Are you ready for another fun game? Let's find the best kid in the berry c-ute patch!
Each week a poll will be held. I'll share a little bit of info about the pair up for debate, and you vote on your favorite. Make sure you look at the colors from all sides. Singing, personality, let's look at the overall package together!
Grouping was decided by colors. Be it past color or current color before graduation, there was a method to the madness and some liberties were taken. *cough*airi*cough*
~BATTLE ROUNDS~
(Decided by oldest member first in each group)
YELLOW Battle
Umeda Erika vs Shimizu Saki
PINK Battle
Yajima Maimi vs Tsugunaga Momoko
LIGHT BLUE Battle
Murakami Megumi vs Ishimura Maiha
BLUE Battle
Sudo Maasa vs Okai Chisato
PURPLE Battle
Natsuyaki Miyabi vs Hagiwara Mai
ORANGE Battle
Tokunaga Chinami vs. Nakajima Saki
RED Battle
Arihara Kanna vs. Sugaya Risako
GREEN Battle
Kumai Yurina vs Suzuki Airi
Voting Opens on Friday, April 19th! With Team Yellow!
This is a place where a signature goes. Enjoy some Airi instead.
And Kanna intro to C-ute + (Her audition footage from egg days)
HOW ITS GOING
(Once Each Battle is Done, the Battle Cases will be Spoilerboxed.)
The showcase will give a down and dirt rundown (really dirty, some girls are just so damn amazing that I can't cover everything) of major events in the Berikyuu lives. I'll upload 3 videos for each member to give you a glimpse into what they were up to from their debut till now. (In some cases *Megumi/Maiha*, it may be less.)
Battle 4 - BLUE Sudo Maasa vs Okai Chisato
Case of Sudo Maasa
So Maasa was probably an early front girl, having been placed in 4KIDS not long after she joined H!P Kids. She was even featured in the MV along side a few of her other H!P Mates for Fujimoto Miki's Boogie Train '03 MV. But after she joined Berryz Koubou, she was pretty much shoved into the back as filler.
She didn't have the singing chops to compete with some of her other bandmates, nor was she what you would consider, a stand out beauty. But she did her best with what she had.
Maasa's niche was acting. She landed the lead role in the movie, "Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata" in 2010. In 2014 after graduating from Berryz, she became the playing manager for the theater group, Engeki Joshibu. She also acted along side Kobushi Factory in Week End Survivor as well as Morning Musume'15 in TRIANGLE. She even appeared in a remake of Thank You Very Berry with Tsubaki Factory. To this day she still is a member of Up-Front and continues to do theater productions and perform with the remaining members of Berryz. Though she is not a member of M-Line. She keeps her private like private, but does use social media.
Case of Okai Chisato
Okai Chisato. This little spitfire was one of the younger members of H!P Kids. She joined C-ute with the remaining H!P Kids and slowly became the moodmaker for the group over time. Her little sister Asuna eventually joined H!P as a trainee, but she eventually left after not really amounting to much.
Over the years she's been in many subgroups, Athena & Robikerottsu, Mellowquad, and Triplet. She also created Team Okai. She and some of the younger members of H!P did dance covers of the popular Morning Musume songs in 2012/13 as well as some C-ute songs. Some could argue that the H!P Dance Club grew from this little idea of Team Okai covering H!P dances. Okai became one of the main singers in C-ute over the years. Even doing a solo with Airi that managed to be released twice!
After graduating, Chisato remained in Up-Front as a talent and joined M-Line. Things were looking up for her. She was a very active member of television, radio and was continuously holding live events. That all came crashing down in 2019 when she suddenly announced that she'd be stepping back from the entertainment world. News soon spread that she was dating a professional cyclist, Mitani Ryouki. And had been since 2017. But not long after a scandal appeared that sent Chisato into instant retirement. That man in question, was still married and his wife wasn't too happy about little ms. home wrecker. It seems Mitani was in the process of getting a divorce. If this were America, things might be different. But this is Japan. So Okai disappeared into the abyss. Leaving Up-Front, and going back into the life of a normal citizen.
Since then, her family tried to cash in on the Okai name. But it didn't last long. The last that's been heard from her is that she eventually married Mitani Ryouki and may or may not have a child. She made a brief appearance at Hagiwara Mai's wedding. But has pretty much disappeared from the limelight for good.
This is a place where a signature goes. Enjoy some Airi instead.
While the oldest of the Hello!Pro Kids, and member of C-ute, she wasn't the leader of C-ute.
She was a member of ZYX, ZYX-α, Gatas Brilhantes H.P. as well as Bello! under the name Umely.
She developed a character in C-ute called Tension Ageko, a character that appeared in many MCs during C-ute concerts. Eventually she was given a song that appeared on 3rd: Love Escalation!, "Do Don Ga Don Ondo" (ドドンガドン音頭).
Erika graduated during the ℃-ute Concert Tour 2009 Natsu Aki ~Cutie JUMP!~ tour
She graduated to pursue a career in modeling, but returned to the music scene in 2013, releasing a solo album titled 'erika" in 2014. She released one MV for the mini album and then that was it for her solo career and instead started to focus on other things.
[Crush On You]
In 2019 she produced and trained idol group Turtle Lily (MuMo°). The group has since disbanded in 2023.
She married radio personality, Goto Hirokatsu in 2021 and since then, given birth to two children (boys).
She continues to be active on social media.
Case for Shimizu Saki
The 2nd oldest of the Hello!Pro Kids, and captain, not leader, of the group, Berryz Koubou. Her nickname was Captain because of this.
She was a member of ZYX, HIGH-KING, Cat's♥Eye 7, GREEN FIELDS, Gatas Brilhantes H.P. and the Hello! Project Dance Club.
Solo of Shiroi TOKYO
She graduated from Berryz Koubou in 2015 with the remaining members of Berryz Koubou. She then transferred to Up-Front Promotion until 2017 where she then transferred to J.P ROOM.
Solo of dearest
Dancing (Saki was arguably one of the best dancers of the H!P Kids.)
After graduating Berryz, she became a staff member and helped in training the H!P Kenshuusei. In 2017 she joined M-Line and began doing fanclub events. She also participated in events with other Up-Front artists as well as the Engeki Joshibu.
Training the Kenshuusei (Look at all them babies!)
In November of 2021, she retired on her 30th birthday after revealing that she had married a non-celebrity and has since put an end to her entertainment career. While not active on social media anymore, she continues to appear at Hello!Project and Up-Front events and will take photos with current members.
Maimi was pretty outgoing from the moment she joined as a H!P Kid, and eventually became leader of C-ute, being made leader despite the fact she wasn't the oldest. She was a member of ZYX, HIGH-KING, Cat's♥Eye 7, DIY♡, Mellowquad, Gatas Brilhantes H.P. and the Hello! Project Dance Club.
She was also one of the most athletic of the Hello!Project members and was one of the fastest runners and did well in all the H!P Sports festivals.
She had a duet with Abe Natsumi, "16sai no Koi Nante" in 2008.
In her years as a member of C-ute, she's done many musicals, movies and plays. It was later revealed that she is cousins with former ANGERME member, Takeuchi Akari.
In 2014, following Michishige Sayumi's graduation, she became the first Hello!Project member outside of Morning Musume to become leader of Hello!Project.
Since graduating in 2017 with the remained of C-ute, she continues to act and perform as a member of M-Line. She was in J.P ROOM since 2017, but in 2023 was transferred to UP-FRONT CREATE.
She married actor, Mikata Ryosuke in 2022 and in March of 2024, she announced she was expecting her first child.
She continues to be active on Social Media.
Case of Tsugunaga Momoko
From the moment Tsugunaga Momoko joined H!P she was put in the spotlight. She was lead in the Koinu Dan no Monogatari movie. And then promptly put into Fujimoto Miki's MV for Boogie Train '03 and then added to ZYX. (If you couldn't feel the push, it was totally there.) She then became a member of Berryz Koubou. Momoko's signature is her pinky sticking up in the air as she holds her mic.
Solo of Hare Ame Nochi Suki (Morning Musume - Sakura gumi)
In 2007 she became a member and eventual leader of the subgroup Buono!. And sometime around 2010, her persona of Momochi with gravity defying pigtails was born. She would continue to promote in Berryz under this persona and became somewhat of a household name because of it. And also went to university to become an elementary school teacher.
She also coined the phrase "Yurushite-nyan" and even released a song dedicated to it.
In 2014, she joined Country Girls as playing manager and would remain with Hello!Project even after the disbandment (hiatus) of Berryz Koubou. In 2017, with C-ute also graduating, Momoko also graduated from Buono!, Hello!Project and the entertainment world and retired, riding off into the sunset after one final solo live, never to be heard from again. (Like, not even a whisper. She fell off the face of the Earth.)
Winner - Tsugunaga Momoko
Battle 3 - LIGHT BLUE Murakami Megumi vs Ishimura Maiha
Murakami was a promising member of the H!P Kids, she was selected as a member of ZYX, was selected, along with fellow H!P Kid, Suzuki Airi (And Tanaka Reina) to sing a coupling track on the ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL! single. As well as part of the shuffle unit Sexy Otonajan. She was showing signs of being an ace. But like all aces, they tend to disappear as quickly as they appear. Like a shooting star. After joining C-ute in 2005, and just before they were set to have their major debut, she left in the fall of 2006. Pictures of her surfaced with a friend, who just so happened to be a boy. There is much speculation, but many believe she left due to these photos surfacing. And that was the last anyone heard of the amazing, Murakami Megumi.
Until... 2011, when she appeared, signed to a dance agency and now going under the name MEG. She began to become active on social media and even showed her face during the graduation of her former C-ute members in 2017. She also made a guest appearance in 2019 at Okai Chisato's FC Live ③ ~Katte ni Hello Pro 20 Shuunen Omedetou! 2013-2018~, dancing to the song Kanashiki Heaven.
She continues to be active on Instagram and is most notable now for dance instruction in the Kanto region and choreography.
And we will always wonder, what could have been and what C-ute would have been like had she stayed.
Case of Ishimura Maiha
The case for Ishimaru Maiha isn't as detailed as Murakami unfortunately. She wasn't part of any subgroups, played a bit in Little Gatas and Berryz Koubou was her only group.
She announced her graduation in 2005 and graduated that fall, becoming the youngest graduate at 12 years old. She chose school over the idol life, as her school forbid any after school activities, she had to chose between the two. She was the topic of many rumors about an eventual return, but none came true. She was a poster child for many flyers the school she was at had. But the crumbs were small and very few and far between. There was talk of her working at her fathers eel shop in 2012.
Eventually in 2014, she resurfaced, signed to a new agency. All looked bright for a comeback, but once again fans were disappointed as she left the very next year and hasn't been heard from since, effectively retiring in 2015.
Winner - Murakami Megumi
This is a place where a signature goes. Enjoy some Airi instead.
Momoko won! (SHOCK!) Now, if she had been paired with Airi, would that have changed things?
The color wars continue with the light blue team.
Which, coincidently just so happened to put them both in the light blue team. So they are thankfully on more equal footing as far as voter recognition. (maybe) If you happened to become a fan of H!P after 2005 then this poll of two people that have long since, not been member of Hello!Project will be rather difficult. Be sure to check out the Case Files for a down and dirty biography of the girls in question.
Anyway, ENJOY! And see you next Friday.
This is a place where a signature goes. Enjoy some Airi instead.
Singing, personality, let's look at the overall package together! 
