Morning Musume 9th Generation members finally announced + You?

The long process is finally over. Three of the audition finalists made it and Tsunku threw a bone to one of the Eggs and added her too.

Sayashi Riho, Suzuki Kanon, Ikuta Erina as well as Hello! Project Egg Fukumura Mizuki are officially your new Morning Musume 9th Generation members.

Now before I start the rest of the post, let me go ahead and get the I-told-you-so's out of the way. In my original post about the matter, I wanted 3 Eggs and 1 or 2 audition members to join. That obviously didn't come true, but hey, at least I got the number right.

And then in my Bijou Gaku 9th Gen Auditions Special Episode 2 recap post I said, "With that said, I'm thinking three of them makes it. Riho should make it, no question. Either Aina or Erina should also make it (I'd pick Aina). For the last member, I'd take a chance on either Kanon or Minami. Right now Kanon seems to have the most upside, so I'd go with her. Minami is still very young (11 years old) and along with Erina, they would make great Eggs."

2 out of 3 right, go me. Let's see if the second half of my prediction (the part about Mogichan and Aina becoming Eggs) comes true. I have my fingers crossed for them.

Overall I am extremely happy with this decision. Kikkawa didn't join, but has better things in her future (more on that soon). Saho and Konatsu didn't join, but Saho is still very young and as for Konatsu, well I just hope she's the next Egg to "complete her Egg training".

As stated above, the audition winners are almost exactly how I would have it (I'd just switch Erina with Aina but honestly that was a toss up) so no real complaints there. I can't pretend to know even a tenth of what Tsunku knows about music, but at least he finally picked the no-brainer of the bunch - Riho. It seems like every audition, one member stands out (for all the right reasons), only to be passed on by Tsunku (I would consider Kikkawa to be 8th gen's).

Good for Riho. In my opinion, she absolutely dominated the auditions.

Riho singing for Tsunku

She stood out with her dancing skills (honestly I'm ready to say she's the fourth best dancer in Morning Musume right now) and her singing isn't too far behind. I compared her to a younger Takahashi in that Bijou Gaku recap post I linked to above and I stand by that statement. I was really worried about Morning Musume's vocal future (whenever Aichan and/or Gakisan leaves), but now I'm a little less worried now that Riho has joined.

But even with all of this praise I'm giving her, it won't matter if Riho doesn't grow with Morning Musume over the years. Right now she's good - especially for someone who was basically taken off the street and now is a part of a professional idol group - but I know that she can become great. It will be interesting to see if/when that happens for her. For Takahashi, I think she made the leap around Roman My Dear Boy, which was about three years after she joined.



And now for Suzuki Kanon.

Awesome name girl about to do something awesome

To be honest, Kanon intrigues me just as much as Riho does. If Riho is the Takahashi of the 9th Gen, then Kanon is the Makoto. From what little we've seen of her, she oozes of personality. She isn't quite as talented as Riho, but she impressed me almost as much as her. Why? Let's venture back to my other post for a second, "She too had her struggles during bootcamp and she too came out victorious when it counted - in front of Tsunku."

Honestly, Kanon was just as a bad as Mogichan at the beginning. However, she worked hard at improving her dancing and singing in such a short amount of time and stood out once again - only this time it was because she was doing well, and not messing up.

While we're still at that other post, "Kanon on the other hand, despite her early struggles, performed just as well as any of the other finalists not named Riho. If I had to put money on one girl coming out victorious, it would be Kanon." Just sayin'.

And then there is Ikuta Erina.

Because one Erina isn't enough

I don't have much to say about Erina, because, well she didn't particularly stand out to me. I'll defer to my other post one last time. "The other two finalists, Erina and Aina, didn't draw as much attention. That's good and bad. Neither royally screwed up, but they also didn't quite stand out like Riho did. They (especially Aina) are the safe bets. They may not have massive potential, but are solid all around and will likely turn out to be good idols, if given the chance."

And I can't forget the (now former) Egg, Fukumura Mizuki.

I was gunning for an Egg to make it so badly so all I can do is smile. Mizuki is one of the Eggs that I didn't know a ton about, but she definitely is talented (at least in the eyes of those that matter).

She was added to the sub-unit Shugo Chara Egg! after S/mileage was formed. Later, she was also a back-up dancer as seen in Manoeri's Onegai Dakara PV. Mizuki was an Egg for only two years, but apparently that was enough for Tsunku. She is the oldest 9th Gen member (age 14), but we'll see if she is the most talented.

As for the actual concert itself (Hello! Project 2011 Winter), it is now over in Japan, which means setlist time!

Sayonara Namida (New song from Kikkawa Yuu)
321 Breakin' Out 

MC (S/mileage congratulations for winning that award)

VTR
Shortcut (New S/mileage single)
Seishun no Serenade (New Manoeri single)

Kiss me Aishiteru (New C-ute single)

  Heroine ni Narou ka (New Berryz single)
Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game (Morning Musume)
MC (9th Gen winners announced)
Uwaki na Honey Pie (Pucchimoni V)
GET UP RAPPER (ZYX-α)

MC
DON'T STOP, LOVING (Aa!)

Crazy About You (Shin Minimoni)

Zettai Tokeru Mondai X = <3 (Tanpopo#)
MC

365-Step March

Love Suite Room (Zoku v-u-den)
Shall We Love (High-King)

MC
Ambitious Girls (Manoeri)
Yume Miru 15 (S/mileage)
Magical Future (Berryz Koubou)
Seishun Song (Berryz Koubou + C-ute)
Dance de Bakoon!　(Everyone but Morning Musume)
Otakebi Boy WAO! (Everyone but Morning Musume)

HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN? ~Nihon wa Donna Kanji dekka?~

Guru Guru JUMP

MC
Tomo (All of Morning Musume including 9th Gen)

Aozora ga Itsumademo Tsuzuku yo na Mirai de Are

(thanks to Lottie + ShuCreamu @ H!O for the setlist and romaji) 

Also keep in mind that just like Fankora, the setlist will change multiple times; this is just concert #1, of many. But anyway it looks really awesome (so awesome that Junjun was there. yes i'm serious, a wota mentioned seeing her in the audience). Can't wait to see High-King's version of Shall We Love.

And onto the final piece of news revealed at the concert. Kikkawa Yuu (or as her website calls her, Kikkawa You), as expected, will become a soloist.

She was the opening act of the concert and sang a new song called Sayonara Namida.

Thanks to the wota who took the concert rip.

She sounds really, really awesome. I am super happy for her. After barely missing making it into Morning Musume three years ago, she finally gets her due. She is an amazing singer. I just hope that she isn't added to the Nice Girls Project or anything. It's not that I have anything against them, I just would rather her be in H!P to join Manoeri. One soloist just seems too lonely. Either way, count me in for the Kikka fanclub.

No, really.

H!O member  行くぜ！怪盗Naoyuki has posted instructions on how to support Kikka. Apparently her website's main goal is to determine the number of fans (similar to S/mileag needing a couple thousand signatures I guess), so you should totally help out!

All you need to do is email  kikkawa_resp@kikkawa-you.jp this: このまま送信ください。

Instantly you will get an email response back with a link. Click and you will be taken to Kikka's site, which looks like this:

The first box is for your last name, then your first name (you can type those two in English), next is sex (left button is male, right is female), then birthday (in year, month, day format), then city (they are all Japanese cities, so pick any), then type any username in the next box, and lastly, an 8 letter password in the final box.

Just fill in your information (should only take a minute) and click the 確認 button at the bottom of the screen. On the next screen, click  登録 (the top button) to confirm. You're done! (And again, thanks to Naoyuki for the translation and screenshot).

All you can do now is wait for her first indies single and continue to support Morning Musume and their new members.

And now I leave you with the first look at the new 9nin Morning Musume.