(Group) Ebisu Muscats

[TeriyakiBoi]

I wouldn't be surprised if those members Kobayashi mentioned were actually graduating.  They pretty much have been in the group since the first reincarnation of the series (not necessarily meaning they were all 1st Generation since some of the "older" members came in at least Phase 2 or later).  The tone he was talking in kinda made it seem he was relaying sort of a goodbye message to the members that were sitting there.  I could be off but I don't really know what else would make them sad in regards to those specific members that were named.  I wouldn't think it'd be part of the batsu since it seems really serious.

[Tuffty]

That would suck if all those fine, lovely ladies are graduating. Guess Ai's either changing company or retiring (please don't be the latter). Sola's a weird one considering she hasn't done porn in years, but this was bound to happen considering her aspirations to make it big in all of Asia (even as a K-Pop artist). Very sad to hear about Rin not returning, but at least she's ok. The other girls I'll be sad to see go too But if this is true, please, PLEASE give them a proper farewell. Muscats has a terrible track record of members leaving with very little fanfare. I get that they can't hold a nation wide farewell tour but make it an event on the show at least. Dedicate an episode to it, highlighting their best bits and their farewells, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is all we hear about it.

In lighter news, Yuma posted up photos tonight of what looks to be a girls night in with Shou, Rina and Saemi. What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in that room.

[trigger]

It took me a while to figure out, but nobody's graduating. 

Resources used in my investigation: the episode itself, 1 year of japanese lessons, google search, google translate, this blog: http://ameblo.jp/kotukotu1000/ and wikipedia japan's Ebisu Muscats page.

Ultimately, I'm not sure exactly what Kobayashi's speech is about, other than the fact that the group would have dissolved if Banana Mango High School hadn't made Oricon top 10, etc...
The important thing is that the list below, as provided by L4verra, are simply the Muscats that graduated then came back, + Rin (who was sick, came back, was sick again, etc...).

• Sola Aoi
• Ai Sayama
• Rika Kawamura
• Haruka Ogura
• Ena Kawamura
• Airi Nagasaku
• Manami Yamaguchi
• Rin Sakuragi

Graduations are always possible, but it seems to me that they tend to let the girls leave "organically" for their own reasons rather than dump them, so we wouldn't see so many members leave at once.

[initial]

Maybe it's my attempt to deny any graduation speculations but I was assuming maybe the names mentioned won't be participating in their nationwide tour.  Not sure.  Anything would be better than a bulk graduation.
<update>
I went back and checked the article on tokyohive.com about their nationwide tour and it shows the names of girls participating in specific shows, but maybe Kobayashi is giving a more recent update on the members and their Ebisu Muscats activities.  not sure.  but again, anything is better than graduating.
another thing...the show sure did look different without many of the girls. 
                                                    No Acky,                  No Ogura                    Kishi?  
also, when he mentioned second or first to Minori, was he mentioning she might be the next leader? 
I hate not knowing Japanese!       all this is left open, no closure, screw you Kobayashi!  (calms down)  well, we won't know til we know.  oh yeah, Minori and yuria looked so nice.   
 

[L4verra]

Thanks trigger for the translations  It does make me feel relieved to see that none of the Muscat women are going to graduate right away, but I did read something on the blog that the following members I mentioned may have about six months on the group before they might retire. Which makes a lot of sense in my opinion. Even though some of the ladies might be missed by fans (we all know how much initial is gonna miss Haruka, and how much the Chinese Ebisu Muscats fans are going to miss Sola), most of them are borderline 30 years old. I said this before and I'll say it again, if they continue with the Muscat franchise when they hit 30, more power to them, but if 30 is too steep to make J-Pop songs, it makes sense as to why they will graduate. This should also include Acky; age catches up to even the most famous of AV idols.

To me, Rin is like the Brandon Roy of the Ebisu Muscats in my book. Promising careers cut short by health problems (Rin with illnesses, Brandon Roy with literally no cartilage in his knees). But that doesn't stop them from returning to what they were doing (Rin is Tweeting again, Brandon Roy has a new team after retiring last year). Just wanted to point that out there.

And what is it with Rina that makes me feel weird...it's not a good feeling nor a bad feeling. It's like I can't even describe it. Once Tuffty posted those photos of Rina I feel like my entire body is frozen  Someone help me PLEASE???

but again, anything is better than graduating.
another thing...the show sure did look different without many of the girls. 
                                                    No Acky,                  No Ogura                    Kishi?  
 

This was the "punishment" that Team Rio was supposed to face, which explains why some of the women (Haruka, Acky, Yuma, Westbrook) weren't in this episode. Ironically enough, the fact that they know this information and the other team doesn't is enough punishment to me 

What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in that room.

What I would give to be the random dude serving drinks...especially to....

 

[SevinUp]

Hey, new here, I wanna ask what's the name of this girl

Still having a hard time recognizing their faces. 

[TeriyakiBoi]

That face belongs to the current leader of the group.  Our resident expert could tell you more.

Anyhow, the translations really clear things up.  It makes sense that he mentioned the "what ifs" for those singles.  Those songs basically put them into the mainstream.  They were more than a bunch of models and porn stars in a group.  As for the members that won't be at the concert, we'll just say that they might have other obligations during that time.  However, I wouldn't doubt that by next year during the spring that there will be some roster changes.  For now, we can still enjoy this line-up for a while longer.

[initial]

aino kishi alias: Mrs. Westbrook (waiting for the divorce to finalize)

[SevinUp]

I see, thx
Mrs. Westbrook?  How come?

[L4verra]

What's good, SevinUp?
And if you really want to know why I call Aino Kishi Ms. Westbrook, well...

http://l4verra.tumblr.com/post/28452973878/i-dont-care-how-awkward-this-looks-this-looks

As for the members that won't be at the concert, we'll just say that they might have other obligations during that time.  However, I wouldn't doubt that by next year during the spring that there will be some roster changes.  For now, we can still enjoy this line-up for a while longer.

So we are all agreeing on the fact that the roster is changing by next spring? Well, no one knows what's going on for sure...we might lose members by, the earliest, the next episode, so I dunno 

[SevinUp]

So that's why you call her that 
I see you're an NBA fan and a Filipino too.

[L4verra]

Yup yup  I see that I'm not the only Filipino around here
And I also see that Ms. Westbrook is your favorite.
Do you wanna know who my favorite Ebisu Muscat is?

You can arguably say she looks half Japanese half Filipina 

[initial]

not Filipino but Latino.   
and my fave is...           Ogura Haruka  the glutton queen 

[L4verra]

Lord have mercy... 

[TeriyakiBoi]

As for the members that won't be at the concert, we'll just say that they might have other obligations during that time.  However, I wouldn't doubt that by next year during the spring that there will be some roster changes.  For now, we can still enjoy this line-up for a while longer.

So we are all agreeing on the fact that the roster is changing by next spring? Well, no one knows what's going on for sure...we might lose members by, the earliest, the next episode, so I dunno 

Not that it would be definite but it is possible.  Up to this point, an older member had left since she was had a child (I think she was gonna transition to be a mother) as well as another one most recently leaving due to a career change.  Also, let's not forget that the BMS pretty much dissolved and the remaining two members of that became part of the main group.  I would hold on to the hope that the current line-up stays like it is for the rest of the year (although there were also some changes in the past during this time as well).  The main thing which probably would be consistent is the fact that we'll have our current leader for a while.

[L4verra]

As for the members that won't be at the concert, we'll just say that they might have other obligations during that time.  However, I wouldn't doubt that by next year during the spring that there will be some roster changes.  For now, we can still enjoy this line-up for a while longer.

So we are all agreeing on the fact that the roster is changing by next spring? Well, no one knows what's going on for sure...we might lose members by, the earliest, the next episode, so I dunno 

Not that it would be definite but it is possible.  Up to this point, an older member had left since she was had a child (I think she was gonna transition to be a mother) as well as another one most recently leaving due to a career change.  Also, let's not forget that the BMS pretty much dissolved and the remaining two members of that became part of the main group.  I would hold on to the hope that the current line-up stays like it is for the rest of the year (although there were also some changes in the past during this time as well).  The main thing which probably would be consistent is the fact that we'll have our current leader for a while.

Heh...I wonder what Ririka and Mihiro are doing... 
Speaking of lineups, we have never discussed what was the overall best lineup in the Muscats history. Even though the marquee names (Rio, Shou, Acky, Yuma, Sola) seem to stay constant, the lineup of the, for lack of better words, lower tier girls, seems to always change. In my book, the best lineup was the Chocolate lineup, for quite a few reasons:

• Risa Kasumi and Miyuki Yokoyama were still in this lineup
• The most recognizable members from the fourth unit (Westbrook, Rina, Ayako, Nanako) started to make a statement
• Rin Sakuragi was still present and did not have any recognizable health issues
• Yuma Asami was still leader. While this is not taking anything away from Aino Kishi, in my opinion she was the best leader simply because of how energetic and passionate she was as the lead Muscat

While this lineup is not perfect because Saemi Shinohara wasn't an Ebisu Muscat yet, I rest my case with this classic Muscats video.



What was, in your opinion, the best lineup?

[initial]

This was a tough topic because I love the Honey Trap video and the current line-up.  I've become a bigger EbiMus fan during that time.  I wish Miyuki had stayed so I can see her in the Honey Trap costume,   
but the best line-up was in the Ropponpon☆Fantasy single, only because that's when Yuria Satomi joined. 

[SevinUp]

Yup yup  I see that I'm not the only Filipino around here
And I also see that Ms. Westbrook is your favorite.
Do you wanna know who my favorite Ebisu Muscat is?

You can arguably say she looks half Japanese half Filipina 

Actually Sho Nishino is my favorite 
Rina Rukawa was your former number 1 member of Ebisu Muscats right? What made you change your mind?

Regarding the best lineup, as long as sho's there i'm good but I have to agree with initial's answer too.
Cuz Yuria is 

[L4verra]

Honey Trap had a pretty nice lineup in my book. Saemi just started making her appearance 

Rina Rukawa was your former number 1 member of Ebisu Muscats right? What made you change your mind?

Ugh...Rina 
So I had a thing for Rina Rukawa for what seemed like the longest time, since July or August 2011 or something like that. I basically started to like her because she was the closest girl my age (the last girl I liked was Rio and she was 7 years older; that's a problem compared to Rina being only 1-2 years older). What made me change my mind was that...she was in AV. And it bothered me to the point where I lost my mind, several times. It never did honestly, but I remember that she was in an AV with a "lucky fanboy", and then I kept imagining that that guy could have been me if I tried hard enough (sent her letters, performed the Purukawa dance on YouTube, etc.). I still remember the sting it left when I saw that video, and I was literally crying for what seemed like weeks. Even though that could have all been fake, and that could have been an amateur pornstar in the disguise of a fanboy, the way I saw it when I first saw it almost gave me a heart attack.
Plus, everyone I knew, from my friends and family, know how much I liked her and everyone told me that she seems like bad news, since, well, she is a pornstar. They even said how the hell was I going to introduce her to my grandparents if we were ever dating, knowing that she was in the adult film industry? Did I disregard what everyone else said? Of course I did; I thought I was in love with this girl. But after a while I started to find out what her true colors were, what she grew up enduring, what her thoughts on men are, what her ideal boyfriend is (and how I don't fit in with that description whatsoever) and how she probably doesn't want to resign from the AV industry anytime soon.
Long story short, even though I liked her for a long time, she made me feel extremely scary emotions I never want to experience again (envy, obsession, insanity, depression, panic). Even though she is still as attractive as ever, I will never look at her the same way I used to.

And what's not to like about Saemi Shinohara anyway? While she does have a few public relations problems that involve her family (as revealed on Twitter, Ameblo and, in the worst possible manner, on Onedari Muscats!! SP), there's a lot I like about her. She has a nice smile, gorgeous eyes and her body is voluptuous. Plus, she likes Pokemon which is an immediate plus in my book. While yeah, there may be some people who might say that Rina is slightly better looking, I don't care. I am not overly obsessed with Saemi nor do I go off writing paragraphs and paragraphs of questionably embarrassing text about her on Tumblr, as I was and did with Rina, but I will say that she took the spot as my favorite Ebisu Muscat, for what'll seem like a long time.



 

[initial]

I had this on my desktop for some time.  very cute pic from Sho's facebook.