On a broadcast, Morning Musume 18th-generation members Zama Mesa, Miyu, and Moa said of their fellow 18th-gen member Hana Ishikawa that they “have absolutely no idea what she’s talking about” and that she’s “the most unusual one,” sparking discussion on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. The thread highlighted her quirky remarks, offbeat grammar, and exchanges about her “funny faces,” with some users voicing concern that communication with her doesn’t quite connect, while others said they enjoy that as part of her individuality. Reactions from her original debut/introduction video and praise for her dancing were also brought up, and the discussion gradually settled toward simply accepting it all as part of her character.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 7, 2026 19:58
Morning Musume has always had plenty of oddballs, so Hana "Nonnon" Ishikawa fits right in.
4AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:03
Yesterday's MC segment made it pretty clear she's not great with Japanese either lol. It's like looking in a mirror. She's the type where the conversation only works if the other person has enough imagination and the ability to read between the lines.
5AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:04
Miyu-Miyu: "You make funny faces a lot too, right? lol"
Hana-Nonnon: "I don't!" "Huh? I don't."
That whole exchange was baffling too.
16AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:09
Re: #5
If Hana-Nonnon really wasn't making any funny faces, that's kind of sad for her lol
6AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:05
I don't know if it's okay to laugh at this. If she's genuinely an oddball who can't communicate and ends up isolated, that's actually worrying.
8AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:06
If it's just an act for a "character," I wish she'd stop.
10AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:07
Re: #8
If it's a put-on character, the cracks will show soon enough.
11AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:07
We've all got plenty of practice reading between the lines thanks to Ma-chan (a member famous for hard-to-parse speech).
14AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:08
Anyway, her MC talk really did seem like a genuine, natural struggle with Japanese. If the agency has been having a bunch of new members put on weird characters up until now, that would actually be kind of sad.
17AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:10
Is her Hiroshima dialect even stronger than Danbara's? Even so, I guess you can kind of understand it.
18AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:12
Her way of thinking is unique in every little way, and on top of that her grammar seems all over the place too.
This is exactly what people have told me my whole life, from childhood right up until now as a full-grown adult.
20AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:13
I know my own grammar is a mess too. Even this post I'm writing right now is kind of hard to read.
22AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:15
Re: #20 Having people close to her around who get it — like Re: #20 (yeah, this sentence came out a little garbled too, matching the thread's joke) — probably makes it a comfortable place for her.
21AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:14
She's got the skills, so I think it's better not to have her talk too much.
23AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:16
Her skills are insane, so Nonnon is a genuine genius type.
25AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:17
She was already pretty unusual in the joint debut video with Cher too. Looking back now, her expressions and reactions all click into place.
27AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:19
In the 18th-gen meet-and-greet video too, Nonnon's replies to Mesa's comments were odd every single time.
29AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:20
Re: #22 I can't understand your Japanese either.
32AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:22
Re: #29 See, this is exactly it — unless the other person has tremendous imagination and an amazing ability to read your feelings, you end up causing this kind of misunderstanding and the conversation just doesn't work, even in real life lol
31AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:21
Miyu and Moa might actually be the type to drop unconsciously savage comments — that's started to show over the last two days. Still not 100% sure though.
34AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:23
Morning Musume fans are already used to this thanks to Ma-chan, so we welcome it.
36AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:25
No idea if other agencies' groups have a member like this, but Hello! Project has seen all kinds of types before, so it'll be fine, fine.
37AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:26
Looking at Hello! Project's history, the spacey/ditzy ones tend to get left out, don't they.
39AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:28
What was she like as a trainee? Mesa did say right after she joined that she was an interesting kid.
40AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:30
She's the "possessed by the performance" type, so I get Ma-chan vibes from her.
41AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:31
It's great how she turns into a different person once the performance starts.
44AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:32
That classic moment when Cher was talking to her and she just made this "huh~?" face with her mouth open and a big grin was iconic too.
45AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:33
She said something like she wants to watch over Hiroshima's growth (going off fuzzy memory on the exact wording) lol
47AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:33
Is Nonnon the youngest member in the current Morning Musume lineup?
48AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:34
You can tell Meinon and Hana-Moa get along, but Miyu and Hana don't interact that much. Well, more like Miyu teases Hana way too much lol
49AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:34
Yeah, I guess it's true — Hana Goto, Hana Kojima, Hana Ishikawa — every "Hana" is out there on another level.
55AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:39
Re: #49 Is Kojima really out there though? I always pictured her as the long-suffering type getting dragged around by the troublemakers in her generation lol
50AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:35
Even looking back now, I still can't tell if Maria's character was genuine or an act.
51AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:36
Right, right lol Miyu really teases her a lot lol. The whole 18th generation has quite a bit of quirk and bite to them, it's fun — very Morning Musume.
53AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:36
She might be like this, but she looks so cool when she dances. The way she flashes that relaxed little smirk reminds me of Sato, so I have a feeling she's going to pick up some female fans.
64AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:44
Re: #53 In fact, her "Lonely" dance clip is already going viral.
73AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:53
Suzuki: Sometimes I can't tell what she's saying.
Yasuda: She'll suddenly start doing some weird dance out of nowhere and I'm like, "wait, now?"
Sugihara: She sent me a LINE message saying "thank you," and even that was somehow wrong.
76AnonymousSep 7, 2026 20:55
Re: #73 Ah, that comment from Mesa was wild too. Didn't she also say that all four characters of "arigatou" (thank you) were somehow garbled? That really is close to Ma-chan level.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
In Hello! Project groups like Morning Musume, a new member’s individual traits tend to get gradually put into words through back-and-forth banter with senior members and existing fans, and Hana Ishikawa is now going through that same process just after her debut. The thread repeatedly raised the point that “you can’t tell what she means,” but most posts leaned toward curiosity and affection rather than genuine confusion, with plenty of comments also praising her dancing and the way she transforms during performances. At the same time, a handful of posts poked fun at her distinctive way of speaking and her expressions by linking them to a real person’s looks; since that kind of remark risks being inconsiderate toward her, it isn’t covered in this article. One thing readers might misread is that this sort of “characterization” is a common phenomenon across idol culture, not just Hello! Project, and isn’t necessarily meant to mock — it often functions as a way for fans to talk through and deepen their understanding of a member.
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