Kasahara Momona Becomes Candidate on Produce 101 Japan

[DonJuan]

It seems like Kasahara Momona is back - as a candidate on Produce 101 Japan!

[Zoe]

I've never understood the thought process of those who left the company just to go try to be an idol on their own. It hasn't worked for anyone yet.

[DonJuan]

I guess it's the hope that when it works out you're actually taking the next step.
If you're lucky you'll end up like Tanabe Nanami, even if OnePixcel was short-lived. If you're unlucky, you'll have a career like Murotan - working your butt off but with a management that did not even care to put your MV on Youtube.

While I don't like those survival idol shows, their winners were usually quite successful, so I definitely hope the best for Kassa.

/EDIT: Confirmed, her profile is up on the website.

[JPope]

Well, I didn't have this on my bingo card! My sense was that Kassa graduated because she felt she had outgrown the idol industry, but that was clearly not the case. Her graduation feels like ages ago, but it's not even two full years yet.

For a Japanese idol survival competition, this song is Kpop as fuck, probably because the producer and composers are all Korean lol. As much as I bitch and moan about modern MM songs having the soul and personality ripped out of them via autotune and strict time-alignment of all the voices, this is on another level altogether. It feels like what a Korean music producer who has read about -- but never actually experienced -- Japanese idol groups imagines what a Japanese idol group is like.

[Farrah]

I really enjoyed the first season of Produce 101 Japan! Even the theme song was good imo. It was false advertising though, all the winning groups from this show have gone on to do basically kpop cosplay, zero jpop vibes in sight lol. On the other hand, the "loser" groups from it have gone their own way and put out some pretty fun stuff, so I guess the ideal scenario for her in my eyes is to not make the final group, but to make it to the end, boost her profile, and debut in one of the inevitable spin-off groups, whether at Yoshimoto or elsewhere lol.

To be honest, her being on this show is a bit of an anti-climax for me. She didn't stand out that much in ANGERME (in her defense, that group is so full of talent... it's hard). She makes sense though. I was hoping for more H!P girls to appear in this tbh but a lot of H!P girls these days graduate in their early/mid 20s which may as well be considered corpse-age in kpop (especially now, the current controversial trend in kpop is all the big companies debuting groups full of extremely young girls).

[JPope]

To be fair, Kassa graduated right at the moment she was breaking out in Anju, and my petty ass still kind of holds that against her, lol. I was excited about her and Funaki running Anju for the next 8 years, and one year later they were both gone.

[Farrah]

I can understand that, kinda. It did feel like she was finally coming into her own right around the time she decided to leave. This is unfortunate for us on the H!P side, but probably the smartest thing she could've done if she wanted to pursue a career elsewhere - after all, even girls much more popular than her have squandered their chances at a solo career by sticking around a little too long.

Speaking of Funaki, would've been a bit more excited to see her or Murotan on here haha. This cast is full of LDH and Avex girls who I bet they could've competed with on much more equal footing than Kassa.

[Farrah]

So, suffice to say Kassa's already destroying the competition lol. She's the first girl to reach over 100k views on her video, with most struggling to even hit 3k. Of course, most contestants are unknowns, but even the other girls with media presence are far behind - for example, Kato Kokoro who previously debuted in semi-known kpop group Cherry Bullet is at 50k as I type this.

I have to be honest - this makes me worry for her a bit! Prior experience with these shows tells me fans of other girls are gonna get REALLY bitter and pissy about her coming in with a pre-installed fanbase. They call it privilege, cheating etc. I predict lots of hate comments and hateful rumors in her future, people go totally insane during these shows. They dig through everyone's social media, friends and family to expose dating, underage drinking, smoking, anything they can get hold of.

That said, she looks beautiful and performed really well! I am cautiously curious to hear if her vocals have shown any improvement in the last couple years too, that's the area where I've always felt she's weakest.

[DonJuan]

That was the first thing I thought of, too. When she was still rather close to the others, like an hour after the solo shots were uploaded I was really happy for her. But being *that* far in front can make things difficult. I'm looking forward to the first episode, though - from what I've heart, the cutting and editing in these shows can also be brutal.

[JPope]

I'm convinced that they're gonna make Kassa the villain based on her built-in popularity and her generally more thoughtful demeanor, which will rub some the wrong way. The positive effect if this happens is that, coupled with her talent, it's almost guaranteed to get her to the finals. Gotta have drama!

EDIT: 7 hours in and Kassa has 168K views, which is double her closest competitor, Miu Sakurai with 84K.

[Shoujo Q]

If they make her the villain. That’s going to do a number to the entire H!P fan base. I hope it doesn’t backfire. Because her being on this show will shed a light on our humble fanbase and a big one on Angerme for those curious on who Kassa was before this show.

[JPope]

I mean, if you're gonna be a villain on one of these shows, it's best to start out in that role so that you can have your redemption arc and be beloved by the end.

[JPope]

BTW, should we do a dedicated thread for this show? Seems like there's a lot of interest for it here, and it could choke out other OG related content in this thread.

[Shoujo Q]

Moved.

[Farrah]

Not to be a hater, but I can easily see her getting the other popular edit for shows like this - "You're so experienced yet your skills aren't that good...? Shouldn't you be better after so many years? Why are these newbies outdoing you?" things like this get said to almost every idol who goes on one of these shows unless they have undeniable, outta this world talent. Kassa is charismatic and not the worst singer ever, but there's a reason she was mostly on the sidelines in ANGERME. It'll be really hard for her to live up to the hype and they may frame her as "the mediocre veteran".

[DonJuan]

Well, looking forward to how she has improved in the last two years and how much she will continue to improve.

PR video is up:



Sakurai Miu seems to be the next most popular member, and her singing is really good, but she seems a bit too "cold"?
My heart goes to Ishii Ran who just did one of those Popin Cookin kits in her minute lmao.

[Farrah]

Haha I kinda love how hard they make the kids work for these PR clips. Hers was cute! If we're lucky she may get a chance to use some of her acrobatics/gymnastics in the show.

So far she is, again, crushing the competition in views. Sakurai Miu obviously has a following since she previously participated in NiziU Project and Girls Planet but there's still a pretty sizable gap between them. Makes me realize modern day H!P has more clout/relevance than I thought lol UFP need to get these girls on more TV shows!

[JPope]

Not to be a hater, but I can easily see her getting the other popular edit for shows like this - "You're so experienced yet your skills aren't that good...? Shouldn't you be better after so many years? Why are these newbies outdoing you?" things like this get said to almost every idol who goes on one of these shows unless they have undeniable, outta this world talent. Kassa is charismatic and not the worst singer ever, but there's a reason she was mostly on the sidelines in ANGERME. It'll be really hard for her to live up to the hype and they may frame her as "the mediocre veteran".

Ha ha, you're right about the veteran idol hazing they do on these shows, and it's something I had forgotten about since I haven't watched one in years. I'm interested to see how much Kassa has improved since she graduated, because I think she showed a lot in her last year with Anju. Her voice was above average with flashes of really good, and with two more years of training she should be more consistently really good. She was a solid dancer when she left, too, so hopefully she's even better now.

[JPope]

This is getting crazy now.

[DonJuan]

It seems like Kassa has been going to this K-Pop style school in the last few years as they congratulate her on making it in P101G.



They also congratulate two other girls, Shimizu Keiko and Aoki Yuka.

I think this means Kassa actually went to Korea to study. School looks pretty interesting, for those who want to take a look.

^ Well, the hype is real. I hope it doesn't die too quickly. Worst case would be that she doesn't debut at all.

[Farrah]

Oooo that's really interesting and unexpected! Yeah, I'm very curious to see her improvements. I always thought she was an energetic/appealing performer but some extra singing lessons could really take her to the next level.

I wonder if all this attention she's getting will inspire some other former H!P girls to try the kpop route (similar to what happened to 48G after Produce 48)... could be an interesting era for us.

[JPope]

Kamiko broke the seal on her blog today.

[DonJuan]

Very cute. I think it's a good sign that she wishes Momona luck, showing the Anju family friendship.

[JPope]

[DonJuan]

Nice!

[AquaChan]

Have you watched Episode 1?

It follows the classic Produce series tradition to start with audition evaluation. It cuts right before Kassa turn's but the videos are now posted to the serie's youtube channel:
Song only
With discussion

They did an ok job with YOASOBI's Idol. I wonder how the judges will decide which grade to give them.

[DonJuan]

I had to watch the episode in 2 parts because damn. That's certainly a good amount of scripted I hate the way they repeat things, sometimes even in the middle of a song. And damn, those judges are strict!

Idol is a bad choice to perform for evaluation, honestly. It fits only few voices, and if you do the choreo along with that, it's really hard to sound good. Airi was good when she did it on one show, but she didn't do the choreo iirc. I doubt any of them will get an A, in fact, I think C is more likely for both of them.

[MejraThea]

Kassa was definitely the better dancer of the two, but sounds like the judges weren't overly impressed.

#1 Yamamoto and #2 Katou don't seem that good compared to Kassa at #4, although #3 Ebihara is very good. (Based on their Leap High performances and the smaller groupings) Not entirely sure how they're judging...

And this is coming from someone who never liked Kassa.

[DonJuan]

Personally, I did like Yamamoto and thought she was the best in her group lol. But yeah, seeing her place #1 overall was pretty off. I think for Katou (Kokoro) it's her story, Japan is nothing different from where I come from, people love a good, emotional story more than anything else (as far as I know she had to stop her idol career due to an injury; I might mix her up with someone else though).

I hope Ebihara will debut, she seems to be one of the best singers and she definitely has stage prominence. She said her weak point was dance, but she kept up with the others in her group, so I'm not too worried.

#6 Sakurai (Wing Bell Moon) is. Eh. She's decent, good even. But I think she is missing something and that's the reason why she hasn't debuted before. She's too cold.
#6 Sasaki (in Team NANA) is also another case of. Eh. They (the judges) liked her because of her attitude, but I think she lacks everything else, especially expression.
#7 Ishii (in EYE Catcher) is pretty good but she didn't stick out imo.
#8 Kitazata (one of the members of Cool Girls) does nothing for me, not bad, but also not outstanding.
#9 Takami (with Cool Girls as well, the one with the incredible amount of hair.) She is so shy when she's not performing it's incredible, but she has a nice voice.
#10 Kato Kagura (MYDO GIRLS) is in my opinion a very obvious case of pretty privilege and people wanting to see someone improve. She's not horribly bad but the F rank is not completely wrong.
#11 Kitazume (Pocket Princess) is cute and has attitude. She also got her spotlight with her acrobatics show off and her red tshirt among pink shirts lol. Her singing isn't bad either.

I do believe that Momona and Ebihara are set to debut. They'll probably throw in Sakurai Miu, too.

[JPope]

For those interested, this clip shows their grades.



Man, they really went HAM on the pitch correction in post-production lol!