Happy 18th Birthday Ayaka!

I don't get around to wishing all the idols I love a happy birthday in my blog, but I simply couldn't let this one pass by.  Happy 18th birthday to my all-time favorite idol, Miyoshi Ayaka!  You were the Sakura Gakuin member who caught my eye first, whose singing left me speechless and whose beauty is second to none!  Love, peace and best wishes to you now and forever!  

New Onigokko Member Auditions

Today Akiba On Stage (the YouTube channel is actually named onstage akiba) uploaded a series of short videos featuring six young girls who wish to become new members of Onigo Musume, better known as Onigokko.  This news also appeared on Onigokko's website.  It's been a month since Tsukishima Meru, Kawahara Kana and Hoshina Haru all graduated from the group (now that they are junior high students) so it was inevitable that new members would be joining soon. Strangely, Meru, Kana and Haru have still been performing with their friends in Onigokko on occasion.  I guess they were marking time until the new members joined.  Haru ☆ Kana, the subunit of Onigokko, recently acquired an official website.  I suppose today marks a sort of "new beginning" for Onigokko and Haru ☆ Kana will continue on separately from this point.  

I used Google Translate to figure out the names of these girls (except one that I already was familiar with), so here are the young hopefuls.
#1 - Yumeka, age 10 
#2 - Emi, age 7
#3 - Rie, age 10
#4 - Mikuru, age 10
#5 - Nozomi, age 10
#6 - Ichigo, age 8

Ichigo a.k.a. Ichitan is a friend of Onigokko and is in several photos with the group and its members.  The photo below was taken on May 25, 2014 with all the members and Ichitan performing together.

I wish all six girls good luck!  I can't wait to find out who become a new Onigokko member!  

CoCo DeCoRu Releases Their First Single

CoCo DeCoRu are releasing their first indie single, "KISS ME KISS ME", on June 25.  I believe this is a venue-only release, although I hope I am wrong and it's on sale through Internet stores.  The B-Side is "I promise you", a song that is not on their YouTube channel and has never been performed live in any of the fan videos I've watched.  I'm anxious to hear this new song!  I'm pretty happy that "KISS ME KISS ME" is the song that they are releasing as a single as this is the CoCo DeCoRu song I would play for people to introduce them to the group.  Maybe the other three songs on their YouTube channel will be released on another single, or maybe an album, in the near future.  The official website has an event schedule for those of you who are lucky enough to be in Japan to see them live.  CoCo DeCoRu's Facebook page also has info.  I hope everyone will show these girls some support!       

Minarin Graduates From Candy Zoo

Today Ootsuka Minami, known to her fans as Minarin, graduated from Candy Zoo.  I'm very sad about this as I've only been a fan of Candy Zoo for a few months.  Minami was the Lion girl in Candy Zoo, the oldest member and the second shortest.  Minami announced she was leaving back in March due to her difficulty of being a student and an idol at the same time.  Minami is an irreplaceable part of Candy Zoo.  I will miss her very much.

Minami's Graduation Comment
Chiba Rian's Goodbye To Minami
Sakamaki Yuuna's Goodbye to Minami   

Minami (February 2012)

Minami (July 2013)

Minami (May 2014)

Here's a short video of Minami doing a challenge.

  

CoCo DeCoRu

Thanks to a tip from Shura Striker at IDOLcore on Facebook who suggested I check out a YouTube channel with some idol videos on it, I found another idol group that I like.  The group is CoCo DeCoRu, a young group that is the sister group of Kimitomo Candy.  

CoCo DeCoRu are a four member idol group that debuted on July 27, 2013.  All four members were born in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture.  The official website doesn't give much in the way of information, so I don't know anything more than this about their history.  CoCo DeCoRu don't have a single available yet, but if you check out their YouTube channel you will find four lyrics-only videos with the studio versions of all four of their original songs.  Here is a recent live video.  

         

Members: 

Yoshioka Ruka - Born on January 25, 2000  

Nishihara Kurea - Born on March 30, 2001 

Arai Momo - Born on April 2, 2001  

Fujii Yumi - Born on April 25, 2002 

Official Website

Official Facebook

Official Twitter

Official YouTube

Ruka's Blog

Kurea's Blog

Momo's Blog

Yumi's Blog

Kikuchi Moa Becomes The New Sakura Gakuin President

For those of you who haven't heard the news yet, Kikuchi Moa has been named the fourth Student Council President of Sakura Gakuin.  Here's the complete list of new offices at Sakura Gakuin.

Kikuchi Moa - Student Council President 

Mizuno Yui - Chairperson of Production (Vice President) 

Notsu Yunano - Chairperson of Communication

Taguchi Hana - Chairperson of (Fighting) Spirit

    

New Sakura Gakuin Members!

Today I watched the audition video of the two newest Sakura Gakuin members, Kurashima Sara (left, below) and Okada Megumi (right).  Here is the video.

Kurashima Sara - born on February 24, 2002 

Okada Megumi - born April 4, 2002

It's a bit surprising that only two girls have joined the group.  This means there will only be ten members this year, which is the same amount of members during Sakura Gakuin's first year in 2010.  I'm not sure if two more will be joining later, or if this will be all.  In any case, I can't wait to hear these young ladies sing!