TIF

TIF Pan-Asian Pandemonium

/ Cal / 2 Comments

Any idol fan knows that Tokyo Idol Festival is the biggest, hottest idol event of the year and not just because of Japan’s sweltering summer temperatures. TIF has always been a place for groups to shine for all of their fans, new and old. But this year, what if we took the Tokyo out of TIF? Say hello to the TIF ASIA TOUR KICK OFF!

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Here’s a Whole Ton of Stuff from TIF

/ Homicidol Maniac

Now that the 2019 Tokyo Idol Festival is all the way in the rearview mirror, I thought that, despite neither hosting a megathread nor doing a primer this year, it’d be fun to all catch up on the fun together. This is what living that wota life through several thousands miles and multimedia earn you! All in all, though, I think it’s a pretty good haul. Let’s just dive in, and if you know of something appropriate that I missed, go ahead and add it in the comments.

Marionet:

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Idols Cover Band Covers Idols

/ Homicidol Maniac

So this is kind of fun, and thankfully narrative enough in its own right to get out the door quickly so that I can do another thing. But hey you guys, you’re all down in some form or another with Yamaguchi Kassei Gakuen, aka Yamakatsu, yes? If you aren’t, you should be — longstanding rock idol units from the further reaches of Japan deserve all of the respect. I was doing a Twitter dive the other day and saw that ol’ Yamakatsu paired up with a bona fide rock band not to perform a set together, but to high-five around covering each others’ songs:

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This Is A Whole Mess of Live Video from TIF

/ Homicidol Maniac / 2 Comments

Who else remembers that glorious first TIF that we all spent together, in 2016? Ah, those were the days, when streams were free and people could rip video right from their DVRs, or industrious gaijin wota would use screen capture apps to capture everything that Nico Nico could throw at them. Terry had nabbed something like 15 videos that all lasted just long enough for TIP to notify YouTube, and then came the copyright hammer. We probably lost more vital idol-enjoying content in that one fell wave than at any one point up until then, and arguably since. Good times!

Last year’s TIF emerged practically video-less, and maybe TIP learned their lesson, because there’s actually a decent amount of good stuff left over from the Greatest Weekend of the Year. I have way more to do than clog the world with unnecessary HTML, so here’s just a big ol’ glut of stuff.

The biggest glut is the let’s-take-over-Saturday thing that all of the WACK idols did, covering each other’s material and doing solo spots and all: Continue reading →

TIF Idol Primer: Don’t Call It a Comeback, but monogatari

/ Homicidol Maniac

Among the many notable idols that you should be flocking to TIF to see this weekend are idols that you probably never heard of, probably never even thought to check out. But if you’re there for fun rock sounds and those crucial acts that smudge the line between “idols the way that people usually think of that” and “blood-spitting thrashcore chika darlings,” you’ll be pleased to know that there are options!

In this case, I, uh … well, the truth is, this group isn’t totally unknown around here. Just hold on a second (and let that terrible dad joke wash over your soul).

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TIF Idol Primer: You Might Want to Look at ONEPIXCEL

/ Homicidol Maniac

Among the many notable idols that you should be flocking to TIF to see this weekend are idols that you probably never heard of, probably never even thought to check out. But if you’re there for fun rock sounds and those crucial acts that smudge the line between “idols the way that people usually think of that” and “blood-spitting thrashcore chika darlings,” you’ll be pleased to know that there are options!

In this case, I say, ditch the rock outright and embrace some of your other less traditional idol sounds. We all know that electronica, by and large, has a dedicated spot in idol, and within that milieu is upcoming TIF appearancer ONEPIXCEL:

That’s (wait, sigh: ONEPIXCEL (Twitter)) their second major single, recently out and frankly pretty cool. They have a good bit of history, though. Continue reading →

TIF Idol Primer: Have a Nice Cup of Pure Coffee Latte

/ Homicidol Maniac

Yeah, shut up, I know that I’m late to the game on getting this little series started. So it goes.

Among the many notable idols that you should be flocking to TIF to see this weekend are idols that you probably never heard of, probably never even thought to check out. But if you’re there for fun rock sounds and those crucial acts that smudge the line between “idols the way that people usually think of that” and “blood-spitting thrashcore chika darlings,” you’ll be pleased to know that there are options!

Yes, I’m talking about rock-sounding, traditionally presented idols. And among the rock-soundingest among them is one of the most traditionally named units that you’ll come across. I give you Pure Coffee Latte:

Fun! Continue reading →

This Year’s TIF Is Next-gen and Looking Cool as Hell

/ Homicidol Maniac

The second or third most wonderful time of the year is almost upon us, folks! Yes, the Tokyo Idol Festival, the happiest place on earth, is in the process of announcing the confirmed acts (a process that will continue almost until the festival itself happens), and this year’s lineup not only includes lots of faces fresh to the public at large but possibly familiar to us, but is lousy with opportunity to take loud idol stuff in general to a whole new level.

The lineup so far:

Ayukuma! You’ll Melt More! amiinA! Osaka Shunkashuto! Maison Book Girl! Stalwarts, they are. Also, how cool is it that IVOLVE and NEO JAPONISM and SHINGEKI are joining the festivities this year? Who gets to be the first-timer who takes the festival by storm and officially becomes a Big Deal in the aftermath? Continue reading →

NATASHA Is Coming Back. Help.

/ Homicidol Maniac / 2 Comments

Yes, friends, loud/altdol supergroup NATASHA will be coming back for this year’s Tokyo Idol Festival, and with a fresh single to boot:

Also minus Rinne (whose new MV I’d share, but it’s region-blocked), which is fine; she was mostly color even last year. The remaining four are a great collection of big idol voices and, well, Chitti, who sort of abandoned her wheelhouse for “Justice in the Sky” to get a little more sultry, ultimately being somewhat overshadowed by a lot of bellowing by her groupmates.

If you’re new to this whole thing, this is what NATASHA did in their first iteration: Continue reading →