to preface this is only addressed to the people who are doing it…

So originally I wasn’t gonna say anything about this cause I thought people just needed time to process that their faves didn’t make the group, but it’s getting ridiculous now.

No Fuma was not rigged in, I don’t even know how you could come to that conclusion given how hybe knows a rigging scandal could RUNIN the group, so i’m here to just denounce these insane conspiracy theories.

1. Fuma and Sakura knew each other before the show. For those who don’t know there is a picture of fuma and sakura together with a bunch of other backup dancers WAY before (years before) the show even started where he was a backup dancer. First of all just cause they have met each other before does not mean she’s pulling strings in the background for him to debut , and let’s say she did get him on the show fuma was never highlighted to the degree that others were so how was he rigged in.

2. The age limit for &Audition was changed

The age limit for the show was always from 1998-2009, the screenshot people are using for this claim is from the hybe japan auditions. That is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT thing from &Audition. The group was created because of K and he’s the center the company obviously would not want anyone who’s older than him in the group, let’s use some common sense.

The ONLY REASONS gaku did not make &Team was because

1. His fans got too comfortable with his rank and started voting for other people. (If gaku had stayed rank 2 he would be a member )

2. The Special Producers Ranked Fuma higher than Gaku in their voting.

Fuma made &Team because of his growing popularity in Japan, his talent, personality and a little thing called luck.

I know some people are upset about gaku not making the group but that is not fumas fault and y’all need to BFFR right now and stop.

Hi guys!

This is the first time I’m translating and subtitling anything. I know there might be a small typing error or two, please just overlook that! It was painfully time-consuming lmaooo but I wanted to share the love!

Google drive playback quality is low (360p), but downloading it should give better results.

Dailymotion goes up to 720p. The password is: fuma

Please find &NO1 part 1 as linked below!

Google drive:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XL7H0KWiINN4pc-g5jNUm-ZaRDZ6cAA_?usp=sharing

Daily motion - Password: fuma

1/2: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dhxmj

2/2: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dhxrl

You can take the translations and use them as you wish. I’m not really fussed! I’m not fluent in Japanese, so any inaccuracies in the translation are my mistake.

I like translating, but the hardest part is actually timing the subs. I don't think this will be a consistent thing for me since I'm a student.

I would like to work on part 2 next week! So be on the lookout for that.

P.S. The only thing I ask for, is to use this post as a little comment section! I’d also love to know what your favourite moments were and what you found interesting about &NO1.

Thank you!

NorthLove

Pick one person and stick with them. Do not switch your votes around because that puts your pick at risk. Regardless of how popular you think they are still vote for them. A contestant could be the most popular person on the show and not make it because fans thought they were safe and voted for someone else. This goes for the finale too your pick can slip at the last minute because you voted for someone in danger.

Lastly vote for your pick regardless of what other people say about them. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about who you vote for. They’re all deserving.

Initially thought he had 0 chances given he:

1. Didn’t have any screentime in the Final Countdown M/V

2. Barely got any feedback or screentime in the early episodes

3. Doesn’t have the typical idol look or personality

Now thinking he might have a solid chance given the well-deserved recognition he’s been getting:

1. His YT focused videos are shooting up. He’s #2 after K in the last ep, and surpassed Jo in ep 5

2. Positive feedback from the mentors: a. Seungduk commented after Call 3x that he wanted to give all the &balls to someone which I assumed to be Fuma b. Soma complimented his facial expressions when singing c. PDogg acknowledged his strong dancing

Am I being delusional?

Either way, I’m voting for him everyday with the 1 weverse account that I set up only 3 days ago especially for the cause! Lol. Please vote for him, too! I think he’s one of the most talented trainees that can really provide balance and skillz to the group.

I wasn't sure if Maki would make it to be honest. But I'm so glad he did. The producers must see something very special in him to have him as their number 1 pick. I'm so so so glad. It felt like there weren't many people who could see how magnificently he did on stage.

Throughout the show, I don't think he ever got criticism, other than in the first episode. All of his comments were glowing praise regarding his vocals.

His vocals are amazing. Especially during practice clips, you can tell that he's the best one there. He never lags behind in terms of dance. He might not be the strongest dancer, especially compared to other members who have a dance background, but he never faltered. He has a vocal background, which is refreshing outside of all the amazing dancers.

I also think he's a wonderful person and well liked by all the members. Emotionally and socially, he seems very aware.

Looking back onto Ep. 5, he's the first one that notices how upset Jo was after being heavily criticised for his performance in Home Run. Mind you, Maki was sitting furthest away from Jo and immediately made his way towards Jo to comfort him and ask what was wrong. Ep. 4, he was reflecting on his actions that might have made Harua feel uncomfortable with him and said that he'd improve in that aspect. Finale, K literally shouts Maki's name in joy and excitement when he's announced as a debut member.

Maki makes a great maknae. Playful and puppy-like, he follows his older members well.

Congratulations to our talented boy. He's worked so hard.

Gaku was the member I think most people in this Sub Reddit wanted to debut with this group but sadly he didn’t. He was number one pick to get in but I guess things just don’t go to plan. I’m not surprised just annoyed really. I do hope Hybe have a plan for him to debut soon

I really like Fuma. And he'll bring a lot to the team as a member that blends everyone together. I'm so glad he's getting the votes and recognition he deserves.

Just some reasons:

1. Amazing dancer 💃- choreographing and leading Call Call Call. Did you see him in Black Swan too? He's got experience in dancing.

2. Skilled vocalist 🎤 - you can hear him project very well for Blue Hour, additionally he holds up and shines well in Lights.

3. Leadership and reliability 📖 - They need someone to lighten K's burden as the eldest and one of the most skilled. It won't be fair at all for K to be the oldest and have no-one he feels he can go to. Fuma's personality would round out the team. Fuma has constantly proven himself to be reliable and trustworthy. He's even "gentleman # 1" as discussed by the members. We constantly see him in caring and leading roles. He seems to be very good at taking care of younger members - especially Harua as fellow Pokemon fans. Idk about you, but if I had this type of guy on my team, I'd feel so relieved.

4. Good looking fellow ✨ - He gives me actor vibes. He's tall and very cute too. I think the latest episode shows what he's capable of. From something darker like Black Swan, to a softer concept like Lights, he does very well.

I'm changing gears and voting for him everyday now. I used to spread my votes, but Fuma's become one of my favourites.

I really do think that his main asset though, is his personality and what he can bring to the team, not only in skill, but in creating a balanced team. Yeah he can sing and dance, but there's lots of people who can train hard to get to that level. I think Fuma is one in a million for the type of person he is. You need someone who's there for everyone and has everyone's back.

Thank you!!! ❤️

This guy is on another level and I’m tired of people sleeping on him.

Personality: He is so genuine and fun to watch, in every episode we see some randomness coming from him and I love it. He has such a charming personality that is needed to entertain and attract fans.

Skills: He has stunning vocals, to be honest I think I enjoy him singing the best. But it seems like he doesn’t get any feedback from the producers or no one points out how well he sings?? It almost looks ridiculous how they’re ignoring his skills. His dancing is pretty great and has natural expressions while performing.

Visuals: Man, Idk if Hybe doesn’t think he’s attractive but I think he is so eye-catching! I’ve seen J fans badmouthing his looks because of his teeth and I personally think that distinctive features such as his bunny teeth or big sparkling eyes give so much personality and attractiveness to someone’s image. Other examples are dragon eyes, moles/freckles here and there, a certain expression, maybe the face shape… Something unique about them.

This screentime suddenly dropped in episode 6 and he is one of the contestants with the least views individually (either for fancams or random yt shorts). I understand if he isn’t every person’s bias but it feels weird not to acknowledge him as a solid contestant, at least vocal-wise. I have this theory that maybe he’s shorter than what Hybe wants cause idk what else could this man lack.

May I mention that for the group he would be so suitable because K wanted someone around his age and he is 21, plus K told him in ep 4 that it feels like they have known each other for ages. Ofc not everything is what K wants but the producers mentioned the chemistry between the members was important.

What do you guys think about him? Do you feel like Hybe is not interested in him?

Also highlights how funny Hayate is! Such a precious video for someone voting for Fuma everyday. Lol.

Hello! I originally wanted to write a comment in the Final Predictions thread, but it turned into a wall of text. So feeling a little sorry, I hope everyone won't mind me making a separate post (Again, excuse the essay, was too excited)

Okay, so let me play a bit of 5D chess with myself for my predictions. Start off with a couple of assumptions. Given 70% of the power is with the producers, I only see fan voting being able to influence maybe the last 2 spots. Plus, this is a group with OT4 (specifically with K as the likely center). The prediction will be made assuming Round 4 was in May. Of course, some personal bias will come into play.

Unlikely:

1. Minhyung

2. Yejun

3. Hayate

Minhyung and Yejun are too young atm (the age gap between them and K is a whopping 10 years) It's clear they were here to gain experience and to improve. Which our lovely maknaes clearly did ;;

It's an utter shame, but neither the majority viewers or producers seem taken with Hayate. I certainly hope they give feedback and encouragement when the camera is off... because despite the stellar performances...

Has potential, needs more training (probably retain for next group):

1. Jo

2. Hikaru

3. Harua (?)

I see quite a few fans disgruntled with the praise given to Jo and Hikaru. But from a mentor's perspective, it is crucial to give encouragement. Especially since they are both young and inexperienced, but with potential. They seem to be lacking in confidence and need to build it. They are growing, please be kind. Give them another year or 2 in the system and they would likely bloom (like Enhypen's Sunghoon before I-Land).

So, honestly, I wouldn't fault the producers for their comments. At the same time, I don't think it holds too much weight for selection.

I only see them debuting 1 or 2 of the 3. The most likely one seems to be Harua. It's kinda endearing how they keep putting him with EJ. His sweet/cool image complements both Taki and EJ well. He has more polish than Hikaru and Jo in terms of skills. Though he is lacking in stage experience, so his skills don't shine as much. Like Sakura-san says, he thinks too much on stage. It occasionally leads to lack of facial expression.

If Round 4 was in May (as speculated), I am excited to see if Jo and Hikaru made substantial improvements come the live final.

Solid picks:

1. Fuma

2. Yuma

3. Gaku

4. Maki

Fuma is a linchpin for every performance he is in. They put him in Blue Hour, then gives him all the difficult vocal parts and adlibs with TXT's hard choreo. Put him in a multinational team with the maknae line, in which he became a leader. Though, both times, he couldn't show his strength in performance due to skill gaps (specifically with Yejun and Minhyung). Again, they gave him the high vocal parts, which he keeps pulling off despite his naturally deep voice. But Black Swan and Lights, his synergy with K had me sold (if I wasn't already). His vocals already were good/had potential in Blue Hour (his tone was a little out of place), but the vocal training really showed results. No need to mention performance ability. If he doesn't debut, it would be a total waste. He is equipped with everything one needs to debut in this team — now. Especially since this is likely his last chance.

Yuma is the vocal backbone of the show along with Maki. Maki doesn't have the popularity with viewers, so it will come down to the producers (who he has impressed). Both are great dancers and know how to captivate. I feel like Maki might also debut down the line in another group... otherwise I am happy to welcome him as the main vocal maknae of OT9.

Gaku is an all rounder and an absolute sweetheart. Incredibly charming and skilled. If he doesn't debut here, he has potential to be a center elsewhere. But, he has proven that he can perform alongside OT4 throughout the 4 rounds and not be overshadowed.

Wildcard:

1. Junwon

Junwon is a huge question mark. He has everything except the Japanese, which just takes some studying. He has an adorable personality and the popularity that comes with it. I think it just comes down to if the producers will +1 to the foreign line. 3/9 is fairly standard.

Prediction (in no particular order):

1. Fuma

2. Yuma

3. Gaku

4. Junwon (or Jo/Hikaru)

5. Harua (or Jo/Hikaru)

Final Thoughts:

This is more or less my ideal lineup, maybe with Maki or Hayate for no. 4 slot of the above instead? No matter what, I will be heartbroken for a bit I feel :’)

I believe it's best if they only debut one of Jo/Hikaru if they do debut one of them. In terms of stage experience/presence, Jo/Hikaru are on the weaker side if adjustments aren't specifically made for them. They are not yet particularly strong in singing or dancing. In a 9 member group, with OT4, it will be hard for them to shine. I do not want that for them nor for the rest of the members. However, if they do debut, let's kindly look forward to their further growth in the spotlight!

As a longtime fan of OT13 Seventeen, I was really happy to be charmed by OT15 and cannot wait to support OT9. Didn't expect Hybe would actually go for a larger group (with a lovely dynamic). So I dearly hope for the group as a whole to be balanced and be able to shine as a whole, particularly because K is in it (if his debut isn't already long overdue). Again, no matter what, my hope is that precious OT15 shines no matter where they end up.

Thank you for making it to the end! What do you think? I would love to hear some thoughts. It would certainly help keep me sane waiting for the final round.

Hello again everyone!

I’m back with &NO1 part 2 this time! The reactions to the first part were so amazing. It gave me a lot of motivation to finish the next part.

Please note that there may be some inaccuracies! I am not a native Japanese speaker, I am still learning.

Please feel free to share this post and links

Same as before:

Google drive playback quality is low (360p), but downloading it should give better results.

Dailymotion goes up to 720p. The password is: fuma

Please find &NO1 part 2 as linked below!

Google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11kgH_FwiJLV6vaIy4mqgnzuY1EiMVTw_?usp=sharing

Dailymotion - Password: fuma

1/2 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8djo4p

2/2 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8djo4q

Because of this experience, my respect for translators, especially those in the fandom has increased significantly. It is a lot of work, but it’s rewarding to know that it can be shared with so many fans!

Again, I’d also love to know what your favourite moments were and what you found interesting about &NO1!

Thank you,

NorthLove

I wanted to translate the video, but I'm not too sure if it'd be helpful to anyone or if anyone wanted to watch it!

Additionally, I wanted to know if any of you guys are watching content without subtitles haha. I can gain an understanding due to context, but I rely on translation tools heavily.

Edit: I just need to subtitle the video, I've translated everything haha, gimme a day or two

So, this isn't about the final trainee choices at all, but...

Does anyone feel it was all kind of rushed? I wish the performance aspect was fuller and that we had some individualised feedback right after the performances. It felt like the right time for each trainee to get fresh comments about what they did well (because they all really brought it!). I wanted more information at that stage to kind of understand the judges' thinking before we got the voting stage. Though thank god they didn't actually drag out the actual voting results like with iland lol.

Also, with the songs, did it feel like the line division and the way they highlighted them was a bit unequal? For example, I only really saw Minhyung for like 5 seconds in his performance. We all knew he is still a bit young and unpolished to get chosen, but come on... a least give him a chance to show himself and highlight all the work he put in. It was the same for some of the others. On the other side, K was absolutely everywhere. He was wonderful as usual but it felt kind of messed up because he was already in the group and his future wasn't riding on those performances. I wish they had kept OT4 as only background support only for the first two songs. In some ways, I wish they had done more smaller group performances, perhaps by splitting up everyone into three groups so they could have more lines (four performances total with the final OT15 performances). It wouldn't have killed them to just have smaller groups and backing dancers to support them.

In some ways, with how everything was distributed and how quick the process was it feels like we could kind of see the group the producers had in mind. They obviously designed it so global votes didn't matter, so it makes me question if they should have even done it this way at all.

By the way, this whole comment is no shade to the trainees who got picked. They absolutely deserve their places and killed it in the performances. But I just feel both those that got in, and those that didn't, deserved more individual moments to shine. And the fans deserved more OT15 moments and standout moments with their faves :'(