Wota in Translation

36 comments on “What are all the Sayashi Riho fans up to these days?”

1. That’s really sensitive of you and I appreciate it. I, personally, haven’t been as big a MoMu fan since Niigaki graduated. 5th gen was just entering MoMu as I became a fan so it seemed like my anchors to the group were gone. Then Sayu left and I have no idea who the 12th gen members even are. Nevertheless I still consider myself a fan and want to see them continue to do well. I went to Japan on my honeymoon and was so excited to buy their newest album in person as it were. My music tastes have developed in the same direction as MoMu has so I love the super energetic EDM tracks as much as Nanchatte Renai, Indigo Blue Love, Roman ~My Dear Boy, even Otome no Shinrigaku.
   This is why I follow you on twitter; you keep me connected with the fandom, however loosely.

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   • Yep, it’s difficult to keep the same level of excitement after your oshi left. I mean, if you really like someone specifically, isn’t it a bit shallow to expect to transfer all of that passion to somebody else?

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2. I’m a Berryz wota, I switched mostly to ANGERME and Juice=Juice after their hiatus. I never felt like quitting H!P, I kind of don’t understand why you would. It’s not that bad, maybe it’s hard with wide gaps in release activity and such but I don’t really agree that it’s so much worse now. Maybe my perspective is shortened by being an international fan though.

   Riho leaving didn’t really mean that much to me, I didn’t like her much in the first place. I haven’t followed Morning Musume that closely since Reina left.

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3. While this thread is “negative” I can understand since Sayashi’s graduation was a big loss to many wota. Also, I have “switched alliances” recently from Morning Musume. to ANGERME, however, that was more of a Nakajima Takai entering rather than a Riho exiting thing.

   Being a DD, I often find it hard to understand the feelings of those who have a kamioshi. For me, the year of following idols mostly revolves around following the PV of the singles. If I can watch the PV’s all the way through then I usually care about the group. After that, it’s following the twitter feed and see who is releasing super-cute two shots. After that it’s catching up on concert or DVD magazine footage on Youtube. I suppose it would be a completely different experience if I followed one idol exclusively and had to watch everything she was in.

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4. “H!P has just had too many members leaving as of late.”

   Man, if H!P keeps hemorrhaging members at 2016’s rate of 3 a year, and stops adding new members altogether, they’ll be totally wiped out by the 2030s.

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   • 2034, Hello! Project leader and sole remaining member Kasahara Momona has combination graduation concert / H!P farewell concert / 31st birthday event.

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5. Thanks for the translation as always.

   If you want my opinion, I’d say that I see this site as neutral or disinterested. That’s different from being a hater. But yeah, I don’t see it as a fan site either. Like, not at all. Just a site from someone who enjoys translating wota stuff. I kind of understand that feeling; I’ve been translating (for myself) some 2ch threads and some articles about H!P.

   In my opinion, if this were a fan site, there would be tons of 2ch translations about what happened this month, and there’s plenty of subjects to cover: MM 13th gen and fan reactions with Kaedii, the following video of the announcement, the FNS collab with MM and °C-ute, the Sashihara show with Angerme, the announcement of Sasshi collab with ’17, and the film adaptation from Kobushi’s musical (well, the latest two were like two days ago and yesterday, so I may be asking too much). I’ve seen plenty of really funny threads coming from these topics.

   I’m not blaming you for this, that’s your choice, but as a consequence, I’m feeling there is an atmosphere of melancholy in this site. Not necessarily about Platinum Era, but also about the “Tsunku era”, H!P until 2014. That’s not a hater feeling, that’s… different. And I personally feel frustrated by that because it gives an impression of “H!P was way better before, it’s become way less fun today” while completely dismissing all the changes that happened lately.

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   • What you said about this site being neither a hate site or a fan site does make sense to me. Now that I think about it, maybe you’re right in that the title of “fan site” isn’t really fitting for the site — not anymore, anyway. Maybe it’s just… an H!P site. For better or worse, it’s quite neutral.

     As for the topics you were hoping to see more of on here, there’s actually a new site on the scene that I’m happy to promote in regards to that. Check out Morning Matome — from the looks of it, I think they’ll be covering the more timely 2ch reactions to news. Fans seem to be loving it so far so that’s great. I do hope everyone reading this shows them support!

     It’s interesting but perhaps not surprising that you’ve detected that type of melancholy when reading the site. To be honest, I certainly feel melancholic about H!P on a personal level. I try not to let that show in my translations, but perhaps it’s impossible to not let any of it show when it’s such a “hands-on” project. In all honesty, it could just as well be my Finnish metalhead-ness — I’m a pretty melancholic person to begin with.

     With that said, I do feel bummed that you feel the site is giving off a sort of “fuck current H!P” vibe, because that’s pretty much what I said I hoped I was not doing in my blue text above. If I find myself doing that sort of thing too much, I tend to stop myself and go “Alright, am I being fair here? This is similar to my opinion — If I’m going to put this in, do I also have enough posts saying the opposite, highlighting what current fans think makes H!P good for them?” I’ll take your message as constructive criticism. That may indeed be something I need to try to be more mindful of, going forward.

     In any case, thanks for the honest feedback. And if you have a link to your site with your 2ch H!P translations, do leave it here and I’d be happy to plug it on Twitter. I’m sure people would be interested to read your work.

     (As always, thanks to everyone else for the comments, too.)

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     • I don’t have a site yet, and I’m not confident enough in my Japanese to do that ^^ by the way, I’m already checking Morning Matome.

       “fuck current H!P” may be a bit too strong, that’s more of a “it’s not that today’s H!P is shit, but well, less fun than before” thing rather than a outright rejection.

       But I think it hasn’t much to do with how you’re translating and more with what you’re translating. I haven’t criticized your translations per se because I don’t have a lot to say about them, except being great. I just had that impression on your site when I see the choices you make as to what to translate. And because it’s your site and, well, you’re doing absolutely whatever you want with it, I believe that if you feel that way, and it shows through your “editorial policy”, then you shouldn’t change it.

       But yeah, my frustration comes mainly from the fact that H!P is in my view undergoing major changes right now and you (and a lot of people, for that matter) don’t seem to give them a second chance (once again, in my view).

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   • well said… there’s nothing more to add… except for my personal feeling for this thread… these comments make me so sad because H!P is more than just one person and my love for it goes deeper than my love for any member… yes, it’s sad to “lose” the worshipped bias (especially if it is Kame-chan or any other member who is gone forever)… but these bitter words hurt people who don’t want to quit being a fan…

     I feel sorry for all those people who had to endure the insults towards Riho… I’m not her biggest fan but I didn’t hate her at all… I don’t hate any member because they’re all part of the family! my bias is Maa-chan and she loves Riho… so why should I feel hate for someone my favorite member likes? that makes absolutely no sense! so I understand why fans turn their backs to the group when a loved member leaves… but I will NEVER understand those people who badmouth or defame MM… they weren’t H!P wotas in the first place and really aweful people…

     I feel really bad now… it wasn’t a good idea to warm up this debate… to be honest, I don’t want to know where these wota are and I don’t want them back…

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6. Henkka, you’ve really done it now! j/k

   Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one – I even see it here. One person says S/mileage was better than ANGERME while another fan says he has switched over to ANGERME from Morning Musume. For me… S/mileage was great, but it never challenged MM as my most favourite group, while ANGERME is so awesome they keep tempting me. I love Tsunku etc. but ANGERME has had a really good team behind them, and I think Kobushi Factory and Country Girls as well, for their respective paths. (I don’t know what the people behind Tsubaki Factory are doing.) But basically, the way I see it, we’ve lost some things and gained others. We’ve lost some great members and most songs aren’t by Tsunku anymore. But now we have groups that sort of have a recognizable group identity going on. Now it’s easy to see that ANGERME wouldn’t release a Country Girls song, but not too many years ago, the songs for all groups kind of sounded interchangeable. People forget so quickly, there were always complaints and not even all Tsunku songs were that great. I AM A TSUNKU FAN, BUT IT’S TRUE. HE DID NOT ALWAYS POOP GOLD. It’s just that when he did, it was extra shiny gold with diamonds on top. The point is, you can now think “I like Kobushi Factory the most because they have powerful vocals” or “I like CG because they are traditional type idols with cute songs”. Now groups have actual cohesive images while still being able to perform different types of songs. Well, that’s my argument at least. So we’ve lost “produced by Tsunku” but we’ve gained “groups that have their own thanngg”.

   This is all just a rant, but… The management could be doing certain things better, yeah. But it’s all a mix of several things and sometimes people look into the meaning of things too much. So you know a Riho fan who quit H!P after Riho graduated and that’s supposed to say something about H!P as a whole right now? Haven’t there literally always been fans who quit once their favourite leaves? Those fans are just different types of fans than those who stick around for the music or a sense of familiarity or loyalty or whatever. Riho was a special member, but her departure in the big picture is not that different from other aces who left. The only big difference is that, unlike with previous aces, there was no new ace to take her place in MM. But I have to stop here or I’ll keep going on and nobody wants that.

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   • “People forget so quickly, there were always complaints and not even all Tsunku songs were that great. I AM A TSUNKU FAN, BUT IT’S TRUE. HE DID NOT ALWAYS POOP GOLD. It’s just that when he did, it was extra shiny gold with diamonds on top.”

     That’s very true. People do forget quickly. I may love Tsunku, but it’s good to remember that no one is perfect. Tsunku may be great, but even he’s not what I would call a genius. Funnily enough, I was just translating something in the past week written by Tsunku. In it, he specifically says those words himself. “I’m no genius.” (But I’ll get back to you on this translation in a month or two…)

     And yes, I also agree 100% with you on what you were saying about, to paraphrase, how no one member “makes or breaks” H!P. I became a fan in early 2007 and I first fell in love with Yoshizawa Hitomi. “This girl is awesome! She looks like she could probably kick my ass!” I thought she was great. A couple of months later, she was gone from the group. “Well… shit.” I received a quick lesson on the impermanence of things in H!P. From the very beginning I knew better than to think everything depended on just one member. This process then repeated again and again and again with all my successive favorite members.

     I’ve been trying to tell myself it’s just the same thing with Tsunku; like it’s just one more member. It just hasn’t quite been working so far…

     Thanks for the thoughtful comment, shirenu. A thoughtful comment with the words asshole and poop in it. I don’t get those everyday.

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   • “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one – I even see it here.”

     I want the pictures!

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7. Made me suspect that part of Riho’s grad decision was because of hatred she got before.

   Deym. Just stop hatin, guys. Stop all the negativity.

   Stlil, fuck Trump.

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8. I never really say this thread as “negative” but more of a critique? like overall u can still love something, but not love all of its parts, if that makes any sense….

   H!P’s defiantly changed in the past couple of yrs n so many girls leaving in such a short amount of time is something to kinda worry about, but overall H!P’s still holding out. Are there thing’s I wish management could change? heck yeah, but the girls, their personalities and (most of) their current music is what’s keeping me here for the time being.

   overall I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with these types of threads as long as its like not full on bashing 90% of the time lol

   keep up the great work!

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9. Hennka! you really done it now!
   15. “For example, I feel ANGERME was so much better as S/mileage”

   Maybe the Tsunku comment distracted you but I’m pretty sure this shouldv’e been the other way around.

   The original S/milage was Tsunku perfection. ANGERME still is my favorite unit at the moment, the members are all great. I like their style and their songs, they’ve got some nice hooks. But I do miss that OMG wtf did Tsunku do there. But hey, what can you do, it’s impossible for him to be as involved in H!P as he used to be. You just have to enjoy what we have now.

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   • I was going “oh shit, I really did do it now!” Thought it was a typo, but that was just an oddly phrased translation. Re-read what you pasted and you should see that the meaning was exactly as you said. ;) With that said, I edited that line to be clearer. Thanks!

     (And yes, original S/mileage was, indeed, Tsunku perfection. You could play Asu wa Date na no ni, Imasugu Koe ga Kikitai at my funeral and I’d probably be giving you a little wink and a smile in my coffin.)

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     • ha, thanks for the clarification. I guess it’s my own fault for being a dumbass and thinking you were joking about spending all that Patreon money on Vodka.

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10. What’s with all this Maachan hype these days. I know she’s helluva popular but I’ve been seeing her name like in every MM related thread I visit even she’s not the topic. Did something big happen to her or something recently?
    And I wonder why Riho fans switched up to Maachan? I mean, they have completely opposite chara, right? Phew, I can’t get myself to like this genki girl, she reminds me so much of my nagger ex-gf XD

    As for most of Riho fans, it’s not surprising that they suddenly disappeared. I had this impression of them that they think Sayashi as the sole reason why MM is the best for them and without her, it’s their downfall. haha I like Riho, but I still follow MM, though my fave group is J=J

    #PropsofBeingAlowkeygroupWota

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    • Maachan is bonkers, has improved a lot, acts like a 12 year old, and gets praise from the music directors. She’s the ideal old-style Morning Musume member in the modern era: hella awkward and stayed that way except not.

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11. ow that I think about it, H!P of the past few years feels a lot like a slow, drawn out version of the Elder Club graduation. Back then, I was posting on forums urging older fans to give the Platinum Era a chance. Similarly, many fans really want some of the longer-tenured H!P fans who are disillusioned with the current H!P to enjoy it for what it is.
    It didn’t work with veteran fans then, and it won’t work now. Fans of different eras of H!P are (or were) fans for different reasons.

    Part of it is the girls. Yes, the current members of H!P are all very talented and lovely. This is no knock on any performer, past or present. The problem is, supporting a performer at the start of her career when you are 19-20 years old is very different from doing the same thing when you are, say, out of college or starting a family, and it’s also not necessarily an experience you want to repeat after having followed a performer and her contemporaries for a long time.

    Part of it is the change in H!P and Up Front culture. Morning Musume, to me, represented an ideal that any ordinary girl who had enough drive and a spark of luck could have a shot at her dreams, whether they happened to be a starry-eyed teen from an average home or a disillusioned young OL. That is why any lingering interest I had following Zukki’s grad was crushed by the announcement that the new generation of MM is taken entirely from trainees. Morning Musume still represents a dream, but only for girls who happen to be fortunate enough to live near Tokyo or have families that will move to support their dream and are (if I recall current policy correctly) able to pay for lessons.

    Finally, some folks, especially fans from Platinum Era and earlier, have a particular love for H!P because of Tsunku’s music and quirky production values. Many newer fans prefer the new H!P composers. We’re all not going to see eye to eye on this one and it’s not worth arguing. For me, as long as H!P performers continue to sing live, I’m happy to point new idol fans in their direction, but everything these days is a bit too “marketable” for me, I guess? I enjoy Taikibansei and appreciate the talent of the girls performing but I would prefer Ii Koto Aru Kinen no Shunkan any day. Likewise, we will never get another album like Berryz’s first out of H!P because songs like those could never be promoted on a video billboard in Shibuya and new members moving forward will never be such inexperienced performers.

    We all have a ton of entertainment choices, and none of us are under any obligation to give anything a shot or force ourselves to try to like something we don’t. A little nostalgia and even melancholy feels right to me regarding H!P, and part of what makes your site special to me is that I can express those feelings here without necessarily feeling like I’m intruding on younger fans’ enjoyment of their idols. I’d even suspect that with so many film and TV franchise reboots, it’s pretty common in other fan communities these days. (When Episode VIII comes out, there are sure to be a ton of fans who feel a pang of sadness when someone waxes poetic about how wonderful Rey is and how she’s the best woman in the Star Wars canon.)

    It’s great to be enthusiastic about new things, but loss can also be a very real part of the experience of being a fan. Trying to avoid it or gloss over it cheapens the work of the creators and performers who are trying to make us feel something.

    Regarding Riho herself? She was never my favorite, but dang, did she work hard. Given that she had been in training long before her time in Morning Musume started, it’s clear that she was, at one point, following a dream. The saddest thing, to me, is wondering where and how it stopped being her dream.

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12. i think is quite different this situation when you have been a fan for a long years vs somebody like me who has been a fan just recently.

    For me, riho graduation and incredibly, mi oshimen, zukki graduation didn’t caused such a huge impact on me, will sound quite weird, but a lot of news of hp haven’t caused anything on me, maybe it’s because when i became a fan i was in high school, without responsabilities and just being kind of a genki girl xD and now i’m 20, a lot of girls in hp are younger than me, they are girls singing and stuff, but me, i’m a woman, studying for flight attendant, and it’s weird, in less than a year my future as a worker is getting more close as the day passes, i don’t know if somebody undestands, but i don’t feel a conection with this girls anymore, it’s like they are eternal girls but i’m a woman who has to starts a new life with huge responsabilities soon, with such worries, how can i bother my life with graduations?

    I will never forget that i hated riho with all my guts for 2 years and thanks to a girl i started to question why i hated riho in first place and by the time she graduated, even if it didn’t had a effect on me, i fell at pace for had stopped to hate her.

    i think people on fandom don’t have to be so mean to the people who hates on an idol. Even at this day, i still don’t understand why i hated riho, i couldn’t even watch a picture of her without being disgusted, i just can say that the day i realized i didn’t hated her anymore and i could appreciate her efforts, i felt free, very free. That’s why i won’t ever hate a person who hates an idol, you can be pissed with that person, but believe me, it’s more like a punishment to the person who feels that hate.

    I don’t think, that even with the lot of changes that hp will have, i will get tired of it anyday. I still feel happy, i was extremely depressed, boderline suicidal when i met hp, and even at this day, when i have moments when i still feel worthless and i hate myself, hp brings me joy and kind of a hope. I don’t want something that brings even little hope in my life dissapears.

    P-D- Sorry for my bad english xD

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13. Riho’s departure had a bigger impact on me than I expected. I still like several of MM’s members but the group as a whole just doesn’t hold my interest since she left. I’ve lost so many favorites in the last couple of years (Uta, Riho, Meimi, Manaka) I’m afraid to pick any new ones. It makes it a little hard to be enthusiastic about HP when the rug keeps getting pulled out from under you.

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14. I think the fact that you stay cognizant of the fact that some things are negative means you’re in no danger of becoming negative yourself.
    I have always enjoyed idols for their positivity and energy; I have little interest in the bashing or gossip or drama. There’s enough of that in the world. Living in Japan the past year, I see the more negative aspects of the culture – working to exhaustion, racism, etc. – but there’s still nowhere else I’d rather be.
    As for Riho, she was in my power trio with MaaDuu. Sakura has become my third – I even met her at a sign event where you get about 20 seconds – but she’s a distant third. I try not to heap expectations on the 12th gen, but I feel they’ve taken a while to really stand out so Momusu feels a little thin on star power.
    To touch on Tamura, she was my definite ANGERME favorite. But damned if Take-chan didn’t charm the heck out of me at a similar sign event – even remembering my name when talking to a female Japanese wota hours later.
    ANGERME and Kobushi are both very strong groups, with music skewing more to my liking: Songs I can workout to. The latest Momusu triple-A single wasn’t a big hit for me; neither was Endless Sky’s.

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15. Hi there Henkka, I think this site has kind of become melancholic too, and well I don’t blame you, in my case I’m a Sayu fan, and ever since she graduated I haven’t been able to follow Momusu and H!P in general as closely and I use too, but I still love the girls and the music, so I keep watching the PV’s, the DVD’s (though I have lots pending to watch) and Hello!Station, to see how the girls evolve and getting to meet the new members and stuff, and I go to this site to see what the fans think of the girls, get some info I don’t get any other way and have a good laugh, I think what I want to say is that even if I’m still waiting for Sayu, I think there’s not other girl that can compare to her and Riho’s graduation made me feel extremely awful too, I still see light in H!P, I like laugh and cry with the girls and the fans, sing their songs and go all like so cute!! even though sometimes I just want Momusu ’14 to come back, and go all like if only Sayu was here…, and get this feeling that Momusu’14 had something special that the others don’t and it won’t comeback, is still fun for me so maybe you should find that too, like Tsunku still helps with songs now and then and I’m sure there are members that you like, my point is find the light in H!P it may not be as bright as it was before but I think you would feel better and that will translate in a happy site =). (Unless you don’t want to xD)

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16. I don’t get it why people are mopping around when we have an awesome group like UPUPGIRLS just next door to H!P with over flowing energy that could power the whole freaking Up-Front building.

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    • If you don’t get why, see the first thread ever posted on WiT for a hint. http://wotaintranslation.com/2013/04/03/listening-to-artists-like-kikkawa-you-or-up-front-girls-that-tsunku-isnt-involved-with-makes-you-realize-just-how-great-his-songs-are/

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17. They hate ’cause they ‘aint her.

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    • I like your theory. That would also explain why those same people loved Zukki so much. She was the closest thing to their body shape.

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18. > 15. カラフル名無しさん 2016年12月10日 13:05 ID:j.jEfDo10
    This guy and similar ones. I kinda feel those. Michishige, Berryz, Tsunku are gone. Momochi will leave next year and with her the chance for more Buono! (or Berryz). Meimei is gone too. After the announcement that Tsunku left, I rarely even found the motivation to watch Hello!Station anymore. All I’ll have left are Juice=Juice and Kobushi once Momochi leaves and I don’t think I’ll be following them with the kind of passion I used to have for H!P or idols in general.

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19. All this negativity makes me roll my eyes so hard. I do understand that it’s hard for some that Tsunku left and they had worries about H!Ps future. But when it comes to certain members hasn’t it been almost 20 years too many now for people to understand that this won’t kill H!P? And just because some Sayashi fans and their circle of other Sayashi fans can’t enjoy MM/H!P anymore (which is okay) it doesn’t mean anything for the fandom as a whole. Jeez it’s not like we are in a second Platinum era yet.
    It was a super interesting read somehow still for the wota that actually expressed whom their new oshi or fav group is. Besides that it was just people expressing that they think their own oshi was bigger than MM or H!P itself combined with the usual “I can’t really bring myself to care for these new girls whose names I don’t even now”. Because yeah Kobushi Factory totally doesn’t kick asses and they will probably be just as unimportant in the future like these girls that entered at the end of the golden era that nobody ever cared for, whatever their names were…wait…something like Takashashi Ai, Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina aso. Really pffft #stillrollingeyes

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20. I stopped listening morning musume’s single after Riho’s graduation, C-ute is all I’ve got left, but they will also graduate next year, so I guess I will stop following H!P then

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21. I was kind of disapointed with both 9kis “graduations” because the group was not mature enough and it is still in that maturing period. In my case C-ute did an amazing job of keeping me interested, but im kind of avoiding following them anymore becuase of my kokoro. I think this year most girls in momusu will blossom and have better oportunities to show their charisma.

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22. I’m the same as no 6’s friend… I’m a Keyakizaka46 wota now..

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    • Long live Neru, future queen of 46G

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23. Hi ahmmm.
    I suddenly show up here 😂
    But im Sayashi Riho fans!

    Do u know guyz where is she now?!
    After her graduation concert i did not do any search of MM and her too.
    So i wonder where is she now?

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