This Debut Isn’t the End and I’m Sorry, That’s an Awful Pun: Kimi no Mawari

/ Homicidol Maniac

Has anything interested happened in the Idolverse yet today? I suppose that depends on your perspective. However: No. Not yet. There are apparently announcements to be made later, and that’s great, but I want to blog a post right now. Good thing there are so many new idol groups to catch up with!

So remember a few weeks ago, in the Weekender, when I was like “ex-BiS tongue piercing Nakayama Yukiko did an idol group”? It happened! Unveiled last week! They are Kimi no Mawari (Twitter). This is the teaser for them:

Now, I did the thing that I said that I didn’t want to, which was to highlight Yukiko’s BiStory at the expense of the fact that she left the group like six-plus years ago at this point and has spent the intervening time doing other musical projects (most notably, her band, The End) and having a family and all that jazz. She hasn’t shied away from her history, and is smartly milking it to create buzz for the group. That’s fine. What I’m saying it, a run in the Most Notorious of All Idol Units Back When They Earned the Reputation does not define the woman so much as inform an analysis, so see above points about additional musical projects, at least one of which I swear I wrote about at one point or another.*

Instead, let’s go ahead an examine the lone preview that we do have. It’s quite a competent song! In fact, if Kimi no Mawari is able to get their act together in time (they debut on Nov. 2), they could find themselves in the Debut of the Year discussion, which would really be something . I’ve already decided that my favorite member will be the girl who taunts my country with aesthetic cat selfies:

In the meantime, I’m gladdened to see that the hype train hasn’t completely overwhelmed us yet. They should be able to manufacture a goodly amount in short order, though. UK’s got a name-brand legacy in idol and hasn’t been the least bit shy about her own musical ambitions in the intervening years, so I’m confident that this all will build.

*We also speculated wildly that UK would be auditioning for both BiSH and New BiS, a sentiment that she did nothing to dissuade by wearing that dang IDOL shirt around