From our other sites
The story
A thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board asked whether anyone had predicted, back when idol group Juice=Juice’s Ebata Misaki first joined, that she’d become the central member she is today. Posters recalled praise for her looks going back to her trainee days, and some claimed that at the scouting stage people were already saying “if we land this girl, this group will dominate.” Others pushed back, arguing that with senior members like Danbara Yamato and Inoue Haruka commanding so much presence, it’s a stretch to call her a true central member — leaving opinion split.
What people said
She won't graduate at 25, so she's blocking her juniors' chances to shine.
Time to step aside already.
Fukuda Marin: 1,061,404
Kasai Yuina: 659,376
Yokaze Runo: 537,629
Yagi Shiori: 483,402
Ebata Misaki: 398,980
Arisawa Ichika: 244,543
Irie Risa: 233,857
Star power.
Go check out Tsunku's actual assessment notes on note (the blogging platform) —
he had Eba figured out properly from the start.
Background and Talking Points
The vocal-cover-video view counts cited in the thread (Fukuda Marin topping 1 million versus roughly 400,000 for Ebata Misaki) suggest Ebata isn’t actually the group’s top draw in terms of pure numbers — even as her visual appeal and media presence have been rated highly and consistently since she joined. Posts claiming that scouts said “landing this girl means becoming a dominant group” serve as evidence that some people foresaw her later rise even back then. At the same time, pushback citing the strong presence of senior members like Danbara Yamato and Inoue Haruka argues she isn’t quite a “central member” yet — and at the root of the thread’s disagreement is the fact that fans don’t share a common yardstick (draw power, exposure, or star quality) for what “central member” even means.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Did anyone actually predict back when she joined that Ebata Misaki-chan would become this much of a central member of Juice=Juice?“
Leave a Reply