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The story
Manga artist Mizushina Takayuki has drawn caricatures of Hello! Project members every year for years running. A thread sprang up on 5ch comparing his 2025 and 2026 versions of Nishimura Otoki, sparking a mix of comments pointing out how unchanged his art style is and others defending caricature itself as an exaggeration-based art form. The thread also drew comparisons to other fan artists like Yamaki-san and Akabanebashi 12 Channel, with posters debating whether each artist’s work came across as “flattering” or “harsh.”
What people said
Who's this? King's father?
It actually looks like them lol
'I wonder if this kid's gonna be okay…'
but watching it now, there's this reassuring sense that it led to a good future, so it's actually worth watching again
It's because there's no love in it
But they'd always said Beyooooonds wasn't taking replenishments and Morning Musume wasn't pulling from trainees either, yet this year there was a huge batch of new recruits
Honestly I was worried she'd have a mental breakdown over it, but she seems to have bounced back somehow
I think it worked out for the best that she ended up in Tsubaki [Factory]
She can actually sing, so better she's doing good songs in Tsubaki than weird songs in Beyooooonds
Yeah, it is the same thing every year, I get why people are sick of it
He probably still has it now, but with the lineup this huge it must be rough keeping up
My bad, the one I was thinking of was Naka-G
Back in the day his drawings of Hayashi were brutal
I think this year's drawing of Hayashi is pretty rough though
Sensei Mizushina's drawings are way cuter, no contest
The old geezers complaining are just jealous that he gets likes from the members
If your oshi gets drawn like Kamirena, you're all for it
Even Kamirena's drawing has that stiff, awkward expression showing through
it's skillfully done, but I don't think it's exactly flattering either
even if it doesn't look that much like the person
I was looking at it, and honestly I feel like I could draw better than this
Last year's one that looked like a Moai statue was kind of sad
The Asagaya Sisters
Isn't flattering them up exactly what a Hello!Project otaku is supposed to do?
A caricature is exaggeration meant to emphasize someone's distinctive features
That exaggeration can come across as malice, but that's just the nature of the technique, so it can't be helped
A drawing that doesn't even resemble the actual idol is pointless anyway
If malice is the only way you can elevate it, that's just a lack of skill
Yamaki-san's were better
Why don't they do something like a 'Naka-G Fest'?
The value of Yamaki-san's work is in the fact that Yamaki-san drew it
Yamaki's art might be skilled, but every face looks the same
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Mizushina Takayuki is a manga artist known for drawing caricatures of Hello! Project members every single year. This particular thread was built around comparing his year-to-year renderings (this time, his 2025 and 2026 versions of Nishimura Otoki), and opinions on the art style itself were split. Critics argued the style never changes (“same thing every year, so stale”) and that the exaggeration reads as malice, taking issue with both the lack of evolution and the caricatured features. Defenders countered that caricature is inherently a technique for emphasizing distinctive features (“that’s just how the method works”), and some even challenged critics to “try drawing it yourself.” The thread also compared his skill to other fan artists like Yamaki-san and Akabanebashi 12 Channel, surfacing differing takes on which renderings counted as “flattering” versus “harsh.” This article omits tangential, unrelated personal attacks present in the original thread, such as posts mocking a specific individual’s financial situation or jokes referencing people involved in a religious group’s criminal case.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello!Project) thread “[Art Meltdown] The Difference Between Mizushina Takayuki Sensei’s 2025 and 2026 Versions of Nishimura Otoki lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooo.”
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