produce 101 japan is good actually

i'm mostly watching for katou kokoro, who used to be my cherry bullet bias. i got so excited when i heard she was gonna be on the show, and when i was watching e1 just now, i actually teared up when other contestants remembered her debut song and said they were her fans... i'm really rooting for her and i hope she does well! i've got my eyes on the gp999 alums as well (fujimoto ayaka, sakurai miu, kanno miyu) even though i haven't watched yet.

but also the vibes of this show just seem immaculate. there's a lightheartedness to it that not even the original season one had, everyone's excited and friendly and supporting each other and there aren't a lot of trainees who seem super competitive about it. with the noted exception of aramaki joa i guess

also can we talk about nakano kokona being the absolute beast at staring contests. how can she keep her eyes open for over 9 minutes that is not human??? that is an inhuman ability?????? girl. she's on my longlist just for that.

(longlist so far has 8 people, and i'm only halfway through the first episode. ive literally just watched them walk in. this will be fun.)