Now that I'm not sick, not lazy, AND not busy with school (most of this post was written on a Sunday), I think there are a few things that happened within the past couple of months that I need to catch up on. So here are my thoughts on news no one cares about anymore:
Country Musume Revival
Probably my favorites "news" of the moment is the announcement of auditions for new Country Musume members. A fun fact about me is that I'm actually a really big fan of 90s Hello! Project. Seeing one of my favorite groups from that era is now being revived makes me incredibly happy!
I only wish that Satoda Mai could still be a part of it, as she is one of my favorite H!P members, but her moving to the U.S. makes that impossible. However, I am definitely looking forward to seeing more fresh faces in Hello! Project.
I hope that they keep the line-up as being mostly members from Hokkaido, as that was part of their original concept. If that were a requirement, Inaba Manaka would be the only Kenshuusei eligible, leaving room for plenty of new members. Of course auditions are open to girls from all around Japan, so other Kenshuusei could join. But my dream line-up for this group is Inaba plus about three new girls.
Though Inaba hasn't been in the trainee program for a full year yet, she does have some more experience under her belt as she was a member of the Hokkaido group PEACEFUL from 2011-2012. (This group was fantastic by the way.) Her voice is not the best, but her dancing is fantastic, and she has an adorable face. I, personally, think she'd be great for the group. But of course the exciting thing about these auditions is the thought of new members joining, and I'm super excited to see who will audition!
Most of all I am glad that Up-Front has started taking an interest in remembering and even reviving its OG acts. First there was the amazing New Years concert with the Taiyou to Ciscomoon and Melon Kinenbi reunions and the return of Heike Michiyo, and now they're reviving one of H!P's oldest groups. I hope that through all this fans of today will be interested in 90s H!P, and that that era will never be forgotten.
Shin Country Musume (Country Musume '14?), I will support you through everything! がんばれ！
Morning Musume 12th Gen Auditions
And speaking of auditions, Morning Musume is once again holding auditions for their 12th generation.
I can't say I'm extremely excited about this. Last year's audition with no results was a huge bummer, and I've grown used to their current lineup; but if my hopes for a spring 2015 graduation for Sayumi come true, then I realize Morning Musume is going to need more members to keep both the talent and variety of their rotational lineup alive.
I've been cheering for Cuca to make it into Momusu since the 11th generation auditions, and my cheering for her won't stop until she's either in the group or over 17. Aside from her, I don't have many people that I think should definitely be in Morning Musume. Danbara Ruru is an amazing singer, and for that I'm hoping and waiting for a solo debut for her. Some of my favorite Kenshuusei are Tanabe Nanami, Kaga Kaede, and Sasaki Rikako, and while I would love to see them all debut soon, I'm not sure if Morning Musume is the right fit for any of them.
I think I'll just wait to pick my favorites from the finalists. Until then, I probably won't comment on the auditions at all. I'm far more interested in Country Musume and Kago Ai's group at the moment.
Sailor Moon Crystal
Toei is finally giving us some info about the Sailor Moon reboot, with a teaser image for "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal", a plot summary, and a July 2014 release.
Admittedly I don't know much about Sailor Moon. I've seen about fifteen episodes of the English dub, six episodes of the Japanese version, and I own and have read the first volume of Codename: Sailor V. I know some of the basics of the characters but besides that, Sailor Moon is kind of a mystery to me.
With the announcement a while ago of a reboot, I wasn't sure if it would continue the story or start over. If it was the latter, I didn't want to know the whole story and then have no suspense or surprises or anything while watching the new version. If it ended up being the former, I would have very little time to rush my way through five seasons of the show before the premier. Thank GOODNESS it seems to be the latter (Usagi is still in her second year of middle school and Queen Beryl is the villain), and I was wise enough to wait it out and not watch the original. Now I can be really excited for the premier and be able to watch the series just as the original fans did back in 1992.
Moral of the story today, kids: the 90s actually weren't that bad.
Nickelodeon "Cancels" Winx Club
Many fans have erupted at Romi Dames' announcement that Nickelodeon has "cancelled" Winx Club; though it's really not a cancellation in the usual sense. Nickelodeon has simply decided not to renew their dubbing/co-producing deal after season 6 ends.
However, many many MANY people still can't seem to get the story straight, so let me give you the whole thing very clearly in a nutshell: Season 6 will continue airing as planned. Rainbow has already started preparation on season 7. Season 7 will be produced, but will not be dubbed in English by Nickelodeon. This means, as of now, no English-speaking country will get the show after this season, but Italy and others will. At the moment no other company has announced plans to dub the series after season 6. We do not know what will happen in the future; all we know is that once season 6 ends, the Nickelodeon dub will be dead.
Make sense now? Good, now show all your friends so people online will quit asking the same questions and potentially spreading misinformation. :P
My thoughts on this are mixed. There are petitions on the net to "save Winx Club" but I've refrained from signing any because I'm not sure what I want. On one hand, I love the current cast; particularly Romi Dames as Musa. I knew from the moment she was casted and every moment after that she was absolutely perfect for Musa. Morgan Decker and Amy Gross were other favorites of mine. On the other hand, I hate the way Nickelodeon has managed the series, and I'm partly relieved that their reign has ended.
I'm also really stumped on where to go from here. The series has already had three different English dubs and a fourth would just be overload. They could always go back to Cinélume but that likely wouldn't air in the States. And 4Kids Entertainment doesn't exist anymore (not that I'd want them back anyway, ew).
So... what do we do now? Do we just accept that it has been a failure in the US compared to in Europe? That's a sad thing to have to say after ten years of effort...
If I could make everything go my way, I would have all the cast from Nick move to another dubbing company and have the series air on Cartoon Network (the channel it aired on when I first found the series). No co-production deals this time; just straight dubbing from the Italian. But alas, my goal of keeping the whole cast I think is probably unrealistic. And I don't see any "move Winx Club to Cartoon Network!" petitions anywhere.
All I can do right now, as a fan of what-used-to-be, is sit back and wait for something amazing (I guess....). I think I'm ready to move on if this is really the end of Winx Club in my country. If I have to watch all the episodes in Italian with subs from now on, so be it; I've always wanted to do that anyway.
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