# Nizi Project season 2

Nizi Project Season 2 (lit. "Rainbow Project Season 2") is a 2023 Japanese reality competition show, and is the second season of Nizi Project series. The series is a joint project between JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan with the intention of creating a global Japanese boy group. Nizi Project Season 2 is centered on JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young selecting members for the boy group out of 20 boys, who eventually debuted as Nexz.

## Background

On July 12, 2021, Park held a press conference announcing that Nizi Project will have a second season to create a Japanese boy band set for debut in March 2023. Applications for boys from 14 to 22 years old are open from July 2021 to October 2021. Auditions will take place from November to December 2021 in eight cities in Japan, as well as New York and Los Angeles in the United States, and Seoul in South Korea. The contestants will be evaluated in five categories: vocal, dance, rap, modeling, and composing/lyricism. The members for the group will be finalized and announced in December 2023.

## Contestants

| Division | Contestant | Background |
| Tokyo | Eiji Ito (伊藤 瑛史) | |
| Tokyo | Ken So (蘇 建) | |
| Tokyo | Kohei Nagatsuka (永塚 康平) | |
| Tokyo | Miraku Hoshizawa (星沢 弥樂) | |
| Kobe | Yu Tomiyasu (富安 悠) | |
| Kobe | Reito Kitagawa (北川 玲叶) | |
| Kobe | Sean Matsubara (柗原 翔音) | |
| Kobe | Yuki Nishiyama (西山 裕貴) | |
| Kobe | Naoya Kida (紀田 直哉) | |
| Kobe | Shokei Wataru (渡 祥恵) | |
| Hiroshima | Takao Yamaguchi (山口 恭生) | |
| Hiroshima | Yuito Enomoto (榎本 唯人) | |
| Hiroshima | Takato Otsuka (大塚 天翔) | |
| Okinawa | Riki Irei (伊礼 吏輝) | |
| Sapporo | Rio Takahashi (高橋 理央) | |
| Seoul | Tomoya Uemura (植村 朋哉) | JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 2 years and 7 months |
| Seoul | Taichi Inagaki (稲垣 太地) | JYP Entertainment trainee |
| Seoul | Sodai Miura (三浦 颯大) | JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 1 year and 1 month |
| Seoul | Haru Inoue (井上 陽) | JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 6 months |
| Seoul | Takuto Matsuda (松田拓翔) | JYP Entertainment trainee |
| Seoul | Seita Kawashima (河嶋 星太) | JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 7 months |
| Seoul | Taiga Fujimaki (藤牧 大雅) | JYP Entertainment trainee |
| Seoul | Yuhi Komori (小森 優陽) | JYP Entertainment trainee; trained for 3 years |

## Rankings
### Summary
#### Color key

| Region | Contestant | Part 1 | Part 1 | Part 1 | Part 1 | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 2 | Part 2 | Part 2 |
| Region | Contestant | Dance | Vocals | X factor | Personality | Part 1 Ranking | Growth (eps. 11-13) | Teamwork (eps. 14-15) | Image (eps. 17-18) | Finals (eps. 19-20) |
| Seoul | Tomoya Uemura | 6 | 2 | Won | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Kobe | Yuki Nishiyama | 12 | 3 | Won | Won | 2 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
| Seoul | Haru Inoue | 4 | 5 | Won | Won | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Seoul | Yuhi Komori | 7 | 7 | Won | Won | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Kobe | Yu Tomiyasu | 10 | 11 | Won | Won | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Seoul | Seita Kawashima | 17 | 6 | Won | Won | 11 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Tokyo | Ken So | 18 | 17 | Won | Won | 12 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Tokyo | Eiji Ito | 1 | 9 | Won | Won | 4 | 7 | 8 | 7 | Eliminated |
| Tokyo | Miraku Hoshizawa | 5 | 10 | Won | 1 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 9 | Eliminated |
| Seoul | Taiga Fujimaki | 13 | 14 | Won | Won | 7 | 11 | 11 | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Kobe | Sean Matsubara | 3 | 16 | 1 | Won | 9 | 8 | 12 | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Seoul | Sodai Miura | 9 | 1 | Won | Won | 10 | 10 | 9 | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Sapporo | Rio Takahashi | 14 | 4 | — | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Kobe | Shokei Wataru | 8 | 8 | — | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Hiroshima | Takato Otsuka | 20 | 20 | Won | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Seoul | Taichi Inagaki | 15 | 12 | Won | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Tokyo | Taichi Takahashi | 11 | 15 | Won | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Hiroshima | Takao Yamaguchi | 19 | 18 | — | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Hiroshima | Yuito Enomoto | 16 | 19 | Won | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Tokyo | Kohei Nagatsuka | 2 | 13 | — | — | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Kobe | Reito Kitagawa | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Kobe | Naoya Kida | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Okinawa | Riki Irei | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Seoul | Takuto Matsuda | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |

## Aftermath

* The top 7 finalists debuted as Nexz.
* Some trainees joined other companies:
** Taichi Takahashi joined BMSG as a trainee.
** Sodai Miura, Eiji Ito, and Yuito Enomoto joined Sony Music Japan's trainee team, M:Rea1.
* Some trainees debuted in other groups:
** Naoya Kida debuted in MAZZEL, a boy group under BMSG.
* Some trainees participated in other survival shows:
** Miraku Hoshizawa will compete in KBS2 reality competition program, Make Mate 1.
** Yuito Enomoto participated in the SBS survival show Universe League.