My iDOL Street predictions failed spectacularly and embarrassingly. That’s the risk you take when making crazy predictions.
If you haven’t heard, Saori will be graduating SUPER☆GiRLS in February and Naapon and Risa will be joining. Saori-nu, more like Saori-noooooo. Anyone who is a fan of hers knew it was only a matter of time before she started pursuing her ultimate dream of performing in erotic musicals, but I thought the earliest she would graduate would be after their 4th anniversary (June 2014). I plan on going to Japan in March or April and again in the summer so I’ll never be able to see her again (unless I watch one of her erotic musicals). Not the end of the world but I do think she is one of the #BestIdolsEver and #totallyworthyofbeinghashtagged.
Fourth Group is still coming though. New prediction: Fourth Group will debut at the Sutorigu 2 finale on January 26, with a possible announcement a few days earlier on January 24. I was stupid to think they would announce Fourth Group at the Christmas concert since that would take attention away from GEM’s debut. Unfortunately Naapon and Risa joining SUPER☆GiRLS hurts Fourth Group (although I was thinking it would be sadly ironic if they also hurt SUPER☆GiRLS). Since Naapon was my 3rd ranked Street-sei member and Risa was 7th, I’ve reworked the ultimate Fourth Group lineup. It’s new and not-improved:
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Previously I predicted 12 members, but I’m downgrading to 9 because I think the group is already top heavy and adding more members will just be subtraction by addition. Maybe I’m insane for not pushing Runa or Ruka, but I think both are too young and there is something diabolical about Runa.
Although the SUPER☆GiRLS news has set in, I’m still on the fence about the changes. Naapon has a lot of potential, although I honestly feel that most of the girls in GEM are above her level. I think Naapon’s greatest asset is her fearlessness – so many members of Street-sei are frustratingly shy and unwilling to take risks, but she’s a total free-spirit and borderline insane. That’s why I kind of like Akari. She looks like an old lady trapped in a little kid’s body, but she’s original. Kyonchan and Natsuka also tried to break out of their shells (although I don’t think they were as successful). Not that SUPER☆GiRLS needed “fixing,” but I think Naapon can infuse a new type of energy into the group. I just hope she changes her hairstyle before her debut, because she looks so much better with longer hair. On a slightly related note, Hikaru has had short hair for over a year now and unfortunately it doesn’t seem like she is changing it anytime soon. I think Risa is a little more polarizing for fans because on the surface she doesn’t add anything to the group that isn’t already there. I wrote this a while ago, but I think it’s obvious someone high up in i-Street has been pushing Risa – first for GEM and now SUPER☆GiRLS. She has improved a lot in the past few months though, not just her singing but also her stage presence. That’s worth 3 points. And she’s gotten much better looking. That’s worth 20 points. I think Rihona and Risa have improved the most since Sutorigu 1 – which kind of makes me think Rihona would have been a safer (and better) choice. I’m not convinced of Risa’s upside or the benefits she can bring to the group. There are other girls in Street-sei who are more talented (Haachin), better looking (Haachin), and more interesting (Haachin). I think fan confidence would be much higher if they added Rihona as a third new member to make an even twelve. I think it’s a missed opportunity, but I’m going to be open minded about both and obviously I hope it works out.
Color coding prediction: Naapon will be blue and Risa will be green.
iDOL-Street Photos of the Year™
^ Even though Rihona was crying that photo is super cute.
Short hair perfected and short hair gone horribly wrong
This is when I realized Gocchan got hot
And this is when I realized Maho is a little insane (in a good way)
SUPER GiRL Talk 
3 Responses to “Remember when Mano Erina graduated and I didn’t even realize Mano Erina graduated until five months later and even after she graduated I still checked her website every day thinking there would be at least one more concert (preferably ten) but eventually her website just went offline so now I am starting to think that maybe Mano Erina really has graduated and it’s not just a temporary mini-graduation like that one rumor that I made up indicated but last night I had a dream that Mano Erina was wearing a bikini and called her manager and said “Hi, it’s me Mano Erina! Guess what?? I reverse graduated! Roundup my backup dancers aka s/mileage because we’re doing one more concert! at Tokyo Dome! with ten costume changes! and they’re all bikinis!!” and that’s when I woke up and immediately checked her homepage but it was still offline and she still hasn’t reverse graduated or given me her phone number or home address and now Saori graduated!!!”