A Final CRUiSE!

Although the idol group CRUiSE! has often had many of their videos appear in my end of the year “best of” video lists, I haven’t written too extensively about them.  I feel bad about that because I’ve been a fan of these girls during their seven year career as CRUiSE!, as well as the years prior to that when they were in the group Hypericum.  Unfortunately, all the remaining original members, Aoi Miyu, Tonogawa Haruka and Akahoshi Nana, graduated from the group on April 16, 2023.  A new lineup of CRUiSE! will debut soon, probably with some of the trainees for CRUiSE!   

The first member of CRUiSE! that I became aware of was Haruka in January 2012.  At this time Haruka was a member of the kids group SpringBell, a duo with Koga Suzune, created by Office NOIR Modeling and Management.  When an older girl named Akimoto Mika joined them, they were known as SpringBell feat. MIKA.  This trio recorded a song titled “Puchohenzappu ~ Kodomo Sodan-Shitsu ~” (“Put Your Hands Up ~ Children’s Counseling Room ~”) that had a music video filmed for it in 2011.  It was also released on iTunes and eventually on a various artists compilation of idol songs titled “Our Shining Idol”.  Unfortunately, the music video can’t be seen on YouTube anymore.  (Either it was removed by the uploader or made private.)  However, here’s a fan video of them performing the song live, and I kind of like this better than the studio version since it doesn’t electronically alter the girls’ voices.   

A few months after discovering Haruka, I noticed that the members of SpringBell were posing with other girls from Office NOIR in photos.  One of those girls turned out to be Nana.  I never really noticed that Nana was in some of the videos featuring NOIR Kids, but I have some old videos from 2012 and 2013 that have her either dancing or singing.  I guess I didn’t know who she was at first.  Here’s a short video of Nana performing a cover song in December 2012. 

Haruka, Suzune and Nana performed some cover songs at a Summer 2013 Office NOIR event.  In October 2013 SpringBell feat. MIKA performed for the last time, the same day that the idol group Hypericum debuted.  Hypericum was initially the older girls who modeled at Office NOIR, but eventually the group included just about every girl that modeled for them.  Hypericum usually had 17 members, but the lineup changed often when some girls graduated from the group.  Sometimes they performed together, but often they were split into two groups.  Here’s a couple live fan videos from March 2015, with the group split up, that features some future CRUiSE! members.  I love both songs! 

Hypericum eventually disbanded on March 14, 2016.  Nine days later CRUiSE! announced that they had formed and would debut in April.  Six former Hypericum members were the original CRUiSE! lineup: Natsuno Sora, Aizaki (formerly Magoshi) Yukine, Sasaki Erina, Shiroki (formerly Kurogi) Remi, Tonogawa Haruka and Akahoshi Nana.  Aoi (formerly Tanaka) Miyu would soon be added, as well as short-lived member Nakamura Tina from Soror♥Baby→s.  Nana would also become a short-lived member of Soror♥Baby→s.  Here is a cover song performed by the eight-member version of CRUiSE! from May 2016.  

After three months in Soror♥Baby→s, Nana focused on just being a member of CRUiSE! once again (and Tina focused on just being in Soror♥Baby→s).  On August 23, 2016, CRUiSE! released their first indie single, “Koi no Juken” (“Love Exam”), coupled with “Cruising My Story”.  Kozakura Aina joined as a trainee in December 2016.  Erina and Remi left the group before the next single, “Mirai Shoujo A” (“Future Girl A”), released on March 21, 2017.  Otsuka Minami (later Minami Mugi) joined CRUiSE! in February 2018, also as a trainee.  Her only single as a member was “Dotten Kaimei”, released on May 22, 2018.  CRUiSE! also released two mini albums, “Cruising My Story” on July 22, 2017, and “Tamayura Seishun DAYS II” on April 21, 2019.  Both CDs contained new and previously released songs.

CRUiSE! have also released five digital singles, four of which featured a four-member lineup, and last year one single with the final three-member lineup.  In the meantime, CRUiSE! have had trainee groups, two of which, Cotton Candy and White Lily, were collectively known as C-FresH.  This name was abandoned in favor of C.C.C Project.  Compass is the name of the graduates from C.C.C Project.  Aina was part of Cotton Candy, which released a digital single titled “Shiroi Graffiti” (“White Graffiti”) in 2021.  Both Cotton Candy and White Lily have now disbanded.  The videos below are “Heart Chaser” by CRUiSE! and then “White Graffiti”.   

For those who are wondering, the reason I spell Haruka’s family name with a g instead of a k, as in most translations, is because of the way her name was spelled in English on her Hypericum blog header in August 2014.  I’ll share the photo below.  Whether I am using the wrong spelling or not, I refuse to correct one letter on the hundreds of photos I have saved of Haruka over the past eleven years!  I also saved the blog header for Yukine when she used the family name Magoshi, instead of Aizaki.  This photo will be below as well. 

I’ve been listening to J-Pop music for around 25 years now, and I discovered Japanese idols in Spring 2009.  Although many of the idols I followed in the first few years that I was a fan have now “retired” or have given up singing to focus on modeling or acting, Haruka is the one idol that I have followed for over ten years that is still active as a singer.  She now has a solo song titled “Harugon’s Quest”, which shows how much she loves to play games.  Harugon, by the way, is Haruka’s nickname.  Here is the video. 

I am curious to know who will be in the new CRUiSE! lineup, and whether they will be as exciting as the original girls.  I’m going to keep an open mind, even though I don’t think the new lineup will top the girls who were in the group during the first seven years.  I guess I’ll find out soon enough. 

As always, thank you for reading my blog!