Bellring Girls Heart

For pages and posts that relate to Bellring Girls Heart (Bellring少女ハート).

Team Homicidols Best of 2025

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This is it. The final task to put that last nail in the coffin of the year that was 2025.

The greater Homicidols community had their collective say about what were the best releases and moments of 2025 (congratulations to NEO JAPONISM!), but now, it’s Team Homicidols turn to voice our unfettered opinions. While we may not always be objectively correct, we do keep the site running and pay all the bills so it’s only fair. So, before we turn the final page on 2025, we wanted to make sure that there a were a few things written down for posterity. Such as:

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Homicidols Best EPs and Albums of 2025 (so far)

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We have almost hit the halfway point of the Homicidols year (which, remember, starts each December and runs through November for REASONS), so this would be a good time for a quick check of what’s been dominating everyone’s playlists. Both Team Homicidols and the denizens of the Discord server have submitted their nominations for the best Albums, EPs, Singles, MVs, and new groups of 2025 so far.  We will kick things off this week with the year’s favorite EPs and Albums.

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Homicidols Live in Japan: Part 2

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I have been back home from my 19-day excursion to Japan for a couple of weeks now and it’s taken me an unconscionably long time to put this report together. There are a few good reasons for that. Not only did I have to recover from jet lag while immediately readjusting to work life, but I also had to withstand the culture shock of readapting to a world without light fluffy bread, rich earthy coffee, deep soaking bathtubs, and idol lives every day of the week.  Of course, the primary reason that it has taken me so long to get this report out the door is that the post-travel blues are REAL. Whenever I sat down to write this post, the feelings of nostalgia where overwhelming and sent spikes of ennui straight into my heart. It’s been a few days since I finished off the last of the seasonal Kit Kats and Miyashima honey cakes, so I think I am finally ready to complete this article. All-in-all, the transition back to everyday life in the States has been pretty rough.

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The Greatest Alternative Idol Choruses of All Time

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Welcome to the first installment of our latest community project seeking to identify the top choruses, drops, breakdowns and hooks in alternative, indie, and underground idol. 

Here in chapter one, we are exploring the best choruses as identified by you, the readers of Homicidols dot com and, I must say, you all got great taste. It took forever to compile this post as these are some of the catchiest and most addictive tunes in idol. They can’t just be listened to once. Each entry took about five minutes to write and then two hours of bingeing the song over and over again.  These aren’t just phenomenal choruses. These are some of the best songs by some of the best artists in the genre.

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50 Greatest Alt-Idol MVs of All Time: #1 – 10

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We made it!! It has been a log journey, but we have finally arrived: 

Here are the TOP TEN MUSIC VIDEOS EVER as chosen by the readers of Homicidols dot com via  a long, convoluted process that has been covered in depth elsewhere.

As always, each MV is accompanied by commentary from one or more of the individuals who nominated it way back in May or June when we started this process and the Team. I’ll keep the pre-amble short though because what you really want to know is: WHO MADE THE TOP TEN?

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50 Greatest Alt-Idol MVs of All Time: #31 – 40

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Welcome to the second installment in our countdown of the top 50 alt, indie and underground idol MVs of all time as chosen by our readers.  The ten music videos featured this week mark the first appearance of some of the genre’s heaviest hitters and features three winners of Homicidols Best MV of the Year honors (and a couple of runner ups).

If you missed the first ten or just want a recap, here’s a convenient link: The Greatest Alt-Idol MVs of All Time #41 – 50. Or you can skip the review and jump right into where we left off in our countdown complete with commentary from our nominating readers and Team.

Let’s go!!

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BELLRING Girls Heart Resurrected!! (for a Limited Time)

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Did anyone have “Bellring Girls Heart Reboot” on their 2022 chika idol bingo card? While we were aware that the storied idol unit was releasing all of their back catalog on major streaming services and holding a handful of live events in association with their 10th anniversary, I’m not sure anyone would have predicted this latest development.

First things first: as of midnight local time, all of Bellring Girls Heart’s major works are available on your streaming platform of choice. You may now mainline some nostalgia or, if you’ve come to alternative idol since this legendary unit’s 2016 breakup, discover some of the most formative and influential works of the genre. Continue reading →

BELLRING Girls Heart’s Entire Catalog Soon to be Available via Streaming

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After years of silence, the Modern Freaks of “Chika” Idol Department in Japan re-emerged yesterday to drop a surprise announcement that rates as some of the biggest music news of the year: in recognition of the 10-year anniversary of the debut of BELLRING Girls Heart, the legendary unit’s entire catalog will be made available via streaming.

https://twitter.com/BRGHead/status/1496383574253228032?s=20&t=_zhKdtuIeviPSDt2WOLErQ

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The 50 Greatest Alternative Idol Albums of the Last Decade: #1 – 10

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Here it is!! The final top ten in our countdown of the 50 Greatest Albums of the last decade. Be sure to let us know the albums you feel we were criminally negligent to exclude, and the punishment you think we deserve. We are collecting your feedback for our follow-up article: “Albums We are Awful for Leaving Off the Greatest Albums List”.

While we know that our imperfect process (and questionable taste) has overlooked some stellar albums and deserving units, we hope that you have still found the exploration worthwhile. I know I have enjoyed revisiting some classic albums that I haven’t listened to in years and even discovered a few new favorites. We may try the exercise again, perhaps with the “50 Greatest MVs”. If we do, we’ll find a way to incorporate community participation in the selection next time.

Without further ado:

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The 50 Greatest Alternative Idol Albums of the Last Decade: #21 – 30

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We have hit the half-way point of our attempt to capture some of the greatness that the alternative, indie and underground idols of Japan have contributed to the world over the past ten years. If you would like a recap of the methodology we used to arrive at the album rankings, please visit week one’s installment. If you missed last week’s post or want a refresher of the albums that placed 31st – 40th, you can find that here.

Now, on with the next ten albums in the countdown plus one honorable mention that fell just a little bit short of the top 50:

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