I really hope that it’s not going to hurt my wota blogging cred, but it’s the truth.
I’m basically in love with Yasai Sisters. The song, the PV, I love them both.
I can’t really pick a favorite costume; I’d legit wear all of them. Well, except Sayaka’s. And Suuchan’s. But other than those, I’d gladly don the Tomato costume, the red pepper costume, Lovetan’s Petit Vert costume, all of them.
I really like this PV/song more than I probably should.
Dictionary.com’s definition of charisma: “2. aspiritualpowerorpersonalqualitythatgivesanindividual influenceorauthorityoverlargenumbersofpeople.”
And since I seriously doubt that idols are dealing with spiritual powers. Unless we believe that Mikitty really is a goddess. In that case punish me, Miki-sama.
Charisma is, to me, the most important actor in an idol. While people go over singing skills, dancing skills, acting skills, personality and looks, all of those are second to the factor that is charisma. Charisma is simply the thing that sets apart an idol. All other flaws can be forgiven if a girl has serious charisma. Because it really is that “it” factor, the unknown thing that just makes someone interesting and appealing.
And the one idol I’d say has oodles of charisma…
AKB48’s number 1 front girl, Maeda Atsuko.
Now first off, let me preface this by saying that while I like Acchan, she’s not my favorite AKB girl. She’s definitely not in my top 5 members and probably not in my top 10 AKB members. However, she has oodles of charisma.
Acchan’s value as front girl of AKB48 is something that’s been contended for quite some time. And it’s somewhat fair. Acchan doesn’t have the best singing voice, the best dancing skills, the best looks (though she is very pretty) the best acting skills, and while she has a sweet, girl-next-door type of personality she’s not particular in that regard. Yet there’s just something about Acchan that’s compelling and hard to deny.
When I first got way into AKB, I was kind of anti-Acchan. Not TOO bad, but I’d definitely wonder what Acchan has that my favorites didn’t. However, what Acchan really has is this great charisma that makes her successful.
I think every idol needs charisma, but it’s Acchan that definitely has it.
Tokyo Cheer2 Party: Pronounced “Tokyo Cheer Cheer Party,” the first thing I found out about them was this Tokyohive article, where the group went to a station and cheered on the workers of Japan.
This is a really cute thing that is a bit of promotion, but also a good thing to do for the country, as well. I admit that this is another group that I don’t know too much about. According to Japanese Wikipedia, they were formed in 2010 and have 17 members; the leader Sawa Miho is 18 but will turn 19 in a couple of days, whereas the youngest member Hirayama Kurumi is 10; quite a large age range!
They’ve released one single “Todoke! Yell Ai Kotoba” just in April this year, so I imagine that they’ll perform this at the idol festival, unless they’re really trying to promote future releases. They’ve also done a lot of other idol festivals like this, the one I found was the Idol Festival in Hibiya, so they seem like they’re really trying to make a name for themselves.
I can’t find a video for their first single, unfortunately; here’s the one thing I found, something from their first event:
The song they do isn’t very energetic, but I’m hoping for the best from this group!
Dorothy Little Happy: I didn’t know of this group before I started searching for the Tokyo Idol Festival, but apparently they do have a pretty good following! Pure Idol Heart did a wonderful write-up of them back in March, and that’s honestly so well done that I’m going to link it here: http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2011/03/dorothy-little-happy-goes-major.html If your current thought is “But Serenyty, clicking links is HARD and I love your blog so much”… first off, you’re lying (but thank you for loving my blog <3), but here’s a quick thing about them. Dorothy Little Happy is a Sendai local idol unit formed early 2010. The reason they’re named Dorothy Little Happy is because the producer apparently took inspiration from the character Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, and wanted the girls to be like Dorothy. So far they’ve released two singles as well as a mini-album which was released by avextrax, so the fact that they’ve started to do things with Avex definitely raises their profile some. Vocals wise, they do have one main singer, Mari, but the other girls do sing some. Their music is definitely rock-tinged, which is interesting if you tend to like rock-influenced idol music.
I don’t know if I’m completely won over yet, but these girls definitely have a lot of promise, and I’m excited to see more from them!
Natural Point: This is another fairly obscure idol group, that was actually formed all the way back in 2005, believe it or not. They’re currently a duo group, though they originally had three members. As far as original music goes, they only released two singles. They released one, “Lovely” in 2005 and “Shinin'” in 2007, so they don’t have that much original stuff that has actually been released. They actually did perform at last year’s Tokyo Idol Festival, though I don’t think I saw their performance, so maybe they have songs that they just never performed.
From this official site it seems like they’re active onlilne and also have their own DVD, but that’s currently about it.
So really, these girls are pretty unknown; they’re considered local idols. Still, Nachupo is a pretty cute group, regardless!
Vanilla Beans: Another group I know! They’re an idol duo that does more retro/classic idol sound, performing similar to much more old fashioned idols. And despite being on an indies label ( Flower Label) they’ve actually made a bit of a name for themselves within the idol world. Just last year they appeared on Music Japan’s female idol special, which also hosted Morning Musume, Momoiro Clover, S/Mileage, and AKB48, among other groups. So seeing that they’ve performed at the last Tokyo Idol Festival and will now perform at the 2011 festival is a bit of a surprise to me.
Still, I suppose that their sales really aren’t that great, which doesn’t really surprise me given the fact that they are appealing more to a niche demographic and not trying to make themselves the type of group that would appeal to absolutely everyone.
Despite some poor sales from the group, they actually released a single earlier this year and are slated to release their second full album in a week (they do have a mini album and a best of album, too). So they really are one of the more well-known/active acts of the Tokyo Idol Festival. Likeability wise, if you like the type of music they do you’ll love them. If your thing is energetic/happy idols, you’ll probably appreciate Vanilla Beans, but you probably won’t be inclined to follow them.
With this challenge, I initially really wanted to highlight different idols that I like a lot. However, this question has one really big answer with me, and that’s my #1 favorite idol, Ishikawa Rika. I’ll be the first one to tell you that I like everything about Rika. There’s nothing about her that I dislike even a little. However, Rika has a personality of gold, and thats the main reason she’s my favorite idol.
I really admire her start in Morning Musume. When she joined, she was one of the new, young members, and was just as inexperienced as the other three in the Fourth Generation. However, immediately she took a position as the group’s older sister; she took it upon herself to be responsible and take care of her generation and the juniors afterwards. Some of the other idols found this annoying; Fujimoto Miki definitely didn’t like it, and I’ve heard that Kago Ai would get upset with Rika. However, even though taking a position of responsibility doesn’t make you popular, necessarily, I think that Rika’s responsible personality has lead to a lot of great things in Hello!Project.
In addition, one of the stories I’ve read from interviews in books and things is that when Rika joined she wasn’t confident AT ALL. She didn’t think she was good enough, and was kind of depressed about it for the first year after she joined. One thing that stands out in my memory is when she joined Country Musume as the new member (for Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika) she thought she was being transferred permanently, as kind of a “you’re not good enough to be in the main group, so we’ll put you in the less popular group” type of manner. However, she was able to get over this, created a memorable TV persona out of this insecurity (Charmy Ishikawa, an overconfident self-absorbed TV host), and ended up as a great idol.
I also really admire her work she’s done with her skills as an artist, especially as an actress and as a singer. She worked really hard to do her acting roles and it pays off; she still gets acting jobs quite frequently now. For Sukeban Deka, in addition to doing all her idol work, being the lead in v-u-den, she trained 2 hours a day in yo-yo for months. That takes dedication! As a singer, she started off as admittedly not the best of the singers; she simply isn’t a natural at it. However, I’ve heard a live recording of her singing at a stage play, and she has the most beautiful voice! She’s improved quite a bit, which I think is more admirable than someone who started out with the best voice.
Finally, one more thing to admire her is the couple of charity shows she’s done. A couple years back Rika did two or three shows where she traveled to different countries, to highlight poverty in them. The maturity with which she dealt with seeing such hardship was admirable; when she spoke to the people living there, she didn’t look down on them, but she treated them with respect. She helped gather water at one village, held a child that was both dirty and looked diseased, and when the point of the show, the water purifier they were bringing to the people, was brought out, she drank the purified water even though it frankly looked pretty gross.
I could ramble on and on about Rika, but I’ll stop now XD. I just have to say that she has a lovely, mature personality that makes her an idol to admire.
I was absolutely excited to be informed that I was going to blog for the International Wota Summer Refreshment Program. I absolutely love the Intlwota site and not just because I’ve been getting plugged there lately. XD I’ve been checking the site and their chatroom, Wotachat, for much longer.
So, since I was excited, I decided to take this post and Happy Disco on a field trip; where to, might you ask?
The world-famousMall of America. (I know it’s world famous because I’ve seen enough Japanese tourists there). It’s just a train ride from my house, so I know it like the back of my hand.
Yeah, my local mall has a theme park INSIDE it. But I didn’t ride any rides today, because they’re expensive and I’ve been on them before.
I worked here for a summer. Doll Hair Stylist. So if you guys ever need an American Girl doll’s hair styled, I can do it for you.
For my summer refreshment item I went to my absolute favorite food place in the mall to get one of my favorite desserts ever; I went to Paciugo, a gelato chain. I like other places at the MoA; if you want to be into Japanese culture go to Tiger Sushi, which has really yummy stuff. Mmmm.
I ended up getting amarena black cherry, meringue, pannacotta and my absolute favorite flavor, Mediterranean sea salt caramel. Mmm. The gelato was a lovely and delicious treat and is definitely refreshing…
As are idols! (oh GOD, why did I think of this segway when I was at the mall??)
How I wrote most of my first draft; a journal and my Charmy Kitty pen. And yes, I bought a Charmy Kitty pen for exactly the reason you’re probably thinking right now.
Lately I’ve been working on a post about why I think AKB48 is so popular. This question has many answers (one of which is the focus of that post which will probably be up in a week or so), but one think that I think is valid in how they’ve maintained their popularity since River came out in late 2009 is their seasonal schedule.
I’m not going to judge anyone for what they listen to or how they listen to it; however, I know that when I listen to music on my iPod, I have very specific tastes that change with different times.
If I’m not being clear, let me explain. Earlier today I was mowing the lawn and doing yard work. When I was working, I put my AKB music on shuffle. Did I feel like listening to Tobenai Agehachou? I love the song, but no. How about Bird? Again, it’s a great song, but not fitting the mood. How about Ponytail to Shushu? Perfect.
People have been noticing AKB48 operates under an annual schedule for years now. Their first single, Sakura no Hanabiratachi was graduation themed, something that is a huge part of the spring-season for Japan. Two years later, Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008 came out, and since then every year has had a spring/graduation single; 10nen Zakura, Sakura no Shiori, and this year’s Sakura no Ki ni Narou.
However, recently AKB48 has started adding more to this by having summer-themed songs. Now, this isn’t completely recent; I’d argue that both BINGO and Baby Baby Baby are pretty summery. They’re upbeat, happy (even if the Babyx3 PV has its fair share of weirdness), and are set either on a beach or at the pool. However, it seems like the newest tradition is directly about summer (and hair accessories?) with Ponytail to Shushu and Everyday, Kachuusha. Both have been released about the same time, right before we’re in the middle of summer, and are upbeat songs about summer and youth. It also helps that the PVs feature bikinis.
What I mentioned before about what songs I chose to listen to during the summer might just be me, but I really don’t think they are. A while back, at a meeting at work, we were all asked what our favorite summer song is, as kind of a fun question. I actually mentioned Everyday Kachuusha (even though no one else knew what that was), but nearly everyone picked pretty similar songs; happy, upbeat, feel-good songs.
Another example: I personally love holiday music (see my post about idol holiday music last year). However, even though I love it a LOT, I don’t want to listen to it right now in the dead of summer. I want idols singing about having fun and wearing bikinis.
Again, I don’t want to speak for everyone here. But as a general rule, I think that people, especially casual listeners, will want to listen to happy, fun, upbeat songs as part of the summer experience. What I want to emphasize here is the casual fan. Of course the hardcore AKB48 wota isn’t going to care what type of song AKB releases in summer; if AKB48 were to go “Christmas in July, we’re going to dance around dressed as Santa!” it would probably end up selling a good deal of copies to hardcore fans. However, that’s probably not going to grab the casual listener, unless the casual listener likes that kind of silliness.
Getting casual radio listeners to go out and buy a single is probably one of the big ways an idol group can grow. Of course, they’re grateful to their hardcore fans. However, these summer songs could be something that would promote growth within AKB48. A casual listener might go “I like Ponytail to Shushu as a good summer song, I think I’ll buy that” and then when the next single comes out go “AKB48 did well last time, so I’ll pay attention to Heavy Rotation.”
At this point, though, AKB48’s growth is so huge that I’m going to point to a smaller example: the relatively new idol group from Avex, Super*Girls. At this point AKB48 is so in the public eye that the “AKB48 does Christmas in July” would in fact sell well. Even if they did Kwanzaa in July, people would go “Ok, I don’t know what that is, but it’s AKB48 so I’ll buy it. “
Super*Girls are not the biggest idol group in Japan by a long shot.Their first single, Ganbatte Seishun did pretty well, with about 13,500 singles sold. They had an album before that and even before that they did live performances. 13,000 is fairly respectable for a debut idol group. It’s not spectacular, but it’s not terrible.
Then, this happened.
Super*Girls’ new single, Max Otome Gokoro, ended up selling over twice as much as their first single, over 29,000 copies. They didn’t beat Morning Musume but came pretty close. Now, I’m not going to say that the only reason that the song did so well is the summer-theme, but that has to be part of the reason. I mean, that level of growth has to come from somewhere, and I have to think that having a summer-themed song and PV is part of it. I know that I didn’t really pay that much attention to the group before this single, and I know that I love it.
Conversely, I have to do a bit of criticism of my own favorite group, Momoiro Clover. I’m not going to blame the girls at all. However, when Ikuze Kaitou Shoujo came out, there was a pretty big buzz surrounding the group. It then ended up taking the group about five months to put out a new single, but they had had the preview for the B-side, Coco*Natsu, out for a while.
Despite the group having some buzz in the idol community, there was very little growth in popularity. Again, there’s probably a dozen reasons why this happened, so many so that it can’t be pinned on just one thing. However, I’d argue that maybe part of it was because Pinky Jones ended up being the A-side, Coco*Natsu was the B-side, and it ended up being released in November. I wonder if there would be some growth if Coco*Natsu was the promoted A-Side and it was released back in July? There’s no way of knowing, but I think there’s a good shot.
The same week that Max Otome Gokoro was released, Morning Musume released their latest single, Only You. I’m sure if you follow Morning Musume you know that their sales have gone down considerably. However, Only You was pretty low as far as sales go, dropping even further. They still ended up beating out Super*Girls in terms of sales; however, I’d go so far as to say that Super*Girls “won” because of their considerable growth as a group, in contrast to Morning Musume’s decline.
A lot of things are thrown around about why Morning Musume’s sales are declining, which is especially pertinent because of the current idol boom Japan is facing right now. Japan loves idols. However, I also wonder what Morning Musume’s single would have done if it was happy, summery and had bikinis in it. I mean, I still listen to Morning Musume, and I follow the group mainly for Erina and Aika. However, if I had to pick one song only I’d for sure go with Max Otome Gokoro.
Take from this what you will, and it’s certainly not a be-all end-all thing for sales. However, I know what I like to listen to in the summer; happy, upbeat, summer-themed music, and I think a lot of people feel the same way.
Day 19: Which Idol would you like to be for 1 day?
This actually took some thought from me.
In the past my answer was always Yoshizawa Hitomi, since she’s good friends with my favorite idol, Ishikawa Rika, and if we were doing Hangry & Angry things that day I’d have to be very close to Rika, which would be super exciting for me. However, despite how much I like Hangry & Angry, Yossy and Rika, the fact is that Yossy isn’t a very active idol nowadays. Sure, she’s been keeping herself busy with Dream Morning Musume, Hangry & Angry and other activities (one other reason I couldn’t be her; I am NOT running marathons). I wanted to find an active idol.
So after some deliberation (and the loveliest IM from my friend Dani, who compared me to Maeda Atsuko in a very positive manner), I chose…
AKB48 Team B’s main front girl, Watanabe Mayu. Now I know that Kashiwagi Yuki has beaten Mayuyu in the senbatsu election. However, a this point in time it really feels like Mayu is still the definitive Team B girl, who sets the feel that Team B has. It’s like when Yuko beat Acchan in the senbatsu election; Acchan was still THE AKB48 girl, no matter what the election said.
I would want to be Mayuyu simply to feel how it would be to be a major idol player. These days the AKB48 girls are SO busy and are working almost daily. These girls work REALLY hard. And I think it would be really interesting to see just how hard it is to be one of these idols we love so much.
I could have chosen Acchan, Yuko or any other front girl for this purpose, but if I could be Mayu for a day then I could perform the Team B stage, which would allow me to perform Yuuki no Hammer, Inseki no Kakuritsu, Theater no Megami, Hatsukoi yo Konnichiwa and, most importantly, my beloved Team B Oshi. Mayu gets to be in the kickline for Mariyannu’s line, which would be amazing for me.
Plus, Mayuyu is really close friends with my favorite AKB48 girl, Oota Aika, so I could be like “Hey Aichan, let’s go have a sleepover” and we could hang out outside of work, and I could probably hug Lovetan, which is kind of my dream. Basically I’ll be whichever idol gets to hug Lovetan; though maybe not Sashiko.
Just a little note before I get ready to go to work.
I make mistakes.
For some reason I’ve had it in my head for literally a year that AKB48 producer Akimoto Yasushi also did Idoling!!!. Idoling!!! is one of my big idol weakpoints; I know they’re big, but they’re just usually off my radar. I like them a lot, but my knowledge of them is limited. So I’m really glad that the comments have set me straight.
I’m just posting this to let people know, that if you see me screw something up, LET ME KNOW. I’m just an idol fan, but even as a fan I’m not the biggest one I know. There are some groups I follow more than others, partially out of time constraints.
So if I make some comment about an idol group you hold dear that you think is wrong, please don’t hesitate to correct me! I’m fallible. I just like idols.
Here’s the thing. Some people really like getting every episode of certain TV programs to follow idols. I like live performances. I can’t watch every concert, and my hard drive prevents me from seeing everything, I try to find performances on YouTube and watch them, especially with songs I like.
After much consideration, I have to name a couple of them.
First off, it’s not ONE Concert, but it’s the AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 100 Series. If you’re not super familiar with AKB, this is the annual concert where AKB48 fans vote on the songs to get in the concert; the songs are then performed in reverse order from the most votes, starting at 100, moving down to the most voted song of the year.
One of the reasons I love these concerts is really because it introduces you to a lot of songs. Occasionally I’ll skip some song, or not listen to a subgroup or unit song because I’m not as into the members of that unit. However, watching one of these concerts does a LOT to inform you about AKB48. There are quite a few songs that I learned about because of these concerts; I’m not a big Team K fan, so I didn’t know about how much I love 16nin Shimai no Uta until I heard it at a concert.
Finally, it really allows the fans to participate in the concert directly; you get to see which songs are really popular. Sometimes I disagree with the fans; the fact that A6’s excellent song “Akogare no Popstar” didn’t show up is disappointing. However, it often allows for some great moments.
One of the most memorable performances in this series was for the 2009 concert, when Team B (often regarded as the underdog team) got the #1 spot with their song Shonichi. It was a really amazing story of the underdogs winning, and it never fails to get me crying.
It’s so moving, to see my favorite AKB girl, Oota Aika, crying like she is. It’s just a great concert series, and definitely one of the highlights of an AKB48 fan’s year.
Man, I don’t know most of these groups! This is kind of fun!!
JK21: This is a Kansai based group, that was actually formed way back in 2008, but made their major label debut back in 2010. They currently have six members, hoards of ex-members, a side/sub group (JK21 Puchii Musume) and Kenkyuusei of their own. Another interesting thing is that their name is pronounced “JK Two One” instead of JK Twenty one. Huh! From what I can tell they still have pretty low sales, but hopefully the Tokyo Idol Festival can help it! They’ve done the theme song for the Hanshin Tigers in the past, so I wonder if Ishikawa Rika (a HUGE Hanshin Tigers fan) knows of them at all, haha.
Anyways, they seem cute and energetic; they don’t really have any specific gimmick that will make them standout, but I like what I’ve seen of some of their singles and performances!
Jewel Kiss: Because their name is common English words, and there’s another Jpop single entitled “Jewel of Kiss”, finding too much about them is kind of difficult. I was able to find this site:
They’re a group of 8 girls, with ages ranging from 10 to 15. They all have different colors, much like H!P groups or Momoiro Clover. I can’t find if they have any original single releases as of yet (though the fact that they don’t have j-ongaku or generasia or any other English wiki pages leads me to believe they haven’t done anything like that yet). They performed at last year’s Tokyo Idol Festival.
It really seems like this song, Koisuru Sniper, is their “signature song”; at the very least, it’s what they have the most videos of.
They also seem to do covers; here’s one of Go Girl Koi no Victory. I also saw one of Aitai Lonely Christmas up there.
Super*Girls: This is a group I know more about than the other groups I’ve been covering as of yet!
They’re Avex’s newest shot at the idol genre, and they’re definitely aiming for the top of the idol world. They were formed last year, and actually debuted at the Tokyo Idol Festival, I believe. They’ve mentioned in the past aiming to beat AKB48. And while I originally thought that was a little presumptuous, it really looks like Avex is marketing these girls pretty well.
They have twelve members, and released their first album, Chouzetsu Shoujo, back last year. This year they released Ganbatte Seishun as their first single, and their most recent single MAX Otome Gokoro got really close to beating Morning Musume in weekly sales. With each release, their sales go up, and so I really think that they’re going to keep gaining popularity and become more of an idol heavyweight in the future!
I don’t follow them TOO closely, but since I really like Reira and Kaede (two of the front girls), I should probably try to keep up with Super*Girls news.
Sexy All Sisters: OK, yeah, here’s another group I haven’t heard about at all before.
Judging from their website (http://sexy-all-sisters.com) it’s an idol collective surrounding fanservice; if you love Sexy All Sisters then tell me wrong, but from what it seems, it’s a group of different idol groups surrounding a fanservice theme. You’ve got the Pairangers, a sentai themed group; the pai probably comes from the Japanese slang word for breasts, oppai. You have D-Rive, which is a duet group that fixes cars sexily in their PV Gear Spark. You have Slender, which is cheerleading themed, and also has a song/pv called “Pantystocking” (based off that one anime?). There’s Sangokushi, which is old/historical Japan themed. There’s Umoretai, which is maid cafe themed. And finally there’s Yankee… the Yankee themed group. They all seem to have their own singles/DVDs, and sometimes do events together. They’re REALLY fanservicey; they all seem to be adults, though, and not young idols, which is a bit of a relief. Honestly, if you complain about fanservice in, say, AKB48, look at Sexy All Sisters, because they’re in a league of their own.
Tokyo Girls’ Style: I think they performed at the Tokyo Idol Festival last year! They’re Avex’s first attempt at capitolizing in on the idol genre (before they formed Super*Girls). They’re based off of the concept of older idol groups like SweetS; there’s five girls, all very young (in the 12 or so range) and they are really skilled in singing and dancing. They haven’t been as successful as Super*Girls, but they have plenty of fans in their own right.
Their sales have been dropping, but since they have their devoted fans, I think they’ll be OK. And they did my favorite SweetS song, Love Like Candy Floss, yay!
The post in which I investigate and find more about the groups performing at this year’s Tokyo Idol Festival, which by the way will be held 8/27 and 8/28. I’d be VERY happy if it was streamed live somewhere, but the DVD will come out later, definitely.
Circadian Rhythm: Again a weird named group; first the group that has “colon” in their name and now there’s a group named after a body’s 24 hour sleep/wake cycle.
I was able to find a couple of links with them on YouTube, with this being their debut single “Yume Hito Yo” with the coupling song. I like Yume Hito yo a lot, though it does sound kind of familiar in a way I can’t put my finger on. Still, I like these two women (as they do seem older than most indie idol groups). They have a more mature sound than most young/indie idol groups have right now, and it’s kind of interesting.
However, other than finding these links, I am having serious trouble finding any information about them at all, since searching “circadian rhythm” only gets the scientific term, and searching for circadian rhythm in katakana is just the Japanese wiki site about the scientific term. So if they have any specific concept, I don’t know it, and I don’t know the names or ages of these girls at all.
Sakura Gakuin: This is a newish group that I really like so far, that has released one single (Yume ni Mukatte/Hello IVY) and one album (Sakura Gakuin 2010 ~Message~). They have a school theme (hence being named Sakura Academy), and one of the most notable things about them is the big difference in heights between all of the girls.
I’m wondering what they’ll perform this year; last year at the Tokyo Idol Festival they performed Yume ni Mukatte (though at that time it wasn’t a single yet, it was just their one song). This year I’ll imagine it will be more than one song (since they do have multiple original songs). I’m hoping that some of the subgroups from their album (which are all based off of different school clubs) will perform. I’m particularly fond of the subunit “Twinklestars”, which is the baton club. They actually have released one single so far by themselves and will release a second.
I am interested in their second single as twinklestars, but I’d LOVE for them to perform the above single, “Dear Mr. Socrates” live. I love the song, and the PV makes me giggle.
But if you’re planning on watching anything from the Tokyo Idol Festival, I’d look out for Sakura Gakuin. They’re still really new, so I don’t know TOO much about them, but I really like them so far!
ShizuKaze: When I first saw the name (written in Japanese as しず風) I thought it was just a punny name; Shizuka means quiet in Japanese, and Kaze is wind, so I thought it was supposed to be a quiet wind. And it could still potentially mean that, but then I found out it was a duet unit between a gravure idol named Mano Shizuka (I don’t follow gravure, but she has a LOT of DVDs/photobooks to her name) and another girl named Tachibana Fuuka (the first kanji in her given name is the same as kaze).
They hail from a production company that I haven’t heard of before, Versus pro. They look like they’re the top-billed stars of Versus Pro, so I’d imagine it’s a pretty small company. According to their site they’ve been doing some things since 2009, but I can’t find much in the way of singles; they’ve done live events and I THINK a DVD, but not much else. They actually also performed at Tokyo Idol Festival 2010,
They’re trying to sing live it sounds like, but aren’t super amazing yet. Again, can’t find too much on Shizukaze.
Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku: Also known as Ebichu, these girls hail from Stardust Promotions, the agency behind Momoiro Clover. So this is MomoClo’s little sister group! I haven’t seen much from them as of yet, but Stardust is a pretty great agency, and I have a lot of faith in them. They formed in 2009 and their numbers have grown so now there are 12 members in EbiChu!
I don’t know much about them, like I said, but they seem pretty well loved. They’ve released 5 singles so far, but they’ve all been on indie labels, so that means they’ve yet to make their major debut. One single is called “The Tissue ~ Neverending Youth~” which I think is pretty fantastic.
They seem like they’re on that cusp of being relatively well known and not. They’re no where near the most indie group at Tokyo Idol Festival, but certainly not the most popular. There’s not too much about them in the English-speaking fandom, but consiering the success that Stardust has had with MomoClo, I feel like trusting them and following EbiChu is a decent idea.
I’m a bit tired, so I will continue more of this tomorrow! So many indie idol groups, so little time!
