Kawaiicore

Why Yes, PINKYCASE, I Will Accept Your Feel-good Song

/ Homicidol Maniac

It’s a little hard to believe, but it still hasn’t been two full weeks since Yuigeddon, and still only a handful of days since probably the roughest idol moment in many Western wotas’ lives. People aren’t happy!

I’m all for recovery, though, and idol is one of those things, hair of the dog-style, that’s so crafted as to be exactly what you need when It turns south. Oshi’s graduating? You’re gonna need some more idol, friend, and pronto. Enter PINKYCASE, who released this MV yesterday practically with their hands out in invitation, urging those of us who are hurting to step into another world for a moment, a place where songs can be fun and upbeat and interesting, and nothing bad ever happens. It’s a good time!

It’s funny because they’re supposed to be emo! Well, if the emotion that you want me to feel is optimism, PINKYCASE, you hit the nail on the head. And I am relieved on this dark burden inside for at least a few more minutes.

This Panda Mic Song Is a Great Example of Why We Do This

/ Homicidol Maniac

Believe it or not, this site has a content strategy.* The original was written three years ago, give or take, and while yes it’s evolved over time, the general framework is still in place. The wild thing about strategies is that, like, they don’t work if you don’t follow them. They’re wonderful guiding documents when you need them, but remarkable pains in the butt when you’re short of time and/or capacity and everything starts to happen. Like when I commented the other day that, with TIF just a couple of weeks away, things would pick up? It’s happening!

So this is what digging out of a hole feels like. The double-edged sword is that the Panda Mic song that I’m about to show you is very fun and solid and like what might happen if you let Maison Book Girl write a punky little ditty for junior idols, so of course I’m going to want to show you that even if it weren’t necessarily tired to the content strategy, and it also is that:


Go ahead and admit it: That’s the best intro ever

Continue reading →

Devil ANTHEM Is Like All of the Music Right Now

/ Homicidol Maniac

In case you couldn’t tell from most of the most recent Weekenders, I’m a supporter of Devil ANTHEM. In case you couldn’t tell from most of the most recent Weekenders, they’ve moved beyond their earlier sounds to largely embrace an interesting EDM twist. This … this is usually the story of how an idol group becomes a Weekender regular and stops having normal posts about them appear. Funny how that works out.

The point, though, is that Devil ANTHEM also dropped a ton of material onto Soundcloud the other day, and I thought that it sounded like a good idea to take a spin through some of it.

Just the fact that this is tagged “JUNK POP” fills my heart with glee

Continue reading →

Let’s All Say Hi to POPPING EMO

/ Homicidol Maniac / 1 Comment

Doop-dee-doop, scrolling through Twitter … hello, what’s this?

Pro tip, friends: There are lots of ways to stumble over new idol stuff, but the most reliable will always be what other idols tweet about, especially when it’s groups promoting mixed shows. In this case, it was POPPING EMO that stood out in particular, because what a name. A few clicks later, and: Continue reading →

I Review Things: Minna no Kodomo-chan | “A World Without Walls”

/ Homicidol Maniac

All right, let’s not do that time-wasting thing when it comes to reviews anymore; when new stuff, especially new stuff from particular featured idols and honorary community favorites of Homicidols.com. Minna no Kodomo-chan gave us Kabe no Nai Sekai (A World Without Walls) to listen to, to embrace, to punish ourselves for sins more imagined than real by driving kawaiicore grotesqueries directly into our dreams. If all we ever had to go on was the other day’s MV, one might think that this is a one-way trip to video game hell, but we also know that Everybody’s Children can get down in lots of different, weird, wonderfully loud ways. What would their first album deliver on?

On to the review! Continue reading →

Welcome Back, PIIIIIIIN

/ Homicidol Maniac / 1 Comment

It’s bad and it sucks when idols graduate and, from that, groups disband. Yeah, sometimes it’s for a good reason; more often than not, though, it’s just a bummer for everybody involved. So it was a pretty substantial while back now when PIIIIIIIN declared that they’d be hanging ’em up — it was unexpected, nobody seemed terribly thrilled about the move but not so invested as to try to stop it, and a bright light flickered out. I even eulogized the PIIIIIIIN experience!

And then, because the entire world is upside-down right now, it was announced that a PIIIIIIIN was going to be making a comeback. Yesterday, that happened. This was the set list for the re-debut, and presumably also their musical content for the time being: Continue reading →

Do Whatever You Have to Do to Prepare Yourself for Minna no Kodomo-chan, Because You Aren’t Yet Ready for This

/ Homicidol Maniac

Good lord, what a thing to step into first thing on a Wednesday.

Minna no Kodomo-chan, winners of the Corenament, owners of some of my very favorite idol-related music to date, a teen chika power duo if there ever was one, an entity that manages to loom immensely despite the cumulative height of its members being about 8′ (it’s the backboards, I’m sure), have an album that’s out today. You have no doubt endured my barely contained hype, as I have been all kinds of excited since the day that it was announced, and I was practically giddy yesterday when they made it clear that an MV was going to happen this morning.

Friends, did it ever:

If you’re wondering why it took me well over an hour to get this out, it’s because I wasn’t in a place to heart react immediately, and I just spent most of that time struggling to get to where I needed to be to finish this post. And, sometimes, time is gift — you can think things through and mull them over and force-listen to a piece a few more times. What a gift, man. Continue reading →

Turn Your Punk up to 11 for Shuuengo Buppan

/ Homicidol Maniac

Given that I was incredibly excited about the original launch of Shuuengo Buppan, I wish that I could put more into this post but time’s a-wastin’. Just, you know, if seeing swastikas* bothers you, you might want to skip it: Continue reading →

Party Rockets GT Still Got It, Man

/ Homicidol Maniac

Well shut my dang mouth! The last time Party Rockets GT put out anything, I all but declared them officially spent on the rock front. Going all the way back to 2016 and the addition of GT to their name, the unit had progressively softened their sound, and the inevitable turnover in the membership signaled, to me at least, the end of an era.

So what does the latest and greatest lineup do?


Nonetheless missing Fumika

They rock! Continue reading →

Say Goodbye to PiGU

/ Homicidol Maniac

Frick and frack, you guys. I’ve largely been spared the personal worst of disbandments so far, but along comes the demise of one of my favorite Osaka groups. PiGU, one of the neatest of rock idols (regardless of the flavor they embraced at any moment), are being brought to an end by POP iD:

I’ll just go ahead and let Chris explain it all: Continue reading →