Morning Musume’s 10th generation revealed – Tokyograph
Takahashi Ai Graduates Hello! Project and 10th Gen is Announced – yonasu.com
Introducing Morning Musume’s 10th generation – Janakya Mottainai
New Morning Musume 10th Generation Members!! – The Blogpower!!!
Welcome 10ki members! – fly in the f*ing wine
FUCK YEAH 10TH GEN – idol love
Morning Musume 10th Generation Audition Results – Selective Hearing
~My Thoughts on Takahashi Ai’s Graduation~ – Okay! Musume Time
Takahashi Ai-sama “Graduation Special” Entry – Chuu Sugoi Idol
Tokyograph and yonasu.com both lay down the basics for those needing to catch up. Tokyograph also has a great factoid which makes clear that Morning Musume now is the youngest unit in Hello! Project (at least, if you don’t count S/mileage’s sub members – and really, we shouldn’t just yet).
AimxAim of Janakya Mottainai does a brilliant rhetorical dervish, oscillating between anger and confusion at her favorites not getting in, on the one hand, and faith that Tsunku and the other H!P Powers That Be have a good track record of handling the idols under their care and knowing when to introduce them to the public. It’s not the most coherent Aim has ever been, but as always it’s very honest and very much a reflection of what many fans must be feeling.
Kath of The Blogpower!!! is delighted to have two of her three choices making it through (guess who number three is), and is mostly pleased with this gen. The one holdout for her is Haruka, who she hopes will grow on her over time.
Mara of fly in the f*ing wine would have liked for two more members to have joined tenth gen, and writes quite amusingly about finding an ideal place on the interwebs to commiserate about the announcement.
Danielle of idol love has another excellent post filled with truths wrappe tightly in razor sharp wit and lowbrow vulgarity. The Karin joke made me laugh, while her assessment of Sara is… it’s not even criticism more than it is an evisceration, starting with the “big fucking head” line and going all-out from there. Danielle knows what she wants in her H!P idols and Sara ain’t it.
Greg of Selective Hearing writes approvingly of the four girls selected and also takes time to consider the major exclusions. He does express some surprise – and even sadness? – that Tsunku didn’t yank our chains this time with an “unexpected” twist.
One thing, though, is that Greg goes on at some length about how sexy Iikubo Haruna is. As a matter of fact, most of the bloggers writing about tenth gen are extolling the beauty of these girls. I haven’t been able to sit down and watch the auditions, but all the photos I’ve seen of these girls have been on the average side. Which is only fair, since they’re mostly shots from before and during the audition and the warpaint and lighting effects haven’t kicked in yet. There were some cute shots after the makeover that I saw, and none of them seem fug by any means, but can anyone post pics to show off how pretty these girls can be? I guess I’m just not convinced yet.
Shifting gears just slightly, the wotasphere is also now reacting more directly to the graduation of Takahashi Ai. We can stamp the fires out of our effigies, take the needles out of our voodoo dolls, replace our dartboards with photos of Sharky or Winky, and heave a huge sigh of relief. It only gets better from here.
Chiima of Okay! Musume Time is happy to see Takitty go, mostly because it gives breathing room for everyone else in the group. She addresses some of the more absurd caterwauling about Takitty staying in the group and claiming her graduation was just a joke (really? people are wishing that?), and uses the Sayumi-centered single to show what life can be like once Blandy leaves the room for good.
Chuu Sugoi Idol takes a more sentimental approach, looking back at the decade Takitty has spent with Morning Musume and sharing graduation wishes to Takitty from contributors and readers. It’s all quite heart warming, if what you want is to have your heart warmed. That said, we all grieve and pay our respects in our own ways.
With all the emotions and reactions these past two days have brought out in Hello! Project fans, we are definitely on the cusp of something new, perhaps even something exciting. Morning Musume has grown so much more pedolicious, and there is a wealth of new talent waiting to be discovered, honed, and shared with fans. There is more dead weight that needs to be jettisoned – I will only be satisfied when Sayumi is the last old guard member left standing, because her leadership will be both epic and fail at the same time! There will be photobooks of sexy underage Musumes in bikinis, posing with bananas and stripper poles and maybe a dwarf or two! (Okay, maybe not those last details.)
The point being, if there’s any time to feel excited about the future of Morning Musume, it’s probably now. If you can’t find yourself being at least a little energized by what this new line-up can accomplish, then your heart is as bitter cold as Takitty’s personality is blandly demoralizing. (Is? Was! Was! She’s gone at last, dammit! Bwahahaha!) The more I think about it, the more excited I get. Like Greg, at least until the first single comes out. Or maybe until the first photobook, since I’m shallower than Greg.
So tell me, readers- how excited are YOU now?
