The 2014 Japanese Idol Review!

With another year drawing to a close, it's time for everyone's favorite (?) tradition, the year in review!  Of course, I'll be focusing on Japanese idols for the purposes of this article.

In the past few years the Japanese idol industry has been going through an "idol boom" where idol groups are popping up all over the country.  Every city, district and neighborhood seems to have an idol group.  You can't walk too far down any street without bumping into an idol or idol wannabe. This, unfortunately, has caused an oversaturation of the industry that has many fans having a hard time keeping up with all of these groups, as well as finding ways to support them through purchasing merchandise and attending concerts.  2014 saw many new idol groups debut, only to have some of them break up or have lineup changes.  Sometimes an idol would join a group only to leave a few weeks later, or even join a another group shortly thereafter.  Some groups reorganized into new groups and there were even some "microwave" idol groups that came and went in the blink of an eye!

One trend I noticed this year is that older idols were being "phased out".  Shortly after I wrote the first English language article about Links on July 24, Saito Mitsue, currently 21-years-old, left the group.  The idol group BiS, whose members were in their 20s, broke up.  Michishige Sayumi, age 25, graduated from Hello! Project's Morning Musume, and H!P even announced the disbanding (excuse me, "hiatus") of the group Berry Kobo, whose members range in age from 20 to 23, during Spring 2015.  While there are still older idols for those who like them, I feel that this may mean that some new, younger girls will soon debut and hopefully take the place of the departed older idols.  The only way for the idol industry to survive is to keep things fresh and exciting, and to give younger girls the chance they want to show the world how much they love to sing and dance.  

Any end of the year review wouldn't be complete without a list.  Yes, I have one!  Actually, I have a list of my favorite idols songs of 2014, as well as much shorter lists of favorite albums and new groups.  Instead of ranking my favorites, which I can't really do as I love a lot of these songs, albums and groups equally, I am grouping my favorite songs from each idol group that I like, and adding a list of albums and groups that I recommend if you haven't already heard them.  (Select songs on my list have music videos.)    

Favorite Songs of 2014: 

Sakura Gakuin & Subunits - 

"I J I" 

"Jump Up ~Chiisana Yuki~" 

"Mikansei Silhouette" 

"Daydream Believer" (cover of The Monkees) by Marina, Raura, Nene & Hinata 

"Ningentte Iina" by sleepiece 

"Heart no Hoshi" 

Caramel ☆ Ribbon - 

"First Secret" 

"Nana Iro no Niji no Muko ni" 

"Sparkling Daydream" (cover) 

"Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis" ("A Cruel Angel's Thesis") (cover) 

NA-NA - 

"Fu Fu" 

Aither - 

"Fantasy combo" 

"1 carat star" 

"Pure myth" 

Prizmmy☆ - 

"Butterfly Effect" 

"Jumpin'! Dancin'!"

Prism☆Mates - 

"Pojikaru World" by Natsu & Yuka 

"Chocolate Paradise" by Momona 

"Glory Days" by Hina & Runa 

Prism☆Box - 

"Happy Star Restaurant" 

"Kiraki Runway☆" 

Sakuran Bom Bom - 

"My Hero" 

“Bom Bom World☆” 

“Ne~e! Sakuranbo” 

Candy Kiss - 

"Beautiful Girl" 

"Love Romancer" 

Michinoku Sendai ORI☆HIMETAI -

"Kimi ni Todoku Kaze ni Nare" 

"Takara Mono" 

Himekko 5 - 

"Kanbei-kun" 

Candy Zoo - 

"CWB!!" 

"Go Go ☆ Dinosaur" 

loop - 

"Hajimari no Ippo" 

Pink Babies - 

"Wanted (Shimei Tehai)" 

CoCo DeCoRu - 

"Kiss Me Kiss Me" 

Onigokko - 

"Hare nochi Hare" 

"Dream Angel" 

"Ki.zu.na" 

Haru ☆ Kana -  

"Sense Revolution" 

Peekaboo - 

"Kosoku Ihan" 

Millennium Girls - 

"Kiss My Girls" 

"Kyoshitsu Sabaibaru" 

Pocchimo - 

"JS Datte!! Ima Shika Nai!!" 

Hypericum - 

"Sweet Box" 

Miniature Garden - 

"Otenba Junction" 

Q♥T - 

"Happy Happy" 

Kokepiyo - 

"Umi Karatto Sora Karatto" 

Idol Renaissance - 

 "17 Sai" 

Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku - 

"Haitateki!" 

mImi -
"lucky star"  

"Girls' Revolution" 

KAGAJO☆4S - 

"Fujicco QQQ no Theme" 

Minichia ☆ Bears - 

"Minichia ☆ Ouenka"  

Cute☆Pit - 

"Shukurimu Monsuta ♪" 

Maboroshi Love - 

"Merry Go World" 

"Kinenbi Noto" 

Party Rockets - 

"KASABUTA" 

Favorite Albums / Mini Albums of 2014: 

Sakura Gakuin - 

"Sakura Gakuin 2013 ~Kizuna~" 

Onigokko - 

"Toy Box" 

Prizmmy☆ & Prism☆Mates - 

"Music Goes On" 

Sakuran Bom Bom - 

“Bom Bom World☆” 

Favorite New Groups of 2014: 

Pocchimo 

Q♥T

Millennium Girls 

Idol Renaissance 

mImi 

So there you go!  Fifty-six songs, four albums and five new groups.  Yes, I know that Q♥T broke up last month, but they were a new group in 2014.   

New Idol Group Spotlight: PARLISH

For the past four months I have been following the Facebook page and blogs of a young idol group named PARLISH.  PARLISH were formed in April 2014 from members of avex artist academy and are based in Osaka.  Originally there were nine members, but now there are seven. They have been active in live events since July.  All the members are also models, and member Asaka Fuuna has appeared on the cover of the children's fashion magazine Dream Girls.  As for why two members have already left, I can't say for sure.  Yoshioka Satsuki has not blogged since September 27, 2014 when she announced she had cut her hair short.  Oochi Yuna has written in her blog only four times since November 1, when the new PARLISH group photo was uploaded to Facebook without her and Satsuki, and Yuna's blog posts are no longer being linked to the PARLISH Facebook page.  Itou Kika is the only member without a Twitter account.

Members:
Noguchi Monami (野口もなみ) - Born on December 27, 2000
Monami's Blog, Monami's Twitter
Wada Yuka (和田優香) - Born on March 17, 2002
Yuka's Blog, Yuka's Twitter
Nishikawa Reika (西川怜伽) - Born on May 17, 2002
Reika's Blog, Reika's Twitter
Sasaki Miku (佐々木美來) - Born on June 6, 2002
Miku's Blog, Miku's Twitter
Asaka Fuuna (浅香ふう菜) - Born on August 18, 2002
Fuuna's Blog, Fuuna's Twitter
Nishikawa Airi (西川愛莉) - Born on September 21, 2002
Airi's Blog, Airi's Twitter
Itou Kika (伊藤妃花) - Born on April 30, 2001
Kika's Blog

Graduated Members:
Yoshioka Satsuki (吉岡楓季) - Born on July 8, 2001
Satsuki's Blog, Satsuki's Twitter
Oochi Yuna (大内柚菜) - Born on October 31, 2002
Yuna's Blog, Yuna's Twitter 

Official Facebook

Here are a couple videos to watch!  The first is from September 15, 2014, when there were nine members.

The second is from December 7, 2014 with the current seven members.  

Thanks for reading my blog!  Have a outstanding day!

Chiba Rian Graduates From Candy Zoo

Sometimes when I am trying to support as many Japanese idol groups as possible, and my chosen favorites are of the indie variety that few others are supporting, I tend to focus on a few groups while ignoring the others.  It's not that I dislike the others, but there simply aren't enough hours in the day to for me to keep up with everything.  Case in point: I have been ignoring a group I was the first to write about back in March of this year, Candy Zoo.  It figures that when I choose to ignore a group for a while that something important happens, and something important happened just recently.  As you can guess from the title of my article, Chiba Rian, the Giraffe of Candy Zoo, has graduated.  Rian wrote in her blog on November 9 that she was graduating from the group in order to focus on school.  It had suddenly become difficult for her to be both a student and an idol, similar to what Ootsuka Minami, Candy Zoo's other 2014 graduate, said when she graduated in May.  Rian actually wishes she didn't have to leave the group, but it was too hard for her balance her academic studies with her singing career.  What wasn't made clear is she didn't explicitly say if she was also giving up her modeling career.  I assume she will, but can't say for sure.  Rian's final performance with Candy Zoo was on November 30, 2014.  She will be missed by all of her fans.        

Here are some videos featuring Rian her fans won't want to miss!  

TTKC 2013 A/W INNER PRESS (Sorry, embedding problems.)  

SENSATIONAL IDOLS

Back in September I mentioned that I was working on an idol project that I would hopefully reveal before the year was up.  That project is an idol website I created named SENSATIONAL IDOLS.   The idea for the website has been in my mind for a long time.  I helped my friend Xin Chun with her website Idol Candy, although she rarely updates her own site.  I always wanted my own website so I could update it at any time and so I could add all of my favorite idol groups.  I felt that there was a need for a Japanese idol website for groups that have little or no information in English.  As much as I wanted to do everything myself, I am not an expert at creating a website and there are details that still confuse me.  So I asked Xin Chun and later Bethany Walker to lend their skills in fixing up the website so it looks nice.  I wrote all the content myself and chose what photos to use.  (In most cases I used official photos from the groups' websites.)  I tried to not use photos with copyrights and text, but in a couple cases I had no real choice.  Trying to locate all the necessary information and photos was a lot of hard work.  I still didn't find everything I needed so there are places where something is missing.  Hopefully in time I will either find these things I need to make the website more complete, or maybe someone who has that info or a nice photo will be kind enough to share it with me. 

 

I have linked on the website my blog (the one you are reading) and my Facebook page Young Idol Singers.  I was thinking of creating a Twitter account specifically for the website where my followers would get updates of what changes I have made and allow people to send me tweets with their comments and questions.  Please check the links at the top of the website next to the name as well as the "Links" page for any future updates regarding Twitter.  I plan on adding more groups in the future, but for now there are only twelve.  I hope everyone enjoys SENSATIONAL IDOLS!                 

St. Bonapro School Returns! - Sort Of

Faster than you can say "name change" the girls in St. Bonapro School have been reorganized as the group Si☆Stella.  The name Si☆Stella means "Si(ster) Stella(r stars)", and there are four members: Sakurai Rico, Mafune Nono, Akai Sakura and Masuda Hina.  Rico and Nono were the heart and soul of St. Bonapro, so it's no surprise that they are a part of the new group.  Si☆Stella will make their live debut on December 21, 2014 and will perform twice, in a white version and a black version.  This means different costumes and different songs according to this tweet. Speaking of Twitter, the old St. Bonapro School account is still being used as Si☆Stella's Twitter. The name, url and banner are different, but you can still find old photos of St. Bonapro School if you still haven't looked at them.

Members:
Sakurai Rico, Leader - Born on May 3, 2002
Mafune Nono - Born on July 8, 2004
Akai Sakura - Born on November 20, 2004
Masuda Hina - Born on December 10, 2008 

Official Website

Official Twitter

Thanks to Anna for help with the info!  

Aither Disbands

After the controversial way Aither leader Konno Yuuka left in October it came as no surprise to me when I read the latest Aither blog article written by Misaki on November 27 that the group was breaking up.  Their final live performance will be on December 29, 2014.  This is very sad news for fans of the indie idol group who made Japanese pop history when they were the first idol group to have an overseas live (which I attended) in less than a year after their Japanese debut without the backing of a major label or anime tie-in.  When Yuuka left after claiming of being treated poorly by the management and not getting paid, many of Aither's fans stopped following the group.  My Japanese friend Chibineko Suwano, who was filming most of Aither's live performances and uploading them to YouTube, suddenly stopped this.  When Yuuka created her own personal Twitter account she gained over 1,000 followers in short time.  Meanwhile, very few fans seemed interested in filming Aither's live performances and sharing them on YouTube since the group had been reduced to a duo, with Tsujimura Airi handling most of the vocals while Misaki primarily danced.  Tellingly, there seem to be very few photos of Airi and Misaki together on Aither's blog or Twitter.  (The above photo was the most recent I could find, and I prefer photos without text or "touch-ups".)

Honestly, I am very sad about all of this.  I was the first to write about Aither in English last November and now I am reporting their disbanding one year later.  Aither could have been a great and successful idol group had all of the members been treated fairly and had the group stayed together.  Not many idol groups make Japanese pop history, even if it's in minor way, but Aither certainly did.  I really hope Yuuka, Airi and Misaki find much better management and form a new group.  All three girls are pretty special to me, and I thought it was really awesome meeting them at Idol Matsuri in June this year.  I wish them all the best because they really deserve it!                

12 Months Ago...

It was a year ago that I decided to start a new Japanese idol blog.  I have written a total of 59 articles in this blog so far, and there have been great and not-so-great moments spread throughout. I didn't want to title this article "The Year In Review" because I have some thoughts on Japanese idol music in the year 2014 that I will share with everyone next month.  Instead, I want to look back and reflect on what I have done in the past 12 months.  

My first article was titled "Idol Thoughts".  At the time I had no idea that there were other idol blogs that used the same title for their articles.  I wrote the first few articles in my "This Is Your Wake Up Call!" blog during the 14 month period when I did not have the internet, and therefore I could not know what had been written in fan blogs and what had not.  If you want me to be honest, I rarely pay attention to other idol fan blogs anyway.  Many of them are focused on popular mainstream idol groups with only a brief mention of smaller groups.

My second article was titled "Junior Idols".  I was told, incorrectly, by a Japanese idol fan that junior idols meant very young idol singers.  As it turned out, "junior idols" is the term for young gravure, or sexy / bikini, models.  I don't pay attention to this aspect of Japanese culture, although I will admit that I do know about it.  I am interested in traditional singers and models, not the more explicit forms of these types of entertainers.

"What Is Popularity?" was my next article, and originally it was a two part article.  I felt that it would be best to join them together at the time.  I regret this choice now.  I wish I had published it in two parts, or at least edited it a bit.

"Are You A Sakura Gakuin Fan?" was an article I wrote in response to the negativity unleashed by select fans of BABYMETAL, who showed no interest in their parent group, Sakura Gakuin.   BABYMETAL's popularity and their current status as a worldwide mainstream artist has certainly helped bring about a bigger awareness of Sakura Gakuin.  The downside to this is that there is still much focus on the three girls in BABYMETAL, Nakamoto Suzuka, Mizuno Yui and Kikuchi Moa, and very little focus on the other past and present members of Sakura Gakuin.  This is why I feel the need to show my support for the members who I think are special, including Miyoshi Ayaka, Sugimoto Mariri, Sato Hinata and Isono Rinon, despite what other fans may think.

"Why I Hate Tsunku" was the article that soon followed.  I voiced my complaints about the songwriter and producer of many Hello! Project songs based on what I could remember and with the sources of information at my disposal offline.  As it turned out, I made some errors in judgement about who made certain decisions for Hello! Project artists.  Someone informed me that people who work for Up Front Works are the decision makers and not Tsunku.  Still, I feel my complaints about the book he co-wrote are valid.  Perhaps if I had known more about Up Front I would have written a slightly different article, which I could have then titled "My Complaints About Tsunku And Up Front".

I've written profiles for some indie idol groups beginning with Aither last November.  Unfortunately it seems that any group I write about either breaks up or loses members.  Sometimes I feel that any group I choose to write about will be cursed simply because I am supporting them.  I do my best to have as much info about these groups as I can gather before publishing an article, but often I am missing pieces to the puzzle, so to speak.  I often wonder if there's any point in writing about these groups or if anyone besides me cares.

More recently I have written articles about the group Prism☆Box, informing my readers that their new single is titled "Glitter Way Down☆".  This was a bad translation on Google Translate's and my part.  Google actually said "Glitter Down Way☆" was the English translation, and I simply reversed the last two words.  The correct title is "Kiraki Runway☆", which I think translates as "Sparkling Runway☆" or perhaps "Glitter Runway☆".  Had I consulted with one of my bilingual friends first I could have saved myself some embarrassment.      

I haven't allowed comments on my current blog due to the history of my former blog, "I ♥ Miyoshi Ayaka's Idol Musings".  I wrote 138 articles in my former (now deleted) blog, and for the most part no one commented.  I recall only six occasions when people posted comments, and four times those comments were spam.  (One person gave me his name and email address, and asked me to email him.  I never did.)  Only two times did someone post a comment that related to the article I wrote.  The lesson I learned from this was most of the time people have absolutely nothing to say.  When they do say something it rarely contributes to the conversation at hand.  Only on rare occasions does someone have something interesting to say that relates to the topic being discussed.  So, I've decided that for the first time in my current blog's history that I will allow comments.  I guess I'm ready for whatever my readers want to say to me.