Kamen Joshi

For pages and posts that relate to Alice Project super-group Kamen Joshi (Mask Girls).

Can Alice Project Show Us the Way to a Post-carbon Future?

/ Homicidol Maniac

Kamen Joshi, Alice Project, PARMS, whatever have you — not the best reputation in the business. While I do indeed (because it is my website and HTML is unlimited) have the space to expound on every negative thing ever alleged about the entity, I will not, for I am lazy and will instead encourage you to do your own research into such matters. That being said, the perception in no way plays out in the idol production, which is always so earnestly idol that it makes your teeth ache. And when the world faces unprecedented crises, who or what could possibly be better to show us a way forward?

Yes! Can this promotional video for the sustainable sourcing of electrical power, especially wind, help to turn the tide against unrelenting climate change? Or is it simply a sinister greenwashing ploy to cover for the unsavory side of the business? You decide!*

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A New Kamen Joshi Thing Emerges

/ Homicidol Maniac

Actually, I’m not sure what’s even what anymore in the world of Alice Project. Other than throwaway references to graduations and goddamn tragedies here and there, I haven’t had a post dedicated to any part of the PARMS family in almost two years. It’s not even for reasons that you might suspect, either — the whole collective just seemed to stop doing new material, and though there was no shortage of stuff in their orbit, there was a shortage of what I really have this website for. So, ergo, no Alice Project.

And then this thing dropped out of the blue yesterday!

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Whither Alice?

/ Homicidol Maniac

Once upon a time (it was about five months ago!), I was showing ye olde website to a friend. You see, IRL Maniac isn’t always Maniac IRL, and not everybody in the social orbit is aware of this joint’s existence. I don’t exactly hide it — I’ve introduced myself at parties as “owner of North America’s finest J-pop website about punk rock girl groups” on several occasions — but nor do I flaunt it because, well, I know a lot of boring-ass people and choose to not cast my pearls before swine.

In the context of the tale, Friend in Question had heard me talking about a group* and was curious about the description, in response to which I ultimately produced my phone and did a little tour of the Ultimate Homicidol Playlist. As I expected, the original sheen of excitement wore off after a few minutes, but then this particular Kamen Joshi MV popped up and her enthusiasm was suddenly re-piqued.

She wanted to know why the members were dressed the way they were, why the masks, why the song sounded like “something from a Disney Channel movie,” etc. I answered the best that I could, which was interesting because I easily had the least to say about Kamen Joshi than about any of the other groups that I’d showcased. Friend in Question noticed: “You sound like you don’t like this one as much.”

“You know,” I said, “they’re kind of one of those things that you either feel strongly about or not at all.” Continue reading →

It Only Took More Than a Year to Make This MV

/ Homicidol Maniac / 1 Comment

It’s late as all heck, and Alice Project in general has moved to an even-more-extreme-than-Babymetal’s release schedule, but the single that they released almost 16 months ago finally has a full MV for its B-side. Let us indulge!

“ISUMI”, it must be pointed out (like when we got a preview of this all the way back when the single first came out) is a theme song of a sort. A theme song for a city. Like, I don’t know how you get that gig (it seems like a silly thing to use bribes/muscle to coerce), but that’s a hell of a thing. Continue reading →

Alice Juban, Steamgirls, Armor Girls … Easter Girls!

/ Homicidol Maniac

Man, I love dropping the ball on my own website. So satisfying! Here’s an example: The English-speaking world’s foremost ambassador for the Alice Project, Char T Saki, contributed this … in November. You may note that it is now January.

Bless Char T Saki for the forbearance necessary to try me again much more recently, and feast your ears on this:

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The Mask Girls Finally Make Good on ‘Personia’

/ Homicidol Maniac

As the Unofficial “Personia” Suspense Event lingered on into its 10th month, fans of Kamen Joshi could rightfully have been wondering where the heck the promised MV for the year’s opening #2 single was. It had been promised for a delivery “in the spring”, and it’s only spring in the Southern Hemisphere now, ya goofs!

We’ve seen a tiny clip, and the dang thing live on a big sparkly stage, but the single that made it to #2 can finally be appreciated in all of its promotional glory: Continue reading →

Kamen Joshi’s ‘Personia’ Is Awesome Live

/ Homicidol Maniac

Or maybe I’m just mesmerized by the visuals.

Our old pal Char T Saki dropped this by the forums yesterday (yes, the forums are still a thing, that’s two references in three days), and while “Personia,” Kamen Joshi’s most recent single release, isn’t unknown to us, you may get as big a kick out of this live performance, which I will remind you is a live performance and not a CGI-heavy MV: Continue reading →

Rock Me Like a Hurricane! Kamen Joshi on Stage with Scorpions

/ Homicidol Maniac / 6 Comments

I’m so sorry. This is just the dumbest thing ever. Not the video, not even the thing happening, just … I can absolutely see some kind of stunt involving idols and scorpions — like, the actual arthropods with the big claws and stingy tails — and I can’t stop laughing. Ridiculous.

Anyway! Remember that thing about some of Kamen Joshi heading to St. Petersburg for this festival thing? Well, Scorpions were, I think, basically the headliners of the concert stuff, and that led to this:


Thanks as always, PIH!

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Kamen Joshi’s Got a More Conventional Theme Now

/ Homicidol Maniac

Well, given that the last two releases from Kamen Joshi were a #2 single and a theme song for food, one could be forgiven for thinking that they’d go in just about any possible direction. This isn’t ridiculous, per se, but it is another theme song, albeit this time in a much more traditionally idol kind of way:


Thank you, Char T Saki!

The song is “Kasoku-suru Trial”; it’s for the anime CHEATING CRAFT. Continue reading →

Kamen Joshi’s Latest Song Is a Theme Song for Food

/ Homicidol Maniac / 4 Comments

The Alice Project’s Kamen Joshi, aka the Mask Girls, aka the Kamen Joshi in the same way that it’s not Ohio State but the Ohio State, don’t do the whole album thing so much, or even the whole single thing at a rate that would fit into more typical idol norms; no, Kamen Joshi, now that they’ve taken over all of the release responsibilities for the constituent elements of the group, are quite a bit too busy with daily stage shows and various endorsements to be doing such trite stuff as singles and albums and MVs (and when they go so far, they only release short versions!).

Now, it’s pretty normal for idols to do theme songs. What’s a little less normal is for idols to do theme songs for food:

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