From our other sites
The story
New idol group JUICYJUICY has stirred up discussion on 5ch’s Hello! Project board by picking a name confusingly similar to the popular Hello! Project group Juice=Juice. Posters pointed out that searching the katakana rendering “Juicy Juicy” (ジューシージューシー) pulls up Juice=Juice instead, leading many to suspect the name was chosen deliberately to ride on the established group’s recognition. At the same time, some noted that Juice=Juice has unexpectedly surged in popularity on its own, further overshadowing JUICYJUICY — leaving the thread buzzing with the sense that the strategy, if it was one, had spectacularly backfired.
What people said
That's brutally embarrassing.
and ended up squeezed dry as the leftover pulp instead.
It's worse than “Chekikko” (a generic, cheesy stock idol-group name).
That must've been a genuine shock to them.
They probably genuinely believed that at first
And if Juice=Juice hadn't caught fire, JUICYJUICY might've just gotten swallowed up by ASOBI's own momentum instead.
must've been a genuine, total “no way” moment for them
I feel like if Kawaii Lab keeps pulling stunts like this, things are gradually gonna start going wrong for them…
because the world really does have a way of balancing itself out.
Once Juice started taking off, Kawaii Lab's momentum seemed to dim for some reason
Even though they could easily coexist in their own lanes.
It's the singing ability, honestly…
More than that, the scary part is they haven't had a single good song all year.
There was even a meme going around late last year like “born in Heisei Year 1, basically an old hag now,” so maybe younger fans are drifting away from Kawaii Lab since most of its members are already past 20.
Young people's interests really are fickle
The crowd going on and on about Mrs. [GREEN APPLE] right now will probably move on to something else too.
Haters will turn literally anything into a club to swing lol
but is it actually an enjoyable show for female otaku to attend?
Female “otaku” won't enjoy it
It's aimed at an even younger crowd.
They were already on the older side from the start
and they still made it big, so it really comes down to the songs.
so picking a group name that's basically guaranteed to be mistaken for Juice=Juice… were they trying to say “Wait, there's a group called Juice=Juice? Never heard of it lol”?
They picked a fight and lost badly
Normally someone would've said, “Hey, there's already a group called Juice=Juice in Hello! Project, maybe pick a different name?”
Well, there's only so long anyone gets to stay young.
They must be running out of material soon.
If “Juice” hadn't already been taken, they probably would've made a group called “JJ” too.
Background and Key Points of Discussion
Not just in Hello! Project, but across the idol industry as a whole, it’s a recurring topic when a new group’s name is similar enough to an existing one that its search results get swallowed up. The JUICYJUICY and Juice=Juice case is a textbook example, and posters repeatedly pointed out that once rendered in katakana, the search results overlap almost completely. The central point of debate was whether the naming was a deliberate attempt to cash in on the established group’s name recognition, or simply a coincidence — opinions stayed split, with no consensus reached. The thread also touched on the general point that popularity among underground and regional idol groups can shift quickly, but unverified rumors about the internal circumstances of specific groups could not be confirmed, so this article does not cover them.
Note: This article is compiled and summarized from excerpts of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “JUICYJUICY, the ASOBI-produced group that totally tried to cash in on Juice=Juice’s name wwwwwwwwwwwwwww.”
Leave a Reply