On the Hello! Project board of 5ch, users discussed how many people, at the time, thought Juice=Juice’s July 12, 2023 single “Pride Bright / FUNKY FLUSHIN’” would be the song that took the group to the top. The thread brought up an anecdote that right after debuting the song live at Budokan, Arisawa hurt her neck and has needed a neck brace ever since, as well as claims that the song laid the groundwork for the live-clip strategy later used for “Moreme” (a later single, nicknamed by fans). The discussion ended up highlighting a gap in perspective between fans who experienced it in real time and newer fans who got into the group through more recent songs.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 3, 2026 13:39
Well, back then it totally didn't work out, though.
Right after debuting it live at Budokan, Arisawa hurt her neck and had to start wearing a neck brace all the time.
17AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:24
Re: #4
I wonder if that old injury is why, during last year's Juice Day shuffle-unit performance, Arisawa was the only one doing a noticeably smaller neck-turning motion.
5AnonymousSep 3, 2026 13:55
Risachi's smug little grin is great.
6AnonymousSep 3, 2026 13:59
That was the era when Arisawa and Irie became a "Guntank" (a nickname riffing on the Gundam mobile suit) and Kawashima immediately bailed on it — things really weren't clicking back then.
7AnonymousSep 3, 2026 13:59
Someone was saying that in a live-comment thread recently too.
8AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:00
I'm a new fan who got in through "FUNKY FLUSHIN'."
9AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:03
I remember seeing people say that, but it's not really that big a song, is it — not like "Moreme."
10AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:03
For someone who got into the group through "Tokyo Blur," this is history I never even knew existed.
11AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:06
This kind of mainline Juice=Juice sound is too stylish/chic for that — doesn't really seem like the type to go viral.
12AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:07
I'm all about the foot-stomping dance.
13AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:10
If "Pride Bright" and "Fiesta! Fiesta!" hadn't laid the groundwork for the idea that "Juice=Juice's live clips do numbers," the whole notion of going all-in on live-clip spam for "Moreme" would never have come up in the first place.
14AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:10
I never think "this is our time to rule them all," no matter what they put out.
15AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:17
"Pride Bright" (aka "Pura-Bura") was the first thing to show that Juice=Juice's live clips could really take off.
16AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:21
Bottom line: as a new fan, I have zero clue about this whole era.
18AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:27
I didn't quite think "this is our time to rule them all," but I did feel like "Juice=Juice's moment has arrived." At the same time, I also figured they'd probably throw us another curveball next.
19AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:27
The live footage was pretty shocking, honestly.
20AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:29
They announced "the new song is decided!" on Hello! Station, but it actually premiered before the live performance on Rei Inoue's radio show — my first thought was "oh, they got handed a good one this time." The songwriter/composer hadn't been announced yet, but once the MV credits finally revealed it was Aoi Yamazaki, it all made sense.
21AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:36
It's in the same vein as "Hito Sore" (short for "Hito Sorezore," an earlier Juice=Juice hit), but my take was "it doesn't quite reach Hito Sore's level" — and that impression never changed.
22AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:38
I've only listened to this song once. Meanwhile, "Blur" I had on heavy rotation for a while.
23AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:54
The fact that it didn't immediately click as "oh, we should be pushing live clips from here on" — very on-brand for UP-FRONT (their talent agency).
24AnonymousSep 3, 2026 14:57
Ever since Hayashi joined, everything just clicked into place and they became a group that could pull off anything. Before that, they were always a group missing some piece. Even so, the live performances were always good.
37AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:03
Hello! Project's whole selling point is live performance, so I've always thought — back then and now — they should just run whatever promo it takes to funnel people toward the live shows.
53AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:05
I've been a "Kura Kura" fan since early July. Digging through the back catalog, there wasn't a single song, "Pride Bright" included, that rang a bell for me. Might be because I wasn't really into entertainment/pop culture before, but that also made it the perfect blank slate for getting into it fresh.
91AnonymousSep 3, 2026 16:02
Re: #53
"Hito Sore" was the song that pulled in a ton of female fans outside the usual idol-otaku crowd back then — you'd never even heard it? It got a lot of play on wired/cable radio.
57AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:11
USEN was really only pushing "Bitansan," "Hito Sore," and "Pop Music," so if you don't even know those, you probably know even less about the rest.
58AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:19
It plays as the opening for "Smile Bonsoir," but it doesn't really fit Risachi's image, so I kind of wish they'd swap it for something else — like "Eeny Meeny Miny Moe ~Koi no Rival Sengen~" or something.
59AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:53
Before "Moreme," nobody was even thinking in terms of "will this go viral or not." It was more like, "eh, decent song, I guess."
60AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:55
"Blur" is better.
61AnonymousSep 3, 2026 15:57
I heard "Moreme" first and "Blur" afterward, and I still like "Blur" better too.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The foundation of this thread is Juice=Juice’s July 12, 2023 digital single “Pride Bright / FUNKY FLUSHIN’.” As the anecdote about Arisawa hurting her neck right after debuting the song live at Budokan — and needing a neck brace ever since — suggests, the choreography is said to have been demanding from the start. What split the thread was a single question: did people think, at the time, that this song would take Juice=Juice to the top? Some felt “Juice=Juice’s moment had arrived” (comment 18), while the view that “I never think that, no matter what they release” (comment 14) also remains strong. A second thread of discussion concerns the song’s relationship to “Moreme,” whose live clips are said to have taken off on social media in later years — some argue (comments 13 and 15) that “Pride Bright” laid the groundwork for that. That said, this is ultimately a matter of fan impression, and it’s worth noting nothing in the thread actually confirms it as fact. On top of that, a newer fan who got into the group through more recent songs (comment 53) says they’d never even heard of this song at all, pointing to the kind of generational gap you’d expect from a group with such a long career.
Leave a Reply