Graduations and Revelations

A lot of things have been happening lately with some of the idols I follow, so I thought I’d share everything with you good people!  Graduations happen around this time of year in Japan, from school graduations to idols leaving their groups.  While some of this news is sad for the fans, it’s also expected. 

Tanahara Yuume with the new members of Rabi Rabu IDOL School

Rabi Rabu IDOL School had four new members (trainees) added on February 15, 2025.  Their names are Tanahara Yuua, Uchihara Mahina, Sasaki Mano and Kaho.  (I can’t find any info on Kaho beyond her given name.)  Yuua is Yuume’s younger sister.  Unfortunately, according to an Instagram post, Miyagi Rea graduated from the group on March 30.  I am looking forward to seeing videos with this new eight-member lineup. 

Watanabe Arisa (left) and Hananashi Rin (right)

Watanabe Arisa and Hananashi Rin of the group ULTRA-C both graduated from the group and SPIRAL MUSIC on March 30.  They were my favorite members so I’m very sad about this.  But I want to wish both girls the best with their school and home lives because they deserve it!  Good luck, girls!   

Fluffy Star

Fluffy Star also had some graduations, three in fact.  Yes, it’s true, long time members Sara, Tsumu and Riko (“Ri” to her fans) have all left the group.  This will have a major effect on Fluffy Star as their songs were often written by Sara and Tsumu and the remaining members Aya and Sena aren’t known for their songwriting.  I guess we will all see how the group moves forward from here.  Sara and Riko will continue to use their X (Twitter) accounts to update their daily lives, while Tsumu has deleted hers.  You can still follow the X accounts for the group, Aya and Sena, for updates on their activities.   

I have now found out that the group She’s a Rainbow are in fact a singing group, not a band.  The members posed for promo photos with instruments, leading me to suspect they were a band.  Well, there is a video on YouTube of their live debut, albeit only two songs of the group singing for fans at a Tower Records location.  The songs are written in a 1960s style, and I like it!  I hope you will too. 

Finally, I wanted to let you know that I saw a fan video of the group Babooom, with Amakawa Mio, Aoyama Nanako and Marika from SPIRAL MUSIC groups Harajuku Gakuen and ULTRA-C.  It turns out that they do sing and not just dance to K-Pop.  The video I saw is on X from user kuni_syavin, and I’ll link that here. 

It looks like I had more to talk about than usual today!  That’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned.  I don’t write in my blog as much as I used to in years past.  I want to keep the fans who are reading this constantly updated when it’s possible.  Thank you to everyone who reads my articles on Japanese idols.  I’m still a big fan of this music after 16 years (and counting!) of discovering idols and 26 years and counting of discovering J-Pop music.  This is the best music I’ve ever heard, and I mean it!  Stay awesome, people!      

What Are Those SPIRAL MUSIC Girls Doing Now?

Some of the members of SPIRAL MUSIC idol groups are involved in new projects.  Two new groups are set to debut soon, and both have a pair of Harajuku Gakuen members in them!  Here’s the lowdown. 

She’s a Rainbow are a four-member group featuring Amakawa Mio and Aoyama Nanako of Harajuku Gakuen and Lin Oberndorff and Kokoa of ww.  The girls are posing on the cover with instruments, but I’m still unsure if they are playing them or not.  I think it’s pretty obvious that the name of the group is taken from a Rolling Stones song.  It’s interesting that the song titles on the CD cover are all in English.  It’d be even more interesting if they are sung in English too.  The cover claims that this is produced by Sally Kubota for Impact Sound, so even though all four girls are from SPIRAL MUSIC groups I don’t think this has anything to do with SPIRAL.  The CD will be released on March 28, and I’m looking forward to hearing it if I can find a copy to purchase somewhere online.     

The second group is Babooom, a “Japanese dance & vocal group” that once again features Mio (as “Chucky”) and Nanako (as “Micky”) as well as Marika of ULTRA-C (as “Poppy”).  The videos that I’ve seen on social media make them appear to be a K-Pop dance cover group, but if they are singing as well then maybe that means they’ll sing covers of popular songs.  Will they perform original material too?  Only time will tell, and that time will be on April 3. 

I’m excited about She’s a Rainbow the most, since I like all four of the girls and because it might be a band.  Even if they are a singing group and not a band, I think I’ll still love them.  Babooom may have three talented dancers but I’m not really a fan of K-Pop dance covers.  Then again, it’s too early to tell what to expect from them.  I’ll keep an open mind. 

Thanks again for reading my blog. 

2024 Japanese Idol Year In Review

It’s time once again for me to share what I consider the best Japanese idol songs and videos and all the new that’s important to my favorite indie idol scenes.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a real fantastic year.  I have already written about the disappearance of a video I liked this year, and I watched some new videos by groups not familiar to me and I wasn’t too impressed.  Lineup changes affected some groups I follow, including the graduations of some of my favorite idols.  But let me get on with the best idol videos of this year! 

SPIRAL MUSIC’s Harajuku Gakuen released two singles this year, both of them a lot of fun to listen to!  I couldn’t decide on which song is the best, so I’m including both!  “Welcome to Harajuku Gakuen” was released on May 28, 2024, and it’s the group’s most exciting song to date!  It’s a fast-paced rocker with lots of electric guitars, a bit of English lyrics and great vocals by all the members.  “Everybody’s Summer” was released on October 8, 2024, which is definitely after the summer season.  Some of the footage in the video was filmed last year, in Summer 2023, and you get to see the girls in their swimsuits!  Both videos are a lot of fun!    

ULTRA-C, another SPIRAL MUSIC group, also released a single, “Seishun Shitai”, on October 8, which I have already mentioned in my past two blog articles.  The CD single featured three tracks including a song named “Dystopia”, which is another awesome song that came out this year that I love!  But as I mentioned in my last article the music video for “Seishun Shitai” was made private after only five days.  I also want to mention that ULTRA-C now have nine members.  Kurosaki Hana joined the group on December 19.  Now I download as many favorite videos as I can, and I’m glad I have this video, but there are probably people who haven’t and can’t see the video now.  So, I don’t have a video link for “Seishun Shitai”.   

ULTRA-C (December 2024)

LuCheers is a group I just got into this year.  They formed in Nagoya in June 2022 and have two singles.  The name of the group is a combination of the Italian word “Lucia” (“Light”) and the English word “Cheers”.  The song “Itsudatte Party” (“It’s Always a Party”) is their first music video.  Two members of the group in this video have now graduated and six new members have now joined.     

RABBIT HUTCH have gone through changes this year.  Last year on November 12, 2023, founding member (and my favorite member) Hattori Sakurako graduated, along with Kiyota Anri, who joined in October 2019.  This year founding member Goto Hinata graduated on August 18.  The group now has five members again, including former amorecarina Nagoya member Amano Natsuki.  RABBIT HUTCH released two music videos this year, but after listening to each song twice I can honestly say that the group aren’t doing anything fresh.  It’s the same cutesy, energetic pop that they’ve been doing since they formed in 2017.  There’s nothing really wrong with that, but the group just seems to be treading water.  

RABBIT HUTCH (November 2024)

After writing the above paragraphs I tried to think of what other videos I wanted to share or what other groups I wanted to write about.  Unfortunately, I can’t think of anything else.  I don’t think it’s because I’m losing interest in Japanese idols as much as it’s because I can’t find many new groups that I like.  However, I am losing interest in some of my favorite groups because my favorite members are leaving these groups and the new songs they sing aren’t to my liking.  Hopefully this will change in 2025.  

Once again, thank you for reading my blog.  Have a great holiday season and I’ll see you next year!    

What's Going On Here?

There’re a couple things about some of the idol music videos that I’ve shared on my blog that I need to talk about.  Maybe these aren’t real big problems or something like that, but they are rather annoying.  

On June 12 of this year, I wrote an article titled “Recent Favorites”.  I shared a music video titled “my best wishes” by Nono Aimi.  It seems that this video has been shared on two YouTube channels, including Aimi’s.  The other channel that uploaded it was actually the first one to do so, Bash Official Channel.  Bash has a total of seven idol music videos on it.  Bash uploaded the video on October 10, 2023, and Aimi shared it on her channel on June 10, 2024.  A music video being uploaded to two channels, the channel of music company that owns the song and the idol’s channel, is not unusual.  But uploading it to two channels seven months apart is.  I had no idea that Aimi’s new song was actually a 2023 release when I shared it because I don’t subscribe to Bash Official.  I wanted to include it of my list of favorite songs for 2024 when I write this year’s Year in Review, but now I guess I can’t.  Here’s the Bash upload for “my best wishes”.  

The group ULTRA-C has had an interesting year.  On May 5 a live version of a new song titled “Shoot it up!” debuted on YouTube.  It was mentioned in the description that it was to be their first single, to be released at an unspecified date.  A few months later “Seishun Shitai” was announced as the group’s first single.  A music video spot (a short preview of the video) was uploaded to YouTube on September 21.  On October 8 the full music video was shared.  Then, on October 13, it was made private, along with the live version of “Shoot it up!”.  Why?  Originally, I thought that it was because of an error in the video.  There’s some wind noise during a beach scene for about one second that isn’t part of the studio recording.  I figured they would remove the noise and then reupload the video.  I was wrong.  Surprisingly, the music video spot is still on YouTube.     

The real reason, I suspect, is because ULTRA-C has now added two new members.  The decision to add them was probably around the same time that the editing of the music video occurred.  The two new girls are Onda Mahina (who no longer uses her family name), former member of ww, and Marika.  The girls performed with the group a few times when some of the original members were unable to because of poor health, but they had an “official” debut, when all the members could perform, on October 22.  Since Mahina and Marika were not in the “Seishun Shitai” video, I guess it was decided to make it private after a mere five days!  Why the video for “Shoot it up!” also had to be made private, I don’t know, unless it was for the same reason. 

ULTRA-C (October 2024)

Anyway, thanks again for reading my blog!                     

The Return of Those SPIRAL MUSIC Idols!

Last year I wrote about the idol groups at SPIRAL MUSIC that I was a fan of.  This article will be an update of sorts and will also include information on new idols.  Let’s get started. 

ww (May 2024): Lila Balding, Onda Mahina, Lin Oberndorff and Kokoa

The international idol group ww has gone through a few changes again.  First, Lila Balding graduated from the group on June 23, 2024.  During the summer she visited the United States.  (You all remember that she’s half American, right?)  A new member named Onda Mahina joined on April 14, 2024, and then graduated on September 15.  Mahina still posts photos on her X (Twitter) account of when she was in ww and has said that she hopes the fans will continue to show their support for her even if she joins a new group.  That right there tells me that she is joining a new group sooner or later.  When she does, I will be sure to mention it on my blog.  In the meantime, ww only has two members, founding members Lin Oberndorff and Kokoa.  

Harajuku Gakuen, who are my current favorite idol group, have released a second single this year!  I wasn’t expecting this!  Now I will have to think about which single is my favorite for this year’s Year in Review.  Or maybe I’ll include them both!  Their new single is “Everybody’s Summer”, which was released on October 8, 2024.  The music video was shared on YouTube on September 6.  It’s pretty obvious (to me, anyway) that some of this video’s footage is from last summer.  Right now, it’s pretty cold outside, especially at night, so releasing a summer song now seems a bit strange.  Still, I won’t complain about new Harajuku Gakuen music, so on with the video!   

Another group that also released a single on October 8 is ULTRA-C.  ULTRA-C consists of members from two former idol groups, Cook a dish (Watanabe Arisa, Hananashi Rin and Sarasa) and ULTRA CinderellA (Onodera Kimika, Kawai Riri and Momoi Aya).  This new group made their debut on February 24, 2024.  As I mentioned on my blog in last year’s Year in Review, Cook a dish was set to release their debut single, “Seishun Shitai”, on December 12, 2023, which was then pushed back to January 23, 2024.  Then it was announced that both Cook a dish and ULTRA CinderellA were to disband in February 2024, and that the single was cancelled.  A CD-R of the song with two different covers was released to venues only.  (See photo below.)  I wish I had that CD-R because I’m not only a fan of the group, but I also would like to have a copy of this song with Miura Reika and Shiina Mau singing on it.  Reika is now a soloist, but Mau has stopped her idol activities.  

The good news is ULTRA-C has now released “Seishun Shitai” as a CD single!  Yay!  The video for the song is below.  The bad news concerns Onodera Kimika, who has announced that she is graduating from the group on January 26, 2025.  It seems that Kimika has been experiencing some serious health issues in which she is losing weight rather than gaining it.  She wishes to gain weight because she is very thin.  I sure hope she becomes better soon.  

Changes are happening with SPIRAL’s youngest groups as well.  Shiraki Hina, a.k.a. GAL PINA, graduated from NYAAANYA on May 4, 2024, and graduated from SPIRAL MUSIC on July 27.  A new member of NYAAANYA named Minami Saki joined the group from July 28, 2024, to October 6, when she had to suddenly graduate.  Neko Tiger’s young leader, Kusumoto Miki, graduated from the group and SPIRAL MUSIC on August 24, 2024.  Mizushima Sari graduated from Neko Tiger on September 22, 2024, and will be transferred to NYAAANYA sometime.  Angelique will graduate from Neko Tiger on November 3, 2024, and also transfer to NYAAANYA on December 15.  No, it’s not easy keeping up with all of this.  

Shiraki Hina (July 2024)

Neko Tiger (May 2024)

NYAAANYA (August 2024)

Well, I want to thank you again for reading my blog.  I hope it has been fun and informative for all of the SPIRAL MUSIC fans out there!  

Culumi and Company

In 2018 I came across a new idol group named Hoshi☆Gumi, a subunit of Culumi, created by the Osaka-based company Sakura entertainment.  They had entered the Idol Matsuri competition in which several idol groups from all over Japan performed a short version of a popular anime song.  The group debuted on August 26, 2018 and consisted of three girls, Minami Aono (blue costume), Manaka Emina (pink) and Shimizu Rion (orange).  On Christmas Day Hoshi☆Gumi’s first music video, “Spica Capella Rigel Mimosa”, was shared on YouTube.  (Unfortunately, it has now been removed or made private.  A short live version without Aono is the only official video.)  The members of the group also appeared in films made by their company.  In August 2019  Hoshi☆Gumi again competed in that year’s Idol Matsuri, this time winning the event for their region of Japan.

Here is a live video for the song “Spiral”. 

In late 2019 Aono suspended her activities for a while to recover from physical exhaustion.  A second single, “Koi no TeaTime”, was released in February 2020 without Aono participating in the recording.  Eventually she returned to the group.  In December 2020 the group disbanded due to both Aono and Rion wanting to stop their idol activities.  Emina continued to perform with the group Culumi, as well as the group Iroha Sakura from April 2021 to March 2023.  

Here is the video for “FACE OFF” by Iroha Sakura featuring Emina.   

Culumi has had several member changes since their debut in November 2013.  There has been a total of 29 members of the group throughout their history.  Emina is the leader of the current lineup of Culumi.  

Here is a live fan video for their single “Majide Saikyōururun Bīmu” (“Seriously the Strongest Ururun Beam”), complete with English translations of their names when each member sings.  

I hope you enjoyed all the music from these idols.  Thanks again for reading my blog and have a good day!              

Recent Favorites

It’s been a while since I’ve written in this blog, and I’m sorry about that.  I’ve been preoccupied with several things in my life.  I thought I’d share a few videos that I’ve been watching.

Harajuku Gakuen released their latest single, “Welcome to Harajuku Gakuen!”, on May 28, 2024 and it’s a banger!  I’ve liked every song they’ve released so far, but this one might be my favorite.  Here’s the video. 

I know I’ve written a lot about the kids idol group Rabi Rabu IDOL School, but there’s some great news that fans will want to know.  The Rabi Rabu IDOL School YouTube Channel has uploaded lots of interesting videos.  First, there’s some live videos from last year’s Christmas Live featuring Non (Okamoto Kanon), Mairi and Oyakawa Seina, who all have now graduated from the group.  Then there’s live videos from May 2024 featuring the current six-member lineup.  But best of all, there’s several videos that previously were only available to people who paid to support the channel that now can be watched by everyone!  These videos include rehearsals, live performances (including a 21-minute video), behind the scenes, a birthday party for Non and videos of the members introducing themselves.  All these videos are from 2021 or 2022, so all the girls in them have now left the group.  Here’s a video from the current lineup performing “Rabi Love Spell”. 

How many people reading this remember the kids idol group Little Blossom?  Well one of the former members, Nono Aimi, is now a soloist and she recently released her third single “my best wishes”.  Here’s the video. 

ULTRA-C have an original song titled “Shoot it up!”, which will be their first single.  Here’s the live version. 

A group named Che Guts! (what’s written on their shirts) or Chegattz! (the spelling used on their X / Twitter account) were brought to my attention from a friend in Japan.  They used to have nine members but now only have seven.  I looked for a good quality fan video of the group for about an hour, then gave up!  Here’s the best I could find, and it only has six of the girls.

Well, thanks once again for reading my blog.  I’ll try to write more often, if I can.