From our other sites
The story
A thread went up on the Hello! Project board after someone said that reading the comments on Ise Suzuran’s blog brought them to tears. The poster, a Juice=Juice fan, was addressing the separate group Angerme, writing, “I hope you get your reward someday — maybe in ten years you could still blow up, so don’t give up.” That set off a wider discussion in the thread, ranging from differences in the two groups’ blog posts, to the “song gacha” theory (where popularity hinges on whether you get handed a good song), to Hello! Project’s distinctive group-management cycle — with opinions split on what really separates the groups that break through from the ones that don’t.
What people said
58 Anonymous Recruiting… [] Fri 2026/10/02 03:14:50.71 0
I'm a Juice=Juice fan, but I really hope Angerme gets their reward someday too
Reading the comments on Ise's blog had me in tears
https://imgur.com/cWfhLSI.jpeg
It's not just about the song though
Juice=Juice's blogs are packed with work announcements and 'please listen to my anime theme song' plugs, but Angerme's are all about going out and having fun.
Ise: Went to see Tamura's stage play
Matsumoto: Went to see Tamura's stage play
Hashisako: Library → Tsukiji Market
Kawana: Reading
Tamenaga: Sanrio House
Hirayama: Bakery → reading → bath → cleaning
Goto: Kamikokuryo came to watch her show
Shimoitani: Louvre Museum exhibition
Living the full off-day life lol
Tamura's play just had its opening night yesterday, and neither of those two even overlapped with her in the group — pretty dutiful of them to go.
Meanwhile none of the younger members went to see Iikubo (though maybe Ishida did?)
though hell is probably more where they're headed
This is just a bunch of people with way too much free time
https://www.youtube.com/live/8R7tk8BLVjE?t=11775s
Family name: Nose, given name: Nose
Nickname: Nose
Height: Nose cm
Weight: Nose kg
Graduated from Garlic Academy, Department of Nose
Joined Nose Lab, then transferred to Nose Discharge
Favorite "nose" saying: "Garlic Nose"
Favorite Japanese folktale: "Nose Taro, Born From a Nose"
The Jiro-style ramen shop "Kawashima" is now open!
Our garlic is locally sourced!
Come try it fresh, piled on sky-high!
(A nonsense copypasta that repeats "nose" as a stand-in placeholder word for comic effect — the joke itself doesn't translate cleanly.)
Kudo: "Hyoremiamore!!" (garbled, unintelligible non-lyrics)
https://i.imgur.com/mYYajKb.mp4
Music Station went out of their way to hype them up and she ruined it
Teary-eyed
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HNBlIDYaYAAPyiC.jpg:orig
For Angerme that was basically Sasaki, Kamikokuryo, and Kawamura.
If they all quit within a short span, then who's supposed to be that entry point?
Just because it was true for you doesn't mean you should assume it's true for everyone else.
Angerme fans say there's no real difference in looks or skill between Juice=Juice and Angerme — Juice=Juice just happened to land a good song.
But in reality, better members have been gathered into Juice=Juice precisely because that group gets along better and has more drive to improve,
which makes it easier for members' skills to grow.
That's why the agency keeps bringing good members into it.
Angerme fans ask for good members and good songs to be handed to Angerme,
but what actually has to happen first is making the group's atmosphere better so the agency wants to bring in good members.
Then, once they've grown, you need the agency to think 'let's give them a good song and push them.'
That takes group reform over a long span —
so you should figure on it taking something like 10 years.
And the fans' job is to support the group through that slump.
Because if you don't support them, they might get disbanded — you need to make the agency believe it's worth keeping them going.
Juice=Juice is clearly already in decline mode
A lineup like this might actually be able to make it:
Hirayama – Leader
Shimoitani – Sub-leader
Goto
Nagano
About 5 new members
Background and key points of this discussion
The “song gacha” theory that kept coming up in the thread rests on the fact that Hello! Project’s groups, all under the same talent agency, effectively compete with one another for songs and media exposure. The claim in post 17 that “with 7 groups, you only get pushed once every 7 years” is somewhat exaggerated, but the underlying premise — that a limited pool of resources gets divided among multiple groups — is a widely shared assumption among fans, and it’s industry background that’s easy for a first-time reader to miss. The thread’s main fault line was between those who chalk up differences in popularity to “songs and luck of the draw” and those who argue that “how well members get along and how driven they are to improve” shapes the agency’s investment decisions — so it isn’t simply a story of good or bad luck. It’s also worth noting that differences in blog topics likely reflect individual members’ personalities and schedules rather than directly measuring the group’s overall workload.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Juice=Juice fan: “I hope Angerme gets their reward someday too — they could still blow up in ten years, so don’t give up”.”
Leave a Reply