A thread titled ‘Which of Hello! Project’s current 7 groups has the most competent manager?’ sparked a debate on 5ch’s Hello! Project board comparing the work of each group’s field managers and chief managers. Hello! Project’s seven groups each have an assigned manager, but since names and job titles are never officially announced, fans in practice judge them using outward clues like social media activity, call-and-response cues at live shows, and how often events get planned. In the thread, some praised how Tsubaki Factory and Juice=Juice are run, while others sharply criticized Rosy Chronicle’s setup — opinion ended up split right down the middle.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 8, 2026 12:58
Back in the day, Tsubaki Factory's manager was said to be the competent one, but…
Where's that competent manager who used to work with Tsubaki now?
12AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:02
Isn't it Juice=Juice now, with their strong social media game?
14AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:03
Where did the 'gravure pusher' who used to be with OCHA NORMA go? (slang for a manager known for landing members swimsuit/gravure shoots)
15AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:03
Tsubaki's manager back then was so dedicated — used to post every single member's comments from that day's live show and everything.
16AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:03
For the group that's overwhelmingly dominant right now, Juice=Juice's management still doesn't quite cover every base — it just feels like the performers are so strong that it papers over the gaps.
17AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:04
Where did Chief Manager Otazawa go?
Did he already quit?
18AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:05
Rosy Chronicle's chief has to be the most incompetent one.
20AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:07
Re: #18
Whoever gets stuck being Rosy's chief is probably the lowest-ranking person on staff.
19AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:06
BEYOOOOONDS, OCHA NORMA, and Rosy Chronicle all seem to be putting in effort with various projects, though.
21AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:08
The one thing everyone agrees on is that Morning Musume。is dead last.
22AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:09
When Hello! Pro fans on X are hyped up about some Hello! Project topic, Rosy's account quietly dropping an image captioned 'not saying what this is about' — that takes real taste.
23AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:09
Rosy hijacked the Kenshuusei's show slot, but that move only bred resentment, right?
During the matinee, the calls were noticeably quiet only during Rosy's guest corner.
25AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:10
Rosy hasn't delivered results in sales, but
they get a passing grade for not producing any members who gained weight, got sick, or quit.
Though it does feel like they're piling too much work on Hashida and Uemura.
26AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:10
I think Rosy Chronicle is doing pretty well considering none of the members even have a personal Instagram account.
62AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:39
Re: #26-27
Honestly, it's probably better that Rosy's members don't have personal accounts.
27AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:11
It's not that they don't have Instagram accounts — the manager just won't let them have one,
because managing it is a hassle and they're worried about the risk.
28AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:12
Let's have the chief managers settle it sumo-style and divide up the resources.
29AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:12
I bet they'll give Hashida an Instagram account before long.
31AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:13
If you create a gap between groups, the ones at the bottom start dating guys or whatever, so maybe they want to keep resources concentrated?
A personal account matters more than a blog these days, and I'd think it's better cost/time efficiency for the members too.
32AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:13
OCHA NORMA's chief is that middle-aged guy whose voice got picked up doing the call-and-response at the Budokan show, right?
33AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:13
Yuki Sato's manager is the president of J.P. (presumably a talent agency)
34AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:14
Is Juice=Juice's chief manager a middle-aged woman?
36AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:15
What ever happened with Karin's manager's replacement anyway?
Not sure if it's because the manager changed, but
I've completely stopped keeping tabs on Karin herself lately.
38AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:17
The women who are younger than the Hello! Pro members are the field managers, right?
Their job's basically waking members up in the morning, prepping passports, and buying sanitary products.
They quit fast though.
40AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:20
No idea if she's competent, but Rosy's manager has a cute voice.
41AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:20
For Tsubaki, who's the one that isn't Togawa-san — the one Juju didn't like?
The former women's pro wrestling trainee who used to manage the Kenshuusei for a long time.
42AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:21
I think it was Otsubo-san?
I once had her hand a certain Kenshuusei member a birthday message board.
44AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:23
That guy you always see around Morning Musume。who looks like Ken Watanabe with all the aura drained out, left as just an ordinary middle-aged man — he's probably important too, but I don't know his name.
He's the chief, right?
52AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:31
Doesn't BEYOOOOONDS even have a chief?
64AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:41
Re: #52
There's no way they don't have one.
The young field managers are just doing odd jobs.
58AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:37
BEYOOOOONDS' 'gravure pusher' — after getting Dambara, Irie, and Ishiyama of Juice=Juice to do gravure shoots one after another, his whereabouts afterward are unknown.
70AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:51
Re: #58
In the 3 years since BEYOOOOONDS debuted: 13 photobooks, 9 magazine swimsuit gravure shoots.
59AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:37
A job-review site had a post saying that at Up-Front, field managers' ability doesn't matter at all — everything's decided by power dynamics up top, so there's no sense of fulfillment in the job.
63AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:39
Re: #59
When it comes to how the groups get promoted, that's probably exactly how it is.
66AnonymousSep 8, 2026 13:42
Re: #59
At least before 'Moremi' (likely a staff nickname, exact identity unclear), it looked like a world where anyone with motivation just got pushed out.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Hello! Project currently has seven groups, from Morning Musume。to Rosy Chronicle, and its sprawling roster — including trainees — is supported by multiple field managers and chief managers splitting the workload. Since staffing and job titles are never officially disclosed, a culture has taken root among fans of judging staff as “competent” or “incompetent” based on fragmentary outward clues: how often social media gets updated, how thorough the comments are, and how managers carry themselves and call out cues at live shows. In this thread too, some praised Tsubaki Factory’s careful social media management and Juice=Juice’s strong online presence, while others took a harsh view of Rosy Chronicle’s setup, calling it “handled by the most junior staffer,” and opinion ended up split. That said, the talk in the thread about staff transfers or firings amounts to hearsay and speculation rather than officially confirmed fact, and should be treated with caution.
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