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The story
On day two of Morning Musume.’s ’26 Fall Tour, following the announcement that Miyu Yasuda and Moa Suzuki would be the “2TOP,” posts about that day’s merchandise sales results poured into the Hello! Project board on 5ch. Detailed reports tracked sellouts at both the venue and online, and while Moa Suzuki stood out with acrylic stands and T-shirts selling out repeatedly, many pointed out that Miyu Yasuda’s sales were sluggish outside of the daily-rotation item. Discussion also spread around the popularity gap among 18th-gen members Sugihara, Inoue, and Ishikawa, with some posts voicing distrust in “Ōkami” (a fan-run site known for predicting member popularity rankings) after its predictions didn’t match the actual sales results.
What people said
Most of all, the agency clearly loves her.
Anyone saying they don't get why she was picked has zero sense for Hello! Project fandom.
Ikuta 45
Ishida 55
Oda 55
Nonaka 50
Makino 55
Haga 20
Yokoyama 35
Kitagawa 90
Okamura 50
Yamazaki 80
Sakurai 45
Inoue 45
Yuzuketa 45
Using merch as a popularity gauge is such an old-timer geezer take lol
RioRio's crazy popular lol
Shimoiya 20
Goto 50
Even among new members, there's a difference though
So even for new members the stock gap is more than double — guess the agency's not wrong lol
Oda 15/15 [4th batch sold out]
Sakurai 15/15 [4th batch sold out]
Nonaka 15/15 [4th batch sold out]
Yuzuketa 13/15
Yamazaki 11/15
Okamura 09/15
Makino 06/14 [2nd sale ended]
Suzuki 01/15
Ishikawa 01/15
Inoue 00/15
Sugihara 00/15
Yasuda 00/15
Yeah, that's right
209 Anonymous Recruiting… 2026/09/06 (Sun) 17:08:01.04 0
Re: #204
Yasuda's the sole loser in online sales, hang in there
<Sold out on-site>
Daily-rotation item
Order: Suzuki → Yasuda → Ishikawa
T-shirt
Ishikawa M
Acrylic stand
Suzuki
<Sold out online>
T-shirt
Sugihara M, Suzuki L and XL, Ishikawa L and XL
Towel
Suzuki, Ishikawa
Wristband
Ishikawa
Acrylic stand
Suzuki
Kabou's crazy popular, huh (a fan nickname for one of the members)
Even for meet-and-greet tickets, Suzuki was the first to sell out, right?
Going by the "Ōkami" predictions alone you'd worry if she was even okay, but reality was totally different lol
Guess the "Ōkami" rankings really can't be trusted these days
If anything, there's nothing to worry about
Even a hopeless member who can't sing or dance at all gets popular as long as she's cute
Only a handful of people are even saying she's cute though
Maybe it looks that way now, but her name barely showed up on the "Ōkami" rankings at all
I was anxious right up until I saw her actually getting cheered on with my own eyes
Kamikuni 50
Sasaki 45
Ise 40
Hashisako 40
Kawana 40
Tamenaga 15
Matsumoto 45
Hirayama 25
Shimoiya 20
Goto 50
This kind of "stackable" collectible is a different case from venue-exclusive merch though
Inoue and Sugihara are the two-top here
Haru-san's sold out too, you know
No wonder Sugihara's losing popularity
Pushing weird favoritism before someone's popularity even solidifies never ends well
These two are also the only ones with zero individual sellouts
Since Sugihara's the only one left unsold in the whole group, you can't necessarily say that
Well, of course — Oda and Nonaka are the bottom, after all
Even back when she was still active, she'd already been overtaken
Takeo's catchphrase is "~damon" (a verbal tic roughly meaning "…because!")
She's just missing the newcomer demand spike
"Yasuda selling better than Yasuda" — what does that even mean
Yeah, this isn't good
I get that Sugihara seems like the least popular in the 18th gen, but her being less popular than Inoue doesn't sit right with me
Suzuki's selling out on acrylic stands and everything else — that's real popularity
Totally different from Yasuda, who hasn't sold a single thing besides the daily-rotation item
Honestly, I think Yasuda's the bottom of the 18th gen
Online tour merch sold out
T-shirt
Nonaka M, XL
Oda XL
Okamura M, XL
Yamazaki M, L
Sakurai M
Inoue XL
Sugihara L
Suzuki XL
Towel: Yamazaki, Suzuki
Ishikawa's not selling at all lol
Isn't that outdated? Here's the current "e-Lineup" status
Online tour merch sold out
T-shirt
Nonaka M, L, XL
Oda M, XL
Okamura M, XL
Yamazaki M, L, XL
Sakurai M, L, XL
Inoue XL
Sugihara L
Suzuki L, XL
Ishikawa L, XL
Towel: Yamazaki, Sakurai, Suzuki, Ishikawa
Wristband: Nonaka, Oda, Yamazaki, Sakurai, Ishikawa
Acrylic stand: Sakurai, Suzuki
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
The central point of contention in the thread was whether “how fast merch sells out” can really be equated with “popularity.” Since stock levels vary widely from member to member to begin with, posters repeatedly countered that a slower sellout doesn’t necessarily mean lower popularity. Others pointed out that “stackable” collectibles like figures and acrylic stands are fundamentally different from venue-exclusive merchandise, reflecting a wariness toward simple comparisons. Some also questioned the reliability of “Ōkami” (an unofficial, message-board-born site fans use as a gauge for predicting member popularity), since its predictions didn’t match the actual sales results. Note: this article excludes posts that disparage specific members’ appearance or attack individuals by name, and only extracts exchanges centered on merchandise sales data.
※This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Morning Musume.’s ’26 Fall Tour Day 2: Announcement of Miyu Yasuda and Moa Suzuki as the 2TOP.”
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