#pd101

I think it's cute how many girls instantly recognized GG's voice

I think it's so funny that Li Zixuan picked DD's HELMET to represent XZ 😂 (who couldn't even ride a bicycle)

I imagine how PISSED OFF DD must've been when Zitao told her to try on the helmet (an extremely personal item that we know DD cherishes a lot), and even more because she left makeup smudges in it 🥲

We can have an idea of how small DD's head/face must really be because the girl struggles to take off the helmet

preshow & ep 1

ep 2 - ep 5

ep 6 general commentary

this ep was kind of lowkey. not really sure how i feel about the team selection being entirely determined by rank - pretty sad that karen & momoka, amongst others, probably wont get to show their actual main abilities

the teams that performed were hero, shine a light, wa da da, & run run. ranking: run run > hero ≥ wa da da > shine a light. i don't really like the song choices (songs that already have choreo for a dance round, only one non-idol dance song, plus the singers/producers for that song helped arrange all of the vocal performances? makes me wonder if the final group will be getting a LAS song) but at least theyre all in japanese this time (for the vocal & rap groups at least)

run run: good performance but i have a few gripes. 1 - why was it worth more points? they said that the choreo was harder but the whole mission was for the girls to create choreo so... i dont actually expect that the trainees on these shows are doing all the arranging and writing and choreography themselves (much less on pd japan where virtually no one has a trainee background) but the whole set up of the mission kind of says the quiet part loud, you know? 2 - the distribution was a complete mess. loved joa as the center but the rest were basically backup dancers...for a choreo that theyre ostensibly creating themselves the difference in screentime between each person just doesnt make sense. and that was reflected in all of the ranks apart from yuuki & yurara i think. storyline: i found the koto/yuki storyline pretty meh. joa did actually do better than both of them so...? still, in another series this wouldve had a massive conflict edit & im glad pdj doesn't really do that. sad mitsuki & serina didn't get much screentime, i think mitsuki should've gone for antifragile actually, she needed to be on a team where the styling would've worked with her & allowed her to show more of a charming side on stage (friend that i watched LOVED her in cheer up, made me pause to figure out who the "gorgeous regina george lookalike" was.)

hero: ando yui is my daughter but i have to admit that she has a tendency towards shouting some notes. still, i feel like she has a ton of potential and im glad that she got to redeem herself after the audition. tsuzumi is basically in and she 100% knows it, so it's interesting to see how she's dealing with it. more than anyone else in the top it seems to really be impacting her, but she also seems to have a lot of close friends on the show who understand & are supporting her. to be honest, i usually don't like contestants like mayu but...idk. i see a lot in her but im not sure why. it seems like voters are starting to get serious so her rank has dropped a lot but i i'll miss her when she's eliminated. i hope there's some opportunity for her beyond the show.

wa da da: kind of sick that no one chose wa da da 😭 the stage was pretty messy in my opinion but mana did great, she's such a performer. personally ranka isnt one of my picks but i like her intensity a lot & she definitely deserved her rank. i don't think this is her moment exactly but i could see her being recruited somewhere after this. she would suit a kind of dramatic vibe. karen is interesting to me because while she doesn't dance well i found that she really fit the stage. i also love her attitude. there's no way she won't rise but im not sure that itll be enough. last and least,

shine a light: im a big jo1 fan but i knew this wasn't gonna go great from the outset. the energy of the original song is part of what makes it so good so the fact that they removed that.....i also think it's kind of notable that hina said that she didn't want it to be a ballad and was kind of steamrolled........anyways. we saw the performance. i've always said that i wanted hazuki to get more screentime & establish herself and this was her chance but...rip. from the second her voice cracked it was over for the whole team. every single person messed up except for hina. i know that this wasn't a super strong vocal group but it's so sad that they did the worse they've ever done on stage. i expect hina's rank to continue to rise, and hazuki in particular will fall (not because she was the worse but because she has the smallest fanbase & isnt insulated from mistakes like some of the top contestants). curious about what will happen with chiharu because honestly...no one really expected her to sing super well and she was gorgeous so. we'll see

member commentary

change is always possible but this is my stable top 4. rino & ran's teams weren't in this episode but it's a very good sign that rino still got screentime singing well & being a good leader. not thrilled that her rank dropped (14 → 17) and there are a lot of strong contenders in the early teens right now. in truth, i think some of them would be a much better fit for a spin off project (which have much higher success rates than the ones from korean produce) & rino would make more sense in top 11 but that's neither here nor there.

mana, as i said earlier did sooooo well in wadada, although im curious as to what she would've picked had she been given a real choice. im hoping her rank will rise - she didn't get a push in this ep but she was significantly more visible than a lot of her teammates so fingers crossed.

serina is just a good [potential] idol. i was surprised that she went for dance since her vocals are what i noticed first but she pulled off run run well. i wouldve picked shine a light or even antifragile for her though. unfortunately she got very little screentime & storyline but i'm sure run run will win so maybe that 20k will help maintain her spot.

standouts in this ep

not gonna break it down again but yeah. love the girlies love the vibes

other thoughts

call me crazy but im so so sure that these three will be recruited by lapone for a gg after the show. with the top 11 having skewing less cute im hoping that this becomes a reality bc these three fit eachother more than they fit momona/nano/ran/rin/etc. oda aruha (and maybe moro anon) would be here too but alas.

people i'd like to have seen in this ep

rin is riding a wave right now and she needs momentum to stay top 11. looking at the ranks now, kokona dropped 10 places (19 → 29) 🙃 rinon & ayano are fine, but i wanted to see them keep momentum as well. i like akiyama ema for some reason but to survive she desperately needs screentime and a good performance. I'm even more worried about tsukushi - her dropping from 18th to 31st after doing incredibly well is kind of insane. what i've said about tsukushi needing a storyline in the past still stands. i can already tell that her part in bijin will be great but with rinon & keiko im not sure what her screentime potential is.

ep 6 voting list

no surprises here, although im not sure what the voting has been reduced to? if it's only 5 i'd have to go with mana, rino, rin, serina, and then alternate kokona, yui, and mayu. i know that the "this person is safe so i wont vote for them" logic is flawed but i can't help it. good thing intl fans cant vote so this isn't a real concern! 🤪 /s

ep 6 semi-realistic top 11

only change is that i replaced kokona with joa. i have to say, im not thrilled about how many "givens" there are this season. it's not that i dislike them but it makes for a kind of boring top 11, at least until we get to 1 & 2 pick voting. rin was a nice surprise but i think the production has been pretty mask off about their picks. interestingly, i think it might bite them in the butt that momona & kokoro in particular don't actually get that much screentime. for people who are seeing them through the show for the first time (and also dont keep up with twitter discourse) probably feel that their ranks came out of nowhere. ran has gotten good screentime but she's definitely also buoyed by her original fanbase. miu, joa, & tsuzumi have good screentime & storylines so when joa goes up to top 11 i won't be surprised. rin had a good storyline so she makes sense. ayane doesn't get very much screentime but her voice does the brunt of the work. nano is a (capable) visual pick but she doesn't have a storyline. suzu has had a fanbase since the theme song but i expect her to fall a little honestly. we'll see. keiko is new to the top 11 this ep, i hope they reveal the actual ranks this time because that will influence my thoughts. keiko has great screentime and a litle bit of storyline so her rising makes sense. kokona is interesting to me because her rank is so stable based on not very much honestly. i don't dislike her but her lack of expressiveness on stage is probably something they'll try to build a storyline out of later.

you know, all under the cut, probs gonna speed up or skip elimination cuz i already know the ones who were eliminated (i'm crying)

Note: this only includes the LIVE audience of the performances in ep3+4, plus the additional 3,000 bonus votes. Whoever won out of the two groups that performed the song got 3,000 bonus votes.

Second note: These are essentially useless rankings as they weren't actual fan votes submitted online/through mobile.

Third note: Tumblr hates ties in lists. Use the vote count to determine a tie. Most everything from rank 36 onward is a tie.

Ebihara Tsuzumi (3172)

Takami Ayane (3151)

Kitazume Sakura (3139)

Ishii Ran (3123)

Kasahara Momona (3093)

Nakano Konona (3084) - tie

Sasaki Tsukushi (3084) - tie

Takahashi Hina (3082)

Takabatake Momoka (3073)

Aoki Yuka (3071)

Nakayama Honoka (3068)

Mizukami Rimika (3064)

Tanaka Yuuki (3064)

Kato Kokoro (3064)

Murakami Rinon (3061)

Uchiyama Rin (3061)

Kamio Ayano (3056)

Yamamoto Suzu (3055)

Akiyama Ema (3054)

Hatta Mena (3050)

Kanno Miyu (3046)

Kitazato Rio (3044)

Sakaguchi Rino (3043)

Ando Yui (3041)

Tanabe Karin (3038)

Abe Nagomi (3037)

Otsubo Karen (3035)

Aramaki Joa (3031)

Tanaka Koto (3031)

Kamada Moe (3029)

Matsushita Miyu (3028)

Sakurai Miu (3028)

Kenmotsu Nano (3026)

Kawabata Ranka (3023)

Shimizu Keiko (3021)

Kino Riko (3012)

Hidaka Hazuki (3011)

Nakamori Kotone (3011)

Yoshida Ayano (3011)

Kikukawa Aki (3010)

Kobayashi Sae (3010)

Nakamori Mikoto (3010)

Sato Ameli (3010)

Nakamura Aoi (3008)

Okabe Nonoka (3007)

Sano Jueri (3006)

Shiromaru Maho (3004)

Bando Fuka (3003) - whatever the opposite of MVP is (lowest votes) of winning groups

Yoshida Hana (81) - MVP (highest votes) of non-winning groups

Moro Anon (56)

Ando Chiharu (55)

Kato Kagura (55)

Yamazuki Mitsuki (46) - potential elimination cutoff

Fujimoto Ayaka (45)

Oyanagi Emi (45)

Hosoi Ayaka (37)

Kato Airi (37)

Kawagishi Runa (35)

Oda Aruha (35)

Sakata Kotone (30)

Sudo Sakura (28)

Mogi Shion (27)

Sutani Yurara (26)

Sekiguchi Rikako (25)

Shibuya Mei (24)

Watanabe Miyu (22)

Koyama Mana (20)

Kurokawa Honoka (18)

Sakuraba Haruka (18)

Tanaka Hana (18)

Iida Shizuku (16)

Hamasaki Aiko (13)

Saito Serina (13)

Oikawa Rio (12)

Sasaki Kokona (11)

Aita Rin (8)

Wakimoto Mihaya (8)

Okamura Nana (7)

Tani Seia (7)

Furuhashi Sayaka (6)

Kato Konomi (6)

Sugai Natsuho (5)

Tabata Nana (5)

Ueki Mimi (5)

Iyota Hana (5)

Nakamura Riro (4)

Yamaguchi Misaki (4)

Shibagaki Arisa (3)

Shinzawa Mika (3)

Tabuchi Miu (3)

Kataoka Rio (2)

Suzuki Rena (2)

Kurihara Kano (1)

Motohashi Meika (1)

Ota Sara (1)