The H!P Musings/Rants Thread

[otaku_blue]

It makes me so sad to read the replies here, I concur that Hello Project is in a bad state.
I just lurk here now but its bit sad to see that everyone here agrees.

I know they're still doing well financially (for now), but their latest releases have felt so uninspired and generic.
If you think about how Platinum era was financially a flop, it still laid the foundations and paid off for the next 10 years.
Unfortunately, I also agree feel that a lot of the older girls have overstayed their welcome.
Its so sad to see Eripon and Sakura leave after a scandal, but that's what happens when you overstay your welcome. I also don't think it would be good for the group for Rio to come back.

I feel like Hello Project needs a big shuffle or something. Somebody needs to save the Rosy Chronicle and Ocha Norma girls from a fate of wasted potential.

[DJChisato1]

It makes me so sad to read the replies here, I concur that Hello Project is in a bad state.
I just lurk here now but its bit sad to see that everyone here agrees.

I know they're still doing well financially (for now), but their latest releases have felt so uninspired and generic.
If you think about how Platinum era was financially a flop, it still laid the foundations and paid off for the next 10 years.
Unfortunately, I also agree feel that a lot of the older girls have overstayed their welcome.
Its so sad to see Eripon and Sakura leave after a scandal, but that's what happens when you overstay your welcome. I also don't think it would be good for the group for Rio to come back.

I feel like Hello Project needs a big shuffle or something. Somebody needs to save the Rosy Chronicle and Ocha Norma girls from a fate of wasted potential.

That's quite the leap in logic you have there.

Let me take a guess, you are one of those MM = H!P and H!P = MM people.
Little know fact, There are 7 groups in H!P not just MM. There are also 67 Members, not just the 12 in MM.
I've been ragging on Morning Musume because I expect better.
I've also ragged on Tsubaki Factory because I expected better. Then they got better. TF was my most listened to on my 2024 music recap, and are #1 in my 2025 mid year recap, even though I'm a J=J wota.

I don't think that H!P is in a bad state, If anything, I think that MM is in a bad state.

[otaku_blue]

I disagree. You can assess their general performance from their Youtube Engagement. Besides some exceptions you can see a lot of Hello Project channels are underperforming.
For example, Rosy Chronicle's subscriber count is less than 25k and both of their new music videos haven't surpassed 60k views yet.
This indicates a failure to appeal to other Hello Project fans and reach new audiences.

I think most people can agree that some change is needed.
They might be doing ok for now by relying on otakus, but right now Hello Project is getting left behind.

[Sohee]

When it comes to the new group/s, I feel that we've gotten too many too soon. ^^;
It's been like one new group every other year or so. I hope we don't get a new KSS unit this year and maybe not even next year either so the management can focus more on the current groups and make everything a bit more interesting.
It could just be me being an old fan, but man it was so much more interesting back when we had random tours of two groups together and/or shuffles and stuff.
Good times. :')
Imagine an Ocha and Tsubaki tour, or something. That could be fun. Rosy and Beyonds? Pls.

I am VERY excited about the summer concert for this reason - YAY New ways of doing things!

[Tobo_Junny135]

Adding to what Sohee says - I agree
To me it feels like Ocha and Rosy were replacements to fill in Kobushi and Country Girls respectively,
However it feels very clumped and more groups are becoming generational, if Upf plans to make all their groups generational they should stop here at 7 groups because even with Kobushi CG and Biyo around, it worked because Kobushi was down to 5 girls and CG had less work because two of the members had Uni work.
But these days every group is big and more than half have become generational (and rumours are Ocha and Rosy may become generational too or at least may add members for XYZ reasons) so its a bit of a mess.

On that note regarding Rosy, this group consists of the lesser popular KSS members (KSS popularity do not cross over to debut group popularity even if Karin was popular back in KSS she’s now in the middle) compared to Ocha that had strong contenders like Kirara, Kanami as well as a big impactful Auditionees, Sumire and Roko. Hence why Ocha seems to work well but repeating that process on Rosy did not work so well.

[aerosuffly]

For me, the main issue with Ocha and Rosy is that I feel like they do not have a clear musical direction. Sure, Ocha screams "Japanese" and Rosy screams "Western", but those are such vague themes to translate to music. Looking at other groups, they all have very clear musical directions. But Tsubaki was also a bit lost when they started until Hatsukoi Sunrise and Uruwashi no Camellia came out. Time will tell.

[Tobo_Junny135]

^that also ties to the Rosy may still have members added like Tsubaki Factory rumour, they had indie singles and didn’t really pick up until the Trio was added.and in this case of Rosy given they don’t have any outstanding members except for maybe Rena.
I thought they were supposedly going to be like Country Girls because of one of their first unit songs, but their discography after debuting makes it so unclear lol