2025 Japanese Idol Year In Review

Yep, another year has gone by and it’s time for my annual Japanese Idol Year In Review!  Last year’s Review was very brief, and I should’ve said more.  I’m going to try to make up for that this year. 

Harmonize Company was formed in 2021.  They created a few idol groups all with the word “superiors” in the name: white superiors, BLACK SUPERIORS, RAD SUPERIORS, li’l superiors and, most recently, Sakura Bloom Superiors.  Two of them, BLACK and li’l, are now disbanded.  I’ve been following white superiors since March 2022 but never really listened to much of their music until this year.  There were two songs released by white superiors in 2025 and my favorite is a Halloween song titled “Pop in Ghost”.  Although there are six members in the group three of them are currently on hiatus due to school. 

The second of the Harmonize groups that released a song in 2025 is Sakura Bloom Superiors.  Their debut song “SAKURA BOOM!!!!” has the catchiest chorus I’ve heard from a song in a long time!  All four members are very talented, especially singers miko and sa-ra who sing that chorus so well.  Of course, I can’t forget to mention sana and nami, who are terrific dancers. 

She’s a Rainbow is a 1960s-style singing group that I think formed in February 2025.  The members are all from the SPIRAL MUSIC groups Harajuku Gakuen and ww.  Their CD “Pinky Fluffy” was released on March 28, although SPIRAL didn’t release it.  All the songs are terrific, and most of them are sung in English, but the title track is my favorite song on the CD.  This video shows the CD cover while you hear the audio.  

Rabi Rabu IDOL School has been one of my favorite groups since the summer of 2021.  They’ve had quite a few lineup changes since then.  However, I’m disappointed that they haven’t released any new songs since January 1, 2023.  I was hoping to hear something new when the members of Rabi Rabu Baby’s were added to the main group.  Tanahara Yuume became the leader on March 3, 2024, and she became my favorite in the newer lineup.  Sadly, Yuume graduated on November 5, 2025.  Originally, I thought that being a singer and dancer as well as a student took its toll on her.  Those who look at Yuume’s Instagram will notice that she loves to dance to K-Pop as well as being a ballet dancer.  As it turned out, though, Yuume injured her leg.  Because of this Yuume must stop all activities.  I’m very sorry to hear about Yuume-chan’s injury and I hope she heals soon.  She’ll always be a great idol, singer and dancer to me!  

Tanahara Yuume (August 2025)

Other than Yuume, Miyagi Rea graduated on March 30.  New members that joined this year include Tanahara Yuua (Yuume’s sister), Uchihara Mahina, Sasaki Mano and Kaho (all on February 15), Yamamoto Yuina (September 13) and Hanashiro Yuno (November 5).  They seem very popular, having 33.6K followers on X!   

Rabi Rabu IDOL School (November 2025)

Did you ever play the game musical chairs?  Well, here’s the idol version of that.  Angel Dessert debuted on March 2, 2025.  Their members were Ayase Moe, Megu, Orihara Kotori and Yanagibashi Sakura.  They were active until June 7, although Megu had left before this.  In the meantime, ULTRA-C was going through changes.  Watanabe Arisa and Hananashi Rin graduated on March 30.  On June 8 the group split in half, with Kawai Riri, Sarasa and Momoi Aya joined with Kobayashi Leona and Yanagibashi Sakura as the new ULTRA-C.  Onda Mahina and Marika were transferred to a new group named Jingu Shojo with Moe, Kotori and Sakuragai Yuna.  Moe was announced as the leader on June 19.  On August 10 Kurosaki Hana joined Jingu Shojo.  Then it was announced that Moe and Kotori were to debut as a duo named Izon’ai Bat Doll.  Their pre-debut was August 31, and their debut was September 27.  Marika graduated from Jingu Shojo on October 13.  ULTRA-C disbanded on October 18.  Mahina and Yuna graduated from Jingu Shojo on October 19.  On October 25, Sakura joined Jingu Shojo along with Iseto Raru.  At this point three of the former Angel Dessert girls were reunited.  However, on December 30 both Moe and Kotori will be graduating from Jingu Shojo and Izon’ai Bat Doll will be disbanding.  Kotori will be leaving SPIRAL MUSIC while Moe will still be a part of the company.  Did everyone keep up with all that?    

Ayase Moe & Orihara Kotori of Izon’ai Bat Doll

ULTRA-C (October 2025)

Harajuku Gakuen has had a somewhat disappointing year.  While the group does have several songs that haven’t been released on CD there weren’t any new singles for 2025.  Actually, I was hoping they’d release an album.  Matsuda Karen graduated on November 3, 2025.  On November 19 it was announced on X that Amakawa Mio, Akizuki Rio and Takanashi Miku are graduating on March 22, 2026.  This isn’t the sort of news that I was hoping for.  I’m not sure what will become of the group after March 22. 

The mixed heritage group ww disbanded on August 31, 2025.  They haven’t been very active, so I wasn’t too surprised.  The only good news is that Lin Oberndorff and Kokoa are still in She’s a Rainbow.  Also, Kokoa is releasing a single featuring the songs “Little China Girl” and “Katakoto no Koi”.   

As I mentioned in my September 4 article, Marble Angel disbanded on August 31, 2025.  They released a new CD with songs sung by the final four members, but one of those songs, “Melty Heart”, was performed live when they had five members.  

A friend of mine was chatting with me and shared this next video.  The group is named Hime Love, and the song is “100% Love”.  I was surprised when I first saw it because the center girl, Riripi, is pink from head to toe!  Her hair is dyed pink, she has pink makeup on her face, her nails are long, plastic pink and she’s wearing pink clothes.  I’ve seen other idols with pink hair and clothes, but Riripi takes her love for the color pink to a whole new level!  The song itself is very cute, and the video is in fullscreen rather than widescreen.  At least this is different.   

Suzuki Hiyori graduated from Jumping Kiss on September 8, 2024, something I should’ve reported last year.  

Suzuki Hiyori (July 2024)

In November 2024 four new members were added: Sakurai Lisa, Yumesai Nanami, Hirakawa Sae and Yukimoto Kohaku.  It took the group until October 13, 2025, to release the first new song with the new lineup, “I Love It, Love It, Love It”.  It seems, however, Akizuki Kanna and Yamada Riara are doing most of the singing while the new members are only singing backup and dancing.   

Manaka Emina graduated from Culumi on August 9, 2025.  She was a member of Culumi from November 2017 until her graduation, along with being a member of subunit Hoshi☆Gumi from August 2018 until its disbanding in December 2020.  Emina was also a member of Iroha Sakura from April 2021 to March 19, 2023, and a member of Twinkle Troupe from February 2025 until August 9, 2025.  

Manaka Emina (August 2025)

Tenjin Musume is the first idol group created by SPIRAL MUSIC WEST, located in Fukuoka.  They debuted in May 2024 and for a while were mostly singing old Konyanko songs.  I’ve only been following this group for a little over a year, and it was their original song “Sekachu” that made me like them.  I tried finding a good video of Tenjin Musume performing this song but many of the videos I watched were either poor quality or had performance mistakes.  

Tenjin Musume (2024 / 2025)

Tenjin Musume member Hanapanman is partially managed by studio fluke and has an original song titled “YOU&I”.  Here’s the video.   

Last year I discovered a new song by Nono Aimi on her YouTube channel and liked it.  I wanted to include it as part of my Year In Review only to discover that it had been uploaded to another YouTube channel in 2023.  Thankfully, I’m pretty sure that the song “Hand in Hand ~Mirai e no Uta~” is a song that Aimi released in 2025.  It’s a mid-paced, sweet song with Aimi sounding really good. 

There’s been many changes in the LuCheers camp this year.  They’re currently in their third generation with nine members.  “Nijiiro Days” is their latest single, a very nice ballad to play when you want to relax. 

LuCheers member Ogura Miori, the youngest girl in the group, has started an acting career.  She has appeared in not just one, but two short horror films on YouTube.  There aren’t any English subtitles for this channel, so I can’t say how scary they are to most people. 

RICORIRI is a new pop duo created by Nicola, a fashion magazine for teens.  Former Rabi Rabu IDOL School member Sakihama Riko (or Rico) and idol newcomer Nakase Riri sing on their debut single, “Pure pop”.  The B-side to the single is titled “Ring★Ring★Ring” and the total time for the CD is a whopping five minutes and fourteen seconds!  No joke! 

Finally, I come to Hoshi Runa’s debut single “LUNA”.  Those who have been following Runa know that she is a model who also sings cover songs.  Her first original single has lyrics written by Runa herself and she possesses a very pretty voice.  I hope that she will gain new fans from this.  The video features a drawing of Runa that has blinking eyes and hair that waves while various things including the moon appear in the background and lyrics appear on the top.  This sort of limited animation video reminds me of the videos that Aoshima Momo did in 2022.  It’s not a bad thing, but I’d prefer a video of Runa herself instead of this.   

I hope everybody has had a great year and that 2026 proves to be even better.  Once again, thank you very much for reading my blog! 

Harajuku Gakuen’s Three Day One-Man Lives

Harajuku Gakuen, my current favorite idol group, has been busy lately.  Leader Aoyama Nanako and Amakawa Mio both released solo singles on September 23.  They’re really good songs too!  Then on October 3 to 5 the group performed three one-man lives with all six members - Nanako, Mio, Matsuda Karen, Akizuki Rio, Sato Momo and Takanashi Miku - for the final time.  This is because Karen will be leaving the group on November 3.

I’d first like to share the music videos for Nanako’s and Mio’s singles.  I need to let you all know about something before you watch Mio’s video, though.  YouTube has been auto dubbing select Japanese and Korean videos for a few months now.  What that means for most overseas fans is that you need to turn this feature off to properly hear the music.  If you don’t then you will hear an AI (artificial intelligence) voice that translates the lyrics while the music is muted.  You can turn this off in your channel’s settings.  Thankfully, Nanako’s video isn’t affected by this.  Here are the videos. 

Seeing Harajuku Gakuen perform all the songs that they knew before Karen’s send-off was a bittersweet experience.  In all, the group sang sixty-five songs over the course of three days!  It was announced by SPIRAL MUSIC that all the songs that they were performing would be original songs, which I guess is true.  I thought that meant Harajuku Gakuen were performing only the songs that were written for their group.  As it turned out, they performed songs written for other SPIRAL groups, including Negaigoto, Omatsuri Shoujyo, and Runup!!, as well.  The three concerts didn’t go off without a hitch, either.  On the first day Karen became ill and left the stage early.  On the second day Miku had a hair malfunction and Karen had one on the third day.  Despite the problems, I enjoyed watching the videos.  Sure, it would have been nice if everything went perfectly, but then again, when does that ever happen?  Here are the three concerts. 

I’m really going to miss Karen when she leaves.  I have become attached to all six members of this wonderful and underrated group.  They have some of the best, most exciting songs that I’ve heard.  Harajuku Gakuen may not be very well known, and they may never be extremely popular, but they sure hit the right spot when it comes to independent Japanese idol groups.  I hope you’ll think so too.

Once again, thank you for reading my blog.                            

Marble Angel and ww Disband

 

Marble Angel (Photo Credit: Marble Angel Facebook) 

I forgot to mention last time that two idol groups that I’ve been following for years now have announced their disbandment.  Here’s the sad news. 

Marble Angel announced that they will break up on August 31, 2025.  This came after former leader Ishimatsu Haruna graduated on July 27.  Haruna’s graduation, after being a member for nearly six years, came as a surprise to me.  Another surprise was the release of the CD “CHEERS!! ~Marble Angel Full Album~”, which was released on August 15 with just the final four members.  The CD has just six songs, which to me is a mini album, but I digress.  One problem I had with the songs Marble Angel released as singles is that for the group’s second single the title song, “Rainbow Marble Story”, had the music from the group’s first single, “Smile”, used and new lyrics added.  

Marble Angel formed on July 7, 2018, with three members although their lineup has changed several times.  I’ve been a fan since the early part of 2019 but my interest in the group has been up and down depending on the members in the group.  Admittedly, I haven’t paid much attention to the group recently, but I never stopped following them on social media.  I even watched their latest video on YouTube, “Melty Heart”, twice before I realized that this was from Haruna’s final live with the group.  So, here’s the latest song from Marble Angel.  

The group ww has also announced that they will disband on August 31.  They haven’t been very active in the past several months so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise.  Both members, Lin Oberndorff and Kokoa, were also involved in the group She’s a Rainbow with Harajuku Gakuen members Aoyama Nanako and Amakawa Mio, so maybe pulling double duty also caused some problems. 

ww (Photo Credit: Punam Kanda X) 

I wrote the above paragraphs two weeks ago and I intended to publish this article before the two groups disbanded.  I changed my mind because I wanted to wait until I had photos of each group’s final lives and to watch videos, if there were any.  The good news is there is a video for ww.  Lin and Kokoa perform for most of the 52 minutes that the group’s final live lasts, but there’s a surprise appearance of the three former members at the end!  It’s a bittersweet ending to such a fantastic idol group!  

 As always, thank you so much for reading my blog!        

The Latest Idol Happenings

A lot of things have been happening to the idols that I am following, so I thought it’s time I shared the news. 

RICORIRI is a new idol duo consisting of Sakihama Rico and Nakase Riri.  Rico is a former member of Rabi Rabu IDOL School who sang on the group’s debut single.  She stopped performing with the group at the end of December 2021 but didn’t officially graduate until March 2023.  Rico started modeling with Nicola, a fashion magazine for teen girls, and this is also the magazine that Riri was modeling for.  Nicola put together this duo and released their first single, “Pure pop”, on June 18.  Here’s the video. 

There have been some graduation announcements for some of the SPIRAL MUSIC girls plus the return of one idol!  Marika a.k.a. Poppy graduated from the group Babooom on August 10.  Mahina has announced that she will be graduating from Jingu Shojo on October 19.  The good news for Jingu Shojo fans is that Kurosaki Hana is back from her suspension and was added to the group on August 10.  Hana is also performing solo again with her guitar.  Sadly, Matsuda Karen will be graduating from Harajuku Gakuen on November 3, after being a member for over three years.  I think the one graduation that’s really going to bother me the most is Karen’s as she is a big part of why I like Harajuku Gakuen.    

Baboom

Mahina

Kurosaki Hana

Matsuda Karen

LuCheers have had some member changes since I last wrote about them.  They now have nine members.  Their new video is titled “Rainbow Days”.   

Once again, thank you for reading my blog.  Have a great day!        

My Favorite Japanese Idol Songs 2025

More than six years ago I shared a list of 54 idol songs that were personal favorites of mine.  I only chose one song per artist and included the year of release in parenthesis.  I thought I’d share an updated list of 80 idol songs.  The artists on my list have several great songs to choose from and it’s often hard to pick just one.  What’s even harder is finding talented groups and soloists to listen to.  I’m going to stand by what I typed last time and not change anything such as the songs or artists I chose.  I did my best to verify the spellings and dates of all the songs, but I apologize if I got anything wrong.  Many of these songs can be found on YouTube if you do a search, but there are some artists that are no longer active, and their videos have been removed. 

01. “Brand New Day” - SCOOPERS (2011)

02. “Niji Iro” - Caramel ☆ Ribbon (2010)

03. “Candy Machine ni Notte” - NA-NA (2013)

04. “Summer Paradise” - Aither (2013)

05. “RainBow × RainBow” - Prism ☆ Box (2013)

06. “Love Romancer” - Candy Kiss (2014)

07. “ORI ☆ STAR Love Jet!!” - Michinoku Sendai ORI ☆ HIMETAI (2012)

08. “KISS ME KISS ME” - CoCo DeCoRu (YouTube: 2013 / CD: 2014)

09. “Shuriken Shu Shu” - Himekko 5 (2013) 

10. “Koisuru Sniper” - Jewel ♥ Kiss (2011)

11. “Oh My Ghost? ~Watashi ga Akuryo ni Nattemo~” - Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku (2011)

12. “life is game?” - PEACEFUL (2011)

13. “Song for You” - Fairies (2011)

14. “Running Fighter” - Onigokko (2013)

15. “Ne~e! Sakuranbo” - Sakuran Bom Bom (2014)

16. “Delta” - Kagaku Kyuumei Kikou LOGICA? (2013)

17. “Hatsukoi Rocket” - Party Rockets (2012)

18. “St. BONAPRO SCHOOL” - St. BONAPARO SCHOOL (2013)

19. “FLY AWAY” - Sakura Gakuin (2011)

20. “lucky star” - mImi (2014)

21. “OVER FLOW” - SunRisa (Live: 2014 / CD: 2015)

22. “Let’s go out” - amorecarina (2015)

23. “Popple ☆ Heart” - Prizmmy☆ (2012) 

24. “NO: ID” - B♭ (Live: 2010 / CD Remix: 2012)

25. “Minichia Ouenka” - Minichia Bears (Live: 2010 / CD Remix: 2014)

26. “JS Datte!! Ima Shika Nai!!” - Pocchimo (2014)

27. “Star Road” - Haru ☆ Kana (2013)

28. “Kyoshitsu Sabaibaru” - Millennium Girls (2014)

29. “Honki! Matsuri! Love Sick!?” - Smile Kiss Gumi (2013)

30. “JUMP” - PARLISH (2014) 

31. “Kinen-bi Noto” - Maboroshi ☆ Love (2014)

32. “Go Go ☆ Dinosaur” - Candy Zoo (2014)

33. “Hypericum Chaka de GO!” - Hypericum (2015) 

34. “Hono’o no JUMPING KICK” - RABBIT KICK (2014) 

35. “Cherie Amour” - CheriCherie (2015)

36. “Susume! Hope!” - loop (2012)

37. “Shooting star ☆” - amorecarina Osaka (2016)

38. “Mirai e no Tobira” - Si☆Stella (2015)

39. “Shukurimu Monsuta ♪” - Cute☆Pit (2014)  

40. “FUJIYAMA △ no yo ni” - FUJI △ PASSION (2014)

41. “MODOKASHI BABY” - BABYFACE (2015)

42. “Warning” - Riluce (2014) 

43. “MY FOTUNE” - powder.jp (2014)

44. “QQQ” - Maliee (2015)

45. “Chocolate Paradise” - MOMONA from Prism☆Mates (2014) 

46. “Dancing Hero” - Showa☆Tokimeki Gumi (2017)

47. “Himawari” - Little Blossom (Live: 2017 / CD: 2018) 

48. “Smile Gakuen” - Smile Gakuen (2011)

49. “Suisei” - Global Unit Comet+ (Live: 2017 / CD: 2018)

50. “Mirai e no Shunkan” - Bear in Mind (2018)

51. “Niji Iro Drops” - W. (2018)

52. “RABBIT HUTCH Matsuri Wasshoishoi” - RABBIT HUTCH (2018)    

53. “Koisuru Bani” - White Rabbits (Live: 2017 / CD: 2019)

54. “Devil ANTHEM. ~Kimi no Heart wo Seifuku Chu~” - Devil ANTHEM. (2015) 

55. “Cherry” - Hiwillow (Live: 2019 / CD: 2020)  

56. “MY MODE” - SAKURA MODE (2019)

57. “Hokago Lip” - Jumping Kiss (2019)

58. “SURPRISE PARTY” - KUWAGATA☆KIDS (2020) 

59. “STEP☆UP” - ☆Fluffy Star☆ (Live: 2020 / CD: 2021)

60. “Tenshi no Namida Furu Hi ni” - amorecarina Nagoya (2018)

61. “Rabi Rabu IDOL School Song” - Rabi Rabu IDOL School (2021)

62. “Kimi ☆ Adventure” - Si☆4 (2019) 

63. “Brave” - Lock★Rock BAB (2021)

64. “Wishing Star” - Angel Sisters (2021)

65. “Searchlight” - ww (Live: 2022 / CD: 2023)

66. “Kiss ga Suki” - Harajuku Gakuen (2023)

67. “Seishun Shitai” - Cook a dish (Live: 2023)

68. “SWEETS” - SUNNY Fruits (2022) 

69. “Rock Kyun Date Sunday” - Rock Kyun Roll (2022)

70. “By My Side” - RIOT BABY (2017)

71. “ORANGE BUBBLE” - Orange (2020)

72. “Smile” - Marble Angel (2019)

73. “Let’s” - Sweet Cherry Pepper’s (2023)

74. “Dystopia” - ULTRA-C (2024)

75. “Iyahon Hazuse!” - Omatsuri Shoujyo (2019) 

76. “WATER Mermaid” - CRUiSE! (2017)

77. “I’ll try ~Todoku made~” - momo (2020)  

78. “FUNKY RIDER” - Colorful Scream (2018) 

79. “Itsudatte Party” - LuCheers (2024)

80. “Acchicchi -Sho☆Do? Chapter 1-” - Menkoi Girls (2014)