The only reason I am ever excited for more Hello! Project auditions is because there is a 50% chance that someone will get through those auditions who isn’t under fifteen years old, who isn’t fucking kawaii or moé, and who has some realism in the content of their character. After much brainstorming and the announcement of the upcoming three-month Taiwanese Hello! Pro Egg audition which “[will be] seeking new members from 6-24 years old”, I’ve realized this. It’s amazing because it makes up 80% of the basis of why the original Morning Musume lineup is my ideal image of the group.
Think about it. What kinds of girls — what kind of women embodied the first generation? There was my shining example of a good H!P member, Nakazawa Yuko. The best damn leader for a lameshit Japanese pop group that there will ever be. This woman had style, class, confidence, maturity, and a voice that wasn’t tossed into a proverbial vocal meat grinder just to sound like a chipmunk on the finished product. Everyone else followed suit.
