{"id":709414,"date":"2026-06-02T05:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709414\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T05:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:59:13","slug":"produce-101-japan-shinsekai-struggles-tears-on-the-road-to-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/709414\/","title":{"rendered":"‘PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI’: Struggles & Tears on the Road to Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPRODUCE 101 JAPAN<\/a> SHINSEKAI, the fourth season of the audition survival show that brought us the artists JO1<\/a>, INI<\/a> and ME:I, has been available for viewing, free of charge, since March 2026, exclusively on the Lemino streaming service. It will culminate in the debut of a 12-person global<\/a> boy band with members chosen through voting by Japanese viewers (Kokumin Producers) and, for the first time on the show, global viewers (SEKAI Producers) as well.<\/p>\n

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\n\tOne of the biggest differences between this season and the past three seasons is that this is now a global audition. The show accepted applications from everyone, regardless of nationality or birthplace (with the exception of a small number of areas). In addition to attracting trainees from around the world, it is also being streamed globally via the global K-pop content platform Mnet Plus, and votes can also be cast from anywhere. The show\u2019s overall emcee, trainee supporter, and KOKUMIN Producer representative is Dean Fujioka. This season, he is joined for the first time by a SEKAI Producer Representative, Choi Soo-young (from Girl\u2019s Generation). The votes of KOKUMIN Producers from Japan and SEKAI Producers from other countries are counted together to launch a boy band that reflects a more international perspective. There are already plans for the band to make its debut simultaneously in both Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn each of its past seasons, PRODUCE 101 JAPAN has had 101 trainees. Of these, 11 would go on to become debut members. During the first episode of this new season, though, the show announced that 22 global participants have been added, bringing up the number of participants to 123. Of these, 12 will be chosen to debut. In an unexpected twist, unlike in past seasons, the participants didn\u2019t start as trainees, but as trainee candidates. They found themselves suddenly faced with a level placement test, so there was struggle and drama right out of the gates.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis season has already brought us several standout scenes. Episode 6 presented the first half of \u201cPOSITION BATTLE: OPEN ROUND.\u201d After the first round of rankings were announced, the 50 remaining trainees were divided into nine teams to compete in the event. In previous rounds, trainees were able to pick their own fields of expertise, like vocals, dance, or rap. But as Dean Fujioka explained, \u201cToday, the borders between vocals, dance, and rap are gone. We\u2019re in an age of all-rounders, where people aren\u2019t hemmed in by the idea of fixed positions.\u201d This time, the battle used an OPEN ROUND approach. It judged the trainees\u2019 ability to handle self-production, including song arrangement and structure. It was a vivid example of how the updates the show had made to its judging approach in order to produce a global boy band for today\u2019s era.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe nine teams competed, each with their own song, and the two top trainees and the top trainee for each of the nine songs in the group battle were selected as leaders. One particularly dramatic scene unfolded for the team PUNCH LINERS, whose leader, RYUJI (Ryuji Sugiyama), picked INI\u2019s song \u201cDOMINANCE.\u201d O.YUSEI (Yusei Obayashi), who was chosen as the main rapper, was psyched, saying \u201cI\u2019ve rarely taken center stage in my own life, so I\u2019m going to go for it.\u201d After listening to the advice of INI members Rihito Ikezaki, Hiroto Nishi, and Jin Matsuda, he looked fulfilled, but after hearing Y.SHU (Shu Yamashita) rap, he asked for the main rapper position to be switched out, saying \u201cI think he\u2019d be better as a main rapper then me.\u201d His team members encouraged him, saying \u201cYou got the center position, now you need to go out there and crush it.\u201d O.YUSEI, feeling disgusted with himself, began crying, saying \u201cIt was just so frustrating\u2026\u201d His connection with fellow rapper Y.SHU grew even stronger, and then in the main event, he boldly took the stage, putting on a confident performance as main rapper, turning the tables by being selected as no. 1 in his team through the field voting. Y.SHU came in second place, and it was clear to everyone watching how the bonds between them had grown.<\/p>\n

\n\tEpisode 7 featured the second half of the \u201cPOSITION BATTLE: OPEN ROUND\u201d and the announcement of the results. \u201cNature Self\u201d was chosen through field voting as the team that stood out the most. Nature Self was led by CHISATO (Chisato Kobayashi), who chose the song \u201cNatural\u201d by Imagine Dragons.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the first part of the practice, RYOTA (Ryota Ishida) and CHISATO divided up the choreography duties, but dance trainer KAITA said he felt there was a lack of teamwork. \u201cDid you two coordinate with each other? I could tell that the choreography was by two separate people. It felt disjointed.\u201d Everyone gathered together, and RYOTA and the other members talked about each other\u2019s strengths. They reaffirmed the importance of teamwork and developed a more powerful sense of solidarity. Elsewhere, YURA (Yura Abe), who had been chosen by unanimous accord as main dancer, looked crestfallen, saying \u201cI just couldn\u2019t get excited about being chosen for center position.\u201d He couldn\u2019t shake off his defeat in the previous group battle. \u201cBeing in the center position means being under a huge amount of pressure. Even now, I\u2019ve got mixed emotions about it.\u201d CHISATO tried to gave him a push, saying \u201cI want you to go out there and put all your heart into it. I made your choreography with that in mind,\u201d but YURA\u2019s expression remained clouded. SIYOUNG (Park Siyoung), a member of another team, criticized him, saying \u201cWe couldn\u2019t see your facial expressions,\u201d and that just sent YURA spiraling further. Dance trainer Rino Nakasone said \u201cYou don\u2019t look like a center. You need to be more honest with yourself. Give it your all.\u201d Tears in his eyes, YURA confessed that \u201cEver since becoming center, I\u2019ve just kept questioning myself.\u201d Nakasone continued, \u201cThe song \u2019Natural\u2019 is all about not bowing under pressure. Don\u2019t keep it all pent up inside, you\u2019ve got all these people around you can turn to.\u201d After telling him that he needed to embody the message of the song, and advising him to rely on his fellow trainees, the other members all embraced him in a hug. The scene eloquently showed that it\u2019s not just about singing and dancing abilities. You also need to truly understand the music at a deeper level.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the main event, the whole team put on a powerful and magnificent show. It was like they\u2019d all broken out of their shells, and their performance of \u201cNature Self\u201d was met with a huge round of applause. The decision to pick them as the standout team was a clear and obvious one. KOTARO (Kotaro Asaka) was chosen no. 1 in the team, with YURA taking the no. 3 position. KOTARO revealed that he\u2019d felt great respect for YURA ever since the first time he went to Korea, and he thanked him. YURA also gave a glimpse of his own personal growth, saying that the experience had given him confidence.<\/p>\n

\n\tPRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI is the kind of show that gives birth to great scenes like these. One of the highlights of this audition show is that it doesn\u2019t just consist of ranking competitors through voting, but it also helps the trainees grow. Tomorrow, your own vote could be instrumental in the dramatic personal growth of trainees.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2013This article by Kaori Komatsu first appeared on Billboard Japan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI, the fourth season of the audition survival show that brought us the artists JO1,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[103755,49,48,75,3588,2454,15111,348],"class_list":["post-709414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-billboard-japan","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-global","tag-japan","tag-music-news","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}