They really did try to have a gradual buildup unfortunately newface was most certainly screwed over by the decisions made to have them be 4 stars for the 4piece tours. I think 4piece was a fine idea, but it tried to do too much in a very short span. Mass setup that we can't reliably count on to be seen through. In an ideal world, one of the kids would be the tour 5 star, and we would have 5 tours before final ceremony. Final ceremony would be a reasonable 25 chapters, a large portion of which would be dedicated to fleshing out the relationships and possible conflict between a group of 12-16 yr Olds and having to work as professionals. Ibuki would remain a mystery until the akatsuki event, which would have a prologue that took place after vs audience where we get to see what Keito told Kuro and Souma, and then we see Keito invite Ibuki to perform. It's not perfect, but it would help them feel like they're Real. I definitely feel like hkk is not committing to newface hard enough and it's just hurting old and new producers