Tsunku♂'s thorough analysis of the Hello!Pro Kenshuusei! Part 2 (Tsunku♂ Awards Reveal!)
2021/01/22 07:00The conversation with Tower Records president Minewaki has ended, but because there wasn't enough time that day, there was something we didn't get to talk about: the current state of the Hello!Pro Kenshuusei. That's why I decided to watch the Hello!Project Kenshuusei Recital 2020 ~Summer Ability Diagnostic Test~ and give my own thorough analysis of the members and gain a little more understanding of the current trainees for when I get to talk to President Mineaki again.
In the first part, I talked about Nakayama Natsume, Yofuu Runo, Hashida Honoka, Uemura Hasumi, Yonemura Kirara, Kitahara Momo, Murakoshi Ayano, Nishizaki Miku, and Onoda Karin.
Now for part 2. At the end I'll give general comments on the bunch and announce awards. Look forward to it!
窪田七海（Kubota Nanami） "Watashi no miryoku ni kidzukanai donkan na hito"
Oh~, she seems like a girl who has the ability to self-produce, like she'd look in the mirror over and over thinking about the patterns of her facial expressions. That's my thinking. Before being made to consider whether she has that minute rhythm down or not, even when she's jumping, during the chorus, too, you can clearly hear her singing. That's because her mic hold is also great, she seems like a really strong one, like a professional.<Room for growth>
She's a little bit older compared to the others, but in terms of public recognition, she still has plenty of room to develop. Just as I wrote at the start, endless effort, days spent thinking about how to produce yourself, how to lift yourself up, is so important. If she does that, she'll seem more professional, and I think the adults (staff) will think about wanting to give her work, making her leader of a group, and giving her responsibility of a team.
平山遊季（Hirayama Yuki） "Come with me"
I see, she also seems like she has warmed up, in terms of age. She cuts off the notes of the song at the right length, and her build-up is good, too. In terms of performance, it seems like she's working on strengthening her muscles, down to her fingertips, to get those sharp little movements down.When it comes to muscle, there are largely two kinds of training: lifting weights for big muscles, like the kind you need to knock down your opponent in a boxing match, and for those smaller muscles, working to jab at your opponent over and over again. It started with Michael Jackson and is still around today in K-pop-style dancing, and I think those small muscle movements make dances look so much cooler. In this case, it means that since she has worked on those muscles, I can see she dances well, even down to her fingers.
<Room for growth>
What separates her from the other trainees is that minute muscle she has worked on. It's like she did drills of how many jabs she could hit in 30 seconds. She isn't boxing, though, so it's not just about forward jabs, but upward jabs, side-to-side jabs, downward jabs, working in every direction to be able to do those small, swift motions, that's what's important. It's not just about moving your hand in a fist, how fast can you move your fingers in 30 seconds? Same thing with your legs and feet. Do it as much as you can in a day.
This isn't limited to her, if you can do this every day for an hour, after about 6 months, you'll be able to give an incredible performance. I bet after 6 months she'll be able to move the fastest of all the trainees. Will Hirayama outrun everyone, or will the rest surpass her? I'm excited to find out.
To say one thing about her singing, when she holds out the notes for the "kokkara~jan" part, the rhythm completely disappears. It's a waste.
斉藤円香（Saitou Madoka） "Konya dake ukaretakatta"
I have an affinity with her because she also seems like a very Hello!Pro type of girl. I don't know how long she's been studying as a trainee, but I feel like she's perhaps someone who's quite capable on top of her training (perhaps from going along to the concerts of her seniors, as a trainee). I sense she puts in a lot of effort and doesn't have any intention of losing. She left me with the impression that she has taken some singing techniques from her seniors, listening to the ones who are good at singing and going, "I see, I should do it like this."<Room for growth>
She says each word well in her singing, so she's very easy to listen to, rhythmical. That being said, if there's somewhere she can still grow, it's in choreography first. In general, she's a little fast. On a 4-count, she starts the 1 early, meaning that she's not going until the end of the 4 count. This should be corrected, firstly. If she doesn't understand what I'm talking about, then she should start by gaining an understanding of what this sort of thing means.
At the same time, when she moves her free hand, the one not holding the mic, her body loses the rhythm. It's proof that she doesn't have the rhythm established in her whole body, because her body loses it when she focuses on her hand. If she can train on getting general rhythm, then she could break into the upper ranks of her Hello!Pro seniors that came before her.
江端妃咲（Ebata Kisaki） "21ji made no Cinderella"
What is this, this peace of mind I feel? She's a gifted girl, who should make past Hello!Pro fans feel secure, even with her song selection. Neither her singing nor her dancing are outstanding, but the security I feel from her is a professional level talent. It's the feeling of the first step you take past the gates of Sanrio Puroland. But her singing and dancing are actually stable, meaning she can focus on her character. Her rhythm while dancing is steady, too, because I assume she has it firmly trained in her body.<Room for growth>
More so than dreaming of being a great singer or a sharp dancer, she should focus on keeping a good balance of things like she has now. Her vocal quality is good (it comes smoothly into the ear), and the key isn't too difficult, so if she can learn to sing more low-key songs, her listeners will want to hear more from her. Practicing those kinds of songs would be good. Personally, she's quite an all-around girl.
為永幸音（Tamenaga Shion） "Daite yo! PLEASE GO ON" *Currently an Angerme member
She's the type who can sing with her face. She has impact, and she has the soul of someone who wants to be a singer, who wants to do this professionally, she really makes me feel that from her. I think she also has confidence in herself, since she picked a Goto song.<Room for growth>
After she danced so stably in the intro, the rhythm suddenly goes away when she gets to the A melody. It's completely gone when she sings the B melody. I don't think she needs to spend an awful amount of time drilling the rhythm down, not for her. Please, for a moment, forget your own dancing up until now, put the basics of rhythm in one more time. If you focus on singing to the rhythm, not dancing to the rhythm, the dancing will bring the rhythm out as a result, I think.
松原ユリヤ（Matsubara Yuliya） "Akai earphone"
I quickly realized she's great! I couldn't tell you why right away if you asked me, but she's good, somehow. I'm not familiar with the original dance to this song so I can't compare, but her dancing on this day, it's indescribable, I might like this vexing feeling.<Room for growth>
In the first half, her mic hold was really stable, but when she got to the chorus, she used both hands to dance so the mic would get closer and farther than it should have been. It's a waste of a stable voice if no one can hear it, because then it sounds worse than it actually is.
It seems like her voice still has some time before changing, but now is probably when it will start settling in. She was using her fingers in her dancing, but it seemed somewhat slow. Maybe I should say she's lacking in sharpness. She should work on those muscles, like how I described with Hirayama earlier.
山田苺（Yamada Ichigo） "SHALL WE LOVE?"
Wow, what a nice name. She 's a bit older than some of the other girls, so I feel like she's paying more attention to those fine finger movements. It feels good to watch her dance. This song was originally sung by three people, but she sang it well as a solo. Her expressions while singing were very good.She put the meaning of the lyrics in her singing without forcing in some level of personal pride, her calm singing made me feel like I was watching an athlete!? It feels like she gave us a peek at the charm women have in their strength of will.
<Room for growth>
She's a girl who can dance from the get-go. If you count out the dance for this song, it's a 1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, with the accent on the 3. If you do the accent on every 3 count, the dance comes together, sand it will make for a sharper performance. Right now she doesn't have any accents, I can see her forcing her whole body into it. She's fast, so to speak. That needs work.
石栗奏美（Ishiguri Kanami） "Resonant blue"
She's a bold singer. She gives facial expressions like she has some experience performing, to an extent. I wonder if it's because she's been a trainee for a while, or if it's because she learned piano or ballet when she was little and did performances that way? I don't know, but she's stable. Her singing had bounce, and she rode out the rhythm in the phrasing, and it all felt very natural, which was great.<Room for growth>
However, there's a specific rhythm from verse to verse in this song, but her dancing didn't have that rhythm at all so the song and dance were not in sync. Because of that, it's unfortunate that a performance she worked so hard on can't be regarded as highly. The chorus has a simple bass rhythm, so if she can get to where she hears that reliably (maybe it's more correct to say get to where she can hear it), the beat should come from her body naturally. She's not Sato Masaki, but if she listens to the backtrack so much that she wears the grooves down, her singing and dancing should synchronize together better.
広本瑠璃（Hiromoto Ruli） "Tachiagirl"
Woah! This girl also makes me feel at ease. It might be the case in terms of concerts these days that neither the fans nor the members get gleeful from a show, but fans spend money online or in person to see concerts to give them energy. I'm very happy to see a girl like this who embodies the sort of smile and performance that give people that energy. I ended up thinking, "Yep, this is the stuff."<Room for growth>
I wrote this before, too, but this feeling at ease is because she can sing and dance fine, so she should turn her eye to her character more. She should work on those basics while she's still at this stage. If I might impose, her rhythm disappears at the long "ga" note of "Tachiagaaru." Whether it's a half note or a whole note, I want her to feel that 16-beat the whole time. Well, that's not just with her, that goes for everyone.
Tsunku♂'s own original awards!
On the whole, I think there are a lot of really charming girls here. I would make 3 or 4 groups out of them as they are, because I was really left with an impression that there are many girls with some natural singing ability. As a result, I gave out a lot of singing awards.
Also, there weren't any girls at this time who really broke out from the pack, meaning that there weren't any with stand-out abilities, but I recognize that they're in an environment where they can devote themselves to training. Please understand, though, that if they put in a bit more effort, they can make themselves different from the other girls. If they all put in that little bit of effort, Hello!Pro's general skill level will rise accordingly, and there will be a clear difference between them and idols from other organizations.
I also think there are some girls who could have incredible personalities come out if the adults could prod them in the right way, like what happened with Wada Ayaka once. I don't think people at the management and staff level should be working with them, they should try collaborating with comedians or doing a show with rotating MCs (on YouTube, too! These days). Sometimes they'll fall flat, sometimes they'll hit it out of the park, but they will grow from those different experiences, won't they?
What was interesting for me this time was reviewing them without any personal attachment or bias, because I don't know the particulars of how long they've been training or how they're received by the public. I got to see all of them for the first time with no prior information.
I don't know how the judges actually evaluated them or what awards they got, but there wasn't a single girl who I didn't think had more room to grow. I felt like there might be some girls who already consider themselves as passable and complete to an extent, though, so I want them aim higher and higher, without relying on their own perceived limits or current state. I'm excited for their futures.
Now, when I see President Minewaki again, I'll be able to talk a little bit about them, "How about this girl! That girl is like this!" I wonder if they'll do another test this year!? I'm looking forward to it.