Japanese Participants Stand Out in "Girls Planet 999" "Evolution" from "PRODUCE48
A new audition project of the "PRODUCE" series that has produced IZ*ONE and JO1.
"Girls Planet 999," the largest global girls audition project of the year, has been launched with participation of girls from Japan, Korea, and China, and is receiving a great response
This project is a new large-scale audition program by CJ ENM, a Korean entertainment company that has produced many popular groups such as IZ*ONE and JO1 in the "PRODUCE" series. A total of 99 people, 33 from Japan, Korea, and China, were selected from a total of 13,000 applicants, and will be shown growing up to become members of a new girl group that will be active in the world stage
In the first episode broadcasted on Korean music channel Mnet and ABEMA on June 6, the " Planet Search Battle" started with performances by units formed within each group. One of the most impressive performances was that of a unit made up of four members: Ezaki Hikaru, ranked first in the J (Japanese) group, Nonaka Shana, ranked sixth, Kamimoto Kotone, ranked tenth, and Kamikura Rei, ranked sixteenth. The song they chose was "BOOMBAYAH" by BLACKPINK.
The song is a difficult song that requires advanced rapping and dancing techniques. 3 years ago, "PRODUCE48" aired, and Kang Hyewon, who would later debut as a member of IZ*ONE, was the main rapper, Chiba Erii and Sato Minami of AKB48 were the sub rappers, and Asai Nanami and SKE48's Asai Yuka were the vocalists. Chiba, who had been in tears every time her trainers pointed out her inexperience in dance and vocals, worked hard to practice the song and grew. The fans were moved by his performance.
However, from the very first time, Ezaki and her unit cleared this difficult song to a high standard, leaving the judges in awe. Before the performance, Ezaki said, "I've always been bad at dancing and singing, but after working hard for my dream, I feel like I've finally found myself. I want to break the prejudice that J-groups are not good enough. Past videos of "PRODUCE48," in which Chiba and other idols from the AKB48 group competed in the same song, were also introduced as a "hot stage," probably with the intention of highlighting the improvement level of the Japanese participants since that time.
When the intro to "Boombayah" started, the soft smiles on their faces changed. Their aggressive expressions were full of power, and their dancing and rapping were full of energy. On the Internet, many people commented on how charismatic they were, how good their rapping and dancing was, and how Hikaru was clearly in the center. Ezaki is from avex artist academy in Fukuoka, Japan, and in her personal PR video released on July 19, she shows off her fluent Korean and describes her charm as "a smile like a (animal) sloth"
In addition to Ezaki, other Japanese participants included Okazaki Momoko (the second daughter of comedian Hakata Hanamaru), a former member of Sakura Gakuin and support dancer for BABYMETAL; Kawaguchi Yurina, a winner of the All Japan National Beauty Pageant and former member of the idol group X21, who disbanded in November 2018. There's also a lot to talk about May, an active member of Cherry Bullet, a seven-member girl group from Japan and Korea; Kishida Ririka and Sakurai Miu, who participated in the Nizi Project; and Sakamoto Mashiro, a former JYP trainee who spent time as a trainee with the members of ITZY
In "PRODUCE48," the members of AKB48 group who came to Korea with great enthusiasm could not perform well in dance and vocals at the beginning, and were often severely criticized by the trainers. Three years have passed since then, and the level of the Japanese participants in "Girls Planet 999" has improved considerably. We can't keep our eyes off them.
[+263, -41] Rather than having "evolved" from "PRODUCE48," it seems to me that the AKB group that participated in "PRODUCE48" were simply not at the same level as the KPOP trainees.
Even though the standard of beauty is different between Japan, where idols are expected to be cute, and Korea where idols are expected to be cool and have a high level of perfection, the playful performance of AKB group, who can debut without basic training like the KPOP trainees, has given the impression that Japanese people are not good enough.
As exemplified by the three Japanese members of TWICE who were selected from open auditions, I don't think there is any such thing as "not being good enough" if you train hard and make an effort regardless of whether you are Korean or Japanese
[+118, -22] I'm sorry, but I hope you won't compare this to PRODUCE48.
Because it was originally AKB group
[+73, -10] The comments about prejudice against the Japanese team were scripted to make the show more interesting. Everyone was saying the same thing. Boombayah choice of song must have been directed by the program. It was great to see this team perform beyond expectations.
[+75, -7] Produce48 required them to be a member of an AKB group
Most of the girls were just curious.
I think their enthusiasm and thoughts are completely different.
I thought it was amazing that most of the participants in this program were communicating in Korean.
I was especially impressed with Nonaka Shana from All Rounder Cell.
[+60, -13] Hikaru is so cute, but her hairstyle in Signal Song was wrong. It made her look so old.
It's important to style your hair to suit yourselves
[+57, -18] But to be honest, the only Japanese groups that I could see properly were Hikaru's group and Mashiro's group. The most talked about girls were already out.... The Chinese group also had a good helicopter girl who was on fire, and the rest were pitiful. I want them to have at least the ability to sing while dancing before they go to the public auditions. It's not even the level of good or bad...
[+39, -4] No, no, no, many of the members of the AKB group were too incompetent, which gave the impression that the level of Japanese people was low. There are girls who can do it like Hitomi Honda in the AKB group. It's rude to compare these girls with them. There are Japanese girls who can dance too. I think that even if they are good at singing and dancing, if their personality is terrible, they won't sell even if they debut. I think that girls who have something that attracts people to them may be more profitable. Let's go Japanese, let's show the power of the Japanese people!