I haven’t felt right since the three bear cubs known as Ayumi, Kurika and Maki were cursed by some mean-ass old witch or something and turned into human women, a form in which they’re doomed to remain unless — UNLESS! — they can successfully hold a one-man at Nippon Budokan by … the end of the year!

/thunder-n-lightning

Very dramatic. But all too real! Ayumikurikamaki was one of my favorite things to find in 2016, and I got way too much stupid joy out of the whole bear thing. That’s why I want it to be back! And maybe this brand-spankin’-new single will be the vehicle that gets us there:

【リリース決定！】#あゆみくりかまき
4月12日(水)
NEWシングル「ゴマスリッパー」発売決定！

さらに！発売記念ライブTOURの開催も決定！！
▼▼▼https://t.co/YNkkgCPZ1s

さらにさらに！新ビジュアルも公開！！#GOWGOWTV pic.twitter.com/GibIyc37Y8

— あゆみくりかまき (@ayukumaofficial) February 1, 2017

“Goma Slipper”? The hell?

April 12. It’d better sell like hotcakes, and it’d better be setting up a new album for the fall, and that album had better be part of a Road to Budokan, and it’d all better be so purely ayukuma that we can all forget that “Tabidachi no Uta” ever happened. Otherwise … well, we’ll always have “JET KUMA STAR.”

Happy Thursday.