherwise, or even continuing their careers as idols. The lack of information is actually somewhat disheartening, and you have to wonder if this giant graduation is actually a giant firing. I’m certain that nearly everyone reading this has a favorite idol on this list, and you have to wonder what’s going to happen to them now that their future within H!P has gone from uncertain to … nonexistent. And even if you aren’t a fan of these idols… it is a sad day for them, not just their fans, and you have to wonder how they are taking it.
Take this whole thing as you will, but this is a startling announcement that leaves the future of many, many young women, as well as the entire body of Hello! Project, unclear. Obviously not all of these idols were getting a lot of attention, instead being constantly passed over in favor of the bigger flagship groups, but I don’t think many people really expected a mass departure like this to happen.
All I can say is wow. It’s a sad day for a lot of fans, and an even sadder day for a lot of idols.
Comment by superhappygenki — 2008/10/19 @ 4:05 am
I can’t help but see this as a good thing, though. Yeah, there *should* be more info, but if they’re being fired, they can pull an Aibon and jump-start their careers to be whatever they want them to be. A lack of association with the flagships can’t be a bag thing in terms of “moving on”.
Comment by doinkies — 2008/10/19 @ 4:17 am
I think this could be a good thing for some of them, particularly Ayaya…didn’t she say she wanted to write her own lyrics? She could have more opportunity to do that sort of thing if she’s not in H!P anymore.
And leaving H!P doesn’t mean leaving UFA, necessarily.
Comment by craig — 2008/10/19 @ 4:47 am
Wow :O What a thing to wake up to!
Comment by doinkies — 2008/10/19 @ 4:57 am
BTW, it says in the announcement that they will still be doing their various activities after the graduation (卒業後はそれぞれの活動を行っていきます). So it’s not really a mass firing; they’ll still be in UFA, but they won’t be in H!P anymore.
Comment by zush — 2008/10/19 @ 5:45 am
Also I see this as a good fresh thing happening in Tsunku’s Dynasty. For a long time I have seen H!P far too big with too many groups in it and that’s why so many of those acts (like Ayaya) has not had as much attention asthey must have deserved. H!P’s focus has not been quite clear during these recent years. Who leaves and who stays is not the main point. More important is that this opens new doors, new opprtunities for all those who are graduating and also for UFA and H!P itself. Hope they all play their cards well.
Pingback by Dismantling the Love Machine « The J-Pex: An H!P/J-Pop Music Blog — 2008/10/19 @ 10:21 am
[...] the Love Machine According to International Wota and Hello!Online, the H!P Elder Club has been overthrown. They’re all graduating/being [...]
Comment by jim — 2008/10/19 @ 10:44 am
wtf…I give up. I don’t get it.
Comment by Morningtime — 2008/10/19 @ 11:20 am
This could be a good thing for one or two of the singers mentioned. Maybe a fresh start away from the H!P idol image could reinvigorate their careers. With Rika and Yossie being involved with Hangry & Angry that shows that perhaps UFA does have something up it’s sleeve. After all the Hangry & Angry image isn’t something that you’d associate with H!P.
However the realist in me says that it’ll be the end (well more like final nail in the coffin) for the singing careers of many. Atsuko probably for one. Kaori and Tsuji? I never expected Tsuji back anyway and Kaori I had wishful thinking for rather than high expectations of. Yaguchi and Yasuda aren’t really singing anymore anyway and Yuko seems to have reinvented herself as an actress. Melon Kinenbi haven’t had great sales recently. The outlook seems bleak. I’m no doctor but I’d call a priest.
You never know what the members themselves wanted though. Perhaps faced with declining popularity and very little actual singing the likes of Yuko were wanting to leave? It’s been 11 years after all. In a strange way it’s the younger members I feel sorry for. Yui and Erika haven’t even been given a chance since V-U-den spilt.
I’m confident for Yossie and Rika. I think pehaps Miki Fujimoto can continue too. Of the rest there are a lot of my favourites who I think I may not see singing again in any meaningful sense. Iida and Yaguchi I didn’t expect to see as singers again anyway. But Konno and Nacchi? Maybe Ongaku Gatas have proved popular enough to carry on. Nacchi is still getting top 15 hits which probably makes her the most successful in recent times of the soloists so maybe I’ll get lucky here.
Whatever happens I just hope the members can move their careers on, whatever they end up doing, and that they are happy.
Comment by CJ Marsicano — 2008/10/19 @ 11:33 am
I’m sure I’ll be amongst the flood of posts about this in the IW blogosphere but for now I’ll say, wow, and damn. Just “wow” and “damn”.
Pingback by オン 拍 と 脈 | Change is good. — 2008/10/19 @ 11:53 am
[...] itself out at this point. It’s really been morphing into something else, and now H!P plans to graduate all of it’s elder members. Not gonna be all dramatic, but I started this talking about H!P stuff, then I figured I’d [...]
Comment by Rikki2 — 2008/10/19 @ 1:50 pm
The first news report I saw about Hangry Angry said that it would not be an H!P group. Now we know why. But this means that Yossie and Rika are staying with UFW even though they are leaving H!P. That probably applies to all the Elder Club members. They are not going anywhere, they are just not going to be under Tsunku’s umbrella anymore.
I think this is a good thing. The Elder Club will now be under a new producer who may have a better understanding of how to market performers over 21 years old.
Comment by MorningBerryz — 2008/10/19 @ 5:48 pm
This is overwhelming news~! Not sure what to think right now sort of feel numb… I never imagined a mass graduation like this ever in H!P and I hope they hold a final concert to commemorate everyone leaving in celebration of everything that they’ve meant to and accomplished in H!P over the years. So true that artists such as Mikitty and Ayaya now may get more love in a different channel of production, wish everyone the best.
Comment by doinkies — 2008/10/19 @ 6:25 pm
Yeah, they are having a graduation concert. I hope that they will sing “Never Forget” as the last song in that concert.
I hope everyone graduating will have good lives and careers and that they’ll still be active in some way. I especially am looking forward to whatever Aya, Miki, and Nacchi will be doing and how HANGRY & ANGRY will do.
Comment by MorningBerryz — 2008/10/19 @ 6:30 pm
“Never Forget” and “Koi no kioku” are my favorite “graduation” songs that were used in concerts…perfect suggestion and I’d get goosebumps if they used either of them! ^-^ Ayaya & Mikitty I thing would keep with a career in music and I too really hope that Nacchi will do the same. H!P without Nacchi?…unimaginable. (sigh)
Comment by zush — 2008/10/20 @ 4:48 am
@ MorningBerryz & all > true talented artists just don’t fade away. Ayaya for example is going to be there regardless who’s going to be her agent & publishing company
Comment by MorningBerryz — 2008/10/20 @ 10:22 pm
Zush I really hope so I really hope so! ^-^