My favorites out of the finalists is pretty set after this special.
1. Kanon
2. Riho
3. Erina
4. Aina
5. Minami
I'm kinda afraid of liking Kanon too much though. We all know how crazy Tsunku Decisions™ are and I'm wary of putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak.
So I guess it's unsurprising I have the most to say about her.
Kanon is cute, with resemblances to several other members from certain angles, which is what j-tri alluded to above.
Yet her looks are distinctive enough to be memorable in a crowd. I vaguely remember seeing her face in the extremely limited coverage of the previous rounds.
Memorable and distinctive are very good traits to have in an idol.
She has the guts to do something different to stand out, like do a crazy skit for her 3rd round audition:
She seems like she's always smiling and I can't help but focus on her.
The way she responded to being challenged seems to indicate she's a tough cookie.
And last but not least, she seems to have the slightly busty body type Tsunku seems to like. (See Konkon, Mittsy, "Manjyuu Musume", etc.)
Riho is little miss perfect. She seems to have everything you'd want in an idol, which has me worried for her. (Given how erratic Tsunku can be in his decisions.)
On the other hand, the way the special was edited seemed to focus on her and seemed to suggest that she's one of the favorites behind the scenes too.
Erina is kinda "eh" to me.
From certain angles I think she looks like Kanna or Miuna, but like Shi said, she didn't seem like she really wanted to be there all the time.
Aina left little impression on me the first time I watched the special, and the second time wasn't much different.
Her shifty eyes and droopy cheeks were probably the parts I remember the most.
But then again, these specials tend to focus on hardships and special triumphs which means maybe it's just a sign that she was doing ok
In any case though, not standing out doesn't bode well for a future idol.
Minami, quite frankly, scares the heck out of me.
More specifically, her teeth do. She's like a shark or vampire or something.
She also cried a lot and it was just painful watching her recording session.
But these feelings make me feel guilty that I'm being too shallow and/or hard on her.
It's like I'm torn between feeling pity, guilt, and fear for this girl.
Aside from that, my mom (who knows jack about idols) liked her and hoped she'd make it.
If she can get that kind of reaction from a non-fan, it makes me think maybe she has a decent chance after all.
Tsunku has been known to pick the extreme underdogs as a wild card before. All those times turned out pretty good, imo.
So that got me thinking more about the "put them all into Morining Musume" option.
On the one hand, it seems like something Tsunku would do, and these finalists might all do decently.
On the other hand, that would fill up the 10-member quota that Tsunku said he didn't want to pass again.
And that means that we'd be guaranteed another grad before more members are added. This prospect makes me sad.
What I'd like to see the most though is Kanon and Riho to Morning Musume w/ some egg additions.
As it is, if any of them are picked, it's quite a large age gap between them (11-13) and the next youngest, Mittsy (17).
Who fits the 14-16 age range and does a good job in the Eggs?
SAHO AKARI.
I'm sure Shirenu would LOVE this to happen.
(I'd also like Fukumura Mizuki, but that's just me.)