Oct 19 2008
OG To Graduate
How’s that for big news?
My initial reaction was shock that H!p would just dump all of these girls at once, but the more I think about it, the more this sort of reorganization makes sense. It seems that at least some of them will still be represented by UFA, so most of what has changed is that they will no longer be labled as “Hello Project”. Who knows, maybe this means that they will actually be able to do more since, let’s face it, the Elder Club has done practically nothing this year. Maybe some of them will choose to leave show business all together, and if so, more power to them. With all the members of the Elder Club, h!p was beginning to feel more and more crowded with lots of idols with nothing to do. I think it makes sense to “release” them at this time. Now H!p will be pared down to just the “Big 3″ (MM, Berryz, and C-ute) along with ManoEri, the Eggs, and the various anime units.
Yeah, it’s a big change. We might not know just how big until the dust settles and the eventual fate of all those OG groups and artists becomes more clear. It makes me sad that we won’t be seeing any more big all h!p concerts with thier wonderful hearts/elder club shuffled groups. On the other hand, I tend to skip past the dreary ballads of the OG soloists when I watch h!p concert DVDs anyway. Also, it looks like there will be no more of Morning Musume’s OG usurping the current group on televsion performances.
The biggest question for me is what will become of the Gatas, both Ongaku and Brilliantes? Ongaku gatas is part of the Elder club, and so they should be graduating, but there are still the 3 eggs to consider. Will they be graduating from Eggs as well, or will those three be in both Ongaku Gatas and h!p somehow? And what about the Gatas Brilliantes h!p soccer team? Many of their members come from C-ute and Berryz. Will the team still fall under h!p even though many of its members don’t? Will the team be dissolved but Ongaku Gatas still exist as its own entity?
Well, a lot of us probably thought that the elder club members would kind of be around forever, but it looks like we were wrong. I really hope that whatever they are going on to now, it’s better than what they’ve been getting. I hope this doesn’t essentially amount to a mass firing and betrayl by h!p, but rather, a positive change for these women. Nothing to do now but wait, I guess.
~Celestia~
Yossie! *sniffle* i don’t wanna see her fade away. i hope the new Hangry and Angry unit does well, because technically, that isn’t under H!P….. it did seem that the active groups were getting smaller and smaller and the elder club being stuck with not alot getting bigger and bigger but….this is still the worst news in a long time….. T_T
we haven’t even seen anything from Mako-chan since her return!
It’s sad but I think it was probably the best thing to do for many of these members. A lot of them have long outgrown H!P, don’t do much within H!P, or haven’t done squat in H!P. And H!P itself has gotten way too large over the years.
I think Yossie, Rika, Aya, Miki, Mai and Mari will particularly benefit from this - they’re probably the most active people in the Elder Club right now and leaving H!P can help them further their careers. In particular, I remember reading a recent interview with Aya in which she said she wanted to disassociate herself from the “Ayaya image” and do things such as write her own lyrics. She can easily do these sorts of things outside of H!P (and hopefully not just be limited to doinky ballads).
As for the others, I’m not sure about them. Some probably will leave UFA and/or the entertainment industry altogether, but some might stay with UFA.
[...] OG To Graduate (Bikkuri Project) ding dong the Elder Club is dead (Hajimete no ROCK CONCERT) Elder Club To End - Everyone Graduates 1 March 2009 (Morningtime) Dismantling the Love Machine (The J-Pex) Mass Graduation for H!P (Sakuraichigo’s Weblog) [...]
Absolutely. After the initial shock, the business sense sets in. My guess is that the Elders long knew this was coming. V-u-den went down this year and that was really a warning shot. I think Abe got the message earlier and that’s why she crumbled at the end of the H!P Winter 2008 concert, realizing this might be it. It almost was. Jan. 31-Feb. 1 will be the finale. But, somehow, these main players have to be salvaged somehow — Yossie, Abe, Rika, Mari, etc. Tsunku does say that all the terminated singers will remain part of UFA. Who knows what the future holds? Idol music is like a vapor. Enjoy it why you can, and cradle all those old DVDs because they might be all that’s lest in the end.
Yamazaki,you stupid asshole!
you only want your agency to be all young and cute!
i just have one question for you….
ARE YOU HIGH?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GET RID OF THEM?! NUCLEAR WINTER?! THE PATRIOTS LOST THE SUPER BOWL?! JUST SO YOU COULD HAVE YOUR RAINBOW PINK YOUNG CUTESY IMAGE?! WELL THESE GIRLS THE 3 GROUPS(AND MY PERSONAL FAVES!),MANOERI,THE EGGS,AND THE ANIME UNITS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE SEXY SOMEDAY! HOW COULD YOU GET RID OF THEM,ESPECIALLY…
Kon Kon. >_<
I CAN TAKE HER LEAVE ONEC ID ON’T WANT TO SEE HER LEAVE AGAIN,YOU COULD HAVE JUST KEPT HER AND EVERYONE LESE!BUT COUYLD HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THE LEAST MOST GOOD LOOKING GIRL OF ALL(Sorry Yasuda…)!
What about Aya, H!P’s highest selling soloist?
Maybe the more important players of Elder club will follow Gocchin over to Avex XD
Actually, the sad truth is that Koharu is h!p’s current high selling soloist.
Aya’s last single sold 7,623 copies
Koharu’s sold 20,595
Incidentally, FYI the sales of the last singles from Wonderful Hearts
C-ute 35,789
Berryz 33,017
Momusu- 44,154
And Elder Club
Gatas-12,004
MK- 2,180
Yuko- 2,853
Nacchi-11,531
There’s a big difference.