[Survival Show Thoughts] Girls Planet 999: Episode 1

Girls Planet 999 is a reality-survival show where trainees are divided according to the language they speak: Chinese, Japanese and Korean. There are 99 trainees in total, 33 trainees from each country. 3 trainees -1 from each country- were grouped into smaller teams called "cell" and they have to survive together. If one fails, all three will be eliminated. However, they have a choice to maintain or form a new cell if they are part of the Planet Top 9, which will be voted by Planet Guardians (Global viewers).

The theme of the first episode is "Contact" where each trainee meet each other, put into "cell" based on similar interests and perform in front of the masters. Some groups were grouped by role models (like Twice and Girls Generation) or being flexible or even those who can imitate a cartoon character.

Yeo Jin Goo, the "Planet Master" aka host of the show, explained that the debut group will have nine members and it will be decided by the global votes, which is 50% Korean votes and 50% international votes. In every mission, a temporary Top 9 will be announced and will sit on the Planet Top 9 chairs.

They also introduced the KPOP Masters, TIffany Young and Sunmi, who are members of popular and most respected girl groups, Girls' Generation and Wondergirls, respectively, and the Vocal and Dance masters who trained some of the popular KPOP acts.

[SPOILERS!!] 

Guide:

♔ - Planet Top 9 candidate, passed the first performance test

X - full performance not shown on TV broadcast, found on YouTube, ranks not revealed (I added those who I saw have the stickers!)

Team "Visual Killer" - RUMOR (by I*ZONE)

C01 (C-group, rank 1) - Shen Xiao Ting ♔

C24 - Xu Ruo Wei

C26 - Huang Xing Xiao

C33 - Chen Hsin Wei

Team "Crystal Girls" - FANCY (by Twice)

J04 (J-group, rank 4) - Murakami Yume

J09 - Kawaguchi Yurina ♔

J14 - Kishida Ririka

J24 - Kitajima Yuna

J28 - Hayase Yana

Team "Cuties" - BLACK MAMBA (by aespa)

K07 (K-group, rank 7) - Lee Yun Ji

K23 - Kim Chae Hyun

K30 - An Jeong Min ♔

Team "Hot Sauce" - KICK IT (by NCT 127)

K10 - Seo Young Eun ♔

K22 - Yoon Ji A ♔

Team "December Girl" - DUMDI DUMDI (by G-idle)

J02 - Sakamoto Mashiro ♔

J17 - Hiyajo Nagomi ♔

[X] Solo - BLACK (by BoA)

J03 - Yamauchi Moana

[X] Team "Spring Girls" - HUG U (by DIA)

J07 - Arai Risako

J08 - Hayashi Fuko

J15 - Sakurai Miu ♔

J22 - Nagai Manami

J26 - Kanno Miyu

[X] Team "Energy Youngest" - NONSTOP (by Oh My Girl)

J11 - Kuwahara Ayana ♔

J29 - Ikema Ruan

Team "Burn Crush" - BOOMBAYAH (by Black Pink)

J01 - Ezaki Hikaru ♔

J06 - Nonaka Shana ♔

J10 - Kamimoto Kotone

J16 - Kamikura Rei

Team "Shooting Star" - POP STARS (by K/DA)

K01 - Kim Da Yeon

K02 - Choi Ye Young

K19 - Kim Su Yeon ♔

[X] Team "Luxury Proportion Girls" - VIOLETA ( by I*ZONE)

C10 - Xia Yan ♔

C14 - Zhang Luofei

C15 - Yang Zi Ge

C19 - Wang Qiu Ru

C23 - Zhou Xin Yu

C25 - Cui Wen Mei Xiu

Team "Monster Babies" - CRAZY (by 4MINUTE)

K13 - Kang Ye Seo ♔

K17 - Lee Chae Yun ♔

K24 - Kim Se In ♔

K27 - Guinn Myah ♔

Team "Twins" - HMPH! (by WJSN Chocome)

C31 - Liang Jiao

C32 - Liang Qiao

Team "Palette Girls" - WANNABE (by ITZY)

C03 - Leung Cheuk Ying

C04 - Wu Tammy ♔

C11 - Li Yi Man

C20 - Poon Wing Chi

C29 - Lin Shu Win

Team "Shining Girls" - TWINKLE (by Girls Generation TTS)

C13 - Wang Ya Le

C17 - Liu Shi Qi

C27 - Ma Yu Ling

[X] Team "0505 Youngest" - ROLY POLY (by T-ARA)

C18 - Liu Yu Han

C30 - Lin Chen Han

[X] Team "S2" - DOLPHIN (by Oh My Girl)

C08 - Hsu Nien Tzu

C22 - Ho Sze Ching

Team "The Real Fierce Sisters" - HELICOPTER (by CLC)

C05 - Wen Zhe

C06 - Chang Ching

C07 - Fu Ya Ning ♔

C12 - Chia Yi ♔

C28 - Cai Bing ♔

THOUGHTS

Whew! That was long. 

It look me at least 3 and a half hours, including watching the other performances on YouTube and finding the names of the contests, because I believe they deserve to get praised too for working hard. Anyway, first I will rank the performances I saw ON BROADCAST.

Best performance to worst not best (in my opinion)

1. Kick It

2. Crazy

3. Boombayah

4. Pop Stars

5. Hmph

6. Helicopter

7. Dumdi Dumdi

8. Black Mamba

9. Fancy

10. Rumor

11. Wannabe

Kick It: Seo Youngeun KILLED IT. She was cute in the intro and badass on the performance. Yoon Ji A also did really well but my eyes was on Youngeun the whole time. She's on my early Top 9 picks after this performance.

Crazy: They are the CUTEST. I do think the build up also helped them, adding a WOW factor because who could've think that these adorable youngest trainees can do a 4MINUTE performance justice? Guinn Myah is really charming, Kim Se In voice is so powerful and Kang Ye Seo is so professional handling the mic issue during the performance.

Boombayah: Ezaki Hikaru is so cool. Embodiment of a girl crush. The whole group did really well (and also Nonaka with those vocals!)

Pop Stars: I think the group did well but I'm not the judge so- I will talk about it later. I do agree that Kim Su Yeon stands out. She's charming, and she knows.

Hmph: I know they didn't do well enough to be part of Planet Top 9 candidates but they were so entertaining. I have the biggest smile on my face when I watched them perform (though, I cringed a little bit too). In Twitter, I found out out that they really dance well so lets see in the next performances. They might pull a reverse card on us.

Helicopter: I really didn't like the way to hyped the whole Fu Ya Ning vs. Choi Yu Jin drama, and even if FYN is good at performing, I felt off when she pulled that "We go up, but you don't" move. Overall, they are good, after all the "failed" entrance performances from other C-groups.

Dumdi Dumdi: I like their performance but I feel like its a safe song? Nothing really wow-ed me.

Black Mamba: I feel like the voice of Jeongmin and Yunji didn't fit the song. I was rooting for Kim Chaehyun but I understood that she didn't get in because she wavered and lost focus. They did really well still, dancing and singing to Black Mamba is difficult.

Fancy and Rumor: I don't know how they distributed the trainees and divided them to each group but because Shen Xiaoting and Kawaguchi Yurina were grouped with not-so-stable trainees, they easily stood out. Shen Xiaoting is already in my Top 9 picks and I believe she will stay and debut. Yurina is a good surprise.

Wannabe: ...yeah. I think they pick the wrong song to perform.

I think MNET already highlighted some trainees here. 

I do noticed the amount of screen time Chen Hsin Wei got because of her funny nearsighted moments and language problems, Shen Xiaoting and Kang Ye Seo being good leaders to their group, Ezaki Hikaru's journey to being the number 1 Japanese trainee and their group being the "pride of J-group", and the back stories of ex-trainees from Big 3 companies. Quite surprised that Bahiyyih, who is one of the most anticipated trainees because of her brother, only appeared for 16 seconds out of 2-hour show. I guess we'll see more of her on the next episode.

It feels like there's a difference in expectation from Korean trainees compared to Japanese and Chinese trainees. I believe Pop Stars team trainees did well but only one got the sticker. 

First episode was fun to watch but this is like a revamped Produce show. They just made it more cruel when they gave the trainees the option to form/break "cell" or make their own little cliques, and trainees will be eliminated by group. Sunmi and Tiffany's comments were refreshing though, and I feel that they will really be hands-on with these trainees. I'm excited to see the next episode.