>>35265951There's no subbed clip of Astel making the Johnnys comparison but I can also vouch he said it. He also shared that by the time Trinero debuted they had more staff and probably realized they had to change their approach to units instead of gens (because units is usually the route male groups go in, you more often see gens in female groups). And certainly, Holostars are marketed very similarly to male idol franchises and were already being sold as one group long before Uproar.
Bonus tidbit: Astel actually suggested giving gen 2 a unit name from the start but management said no, then Trinero debuted and Astel asked what was up. He said management basically went "teehee why not" and told him to go ahead and make a name, so he came up with Suntempo.