Morning Musume 10th generation audition footage released!

The footage for Morning Musume’s 10th generation audition has aired on Hello Pro Time – that means we have our first good look at who is in the running to be a member of Morning Musume’s next generation! For the relevant 5 minutes, you can check out Youtube here.

The selection of auditionees has already been narrowed down to only 10 girls…  There were a few familiar faces shown in brief previews, including 3 that I really liked from the S/mileage auditions – Miyazaki Yuka, Fujii Rio and of course, Miyamoto Karin.  I’m very disappointed to say, none of them are in the final 10.  This actually doesn’t surprise me, especially Karin, because so many people thought she was a shoo-in.  Tsunku rarely goes for the obvious, so it only seems natural that he not choose her…  Sad, really, because she is immensely talented and has quite the fanbase, which would be good for Morning Musume.  But, I digress.  On to the actual finalists!
First off we have an Egg, Kudou Haruka!  She’s one of my favorites of the Hello! Project Eggs, and one of my top picks for this generation out of the remaining finalists.  They say she has a “husky” voice, but I’m not really hearing that… She’s not a bad singer, though, and her training as an egg means she is already at a decent level.  Cuteness factor:  Through the roof! <3!

Next we have Iikubo Haruna.  She doesn’t know how to smile nicely and has absolutely enormous eyes.  We can barely hear her singing due to the short clip and the announcer talking, but from what I can hear, she sounds pretty nice.  With a makeover, she could wind up being very pretty, but needs a little work.

Next candidate is Satou Masaki.  She is fairly pretty, although the screen shot of her doesn’t do her justice.  However, her singing is not that great.  She’s not really standing out for me.

After her we have Tashima Meru.  She’s pretty average looking, and her singing isn’t too great yet.  A couple notes sounded rather sour to me, but I could hear a bit of potential hidden in her voice anyway.  Still not as good as many of the others though.

Next up is Oogami Hinako, who apparently knows karate.  She’s ok looking and could clean up nice.  How does she sing?  Well, who knows, they just showed her talking, dancing, and doing karate.  I’ll reserve judgement until I can hear her voice.

After her is Miyagi Ayumi, who is so-so looking at the moment.  I think bangs would help.  She dances well and her singing sounded pretty decent.

Next we have Miwa Satsuki.  She is super cute, but her voice needs some work.  She sounds very nasal.

Ishida Ayumi is up next.  She is gorgeous and an awesome dancer!  Her voice needs some training though, her notes are shaky and not quite right.

After her is Tanaka Fuuka.  She was probably my least favorite auditioner, I didn’t like her voice and I don’t think she’s very cute either.  Besides, does Morning Musume really need another Tanaka?

Up last we have Murakami Sara, who is much prettier than her screencap lets on.  She needs a new haircut really bad, but she’ll be beautiful once they clean her up.  Her voice was easily the best out of all the auditioners!

So we have a bit of a mixed bag so far, but a lot of potential, which is really what the goal of Morning Musume is.   Some rough stones that, with a little polish, could become gems.

I’m already giddy with anticipation for more coverage of this audition.  My favorite is Sara, I’d also like to see Haruka make it!  Some of the other girls have definite potential as well, such as Haruna, Meru, and Ayumi.  I’m sad to see some of my favorites didn’t make it to the finals, but I can’t wait to see the results of this audition!

-Jess ♫