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The story
Former ANGERME member Mei Tamura (nickname “Meimei”) has revealed that ticket sales were sluggish for the launch performance of her newly founded theater troupe “Koume-chan,” prompting her to ask Hello! Project-affiliated radio shows for promotional help. With the production featuring well-known musical theater actors, 5ch users debated why the seats weren’t filling up, and questioned the wisdom of Tamura handling the script, direction, and starring role all by herself.
What people said
for drawing power of her own making.
Merge the two together?
Do the acting, and also sing Hello! Project songs
That way you could pull in Hello! Project fans too, couldn't you?
What do you think, Mei Tamura?
Fans are probably following the troupe, not her personally
Wake up — you're just being sweet-talked and used
Space Zero, the venue Hello! Project often uses, seats about 400 too
Though honestly it also just feels like she simply misjudged the venue size
I'd just like to see her show up as a special guest at a Hello! Project concert or something too
Is this her usual solo stage show, or did she actually go independent? Which is it?
It's the launch performance for her new theater troupe
She always did it solo before, but this time she even hired other actors
A play where she doesn't sing, when singing is supposed to be her strength?
Who's actually going to go watch this?
That part was funny
Mei Tamura launches the theater unit 'Koume-chan,' handling planning, script, direction, and the starring role herself! The first production co-stars Maaya Harada and Kanoko Ito, running at I'M A SHOW in October 2026.
9,800 yen
Empty seats everywhere, that's sad
Their fans should have shown up too, you'd think
The subject matter is just too dark
Even Ishida, who had the lead role, couldn't fill a 150-seat venue
If a free stream only pulls 100 viewers, a paid show would probably draw around 50
Oh, you mean the other 'Chairman' lol
Who was that again? Some old idol's manager, right?
She got a pity slot on a Hello! Project radio show, and this is the result
She should get Kanna Hashimoto on
They've worked together before, right?
She's already relying on Miyamoto and Takeuchi
That's kind of pathetic…
And apparently she hadn't even seen Miyamoto once since graduating lol
Wait… how did that even happen lol
Surprised Miyamoto agreed to it
Though apparently it's the kind of relationship where they never meet once they've left the group
> though apparently it's the kind of relationship where they never meet once they've left the group
If they were really close, they'd make time in their schedules to see each other lol
What has your favorite done lately? lol
All that did was give her some hollow prestige
She doesn't have even one?
Background and Key Points
Hello! Project is the agency umbrella behind Morning Musume and its sister idol groups, ANGERME among them; graduates routinely go on to acting, but they carry no guaranteed audience with them once they leave the idol system. Mei Tamura left ANGERME and has spent roughly a decade doing solo stage work before founding her own troupe, Koume-chan, timed to her tenth anniversary as an actress. The launch production, “Only Lonely Girl Girl Girl,” runs at the roughly 150-to-400-seat range of small Tokyo theaters typical for this tier of production, priced at 9,800 yen, with Tamura credited as writer, director, and lead, alongside two established musical-theater actors. Asking Hello! Project-affiliated radio programs like 60TRY-bu to promote a non-idol theater production is notable because it borrows institutional reach she otherwise lacks.
The thread’s actual disagreement is not about whether the show is struggling — everyone agrees it is — but about the cause: some blame Tamura for overestimating her personal drawing power versus the troupe’s or her castmates’, others fault the bleak subject matter, others point to her taking on writing, directing, and starring simultaneously as simply too much for one person to execute and market well.
What outside readers likely miss is that Hello! Project fandom and stage-theater fandom are largely separate economies in Japan; buying idol-related concert tickets doesn’t translate into buying tickets for a graduate’s unrelated dramatic production, even with radio cross-promotion. Also worth noting, unmentioned in the thread: despite Tamura being known primarily for singing, this production is a straight play without musical numbers, which may undercut exactly the appeal her existing fans expect from her.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Tamura Meimei: “The theater’s seats weren’t filling up as much as I expected, so I asked Radio Nippon to let me come promote it on 60TRY-bu and other talk radio shows”.”
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