Nizi Project ( "Rainbow Project") is a 2020 Japanese reality competition show. The series is a joint project between JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan with the intention of creating a Japanese girl group aimed at a global audience. Nizi Project is centered on JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young selecting members for the girl group out of 26 girls, who eventually debuted as NiziU.
Part 1 focused on the boot camp in 2019 with 26 contestants and was broadcast exclusively on Hulu Japan from January 31, 2020, to March 27, 2020. Part 2, which focused on the finals in 2020 between the top 14 contestants, was broadcast from May 22, 2020, to June 26, 2020. Beginning with Part 2, the series was also broadcast on YouTube.
A version of the show hosted by Daimaou Kosaka was broadcast on NTV from April 17, 2020, to June 26, 2020, under the title and featured interviews with Park and the contestants of Nizi Project. An abridged version was serialized on the variety show with live commentary from the show's panelists.
In July 2021, Park announced that Nizi Project would have a second season to create a 9-member Japanese boy band. The project was later delayed, but it resumed in July 2023.
Background
In February 2019, JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan announced that they were creating an audition program titled Nizi Project to create a Japanese girl group aimed at a global audience, with plans for the group to debut in November 2020. Auditions for Japanese girls aged 15–22 years old opened on May 1, 2019, and were evaluated by a panel of judges. Approximately 10,231 people auditioned for the show. The second round of auditions took place from July to August 2019 in eight locations in Japan as well as Hawaii and Los Angeles, with 26 contestants selected by JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young. The 26 contestants attended a boot camp in Tokyo in September 2019 for four nights and five days. The top 14 contestants were sent to train in South Korea for six months in December 2019.
Each contestant selected by Park would be given a cube pendant based on the Nizi Project logo. Throughout the show, Park would evaluate each contestant in four different categories, with a triangular cube awarded to a contestant to fill her pendant if he felt she satisfied the category. A second set of cubes was introduced in Part 2, with four additional tests.
Part 1 was broadcast from January 31, 2020, to March 27, 2020, on Hulu Japan. Part 2 was broadcast from May 22, 2020, to June 26, 2020. In addition to Hulu Japan, the series was also uploaded to YouTube and an abridged version of the show was serialized through NTV's variety show , with live commentaries from the show's panelists. A version of the show, presented in the "perspective of the [host] and [Park] as the producers", was broadcast as a series of documentaries under the title ; the show was hosted by Daimaou Kosaka, with interviews from Park and the Nizi Project contestants, and was broadcast from April 17, 2020, to June 26, 2020. Prior to the finale of Part 2, Sukkiri ran a 25-minute feature of all the episodes from June 15 to June 26, 2020, on weekdays. A special feature of Nizi no Kake Hashi was broadcast on June 26, 2020, with announcer Keisuke Mori co-hosting the segment with Kosaka.
Contestants
RegionContestantAgeBackground Nagoya 17–18 Former EXPG trainee with Bunnies and Kizzy 17 Sendai 14–15 Child actress and television personality under the name Former member of GEM and One Chance Osaka 15 17 17 15–16 Tokyo 14–15 14–15 JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 7 months 15–16 JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 7 months 18–19 JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 2 years and 7 months Former member of TPD Dash! 17–18 Former YG Japan trainee 15–16 JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 2 years and 8 months 16 Sapporo 18 Fukuoka 16–17 Former member of 15 Okinawa Los Angeles
Rankings
Summary
The top 9 finalists debuted as NiziU.
Color key Cube was awarded Cube was awarded as a runner-up Ranked last; at risk of elimination Eliminated or withdrawn
Region Contestant Part 1 Part 2 Dance Vocals Star PersonalityGrowthTeamworkImageFinals Tokyo Mako Yamaguchi Osaka Riku Oe 10 Tokyo Rima Yokoi Nagoya Rio Hanabashi Tokyo Maya Katsumura Tokyo Miihi Suzuno Osaka Mayuka Ogou 13 11 Tokyo Ayaka Arai 18 12 Sendai Nina Hillman 24 Tokyo Akari Inoue 11 Tokyo Yuna 10 12 Fukuoka Riria Ikematsu data-sort-value="14" 11 10 Fukuoka Momoka Hirai 9 12 colspan="2" Sapporo Suzu Ozaki 8 data-sort-value="14" colspan="4" Tokyo Kyoka Taniya 18 19 data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Okinawa Moeno Yamashiro 23 data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Nagoya Miu Sakurai 17 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Los Angeles Mei Plunkett 14 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Tokyo Hina Tanigawa 22 15 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Tokyo Funa Takaya 19 16 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Tokyo Rei Ito 17 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Sendai Kako Oguri 20 data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Osaka Ririka Kishida 21 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Osaka Ayane Marutani 23 22 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Nagoya Erina Hanada 25 26 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="15" colspan="5" Los Angeles Ana Sato 26 25 data-sort-value="14" data-sort-value="26" colspan="5"
Part 1
Nizi Project Part 1 focused on the auditions in July and August 2019 and the Tokyo boot camp in September 2019. Auditions opened on May 1, 2019, for girls aged 15–22 years old, with a total of 10,231 entries. The second round of auditions took place from July to August 2019 in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Okinawa, as well as Hawaii and Los Angeles in the United States. During the second auditions, Park and a panel of judges selected 26 contestants, which they awarded with Nizi pendants, and they would attend a boot camp in Tokyo that lasted four nights and five days.
During the boot camp, the contestants were evaluated under four categories: dance, vocals, star quality, and personality. If Park felt a contestant satisfied one of the categories, he would award her a triangular cube to fill her Nizi pendant.
Auditions
BroadcastorderRegionContestantDanceVocal 1 Nagoya Erina Hanada "Candy Pop" (Twice) 2 Rio Hanabashi "Hoshikuzu Venus" (Aimer) 19 Miu Sakurai "Good-bye Baby" (Miss A) 3 Sendai Nina Hillman "What Is Love? (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) "Brand New Day" (Rei Yasuda) Kako Oguri 4 Osaka Ririka Kishida "Who's Your Mama?" (Park Jin-young feat. Jessi) 5 Ayane Marutani "Who's Your Mama?" (Park Jin-young feat. Jessi) 20 Riku Oe "Candy Pop" (Twice) "Hoshikuzu Venus" (Aimer) Mayuka Ogou "Candy Pop" (Twice) 6 Tokyo Akari Inoue "BDZ" (Twice) "Brand New Day" (Rei Yasuda) 9 Miihi Suzuno "Precious" (Yuna Ito) 10 Rima Yokoi "Bad Girl Good Girl" (Miss A) "Irony" (Wonder Girls) 12 Mako Yamaguchi "You're the One" (Park Jin-young) "Freesia" (Uru) 8 Hina Tanigawa "Bad Girl Good Girl" (Miss A) 15 Maya Katsumura "24 Hours" (Sunmi) 16 Yuna "Irony" (Wonder Girls) 17 Ayaka Arai "Bad Girl Good Girl" (Miss A) 21 Kyoka Taniya "What Is Love? (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) Funa Takaya Rei Ito 7 Sapporo Suzu Ozaki "24 Hours" (Sunmi) "BDZ" (Twice) 7 Fukuoka Riria Ikematsu "Candy Pop" (Twice) "Yasashisa de Afureru You ni" (Juju) 18 Momoka Hirai "Good-bye Baby" (Miss A) "Be My Baby (Japanese ver.)" (Wonder Girls) 11 Okinawa Moeno Yamashiro "Who's Your Mama?" (Park Jin-young feat. Jessi) "Yasashisa de Afureru You ni" (Juju) 13 Los Angeles Mei Plunkett "Bad Girl Good Girl" (Miss A) 14 Ana Sato "What Is Love?" (Twice)
Cube 1: Dance
For the dance evaluation, yellow cubes were awarded to the top 3 contestants, with additional cubes awarded to the rest of the top 16 contestants.
BroadcastorderContestantSongRankResult 1 Maya Katsumura "Dalla Dalla" (Itzy) 12 2 Miihi Suzuno "Cheer Up (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 2 3 Yuna "Likey" (Twice) 8 4 Ayaka Arai "Dalla Dalla" (Itzy) 16 5 Riria Ikematsu "Dalla Dalla" (Itzy) 3 6 Rio Hanabashi "Summertime" (Riri, Keiju, Nariaki Obukuro) 9 7 Akari Inoue "Dalla Dalla" (Itzy) 10 9 Mako Yamaguchi "I'll Be Back (Japanese ver.)" (2PM) 1 10 Ririka Kishida "Cheer Up (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 4 11 Nina Hillman "Dalla Dalla" (Itzy) 24 12 Rima Yokoi "Fancy (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 7 13 Riku Oe "Fancy (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 6 14 Moeno Yamashiro "Yuki no Hana" (Mika Nakashima) 13 15 Momoka Hirai "Fancy (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 15 16 Funa Takaya "Fancy (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 19 17 Mayuka Ogou "Dalla Dalla" (Itzy) 21 Suzu Ozaki 5 Rei Ito 11 Mei Plunkett 14 Miu Sakurai 17 Kyoka Taniya 18 Kako Oguri 20 Hina Tanigawa 22 Ayane Marutani 23 Erina Hanada 25 Ana Sato 26
Cube 2: Vocal
For the vocal evaluation, green cubes were awarded to 7 contestants, with additional cubes awarded to the rest of the top 13 contestants.
BroadcastorderContestantSongRankResult 1 Momoka Hirai "Comeback When You Hear This Song (Japanese ver.)" (2PM) 11 2 Miu Sakurai "Connect" (ClariS) 10 3 Miihi Suzuno "Yuki no Hana" (Mika Nakashima) 3 4 Riku Oe "Yuki no Hana" (Mika Nakashima) 4 5 Rima Yokoi "Dalla Dalla" (Itzy) 7 6 Maya Katsumura "A (Japanese ver.)" (Got7) 12 7 Rio Hanabashi "Yuki no Hana" (Mika Nakashima) 13 8 Ayaka Arai "One More Time" (Twice) 18 9 Mayuka Ogou "Love Forever" (Miliyah Kato feat. Shota Shimizu) 24 10 Ririka Kishida "One More Time" (Twice) 21 11 Nina Hillman "I'll Be Back (Japanese ver.)" (2PM) 2 12 Yuna "Likey (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 8 13 Mako Yamaguchi "Yuki no Hana" (Mika Nakashima) 1 Suzu Ozaki 5 Riria Ikematsu 6 Akari Inoue 10 Mei Plunkett 14 Hina Tanigawa 15 Funa Takaya 16 Rei Ito 17 Kyoka Taniya 19 Kako Oguri 20 Ayane Marutani 22 Moeno Yamashiro 23 Ana Sato 25 Erina Hanada 26
Cube 3: Star
For the star quality evaluation, red cubes were awarded to 8 contestants, with additional cubes awarded to 4 others.
BroadcastorderContestantActResult 1 Erina Hanada Cheer dance with "One More Time" (Twice) 2 Ayaka Arai Tennis lesson with "Cheer Up (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 3 Kyoka Taniya Cooking with "Cheer Up (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 4 Riku Oe Karate with "Again & Again (Japanese ver.)" (2PM) 5 Ayane Marutani Lock dance 6 Ririka Kishida Ballet 7 Momoka Hirai Interview skit 8 Mayuka Ogou "Yuki no Hana" (Mika Nakashima) on ocarina 9 Mei Plunkett Magic card trick 10 Riria Ikematsu Modeling 11 Rio Hanabashi Dance 12 Mako Yamaguchi Eating a lemon without making a face and writing calligraphy 13 Maya Katsumura Reading "The Ugly Duckling" with self-illustrated storyboards 14 Rima Yokoi "One More Time" (Twice) on drums 15 Hina Tanigawa Confessing with seven personalities 16 Miihi Suzuno Baton twirling with "TT (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 17 Miu Sakurai Eating grapes with cream 18 Suzu Ozaki Imitating Sailor Moon 19 Yuna Dance 20 Moeno Yamashiro Dance 21 Rei Ito Dance 22 Ana Sato Violin 23 Funa Takaya Dance 24 Kako Oguri Dance 25 Nina Hillman Radio show with "Cheer Up (Japanese ver.)" (Twice) 26 Akari Inoue Cheer dance with "Fancy (Japanese ver.)" (Twice)
Cube 4: Personality
The final performance of the Tokyo boot camp consisted of a group performance with the song assigned by Park. The showcase was evaluated by Park and Twice members Sana and Momo. Contestants had an opportunity to appeal and be awarded any of the first three cubes missed as they perform in the showcase in episodes 9 and 10.
Afterwards, the contestants were awarded blue cubes for personality based on feedback from the trainers, staff, and the answers that the contestants provided on their questionnaires. The contestants with 3 or more cubes were allowed to proceed to the boot camp in South Korea.