Sakura Mankai

Hello!Project's and ANGERME's leader Wada Ayaka announced her graduation. She will be graduating at the end of ANGERME's Spring tour of 2019. Wada Ayaka is one of the longest serving Hello!Project members as the only 1st generation member of S/mileage/ANGERME and Hello!pro Egg's first generation still part of Hello!Project. Ayaka says she has been thinking about it for about a year. She will do her best for her last year as a member. Eventhough Ayaka has been a member of Hello!Project for so long, this announcement is so suprising. Especially since she won't be graduating for over a year.  One way or the other, I hope Ayaka gets to do what ever she wants with her life, as she has been giving is so much from hers.

It was announced that Morning Musume's 12th generation member Ogata Haruna will be graduating from Morning Musume and Hello!Project. Ogata will graduate at the end of Morning Musume '18's Spring Tour at Nippon Budokan on June 20th. It was stated that she wants to focus on her education as she didn't get into University last year. Ogata wants to do a special program and Idol activities do not fit into something like that.  O My God. I can not believe a 12th generation member is already leaving! This is such sad news. Yet it is really amazing that Ogata choose the path for herself! Education is important. Let's support her and Morning Musume until the end!

Suzuki Airi announced she will have her first solo Nippon Budokan concert! The concert will be on the 9th of July. Airi announced she will be preforming all her album songs. Congratulations to Airi!

It has been announced that Miyamoto Karin will miss more Hello!Pro concerts this week. She has been feeling unwell with pain in her neck and head.  After two check-ups the doctors think she might have Bell's Palsy, which is a temporary paralyzation of the face or areas of the face. Karin has been in the hospital for a week in order to recover faster. Sadly she is still not feeling well, so she won't be preforming. Let's hope she will recover fast and feel better soon! https://ameblo.jp/juicejuice-official/theme-10073622495.html

It was announced that Kudo Haruka will be in the Main Cast of the tv series Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger! Kudo will be playing Hayami Umika, Lupin Yellow! The series will start on the 11th of febuary. With this announcement Kudo also opened her own blog called Haru Camera . Great news for us Kudo fans! https://ameblo.jp/kudo--haruka/

It has sadly been announced that Aikawa Maho decided to graduate from ANGERME and Hello!Project. Maho has been in a haitus for 11 monthes due to anxiety disorder. She hoped to recover and rejoin ANGERME. Eventhough she has been doing better and returning to her university, Maho didn't recover enough to come back to ANGERME.  She says she is very scared her anxiety will return once she starts preforming again and doesn't want her fans to wait for nothing.  Goodbye Aikawa Maho, good luck with university! http://www.helloproject.com/news/7975/

Michishige Sayumi announced she will have her second preformance series in march! After the succes of SAYUMINGLANDOLL~Sansei~, it was decided to hold a second serie called: SAYUMINGLANDOLL~Shukumei~ It will run from the 20th of march until the 25th of march and have 10 preformances at COTTON CLUB. Let's look forwards to more Sayumi!!

It was announced that Inaba Manaka will be preforming at all Hello!Pro winter concerts! The concerts will start on the 2nd of January and will have two different versions.  Until now it wasn't clear what Manaka's role in Hello!Project would be, but as she will be a part of all these concerts, we can expect more of her in the future!

Tsubaki Factory will release their 3rd single on the 21st of febuary. A while ago they announced that the first song was called Teion Yakedo and released it digitally. During an event yesterday, the girls announced the names of the other two songs: Shunrenka I Need You ~Kanransha~ Let's hope we get more information soon! Update Tsubaki Factory announced that I Need You ~Kanransha~ is now called:  I Need You ~Yozora no Kanransha~

Morning Musume announced they will be releasing a special album next year! The album will be released on the 7th of febuary and is a 20th anniversary album.  It will be called: Hatachi no Morning Musume And it will be release by Morning Musume 20th. The album will be released in two versions, one regular with only cds and one limited with a dvd. This dvd will have a part of the  20th anniversary Budokan concert, interviews with OG members and the MV to Ai no Tane (20th anniversary ver.). Not much else has been announced, so we don't know if it will be a cover album or a best-of album. We will just have to wait for more information! Edit: The album is a Mini-album and will contain 8 songs. Ai no Tane (20th anniversary ver.) and Gosenfu no Tasuki will be on the album. The other 6 songs will be new songs preformed by OG members and the current members!

Kobushi Factory released new profile pictures! After the announcement that Taguchi Natsumi officially left the group, it was ofcourse only a matter of time. Yet the last two times we got editted group pictures of the outfits used in their last single. Yet now we got completely new ones! Hirose Ayaka & Nomura Minami Ayapan, did you kill a Sesame Street character? Urgh those sleeves! I love pink on her though and her hair is really nice like this! Nomura looks like a model. I love her smile and her hat and her skirt! She looks absolutly fab. Hamaura Ayano & Wada Sakurako Hamachan looks adorable. I love white on her and the hat is so cute! Big fan of the skirt in combination with the shirt. Sakurako is so pretty, I love her face and hair. Yet that top and skirt look terrible on her. SHE HAS A BODY PEOPLE! Give her something more flattering and she is the prettiest of all. Inoue Rei How can you work such a terrible outfit girl? The hat is adorable, yet ...

It has been announced that Taguchi Natsumi, member of Kobushi Factory, had her contract cancelled halfway by Up-Front Promotions.  There have been talkes between Taguchi, her parents and management about her behavior in the past few months. Due to her not taking the responsibility of her contract, management decided to cancel it all togheter.  Taguchi will leave Kobushi Factory and Hello!Project as of the 6th of december and Kobushi Factory will go on as a 5 member group.  This is really sad, yet not suprising, news. Yesterday, I actually thought to myself: now that their tour is over, I wouldn't be suprised it she left. And just an hour later the announcement came along. I feel really bad for Kobushi Factory. They lost 3 members in a matter of months, due to disregard of their contracts or due to mental health.  Let's support them with all our hearts and hope they will come out of this with their fists raised. Announcement: https://www.facebook....

Morning Musume '17 will be releasing their 15th album "15 Thank you, too" in under an month. The tracklist for the album has been announced a while ago and will contain 15 songs: 1. Jealousy Jealousy (Album Version) 2. Romance ni Mezameru Mosuou Joshi no Uta 3. CHO DAI 4. Watashi no Nanni mo Wakacchanai 5. Jama Shinai de Here We Go! 6. Style of my love- Iikubo Haruna, Oda Sakura, Makino Maria 7. Narcissus Kamatte-chan Kyousoukuoku Dai 5ban 8. Seishun Say A-Ha 9. Wakain da Shi! 10. Mou Gaman Dekinai wa ~Love ice cream~ - Ogata Haruna, Haga Akane, Kaga Kaede, Yokoyama Reina 11. Dokyuu no Go Sign 12. Koi wa Toki ni- Fukumura Mizuki, Ikuta Erina, Ishida Ayumi, Sato Masaki, Kudo Haruka, Nonaka Miki, Morito Chisaki 13. Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari (Morning Musume ; 17 Ver.) 14. BRAND NEW MORNING 15. Additional Track: Ai no Tane (20th Anniversary ver.) This will be the first album for the 12th, 13th and 14th generation and will also be the l...

Tsubaki Factory announced their 3rd major single! The single will release on the 21st of Febuary, 2018 and will be a triple a-side! One of the songs is called Teion Yakedo. This song will be winter themed and the girls will wear gloves during the dance-shot! Tsubaki Factory won a Newcomer Award from the 50th Japan Cable Awards, so we should look forwards to what this group is going to bring us in the future!

Morning Musume announced a new sub-unit to celebrate their 20th anniversary! The group will be joined by the 1st generation members Nakazawa Yuko, Ishiguro Aya, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi and Fukuda Asuka to form Morning Musume 20th! The group will release a digital single on the 3th of november and is a remake of Ai no Tane, Morning Musume's first song. It will be released on the exact 20th anniversary of Ai no Tane! The single will include: 1. Ai no Tane (20th Anniversary ver.) 2. Ai no Tane (20th Anniversary ver.) Instrumental This will be the first time Fukuda Asuka has Morning Musume activities since her graduation 18 years ago!

ANGERME released new profile pictures for their upcoming single! The single will release on the 13th of december. Let's have a look at the outfits! Wada Ayaka & Nakanishi Kana Both Dawa and Kana have the same color pattern in their outfits. Mustard colored bottoms and purple tops with blueish accents. I really love how Ayaka is making this outfits work. I am not a fan of her sleeves, but she looks like a model or someone in a piece of art. I actually quite like Kana's short. The stitching makes it look really nice on her and her hairstyle is beautiful! Takeuchi Akari & Katsuta Rina Take's outfit is terrible. I do not like the top at all and the bottems look like they were left over materials. Her hair however is the bomb!!! Rina looks like she came straight out of a Perfum MV. I love her hair like this and the dress is so flattering!  Murota Mizuki & Sasaki Rikako That smile on Muro! I love her top, it's really pretty and looks s...

During the last Summer Tour, Hello!Project announced they would be opening auditions for new members. The auditions would not be for a specific group and the girls who would win the auditions could be added to any group, even the drama department.  Now it has been announced that there will be a show on AmebaTV following this audition process to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hello!Project. The OG and current members will comment on the auditions and their process! The show will feature the auditions, backstage footage, OG and current members of Hello!Project. The show is called: Shoujotachi no Ketsudan ~Mitchaku!! Hello! Project 20 Shuunen Audition~ On AmeboVideo, extra footage will be uploaded! The first show will be on the 16th of November and feature Yaguchi Mari, Yasuda Kei, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Kumai Yurina, Yajima Maimi, Wada Ayaka, Kanazawa Tomoko and Takagi Sayuki.  (It's unclear if the members will rotate). Great and exciting news! It has been so ...

Up-Front Promotions and Hello!Project announced a new youtube show! The show is called Tiny Tiny and will be hosted by Makoto and Kato Noriko. The show will have OG and active Hello!Pro members and will be focussed on tiny moments of happiness. The show will start on the 26th of october and have shows every Thursday at 21:00 JST.

Morning Musume '17 finally announced the release of their 15th album! This will be their first album release in three years and will also be the album debut of the 12th, 13th and 14th generation members! It will also be the last album to feature Kudo Haruka. The album was announced to be released on the 6th of december and is called: ⑮ Thank you, too The album will contain all unreleased Morning Musume songs: Watashi no Nanni mo Wakacchanai Seishun Say A-HA Narcissus Kamatte-chan Kyousoukyoku Dai 5ban CHO DAI Style of my Love (Iikubo, Oda, Makino) Mou Gaman Dekinai wa ~LOVE ICE CREAM~ (Ogata, Haga, Kaga, Yokoyama) Koi wa Toki ni (Fukumura, Ikuta, Ishida, Sato, Kudo, Nonaka, Morito) It has not yet been announced which singles will be found on the album, nor if there will be more than one cd included.  The album will release in two versions:  one limited with blu-ray and one regular version. The limited version with will contain the 20th annivers...

Who would have thought that the youngest Berryz Koubou member would be the first to get married and pregnant?! Well, it's all true! Sugaya Risako (23) has announced her marriage and pregnancy! Risako has been the least active ex-member of Berryz Koubou for the past 2 years (not counting Momoko who has recently gone of the radar).  She has recently gone back to blogging and started her own instagram account. Risako announced she met her husband at the beginning of this year at a party. He is also in his 20s, is a "normal" man and lives in Tokyo. When they were dating for about 6 months, Risako found out she was pregnant. She was very shocked, but always wanted a happy family! Risako saw the echos and was really happy with the baby. She is now 5 months pregnant and the baby is expected around febuary/march. After Berryz Koubou went on haitus, Risako didn't have any big plans like the other members, yet she is not suprised of where she is now and...