Taiwan Hello! Project Audition - Under the radar?!
I return from the dead to wonder about the Hello! Project audition in Taiwan. I'm quite shocked that the entire audition process seems to have got almost zero attention by the English-speaking fan community. Sure, it made news headlines when it was announced, and now that the winners have been chosen, there have been a couple of blog entries revealing the winners. But for example, at my home forum, nobody ever mentioned that there's an actual television show in Taiwan for the audition. I only found out two days ago when I found pictures of the winners at a Japanese site! I looked up the show on youtube/tudou and spent the entire weekend catching up on the show.
I guess the lack of interest on the audition show is what's shocking to me. Here we basically get a Taiwanese version of Asayan and nobody's interested? What the heck? Isn't this kind of juicy audition drama what everyone's been missing? Or is it just not good enough because it's in Chinese? I don't understand a word of Chinese (well, I understand 'thank you', but that is literally everything), but watching these girls perform needs no translation. It actually reminded me of when I first got into Hello! Project and didn't understand a word of Japanese. Regardless of the language barrier, the personalities and cuteness of the girls stood out to me back then... And the same happened with these girls from Taiwan. Ah, I don't know... Are foreign H!P fans getting lazy? Or maybe just the majority of fans in general aren't interested in auditions... But I've always loved them, so I guess that's why I don't understand why there have been so few reports on this.
Anyway, I'd love to babble about the girls who won the audition, but I haven't found trustworthy romaji versions of their names (if anyone can read Chinese, I'd very much appreciate them). The Stardust H!P blog had some names, but the blogger was unsure of them herself/himself... So until reliable versions come up, I guess I'll refer to them with the nicknames that I've given to them. Heh.
First, "Sayulite" (her nickname given on the show seems to be Lightbulb). She was my favourite from the moment she first walked on stage. I nicknamed her Sayulite because some of her expressions reminded me of Sayumi from Morning Musume. When interviewed, she seems lost in her own world and it takes a while for her to come up with a reply... And her replies seem to be strange/funny, since everyone cracks up at them. Even I get amused and I don't even know what she's saying. Her character is definitely what I first loved about her... But later on, she also turned out to be quite a decent singer (in H!P standards) with a cute voice, and she can play the piano, as well. Not to mention that her Japanese pronunciation is pretty good, and she is attractive. This girl is definitely someone I want to see more of in the future!
If you want to see Lightbulb for yourself, you might like to check this youtube link. :D
"Umedalite" (...Erika Umeda of C-ute. She doesn't really look like her, but she did in her winner picture). This girl can't sing to save her life... But she seems to be fun enough and I quite like her looks, even if she seems to look completely different on different days! (Just look at the three pics above.) I like her much more after going through her picture album. What can I say, I'm easy to please.
All in all, I'm happy with Tsunku's choices and will probably try to support these girls in the future, if I can only afford it. I also really enjoyed watching the auditions... Some of the performances were legendary, from their awfulness (unicycling girl singing Ayaya horribly) to their greatness (there was some impressive dancing in there). I do recommend watching this show to anyone who has the time and likes cute girls.
The show's name in Chinese: 早安家族New Star
Comments
Hey!!! You seem to know alot about Hello! Project and the whole audition thing. So I have a question, I went to the Hello! Project link on Wikipedia.com and it said:
In January 2009, it was announced that Hello! Project would begin a series of auditions in South Korea.
Sorry the rest of my comment didn't get posted, I said:
So do you know if this is true or not? It does have the "citation needed" thing next to it.... I've tried researching myself, but found absolutely nothing on the subject... Please reply to my email!!
Thanks!
Wu Si Xuan/Shen Shen (Leader) – BlueberryZhong An Qi/Anchii (Sub-leader) – CoffeeCeng De Ping/Pei Pei – VanillaZhao Guo Rong/Youko – StrawberryQiu Cui Ling/Rei Rei – Chocolate-mintGu Yun/Guu-chan – Mango
The first name is the legal Chinese name and the second is their Japanese nickname. They also all have a Chinese nickname because it makes it cuter and easier for fans to remember. This is also common in other Taiwanese variety shows with lotsa girls like the "I Love Blackie Show".
Wu Si Xuan/Shen Shen (Leader) – nickname "Xi Le" meaning happiness
Zhong An Qi/Anchii (Sub-leader) – called by first name "An Qi"
Ceng De Ping/Pei Pei – nickname "Sha Bai" meaning silly and white
Zhao Guo Rong/Youko – nickname "Deng Pao" meaning LightbulbQiu Cui Ling/Rei Rei – nickname "Ah Cui" (variant of first name)
Gu Yun/Guu-chan – usually called by first name but occasionally called "Xiao Yun" ("Little Yun" where "Yun" is from name)
I used bulletin-points but then it didn't post apparently...hope you can read it!