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St. Bonapro School (or St. Bonapro Gakuen, as it's pronounced in Japanese) is an idol group that was formed by BONAMII Inc. (Bonamii Model Production) in 2013 with seven members. The group's YouTube channel debuted on May 29, 2013 and the digital download (no CD, unfortunately) for their first single, "St. Bonapro School", appeared on June 30, followed by a YouTube video on July 5. St. Bonapro School's second single, "Yumemiru Carnival", followed the same pattern, with a digital download debuting on August 31 and the YouTube video on September 12. In the early part of December Marumoto Rin joined the group, writing in the group blog for the first time on December 8. The eight member lineup didn't last long as Ishikura Miyuu and Yoshikawa Rio graduated on December 21, 2013. 2014 saw the debut of a tennis-themed subunit named Yellow Ball with the youngest members, Mafune Nono and Rin. New members joined and old members graduated, with sisters Ishikawa Suzuka and Yumeka leaving in April, and Yoda Ayaka officially leaving in June (although her activities with the group stopped sometime before this). Sakurai Rico and Nono eventually became the last of the original seven to stay with the group. One new member, Ohashi Remi, was a member of St. Bonapro School for only two months before she graduated.
Two important announcements were made yesterday on Twitter by members of St. Bonapro School. The first was from Rico, who announced the group was breaking up after their 11th One Man Live on November 24, 2014. The second was from Rin, who said she was leaving the group on October 23. The girls and the staff thanked everyone for their support, and apologized for the sudden announcement. At the end of next month only Rico and Nono can claim to have stayed with St. Bonapro School for the entire 18 months of the group's existence, with Rin claiming the second longest tenure of any member.
I became aware of this group some months ago. Someone linked the video for "Yumemiru Carnival" on a forum of a French website I use. I didn't really like the song at first, thinking it was too electronic. I did like the girls, though, as they are very cute. Rico in particular has an incredible voice, and she's very beautiful for her age. I should have watched St. Bonapro School's self-named debut song to see what else the group had to offer, but I didn't until two-and-a-half months ago when the same person on the French forum (which thankfully allows English language comments) linked the video for that. "St. Bonapro School" is a great song, and it hasn't left my head ever since I heard it. I wanted to slap myself for ignoring this group based on one song that I didn't care for. I listed to "Yumemiru Carnival" again and it grew on me. I then had to check out the other videos on their YouTube channel. The live videos feature excerpts of three songs, with about two minutes of each song heard. The only live video you can hear the whole of is a graduation song sung for Miyuu and Rio, although some of the members are crying and can't get the words out. I should have written about St. Bonapro School long before this, but kept putting it off. I doubt that an article in English would have kept this cute idol group from breaking up, but maybe if I had written this over a month ago I would have made more people aware of them before this sudden news.
"St. Bonapro School"
"Yumemiru Carnival"
Members:
Sakurai Rico
Born on May 3, 2002
Nickname: Ritchan
Hometown: Tokyo
143 cm
Blood Type: O
Mafune Nono
Born on July 8, 2004
Nickname: Nono
Hometown: Kanagawa Prefecture
125 cm
Blood Type: B
Imamura Misato
Born on April 8, 2003
Nickname: Mi~pi
Hometown: Saitama Prefecture
148 cm
Blood Type: Unknown
Amano Mimi
Born on November 10, 2001
Nickname: Mimipyon
Hometown: Tokyo
153 cm
Blood Type: A
Amano Misaki
Born on March 9, 2005
Nickname: Misaki
Hometown: Tokyo
136 cm
Blood Type: A
Akai Sakura
Born on November 20, 2004
Nickname: Sakupon
Hometown: Hokkaido
131 cm
Blood Type: O
Graduated Members:
Ishikura Miyuu
Born on December 26, 2002
Nickname: Miyuyu
Hometown: Kanagawa Prefecture
139 cm
Blood Type: Unknown
Graduated on December 21, 2013
Yoshikawa Rio
Born on March 14, 2003
Nickname: Rio
Hometown: Chiba Prefecture
133 cm
Blood Type: Unknown
Graduated on December 21, 2013
Ishikawa Suzuka
Born on January 8, 2002
Nickname:
Hometown: Yamaguchi Prefecture
143 cm
Blood Type: O
Graduated in April 2014
Ishikawa Yumeka
Born on December 16, 2003
Nickname: Yumerin
Hometown: Yamaguchi Prefecture
132 cm
Blood Type: O
Graduated in April 2014
Yoda Ayaka
Born on February 23, 2004
Nickname: Ayaya
Hometown: Yamanashi Prefecture
133 cm
Blood Type: O
Graduated in June 2014, although she stopped her activities with the group sometime earlier.
Ohashi Remi
Born on May 31, 2003
Nickname: Remimin
Hometown: Tokyo
142 cm
Blood Type: A
Graduated on August 31, 2014
Marumoto Rin
Born on April 23, 2005
Nickname: Rinrin
Hometown: Kanagawa Prefecture
131 cm
Blood Type: B
Graduated on October 23, 2014
Singles:
"St. Bonapro School" (June 30, 2013, mp3 download; July 5, 2013, YouTube video)
"Yumemiru Carnival" (August 31, 2013, mp3 download; September 12, 2013, YouTube video)
