Is Juice=Juice’s Breakout Being Steered by the Chairman? 5ch Buzzes With Claims It ‘Wasn’t Just Luck’

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The story

A thread has appeared on 5ch’s Hello! Project board about Juice=Juice’s sudden surge in popularity. The debate centers on whether Naoki Yamazaki, who leads Hello! Project, was aware of and steering the group’s sudden jump in name recognition — sparked by the viral “Moremi” dance trend on TikTok (a heavily filtered, ‘glammed-up’ dance meme) and posts tied to Hana Kojima — or whether it was simply unplanned. Comments like “There’s no way this broke out on its own — they’re paying an agency for this” clashed repeatedly with counterarguments such as “Director Yamazaki was the one who set Juice=Juice’s Latin-music direction in the first place,” leaving posters split over just how much of the rise was the agency’s doing.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:53
Pushing precious Morning Musume。 aside
2AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:55
Bet he's not thrilled about that
Even his favorite, Kitagawa, left the group too
5AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:56
Probably not just luck
Sounds like he's the one behind stuff like Hayashi's glasses
And Yama-chan handled the cover song too
He clearly keeps a close eye on this group
Kitagawa was Team Juice to begin with anyway
6AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:57
They're paying an agency for this,
so there's no way it just happened on its own
7AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:57
Re: #1
Go do a little more research on Hello! Project and Up-Front, okay?
If anything, it was Morning Musume。 that broke out on its own
8AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:58
Exactly right!
It was Musume。 that broke out on its own
10AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:59
Maria Makino didn't jump on the Moremi trend
That's your answer right there
11AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:59
Isn't Reirei one of his favorites too?
He must be thrilled the Latin song he pushed so hard finally hit
Though now he's chasing a second stroke of luck with an 'India fit' (apparently an Indian-themed follow-up)
12AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:00
And on top of that, Juice is an Up-Front idol group whose fan club is run through Hello! Project
Back in the Aoyama days they'd have been under UFA
Plus the de facto direction behind Juice's Latin songs
is Director Yamazaki
14AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:01
Honestly this just looks like the result of a very deliberate push
15AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:03
My old Hello! Project fever is back, age be damned
16AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:03
Enough nitpicking — once the Hello Pro Moremi thing blew up enough to look like a total win for Yama-chan, that's when the push really started
17AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:03
Hana Kojima did the Moremi thing too, back at the end of last year, so it's basically confirmed her transfer was chairman-led as well
https://www.tik
tok.com/@kojimahana_official/video/7590009125107502343
18AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:03
It's funny how Airi Suzuki's fans have this warped narrative — like "Airi got frozen out, but she hustled her own gigs and made it big herself"
Fan perception really does get twisted, huh
19AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:05
So what's the actual relationship between the Chairman and Musume。?
20AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:06
Re: #19
She's the firstborn, but more like an adopted daughter, I'd say
60AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:22
Re: #19
The birth parent is Naoki Yamazaki

The babysitter is Tsunku

Morning Musume。's success is why Yamazaki created Hello! Project
58AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:20
Yama-chan decides everything in Hello! Project, so nothing happens on its own
59AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:22
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FE91HR2aQAEDsbP.jpg
61AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:22
Why would anyone think Yamazaki isn't involved with Juice=Juice?
62AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:23
Re: #61
Exactly this
Hello! Project belongs to Naoki Yamazaki, after all
68AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:26
He's had hits in so many different directions that people compare him to Weekly Manga Action magazine (known for its eclectic, all-over-the-place lineup)

Takahiko Horiuchi as an enka singer
Chisato Moritaka
Iwao Takayama
KAN
Sharan Q
Morning Musume。
Minimoni。
73AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:28
Re: #68
Honestly they all feel like the same direction
Total Showa-era pop vibe
76AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:28
Re: #68
Nah, that's a stretch — they're all basically the same, there's zero real variety
94AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:33
Re: #68
The more you look, the more it's really just one direction
Re: #79
No wait, it was Tsunku originally

This old man's story is a complete mess
77AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:29
That slightly goofy, countrified feel Hello! Project has is all Chairman Yamazaki's personal taste
Once he's gone, I bet they'll try to get all stylish and it'll flop hard
81AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:30
Re: #77
Naoki Yamazaki himself holds so much power that even the media go soft on him
79AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:29
Re: #73
That's why genius Naoki Yamazaki gave Juice a young woman, Aoi Yamazaki, instead of Tsunku
83AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:30
Re: #79
No, he actually gave them Tsunku
Are you new here?
82AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:30
Re: #76
Just look at other agencies
Their range is shockingly narrow by comparison
85AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:31
Re: #82
Which "other agencies" are we even talking about
There are like 50,000 of them in Japan
86AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:31
Re: #83
Tsunku wasn't cutting it, so they made a change
88AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:32
Re: #86
You change your story every single time someone calls you out
Maybe apologize first
87AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:32
Re: #83
Tsunku got fired, you know
90AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:32
Re: #87
You change your story every single time someone calls you out
Maybe apologize first
102AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:40
Re: #73
That might actually be fine
There's probably decent demand for it
The world doesn't belong to young people alone, after all
103AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:41
Re: #102
You've only got one card in your hand, lol

Background and Key Points of This Discussion

Hello! Project is a brand launched by Naoki Yamazaki, who leads the Up-Front Group, following the success of Morning Musume。, and he is said to remain deeply involved in decision-making for the group as a whole. The “Moremi” trend discussed in the thread spread through altered-lyric dance videos on TikTok, with several Hello! Project members beyond Juice=Juice joining in. Where posters disagreed was over whether this rise in popularity was engineered by the agency or simply the result of individual members’ posts going viral on their own — the thread offers no material to settle that question definitively. Terms like “agency” and “Dentsu” also remain firmly in the realm of speculation and shouldn’t be taken as confirmed fact.

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Did Chairman Yamazaki Forgive Juice=Juice for Breaking Out on Its Own?

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