  From time to time A-To-J Connections likes to shine the spotlight on artists that we feel are deserving of attention they don't seem to be receiving, especially in the US. With this in mind, I bring to your attention the all-girl quintet, "BAND-MAID". BAND-MAID is a five-member all-girl rock band that are managed by Platinum Production and are on the Gump Records label. They formed in July 2013 and had their first live on July 24, 2013 at SHIBUYA-AX. January 8, 2014 saw the release of their first album, titled "MAID IN JAPAN", and they released their first single, "Ai to Jounetsu no Matadore" on August 13, 2014, It is from this single where this song "Thrill" can be found. As their name implies, they are a hard rock band with a unique take on the genre that involves dressing and performing in maid outfits. While this may seem like a simple gimmick, in reality it only serves as window dressing for what is a powerful and skilled band. One only needs to hear Tono Kanami's guitar solo (not to mention MISA's bass solo) to see what I mean. Besides the great solo work, we have the twin vocals of Saiki and Kobato Miku that perfectly complement each other and the band as well. As far as beat goes, Hirose Akane is a master on drums and she does a good job not only keeping the band in time, but also acting as their leader. There is clearly lots of talent within this group and they should not be dismissed off-hand. The video for the song "Thrill" is also a huge addition to a great song and it is well-executed in its basic-ness. The near-monochrome shots paired with the bright flashes of red outfits and normal-colored shots offer a sharp contrast that play well on the fact that all the girls look great here. The editing here is perfect without having to resort to flashy tricks and the lyric text is a nice touch. Did I mention there was a touch of headbanging here? Because there is! All in all, the video is well-done and we can only hope they produce promotional videos for some of their other songs in the near future. BAND-MAID as a group took me by surprise when I stumbled upon them online and I hope to hear more from them in future. If you have not heard of them yet, I insist that you check them out now! I promise you won't be disappointed! BAND-MAID Are: ◆ Saiki - Vocals ◆ Kobato Miku - Guitar & Vocals ◆ Tono Kanami - Guitar ◆ Hirose Akane - Drums (Leader) ◆ MISA - Bass  Hello! Pro Station Episode #101 Contents MC: Ishida Ayumi & Kumai Yurina ◆ ANGERME - Otome no Gyakushuu PV ◆ ANGERME - Taikibansei (Dance Shot) PV ◆ 4-Kanji Phrase : 一蓮托生 ◆ Hamaura Ayano Interview ◆ Berryz Selection ◆ Q&A Corner ◆ Juice=Juice "School For Girls" Information The 101st episode of Hello! Project Station begins with the Promotion Edit of ANGERME's new PV "Otome no Gyakushuu". I have a separate post about this song so I won't say too much about it here. I will say that this song is probably my early pick for idol song of the year and that I am extremely excited to hear new material from ANGERME. While I am a little torn over the fact that Tsunku isn't writing for them anymore, I am glad to say that this change in sound and style is a welcome one!  This week's hosts are Morning Musume 15's Ishida Ayumi and Berryz Koubou's Kumai Yurina. They do a great job together and there is a surprising amount of fun banter here. Kumai Yurina is about as random as you expect her to be and Ayumi is sporting a new shorter hairstyle. Some discussions about Ayumi turning 18 recently. This means that she'll finally be able to perform in the later segments of the Hello! Countdown concerts! Also, gotta love Kumai Yurina's description of the new ANGERME PV.  Next we see the dance shot version of ANGERME's "Taikibansei". I mentioned this before, but this song really made me take back all the negative things I was saying about S/mileage's re-branding as ANGERME. The song is catchy, amazing and the dance/outfits are a perfect fit. This dance shot version is a little more stylized than we are probably used to seeing, but it's a fun version nonetheless and a good excuse to listen to the song again!  Next up, we have the 4-kanji phrase segment! Everyone knows how I feel about this segment so I'll just jump into the specifics. This week's phrase is "一蓮托生" which means something along the lines of "being in the same boat". A weird segment that is hosted by Morning Musume 15's Iikubo Haruna with the guest being Country Girls' Inaba Manaka. Back with our hosts, we get some karaoke talk. Let's hope we see a segment of these two doing karaoke together soon!  Next we have an interview with Hamaura Ayano who is a member of the yet-to-be-named new Hello! Project group! She talks a lot about her time being in the the Kenkyuusei/Hello! Pro Eggs and some talk about not being chosen to be in Juice=Juice. It ends in tears and there is some interesting information here if you plan to follow the new unit from the get-go.  We follow this up with a Berryz Selection segment. These are all the more sad now that we now that our time with Berryz Koubou is so short. The clip is from the 2013 concert and features Berryz members Saki Shimizu (Captain), Sugaya Risako and Morning Musume 15 leader, Fukumura Mizuki. Saki Shimizu has to gently prod Mizuki for fogetting to point out that she is now Morning Musume's leader which is interesting as I too realize that it's a little hard to accept even at this point. The song is not one of my favorites, but it is very nostalgic and there are some nice stories shared by the trio and a promise for next week's Berryz Selection being from the Berryz Koubou x Juice=Juice concert tour.  The Q&A corner is interesting as they usually are. Ayumi sees Riho as a rival which is not really too surprising. There is some height talk since we must remember that Kumai Yurina is extremely tall, especially amongst the other Hello! Project members. Kumai Yurina's struggles with her height are real! We close the episode with some announcements regarding the new Berryz Koubou greatest hits album and the start date for the new Morning Musume 15 Spring Tour.  That might have been the official end, but we actually close with some information regarding Juice=Juice's "School For Girls" event. I could talk a bit about what is said, but it's short and not too interesting. What is interesting here is Tomoko's "FRORIDA" shirt! Everyone should get one! Watch and enjoy!  Back in 2008, a group was formed that was meant to be a parody-style idol group of Akimoto Yasushi’s Onyanko Club back in the 80s. This group had a bit of a catch: they consisted of idols who worked heavily in the gravure and adult video industry.  This was the Ebisu Muscats. And they were much more than just a group of gravure and AV idols. First off, some of their songs did have a bit of a sexual undertone. Their biggest hit, “Banana Mango High School” was released in 2010 and, if you were to understand Japanese or read the English translation, you can kind of see what they were talking about. I will not exactly explain the song lyrics right in front of you, but the song itself was just as sexual as a few of Onyanko Club’s hits. At least the video itself was not as perverted as the song: As for their other songs, some of their sugar coated hits involve spring holidays, chocolate, and a honey trap. Rather than just talk about songs, the lineup of the Ebisu Muscats was also a major strength. Yes, you have a lineup of adult video idols, some of which were the biggest in the business (Yoshizawa Akiho, Asami Yuma, Aoi Sora, etc.), but when you watched them perform through music videos, and even through their late-night variety show in "Onedari Muscats!!", you saw a different side of the girls rather than what you would see on a video found in the red light district. They had personality, they were funny, and they broke the stereotypes one may have when you talk about a group with adult video actresses. Like other idol groups, the Ebisu Muscats had a captain that was shuffled throughout the group’s lifetime. The first captain was Aoi Sora from 2008-2010, Asami Yuma from 2010-2012, and Kishi Aino from 2012-2013. As for the members, some members stayed for the entire duration of the Muscats’ tenure, such as Rio, Andou Aika and Hatsune Minori, while others stayed for a very brief period of time, such as Mizuki Uruha, Ohashi Sayoko and Ozawa Maria. Also like other groups, there were one or two sub units who performed their own songs. One of them was the Purukawa sub unit (based pretty heavily on the PreCure magical girl anime), featuring my Ebisu Muscats oshi, Rukawa Rina. The Muscats also had other appearances with other groups and artists. There was even a time where they starred in a special showcasing other idol groups, such as Berryz Koubou and SDN48. Here they are starring with DJ OZMA, with a few shots at AKB48 here and there: The Ebisu Muscats grew in popularity, especially in the early 2010s, with singles that sold fairly well and concert tours here and there (including one in Singapore). Unfortunately, in 2013, at the height of their popularity, the entire group announced graduation and was disbanded. Some of the other former Muscats can be found doing other lines of J-Pop based work, such as Kuriyama Mui of Through Skills and Sakuragi Rin of innuendo-named J-Pop duo, P * cherry. Will we ever see a mature J-Pop group like the Ebisu Muscats again, where their gravure and adult video careers were put on the side for the sake of J-Pop and variety shows? Only time will tell.
This group, however, holds something really dear to me, and that is because this was the gateway I had to J-Pop and the idol industry. I was curious to the idea of a bunch of adult video actresses in a J-Pop group, and then “Banana Mango High School” grew on me. I listened to this song so many times that I even learned the dance. Eventually Rukawa Rina caught my eye as being the kawaii anime otaku in the group (and the closest one to my age, given that most of the Muscats were 3-8 years older than I was). Eventually it was not just “Banana Mango High School”, but I listened to almost all of their songs wherever I went: at the gym, driving to college, etc. I would get excited to see new episodes of their variety show and new releases of songs. This group also introduced me to other J-Pop acts, such as Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Perfume, DJ OZMA, and even AKB48. They were the biggest reason why I love J-Pop so much. When they announced graduation and disbanded, the final episode of their variety show struck a chord, since I now had to find a new J-Pop group to follow. I still follow up on whatever non-AV based J-Pop things some of the former Muscats are doing today, but it is definitely not the same. I had to find another group that I could follow up with, who I could like as much as the Muscats. But then I ran into a gravure photo of an attractive girl on a Tumblr page. The girl on that photo was named Shiraishi Mai. And the rest is history... -L4verra (Nathan)  Recently, AKB48’s Morikawa Ayaka announced graduation to pursue a career in modeling. Nogizaka46’s Hatanaka Seira announced graduation as well. You can kind of notice that there has been a wave of graduation announcements left, right and center. Perhaps not as frequently with AKB48 and Nogizaka46, but graduation announcements have affected other groups in the 48G family. Let us start with the good news. NMB48 gets rid of all of their kenkyuusei…but in the best way imaginable. NMB48 just revamped their roster by adding in all of the kenkyuusei to teams N, M and BII. The original Team M center, Jo Eriko, after graduating from NMB48 and returning as a kenkyuusei, makes it to Yamamoto Sayaka’s Team N roster. Also, Uno Mizuki, who made an appearance on the AKB48 Janken single, “Kimi wo Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru”, gets promoted to Team M. NMB48, alongside AKB48, are the only two groups in the 48 family (including JKT48, SNH48 and Nogizaka46) who do not have any kenkyuusei. However, two members of NMB48 have already announced graduation a while back: Team M’s Murakami Ayaka and Yamada Nana. The addition of the kenkyuusei to the three NMB teams help aid the upcoming loss of Nana and Ayaka, but the graduation wave affects some groups more than others. The bad news is that graduation announcements have affected one group more so than the others: SKE48.
Just look at this list of members who announced graduation: Nakanishi Yuka, Sato Mieko, Abiru Riho, Furukawa Airi, Iwanaga Tsugumi, Ogino Risa, Sasaki Yuka and Yamada Nana (who has a kennin with SKE48). Some graduation announcements affect more of the members and fans than others. Furukawa Airi’s graduation is the hardest hitting so far, given how she is the leader and one of the main forces behind Team KII. But never forget how Nakanishi Yuka and Sato Mieko helped SKE48. Yes, SKE48 is having its 7th generation members named soon, but there is a sense that more members of SKE48 may graduate soon as well. Perhaps during the Sousenkyo election, where we saw Shinoda Mariko announce graduation from AKB48 in 2013, and where we saw Kojima Haruna fake a graduation announcement out in 2014. Someone will probably announce graduation this June. The question is, who? SKE48 is not exactly making things easy for their fans when THIS is the trailer for their upcoming documentary. It is titled “Idol’s Tears”. Given the many graduations and graduation announcements the group has experienced, someone is going to cry their eyes out. I know I might. It also does not help that Kizaki Yuria is there since she, well, got transferred permanently to AKB48…
But SKE48 still has a fantastic roster. Of course the W-Matsui duo of Jurina and Rena are still here, and Shibata Aya, Suda Akari, Takayanagi Akane, Oya Masana, and for you kenkyuusei fans, Matsumura Kaori, are all still here. At least 3 of them will probably make Sousenkyo senbatsu, since 4 (almost 5) did last year.
Don’t forget some of the other up and coming 6th gen members that may capture your heart such as Kumazaki Haruka and Kitagawa Ryoha, and don’t forget transferred members, such as the dorky Tani Marika! These are some of my favorite SKE48 members, especially Marika.
So there is definitely hope for SKE48 to climb back up again from graduation announcement after graduation announcement. The 7th generation members could be what the 9th generation was to AKB48 and really set the tone for the future of the group. Heck, SKE48 has two members from AKB48’s 9th generation and one of them is co-Team KII captain. But anything can happen, and all we can hope for as fans, is the best. But as we publish this, we just got another one. Kobayashi Ami has announced her graduation as well... -Nathan (L4verra)   For this week's Throwback Thursday post, we travel back a few years and visit one of my favorite idols of all time, Kusumi Koharu. Who was a member of Morning Musume (as its sole seventh generation member), a member of the trio MilkyWay and a soloist. The song I chose here is her final solo single, "Happy Happy Sunday", which she released under the name "Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu". It was the eigth, and final, opening theme for the anime "Kirarin Revolution", a show where Kusumi voiced the title character. The song is indicative of her solo work at the time. While Morning Musume was focused on mature sounding songs like "Naichau Kamo" and "Shouganai Yume Oibito", Kusumi's solo work was a mix of up-beat pop and cutesy lyrics that were playful, but not annoyingly so. While her sound was carefree and fun, it still fit in well with the Hello! Project style that was heavily dominated by the Tsunku-written songs. The video for Happy Happy Sunday is also one of the most colorful ones to come from this era of Hello! Project. Slightly reminiscent of Aya Matsuura's "Ne~e" the song and video chronicles Kusumi's tough decisions regarding her impending first date. If you have not heard this song before, now's the time to check it out! Kusumi Koharu had an interesting, if short, career as an idol. She joined Morning Musume on May 1, 2005 as Morning Musume's sole seventh generation member. She debuted musically on the single "Iroppoi Jirretai", but she really hit her stride when she was chosen to star in the anime "Kirarin Revolution" in 2006. The show was extremely popular and ran for three years and would make Kusumi one of the most popular members of Hello! Project as well as net her a host spot on the show "Oha Star". Kirarin Revolution would also see video game adaptations and even make its way to France and Europe where it would be known simply as "Kilari". Besides the voice work, Kusumi also provided the opening, closing and insert themes for the show starting with 2006's "Koi Kana", which was also her first solo single. While a lot of her work on the show was solo, she was also part of two groups that provided music for Kirarin Revolution. The first of which was "Kira Pika" which was a duo with C-ute's Chisato Mai. The other was the longer lasting "MilkyWay" which was a trio that also included Kikkawa You and Kitahara Sayaka, both of who have since moved onto solo careers of their own. At the top of her stardom, she graduated from Morning Musume and Hello! Project on December 6, 2009 in order to begin a career as a model. Not completely done with the idol scene, in 2010 she joined the group "Dream Morning Musume" which was made up of past members of Morning Musume. More recently, she left the show Oha Star in 2014, signed with a new modeling agency and has appeared in several television dramas. |
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