This is far from what I wanted to see when I popped open Team chat this morning:
僕、「あの」は、本日付けでゆるめるモ！を脱退させて頂きました。
今まで応援して頂いた皆様には、感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです。
今後のことは自分なりに考え、創作・発信していきたいと思っています。ありがとうございました。— あの (@aNo2mass) September 30, 2019
Ano, long-time member of You’ll Melt More! and one of the most popular individuals in the idol game, has withdrawn from the group.
The official statements from management: Continue reading
Time goes by quick! It was at the very end of August when we hosted a Friday Fun dedicated to the joys of fan art, and it came together quite nicely, and YOU deserve all the credit for that! Literally every single post with the #idoldoodles tag was wonderful, I mean that! That kind of positive, creative energy really makes my day, and is truly one of my very favorite things about being a part of this fandom.
One thing you may recall is that we’re intending to maintain a regular feature here on the blog where we share a few of our favorite pieces with the masses. We’ll be revisiting the aforementioned hashtag, but also keeping our eyes peeled for any other terrific idol-themed artwork we happen upon. I’m not sure how often we’ll do a round-up yet: semi-weekly, monthly, probably most likely when we feel like it, but I really want everybody who cares about the wonderful artwork in this community to participate in any way they want. If you make art, (any kind of art) let us know! If you see some else’s art you especially like, also let us know!
We’ll link the twitter or Instagram posts here, and if you see something you appreciate, by all means, please visit their account and let them know you like it! You’ll be surprised how much a simple click of the heart, or a nice comment, or a retweet can mean to a person brave enough to put their work out there. If you do that, they’ll feel compelled to make more art, maybe even score a commission, or just plain feel more confident in what they do. Everybody wins!
With that said, here’s some stuff from the last month that we really liked…
Welcome back to the weekend, gang! Yes, now autumn is officially upon us, and I am going to be spending my day indulging all kinds of impulses and whims. This is, after all, my deep-down favorite time of year, when I have excuses to eat and drink a little bit too much, excuses to eat and drink WAY too much, opportunities to productively burn things and don’t get any crap if I want to spend an afternoon working on my car. And the coming month in particular is absolute perfection — October is great weather, all of the major North American sports active at once, a tentpole holiday and pretty much everybody in a good mood. Yes, truly the greatest of all seasons!
And, of course, Idol Halloween. Can’t forget that. We’ve somehow gone three full years since JyuJyu gave us the greatest MV of all time, and I keep hoping that they’ll repeat at some point, but alas.
As for this Weekender, it’s a good one, with a slightly different format that seems appropriate now that we’re closing in on the third anniversary of this longest-running post series in idol blogging history. I was toying with the idea of killing the Weekender (as we know it) when we cross that threshold in six weeks’ time, but naw, this helps me to feel connected even when I don’t have a lot else to contribute in a given week.
And as for the Fun, since this is where I normally urge you to go play, wowwie. Kerrie completely outdid herself concept-wise, and the community showed up in spades. Maybe a bit much griping and grinding of personal axes for my tastes, but it was mostly done in good faith and good humor, so I certainly have no complaints. It all just goes to show that wota are a fascinating species.
In the latest international feature on idol that doesn’t quite get it but ultimately gets it just enough:
An interesting piece on the Japanese idol phenomenon was shown in "Japan with Sue Perkins" from the UK's BBC. Watch this heavily edited extract (original is >7 mins) in which comedian Sue Perkins changes her views about idols after attending a Tornado concert and talking to fans. pic.twitter.com/riJaJlNiZg
— J-Pop Project News (@JPopProjectNews) September 26, 2019
You may have noticed yesterday that Babymetal — the literal reason for the season, the thing that brought me here, still capable of being the most powerful entity in the universe — dropped another video in the run-up to the impending release of the extremely-anticipated Metal Galaxy album next month. I thought about just tossing a post into the ether in response, but no, friends, the Official Policy of Homicidols Dot Com is that Babymetal is supreme for a reason, and when a thing is supreme and also one of the only reliable cornerstones of the Legends category that sorts our content, that thing deserves more than a hastily scribbled ZOMG reaction. Let’s do whole paragraphs instead!
So the song is “Shanti Shanti Shanti”, which by the title alone would give away a certain touchpoint with the subcontinent; if you’re still unfamiliar, though, and you’re either personally South Asian or as personally adjacent as yours truly, you may find yourself surprised at how few non-Babymetal tropes are actually employed.
Dang, a hell of a lot dropped in idol over the last 24 hours. We’ll have to skip or demote a good bit of it to truly focus on the good stuff, like the latest from the resurrected form of HAMIDASYSTEM, who continue to edge along without any big releases on the calendar, just this monthly series of one-offs. Given the source, this is completely okay: This whole family is at its best when it’s doing things completely on their own terms, so please do, say I.
Anyway, the new song:
I forgive it not quite clicking with me at first for the sake of that back half. Very nice stuff. I could hear Yanamyu doing something similar, only minus a lot of the atmospherics. And it’s significantly more interesting than most of what Spotify tries to feed me anymore, so there’s that!
You caan pick up from any of these sources:
【新曲配信スタート】
『存在しないぞんざいな愛』https://t.co/zlvOxo2Cd5iTunes Store： https://t.co/GiB2gMNK12
Apple Music： https://t.co/SJojG7T95U
Spotify： https://t.co/M3snWE4RoM
LINE MUSIC： https://t.co/GsbDeWoIwe
OTOTOY： https://t.co/y5JWsF7e8K
ほか各ストアにて順次配信 pic.twitter.com/TD2TTWoDM2— HAMIDASYSTEM (@HAMIDASYSTEM) September 26, 2019
Please don’t ever stop doing what you do, HAMIDASYSTEM.
Wow, I actually managed to think of something on time for once! Let’s celebrate by admiring last week’s tweets!
https://twitter.com/FigMeisai/status/1175019636125032448
As it took so long and was so divisive Yui leaving Babymetal was definitely Japan's equivalent to Brexit.
#BadIdolAnalogies— Not a Cheki(s) Kinda Guy (@SalemBlack4Ever) September 20, 2019
There There There’s were the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s of Japan. #BadIdolAnalogies
— Brian Walker (@supreme_nothing) September 20, 2019
You know how I pondered last week about whether or not CARRY LOOSE would make free song downloads a weekly thing until their album comes out? I think I might be right. Come grab them while they’re still fresh, kids!
It’s always a good day when Yoneko releases a new music video!
Wait, does this even count as a music video? Sure, there’s video and music, but does it really count if it’s just the same visual over and over again? Answers on a postcard, please.
All right, this is cheating a little bit, but QUEENS dropped these tracks when I was in the middle of the actual Checking Up mode, and then yeah, I kind of forgot to close this loop. Ain’t a whole lot else happening, so let’s do it!
Hey, QUEENS! Remember them? Good fun, usually a lot more idol than rock but often plenty enough rock to be worth mentioning. Sister group to and technically kind of a follow-up from PIIIIIIIN. Good times. They released an album back in June, and it was worth a few spins. A couple of weeks ago, with no real fanfare, they dropped a couple of tracks onto Soundcloud, and I think you should listen to them because, well, you should listen to them. It’s good for the soul.
WELL WELL WELL, it appears that Withdrawn Wednesday publishing duties fall to ol’ Maniac this week! Without Kerrie’s vengeful watchful eye and domineering enlightening presence, what kinds of shenanigans can we get into? Dare we … feh! To spoil this week’s Fun now would be as great a crime as has been committed in idol since maybe last week. So let’s play it straight and not risk Kerrie’s wrath.
Oshis! And other idols, ex and otherwise, who you may love but not necessarily totally oshi. They’re out there, gang, and just because they’ve gone to the big chika stage in the sky doesn’t mean that we can’t stay connected. This edition of Withdrawn Wednesday gets into just some of the ongoing activities of some of our very favorite people.
And if you don’t like it, take it up with Kerrie, because this still appears under her byline!
Co Co Co’s new project, Gordon, released their first MV.
