ANGERME, the Fourth Generation

I have been meaning to write this post ever since the announcement was made but kept pushing it back for various reasons. But before it becomes old news I would like to weigh in on my early thoughts about ANGERME's fourth generation.

The sole winner of the recent ANGERME auditions is Kamikokuryo Moe, who unlike the generation of girls before her was not a part of the agency beforehand. She did participate in the previous Morning Musume audition but obviously did not win.

This of course marks the group's first solo generation, so just like Morning Musume there is that added pressure of people expecting big things from Moe. Solo gens tend to be girls that management sees something special with and eventually fans will be clued in on. That said fans have already done the usually internet search and found a now deleted Twitter account that had some clips of her singing karaoke and it sounds like she has some strong vocals to add to the group.

Honestly I had been hoping there would be no winner for ANGERME's audition as I did not want the group to get much larger than it was but with the solo gen I am happy with the results. With Fukuda Kanon's graduation soon it basically means the group in the end will not get bigger. It will be interesting to see where Moe gets slotted in with the group once Kanon leaves, as while she has promising vocals she is still green and there are already some strong singers in the group that could carry Kanon's lines in their current discography.

I look forward to seeing Moe performing with the group even though it is tinged with the sadness of Kanon graduating so soon from the group. I expect Moe to at least make an appearance at her graduation concert to perhaps seeing a bit of a passing of the flame moment as the group loses a member but will get to start off refreshed with the addition of a new one.