SERA00 Regimen: Pre-debut

Hey everyone!

This is the second post in the SERA00 Regimen series, so if you haven't read the first one do that first. I'm just going to jump into the continuation.

PRE-DEBUT

The next stage is the pre-debut. This is where you are intensively trained for about a month leading up to your debut as a 00 rank. In CASUT00's case, they trained for six months to directly debut as official members. 

While CASUT00 did drop members from the line-up before debut, SERA00 actually doesn't do that. If you pass the audition, you can basically prepare to debut sooner or later (unless you're fired for other reasons o.O). However, it's not uncommon for girls who realize that they can't take the life to leave.

First and foremost, you have to realize that in the end, we are idols and we kind of need to look good. That's standard. So the very first thing we do during the pre-debut is learn how to take care of ourselves. Things like having a healthy diet, and putting on makeup. The stylists give you a makeover and teach you how to achieve it. 

Often they'll cut your hair and suggest everyday styles that will work. For example, ponytail, pigtails, braids, or keeping your hair down? Which ones do you pull off best? How to curl or straighten your hair, apply eyeliner. Which eyebrow shape suits you, which style of makeup complements you best.

They'll choose products for your skin to help keep it clear and stuff. But other than in your pre-debut, that's all the beauty lessons you're going to get unless you go to a stylist by yourself. Because of the sheer numbers of members, it's impractical for each girl to take her turn with the makeup team. So unless we're appearing on television, or having a big concert or something, we usually do our own makeup.

Workout! With all the physical energy being an idol drains, staying in top shape is a must! So the pre-debut puts a lot of emphasis on exercising. No, they don't spend money on getting us stylists, but they get us each a personal trainer. Yep. Intense workouts until you're deemed "fit", and then you go to the gym by yourself. To give you an example of "fit", Sassan is fit. None of the 00 ranks or recently promoted members are considered fit. Not even Macey or Sammi. Am I fit? I was declared fit maybe two months ago? :D but it took me like more than two years o__o

So basically (I use that phrase often in general, don't I?), a pre-debut training day would look something like this. 

(7-9 AM) You wake up in the morning and exercise first thing with your trainer for about two hours.

(9 AM -12 PM) Attend school. Most trainees are school aged. If not, then practice or do something else.

(12-1 PM) Everyone lunch time!

(1-5 PM) Two slots for two-hour classes. You probably have more than two so it'll be spread out over the days. Your classmates are pretty much different every day. The classes are singing, dancing, choreography, and media. Singing is pretty straightforwards. Dancing is literally teaching you moves, working towards being able to dance freestyle to any music that comes on. Choreography is the class where you learn the choreography for all of SERA00's songs, but they start out with what you need to debut, which is the most recent 00 rank stage. Media is how to handle yourself in front of an audience. For example, MC-ing, posture, TV appearances, etc. They may teach you what producers expect you to bring to a show and have you practice so you don't freeze up on your first appearance on national television. 

(5-7 PM) Group class. This is where everything is put together in preparation for your debut. Since you never have singing or choreography with ALL the fellow trainees, this is your chance. You'll practice singing and dancing in sync, and perfect formation changes for each song. 

(7-8 PM) Dinner time ~

(8-9 PM) Free time.

(9-10 PM) Evaluation O.O Remember how I said SERA00 won't cut girls before their debut? I lied. Well, kind of. So you see, the thing is, SERA00 is a big group. We have a set formation for each song, but the line-up is never the same each time it's performed. So in that sense, we don't really have a line-up of members like CASUT00 or other idol groups do. The number of new members we admit doesn't really affect us. 

However you can be cut if you don't perform well on the evaluations. There are levels 1-7 with 7 being the best, and you need to have at least a 5 or higher in all 4 classes or you won't debut. Every night you have a chance to show off to the teachers, who will decide whether your skills have improved enough to move up a level. When you start out most likely you're a 1 or 2 in each subject. 

When I debuted, I had a 6 in singing, media, and choreography, and a 5 in dancing. Rome had 6 in choreography and dancing, and 5 in media and singing. It's harder to get to the higher levels. Only one or two trainees get sevens each generation.

I heard that for the sixth generation, Macey , Echo, and Tomiko got 7666, while Sammi got 6666, and Yumichan got 7766. That's a scary generation, considering the highest marks are set by our seniors. Every current media member got at least one 7. The top holders are Geneviève, Maya, and  River with 7766, Luna, Fracken, and Harley with 7776, and Angel and Sassan with the only 7777s to date. 

I remember it being a pretty harsh routine, and even I only endured it for about a month and a half. The CASUT00 girls lasted 6 months! Both Arron and JY got 7777, but they got 6 times the time to do it. Not that the achievement isn't great, it's still pretty amazing. 

So that's the day. There are no more scheduled events after 10, but many girls choose to go practice by themselves or with friends. Every member has a SERA00/CASUT00 ID card that grants them access to our facilities, which are electronically locked. 

Usually all members have halted SERA00 activities by 12, but it's actually not uncommon, especially if we have something big coming up, to see members in the dance studies at 3 or 4 in the morning. New members, DON'T DO THAT! It'll ruin your health. You need sleep to function! Trust me, I know <<not mentioning August 2012>>.

So. Audition. Get in. Get at least four fives. Moving onto 00 ranks next time!

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SERA00 Regimen: Auditions

Hey everyone!

I noticed that you guys are interested in reading posts about how we train/debut, stuff like that. So having just refreshers my memory while training with CASUT00, I'll give you an updated in-detail post. If you don't like reading long posts about our system, just skip all the posts pertaining to this! So I already explained part of our system in a post before explaining our schedules. 

Now, first of all, it's not exactly correct to refer to our literal schedules as schedules. Maybe timetable or agenda would be better. We use the term "schedule" to refer to events an idol has to attend. For example, if Sassan has to attend a radio broadcasting at 3 pm, then Sassan has a schedule in the afternoon.

So I guess there are four main stages of SERA00. 

1) Auditions

2) Pre-debut training

3) 00 rank

4) Official member

For SERA00, the pre-debut training is about one month of intense training, which seems meager compared to overseas idols, who are trained for years since they were young before debuting. However, SERA00 encourages fans to support their favourite members and watch them grow, which is why most training and experience is gained when girls are in the 00 rank stage. Each girl's time in 00 rank differs, ranging from a couple of months to a couple of years. The girls that were promoted at the Winter Concert were 00 ranks for roughly a year. Then, of course, you are an official member until you graduate, or the rare case of demotion. 

CASUT00 is pretty similar, except the first gens are skipping over the 00 rank stage. Instead, they spent 6 months in the pre-debut stage, 5 months more than usual. And it was pretty intense, more intense than I remember mine being. 

So first I'll post about the audition process. I won't go into much detail since I've already posted a lot about auditions. Basically, you send in your applications and those chosen are briefly interviewed. Why are interviews first? Because SERA00 is not necessarily looking for talent, but rather, potential. So singing and dancing come after. 

Once the interview stage is passed, you audition for singing AND dancing. It's not singing first or dancing first, you're evaluated on both. At this stage it's still the mass group auditions.

If you pass that stage then it's one on one auditions for, again, both singing and dancing. 

Then the final audition goes back to group audition again, but of course the group is way smaller now, maybe 30-40 girls? After all, you are auditioning for SERA00, a girl group, so you have to be able to work in coordination with your fellow idols. 

Once you get in, you have to get your life in order before you enter the pre-debut stage, which starts just a few days after! There are actually a number of things you have to worry about. First of all, residency, since you most likely don't live anywhere near the Complex. Are you going to live at the Complex, live with a relative near the Complex, rent a place, etc.?

And then school; you will probably have to drop out of your current school and either transfer to a school closer to the Complex, or study in the Complex, which is the most popular choice for members. Of course, once you get to university that's another matter. 

Next comes the pre-debut stage, to be discussed in the next post. 

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CASUT00 Pre-debut Officialness

Hey everyone!

With CASUT00's impending debut, everything has finally been finalized! I'll post the training and debut stories later, so today we'll focus on what's official. 

First, all the members will debut as official members. There will be no trainees/00 ranks for the first generation. The overall leader, JY, and the ace, Arron, announced last time still stand, as well as all positions in CASU-J. However the same cannot be said for the other captains. 

There's been changes in the line-up, as a couple members have been dropped before the debut. Four girls have been dropped, with Team Narcissus being disbanded. The girls dropped are Narcissus' Via Rose, April, and Maylin, and Bluebell's Clover. These girls will be given a free pass to the final round should they ever audition for SERA00.

What else? Madison of Azalea and Isabelle of Bluebell have been swapped. Rachel, the remaining member of Narcissus, is now the leader of Bluebell. The official debut line-up is listed below. As I mentioned before, the CASU-J line-up remained untouched. 

After an intense six month training, all of the girls look a lot more like idols now! And not just because of their looks. Now, they're in shape, and can sing and dance in coordination.

So how do they look? Let's line them up in terms of height. The tallest member is their leader, JY. Here's a list from tallest to shortest. 

JY - Rachel - Arron - Isabelle - Madison - Ava - Holiday - Nikki. 

Rachel warmed up her hair colour to a chocolatey brown. JY has jet black hair dip-dyed in blue. Holiday also has black hair. Isabelle and Nikki have blonde hair, while Madison has dirty blonde and Ava has golden-brown hair. 

But our ace (for those of you who notice that I keep calling the centre the 'ace' it's the same thing) has the boldest hair. Now she definitely stands out amongst the members with her bright pink hair. Like, f(x) Krystal pink. 

As for CASU-J, they're like Arron x 4. They were discussing with management how they could be more unique in terms of looks, and came up with a common interest; anime. So...even though they might be criticized for going overboard, they're going to debut with Konomi's platinum blonde, Sachi's lavender hair, Haruka's sky blue hair, and Yuka's baby pink hair. Exactly like something from an anime. They look AMAZING. No kidding. But I guess they can't stay like that forever. Their hair will start growing in and it'll be a pain to keep bleaching it. 

Anyways, here's that list I was talking about ;)

Below: Leader - bolded. Centre - italicized. Age - (parenthesis). 

Team Azalea:

JY (18)

Arron (16)

Isabelle (17)

Holiday (16)

Team Bluebell:

Rachel (18)

Ava (16)

Nikki (15)

Madison (17)

CASU-J Members:

Team Sakura:

Konomi (20)

Sachi (19)

Haruka (20)

Yuka (18)

Please support CASUT00 and SERA00!

CASUT00 debuting soon!

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry for the lack of posts recently. That's because I'm actually really busy with CASUT00. Our concurrent period will end this month with the official debut of CASUT00 on March 29, 2014, having trained for six months with Illusionary. The debut single will be named..."Illusions". Shocker XD

Wish us luck!

Please support SERA00 and CASUT00!

We ate Takoyaki~ (#boringtitles)

Hey everyone!

I don't know what to write about, so I'm just updating about randome things...

Today after meeting with CASUT00, Illusionary went to eat Japanese food. I feel I've become closer to Fracken and Maya after working with them for so many months. Before they were just A ranks way up there in an unattainable position, but now I talk to them and see them as fellow members. Our term with CASUT00 is coming to a close :(

Anyways here's a picture of our takoyaki. 

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This is why we don't do photoshop.

Hey everyone!

Guess what? Miss Avery said I now have permission to post photos. Therefore it only makes sense to celebrate this occasion with a picture!

Do you remember a few posts back about SERA00 not overly photoshopping our photos? Here's a prime example why... SERA00+photo editing=

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Our unique songs + 26th single

Hey everyone!

Have you ever wondered about the weird songs in our stage set lists? I think SERA00 fans are probably used to them, but critics outside the SERA00 fandom aren't. 

So let's explain. Why does Team Angel have such a song like "Despair" in our stage? Basically the song goes "despair/despair/I'm in despair/why oh/why I'm overwhelmed with despair/despair" and it has kind of a depressing tune. 

Well you can't expect stages to be the same as singles. Stage songs are exactly what they are, and aren't officially released like singles are. So basically they're only for our fans to hear and that gives us creative space. We can try more, *ahem* creative songs. Because we know our fans are quite supportive of whatever we do, we can go places that other artists might not dare because the risk of losing fans or being criticized. 

So that's that, let's talk about the 26th single! No, we're not releasing it yet, it's still too early. Do you remember the single Hop Down? The main cast of that single consisted of Sassan, Angel, Luna, River, Maya, Harley, Geneviève, Taz, and Wyoming. It had an AngelXHarley centre, even though at the time Harley had just debuted. Why did the main cast only consist of nine members? Because they were the only ones capable of getting into the cast. 

And for the 26th single we're doing it again; the internal auditions (which means my chances of getting in are inexistent). Basically what happens is an external choreography team is hired to put super complicated choreography to the single. Then each team gets two lessons on the choreography, and that's it. You can record the instructor and practice it yourself. Then comes the one week audition period, which starts on the second day after the last lesson. 

A member can chose to audition for the single anytime within that time frame. All you have to do is dance the choreography. They decide on the spot whether or not to take you for the cast. It's not a see-everyone-and-then-choose, it's decided on the spot. The catch? Everyone only gets one chance to audition, and they cap the members at sixteen, as usual. So if you wait too long all the spots might be filled, but if you dive into it without enough practice you might be out for good. 

For Hop Down, the sixteen spots weren't even filled. However, there are new contenders this time! Last time, the fifth gen had just debuted, and the sixth gen was nonexistent. In my opinion, the sixth gen is a stronger contender than the fifth gen; don't see any particularly strong dancers in the fifth gen. 

This time, it will be a different choreography team, and the style or preview of the single hasn't been released to the members yet. They might as well give us a ballet number. 

Oh well, we'll see. I'm definitely aiming to be in that main cast; I've been in the main cast of most singles since Dry, the 22nd single, with the exception of 23rd single which was the pre-election single. 

Please support SERA00!

SERA00 VIP and blog makeover!

Hey everyone!
Sorry for the little vacation I took from the blog, but I have been working! I actually have a post ready to publish but I keep forgetting. I'll have it up for you guys soon.
Keep reading to learn about the new feature!

First ~
If you're a regular reader, or have been on this site before, you will notice that the blog recently got a makeover! It became prettier :D Miss Avery told me that she went on the blog, and said that I was doing a great job. Just when I was all smiley inside, she continued and said that it looked boring and like any other blog. She said to make it more visually appealing.
Of course, she didn't tell me how.... So I toiled through tons of internet tutorials on HTML and CSS and all that stuff and I am officially a self-taught expert - no okay, I'm nowhere near able to understand all that programming jargon. But I'm quite proud of what I whipped up! I hope the new page is more visually appealing to you guys! (did you notice that the "SERA00" banner at the top changes every 10 seconds or so? :DDD the tabs also look prettier now - at least I think so) It passed Miss Avery's inspection for now...

And now!
A new "feature" was recently added - SERA00 VIP!
To become a VIP click on the "More" tab, where you will see a form for you to register. I will sign you up as soon as possible and you will have access to the VIP site. On the VIP site you will be able to see content not available on the main site. This site is not accessible without signing up, try it yourself ;)
sera00vip.blogspot.ca
Anyways, that's that!
Oh, right - most important thing, right? IT'S FREE.
I knooooow, SERA00 VIP is such a boring name. Please help me think of a cool name for SERA00's online fanclub!
Please support SERA00!

2014 SERA00 Winter Concert Highlights: Graduations, Promotions, new sub-unit SKYTown

Hey everyone!

So today I will write about the highlights of our SERA00 2014 Winter Concert "Snowflake Symphony"! I'll start off on both ends of the Wota freaking-out spectrum; graduations and promotions. 

As predicted, there were quite a few of both, and it was even this time. Members who announced their graduation last Saturday during the concert include A ranks Elyse Schreiner and Katerina Landon (Feather), B rank Terra Appling, and C ranks Whitley Sunnings and Tricia Henrie. The reasons they spoke about were very similar, either for school, pursuing another career, etc. 

I once read an article online that summed up the reasons SERA00 girls graduated for each rank, and I think it was written quite well. It basically said, C ranks graduate because they feel stuck with nowhere to go, B ranks graduate because they want to give themselves a chance to go somewhere, and A ranks graduate because they want to go further. So we as members must have faith in ourselves that we are always going to improve and respect that those members feel that their best choice right now is to graduate. 

Okay, before Elyse/Feather/Terra/Whitley/Tricia fans start crying, let's get onto the good news. Which 00 ranks got promoted? As predicted, the favourite for promotion was Macey, and she was promoted to Team Night along with Mikayla. Echo was promoted to Team Angel. Briar Rose, the other favourite contender for promotion, was promoted to Team Aurora. 

But wait - some of you are thinking, five doesn't equal four, shouldn't one more 00 rank have been promoted? Yes! Kaya was also promoted to Team Aurora, but only yesterday when she had her birthday stage! It was management's smartly timed birthday present to her.

Now, probably most of you are scratching your heads with this question - why weren't the most popular 00 ranks promoted? That is to say, not the favourite contenders but rather the day-to-day popular members, specifically Sammi, Yumichan, Tomiko, etc. 

There are actually pros and cons of being promoted. Because there are so many official members, C ranks are often swamped by the popularity of senior members, whereas the 00 ranks are a little group of their own, a place where they can really shine and stand out. I think some of you underestimate the 00 ranks as a team, but in reality many Wotas realize that they are SERA00's future so 00s actually do get quite some attention from fans. 

I hope this can explain some of the girls who weren't promoted. Admittedly because of her position as 00 rank centre, Sammi is probably the most popular 00 rank at this point and keeping her in 00 rank is essential to keeping the 00 ranks together. She will have more chances to shine as 00 rank's centre as opposed to being a newbie entering a team as an official member. As for Yumichan and Tomiko, they have considerable popularity and I suspect management is just keeping them in 00 so that the 00 ranks can feed off their popularity. It's no doubt that eventually they will get promoted but they are currently getting enough exposure what with being in the sub-unit SKYTown with Sassan and Kotoka. 

Out of the previous 00 ranks, it was pretty obvious to those who attended SERA00 Stages that Macey Fent was very capable, and that's probably why she was promoted; management thinks she can make it in Team Night. Both Macey and Mikayla are very good dancers, which explains their promotion to Night. Kaya and Briar Rose were promoted to Team Aurora. These are the promotions I'm not sure I understand fully. Kaya has more of a mature appeal, and I would put her in Night if I had the choice. Maybe she was put in Aurora just to even out the teams, and her girly vibe matches Aurora slightly better than Angel. Briar Rose's promotion to Aurora will raise many eyebrows. Yes, Aurora is the team that matches her best, but is she ready for her suspected big push from management? It was already tried as soon as she debuted (she centred the 00 rank performances for a couple of weeks) but Sammi replaced her. Many fans are wondering whether this is the next level, or it's simply the end of management's help and the beginning of walking her own road?

Let's talk about Echo. In fact, I believe she contributed to the reason why the 00 rank ace and members of Skytown weren't promoted. Echo is the member that pulls together the 00s and rallies them for a performance. Essentially, she naturally took over as the leader of 00 ranks. As of now, there isn't really anyone who could take over Angel's super important position as leader of the entire group (except other senior members, but they have their own roles in SERA00), so if she graduates we're in trouble. Echo is an obvious candidate and by putting her in Team Angel management is grooming her to be SERA00's next Angel.

It's quite obvious that they're really going to shape her perfectly for leadership of the entire group, because if they wanted her to just quickly become a leader they could have stuck her in one of the other groups and promote her to captain in a couple of months. However, I suspect she will be one member in Angel who will not be moving anywhere in the team shuffles to come. She will stay in SERA00's core team and build her leadership skills.  

Phew, that was a long rambly post XD ! Sorry guys, but I hope I gave you some insight into the promotions. 

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February Post Challenge 2014 COMPLETE!

Hey everyone!

FEBRUARY POST CHAL-

Oops! Are you as used to seeing that as I am writing it?

As of yesterday, I posted "Brown Sugar Cocoa recipe <3", the 24th post that broke last year's post record of 23 posts! Although it was really fun and motivated me to write more, phew! It was a lot of work! So I apologize in advance if you're disappointed by the frequency of posts dwindling. 

But even if it's only by one, FEBRUARY POST CHALLENGE 2014 — COMPLETE!

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