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The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 3, The Girls Practice for the Challenge Mission

My dear friends who anxiously await my Produce 48 Recap Things! I forgot to post this -- sorry! This is the post that is supposed to go after this post but before this post. Sigh. I'll fix it sooner or later. So yeah, this post describes most of the second half of episode 3, where the girls begin practicing for their challenge mission.

So, this is the part of the episode where we see each group as it begins to assign parts and stuff like that.

Because MNET is *the worst* the girls clearly don’t have any translators working with them, so they can barely talk to each other if they don’t have a bilingual girl on their team. Great. Thanks, MNET Producers. Thmrucers.

PEEKABOO TEAMS

The song:

Peekaboo came out in November of 2017, so it was the most recently released song among the eight at the time of filming. It peeked at #2 in the Kpop Hot 100 and was a critical darling. It’s also, in my opinion, just a great fucking song. I still remember being at Cafe Bene in K-town having some coffee when I first heard this song. I had to shazam it to find out what it was, and was surprised that it was Red Velvet. I had heard of Red Velvet, but as a fan of f(x), I had felt weird about getting into them. Seems dumb now! Anyway, this song was too good to deny and after that I was full on Reve-luv. The song is little bit trop house, a little bit pop, and 100% melodic, and the lyrics -- which compare love to a game played by children -- are fun and intriguing. The concept, too, was a lot of fun -- kind of mysterious, almost horror, but playful at the same time. Not totally sexy, but a little sexy; not totally cute, but a little cute; not girl crush, but the kind of girls you get a crush on. And catchy as all get out. It’s a great song to choose in the sense that it’s a great song, but it would be tricky to perform well, because the concept is so nebulous and mature. I mean, who else but Irene can make the word “Peekaboo” sound so elegant and cryptic?

Team 2:

At 57:07, we have a super quick visit with Peekaboo 2.

Left to right: Yujeong, Yeji, Yubin, Yuuka, Miu, and Dahye

Hong Yeji, 16, one of the CNC girls, the one who fell down in her video evaluation and then fell from B to F, is ranked 76thth.

Kato Yuuka, 20, who auditioned with Funny People and rose from C to B, is ranked 73rd.

Kim Da Hye, who auditioned with I Don't Like Your Girlfriend and fell from A to C, is ranked 89th.

Kim Yu Bin, 16, one of the CNC girls, fell from B to D and is currently ranked a very low 93rd. OUCH.

Lee Yu Jeong, 14, future Lightsum member and C-class mainstay, is ranked 48th.

Shitao Miu, 17, who wore the hat on her waistband in her Mister audition, stayed in D and is ranked 45

Kim Yubin was the chooser, so it makes sense she would have chosen Yeji, her labelmate. Yubin has somehow been made both leader and center, and the team seems focused on what their team name should be. You guys, I never remember the names that they come up with for these teams. I don’t remember the names of most performance teams I’ve actually been on! I’m not sure they matter. They begin to rehearse, and we find out that Kim Da Hye is actually half Korean and half Japanese and speaks both languages fluently. What a VIP! The whole team is grateful to her.

It’s weird, but this is all we see of this team! Slightly less than a minute. I’m sure the fact that this group has the lowest average ranking of all 16 groups (70.6, when the other groups range from 16.8 to 63.6) has no connection to their lack of screen time, right? It’s just a coincidence.

Left to right: Jurina, Gyuri, AleXa, Gaeun, Yiren, Eunyeong

Peekaboo 1 (58:00):

Then we hop over to Peekaboo 1. Jurina was the captain/chooser for the group, and they got their choice of song. The group was formed fifth, which means that Jurina had a decent talent pool to choose from.

The members:

Bae Eunyeong, the mint Chewing Gum girl, who landed in B and was most recently ranked 30th

Jang Gyuri, the pink Chewing Gum girl and Fromis9 member, who landed in F and was most recently ranked 14th

Lee Gaeun, our Pledis queen, who was always an A+ girl and was most recently ranked 1st place

Matsui Jurina, queen Jurina, who stayed in B and was most recently ranked 12th

Wang Yiren, future Everglow visual, who landed in C and was most recently ranked 7th

AleXa, who landed in C and was most recently ranked 86th place (ouch!)

Fun side note: Peekaboo was written by Swedish DJ/songwriter Cazzi Opeia, who later on wrote a bunch of songs for AleXa, including Back in Vogue!

The group dynamic:

This group has a bit more language challenge than some, because AleXa is American, Yiren is Chinese, Jurina is Japanese, and the other three are Korean. Yiren speaks some Korean, and a few girls speak Japanese, but there are certainly layers of difficulty.

It’s kind of interesting that Jurina chose AleXa -- they probably met when they were both in group B -- and also kind of interesting that she didn’t choose any Japanese trainees. I’m not sure what to make of that. Jurina also would have met Jang Gyuri and Wang Yiren in B group, so maybe she just mostly picked friends. Well, some Very Pretty friends!

Eunyeong and Gyuri are labelmates and went through Idol School together before they came on this show. But there is definitely some tension between them, which might have something to do with the fact that Gyuri won Idol School and still came on this show.

The storyline:

First, Eunyeong volunteers to be leader since she already knows the choreo to Peekaboo. It doesn’t hurt that she also speaks Japanese. Then they start talking about who should be center -- The Inevitable Center Discussion, henceforth known as the ICD -- and Gaeun says that although all of the girls are suitable, she thinks that the center should be either Yiren or Gyuri. To me that seems like a good idea, as they are both “the prettiest ones” (per Korean standards). After a quick conversation, the group is starting to settle on the very highly ranked and popular Gyuri, but Eunyeoung interrupts and says that they should have both Yiren and Gyuri “audition” to be center.

LTR: Jurina, Gyuri, AleXa, Gaeun, Yiren, Eunyeoung

They both do well, but Gyuri giggles a little at the end and I think that loses it. After seeing each of them try the ending pose, the team votes for Yiren. Yiren is overjoyed, and Gyuri does her best to accept it, but man, that had to hurt, having a labelmate do that. You really have to wonder what is going on between Gyuri and Eunyoung. Was there actual animosity, or were they such good friends that Eunyoung went overboard in being “fair”?

Look, if I ran things, I’d have put Gauen in the center, because I think she might be the only one on the team who can do the Irene-esque mysterious gravitas. But failing that, I'd choose Gyuri, because (a) the popularity issue and (b) Yiren doesn’t sparkle in more girl-crush concepts. I know that’s what she does now in Everglow, and um, yeah. I said what I said.

Lingering question: Did the team make the right choice putting Yiren in the center instead of Gyuri? Will getting 4x the screen time give these girls an advantage in the at-home vote, rendering the issue of the performance win kind of moot either way?

LIKE OOH AHH

The song:

Ok, I can’t help but love this song. It’s among my favorite Twice songs, actually. The lyrics should bother me -- bragging about how pretty they are and all that -- but am I bovvered? I also love the choreo -- it’s not particularly difficult, but it’s cute and varied, with fun little details like the air flute and the little choo-choo-train. No surprise this song is great -- it was written and produced by Black Eyed Pilseung, a production duo that is also behind a ton of huge Kpop hits, including Twice songs "TT", "Likey", and "Fancy"; Apink's "I'm So Sick" and "Eung Eung (%)"; Got7’s “If You Do,” ; Chung-ha’s “Roller Coaster” and “Gotta Go,”; StayC’s “ASAP” “Run 2 U” and “Beautiful Monster,” and Itzy’s “Cake,” which I really like so fight me I guess. Also “Beep Beep” by Ruann, which if you don’t know, you should check out.

Like Ooh Ah was Twice’s debut, and it had a bit of a slow burn, entering the charts at 22 and hanging out for a while before eventually hitting 10th place. It has since, of course, grown into an enduring and well loved hit, with almost 500 million views on Youtube.

This group will be performing the song in Japanese, but I still think that this was a smart choice for a song. The choreo is cute but not outrageously difficult. The tune isn’t too hard either. It would be completely familiar to the audience, and given Twice’s popularity, it’s hard to imagine many viewers who actually dislike it. And since the concept of the song was that the individual members were all dressed a little bit differently from one another, group coherence would be a lot less important here than it would be in other songs.

Like Ooh Ahh 1 (1:02:00)

LTR: Moe, Soyeon, Doah, Chaewon, Riina, and Haeyoon

The next group we visit is Like Ooh Ah 1. The captain was Soyeon, and my best guess based on the evidence is that, as improbable as it sounds, this group was formed 9th or 10th. It’s a pretty stacked team, though. They got their choice of song -- in fact, from what we could see in the editing, this was their first choice.

The members:

Goto Moe, the laryngitis girl, who moved from F to C and was most recently ranked 8th.

Hwang Soyeon, the flat tummied “little Sunmi” who stayed in A and was ranked 46th.

Kim Chaewon, future Le Sserafim, who stayed in B class and was ranked 21st.

Kim Doah, future member of Fanatics and visitor to GP999, who moved from A to C and was ranked 25th.

Lee Seunghyeon, aka H1-Key’s Riina, who moved from B to C and was ranked 60th.

Park Haeyoon, my new Cherry Bullet bias, who moved from A down to D and was ranked 35th.

The group dynamic:

Soyeon was the captain and group chooser, and she chose two former A-group members, whose skills she would have been familiar with. It’s possible that she’d been talking to her labelmate Damin, who was in group B, and would have met Chaewon and Riina and known what they were capable of. And Moe has a compelling story that would make her stand out among the Japanese trainees. So really, I think Soyeon did a great job choosing this team.

Looks like they have chosen Haeyoon, the oldest in the group and a Japanese speaker, to be the leader.

The storyline:

Of course, they dive immediately into the ICD. Riina and Moe are the only two who raise their hands as wanting to be in the center, and they each audition. Riina’s energy wins her the part.

They dive into choreo, and Moe hits a bit of a wall with the classic “ooh-ah, ooh-ah” butt wiggle. Haeyoon kindly talks Moe through it. It's a cute scene -- I just don't have much to say about it.

Lingering questions: Is Riina the correct center? Will Moe be able to wiggle her butt?

Like Ooh Ahh 2 (1:05:03)

LTR: Park Seo Young, Naiki Kokoro, Park Jinny, Cho Kahyeon, Choi Yeon Soo

Next, we visit Like Ooh Ahh 2. The captain and chooser was Naiki Kokoro, and was probably formed 10th, 11th, or 12th, something in there.

The members:

Park Seo Young, age 19, the blonde who sat in Chair 1, fell from C to D and was ranked 26th at this point.

Naiki Kokoro, age 20, auditioned with Funny People, rose from D to C, and was ranked 82nd.

Park Jinny, age 20, is the other “individual trainee” who auditioned with Seoyoung. She fell from C to F and was ranked 49th.

Cho Kahyeon, age 14, is the Starship girl who isn’t Wonyoung or Yujin. She held steady in B and was ranked 36th.

Lee Ha Eun, age 13, is the “mini Chung-ha” girl who held steady in A, and was ranked 58th.

Choi Yeonsoo, age 19, is one of the YGK+ models, the one who fell from D to F, and was ranked 52nd.

The group dynamic:

There’s only one Japanese speaker here, the captain Kokoro. Looks like she picked Park Jinny first, then Cho Kahyeon, then Haeun, then Yeonsoo, and Seoyoung last. I really can’t figure out her plan. She may have gotten friendly with Yeonsoo when they were in D together, but her reasons for picking the others aren’t obvious to me.

The storyline:

Turns out that this group thought that Seoyoung should be both leader and center, so they sidestepped the ICD. They’re trying to start to learn the choreography, but they’re in a huge room with a ton of other other people, no dedicated soundsystem, and no mirror, so it’s hard. It’s just the first few minutes of their rehearsal -- you can see that in the background, the other Like Ooh Ah team is still distributing the parts -- so it really doesn’t matter if they can’t get it on the first try. But even so, the scary background music lets us know that THEY ARE HAVING A PROBLEM.

Model Choi Yeon Soo interviews, “Haeun was in Class A. And nobody else in the group is in A. She was put in that group because she’s talented. So it almost felt like Haeun was the real leader…. Both of them were subconsciously competing. They gave different commands. Meanwhile, I just stood off from the side. It’s stressing me out, to be honest.”

It’s awkward because Haeun is the youngest and the tiniest, but she’s also obviously the best. And Seoyoung seems to be losing more and more confidence by the minute. It’s not usually a great thing when someone is topping from the bottom. I get it, though. I am one of those people who can’t take it when the person who is supposed to be leading just isn’t doing it right. I try so hard to bite my tongue and hang back but… sooner or later, if the shit has to get done, then… I do it.

Lingering question: Will they ever be able to have a smooth practice without stressing out Yeonsoo?

BOOMBAYAH

The song: I’m going to go ahead and assume you know this song, so I don’t need to tell you that it was one of Blackpink’s two debut songs and all that. It’s not my favorite Blackpink song of all time -- that’s Whistle, if you’re wondering-- but of course I like this one too. It’s hard to imagine a world where I had never heard of Blackpink at this point, but that time once existed. I remember hearing Boombayah playing in another room (I had left a playlist of new songs playing) and hearing it and wondering, who is that? Weird, right? Anyway, despite this song not really being about anything, it’s a pretty great song, with really hard choreo and a lot of fast rapping, and it’s going to be difficult for whatever team tries to do it. It’s got super low notes in the chorus (it’s hard to sing lower notes when you’re dancing), it requires a ton of swag, a lot of it is intentionally not synchronized, I mean, this is hard.

Hell, it’s too hard for Blackpink these days. Yep, I said what I said.

Boombayah 1 (1:06:51)

Left to right: Won Soyeon, Ko Yujin, Lee Chaejeong, Park Changju, Kim Sohee

We visit first with Boombayah team 1. Lee Chaejeong was the chooser, and the group was formed 9th or later.

Won Seoyeon, age 18, who auditioned to Heroine by Sunmi, fell from C to F and was ranked 77th at this point.

Ko Yujin, age 17, the “Hyuna lookalike” who auditioned with Lip and Hip and rose from C to A. She was ranked 34th.

Lee Chaejeong, age 18, future member of Alice, stayed in C and was ranked 94th at this point. Ouch!!

Park Chanju, age 19, label mate of Chaejeong’s, fell from C to D and was ranked 69th. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kim Sohee, age 14, future member of Rocket Punch, rose from C to B and was ranked 44th.

The group dynamic: Chaejeong probably picked Chanju because they’re label mates, and also, all five of them were together in C class initially, and they probably became friendly then. I think it’s smart to pick people who all get along with each other, since often the team that gets along better is the one that ends up winning.

You may have noticed that there were only five of them, not six -- that’s due to the Japanese girls who dropped out. I scoured the footage and couldn’t find any shots in which there were six of them at any point. I can’t figure out why a team would volunteer to have only five members, but I can’t find any info to shed any light on this, so we’ll have to just sort of accept that something happened behind the scenes here.

The storyline:

To the strains of the Knight Rider theme song (possibly the best tv theme song of all time), we find out that Chaejeong picked the group with Boombayah in mind. Guess it’s a good thing that they got it! She thought Yujin would suit the song, that Chanju would learn it quickly, and that she needed Soyeon to sing. She added Sohee on purpose to provide cuteness. Naturally, given that she had a whole plan in mind, the team elects her leader immediately.

Lingering question:

Everything’s going so perfectly... Is it maybe too perfect?

Boombayah 2 (1:08:47)

LTR: Asai Nanami, Asai Yuka ?, Kang Hyewon, Han Chowon, Sato Manami, and Chiba Erii

Then we visit with the miserable leftovers team, forced to do Boombayah as well. Weirdly enough, despite being the leftovers team, they have a higher average ranking than Boombayah 1 -- 57.3 compared to 63.6. They’re also more popular than Love Whisper 2 or Mamma Mia 2. And everyone is more popular than Peekaboo 2. So yeah, while the leftovers team might lack skills, they don't lack popularity, exactly.

The members:

Asai Nanami, age 18, aka Sailor Venus, who rose from F to D and was ranked 41st.

Asai Yuuka, age 14, who auditioned with Knock Knock, rose from F to D and was ranked 80th.

Kang Hyewon, age 18, Miss Purity herself, consistent F class girl ranked 40th.

Han Chowon, age 15, future Lightsum member who rose from D to B, ranked 79th.

Chiba Erii, age 14, aka Sailor Mercury, consistent F class girl ranked 38th.

Sato Minami, age 14, aka Sailor Mars, fell from D to F and was ranked 66th.

The group dynamic:

Poor leftovers group. It’s interesting that all three members of the Blow Him a Kiss group ended up here -- all three sailor scouts. It seems clear how most of these girls ended up in the leftovers team; they were all F or D class, and most of them were on the younger side. I can only guess that Chowon was left behind primarily because she doesn’t fit Korean beauty standards, with her darker skin, stronger features, and larger body. She’s beautiful, of course, but the standards are so narrow and so specific… sigh. Lookism is such a thing in Kpop but it's still gross and I hate it.

The storyline:

The girls are mostly pretty hopeless. This was the song that they had most wanted to avoid. Yuuka interviews, “I knew that there was no use in crying, but the tears just wouldn’t stop.”

But luckily for them, and for all posterity, they had Chowon.

This 15 year old girl steps up to be both leader and center (and ultimately, main vocal) of this group, this group comprising one (1) perpetually bewildered Korean girl and four (4) terrified Japanese girls who she has trouble communicating with. The girls are scared to even sing for each other, and when Chowon brings up rapping, they say, “we’re even worse at rapping.” WHY ARE YOU ON THIS SHOW, THEN? Hyewon mumbles in a voice over, “I, um, was, um, gra..ateful or something? But, also um, sorry also? Too?” After all, she wants to embody purity and innocence, which clashes with this song.

Chowon is like, “SOMEONE HAS TO RAP, YOU GUYS, BECAUSE THIS SONG CONTAINS RAP PARTS, HOW MUCH MORE SIMPLE CAN I MAKE THIS, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE WHO WILL STEP UP, SO IT HAS TO BE ONE OF US, HOLY SHIT” and Hyewon, bless her heart, volunteers to be main rapper. I’ll hand it to the girl -- at least she isn’t just sort of “avoid the teacher’s gaze”-ing her way through all this. She's doing the damn thing. Good for you, Hyewon.

She interviews that her parents had teased her that she might end up having to rap, adding, “that’s why you shouldn’t make jokes like that -- they might come true.”

Lingering question: What will become of Boombayah team 2? Truly, what will become of us all?

MAMMA MIA

The song:

I don’t remember a lot about my first watch through of Produce 48, as I’ve said, but I do remember that I discovered the song Mamma Mia through it, and I’ve liked it ever since. It’s just one of those classic kpop songs where it sounds sort of retro but from no specific time, so it could kind of be from any time. If you don’t really know it, definitely give it a shot. It’s catchy AF. Hit the lights let’s GO!

The song was produced by Duble Sidekick, who also produced Mr. Chu by A*pink, Pepe by CLC (underrated bop), You’re the Best by Mamamoo, Give It To Me by Sistar, and Thumbs Up by Momoland. Kara had debuted in 2007, so they were a well known senior group by 2014, when Mamma Mia was released. At the time of filming, the song would have been almost four years old, making it the oldest of the eight songs selected, but it was a pretty huge hit in 2014 and would probably have still been familiar to most of the audience at the time.

Mamma Mia isn’t known for it’s extremely difficult choreography -- it’s more about being confident and sexy. But the vocals might be a bit challenging, with a lot of high notes. Also, I should mention that for Produce48, they’ll be performing the song in Japanese.

Mamma Mia Group 1 (1:12:04)

LTR: Park Minji, Kim Hyunah, Chiyori, Park Ji Eun, Murase Sae

We first visit with Mamma Mia, group 1. This one was formed 9th or later.

The members:

Kim Hyunah, age 23, who I call husky voiced Hyunah, from B class, ranked a sad 72. 😣

Murase Sae, 21, who auditioned with Funny People, rose from D to C and is currently ranked 43.

Nakanishi Chiyori, 23, who auditioned with What's Your Name?, rose from D to C, and is ranked 37.

Park Jieun, 20, future ex-Purple Kiss, who fell from C to F and was ranked 70th.

Park Minji, age 19, PD101 trainee and future Secret Number member, from B class, ranked 56.

The storyline:

We learn that Chiyori is apparently a master of hilarious facial expressions and that at the auditions she even did quick impressions of several of the judges. It’s nice to get a peek into her funny personality. From now on I’ll call her “wacky Chiyori.” That’s about all we get, but it’s actually a fun segment. We also learn that Hyunah is chosen as center.

Lingering questions: Will Kim Hyunah make a good center?

Mamma Mia 2 (1:14:23)

LTR: Ayana, Miho, Bibian, Suhyun, Soeun, Sarang

Then we visit with the other Mamma Mia team.

The members:

Cho Sarang, 14, who sang Tomorrow at the audition, fell from B to F (ouch!) and is currently ranked 90th (ouch again!). She has an eyepatch on, and I did some digging but didn’t find out why.

Choi Soeun, 16, who did Question Mark at the audition, fell from B to C and is currently ranked 92 (oh no!)

Miyazaki Miho, 24, our multilingual queen, who has stayed in D and is currently ranked 16th place

Murakawa Bibian, 18 but looks like a baby doll, firmly stationed in F class and ranked 31st

Shin Suhyun, 22, the show’s favorite punching bag, who fell from D to F and is ranked 57th

Shinozaki Ayana, 22, one of the What's Your Name? group, with the beauty mark under her lip, firmly stationed in F class and ranked 87th

The group dynamic:

Bibian was the chooser for this group, and it was formed 9th or later. My best guess is that she picked people she knew or was friendly with, which at some point is just as good a reason to pick someone as any.

The storyline:

We find out that Mamma Mia was on their “black list” -- a song they didn’t want to do since they didn’t know it. Sarang especially doesn’t know it -- well, sure, she would have been 9 or 10 when it came out. So they weren’t thrilled to get chosen to face off against Chiyori’s team and do this song.

At the song chosing ceremony, as Miho's team walks over to stand next to Chiyori's team, Chiyori apologizes to her senpai/sunbae Miho, and host Lee Seungki asks, “Any words of warning to her as her sunbae?”

And Miho replies, with (mock?) seriousness: “All I have is confidence! I definitely don’t want to lose against them!”

Miho and Chiyori are both on AKB48, and they are 24 and 23 years old respectively, so they have probably known each other for a really long time. It makes sense that they would have a friendly rivalry.

The team makes Miho the leader -- she’s the oldest in the group and apparently bilingual, so she’s ideal. I don’t know, gang, I just really like Miho! She just seems cool as shit.

We don’t see the choosing or any of the ICD, but Choi Soeun has been made center.

We hear Sarang singing a little bit of the song, and she sounds great. She’s an obvious choice for main vocal.

We glance back over at Mamma Mia team 1, where Park Minji is listening to Sarang’s singing a bit nervously. “Sarang-chingu is their main vocal,” Minji interviews, “and she hits the high notes well. I’m a bit conscious of her. In season 1, I got sent home when I was the main vocalist.”

We get a flashback to PD101 Season 1, when Minji performed a different song by Kara -- Break It, another bop -- and fucking smashed it. Here’s a link -- she’s the one in the gray shirt that says “Babe”. Like, no question, she was amazing. Proof that these shows are dumb. Sigh.

Lingering question: Which main vocalist will reign supreme?

LOVE WHISPER

The song:

This is one of those songs that if I’m not actually listening to it, I can’t remember how it goes. And when I am actually listening to it, I don’t know which Gfriend song it is in specific -- I just know it’s one of their earlier songs that all blend together. Is this Rough? Glass Bead? Me Gustas Tu? I don’t know. I don’t hate cute songs -- I love Secret Garden by OMG, for example -- but most classic Gfriend songs do nothing for me. (Exception: Navillera, which is a Never-skip for me. What can I say? It’s a bop.)

Even if it's not my personal favorite, Love Whisper was a big hit, and came out in August of 2017, making it pretty recent at time of filming. Like all Gfriend songs, the actual vocals required are quite challenging, and the dancing is tough too. Gfriend songs are no joke, no matter how cutesy they are. It’s not a bad choice for a team that can do it, but not everyone can.

LTR: Nako, Nayoung, Damin, Sae, Misaki, and Eunbin.

At 1:16:07, we visit with both Love Whispers, starting with Team 2, a team chosen by Nako.

The members:

Aramaki Misaki, 17, who auditioned with the blighted Never Ending Ferris Wheel group, has been stationed in F class, and is ranked 61st.

Kang Damin, 14, the cute future member of Queenzeye, went from B to A, and is ranked 74th.

Kim Nayoung, 15, future member of Lightsum who auditioned with I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend, went from C to A, and is now in 63rd place.

Kurihara Sae, 21, who had the great bangs in Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who went from D to F and is now ranked 84th.

Yabuki Nako, 16, who moved up from F to A, is currently ranked 27th.

Yoon Eunbin, 14, one of the CNC girls, stayed in B, and is ranked 68th.

The group dynamic:

They were actually the third team formed, and Nako had a plan -- to choose kawaii girls. MNET brings out the good ol’ “cutey pie” music to celebrate -- you know, the “la la la” music they play. Nako must have known Sae and Misaki from being in HKT48 together. I don’t think she would have known the other girls, but Damin and Eunbin were in class B together, and they’re about the same age, so they probably got friendly with each other. Not sure if anyone knew Nayoung specifically, but they all live together in big dorms and probably meet each other around. Regardless of exactly how Nako picked them, I must say, if there’s a group that can knock Love Whisper out of the park, it’s this one.

Almost immediately after we meet the Kawaii Avengers, we go over to visit with Love Whisper Team 1, so let’s get the roster up:

Left to right: Motu Tomu, Serika, Manami, Wang Ke, Noe, and Eun Chae

Ichikawa Manami, 18, with the shorter hair, from What's Your Name?, rose from F to C, currently ranked 83

Muto Tomu, 23, who we are about to get to know better, a D class mainstay and ranked 28th.

Nagano Serika, 17, who auditioned with Mister by Kara, has lived in F class and is ranked 81st.

Son Eun Chae, 18, future member of Bugaboo, who moved up from C to B and is ranked 85th.

Wang Ke, 17, a Chinese girl who had the red polka dots in Celeb Five, moved down from B to D and is ranked 33rd.

Yamada Noe, 18, with her gravelly voice, moved from C down to F and is ranked quite high in 9th place.

We learn that our friend the palindrome, Muto Tomu, was the chooser for this team. This is kind of an interesting team in that it’s the only team with only 1 Korean trainee, and it’s one of two teams with four Japanese members. (All the other teams have 3 Japanese trainees or fewer.) Three of the Japanese members -- Manami, Tomu, and Serika -- are from AKB48, so Tomu may have chosen friends, but most of them haven’t really worked together much on the show. Tomu also chose a team without a decent vocalist.

Having formed such a team, they decided that the only song that they absolutely could not do was Love Whisper. However, Tomu wasn’t the fastest runner, and by the time she got to the far wall during the race, the only song left was Love Whisper. She tried to just not win by not putting the sign in the sign holder, but somehow she was forced to “win” the race anyway. (Maybe both girls who grabbed Love Whisper refused to put the sign in the holder, so production had to intervene? It’s not clear.) Then because she came in second to last in the race, she had second to last choice of groups to face up against, and had a choice between the Cute Avengers or Sakura’s team, and chose the Cute Avengers. It was just not a good day for Tomu.

The storyline:

Tomu’s team all try to sing, but many of them cannot make sounds come out of their mouth. Of the group, it seems that Manami is actually the best singer -- she physically can hit the high notes. She doesn’t really want to be stuck with main vocal, but she’s the best option the team has.

Meanwhile, over in the Cute Avengers, they’re choosing their main vocal, but they’re having the opposite problem -- they have a a few too many decent vocalists and have to choose the best one. Nayoung can sing -- well, she has “stable” vocals -- but so can Nako, who manages to sing while holding her mouth in a full, unmoving smile.

This girl is currently singing.

She’s not making an “eee” sound, more like an “uhh” sound. It’s wild. It’s like some kind of ventriloquist trick the way she can sing while keeping her mouth firmly in a smile. She ends up winning main vocal. I’d give it to her, too. What other spells can she cast if she can do this kind of witchcraft?

Lingering question: Is Nako the right choice of main vocal? Will Tomu’s team be able to pull it off?

HIGH TENSION

The song:

Ok, I have to admit it -- this song is charming AF. It’s not super complex, and I think it would get old pretty fast, but it’s so cute and peppy that I can fully imagine playing it at my cousin’s wedding next May and having everyone get up and start dancing even though they’ve never heard it before.

For the record, the title is an example of what my Japanese prof in college would have called “Japanese English” -- when they use an English phrase in a way that English speakers don’t use. You’re already familiar with this idea if you know the way that Koreans say “fighting!” In "Japanese English," “Tension” is supposed to mean something more like “excitement”, not stress.

[My favorite example of “Japanese English” is the word “viking” (pronounced more like “biking”) which is the Japanese word for “all you can eat buffet.” Isn’t that great? I think we should just all start calling all you can eat buffets “Viking buffets” instead.]

Team 1 (1:19:55)

Top row, team 1, LTR: Nakano Ikumi, Mogi Shinobu, Iwate Saho, Cho Yeoungin, Kim Dayeon, Yoon Haesol

Bottom row, team 2: Takeuchi Miyu, Cho Ahyoung, Huh Yunjin, Kim Suyun, Oda Erina

Team 1:

Cho Yeongin, 16, who auditioned alongside Lee Chaeyeong, moved from B to C and is ranked 62.

Iwatate Saho, 23, who auditioned with Miyu to Dancing Hero, moved from B to D and is ranked 24th.

Kim Dayeon, 15, future Kep1er, B class mainstay and ranked 65

Mogi Shinobu, 21, the living meme, who moved up from F to D and is ranked 59

Nakano Ikumi, 17, “known for her dancing”, who moved up from D to B and is ranked 53rd.

Yoon Haesol, 20, who auditioned with Question Mark, moved down from B to D, and is ranked 50th.

Group dynamic: Saho was the chooser for this team, and picked some girls that she would have known from B class (Yeongin, Dayeon, Haesol) and a few girls she knew from AKB48 (Shinobu, Ikumi). I think this group was formed 9th or later. They’ve chosen Youngin as the leader, which is kind of interesting since she’s definitely not the oldest, nor is she the highest ranked, but I *think* she might speak a bit of Japanese so that might explain it.

We see a flashback of the trainees all watching a live performance of the song, which of course means that many AKB-48 girls who are on the show would be visible in the performance. Sakura, Juri, and Jurina are all clearly visible, and everyone squeals when they see them. But Iwate Saho is like, “I was there too for that performance -- where was I?” She’s barely visible in the crowd.

What if she were center this time??? Would something be different????????

Saho trying to charm the other girls into letting her be center.

She auditions and, to her delight, gets chosen as the center kind of quickly, ending the ICD, and they begin practicing. She sighs happily, pats her “center” sticker, and says “Ganbarimasu!” (That’s the Japanese version of “fighting!”)

Meanwhile, over in team 2, they’re deep in the middle of the ICD….

Team 2 (1:21:56)

Takeuchi Miyu, 22, the one who auditioned in the awesome orange bulls eye dress, fell from A to B but is still ranked pretty high at 11th place.

Cho Ahyeong, 16, who auditioned with future Cherry Bullet Haeyoon, rose from C to B and is ranked 78th.

Huh Yunjin, 16, future Le Sserafim, who somehow fell from C to F, was ranked 15th

Kim Suyun, 17, future Rocket Punch badass, has lived in class C and is ranked 51.

Oda Erina, 21, who was supposedly known for her singing, fell from C to F and was ranked 67th.

This group was formed 6th, and the chooser was Oda Erina. She picked a few Korean girls she knew from class C and a talented Japanese trainee she probably knew personally.

Miyu wants the center, but meets opposition from Erina, who says that “having a Japanese person as the center would be too predictable.” Miyu and Erina talk about it in Japanese, and then Miyu says, “New High Tension hago shipayo-- hangul chingu wa jowayo ” -- a mixture of English, Korean, and Japanese used to indicate they want to make a new style of High Tension, and a Korean chingu would be good center. The other trainees all say “ahhh!” in understanding -- and the editors play that over and over in case you miss it. So the Korean trainees leave it up to Erina and Miyu to pick the center. Miyu eventually says, in Korean so basic and slow that even I understand: “We think… giraffe-chan.” Meaning, of course, our very own Huh Yunjin! These are girls who know quality when they see it. They like her “giraffe” image. Yunjin gives a cute, happy smile that was the image at the beginning of this post.

Meanwhile, Team 1 center, Saho, looks over and notices that Team 2 has chosen a Korean trainee to be the center. She wonders if that was a smart choice, given that the Japanese trainees know this song so well.

Lingering question: Who will make the better center -- an AKB girl, or Huh Yunjin? My money is on Yunjin because, um, she’s Yunjin. But I don’t remember who wins! This will be interesting!

SHORT HAIR

The song: I wouldn’t call myself an AOA stan exactly, but I do like them a lot. I love Jimin’s “hey hey”s, I love Choa’s vocals -- check out her song with Primary, Don’t Be Shy, an enduring top-100-of-all-time song for me -- and I love Chanmi/Dohwa’s swag. They always have this laid back, casual confidence that is weirdly charming -- very like “you can look but will never touch!” -- and their song Like a Cat is a Never Skip for me.

That said, Short Hair isn’t my absolute favorite song of theirs, and was probably one of the least well known songs in the mix. It came out in June of 2014, so even though it was a pretty big hit, by 2018, it would have been old hat. Also, by 2018, AOA was sort of on the way out; Choa quit for mental health reasons (good for her!!!) in 2017, and the group hadn’t had an actual hit since 2016.

1:23:45 Team 2

We start off visiting Short Hair Team 2.

Group Dynamics: I’m not sure who chose this group, but I assume it was formed 9th or later. They’ve chosen Sian to be their leader, and it seems like Mina is using a bit of pigeon Korean to be the group’s interpreter.

clockwise/left to right: Rena (in gray), Miku, Mina, Natsumi, Sian, and Yewon

Ahn Yewon, 17, model , stuck in F, ranked 88

Hasegawa Rena, 17, who auditioned alongside Noe, fell from D to F, ranked 54th.

Imada Mina, 21, the tall one with no bangs in Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who rose from D to C and is ranked 64th.

Lee Sian, 19, one of the Idol School girls who fell from C to D, is ranked 18th.

Matsuoka Natsumi, 21, with the sort of distinctive face from Never Ending Ferris Wheel, rose from F to C and is ranked 55th.

Takana Miku, currently ranked C, was initially in this group -- she was one of the girls who auditioned with the Banana song. More on her later.

They are, of course, mired in the ICD.

Mina, Natusumi, and Sian all want to be center. They aren’t sure how to decide who the center should be, since none of them really know the song yet.

Sian suggests using facial expressions at a key point as the audition piece. Natsumi says, in Japanese, “I don’t think I can win if that’s how we choose,” and then, half-seriously, suggests rock paper scissors to decide (!!). Sian’s reaction is priceless.

Like, seriously, guys, did you seriously just suggest that we choose the center for this with Rock Paper Scissors? Do you want to win the challenge? What the fuck? Is this a game for you? Are you out of your minds? OMG. OMG. What. The. Fuck.

Sian politely points out that this is way too serious to decide that way. Since the decision is to be made based on merits, Natsumi bows out. All of this is making me not really like Natsumi that much, so I have to kind of take a breath and remind myself that they’re all pretty stressed out and exhausted.

That leaves just Mina and Sian running for center. Sian’s audition is charming and lively, with just the right tone for the song. Mina’s is more muted, though still decent. It seems obvious to my eyes that Sian’s look and style are better suited to the Korean palette, and that they should choose her, but the girls vote on country lines, giving Mina the center. Natsumi says in an interview, “we thought that if we made Sian the center, we’d be Sian and the Girls.” Which… is almost like admitting that you know she’s better than you at this particular thing. It means you should make her the center and step up your own game. You know?

Sian is frustrated. She says she realized that there’s a difference of opinion among countries. The editors play the trouble music to let us know that it isn’t just opinion at stake.

Lingering question: Will Mina make a good center?

Short Hair 1 (1:25:33)

LTR: Mako, Juri, Minyoung, Minseo, Sihyeon, Yuri

Kojima Mako, 21, auditioned with Playing With Fire, rose from C to B and currently ranked 23rd.

Takahashi Juri, 20, future member of Rocket Punch who auditioned with Mako, rose from B to A and is ranked 29th.

Yu Minyoung, 18, the always squinting mint polka dots wearer in Celeb Five who moved from A to B, is ranked 32

Kim Minseo, 15, yellow polka dots in Celeb Five, stayed in C, ranked 39th

Kim Sihyeon, 18, future member of Everglow who rose from B to A and is ranked 13th.

Jo Yuri, 16, future soloist, the one who fell from A to F, ranked 19th.

Group Dynamic: Mako was the chooser of this group, and it was the fifth group formed, so Mako had a decent pool to pick from. She would have met Minseo in group C, and would have known Juri from the AKB franchise. I’m not sure how she picked the others, though I assume she picked Yuri and Sihyeon based on their reputations. Looks like they made Sihyeon the leader -- she’s certainly the most experienced, having been on the show in season 1.

Storyline: They, of course, are in their ICD. But the contrast between this group and Short Hair 2 couldn’t be more stark. Sihyeon thinks the center should be either Juri or Yuri, and they both sing to audition. It’s hard for us to hear their voices since they’re singing over the track, but the girls can hear and decide that Juri should be the center. Juri tries to explain, in a mixture of Korean and Japanese, that since it’s a group battle, she wouldn’t want to cause any harm for the group, so maybe Yuri should do it. But the whole team tells her that she’ll be great. They all like her and want her to be the center -- it seems like even Yuri is on board. Both Sihyeon and Yuri offer to help her, using a hilarious and random mixture of Japanese and Korean.

Sihyeon: If there’s anything wakarimasen[Japanese for “don’t understand”], please ask.

Yuri: Watashi-wa (“I” in Japanese)…. towajesoyo (“will help” in Korean).

We end on this split frame…

…Group 1 already beginning to work together, while Group 2’s Japanese contingent sitting down while Sian is up and practicing. I mean, this shot was cherry picked and who knows the context, but it’s hard not to be swayed a little by it. MNET editors!!! Why are you so evil?

VERY VERY VERY

The song:

Aww, who doesn’t love nomu nomu nomu? Nomu nomu nomu nomu? Nomunomumnomunomnomnomo nomnonomnonomomnomono mnomnomunomunomunom..

It’s catchy and iconic and all the good things. I mean, JYP might be creepy and weird but he can write a hit. Bad Girl Good Girl by Miss A, Nobody by Wonder Girls, ADTOY by 2pm, A by Got7, Icy by Itzy, Feel Special and More & More by Twice, the guy’s a genius. And at least he’s not as overtly gross as YG.

So yeah, Very Very Very was a monster hit and in a way it was responsible for the success of IOI. Their first few singles didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and they needed a hit to cement their status as a hit group. If IOI had never done Very Very Very, there might not have been a season 2 of PD101. Imagine a world without Wanna One or IZ*one! Wild, right? So yeah. We all have to be grateful to JYP for giving this song to IOI, because otherwise you might not be reading these words right now.

In terms of difficulty, I’d say that this song isn’t super hard to perform. It may have originally been intended for Twice -- can’t you imagine it as a Twice song? -- and it has that kind of upbeat, cute-but-confident vibe that Twice has. I don’t think it’s an outrageously difficult concept to rock. The tune is easy to sing -- even the adlibs are easy -- and the choreography is more about cuteness than anything else. Any team would be smart to want to perform this one.

So, let’s check in with the teams who will be performing this iconic hit.

At 1:27:10 we peek in with Sakura and friends. Sakura is learning the Korean word for water -- mul (pronounced more like bul) -- and sharing the Japanese word -- mizu. The other trainees think that Sakura’s team is the team to beat.

An Yujin laments her situation. Everything else was great! She was chosen to pick the first team after Sakura! She got great teammates! But then she had to go up against Sakura’s team. “I thought we were absolutely doomed,” Yujin says. Park Minji speaks for everyone as she interviews: “Sakura’s teem is more popular, but Yujin’s team fits the song better. It’s like Captain America versus Iron Man.”

It’s Spiderman versus Ant Man. It’s Cake versus Ice Cream. It’s Shark versus Tornado. It’s IVE versus Le Sserafim. Winner? All of us!

Let’s take a look at the two rosters. This is a juggernaut lineup. More than half the future lineup of IZ*one is represented between these two teams!

Yujin’s team, which was formed second:

An Yujin, 14, future member of IVE who rose from B to A and is currently ranked 2nd overall. Wow! And she’s 14, you guys. I always forget how young she is here.

Choi Yena, 18, friendly Yena from Yuehua who kept us company for a lot of episode 1, fell from A to B, and is currently ranked 6th.

Honda Hitomi, 16, the super cutey who worked her way up from C to A and is currently ranked 47th.

Jang Wonyoung, future Wonyoung, known for being Wonyoung, who has stayed in B and is ranked 4th.

Na Goeun, 18, future Purplekiss, A class and ranked 20th.

Shiroma Miru, 20, future visitor to Queendom Puzzle, who fell from B to D but is ranked 22nd.

Sakura’s team, which was formed first:

Kim Choyeon, 16, fire-eyes girl and future Bugaboo, fell from A to C, ranked 75

Kim Minju, 17, a Very Pretty Girl, rose from D to C, ranked 17

Kwon Eunbi, 22, future soloist, fell from A to C, is currently ranked 3rd

Lee Chaeyeon, 18, future soloist, famous older sister and dancing machine, who stayed in A and is ranked 10th.

Miyawaki Sakura, 20, THE SAKURA, future member of Le Sserafim who stayed in A and is ranked 5th.

Motomura Aoi, 21, sweet faced Aoi from Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who rose from D to B and is ranked 42nd.

(Because “Choyeon” and “Chaeyeon” are such similar names, I’ll call them Kim Choyeon and Lee Chaeyeon throughout this discussion to help you keep track of who is who.)

Fun fact: Though it was implied that Sakura’s team is more popular, Yujin’s team actually has a higher average ranking -- 16.8 versus 25.3. Sakura’s team is dragged way down by Kim Choyeon, though; without her, their average ranking would be 15!

LTR: Yujin, Hitomi, Miyu, Gaeun, Yena, Wonyoung

We hang out with Yujin’s team for a bit. They’ve elected Na Gaeun leader, which seems smart; she’s one of the older members and is the only one who has been rated A the whole time.

Naturally, they dive right into the ICD. It’s Yujin versus Wonyoung, and Wonyoung obviously suits being a center more for this particular song. (If it had been Boombayah or Peekaboo, I would have said Yujin.)

Meanwhile, on Sakura’s team, they’re in their own ICD.

Kim Choyeon has the AUDACITY to say she wants to be center.

Sakura CANNOT BELIEVE IT.

After all she is THE SAKURA whose smile is completely natural and beautiful and not at all strained or weird. And she can be the ONLY CENTER. She raises her hand to say she also wants to be center, and you can almost hear Kim Choyeon's hopes shattering.

Look, if I were on this team, obviously I’d be ok with making Sakura center, but given that she’s already THE CENTER of the whole show, it might be smart to let someone else be center here, like maybe Minju or Eunbi. However, as much as I feel for Kim Choyeon, I just don’t see a reason to make her center. The judges would yell at the team if they did. Honestly, the judges will probably yell if they make anyone but Sakura center. And they'll probably yell at you even if you do, to make more TV content starring Sakura. I think it’s just part of being within Sakura’s gravity well. You’re blessed, but you’re fucked, too.

Lee Chaeyeon, who is a smartie-pants, recommends Minju. I see why -- she’s super pretty, she’s fairly popular, she makes a great center, and she help offset Sakura’s power a little. I know that for Lee Sian’s team, I said that they should just make Sian the center and step up their game, but in this case, Sakura’s overpowering popularity is not actually matched by her charisma, and it would just be smart to balance things out a bit with another girl who will do just as good a job in center and has the ability to be just as popular.

Sweet-faced Aoi unexpectedly backs Minju -- maybe she’s a little sick of the Sakura train? -- and so does Kwon Eunbi. And thus, both Sakura and Kim Choyeon are shut out; Minju is chosen.

Minju is super flattered, but says, “I don’t think I deserve to be center.”

And Sakura and Choyeon are like, What’s that, you say? You want one of US to be center? Well, if you absolutely insist….

So, each of the two candidates auditions, and Choyeon wins.

With the centers both chosen, we take a peek at each team as they start to try to learn the choreo.

Over on Yujin's team, Yujin is already a bit confused, but many members of Sakura’s team already know the choreo (notably Eunbi and Lee Chaeyeon, who are known for their dancing skills). Then Hitomi reveals herself as choreo learning machine, and the team starts following her.

And that’s the end of this segment!

So yeah I made this scatterplot to show you the rough correlation between average rank of a team and the screentime they get. You're welcome.

It’s slightly thrown off by the fact that some teams were sort of approached together, like the two Love Whispers and the two Avengers teams, and other editing decisions like that, but the trend is pretty clear -- the higher the average rank of the team, the more screentime they get.

The two biggest outliers are Short Hair 1 -- Juri and Yuri’s team -- which didn’t get a ton of screentime despite their high rank because they were getting along so well, and Boombayah 2, the leftovers team, which got a lot of screentime relative to their kind of low rank because their situation is so pathetic.

Ok, thanks for reading (or skimming) this! I hope you enjoyed it. Things are heating up! Next we’ll actually be seeing some performances!! Wild.

#bpr recaps p48 #produce 48 #le sserafim #ive #akb48 #rocket punch #sakura #jang wonyoung #ahn yujin #lightsum

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