Tell Me If You Saw This One Coming: yandoll’s Getting a Major Debut

/ Homicidol Maniac

Thank you to Jul for the note on this one: yandoll, who you may recall struggled to fulfill their CD-selling challenge just last year despite being sort of uniquely good in the yanderu space (also uniquely in the yanderu space), and also are yanderu idols who often practically define what it means to be chika, are nonetheless making a major debut in the summer under Universal:

To do so, three members are getting the axe (or self-delivering the axe, it’s impossible to tell), and auditions for the replacements are beginning promptly. Farewell live forthcoming.

Kind of puts this video from the other day into a weird light, no?

And we’re left minus one particularly impressive super-tall idol

So let’s break this down. In ways that might surprise you, yandoll’s actually rather popular in the way that chika idols can be. They do well in Tokyo Candoll and Idol Matsuri and whatnot when they enter. They even have … they get to do the model/sponsor thing, just unconventionally:

This is approximately what Universal is taking on:

I’m just trying to figure this out. Universal did have Splash! once upon a time, back when Splash! was still a reasonably viable thing (hard-luck story notwithstanding), and I’m sure that they have a plan here. Like, don’t take this as criticizing yandoll; I’m just trying to digest a single entry in what could otherwise be viewed similarly to major U.S. labels went out of their way to sign every Seattle longhair in flannel for the better part of 1993, or how every rapper in Atlanta was a hot commodity for a minute (and how dare they do that to us). That’s obviously not the case, as the real wave of loud-and-etc chika idols was a couple of years ago, and there’s hardly a sudden rash of even big-time projects getting major deals. I’m guessing that Universal sees something, likes something and wants something, and the two remaining members of yandoll will benefit.