12th Auditions Winners Announced! "Golden Audition"

[momoirosaya]

[quote="Thea"]
Not happy, not unhappy. But if I had to swing one way or another it'd be unhappy. Not because of the girls themselves, I don't dislike any of them. Although I don't like some of their faces. No, simply because we have two contradicting statements. First, that Tsunku never wanted it to get as big as it did again. Second, that he would go up as far as 20. This makes me wary because if he does start adding girl in every year (to avoid another EriJunLin fiasco) he'll be graduating them every year, too. I know how Morning Musume works, I don't need anyone to tell me that. After Reina, Sayu, and Gaki/Aika have graduated I am used to it, but the ones in now are only passing 3 or so years, and so it's too soon to graduate them. Or he may do the EJL thing again and only add them in when it drops below optimal numbers. Who knows. 
[/quote]
The girls decide when they want to graduate, unless they have a scandal. JunLin were different because they were technically "exchange students."
If we get a 13th in the next 2 years, hopefully it will only be 2-3 girls. They've had 15-16 before. After that 9th and 10th gen will have been around for approx 6 years, and someone is bpundto graduate. Who knows though, maybe since they joined with members who stayed for like 10 years they will want to as well.

[MejraThea]

I don't think they always get to choose when they want to graduate, though. It can be passed off as them choosing to, but they were urged to do so to avoid an issue, etc. Like how (I believe I read it somewhere?) Tsunku said something to Ai about it being about time for her graduate. I could be mistaken. Regarding the want to do 10 years as well, we can hope.

[smtmissin]

Yeah I think after the girls reach a certain age where they need to graduate, management will first wait for the girls to raise the graduation issue themselves. But maybe Ai didn't want to graduate yet, or she thought she needed to stay in the group to keep it going and didn't mention her graduation to management, so Tsunku had to personally bring the issue to her face.
 
After Eri graduated, I think management started to think about adding new girls so they got rid of the pandas and after that, the oldest girl in the group aka Takahashi.

[momoirosaya]

Yeah he told Ai that it was time to start thinking about graduation, but she had been around for so long its different.
 
For those unfamiliar with KSS, here is footage of Mariaand Akanefrom the KSS YT channel from last year. I am actually happy Maria got in. I've always liked her and thought she was cute, I actually wanted her to go to S/mileage. Hopefully S/m will get the more polished girls though.

[NekoKaiSai]

[quote="Thea"]
Not happy, not unhappy. But if I had to swing one way or another it'd be unhappy. Not because of the girls themselves, I don't dislike any of them. Although I don't like some of their faces. No, simply because we have two contradicting statements. First, that Tsunku never wanted it to get as big as it did again. Second, that he would go up as far as 20. This makes me wary because if he does start adding girl in every year (to avoid another EriJunLin fiasco) he'll be graduating them every year, too. I know how Morning Musume works, I don't need anyone to tell me that. After Reina, Sayu, and Gaki/Aika have graduated I am used to it, but the ones in now are only passing 3 or so years, and so it's too soon to graduate them. Or he may do the EJL thing again and only add them in when it drops below optimal numbers. Who knows. 
[/quote]
 
When/where did he say he'd go up as far as 20?

[MejraThea]

I'm not sure. I think it was either a few months ago or last year, when the first audition failed, maybe? That he mentioned it, or someone reported her mentioned it. I apologize, I have a bad memory. 

[momoirosaya]

^I know what you're talking about, but I don't think he was being completely serious when he said that.

[MejraThea]

Oh, I see! 


Looking at the KensEgg footage you shared, I like Maria a bit more.

[Anderei]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Molly" data-cid="180081" data-time="1412083383">
I think they're all just in that really awk pre idol phase. Sakura was really odd looking at first and it took Ayumi like a year to stop looking like she was going to go on a murdering spree so I have hope that by their first or second single they'll be a lot cuter.</blockquote>


I think it's more that they're kind of generic looking. They look like a ton of idols I've seen but can't name, if that makes sense.


Not surprised they added one popular trainee and then one who isn't very well known.

[momoirosaya]

Apparently these are the nicknames Tsunku chose.
 
Miki - Mikiti ミキティ

Haruna - Daisaku ダイサク

Akane - Haga ハガー

Maria - Makki マッキー
 
Luckily most of Tsunku's nicknames don't stick. I can't see Miki as staying Mikiti for obvious reasons. And Haruna's Daisaku is worse than "Daiishi."
Hopefully she'll get called something better like Ogaharu or Haruru or Harucchi? Idk. Miki could be Nona-something. I see a lot of people call Akane Akanechin, and Maria wll probably just stay Maria. Or Maria-sama (haha, if anyone gets thats reference).

[yuzuriha]

It is really hard to care without audition footage. I am not very familiar with a lot of the kenshuusei but of course none of the ones I know got in.  My prediction is I'm going to like the Osakan ice skater the best, but only time will tell.  I am happy Sakura gets to be a senpai though, it always broke my heart JunJun and LinLin never got to be, because they would have been awesome senpais.

[aine]

Too many! Unless someone else is on the way out. But I'd really like if the group was kept at 10 members max.

Since we got next to no audition footage I have zero opinion on or attachment to the new members. On the plus side, none of them stands out in the negative way. On the minus side, all 4 look extremely generic and personality-less. "Cute" is all I can think about them on the first impression and that's not enough. I'm not expecting miracles from the newcomers, but none of them seem to have any spark or anything to set them apart from the crowd. :wut:

But time will tell. I just prefer to get a pleasant surprise than a disappointment.

[AquaChan]

Link. Maria Comments and footage from last winter.
I'll wait to actually see something from all of them before picking a favorite. =.=

[arcobaleno]

I've watched the footage of Maria and Akane, and so far, I think I like Akane the most out of all of them so far, but I'm with everyone else and want to see something from all of them before picking a definite favorite.

[ShiroiChanUK]

I think this picture is a lot more flattering than their profile pics :)

 

[smtmissin]

Someone on H!O posted some VERY beautiful photos of Akane and Maria. I think I may fall in love with Maria in no time. She has a sexy pair of eyes, and her smile captures you. I have a weak spot for sexy girls (I am a straight female so I don't mean it in a perverted way).
 
I'm gonna steal their links to my favorite photos of Maria (in the first pic she reminds me of Maimi):
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Spoiler: [+]

 


 
 
 

 
Not particularly fond of Akane but the expression in her eyes is very good in this photo:

Spoiler: [+]

</div>
 

[Meikochi]

I was really hoping for Rikako.. :(
Well, both eggs are cuter than the 2 others but as Molly previously stated, most of MM. (at least) weren't cute at their debut.

[JPope]

I think it's safe to say that more graduations are on the horizon.
 
I like that there is a decent range of ages with this group. Except for Maria, they do look kind of generic, but they haven't had the full idol makeover yet, so who knows. I hope a couple of them can sing.

[arcobaleno]

If anyone wants a refresher of Akane and Maria's singing abilities:
 
Akane singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZLEbwulz-0

Maria singing (from 2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d_dWRTOqlI

[smtmissin]

I don't see anyone graduating at this point. They are pushing Haruna as next leader and Haruka is pushed in Tiki Bun. Sakura is the voice. Riho is the ace. Erina is still wanting to be center. Kanon is pushing her chubby image. Mizuki loves H!P too much to want to graduate that soon. Masaki and Ayumi, ...I don't know. Their positions in the group fluctuate a bit from single to single, but Ayumi is well loved by wotas and is often pushed as dance center along with Riho, while management seems to be quite fond of Masaki and often throw her voice here and there. Really, I don't see any graduations coming within 2 years.

[momoirosaya]

I hope they give us footage of the training camp tomorrow on Harosute.


Yeah I don't really see any graduations coming either.

[JPope]

Another Maria solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAzY65nd54Y
 
She sounds better on this. Not good, but not Koharu bad, either.
 
Akane isn't that good, either. Kind of surprising that they'd add two Eggs who are fairly weak singers. Hopefully the noobs have enough talent to balance it out.

[Elpis]

^ I'd say Haruna (Iikubo) is most likely to graduate first. She is the oldest but I think it'll be a couple of years before that happens.. So far, the auditionees seem okay. I don't have footage to judge the other two, but I like the Kenshuusei just fine. Supposedly Akane can speak english too so she can Miki could maybe develop personalities or something.

[Vikitty]

HOLY CRAP MIKI'S ENGLISH IS AMAZING.
 
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ek89b655z3c9y3l/12th+Gen+%28fan+recording%29.mp3
 
5:16~

[MejraThea]

Well, damn.

[JPope]

Wow, her English is great. I wonder that played a part in her selection, or if it's just a totally incidental bonus? I hope it's the latter.

[smtmissin]

Wow I'm jealous. I have been living in the US for over 7 years and still have accent. Was she an English speaker since young age?

[arcobaleno]

She lived in America for 8 years because of her dad's job, so she learned English when she was young, which is why she has skill with it.

[momoirosaya]

Haruna seems like the worst singer out of the 4 based on the way she talks. I look forward to seeing their dancing!

I can't wait till they perform their own song at a concert and are in a single ><

I wonder if they'll sing Suki na Senpai.


I feel bad for Sakura though, being a 1 member gen with 3 4 person gens around. At least she can probably connect with Maria since they did 11th gen auditions together.

[NekoKaiSai]

[quote="JPope"]
Wow, her English is great. I wonder that played a part in her selection, or if it's just a totally incidental bonus? I hope it's the latter.
[/quote]
 
Tsunku's message to her was asking her to use her English skills and great mind to make Morning Musume global.  So it might have, though we'll probably see how big of a role it had once we hear her sing.