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The story
In footage aired on the October 2, 2026 episode of Hello! Pro Station, the voice of new Morning Musume member Ishikawa Kano became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. Despite being given zero singing parts, her vocal ability stood out so much that posters reacted with surprise, saying things like “giving her zero lines is a glitch” and “she’s way too good for someone with no experience.” The thread debated the gap between her lack of singing experience and her actual skill, as well as how singing parts are being divided up among existing members.
What people said
Like how Habu Yoshiharu declined just as Fujii Sota rose
Like how Ichiro declined just as Shohei Ohtani rose
Meanwhile there are seniors way worse than her
The other two are so hopeless that Ishikawa's getting caught in the blast radius
Incredible at both singing and dancing
That's practically a setup for her getting bullied
They'd been bringing in no-skill members for ages, so suddenly dropping in a skilled one throws things off like this — if they're going to keep adding skilled members, the generation above her needs to be stacked with skilled members too, or it just doesn't balance out
Mei-chan's voice might be an acquired taste, but Okamura's voice is the kind that appeals to everyone, right?
If you guys are gonna hold back, I'll make her my top oshi (favorite member)
Ishikawa's movement right here is amazing — her head stays completely still while everything from the neck down ripples
Oda and Reina have freakishly strong voices, but watching Ai-chan and Morito-chi struggle makes me feel bad for them
Singing-part allocation doesn't track with skill anyway — even Ishida gets a ton of lines
Experience doesn't matter
She's got real punch
They need that since the lineup's full of plain members
Seriously, they're way too short on members who can actually sing
Nemoto looks like she's under 140cm and Kishida's 145cm — are you sure that's the better call?
Yasuda — the face execs would love
Suzuki — visuals
Ishikawa — dance, singing
She's not actually terrible
though she does walk into the wrong spot
Is that a problem?
It's not like they only recruit members for good looks
Background and Key Points of This Topic
In Hello! Project, including Morning Musume, fans have long tracked how singing parts are divided up song by song (“uta-wari”) as a measure of a member’s popularity and growth. New members usually join after a trainee period, but singing experience varies a lot from member to member, and many are selected mainly for their dance ability. What divided opinion in the thread was how much of an inexperienced member’s skill can really be judged from a short clip in an official video, and whether it’s fair to suddenly cut back an existing member’s singing parts. Note that, as of this thread, management has not given any official explanation of how singing-part decisions are made or how members will be used going forward — this remains fan speculation.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “[HaroSta REC] Morning Musume’s New Ace Ishikawa Kano Has Arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!“.
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