Angermegeddon

Here we go again. Mizuki Murota’s sudden announcement to graduate from Angerme after the group’s March 22 Hina Fes Premium concert has left fans stunned and confused, and wondering how many more important members the group can lose without losing their identity and high level of performance. Murota’s and Funaki’s departures will be the fourth and fifth in less than...

Harowota: The Movie

Musician and manga writer Mikito Tsurugi has adapted his 2014 autobiographical essay Ano Koro: Danshi Kashimashi Monogatari for the big screen, with a screenplay by Tominaga Masanori and starring Tori Matsuzaka (The Blood of Wolves) in the lead role. The movie In Those Days will follow Tsurugi’s challenging and life-changing events after failing his grad school entrance exam. Poor and...

Generation XV

Morning Musume – “KOKORO&KARADA / LOVEpedia / Ningen Kankei No way way” The most anticipated Morning Musume singles for me these days are those that debut a new generation. I’ve been less interested in the H!P flagship than all other H!P groups since Sayumi graduated, and that saddens me a bit. MM is the group that made me a J-idol...

BEYOOOOONDS the Valley of the Idols

BEYOOOOOND1St Announced just one month after their debut single dropped, the production schedule for BEYOOOOOND1St broke with J-idol conventions by hewing more closely to the 70s-80s rock system of rolling out a single to promote an impending new album, usually a month or so before its release. In an era where new idol groups are expected to have at least...

What Do You Do With A Girl Like Rei Inoue?

Rei Inoue is the sole member of Kobushi Factory who will remain with Hello! Project after KF disbands, so the speculation surrounding her future role in H!P is lively. The three most likely scenarios are: 1. solo career; 2. lead a new unit; 3. join an existing unit. I’ll avoid speculating on what I think Up Front will do —...

Kobushi. RIP.

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably already aware that Up Front has decided to pull the plug on Kobushi Factory. Their final single, “Seishun no Hana / Start Line,” will be released on March 4th, with their farewell performance set for March 30th. And as one would expect of KF, the announcement was released amid a fog of rumored...

Did “One•Two•Three” Save H!P?

I saw this pop up in my Twitter feed a few days ago: This is an interesting theory. There’s no question that “One•Two•Three” (OTT) returned Morning Musume to relevance in the J-idol world, but it’s effect on the Hello! Project itself is something I’d never considered. I did some research using data from the Hello! Project Wiki, and here’s my...

Tsubaki Factory — “Ishiki Takai Otome no Dilemma / Dakishimerarete Mitai” single

The sixth major single from Tsubaki Factory is so Tsubaki Factory, and I mean that in a positive way. Sure, they’re channeling “Teion Yakedo” on “Dakishimerarete Mitai”, which shouldn’t be too surprising considering both were written by the same team (Kodama Ameko and Ohashi Riko), but “Dakishimerarete Mitai” is more subtle and restrained in terms of both composition and arrangement....

Ningen Isu – “Heartless Scat”

If you’ve visited this blog with any regularity, you know that the focus here is on idol-pop, and on Hello! Project idol groups in particular. Today, we’re getting our metal on, because I need to talk about Ningen Isu. I opened up Youtube last week and saw an odd video recommendation. The thumbnail was of a bespectacled, elderly Japanese man...

Riho Sayashi to join Babymetal?

Did Riho Sayashi join Babymetal? Maybe. No one knows at this point. What we do know is that the ex-Morning Musume ace performed with the metal-idols at their June 30th Glastonberry Festival performance, with no announcement or introduction made prior to or during the show. Sayashi’s appearance made the group a trio again, and allowed them to perform their routines...