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The story
Hello! Project trainee Yuna Aoki referring to herself as “Ao-King” in an official SNS post from the trainee management account has become a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. The thread mainly revolved around the backstory of the nickname — some pointed out she’d already been using it since around a June concert, others found it amusing since multiple Hello! Project members already go by “King” nicknames (like Suzu-King), and some claimed the nickname actually originated on a specific message board. Speculation about which group she might eventually be promoted to was also a big part of the buzz.
Hello! Project Trainee Manager@kenshusei_uf
Good morning☀ Good afternoon🌞 Good evening⭐
It’s Ao-King👑, aka Yuna Aoki, yo👍
Source: helloproject.com / Original article here
What people said
Same as Me-sa, Hyogo
That's "Ao-ringo" (Blue Apple) you're thinking of
Way too online
She's been calling herself that since the June concert anyway
Ichuki's the "kingu"
Well, she's a future top-runner
If anything it's an honor
Put another way, she's the type who could be an idol even outside Hello! Project
So that means she's the same age as Nonnon and Tomoa-chan, first-year middle schoolers
Kojima Hana
Ao-King
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Under Hello! Project’s “trainee” system, candidates awaiting promotion to full membership go through a period of building name recognition through concerts and social media, and nicknames often take root organically among fans during this stretch. In this case, there were claims that “Ao-King” was already in use as far back as a June concert, meaning this instance looks less like the birth of a new nickname and more like the manager account simply confirming one that already existed. Where opinions in the thread diverged was over how to view the overlap with existing “King” nicknames already in circulation (such as Suzu-King) — some welcomed the overlap as amusing, others found it annoying. One point worth clarifying: nicknames like this are generally not something the member or her agency assigns officially; instead, fans or the members themselves start using them, and they get semi-officially adopted later on.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Hello! Project trainee Yuna Aoki declares herself “Ao-King” LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL“.
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