I have mixed feelings about NewS' "return". On one hand, I'm happy that they are back. But when I looked at them during Countdown, I couldn't help but feel really REALLY sad. And of ALL the songs, they sang 'News Nippon' which made it even sadder for me.
When I first saw NewS in 2003, they were 9. I thought "Okay! New group of Yamap + 8! Why Yamap + 8? Coz the rest were in long pants while Yamap was showing off his skinny legs in shorts!" Okay. Nevermind that.
Less than a year later, Moriuchi drops out. So okay. NewS is now 8! Nice number!! Coz now it's not Yamap flanked by 4 on each side of him, it's 4-on-each-side NewS!! HAPPY!!
A year plus a bit later, Uchi gets drunk on underaged drinking, makes a fool of himself and gets suspended. As a Uchi fangirl, of course I'm upset BUT! He deserved it. Looking at NewS, hmm... We're kinda back to the 'Yamap with 3 on each side' formation, but it's still okay. Yay!! NewS!!
8/9 months and a bit later, what do we have? Kusano obviously does not learn from example and gets into the same crap that Uchi got himself into a couple of months earlier! And then? Kusano gets stuffed into cold storage too! -_-
To be really honest, 'Sayaendo' to me was a really lonely single. I loved NewS, still do. But to have seen them progressively and steadily drop from 9 to 6 is not a good feeling at all.
Uchi and Kusano deserved to be punished, yes. But it was not necessary for them to be downgraded all the way to trainees. Kusano aside, Uchi has been suspended for more than a year. That's not punishment enough? That's not price enough to pay for his stupidity? If anything, Kusano should be the only one being downgraded. Why? Simply because even with what happened to Uchi, he didn't learn and still went and did the same stupid things.
Boys spend years if not months being trainees before they see light of day as Juniors. How long are these two going to take to climb the ranks again? And then what? Have them dance backup to NewS and Kanjyani when they get back to being a Junior?
I'm happy to see NewS back. There is no doubt about that. But to see a 6-person NewS "come back" without the 2? It is not a comeback really. The suspension of NewS as a whole gave fangirls the hope that when the group came back, Uchi and Kusano would be back in the equation. With things as they are, NewS should have just continued as they were without the suspension of activities. There would have been no difference anyway.