A thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board looked back at the in-her-prime performances of former Hello! Project member Mizuki Murota. Citing her prominent vocal parts on her debut single, her synergy with Akari Takeuchi and Rikako Sasaki, and her knack for livening up talk segments, posters lamented her underrated talent with comments like “If she were in Angerme now, she’d be unstoppable” and “She beat Hana Goto in every single ability,” while others debated why she stayed so low-key and never quite broke through.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:13
Looking back, she had a lot of standout vocal parts right from the start
2AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:16
Landing that vocal part on the debut single "Taiki Bansei" was huge
That's as big a surprise promotion as Oda getting "HELP ME!!"
5AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:22
I think she'd be dominating if she were in Angerme now
6AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:23
She had way more variety-show talent than someone like Goto
10AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:25
Back on Nama Tamago (a Hello Pro Kenshuusei stage show), trainee-era Danbaran (Ruru Dambara's nickname) once sang Muro's part from "Taiki Bansei" and totally outdid the original
I remember thinking, "uh-oh, this isn't good"
11AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:25
Muro's the type who scores above average at literally anything you throw at her
12AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:25
Synergy with Sasaki
Synergy with Takeuchi
She's a "synergy member" — shines when paired with someone she clicks with
13AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:26
Back in her trainee days she was picked as a backup dancer for "Rarara no Pipipi"
17AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:28
She's the craftsman type, so her skill never got the credit it deserved
24AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:30
Matsumoto's version of "Taiki Bansei" is unlistenable
25AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:30
Even in the current Angerme lineup, she'd probably land somewhere in the middle of the popularity ranking
26AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:30
She was a model trainee, but I wonder how she was once she actually debuted
27AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:30
Charitably: an all-rounder
Uncharitably: just average across the board
29AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:31
If she'd stayed in the group, she'd probably be deified by now
31AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:32
In today's Angerme, she'd be the cleanup hitter playing shortstop (i.e., the team's best all-around player)
32AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:32
Current Angerme is just too rough right now
I want her back
34AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:33
She's great at livening up talk segments too — truly all-around talent
35AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:33
If she couldn't pair up with Takeuchi or Sasaki, her value probably would've dropped too
36AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:35
The agency probably wanted to make her the ace
But she never really had that one standout quality, so she ended up fading into the background, is the impression I got
37AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:35
Feels like the gap Muro left was filled by Maopin
38AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:36
The Makiko Ogawa type, if we're talking Morning Musume
Though personality-wise she was the total opposite — more of a cynical type
39AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:36
Yeah, I get why she was low-key
She lacked that certain sparkle
40AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:37
She's the member who got the "Hello! Project ace" torch passed to her personally by Airi, you know
41AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:38
My impression is she outclassed Hana Goto in every single ability
43AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:38
Gives off "the Karin behind the scenes" vibe
back in her trainee days, I mean
44AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:39
I liked Muro quite a bit, but I was bummed when her juicy part in "Nanakorobi Yaoki" got taken away from her
45AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:39
Muro's got this kind of sultry, sexy charm to her
46AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:40
Watching her solo MC moments occasionally at joint concerts these days, you can really tell how much she was influenced by Airi
47AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:40
She's the type whose every ability ranks upper-middle
Like Kengo Misaki from Baki
48AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:40
When she got promoted, it felt like the agency was trying to groom her into the team's ace, but it wasn't long before everyone realized, "nah, it's not her"
49AnonymousSep 30, 2026 22:41
Speaking of "normal," she's the type who'd be popular on the marriage-hunting scene
"Normal" in the sense of being secretly high-spec
64AnonymousSep 30, 2026 23:04
After Takahashi and Airi, she was expected to be the next Hello! Project ace
71AnonymousSep 30, 2026 23:29
Re: #64
So she's part of the "quiet ace" lineage, huh
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Members seen as “ace candidates” within Angerme or Hello! Project who never quite broke out before graduating tend to get revisited like this again and again. In this thread, comments praising her substance — vocal parts, singing ability — sit alongside the view that surface factors like a low-key presence or darker skin tone kept her from connecting with fans. Worth noting: both are just individual posters’ subjective impressions, not arguments backed by hard numbers like CD sales or attendance figures. Comparisons to current members like “Hana Goto” are likewise based purely on fans’ gut feelings, not any official side-by-side assessment of their actual abilities. And as the phrase “quiet ace” suggests, framing a talented-but-overlooked member within that lineage is a familiar go-to narrative among Hello! Project fans.
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