Inaba Manaka is back - and joins Juice=Juice?!

[DonJuan]

Announced in todays Hello! Station.

https://youtu.be/EvX2HS_yUHQ


Official website announcement:

http://www.helloproject.com/news/8726/


I had to make a thread about this because it is just way too weird to me. Guess we'll have a J=J grad soon then.

[Mukuro]

I'm glad they added her before the album drops. I'm also just glad in general lol. They weren't just going to have her in limbo while Ichoika Takase and Momohime debuted, and this is the only group that makes sense age wise.

[Shoujo Q]

I hope she can handle it with her asthma. Juice=Juice just keeps getting better.
I just hope this doesn't mean someone will be leaving soon. But with Karin and Tomoko's health issues and Miyazaki's age. It's that "what if" bubble that starts to form when you continue to add girls, but not take away. 
 
Shame they couldn't stick her back in Country Girls too. 

[WonderBuono]

Wat
J=J has no reason to be this big lol
 
I'm happy she's back and all I just wish they could've used it as an excuse to bring Country Girls back full time.

[Anderei]

^

Yuka and Tomoko are on borrowed time given their ages.


She’s kind of a weird addition. Definitely not gonna make me anymore interested in them, they’re still just kind of blah.

[DonJuan]

It's not like Manaka is young either. Her best qualities are dancing and being cute, but she's generally a well rounded idol. She could probably replace any Juice member except for Sayuki and Ruru. But someone on H!O already mentioned her character is similar to Yuka's so...


That being said, they graduated her from CG because she couldn't handle the work due to Tokyo letting her Asthma flaming up again. Now they're adding her to the group with the most concerts... in Tokyo. I wish her all the best but I'm worried.

[Anderei]

She’s not young by idol standards but she’s got about another four years barring any health issues. Yuka turns 25 in 10 months. Karin also has a boatload of injuries under her belt. 3/5 of first gen could announce grad tomorrow and it wouldn’t be that odd because of circumstances and tenure length.

[momoirosaya]

I’m glad Manaka is back as she was my favorite CG member, but part of me was hoping the group they would put her back in is CG. I’m sure she’ll do great in JJ though.

[yuzuriha]

I'm actually....ok with this?

[DonJuan]

^^Not disagreeing with you at all. I wouldn't even be surprised if Akari or Sayuki announced their grad.


^Honestly I think they'll be dissolved this or next year. Ozeko doesn't do anything except for H!S shorts and CG events and Yamaki might be added to something just like Manaka.

[Anderei]

I think they’ll milk them as long as Ozeki and Yamaki are willing to do sporadic work. Their next live is in November so it’s not a huge schedule toll, so I guess it’s just a matter of when they get tired of it. Or decide to focus entirely on school.

[Zoe]

I think the group is too big, but they've got a lot of talent in there, and both times they've done this all of the girls just seem so happy about it.

[TheParuProject]

Well I'm bitter. LOL
 
I never liked Manaka. Yes, she's kind of cute, but her voice is shrill and shaky (especially live), and her dancing looks frantic next to everyone else. Juice=Juice has gone from yay to FUUUCK in a swift movement. Hopefully aggressive touring takes her out again. 

[momoirosaya]

^I definitely hope not. Asthma is no joke man. My mom and cousin were both hospitalized for a lot of their childhoods because of it.


JJ feels like a weird place for Manaka, but I think she’ll defeinitely fit in in the “Professional” Group.

[Anderei]

She's too old for the two new groups, MM and Angerme are way too big right now, and the idea of her in either Factory is just weird. JJ was basically the only place to put her, I think.

[DonJuan]

For a blog post I counted members and Juice=Juice was still the smallest group aside from Kobushi (which they won't touch at the moment) and CG (well...). And yeah she's too old for the new groups and it would be a bit of a kick in the shins for the new girls.

[JPope]

Crazy.

[Farrah]

This is wild lol.  I always really liked Manaka though, so I'm glad to see her back even under the weird circumstances.
 
Man, poor Country Girls.  I have so many questions about what the fuck is going on there.  I feel so bad for the girls.  H!P groups usually last at least, like, 7 or 8 years.  I'm sure they thought they'd really made it when they debuted, now they have to deal with... this mess.  I seriously don't get what H!P is doing with them and I wish we had answers, the entire situation has made no sense to me from day one.

[Zange]

This... just completely baffles me. Don't get me wrong, it's great that she's back in a group, but they really couldn't have used this as an excuse to bring back CG full time? I really liked their music and it's actually kind of sad that they aren't doing regular releases anymore. Seeing them come back in full force would have been the best thing, but because of this, I doubt it'll happen now.
 
I do wonder how well she'll fit in as a member though. I'm even more curious as to whether or not she'll actually be on the new album? The release isn't too far off, but I feel it's far enough off that she'd have a good chance of appearing somewhere on it. We'll just have to wait and see on that one, though.

[Anderei]

Taking all the girls out of the groups they've now been put in and back into Country Girls full time would be just as crazy as what they did in the first place.
 
I think Country Girls was underperforming in UFP's eyes. Their last physical single, which was Momoko's graduation single, sold less than 30k it's first week. That's the same amount that Kobushi did following several scandals and losing nearly half their group. The single before that fared worse. And although Kobushi's single before their last also didn't do well, they also didn't have a very popular H!P member who had been around for ages helping to prop them up. I don't know how they were doing as far as selling out venues and the like, but I think they had some concerns about what would happen without Momoko. And then I'm guessing there must have been some weird behind the scenes stuff for them to have done what they did, especially since Ozeki and Yamaki didn't get into new groups, and Ozeki isn't even old enough to be in college yet.

[honey]

I wonder why they didn’t put her in Ichioka’s new group, I feel like she would have fit in well.

[momoirosaya]

She’s already been through the whole new group thing, I feel like it would be mean to make her do it again.

[MejraThea]

What?

[DonJuan]

Inaba Manaka's colour in Juice=Juice will be...

 
Hot Pink!
 
(Announced in her first blog entry on the J=J blog.)

So... I mean, what else? A different kind of blue or a different kind of green, or the popular teal/emerald colour. Oh, maybe another kind of purple, too. 
Personally I'd say the difference between light and dark blue is still the biggest, but pink does leave the possibility for the fruit theme open. Raspberry, dragonfruit... 

[Zange]

[quote="DonJuan"]
but pink does leave the possibility for the fruit theme open. Raspberry, dragonfruit... 
[/quote]
 
English Wikipedia's dubbed it as 'Strawberry' on their J=J page (they still think the fruit gimmick is a thing, I think, because Yanamin's listed as 'blueberry') and while it makes sense, they could have picked so many other fruits.