Sorry for once again a late reply First let me adress the concern of @blurryeyes You can count on me staying, me liking Kamen Joshi isn't dependant on me liking Momomin. However my liveone reports will decrease atleast untill I have been able to go back to Japan as I think it really helps if a member actually knows who you are. After Momomin I am probably going to oshi either Saria or Ao in Armor Girls but since I have no real idea on how good their English is.... (although I know Saria can throw around some words I have no idea if she actually understands it) I probably will visit a few members in liveone (maybe even some Cerisier ones) to see how they react (A note: I really really like Tsukino Moa, but I can't get the feeling off me that she will graduate quite soon so I am a bit afraid to oshi her, plus she doesn't need my support as I think she already is the most popular girl in KJ, I probably will visit her in LiveOne though as she seems to have a good memory and English ability) On the concern of the quality: I think it has more to do with conservatism then anything else. If the owners are happy with the way things go right now (and with that I mean the amount of profit) then there might be some sort of thought of "why take the risk?" Expanding your buisness is a risk and certainly with the Corona virus situation going on, whose effects will be felt for years to come, I think we shouldn't expect to much and just be happy that KJ is still here as they already exist far longer then the average Idol group ever does. On the thought that Cerisier swallows part of the budget: Cerisier probably has to earn a lot by herself and I don't think the impact on KJ is that big. Why? Let me say first that I am not really in the know in Japanese buisness organizational structures but seeing my teachers always told me that in general the rules are the same in every 1st world country: It would be wise to keep Cerisier and KJ seperate in the books. This way, if anything happens to one group it won't drag the other one (financially) down under with it. However this also means that they can't be intertwined to much as this would make them, if it gets to court, seen by judges as 1 group. A good example for this is how all the 48 groups are seperate buisnesses even though the top of the top brass is still the same. For KJ and Cerisier we also see some evidence that they are treated seperately by the videos they publish on YouTube. When you watch videos of trips they take together a Cerisier member is never shown in the KJ version of the video and vice versa even though when Cerisier started they did make videos that they presented together. Even the Topping Girls audition videos were completly seperate (I take it that project is paused thanks to Corona) event though everyone was in the same room taking the audition at the same time. A last thought: We have to be honest here, the music and style of Cerisier seems (atleast to me) to be far more of what people think of when they think of Idols and as such they might actually even be, with the general public, a bit more popular. Last weekend I had visitors so I couldn't chat with Momomin However last Thursday I got home back early and could chat for about an hour and a half. - Her bed finally arrived and she put it together by herself It also meant that while she was giving her legs a massage she puts the camera in a different spot so I got to see a bit more details of the bedroom she was in. - She will continu to do LiveOne untill the end of September (I guess this means that contracts always end at the end of a month) - She is looking forward to her freedom more and more - She might start studying English after her graduation (this wouldn't be strange seeing her sister is also doing that) - No details yet of what she exactly is going to do to earn a living after graduation although I must say that she comes across as the type of girl that has saved a lot of money so she can probably live of that for a while. - She will miss the fans
On the subject of promotions and units being full: It may be the case that promotions aren't happening due to units being full (what with the Ao transfer and Steam Girls being 9 people already) but I think the main reason is that the current line up of cadets is just lacking something. The closest to promotion is likely Wakaba or Rena, but I think they lack popularity. Based on my observations, while skill and popularity are important factors, from cadet to KJ it's popularity then skill, to go to Juban it's most likely skill is the most important aspect, as evidenced with Riru and Saki moving to Juban despite being the least popular Steam Girls members at the time. Vague graduation reasons happen all the time, unfortunately. Last year Mari Yoshino said that she quit due to a back/hip injury, but in reality later on she said that it was due to death threats and people calling her ugly. Former Slime Girl Yurino Sowa was also “graduating due to family circumstances”, when in reality she was fired due to taking a day off without telling management. Even Mana Sakamoto 2 years ago said she had found a new dream and was to graduate, but I think she still wanted to be an idol for much longer, but she had to get heart surgery done, and decided to quit because of that. Personally, I too think Fue is pretty cute, but I’m more impressed by her acting. She played a supporting role to a movie Moa starred in last year, which I got to see back in February, and she did an amazing job despite it being her first role. She also wants to be an actress. Fue is a special case in that I think she joined March 2018, was Slime Girl by April 2018 and by November 2018 she was already Steam Girls, most likely due to her dancing ability. She inherited the “robot dance” part of High and Low, which originally was given to the best dancer, previously it was Riru before she moved up. I think Fue doesn’t have many fans, but the fans she does have are quite devoted. As for why Momomin would treat you differently compared to other fans, I don’t really know, but I have a few theories: You’re likely the furthest fan away, and you can’t even get to see her last stage, so she probably wants you to have the best memories as possible Somewhat related to the first one, you can only see her on live one, and so wants to make your experience with her (since other fans can come see her at the venue) as good as possible She’s self described as very “salty” and “rough” to her own fans, maybe they have a different relationship with her due to them coming almost all the time (not saying that your relationship with her isn’t special), this seems to be a trend amongst Alice Project talents; one of Misa’s biggest fans would always get the heart hands pose refused by her for about 4 or so years, as well as give unhappy looks during cheki time, until she agreed to do it at the graduation ceremony She’s being polite? I might be going off on a tangent here but members always say that they’re very thankful, and they enjoy your company, etc, and I often wonder if they really mean it. I have a pet theory that Japanese culture is more focused on what they say and what they do outside is what matters. For example (a pretty extreme example, not saying that they think this way or anything), they may think inside that a certain fan is really annoying, but as long as they say “Thanks” or “I appreciate what you do”, then they’ve shown their appreciation. However, I may just be overthinking this, and even though it’s said that people in show business never really show their true colors, I think that most, if not all, members truly love their fans and appreciate what they do. It makes me feel bad when I think this way since I feel like I’m doubting them and not having faith in what they say. They have plenty of reasons to give everyone lip service because: it’s what idols do, it’s good business practice, it encourages customers to stay longer, etc, but I truly believe that if they thought that way about their fans, they would have already quit. They don’t get paid quite a lot (although not as little as they exaggerated in the past), they (used to) perform almost every day with sometimes only 3-4 days off in a month, and they have various restrictions placed upon them. They’re (a bit more special than) regular girls, and I think this lifestyle would take its toll on them way faster if that weren’t the case. On the topic of moving up to Juban, I think the Kamen Joshi units have changed way too much and that the gaps between each unit have blurred, but I also think most members who are aiming for Juban have different reasons aside from popularity. In the current Steam Girls line-up, I think Fue, Yurie, Harumi, and Mia all want to join Juban. Fue and Yurie want to do it because it’s the coolest unit to them. Harumi wants to join Seri and do Juban with her. Mia wants to join because former Juban member and former manager Reika Tsukimura is her oshimen, and she wants to be a part of that exact same unit. Mao herself wanted to be in Armor Girls, and loves Armor Girls the most (as an idol unit, probably not as the unit she likes to do), but her overall goal was to be Kamen Joshi center, and that belongs to Alice Juban’s center so she had only one option. While a couple years ago they got rid of the “two route promotion” and merged the Oz→Steam→Juban and Pa-ken→Armor routes together, I still think that Armor Girls is too much of its own unit to truly be a junior unit to Juban. Speaking of Armor Girls, currently Armor Girls has room for exactly one more member, since there's one set of pink Armor not being used, but there aren’t really any candidates for Armor Girls right now, plus we’ve never had 7 Armor Girls at once before. With Momomin leaving, I think Mitsuki will shift to pink armor in order to keep the color balance. I have to say, even though I have no oshimen there anymore, I still watch Armor Girls very attentively. With 6 members, the formation has changed to 3 front, 2 middle, 1 back right behind center (the worst spot in members’ eyes), with Momomin, Moa, Waka in front, Ao and Mitsuki in the 2nd row, and Saria in the back. Ao is the newest Armor Girl, but in terms of seniority as a KJ member, she outranks all of them except for Moa and Momomin, so I’m not surprised she gets that spot. She also has more dancing ability due to Easter Girls having different requirements. I haven’t talked to her about it nor can I begin to know how she feels, but I do wonder what she thinks of joining. Satsuki is slightly different in that she needed to move to Tokyo to pursue gravure, but Ao moving seems more like a management choice to put popular members in Tokyo (and maybe due to Armor Girls having trouble with member retention). She’s a really good mood maker and so Armor Girls MC portions have become really funny, but I can’t help shake the feeling that she doesn’t really want to be there (I don’t have any real solid evidence, just speculation). I also have to wonder how Waka feels, since she was in Saria’s position for a while as the newest and least skilled Armor Girl, and then was immediately thrust forward to the front and made leader all within a year and a half. I don’t doubt she was able to overcome that, as well as her really good friend in Sora, and her respected senior member Misa both leaving. I was seated in front of Waka for one live and she was literally beaming with energy, and cleaned up her performance, so I think it helped her grow. On the other hand, Mitsuki has powered up quite a lot after joining Armor Girls, and is rising in popularity and ability. All of her flaws were truly fixed with the promotion. Saria, I think, still needs just a bit more work, which is why she’s in the back. It could also just be that while she’s good, everyone else is just better and so that’s just how it is. I think it’s funny that she tends to be the butt of jokes during MC time. If you’re wondering how good Saria’s English is, she was a university student up until last year, and was taking English classes (she told a story where her English teacher did a presentation on Kamen Joshi Osaka theatre and she got real surprised), although I don’t know if that’s a good enough measure. I honestly don’t know about Moa. She just reached her 6th year as an Armor Girl, and while she’s 26, she could graduate soon, or she could graduate in 2 years. Moa is the most diligent member of KJ, as evidenced by her not missing a single live due to illness or anything, only missing them due to outside work assignments. She is by far the most popular member of KJ (and one of the few remaining from the SSA era) and one of the most skilled members. She also graduated university and holds a teacher’s license, so if she does give up on her dream to be a voice actress she can fall back on being a teacher, and that’s also probably why her English is so good. If Moa were to quit, however, I think KJ would be in a very bad spot. As much as I don’t want to think about it, Shihori also has at most a year left in her, unfortunately, but I think that kind of talk is for another time. Wasn’t expecting this to get this long, Shihori Live one report maybe later.
You have said some interesting things @FruitPunchSamurai I think you are probably right on your first two points concerning Momomin and me, and concerning her saltyness: I have never really experienced this behaviour towards me personally (even when I once asked for it during cheki time it looked difficult for her) I did however see it on stage where she sometimes would give her famous stare towards her fans like "you can and you will cheer better then you are doing right now. I loved it when she would do that. EDIT: I almost forgot to adress the politeness part: Yes offcourse, part of it is politeness and this is indeed part of an Idols job. However the beauty of liveone is that you can actually see what an Idol is thinking and if all of it is just politeness then the academy can send their Oscars to Japan for years to come. I don't think Momomin is just polite, to give an example: During our last chat I told her I remembered her face when I came for my first cheki (ah, such good memories) and that that cheki has a very special place in my home (basicly right behind an Ise Jingu amulett that, according to the "manual" should be in the best place of my home). She found this wonderfull and, thinking of the benefits of social media, I asked her if she wanted to see it. (you can find the pictures I took in the reaction of her liveone tweet from last thursday) Now if she was just polite she could have refused this offer, but instead she jumped right on it and we talked about it quite a bit. (she did find it a strange, in a good way, that she could see her picture being in a place so far away [personal thought: if I were an Idol I would call it "achievement unlocked"] Concerning Mitsuki: That girl really has grown up this year. Where she first came over to me as a little brat that got stuck in puberty she now really is a full fledged adult woman. I am really impressed by the change. Concerning Saria: Yes she might need some work and people may joke about her (just look at the tweets about that little clip of her while recording) but for me this is also part of her charm. Offcourse everyone looks at different things but when I look at an idol I am not looking for perfection or the best skills. I know this sounds a bit vague but I look for effort and willingness and I see this when I look at Saria. Also would it be wrong to think that she just might have chosen this to be her character? I am sure a great deal of people are actually attracted to this sort of ponkotsu (do I say that right) type character. And my god, Moa has a teacher license? O_O I bet she would become the most popular teacher ever and not a single boy would ever miss a class. On the Ao transfer: As far as Ao-san showed through social media she wanted to go to Tokyo. I had the feeling that the transfer of Misuki showed her that it could be done and that this is what pulled her over to do it. Offcourse management agreed to it as they know that Ao in Tokyo would earn them more then Ao in Osaka. I am also not surprised that she was put in a good spot, she had earned that already beforehand. I will probably spend, towards the end of the month, a few moments in each of the Armor Girls members liveone to ask them to give Momomin the biggest sendoff they can (with the current situation. And it might be a misunderstanding with the translator but is Momomin going to graduate on the 7th floor? and not the grace bali on the 8th?
Really great insight & speculation my friends! I really do appreciate everything said here (Fue, Ao, Mitsuki, Saria, etc.) I am further interested in what Fruitpunch said about Momomin being salty and Miishan refusing "heart hands" with a long-time fan. Is this light mistreatment a way of teasing their own fans? Do the girls think that this type of aloofness works well with certain fandom? I mean Moa-chan goes for "heart hands" as soon as she see me lol. Even though I am a Kamen Joshi/A10 guy, Armor Girls always have some of my favorite members so it was nice to see so much chatting about them!
I think that many members over time might develop somesort of routine or special joke with certain fans. I don think they mean anything bad with it but quite the opposite. For instance Momomin knows that I like her high fives so when I come up for a cheki we usually started and ended with a high five.
Yes, I think it's part of her character, although I think that it's a relatively new development. Saria is known for being an extremely hard worker and being very diligent (despite not having the fruits of her labours come true very quickly), as evidenced when she was made cadets leader once Saki Mitsuki was promoted to Steam Girls 2 years ago, and how despite failing 3 (or was it 4?) promotions, she made it anyways. Armor Girls never really had a member they could tease, so I think Saria was put into that role. Coincidentally, when Saki was promoted to Juban last year, she was quickly put into the that teased role (which suits her well, she's quite funny). I remember sometime before Maihama last year, someone said something harsh about the cadets on Twitter, which caused Saria to angrily tweet an outburst (nothing too bad, and not directly replying to the guy, just reminding everyone that cadets are pushing themselves and working hard everyday just like the regular members), so her passion is definitely there. Her "working hard but still fails" character is actually quite liked by Japanese people in general and goes back to famous historical figures. I think you make a good point about how everyone looks at different things. I thought about why I decided to support Shihori, despite her being the oldest member and not being very skilled at dancing (however she's really good at dancing KJ songs; in terms of her ability, it was like night and day), and it's very vague but I feel like when you truly find your oshimen, it's just a feeling you have. Shihori has risen higher than Misa now in my eyes (I think she reached that point months ago though), and I could list reasons why I'm supporting her like: her interests are similar to mine, she has a wonderful personality, she's responsible and puts Steam Girls and KJ ahead of her own feelings, she's the most attractive and beautiful member in my eyes (even before she was my oshimen, and I also have had a giant crush on her for a while but that's for a different time hahaha...), I've also realized I may have kept a little distance between her and me last year since I found myself staring at her a lot and I didn't want to be "unfaithful" to Yurie (in the end I switched from her anyways though...). EDIT: I forgot to finish my thoughts here: truthfully, I'm not looking for perfection either, and you can try to put it in words all you want, like they're skilled, kind, etc, but I believe that you just "know" when you find your oshimen. Going off on a tangent if I would describe the performance ability of every member I've supported so far it would be like: Misa: very good at KJ songs, dance moves aren't exceptionally crisp or vibrant, but more like elegant with no wasted movement Hino: youthful and energetic, full of confidence Yurie: energetic and vibrant, but if she's worried or nervous it shows completely in her performance Shihori: sometimes stiff, but her KJ songs are really well done. I think Moa had promised her family that she would complete university (she wanted to become a voice actress and enter show business when she was a uni student), so she did miss a few events and stuff because of school. There was a wonderful interview done with her recently which talks about a little bit of it here: https://www.sakaseru.jp/user/interview/actor/id/67 The current status is that it's undecided on whether the Momomin graduation ceremony will be held on the 7th floor, according to the graduation goods announcement, so they've only allowed for T-shirts, cakes, and some other banners I think (whether the ceremony will even be held is also uncertain, according to the annoucement). Like what Oddball82 has said, it might be a certain routine or special joke they develop with long time fans. I think Misa did somewhat the same with me since she'd be a little cold to me sometimes if I wasn't there for her and her only. At some point Hino also was cold to me a few times last year until her graduation approached. The light teasing works for some fans I think, in that it just makes the fans want them more. In terms of Misa's fan being refused, I think she initially did do the heart hands pose with him (when he was a fan of former Armor Girl Manami Hoshino), but when he switched to her after she graduated, she became cold to him (saying things like he's not actually her fan, he's more of Yuuka's fan, etc). At the graduation ceremony they did unit cheki first, then Misa chekis, and she promised to do the heart hands with him with his understanding that it would be in the two-shot chekis, but he decided to do see what would happen if he tried it with the unit, and she accepted, surprising everyone, including all Armor Girls members (the cheki is hilarious when you see everyone's reaction), himself, and all other fans proceeded to give a round of applause. Misa's own expression is a big smile that sort of is like "I did something I wasn't supposed to do". In other news I went to a Steam Girls trip last weekend to Mishima Skywalk in Shizuoka prefecture, where they did a whole day of lives, and had a blast. I threw some pictures on my Twitter. Live one report and that trip report later.
Some sort of publicity event yesterday at a temple for a lottery game with Waka and Ao: if the video does not show watch the video here
Momomin chat report (not in sequence): Had a nice one and half hour chat with Momomin today. We started with talking about books as she was looking one up when I entered. She likes books about/for self-improvement the most, however that is not a sort of book I read. I did recomend her 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 though (English: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage) by Haruki Murakami as I find his exploration of the human soul very interesting and has made me think about how I see myself and the world around me. In short: I think it made me a better person which convinced Momomin to put it on her "to read" list. She has almost everything she needs in her new home, only a few little bits left (btw: This time she was chatting while already laying under the blankets of her new bed) We also talked about names as by accident I was, by liveone, after a disconnect (which Momomin and I have the joke that that is tradition) thrown into the room of who google translate calls Momose Ayase (but I believe it should be Ayane?). I am a bit confused as Momomin said that Hitomi means "eye" but when I put in a translator it indeed means pupil but then in the meaning of a student. We also talked about travel and romance (thx to the chokomeshi episodes about dates). Even though she made a joke video about a date she actually has no idea on what for her would be an ideal date. However then something happend that was very dangerous for Momomin if she wasn't going to graduate soon. I won't tell here exactly what happend but safe to say that she said and asked some very dangerous things for an idol. The things wouldn't be that bad on their own in different conversations if it wasn't for the fact that they came right after each other. It could be coincidence offcourse but this was the first time she actually left me confused. When this happend I knew that we were straying into dangerous territory so I made a joke to change the subject. Chat lasted till 0100 this time which she considers the best time as she then afterwards has an hour to prepare for going to bed at 02.00. I've said it before but I am worried about these Idol bed times (and not just Momomin) but it also makes me very curious how they prevent getting bags under their eyes. We also discussed the weather as it's hot in Japan aswell here in The Netherlands (here we just had what was called a "super heatwave") I told her that I was jealous of her aircon (it is always visible in her chat) which made her very worried. I told her how the heating here works (basicly everyone has central heating through a boiler or heat pump) and that aircon is not standard and that I doubted if investing in it was worth it. She told me that aircon was the best so I might do some research. The rest we talked about was just little bits and bobs
The one man live planned on the 19th of september has been moved to the 12th of december. https://twitter.com/AliceProject_mb/status/1296685755712995328?s=19 Also tonight when I get back home I will be forced to buy 10.000 liveone points which will also be the last ones I can buy as from the 24th to purchase anything people will have to register their adress and in typical Alice project fashion they made it so that only Japanese adresses can be registered. Really, Momomin and I sometimes joke about "if the gods (kami) allow it" but it seems their will is that Momomin will be my last Kami-oshi
I'm really glad that it's not cancelled outright, but I was pretty much expecting it to be delayed. A 3 month delay is reasonable, but after seeing what happened throughout this year 3 months is likely not enough... According to the announcement the address registration is a countermeasure against improper purchases, and I can totally understand that since perhaps people were trying to fraud them or something, and the Japan only addresses is due to them not being able to have legal resources to catch people who do scam them overseas, but I do think that it's not very fair to overseas fans. I know there's one Waka oshi from France that visits her live one a lot so he'll also be affected. You can try sending them an email using the contact form at https://liveone.jp/contact/ but I really wonder if they'll reply. Personally, I thought about sending my opinion on it too. Speaking of buying a large number of points, on Tuesday I accidentally bought 3000 points (wanted to buy 300 points...) by using the "quick buy" feature at the top, and wasn't thinking it through too hard, but fortunately I think I'm able to adjust my budget for that (maybe). I had 300 minutes to spend so I spent about 100 minutes that day divided over 2 of Shihori's sessions, but today work was really slow and at some point I wasn't able to do anything, so when she started it up I ended up staying for 145 minutes according my history...I had lots of fun and don't regret it but I do think I overdid it. It's nice to have lots of points on hand but it does make you want to stay longer than you initially anticipate or plan to. She doesn't do live one all that often these days, but I now only have about an hour's worth of points to spend for live one until September 15, so I do need to be careful.
One of the candidates of Cerisier has deicided to transfer to Slime Girls (or management made her do it, but lets stay positive and say she does it out of her own will) https://twitter.com/AliceProject_mb/status/1297542337858383872?s=20 Her name is Shizuku Ouya (I think, that is her twitter name, google translates her name as something completly different) According to her twitter bio she is 1st year middle school, so that makes her between 12 and 14 years old? Good to see some fresh blood. I wonder if her experience as a Cerisier candidate gives her a bit of a head start in SlimeGirls? Edit: Just read her blog: https://ameblo.jp/ouya-shizuku/entry-12619839896.html She talks about after having had a break of a year she thought of quitting but after seeing KamenJoshi she found them very cool and loved the songs. After talking with staff and taking dance tests it was deicided she would tranfer. She also apologizes for those who were waiting to see her wear the pink Cerisier uniform one day.
Kamen Joshi birthday festivals have been scheduled... KJ Oshi Juggernaut Moa has been rescheduled to 9/12 Waka is 9/13 & Yuuka's is 9/26.
Interesting, I don't really pay attention to Cerisier that often but I do recall this girl appearing as part of Cerisier Cadets. I think she's put into Slime Girls because of her age though; she could have commitments to school, or sudden changes in personality, or her family could be against it more strongly that make it risky to have her as a KJ cadet immediately since she could quit at any time (granted that this is applicable to most talents). Out of the current Cerisier→KJ transferees, Riru and Otoha both skipped Slime Girls and went directly to cadets, likely because they were over 18 and were expected to be more responsible. That and they could just have better skills. Dream Project also does not have a Slime Girls equivalent, so I think they have to wait longer as a trainee, whereas in Alice Project they basically put you in Slime Girls once you have enough courage to stand in front of people. Completely unrelated fun fact, but out of the current KJ members, there are still 4 that have never been Slime Girls before, Nanaka (Slime Girls didn't exist back then), Riru (transferred directly into cadets), Satsuki (Slime Girls WEST also didn't exist back then), and Ao (same as Satsuki). A couple days ago Moa and Waka said to keep those days open, and I guess this is why. The system is much different now: 7F lives will be irregular, normal ones will be held on the 8F, 80 seats at maximum, no standing allowed, no cheers or mixes allowed. You cannot lift your penlight above your chest since it might block the people behind you. Tickets are given out by lottery. There is going to be time between to allow for air exchange (they have finally been able to exchange air in the 7F? Maybe more details later) and disinfection. Also, there are two types of tickets: A live ticket, which allows you to watch the live and join for cheki time (3500 yen), and a cheki time only ticket (1000 yen). The entire day is the birth fest so 11:00AM birth fest live 1, and birth fest live 2 in the evening. I don't know if I'll go. I sort of promised both Moa and Waka that I'd go but that was before the changes, plus I want to see Shihori as much as possible, which is why I'll likely go to Yuuka's birth fest. (Also my wallet is getting lighter...) EDIT: Mayu tweeted that her oshi should come to the 2nd live on the 6th. Judging from how it is, I think she's also going to announce her graduation... It seems like the last pages on the SSA era of KJ are coming to a close. EDIT2: The live schedule page has the 19th strangely listed as lottery system instead of first come first serve for tickets, with "more details later" added. Some have been wondering if its something special like a showing of the new songs, or maybe a promotion announcement. Should the 6th be a graduation announcement, a promotion announcement to Juban is not out of the question.
Just a quick update: Momomin's graduation ceremony on the 5th JST will be broadcast on YouTube. The 19th is the secondary unit joining ceremony for Ao, Saria, and Mitsuki, with Ao going to Cherry Blossom, Saria and Mitsuki going to White Milk.
Mayu Kusunoki will be leaving KJ in December. She plans to hold her birth fest, and take part in the December live before she leaves. No date has been set. https://ameblo.jp/kusunoki-mayu/entry-12622271166.html She had decided to do her graduation over a year ago, and her reason for graduating is that she's getting on in her years, and can't keep going as an idol. She's also achieved lots during her time, and decided that it's a good point to call it quits. While I've seen Mayu in Juban longer than I have in Armor Girls, her strongest image for me is being part of the Misa/Moa/Mayu/Momomin/Maki Armor Girls period, which I thought was the best until we got the Hino/Sora/Waka period. Between those times, the only girls left will be Moa and Waka. Mayu talking about her age reminds me that Shihori doesn't have much time left for herself either. Shihori has said that she will in fact host her 30th birth festival, but after that, it's highly likely that she'll quit too since there hasn't been any AP member to stay beyond 30. I personally hope that she will stay until her 31st birth fest, but that's already asking much...
Thanks FruitPunch! It will be interesting to see who they make the new leader of Kamen Joshi! Momomin's graduation performance is still up for those interested! As one of my original favorites when getting into Kamen Joshi, it is meaningful to me that she graduated on my birthday. if the video does not show watch the video here
Ok, let me also do some talking as I am sure some of you are curious how I feel right now after the graduation of Momomin. The reason I waited a bit before writing this was that I first needed to get my own thoughts in order and I wanted to have talked to Momomin herself on LiveOne first (which I did yesterday). First of all I was really happy to have been able to watch her final performance live via YouTube. For many non idol fans it might seem a weird thing to say but: It was important for me to see her last time on stage, to see the end of an idol career. I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo during Tachibana Anna her graduation so I know a bit of the emotions during such an event and now, seeing my own kami-oshi laying down her weapon and mask I was in the lucky position to experience the same feelings as the people had back then. Why am I lucky to see my most favorite idol go? Because it helps with saying goodbye when you experience the goodbye moment, it makes it more real and personal. I got to see what Momomin was feeling at her last performance and I think that was a wonderfull chance. For that reason I will also not re-watch the graduation as I want to cherish the experience as how it was when watching it unfold live. If I had to describe Momomin during her graduation it would be "A happy but also very brave knight" Although her eyes did tear up a little bit Momomin kept her smile till the end (although we probably never know what happend under the mask when she wore it for the last time) and I found this very very brave of her. To say goodbye to a world that was such a big part of her life and to smile while doing so can not be an easy thing to do. The overall impressions of the performance were also, I must say, quite happy without to much crying for which I am gratefull. Ao-san popping a balloon, Momomin getting stuffed with cake and drowning in flowers were all good highlights, also the camerawork was pretty good. My own feelings were also quite happy actually. Probably due to me having been able to talk a lot to Momomin on LiveOne prior to the graduation but also because my view differs a lot from the more traditional Japanese views. Offcourse I am sad that I won't see her on stage anymore but I also know that she is happier now that she has regained her freedom and independance. This is a good moment to start talking about the chat I had with Momomin yesterday. First of all: I/we did set a new record as I visited her chat for 4 hours straight! (would be more if I didn't need to go shop for grocerys prior) and what a chat it was, so much was going on and I apologize but it is impossible for me to recall everything (I am sure some things will pop up later in my mind). When I entered her room she was already under the blankets of her bed (we are talking about 20:30 JST here) and looked very sleepy. I congratulated her on her graduation and we talked about it for a few minutes, that I found her brave and about the funny moments but all in all we talked no longer then 15/20 minutes about this. This might seem short but in general we felt the same way, we were happy (that I was happy was a bit of a surprise for her but when she listned to my explanation she agreed). I can tell you that she is happy that she is no longer an idol and that she has gotten her freedom which she clearly longed for for a pretty long time. I know it sounds weird but I could see/notice that a huge weight has fallen of her shoulders. Momomin wasn't just sleepy though, she was also hungry and when she asked me if she should make some rice (to which I offcourse said yes) I got treated to a wild ride and the most diverse LiveOne session ever. First she went to the kitchen, camera in hand, so I got a good impression of the space she has in her new appartment and let me tell you that I think it is very spacious (for a Japanese appartment that is), her bedroom is small but her kitchen is actually in a seperate room with space for a dining table and the kitchen itself (she did show it off for a bit) is also very nice, better then I expected actually. I asked her if she knew of any miso ramen dishes with corn in it, reason being that here in The Netherlands there is a new pack available that lets you make miso ramen but the recipe says to add corn (which I have never seen in Japan so hence I asked her about it). Seeing she was very curious about it (food is after all a big interest of her) I sended her a picture of the package which she studied closely, very nice to see her in that way. Offcourse with her being a Japanese in Japan she used a ricecooker. She knows I also eat a lot of rice so when I asked her how long the rice would take (just under one hour) and replied that I didn't have a cooker but the rice only takes 15 minutes to make I peaked her interest once again, so I also sended her a picture of the rice I make and we talked about the difference between rice here and in Japan (for the record: I like the rice in Japan a lot more but it is hard to get that rice type around here) and about rice cookers. Before she started cooking she said that she didn't have any real propper food in her home but after she pulled out ingredient after ingredient to make, to my surprise, a full meal I do wonder what in her mind propper food is. She pulled out tomatoes, shii-take, kimchi chicken and more. Oh and fun fact: The rice, tomatoes and shii-take were all products grown by her grand parents in Oita which her Mom sends over regularly (Her parents recently moved back to Oita). All in all after cooking for a while she had a meal of rice with kimchi chicken and she gulped it down quite fast. For desert she had some slices of that blue, what was it called again? youkan? (see the picture on her twitter) and ginger crackers (also from Oita). I did tell you that when the chat started she was sleepy right? Well, after eating she was full of energy and couldn't sit still. We talked about all sorts of bits and bobs, for example the importance of shopping lists, the fact that she moved her closet (btw she seemed to find it funny that I noticed that). Most funny thing: I saw the exact same scale she uses in a shop here recently and when I told her that she was really surprised and so we also talked about scales and weight. I am of the faction that thinks shape is more important then weight and as I think Momomin has a nice body shape (even though, to European standards, she is very underweight, but then again: can you apply European bmi standards to Japanese girls/woman?) I complimented her about it. And even though I know saying things like that can come across as flattery that isn't the reason I say it. I truly think Momomin has a good figure that "fits" her personality (I am also of opinion that personality is linked to body type eg, when body type and personality(and voice) match it can even make a physical less attractive girl very attractive and vice versa) Momomin also reacts well to compliments about her body but when I also compliment her about her personality then she is less confident and willing to accept it for true. It is cute to see but I hope she knows that I mean it. There was a short glitch during the chat thanks to a bug on the site of LiveOne which from time to time refuses to show that someone is live. The chance of it happening increase the longer a live session is running. I used that time to quickly put the laundry in the machine and afterwards it was time for the final 80 minutes or so of the chat. Due to me a lot of other visitors who saw my English messages and hearing Momomin reply in English made the joke "is today English only?" and also tried their best to put out a few things in English. (btw: Momomin her sister is still studying English but many lessons are online right now for obvious reasons). Right before the glitch Momomin started her leg massage. In general she is quite pleased with her body right now but she would like her cheeks to be a bit smaller. (small face big eyes sort of thing). This week she will go to the dentist to have the 2 lower jaw wisdom tooth pulled so that might help a little bit (although that is not the reason they are getting pulled), offcourse only after the swelling has gone away. Slowly she got a bit sleepy again and withdrew back under the blankets again and the chat came to an end at 01:00 There were a lot of moments where I was the only person in chat and she did make it a thing to point that out every time that happend. Offcourse the reason why she did this are open for speculation but I admit that her pointing it out made me happy. Let me also weigh in my thoughts on the graduation announcement of Kusunoki Mayu: First of all her reason, perfectly acceptable even if I think that there isn't an age limit on being an idol, Shihori and AKB's Yukirin are good examples of this. I wish her the best of times unitll the end but it's sad to see another veteran go again so soon after Momomin. But... I can not shake the feeling that she waited with announcing her graduation untill after Momomin graduated.
Another quick update: Moa and Waka birth festival will be streamed on YouTube. Only the 2nd live will be shown. Steam Girls will be there for the morning half of Waka's birthfest but they will be attending a different event that will also be streamed in the afternoon.
So just had again a good chat with Momomin, the long report I will work out in the coming week but one interesting bit I wanted to share: That she will be gone for a good while from the public eye after the 30th is indeed a secret rule. She knows that she can't be on sns for a while, but she could say that somewhere in 2021 she would return (although offcourse she isn't allowed to say when), one possibility however, but she wasn't completly sure, is that this would even prevent/forbid her from going to the graduation of Mayu. This makes me wonder if high profile members get more strict conditions in their contract for after they graduate then lower profile ones?
