Mnet seems like they want a legitimate international girl group this time

As someone who watched Produce 48, you could tell Mnet were just using the AKB48 girls for a small J-line. The original plan was to have 48 Koreans & 48 Japanese to make a 12 member group of 6 girls per side (hence why P48 had 96 trainees instead of 101, and why IZ*One was 12 instead of 11), but they dropped this concept

Mnet also gave the K-Girls much more screentime, especially the Starship/Pledis/Yuehua line, while for the J-Girls it was pretty much…. Well the exact 3 that made it onto IZ*One. And for a short period Erii too. Even Jurina wasn’t shown much after the “Sakura vs Jurina” storyline, although she left the show early anyway

Which was crazy cuz Mnet had stars like Miyu, Miho, Miu, Miru and the like, but continued to suppress their screentime. Especially Miyu cuz they knew that she was extremely popular on her own even without the push

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However I could honestly say, I don’t get that vibe from Mnet at all with Girls Planet 999

The contestant lineup is an equal 33 per side. They made sure to have a rank system that would protect having an equal representation even after eliminations, and forced you to vote for a specific amount of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese girls

As for the screentime, there’s no favoritism. And it looks like they do have their eyes on just as many non-Korean girls as they do Korean girls, such as Yurina, Hikaru, Mashiro, Ayana, Xiaoting, Ruiqi, Yaning, Cai Bing, Hsienwei, and more

Even with the 3 centers, they push Xiaoting & Hikaru a lot more than they do Dayeon

Mnet did confirm that there is no nationality limit towards the final lineup, meaning it won’t be mandatory for it to be 3x3x3

I do however believe they want something similar. Which leads me to believe that this lineup having more non Koreans than Koreans isn’t something they’re against, and possibly something they support

Is it risky? Perhaps. But it is experimental and innovative, and would look good if they turn out to be a success. Besides we saw what happened with TO1 with To Be World Klass. They had the whole global group concept, ended up with an all Korean lineup, and where are they now

With the top 9 being 3 Koreans 3 Japanese & 3 Chinese twice now, it does seem like that is what they actually want. However because of that, I am sure they’ll either get that or something similar, like 4 Koreans 3 Japanese or 2 Chinese

I do think they fear it being 6 Koreans & the rest foreigners, because it would be a typical Kpop girl group instead this new style of a Kpop girl group. Because nowadays, just throwing 1 Japanese & Chinese member isn’t gonna stand out, I could name like 10 groups since the 3rd Gen that pulled that off

Into1 made a beautiful lineup from Produce Camp which had a similar concept to Girls Planet 999 although with just any foreigners

And now they got 6 Chinese, 3 Japanese, and 2 Thai members

Personally, I am not be necessarily against more Koreans as long as there is more than just 1 Japanese & Chinese member. Although I can say, I’d be more interested in an Into1 type group more than an IZ*One type group

I trust we’ll get a good lineup either way

With all of this said, I really hope Mnet does NOT rig the lineup to fit their dream team

I’d much rather they just keep the voting restrictions so that everyone knows what they’re signing up for, than to tell everyone that they’re free to vote for anyone regardless and yet still tamper with the lineup

Not only is it a slap in the face to the fans who were told they can vote for whoever, and yet there was a planned lineup afterall, but it hurts the trainees too. The rigged out members who had their dreams stolen from them, and the rigged in members who gotta live with the guilt that wasn’t their fault