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H!O announced on Twitter just moments ago that Takahashi Ai will be graduating from Morning Musume AND Hello! Project at the end of this year.

The H!P announcement can be found here.

All I can say is... wow. Just... wow. I never thought Takahashi would be the next to graduate. I would have bet everything I had on Shige or Aika or even Gaki. I thought Takahashi would be the LAST.

Tsunku really must be putting everything he has on this new generation, isn't he? The new gen will have less than a year with a stable leader before she graduates and they have a new leader.

I think Gaki will make an excellent leader. =3 She's always been a reliable member of the group and has taken a mother role with the new members, so I'm sure she'll make sure that the new gen is comfortable with the transition.

But most of all, I'm shocked that Takahashi is leaving H!P, too. o___o She's getting older, yes, but I could have sworn that she would stay and be a soloist. She'll probably continue to do things under UFA as well.

Takahashi's comment can be found here.

Takahashi Ai's Statement -

I, Takahashi Ai, have decided to graduate from Morning Musume and Hello! Project during the Morning Musume Concert Tour scheduled for autumn of this year.
Because, when it was decided that Kamei Eri, Junjun, and Linlin would graduate, Tsunku had said "I can't solely decide on the timing of Takahashi and her own graduation!" and I thought about it.

This August it will be exactly ten years since I entered Morning Musume, so I thought it would be good to graduate at the Fall Morning Musume Tour immediately after that.
That's what I was thinking.

That is to say, there will be about nine months until graduation, so until then, I think I'll do my best to be a firm leader in this rebirth of Morning Musume*.

I hold affection for the newly joined 9th generation member, and there are a lot of things I think I want to tell them, so, everyone, please have peace of mind.

* Again, hard to phrase.

Am i the only one who's slightly glad Ai's leaving Dx?? It'sprobably because she never had appealed to me at all. She just was such a static character, the only real change we ssaw in her was becoming more maternal in a sense and a little mnore outgoing :p i guess that's an achievement. I hope the Kyukies can hold up momusu. Ai will make such an impact i know it. Power house vocal with big a** is nothing less than herself.

Gaki leader is good, maybe they'll land more shows with a more outgoing leader. Sayu subleader could change her character even more. Curious to see want happen.

^
Linlin getting all of Ai's lines with a slice of jun2 and gaki? i hear yuh

Glad was a bad choice i guess. What i meant was, despite being the most talented in terms of vocals and stage presence, she lacked severely in charisma outside of concerts. This is Japan we're talking about, their talk shows that are famous are a hell lot better than what we got here >_> Imo. They give the girl with the most conservative personality tv time (shes competing with aika on this one if it weren't for the fact aika gets s**t considering) ultimately shooting them in the foot. Gaki, Shige, Reina, and Pandas were all quite entertaining, and surely enough, they would have probably had more impact. I'm glad that maybe the other members will get to shine more, however it's sad to see possibly one of the most talented musume go.

Oh gawd Reina with all the lines Dx im sorry but that'd be horribly. This girl doesn't exactly fit that many songs ; 3 ; love her, shes cute, shes fun, shes got some vocal power, but just... ohhh... well there is still the 9th gens. Theyre pretty rounded out... Manpower will probably never sung again, but either way, it won't be that bad i hope.

^
Actually, while a good percentage of H!P fans ARE the stereotypical 20-40 year old wota, they still appeal to younger crowds. The girls who grew up listening to Morning Musume and Hello! Project are starting to have their own children, and they're passing on the music they liked as kids. While most younger kids like groups like C-ute and S/mileage, MM's fans are made up mostly of older men and younger girls. When I saw Rival Survival in October, there was a surprisingly large number of junior high school girls.

But it's a different time than when Kago/Tsuji were in the group. Idols have become highly sexualized nowadays. Morning Musume is thought of as a very mature group here in Japan. In the past few years they have had more mature, harder songs with darker lyrics. The members are older than most other groups. They don't appear on children's shows anymore.

During the Golden Age, Morning Musume was heavily marketed to junior high school girls. Hello! Morning was a friendly morning show, they had their own manga in Nakayoshi (a manga anthology for elementary/junior high girls, the same one that published Kirarin Revolution and Shugo Chara), and they were lucky to be in a time when idols were fun and innocent.

As of late, you can only really find MM on TV talk shows hosted by comedians, older comedians. Most of their magazine appearances are found in BLT or FRIDAY, both of are in the same category as magazines like Weekly Playboy. Idols are being seen more and more as sex symbols, as is the case with every other musician in the pop scene today. It's a different world. They still have young fans, but they're not in a time and place that it's easy to make more. But bringing in new fans has been a problem since Koha joined.

The new members may bring in girls their own age, but I don't think that's what Tsunku's after per se. We just had our leg amputated with this last batch of graduations, and we'll be losing another with Takahashi's. It's good to have younger members who will grow and can stay in the group for another ten years if they so choose, to keep us from falling over. (And by 'us', I mean Morning Musume and the fans) I don't think he's trying to redo anything, since that's not what we need the most. Sure, he could try to bring us back to Golden Age level, where everyone knows the member's names and they have to hold concerts in huge venues just to meet demand, but that wouldn't work. If Morning Musume wants to make it through this next decade, they need to develop a new reputation.


Aaand as usual, I got really off topic and rambly there. xD Oh well.


I'm really relying on this new gen for a new favorite! I lost my top three last month, so Gaki and Takahashi became my top two by default. Now Takahashi is gone, so that leaves Tanaka as my second favorite... And that should never happen. D= If it turns out that these four are duds and Gaki and Tanaka and Shige graduate before we get anyone good, and AIKA turns out to be the one I hate the least, I will shoot myself in the face. And then switch to AKB.

But it'll be fine. =3 The Takahashi fans will probably find a new Takahashi in Riho, the Koha-fans-turned-Linlin-fans will latch to Kanon, Erina will awkwardly charm her way into the Junjun fans' hearts, and Kame fans will find a new pair of thighs to love. Gaki will bring in a new era of greatness as leader. Tanaka will continue to wear her hair in the same style, Shige can be as much of a b***h on TV as she wants, and Aika can keep on being unremarkable, as usual. =3

Anyone who is still worried about the future of MM once Takahashi graduates needs to watch this: link

ALL WILL BE WELL.