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The story
The idol group Juice=Juice landing three magazine covers in a single month has become a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. Following the currently-on-sale Nikkei Entertainment! special issue, it’s now been confirmed the group will also grace the cover of “Nikkei Entertainment! Idol Special GIRL POP VELOCITY (tentative title),” set for release in late October. Threads lit up with comments like “Might be the agency’s biggest hit since ‘Love Machine’” and “They’ve surpassed the golden age,” though some pointed out that hurdles remain before the next goals — TV commercials and a primetime show of their own — are within reach.
What people said
Forever
Sounds like the publishers got a taste for it
Wait, there's another one coming out?
Confirmed for late October release! Featuring solo interviews with every member!
"Nikkei Entertainment! Idol Special GIRL POP VELOCITY" (tentative)
Cover: Juice=Juice
No way… thanks
The special issue was apparently the first one like this since Ayaya (Aya Matsuura), and this next one sounds like some kind of comeback after 8 years
The game corner at the summer party was great, and the "___ King" segment was fun too
I bet they could pull off a 30-minute show of their own
Commercials might not be out of reach, but a signature show is a pretty high bar
Even M!LK's own show only just got bumped up from late-night to daytime, so primetime is still a long way off
Every company in the industry, even the small ones, subscribes to it without fail
Commercial work could really come out of this
Background and Key Points
Landing a magazine cover is often seen as one gauge agencies use to measure a group’s momentum. “Nikkei Entertainment!,” the magazine at the center of this discussion, is widely subscribed to by entertainment and music industry professionals, and a cover feature there is said to often lead to commercial deals and tie-in offers. The comparison to “Love Machine” that came up in the thread refers to Morning Musume’s hit single from 2000, used here as shorthand for the agency’s flagship group drawing major attention for the first time in a while. Landing a terrestrial primetime show of their own, on the other hand, is considered a separate hurdle that popularity alone doesn’t guarantee — within the same Hello! Project stable, M!LK’s own show has only managed to move up from a late-night slot to daytime. There’s still some distance between the clear-cut achievement of a magazine cover and the next goals of commercials and a signature show, and the thread’s reactions reflected both sides of that gap.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Juice=Juice, Somehow Landing Covers on 3 Magazines in a Single Month.”
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