Finale performances (sans the ballad)
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Interesting thing I realized after the finale regarding Jo Yuri and Choi Yena placing so high...
In the previous eliminations, both Stone Music and Yuehua lost 2 candidates with a total of ~200,000 (2-pick) votes. That has to have helped both Yuri and Yena a lot, even if I think they still would've made it. No other candidate really had a similar situation (well, maybe Kaeun to small extent with Giraffe going home with less than 100k votes, but I suspect everyone was pairing them to begin with).
Also, since only 2 Japanese girls went home in the previous elimination, it got even harder for the remaining 8, as it's very likely that many voters picked similar girls or girls from the same company for their 2-picks and now suddenly only had one vote to cast. That probably explains (to an extent) why only 3 Japanese girls made it to the final group.
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Let's look at the top 12:
Jang Wonyoung - all-around decent, good dancer, great visual
Sakura Miyawaki - visuals, stage presence, decent enough performer
Jo Yuri - main vocal, main vocal, main vocal, yuri's pretty great
Choi Yena - where to begin? Hilarious and stellar all-around performer. Fun and unique.
Ahn Yujin - all-rounder, good or great at pretty much everything, dorky, actual model
Nako Yabuki - smol, cute, competent performer
Kwon Eunbi - leader, great dancer
Kang Hyewon - probably good for some humorous (intentional or not) moments, hope she can keep up with the rest and make an actual effort
Hitomi Honda - super cute, cheeks full of love, great dancer
Kim Chaewon - princess, competent performer
Kim Minju - visual power, not completely hopeless otherwise
Lee Chaeyeon - amazing dancer, good vocalist, dorky personality
All-in-all pretty much covers everything, only a (serious) rapper is missing (no, Hyewon doesn't count lmao) but it seems Yena & Eunbi can at least make an effort at it, if not, no big loss really. Rappers in idol groups are not that necessary really.
So I'm pretty happy! I'd make some changes but I've learned it's really difficult to get everything exactly how you like it haha. Anyway, bring on some releases.
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Now a bit about the peeps who didn't make it:
Han Chowon - I wanted Chowon in (at #6) so I'm a bit sad for her... she's still young though, she'll be back for sure.
Lee Kaeun - I don't think anyone disliked Kaeun, but I also don't think she was the #1 favorite of that many people either. She was kind, caring, capable... and somewhat invisible.
Miho Miyazaki - Well, hope she got something out of the experience, she's into Korean things but I never thought she'd fit in this group or offer that much to it.
Juri Takahashi - As I expected, she didn't quite make it. I think she would have been fine in this group, however.
Miyu Takeuchi - Miyu was always a wildcard, too different... which kinda drew me to her in the first place. She never truly shined on the show either, not that mnet gave her that many chances to do so.
Miu Shitao - This one hurts, of course, being my #2 pick. Mnet shafted her screentime-wise pretty hard, almost all of her success was viral and outside the actual episodes. Hope she can do some modeling and maybe get some kinda dance-unit in Japan or something.
Park Haeyoon - Well, she was no match for Yuri, who even got all those Stone Music votes and really made a gap. Haeyoon should be fine though, I can see her singing ballads on OST's and anything of the like, the show was a great showcase for her talents.
Miru Shiroma - Live audience favorite, but quite invisible on the show. Not quite sure how much she wanted to be there either, sad we won't be getting Miru+Wonyoung interactions.
Yup, ain't the end of the road, I hope at least. Good luck to them all.