Talk:Kobushi Factory/@comment-91.155.92.72-20150320181800/@comment-27153547-20150320193700

It's not really clear and no one has said anything definitive. What we do know is that with H!P things usually go by Seniority and then Age. With groups like Berryz, it's usually the oldest member due to no changes in line-up. With Momusu, it's Seniority first. Iikubo Haruna is the oldest member of Momusu right now, but the oldest member of the previous generation takes priority (and it doesn't hurt that generally Mizuki is seen as more popular). This isn't always the case, but it's the most common pattern.

With this group, the most senior members of the group (when you account for their time in H!P KSS) are Ayano and Natsumi. By all intents and purposes, Ayano should be the leader with logic that's generally used with other groups. Rio is the oldest of Kobushi Factory, yeah, and if not Ayano or Natsumi, she would be my first guess as well.

Hirose Ayaka being chosen is a bit of a questionmark at first glance. There is the fact that she was in NGP! before transferring to H!P, though, and she's been a member of NGP! KSS longer than Rio was in H!P KSS. Ayaka has been active since September of 2011 and Rio wasn't until May 2013. Thus, Ayaka is a good balance between Oldest first and then Seniority. She's only months away from surpassing Ayano and Natsumi in seniority even.