SunRisa is a four member Kansai-based idol group created by SPROUT Entertainment and Dream Girls fashion magazine. The group debuted on April 13, 2014 with five members. The name of the group is a play on the Spanish word "sonrisa" which means "smile". While I am not sure about this, I believe the two oldest former members, Kozai Sakura and Kumada Rena were brought in to help the younger members to learn how to dance. They seem to be working primarily as teen fashion models now. Imamori Manaka was originally a candidate and then promoted a full member on August 22, 2014.
When SunRisa performed at an event known as Fanfare on April 4, 2015, the group released two singles. Live performances of these singles with both former and current members (some of them fan videos) have been on YouTube for a while now. Today SunRisa released their first studio video for the song "OVER FLOW". This is the song that caught my attention a few months ago and it sounds pretty good with the current lineup. I do miss Sakura and Rena, but I am very supportive of all the members!
"OVER FLOW"
"Fashionable" (live)
All links go to their official SPROUT Entertainment profiles.
Si☆Stella are releasing their first DVD on May 3, 2015. Fans of these cute young idols will certainly want to get a copy.
You might also want to pick up "Japan Idol File 2", which features the CD debut of the song "St. Bonapro School" by the group of the same name. Si☆Stella, of course, are the reorganized version of St. Bonapro School with four former members of that group.
Yesterday on April 12, 2015 Candy Kiss members Sakurai Maya (the leader of the group) and Shimoda Kaede graduated. The report of this event along with several photos can be found in the last article of Candy Kiss's blog. No, this does mean the group is breaking up. It simply means that the group is starting their next chapter as a trio with an all-new blog! The Candy Kiss Facebook page changed their header and profile photo to reflect the current lineup. If this isn't enough, just 40 minutes ago from the time I am typing this now the Candy Kiss YouTube channel uploaded a new promo video for their upcoming first album, titled "Parfait"!
According to the info in the description for the video, the album will have thirteen tracks, none of which have been released before! Even if you have the four singles they have already released you will still be getting an album of all-new songs. Yes, these include all the songs that Candy Kiss have been performing live for over a year now. Four tracks are labeled "Interlude-1" to "Interlude-4", and I'm not sure what these might be. The album will be released on July 29, 2015, so save up your money and be sure to support these girls!
It seems like my blog is nothing but a compilation of reports on idol graduations lately. What's worse is I have discovered something that has really angered me too, which I'll also discuss.
I completely overlooked in my previous articles on Japanese idol graduations the fact that the entire Smile Gakuen project has been disbanded. I heard back on February 22, 2015 that the four current (and remaining) Smile Gakuen members would graduate. There was the question of whether or not the "Tryout Members" would form a new Smile Gakuen, but as it turned out, they were also graduated by the management. This was confirmed on the Smile Gakuen Facebook Page on March 23.
I first took an interest in this group last year when I went to Idol Matsuri in Silverdale, Washington. My friend Chibineko was selling some CDs he didn't want, including a couple by Smile Gakuen. Eventually he decided to give away for free a few of them and I picked up the first two Smile Gakuen singles from 2011. Since then I was trying to catch up with the group, only to discover that there were many lineup changes and subunits formed. Of all the songs I heard from this group, the subunit Smile Kiss Gumi had the best song.
Today I learned of the sad news of three graduations from the group Sakuran Bom Bom, alerted to me by Chibineko. Miu, Rio and Kii will all graduate on April 26, 2015. I have been a fan of Sakuran Bom Bom since around January 2014 and I was the first to bring them to the attention of many idol fans outside of Japan. I have always liked these three girls, and I consider Kii to be one of the best singers in the group. All three will be sorely missed.
When I became a fan of Sakuran Bom Bom there were nine members. Ami, who went "on hiatus" last year to study to be a voice actress, still has not returned. At this point I doubt she will. I guess what makes this tough for me personally is that the group will be reduced to four members from now on. Here is a video edited by Chibineko for the song "Bom Bom World☆".
Finally, I would like to get something off my chest regarding idol blogging and article writing for idol websites. I have discovered three examples in a little more than a week of fan-created idol websites, blogs and Facebook pages that have copied and pasted various things I written in my blog. Actually, this is not the first time I have discovered such examples of plagiarism. I have been plagiarized for at least four years now by a variety of people, including former friends. I know I am not the only idol blogger being plagiarized either, because I came across a foreign website that had six of my articles copied and pasted on it as well as several articles about idols written in a variety of other languages! (I tried to find the website again, but I can't for some reason. It's possible it's been deleted since I made a complaint against it.) Now all of the Facebook pages and groups that have copied and pasted what I wrote in the past few years aren't any more "official" than my blog, but if you are going to use information taken from my blogs (I have two currently on the internet), my website Sensational Idols or my Facebook page Young Idol Singers, how about giving me some credit? I think those people who are doing this are very young and naive and probably don't have a clue what the word "plagiarize" means. Perhaps some of them are foreigners who have English as a second language and can't write very well in English. This still does not give you the right to copy and paste me or anyone else. Real writing involves coming up with your own words and ideas. If you do not have the intelligence or skills to do this, please stop pretending you are a writer right now. Apologize to those whose hard work you stole and then delete your website, blog or Facebook page or group. If you feel the need to say something there are always forums, other people's Facebook groups and YouTube videos that offer places for your comments. Something tells me, though, that none of the people who are plagiarizing me or other legitimate writers will ever confess that they have done anything wrong. I have never gotten a sincere apology from anyone who copied my words.
I guess I should get used to all these graduation announcements as they seem to happen every other day. So I'll just take it like a man and move on, keeping my support for these groups despite the changes.
Two members of the group Hypericum will graduate this month, as reported in the Noir Kids blog. Ando Chiami will be graduating in order to focus on her modeling career. Tanaka Ayano will be leaving in order to focus on her high school life. Hypericum is an idol group created in 2013 by Office Noir Modeling and Management, the same company that gave us SpringBell feat. MIKA. I have always wanted to write about them in my blog, but couldn't find the time or some important news to discuss. Hypericum have one venue-only single to date and no official music videos. There are currently seventeen members and two trainees in the group, although this will change after the graduation event. Tonogawa Haruka, formerly a member of SpringBell, is a member of Hypericum.
And for those of you who have not heard yet, Kimura Karin has returned to NA-NA! Karin has completed her high school exams and can now focus on both being a student and an idol. Which is fantastic news for this NA-NA fan!
It turned out there were two more surprise graduation announcements since the last time I wrote in my blog. Including the four members of Sakura Gakuin who are graduating at the end of the month (which I knew about well in advance), that makes a total of nine girls from various idol groups that I am personally following are leaving the idol world sometime between now and May 2, 2015. But instead of writing more articles that make me depressed to even write them, I decided to wait to write in my blog again until I had some good news. Thankfully, today I have some.
Idol Matsuri, America's first convention dedicated to Japanese idols, has confirmed an official time and location for 2015. From August 14 to 16, 2015 Idol Matsuri will be held at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington, which is located in Seattle. I don't know anything about the venue itself, so I won't pretend to. However, you can check out the official website for yourself.
For the past three days I have been very depressed. I feel as if someone shot three bullets directly into my heart. I also feel as if what I am doing as an idol blogger might be pointless. Being the first person to write about certain Japanese idols, or to share some kind of news about them, doesn't seem to have much of a point if very few people care about the idols I'm writing about.
Sakurai Maya, the leader of Candy Kiss, has announced her graduation from the group. This news comes two days after the second oldest member, Shimoda Kaede, announced that she will graduate in April. Apparently Maya wants to focus on her dancing, and Candy Kiss is a secondary concern to her. The producers of Candy Kiss have known about this for a long time. She mentioned something on her blog about a "summer album", but I am not sure if this is a reference to the unreleased CD that was supposed to come out in 2014. In any case, she will have her graduation event in April, presumably with Kaede. This will make Candy Kiss a trio after April, with remaining members Oguchi Ryoka, Yoshizawa Ruri and Fukushima Kotoko.
I have been a Candy Kiss fan since around July 2012. Their first single, "Koisuru Candy Kiss", caught my attention in a good way. It was a very cute song, and I loved all the girls in the video. I placed an order for the single and played the CD several times once it arrived. I eventually bought all four Candy Kiss singles, and I have enjoyed each one. I was a bit disappointed when Kasahara Mahochi (the almost forgotten original member of Candy Kiss who wore the green dress) left the group in 2012. When Yamashita Honoka left the group in early 2014, this was an even bigger blow. Honoka was my favorite member, and she sang lead on all the Candy Kiss songs up to then. I wasn't too happy that there were remixes and alternate versions of Candy Kiss songs on their third and fourth singles, as I wanted to hear the studio versions of songs such as "Open Arms" and "First Love" instead. Candy Kiss have also performed the songs "Bara no Maho ~Takan'na Kisetsu~" and "Chotto Dake" live. So far these songs have not been released on CD. While I think Candy Kiss is a really interesting and fun idol group, they have not enjoyed the success that other local and indie idol groups have. With so many graduations and unreleased songs it's possible they will never achieve the success I feel they deserve. It's possible that Candy Kiss does not have the kind of promotion they need or the type of songs idol fans are craving. I still believe Candy Kiss are better than what some people give them credit for, and as long as they are around I will give them my support.
I sure hope the next time I write in my blog it will be some sort of good news. I seriously don't think I can handle another surprise graduation announcement.
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