JAM was the last hurrah for petit pas!, whose three-year odyssey to become the cutest idols in Tokyo led to a 2016 of triumph and tragedy, their performance at TIF setting off chatter that was confirmed after the festival closed: petit pas! was done.

I found myself searching high and low for their video from TIF and finally found it via a Chinese source that doesn’t care very much for things like iframes. You need Flash to see this.

I still haven’t found video of their JAM sets, but I can only imagine that they went out the way they always did things — loudly and with gusto.

Immediately after their final note sounded, official Twitter sent out the news … that the members will each be part of new projects within the company in the near future and follow this account for details.

【篠崎こころ】@kokoro777pp
DJギズモとしてのDJイベント出演・Zipper専属モデルなどのファッションモデルなど、個人での活動をさらに強めた展開を予定しております。今後のイベント出演情報などは、こちらのアカウント(@prj_Mave_Ricks )をご覧ください。 pic.twitter.com/xdsQ0KgUMJ

— プティパ -petit pas!- (@petitpas_pmr) September 25, 2016

For example: It’s the same Mave Ricks account for all of them, and the message is about the same, so

Regarding the demise of petit pas!, the speculated-about interpersonal issues weren’t, I think, the main reason for it, lousy chemistry aside. Maybe their (pretty good!) album didn’t sell well enough, maybe management liked the members more as individuals than as a group, maybe Kokoro just felt like flexing her muscles one time too many. I don’t know!

Regarding next steps, I’m holding out hope that the reasons to disband weren’t a negative judgment on the musical direction, and the members will wind up in projects with at least as much energy as petit pas! could bring. Kokoro, in particular, should keep doing exactly what she was doing, because she’s damn good at it.

I’m following that management account, and I’m looking forward to what comes next and being able to write way too many words about it!