Goodbye BiSH: A Retrospective

BiSH officially disbands today, June 29th, following their last live at the Tokyo Dome. Like the members in their final official portrait (see the banner image above), the most commercially successful unit in the history of WACK ends their existence virtually unrecognizable (other than Atsuko’s glasses) from the fierce punks with all the naïve promise in the world who were booted from the 2015 Tokyo Idol Festival. While our attention on BiSH has waned over recent years as their music leaned more and more mainstream, our affection for the group and it’s multi-talented members has never wavered. Unfortunately, neither has our disappointment that BiSH, in their eight years of existence, never performed an overseas live.

It is hard to not to fantasize about what could-have-been with a BiSH that didn’t sign to AVEX and subsequently focus the entirety of their attention on expanding their appeal at home at the expense of international ambitions. But then again, a BiSH that didn’t sign to a major domestic label could not have evolved into the significant force in J-Pop music, fashion, and culture that they ultimately became. As Cal reminds me: 

“BiSH ARE one of the most popular groups in Japan with a diverse range of punk and pop rock songs who changed the world for the better.”

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Did Any Of Us Ever Really Know Maison Book Girl?

When the original BiS arrived at their decision to disband wayyyyy back in 2014, did they ever consider how all the tangled strands of their legacy would branch out into a dozen hydra-like directions that each evolved into their own unique entities? In the moment, I recall my own bummed out reaction to the breakup quickly turning into eager excitement for the future as each member revealed their plans. There was LUI FRONTiC, Pla2me, BILLIE IDLE®︎, Tentenko’s solo experiments, and then there was one that really especially stuck out to me…. Koshouji Megumi’s newly announced “Book House Girl”, which promptly became the enigmatically named Maison book girl.

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Himegami CRISIS Is Hanging ’em Up, But We Get a Nice Parting Shot

“Oh neat,” said I somewhat aloud as I looked at the tweet from Himegami CRISIS with a YouTube link in it, “a YouTube link from Himegami CRISIS!” Click, open, confirm: Yes, new video! What else is on their Tw–

Oh. Continue reading

Yukueshirezutsurezure to Disband on January 2, 2021

We ain’t got no words for this right now.

CARRY LOOSE, Carried Off

We’re Crying Loudly over here because those indie emo kids from WACK have finally fulfilled their promise to disband on Halloween, but not before leaving us with a final single and music video. Let’s color ourselves with COLORS.

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CARRY LOOSE, Currently Lost

It’s that time again where the hearts of hundreds around the globe are shattered by the whims of fate – CARRY LOOSE will disband on Halloween and have stopped their livestream project effective immediately.

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avandoned: Ending Is Beginning.

When you’ve become fully ingrained into idol fandom, there’s certain inveitable events that you learn to anticipate and mentally prepare for, such as when a twitter account belonging to a group you love posts an image containing a stark few blocks of text. Yeah, you know the type of post I mean…

This is idol, and this is the world we’ve put ourselves into, but it’s a little different when it’s a group that’s particularly dear to you. It’s more personal, more emotional, it’s something you feel inside your stomach. It’s understandable and okay.  Continue reading

Despair Not for the Dissolution of our Dearest Dots

Before dashing off this article too briskly, I took in the last evening to ponder yesterday’s announcement that the dot-chans have scheduled what will be their final live, do a little research to understand what I could, and also to reflect on where we go in a world without the beloved shoegaze idols we’ve come to know.

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Candye Syrup Is the Latest Reminder That Idol Is the Worst

You’ve probably seen it by now, considering that it completely trumped the BiSH stealth single release+MV yesterday, but, if you were living under a rock, Candye Syrup, new EP on approach and definitely on the rise, is now officially in their death throes, with full-on breakup imminent:

Yes, they’ll (minus one) still be performing in Arizona, though:

And wouldn’t you know it, while the members will be going their separate ways, Iku will be trying again with a new lineup in the near future.

Idol is the worst. Continue reading

Well, I Guess We Can Say That mistress Is Going out in Style

This is a dumb post about mistress, you guys. It was originally going to be a review-cum-celebration of the second annual mistFES, and was in fact originally titled “How the Hell Does mistress Do It?” because I could never get my head around just how a (frankly) mid-tier idol project was able to get like half of everybody even remotely interesting to the same place/s at the same time/s, pay for all of that and make it an experience that people were into. Like, look at this lineup and tell me that you wouldn’t prefer that to TIF or @JAM:

Anyway, it’s all moot now because mistress is disbanding next month:

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