YMMV / PassCode

• Growing the Beard: The girls discussed this in their 2016 Natalie interview, heavily implying that Hinako joining and Yuri leaving in late-2015 was the best thing that could have happened to PassCode. Given their subsequent rise in popularity after that interview, they make a good point.
• Replacement Scrappy: Discussed. In their Virtual-era joint interview, Hinako said she worried she would be one, as she officially joined in July 2015, only one week before the group's Tokyo Idol Festival debut and the other girls didn't receive her warmly, calling the decision to add her "arbitrary", but this quickly changed after TIF. By the release of the group's second^*  (or third if you count Locus) major album Clarity in April 2019, Hinako had been a part of PassCode for far longer than Yuri was.
  Hinako: "The atmosphere that was portrayed to me from the first greetings was that I wouldn't be welcomed. (lol)"
  Yuna: "That must have been scary. Sorry about that."
  Kaede: "I wanted to greet you with a smile but my face didn't move. (laugh)"
  Hinako: "From that point on until the days we had practice, because of the uneasiness there was nothing I could do. I completely knew I wouldn't be accepted."
  • By the time Yuri left, though, Hinako had completely gelled with the others in part by being a Nice Girl, leading Yuna to say this several months later…
    Yuna: "I thought, 'Thank goodness Hina-chan joined the group.' It wasn't because we needed just anyone as another member, but because it was Hina-chan it was good."

  It didn't take long for Hinako to be embraced and loved by fans. And because it took PassCode time to gain popularity despite their music videos having been online since near the start, newer fans who watch the group's earliest videos sometimes do a double-take when they see she's not there.

  {Hacker upon seeing Yuri in the "Now I Know" MV} "Wait. That's not Hinako. Who is that girl?"

  • Averted with Emily, due in large part to Yuna going into great detail about why she chose to retire and making it crystal clear that she kept going until she physically couldn't. Emily already being a seasoned performer with her own fanbase didn't hurt either.
• So Bad, It's Good: Some consider PassCode's very first song, "LOVE LOVE HAPPYDAY" to be this, especially once it unexpectedly resurfaced in 2022 after almost nine years in Canon Discontinuity (technically it's not PassCode performing the resurrected version, but Hiragana-PassCode, totally different group).
• True Companions: Discussed often on social media and during interviews. While these girls do have their own individual lives outside of work, they're known to hang out together outside the studio and over the years have become very close. It's especially notable to see the famously cold & shy Yuna snuggling Hinako. It's just plain heartwarming to see their behind-the-scenes antics.