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The story
Hello! Project newcomer Kojima Hana’s impressive variety-show talent became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. While fans praised her ad-libbing as an MC and the fun factor of her social media and blog posts, many also pointed out that Hello! Project as a whole — despite having produced legendary variety talents like Yaguchi Mari and Fujimoto Miki — seems to have drifted away from the variety-show track in recent years.
Commenters cited a handful of exceptions like Makino Maria and Ikuta Erina, while lamenting the agency’s training policies and the lack of TV exposure.
What people said
Her social media and blog posts are entertaining
Apparently she's good at ogiri (comedic wordplay games) too
Hello! Project used to be strong in variety too, but these days it's just hopeless.
you're always debating singing ability and dance skills, on-stage stuff.
But nobody ever thinks about a strategy for actually making it in showbiz through comedy or acting/variety work, right?
Take that complaint up with the agency, then?
That's a newbie/bandwagon fan talking.
so why doesn't the current lineup learn anything from them about talk skills or comedy?
She even did radio with the master himself, Akashiya Sanma, so why do today's Hello! Project members have zero variety skills? It's a shame.
Probably nobody wants to get close to a senpai who had a scandal.
Takase talked in a way that was blatantly Yaguchi-like plenty of times, though.
She's clearly a favorite in the Lovit!/Ravit! crowd.
The other one to watch is Ikuta Erina, who signed with Yoshimoto Kogyo (a major comedy talent agency) — curious how that turns out.
Even if they were on TV, Hello-otaku wouldn't watch it anyway.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQPTZWYb0AAmHiE.jpg:orig#.jpg
For an idol,
singing and dancing matter, sure, but comedy/variety, drama acting, and swimsuit gravure matter even more, don't they?
Take it up with the agency.
She came over from Stardust to Up-Front Group after all, so earning through singing and dancing performances is the right call.
There's always been a certain number of 'variety members.'
They just don't get much media exposure.
She got invited onto a Cream Stew quiz segment, then a manzai prank segment that wasn't even the one originally planned, but after that it just stopped.
The incompetent agency just doesn't push hard enough after that first appearance.
Feels like she just doesn't have that idol sense.
Well, 2 out of 3 being hits is plenty good, I guess.
Iffy whether she'll blossom once she's grown up.
Compared to Kojima and Sugiyama, she just doesn't have enough of a standout weapon.
https://youtu.be/WaWqLdwyt0M?si=WxBIaaxwsC4SMRE1
Yuna-bo actually looks more mature in this clip.
In Morning Musume too, Yasuda and Sugihara stood out.
Trade us Yasuda and Suzuki for them.
That trash agency is always great at scattering talented members around, isn't it.
Young or old, male or female —
with Hana, Mano, and Yuna you'll be totally fine (a pun: 大丈V, playing on 'daijoubu')!
Are they deliberately toning her down to fit the Hello! Project look?
Yeah, exactly.
I remember Nishida saying something like 'the newcomers dutifully follow the rules,' so they're probably restricted on things like hairstyle and colored contacts.
I got to take a photo with Kojima Hana-san!
Man, I really like her
I ended up muttering "you're so cool"
right in front of her without meaning to —
sorry if that made things awkward for her 🙇🏻🙇🏻♀
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HBC56aJaEAAA58k.jpg:orig
Background and Key Points
Hello! Project (often shortened to “H!P”) is the idol collective founded in 1998 under producer Tsunku and now managed by Up-Front Group, home to Morning Musume, Angerme, and junior units like BEYOOOOONDS, where Kojima Hana and the other members discussed in the thread are currently active. Unlike agencies such as Stardust Promotion — which Kojima came from, and which is built around cultivating actors and general tarento — or Yoshimoto Kogyo, the country’s dominant comedy agency that Ikuta Erina has separately signed with, H!P’s business has historically centered on live concerts, CDs/DVDs, and stage work rather than TV crossover. That makes the two commonly cited exceptions, Yaguchi Mari and Fujimoto Miki, notable: both parlayed Morning Musume fame into long-running variety and talk-show careers, Fujimoto even co-hosting radio with Akashiya Sanma, one of Japan’s most influential comedians.
The thread’s actual disagreement wasn’t about Kojima’s talent, which nobody contested, but about why H!P as a whole produces so few variety-ready members now: some blamed agency training and image restrictions (hairstyle, contacts, media bookings), others blamed individual members for lacking the aptitude, and one post undercut both by suggesting H!P’s own fanbase wouldn’t tune into variety appearances even if they happened.
What the thread doesn’t address is that this may be a deliberate business tradeoff rather than a failure: since H!P’s revenue model rewards stage and merchandise loyalty over broad TV recognition, reduced variety exposure could reflect strategy, not neglect. Readers should also note “ogiri” (mentioned once, unexplained) refers to improvised comedic-answer games, a specific skill Japanese TV variety heavily tests and rewards.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Sorry, but Kojima Hana’s variety skills are insane.”
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