Hello! Today major news struck all fans out there. 25 people, that are in Hello!Project’s Elder Club are to be graduated from Hello!Project. This will happen on 31st of March 2009. Amongst them I have some favorites, but that’s to come later.
So what is this a doomsday or revival?
Let’s see… First of all – this graduate has both pros and cons. Let’s try to sort them out. And I think I’ll start with pros.
Graduating Elder Club – means refreshing H!P structure. As well as this means that they’ll have a lot more opportunities to create new units, soloists and what not. It also means – that financially there will be more support to really active units, such as Berryz Koubou, C-ute, Morning Musume. As well as this means that Hello!Pro Eggs will also have more support, which can also mean that we’ll see new units with them.
And what were Elder Club doing in the recent years? Let’s try to sort out. And to make this easier – I think I’ll talk about all the graduating members one by one.
Nakazawa Yuko. Since I’ve become interested in H!P only about two years ago – I didn’t actually hear and see what Nakazawa Yuko did since she graduated from Morning Musume(in 2001). I saw her couple of times in TV programs. As well as I heard her sing at all H!P concerts back before all members were actually separated into two sub-groups – Wonderful Hearts and Elder Club. Her latest album was released in 2004(not including All Best album which is to be released on 10th of December). Her latest single was released on 10th of October 2007. Which means that she wasn’t that active inside H!P. So graduating from H!P for her can mean two things. I think that first – she will be able to carry on with normal life, not having to worry about anything. Or second – if she wants to – she will be able to continue her career, because graduating from H!P practically doesn’t mean nothing for her, since she is not an idol.
Iida Kaori. As well as Nakazawa – I didn’t get to hear or see her that much since graduating from Morning Musume. Let’s see if she’s released something. Her latest album was released in 2005 and her latest single in 2004. Which means that for the past 3 years she hasn’t released anything. As well as she has a baby boy, which means that she has to dedicate half of her time to raise him. So I don’t really think it’s that bad for her to graduate from Hello!Project – to carry on her life, or to carry on anything else she wants to, not being tied by a contract. Though as I said – graduation of these members has its minuses but I’ll talk about them later.
Abe Natsumi. She was pretty active recently – having released special single on 16th of January with Yajima Maimi and she has a new single scheduled for 3rd of December. I really like Natsumi, and I’m not happy that she has to leave H!P – but after all she’s not an idol anymore, even though she’s a great singer and is very cute as well as she is still releasing photoobooks and is not as inactive as some of the rest. I think that she will have a lot of opportunities to carry on. So maybe it will be a new start for her career. Though then again I don’t like this idea, but I hope that I’ll see more from her – even if she won’t be in H!P anymore.
Yasuda Kei. I don’t know a lot about her – though as well as Nakazawa and Iida, I’ve seen her on all H!P concerts and I liked how she sings. Let’s see if she’s been active recently. Well as far as I see she didn’t release any singles or albums ever-since her graduate from Morning Musume in 2003. But she starred and co-starred in some movies, doramas, musicals and stuff like this – so I think that she doesn’t need to be tied up to H!P to do all this.
Yaguchi Mari. She’s my favorite. But after her resign from Morning Musume(in 2005) she didn’t release anything and while being a soloist in H!P, as well as Yasuda – she starred in some doramas, in some movies. And also she hosted Midtown TV program, and she is currently hosting her own show called “Yaguchi Hitori(C)” As well as she appears pretty often in different tv-shows here and there. So I don’t think that she really needs to be under H!P contract to have her own appearances, since inside H!P – she didn’t have any, except hosting couple of concerts.
Ishikawa Rika. Ishikawa is now in a new unit with Yoshizawa Hitomi. After she graduated from Morning Musume(in 2005) she focused on Biyuuden. After Biyuuden was disbanded in 2008 she continued to work inside Ongaku Gatas, which released a new single on 10th of October. As well as she starred in some movies and doramas. Since she is currently in a non-H!P unit, called Hangry&Angry – I think when she graduates from H!P she can carry on with this, so I don’t think that it will be a loss to her – graduating from H!P.
Yoshizawa Hitomi. As well as Ishikawa she’s in this new unit I’ve told you about. She’s also in Ongaku Gatas. I don’t really know a lot about her – but I know that she appeared in some TV shows. She’s also leader of Gatas Brilhantes H.P. as well as Ongaku Gatas. And after her graduation – Ongaku Gatas will be disbanded and I don’t know anything about Gatas Brilhantes H.P. fate. Though since these members are supposedly staying in Up-Front Agency – I think that Gatas will carry on, or maybe not. Time will show here. So except these two questions – she also doesn’t have to be in H!P to continue her career as an entertainer.
Tsuji Nozomi. She graduated from Morning Musume in 2004 together with Kago Ai to focus on newly created unit W. But after Kago Ai’s scandals, after one of which her contract with up-front agency was eliminated – Tsuji became a soloist within H!P. Her first single was remake of Koko ni Iruzee, which was an opening to anime Robby & Kerobby. Later on it was announced that she is engaged to actor Sugiura Taiyo, to whom she is now married. She also had a baby and now she is mother to a girl named Noa. So after all this – I think that she also doesn’t have to be under H!P contract. If she wants – she will continue her career within up-front agency. If not – she can be a mother and lead a completely normal life.
Konno Asami. I really like her. Since audition – I though that she’s great. Even though the auditions were held a long time ago and I came to H!P when she already graduated from it(it happened in 2006) but later she came back to it and entered Ongaku Gatas. She has some photobooks, and she appeared in some movies. But personally I don’t think she will continue her career. All other members I spoke about has their own activities and their own personal matters. Asami also has her own matters. She left H!P to carry on studies in a university. Of course we don’t know in which one and who will she become after finishing it. And she is still studying there. So graduating from H!P won’t be a big thing to her too. Though I might be mistaken.
Ogawa Makoto – Makoto was studying abroad and has just returned to H!P, but since her return she wasn’t really active inside it. Mostly she appeared in tv shows. I don’t know what will she do after graduating from H!P but as well as to other members – this won’t be a major thing for her, since she will be able to continue her career as an entertainer if she wants to. If not – of course she will lead normal life, not tied by any contract.
Fujimoto Miki. She was a soloist and was releasing singles, but later she entered Morning Musume as sixth generation(together with Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina and Kamei Eri). Since her scandal in 2007 she resigned from Morning Musume and later on she became a soloist inside H!P. As a soloist after Morning Musume she released only one single – Okitegami, which was completely different from the stuff she released before Morning Musume. Since she always said that she can’t live without working as an entertainer – I think she will continue after graduating from H!P and maybe it will be like an another level for her, since she won’t be tied in her actions with a contract.
Inaba Atsuko. Atsuko released only one single in 1996. It was released when Atsuko was in Osaka Performance Doll and was available only at their events. Later on she received training in Atlanta and returned to entertainment business in 1999 as a soloist in H!P inside it she was performing choruses for many H!P released, but didn’t have any of her own. Since I don’t know a lot about her – I can’t tell whether it will be good or bad for her to graduate from H!P, but either way – she will graduate and that’s a solid fact.
Satoda Mai. Initially – she was auditioning for Morning Musume, but she didn’t make it. Though later on she did join Hello!Project as a member of Country Musume. In 2007 Country Musume was suspended, since Satoda was the only member of it, after two fellow members graduated. Currently – she appears a lot in different TV shows, as well as she appears in Quiz Hexagon. She is also in Quiz Hexagon unit Pabo, and part of the super unit Aladdin, which released new single this year. She’s also in Gatas Brilhantes H.P. and Ongaku Gatas. So after graduating from H!P – she still has Quiz Hexagon, Aladin – so she really doesn’t need H!P.
Melon Kinenbi. This is a whole unit to graduate. It consists of Saito Hitomi, Murata Megumi, Ootani Masae, Shibata Ayumi. I wasn’t really interested in this unit – so I can’t tell much about them. This unit didn’t come through many changes during their eight years of existence. Though I can’t tell whether this unit will go on without H!P. Though I think it’s very hard for their fans to find out that their favorite group won’t be existing anymore… As well as to any other members’ fans to find out that their favorite members won’t be part of H!P anymore.
Maeda Yuki. She’s an enka soloist within H!P. She has released eight singles so far. In the first place – she came to H!P thanks to Iida Kaori. She made a lot of contributions to compilation albums. But so far with eight single she has no albums. And so I don’t know what will she do after graduating from H!P. Probably she will continue as an enka singer, or maybe she will go on to building up her own personal relationships. Once again – time will show here.
Matsuura Aya. She’s a soloist within H!P. And she’s currently holding the title of bestselling soloist inside H!P. So far she released 20 singles and 5 albums, as well as she co-hosts Meringue no Kimochi tv show. She also has released a lot of photobooks, concert dvds, she appeared in some movies, doramas, tv shows and radio shows – and overall did and does a lot of work there. Now I don’t really agree with the decision to graduate her as well, but since we have this major change in H!P structure – then it’s what needs to be done also. I don’t think that Matsura is really that heavily tied on to Hello!Project. So I think that she will carry on doing the same stuff she’s doing now, just under UFA and not H!P.
Miyoshi Erika. Currently she’s a soloist within H!P. And I don’t think that graduation for her will be something outstanding, since she was in Biyuuden which disbanded in this year. As for her – she probably will continue some activity outside H!P, but inside H!P she wasn’t that active after Biyuuden disbanded – so she can’t be really considered to be a soloist.
Okada Yui. As well as Miyoshi and Ishikawa – Okada was in Biyuuden up till its disbandment. As for what she will do after her graduation from H!P – since she’s young and cute – she has a lot of possibilities there. If she really wants to go for continuing her entertainment career – then it’s okay not to be in H!P. If she doesn’t want to continue her career – then of course she doesn’t have to.
Ongaku Gatas. Yet another unit to be graduated. Since main part of this unit is to be graduated. Though I don’t understand why this unit can’t be “passed on” to the rest of its members, who will stay in H!P – that is Hello!Pro Eggs. Though I have some thoughts about this – since Gatas Brilhantes H.P. probably won’t be carrying on – then there’s no need in this unit, since it was created as a support unit. But if Gatas Brilhantes H.P. will be reformed – then I don’t understand why do they need to graduate this unit. But then again we’ll see what next steps will UFA management make.
That’s all with the member-per-member review of their future possibilities. As we can see – most of them already have a lot of other matters to attend to, so practically none of them will suffer from having their H!P contracts dismissed. And I already told you about the good side of it, but I’ll summarize it so we could carry on to minuses of this. So the good side of it is that with graduation of all these members – they can carry on with their own matters, or get to another level. Or maybe go on to leading normal life. In H!P aspect – we have a totally new and fresh structure – open to new units and auditions(that are probable to come). In financial aspect – when all these members graduate – this means there will be no need to pay them, and so there will be more financial support to the currently active members, and to new members that maybe will come.
And now the other side of it – the back side, the minuses of this whole mass graduation thing. All these members have their own fan-base, that are in either way tied to Hello!Project. Now what if all these members go away from the project? This means it will probably loose a lot of fans, that will turn away from the project who dismissed their favorite members and probably in some or other way – made them loose something. The next back-side of it is that all the members, that are considered to be the history of H!P itself – go away, thus resulting in a complete erasing of history. So we now have a whole new H!P and this neo-H!P will start on its own, with new fan-base(mostly with Berryz Koubou, C-ute, Morning Musume and Hello!Pro Eggs fans) and new structure.
So with this all said – mass graduate is H!P’s doomsday or revival? This question can’t be answered in one go and it is to be answered trough the course of time. For some of you, who won’t have any favorite members in H!P after their graduation – this can be considered as a doomsday. But for me and all those that like not only old members, but members of the new generation(like the mentioned above Berryz Koubou, C-ute and Hello!Pro eggs) this question can’t be answered in such a straightforward way. Yes, I pity that a lot of members have to go, but since it’s for their sake and probably for the sake of H!P itself – then it’s just what needs to be done. So we just have to stand up to this fact and carry on our fandom to a totally new project. And with time answer to the question is this a revival – will come itself. Time will show us the results of such a decision, that fired-up a lot of discussions everywhere across Internet and probably Japanese mass-media.
I now humbly leave you up to your own thoughts, having told you about my own. You can disagree with them or you can agree with them – it’s all up to you. Thanks for your time. Yours sincerely Sazaki Ren.
