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The story
Hello! Project’s Juice=Juice held the Osaka stop of their 5ROOMS tour on October 10, 2026. During the MC segment, Rii Matsunaga quoted King Gnu’s Daiki Tsuneta, who once said “music that sells isn’t the only good music,” and reflected: “Back when Juice=Juice wasn’t popular with the general public, even at NHK Osaka we could barely fill past the first row of the balcony. But looking back now, we were putting on great shows.” The comment was picked up on 5ch’s Hello! Project board, where reactions differed over how people remember the actual turnout from back then, and over how to talk positively about the group’s past slump.
What people said
5ROOMS Osaka Night, excerpt from Rii's MC: "I hold onto the words 'music that sells isn't the only good music' (said by King Gnu's Daiki Tsuneta). Generally speaking, back when Juice=Juice wasn't popular, even NHK Osaka was barely filled past the first row of the balcony. But looking back now, we were putting on great shows even then."
@
Just savoring the joy of finally being popular?
She's looking down on Angerme
New fans vanish again once some time passes
Exactly this
At the end of the day they're just scrubs below Angerme
I haven't seen it that empty since things reopened after COVID
I think getting popular was inevitable at that point
"Angerme isn't popular, but they put on good shows"?
That's because they didn't get popular through their own strength
Don't get it twisted
At least she's being honest
Juice=Juice has always been cool
The world just finally caught up
Hello! Project DDs (fans who follow multiple groups) keep coming back for repeat shows
I've been going to NHK Osaka since before Yumerii joined, and it's never actually been that empty
Besides, the front row of the 2nd floor's center block is industry/guest seating anyway, so pretty much only Uemu's and Rii's families would've been sitting there
If a member says it, then it must be true
Anyone who's actually seen them live knows that
>Isn't this just a group that ended once Karin Miyamoto graduated?
That might be true for Miyamoto's own fans
But from the perspective of current Juice=Juice fans, this is the group that started once Miyamoto graduated
Yeah, it stayed at rock bottom for a while after that
Background and Points of Discussion
Juice=Juice is a group Hello! Project formally launched in 2013, and it’s well known among fans that attendance stayed low for a long stretch after their debut. Where the thread split was over how to take Matsunaga’s comment: as in post 53, some fans who were around at the time questioned whether her memory matches what the venue was actually like, arguing that “if you exclude the industry seats, it probably wasn’t that empty.” The claim itself was never fully verified within the thread. There was also a gap in tone over whether to read her comment about the lean years as a veiled jab at the group’s current rise in popularity, or simply as an honest, positive take on the past — with several posts bringing in other groups (like Angerme) for comparison. Centered on her own MC remarks as the primary source, it’s worth noting that these differing interpretations existed.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Rii Matsunaga: “Back when Juice=Juice wasn’t popular, we could barely fill past the first row of the balcony at NHK Osaka, but looking back, we were putting on great shows”.”
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