From our other sites
The story
Following a post praising Juice=Juice’s “Ash to Diamond” (Hai to Diamond), posts using the exact same wording began appearing on X pushing ANGERME’s new song “RED LINE,” prompting suspicions on 5ch’s Hello! Project board that something was being orchestrated. The thread also buzzed over the fact that ANGERME’s official Instagram featured the post in its Stories, with some users suggesting the account was riding along with the stealth-marketing narrative, and others pointing to the unnatural spike in view counts specifically during late-night hours. Others, however, argued it was simply coincidence or fans enthusiastically spreading the word, leaving opinions divided.
What people said
Who's even saying that?
Juice=Juice broke out without a single graduation in the last two and a half years — proof that Hello! Project's graduate-and-replace business model is bad news.
it's pointless if she's already graduated.
THAT right there is the stealth marketing lol
When Ebichu (Ebisu Muscats) got "Ai no Rental" (Rental Love) to lightly go viral and even reach THE FIRST TAKE, their opening move was TikTok, not this.
When really they were just spamming posts about it themselves.
It's less the new songs and more that the new lineup itself is weak, so the songs naturally come off weak too.
They've added too many groups and can't spread resources around anymore, seems like.
A normal agency would go all-in pushing just Juice=Juice toward year-end,
but with the Hello! Project baggage of having to share the spotlight, that's just not an option.
Nobody's even taking the person who started saying that seriously,
so too bad lol
Reminder: ANGERME's official Instagram is taking it at face value
https://www.instagram.com/stories/angerme_official/3988633316898749619
Riding along with stealth marketing — pathetic, you ANGERME clowns ("ankasu," a mocking nickname for the group) lol
ANGERME already failed to cash in on the "SereSere" mega-viral wave (nickname for an earlier release), so they're probably playing it more carefully this second time.
Of all things, milking such a minor live album for this…
ANGERME's live footage is notoriously weak, so that's just gonna happen naturally.
https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1789679855/
Why would it get 140k views in the dead of night when nobody's watching,
but only pull in 30k after everyone wakes up and notices? www
This is just absurd at this point w
They're not even bothering to hide it anymore w
The offshore click farm is working way too hard www
Woke up and a video nobody was watching had 140,000 views.
Honestly, I doubted my own eyes at first.
Thought I was still half-asleep.
So this is what happens when an agency's backing you.
They get to work after everyone's fallen asleep, huh.
At this point the view count might as well not exist.
Juice's numbers are rigged, so their numbers are the least trustworthy thing about them.
So what CAN you actually trust, then?
ANGERME's getting nothing though — well, there's no point getting noticed now anyway, better off staying under the radar.
People would just watch the old MVs and go "wait, this cute girl isn't even in the group anymore?"
Even 1,000 subscribers is pretty pathetic, honestly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Z7kouR4Sw
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/I3Z7kouR4Sw/hq720.jpg
Their ace Yonemura, Nishizaki's reliable vocals, and plenty of cute-looking members going for them — but then BEYOOOOONDS barged in and Ocha Norma's impression got buried.
What are you gonna do about that?
That's just UP-FRONT pushing it as hard as they possibly could, and it still didn't land even with Hello! Project's own fans.
Though pushing this many different groups this hard in such a short span doesn't really accomplish anything anyway.
It's just unusual that Juice=Juice nailed it on the first try — Hello! Project never settling on which group to push is business as usual.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Both “Ash to Diamond” (Juice=Juice) and “RED LINE” (ANGERME) are Hello! Project songs released in 2026, and both share the same pattern: a post praising their MV on X kicked off a rise in view counts. What split the thread was a single question — is this coincidental, fan-driven spread, or organized promotion (so-called stealth marketing) involving the agency or an outside contractor? Grounds cited for suspecting the latter include view counts spiking specifically during late-night hours, and the fact that identical wording used to praise one group’s MV was recycled for another’s — but both points remain speculation on an anonymous forum, and neither the agency nor the distributor has acknowledged any involvement. It’s also worth noting that Juice=Juice producing results without a single member leaving in roughly two and a half years is being framed as a contrast with other groups that cycle through graduations and new additions — but that, too, is only one factor behind sales and view counts, not conclusive proof of superiority.
※This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “The person who started saying ‘Ash to Diamond is great’ on X is now saying ‘ANGERME’s RED LINE is great’ — is Hello! Project being played around with?.”
Leave a Reply