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The story
Hello! Project idol group Juice=Juice formed in 2013 and is now in its 13th year, but a 5ch thread split into opposing camps after a new fan posted, “I don’t know the 13-year history, but the current 11 members are definitely the best.” Critics asked how someone could call the current lineup “the best” without knowing the group’s past songs and former members. In response, some pointed to modern circumstances — like YouTube’s search function getting worse, making old footage harder to track down — while others defended the fan, saying “of course you think the moment you discovered them is the best.” Meanwhile, some longtime fans posted comments revealing more complicated feelings.
What people said
You can't call the present "the best" without knowing the past.
It's hard to dig up old videos these days.
YouTube's search function has gotten worse too, making it a pain.
New fans just don't run very deep.
These days you can cover that with live recordings anyway.
And there's not much point studying up on songs they don't even perform live.
Not really, no.
This is actually more true the older and more old-school you get.
They convince themselves their own glory days were the best and tend to bash the younger generation for it.
They're spending more money than the old-guard fans ever did, and you call them anti-fans?
Just leave it to the moremi newbies and Juice will naturally enter its death phase lol
The current members kept grinding through hard times without giving up, even when they got sidelined, and ended up surpassing the original members who only got by on being pushed hard by the agency — honestly, it turned out not so bad after all.
See, look —
this is already turning into S/mileage 2nd-gen fan behavior! (a Hello! Project group whose 2nd-gen fans were notorious for looking down on the original lineup)
A group where graduations and new additions become the whole point dies the instant that cycle stops.
Sure, right after they fold all the other groups that aren't making money.
They are making money.
You just assume they're not.
Exactly.
These self-proclaimed old-timers keep pushing old videos on us, but honestly the old stuff wasn't even that good.
The early S/mileage lineup is actually a dark chapter — not a single one of them got invited to the Hello! Project 25th anniversary Yoyogi concert.
Called it!
Just like the 2nd-gen fans who love to lord it over the original S/mileage lineup!!
As an old-timer, it's a little sad.
Longtime "always-there" fans don't buy merch, so they're prioritizing new fans and locals instead.
That's exactly why merch sold like crazy in Hiroshima and Kyoto, just as planned.
Go do your homework.
You're being persistent about this.
If the present is good, the past doesn't matter.
Per Re: #6, isn't the original-lineup era basically just a prologue anyway?
Even for M!LK, hardly anyone knows about the original members who quit before the group made it big.
Because it blew up out of nowhere, bandwagon fans came flooding in, and once they took over,
the history, traditions, and sense of belonging the old-guard fans cherished got mercilessly destroyed.
Seeing stuff like this makes me think, "just let it all get destroyed already."
It's not good for old-guard fans to throw their weight around too much either.
If you don't welcome new fans in moderation, the fanbase just turns into a dying rural village and speeds toward the content's end.
Balance is what matters.
Part of me wants to say who needs an unsuccessful history or old-guard fans anyway —
but the agency doesn't have much power left these days, so without dedicated fans picking up the slack in various ways, things are probably going to fall apart.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Juice=Juice is a female idol group formed under Hello! Project in 2013, making this its 13th year since debut. Many of the original members graduated early on, and the names mentioned in the thread — Miyamoto Karin, Kanazawa Tomoko, Uemura Akari, and Inaba Manaka — are among the past core members who went on to carry the group afterward. Whether you can call the present lineup “the best” without knowing the group’s history is a debate that keeps resurfacing among idol fans, with new fans citing practical obstacles to tracking down old footage (such as changes to YouTube’s search function) while longtime fans insist fans should study up on the songs and history. The latter half of the thread also touches on the sales of region-limited merchandise and older fans drifting away from live shows, suggesting that behind the generational clash lies not just an emotional divide but also unease over the commercial shifts that come with a changing fanbase.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “New moremi fan: “The 13-year history? Don’t know it, but the current 11-member Juice=Juice is definitely the best! Nobody should ever graduate” ← this.”
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