After their first and last oneman live, their last ever performance with every song and a small cafe talk event, Hamidasystem finally closed in on itself for the second and final time.
The reason for the group disbanding might seem unclear because the official statement consisted of mostly “Hamidasystem will cease activities at the end of March and the manager will leave the company office”, but to those who’ve followed the group since 2016 the reason is crystal clear.
When an idol group dissolves and reforms with an entirely new set of members most of the fans don’t stay. Sure, you might get a few people who stick around because they like the music but when the girls leave so do the fans. Fans of OG Hamidasystem are now fans of Crossnoesis, the group comprised of the old members. So, what do you do when you can’t fill those gigantic shoes? For an indie group, the shadow is cast not only on their popularity but their pockets too. If you can’t break even then what’s the point? Even with the old songs, the new songs, the promotion, and the ex-MIGMA SHELTER member, the numbers just weren’t adding up.
NECRONOMIDOL have announced the immediate graduation of Rei Imaizumi, Michelle and original member Risaki Kakizaki. In addition, they have cancelled all events for the next two months including their upcoming one-man on March 23 where they were to introduce new members and costumes. The group will be on hiatus until further notice.
Even in the idol group with the chainsmoking badgirl yankii model Katy and the ex-convict (juvenile hall counts!) Kanano, the law still applies. If you’re underage you can’t smoke or drink, so 19 year old Unagi Sayaka will be graduating from ZOC effective immediately. Both her personal account and the group’s Twitter issued the following statement explaining the situation:
Sayaka’s actions were exposed by Shukan Shincho, one of the biggest newspapers in Tokyo. See that blurry picture? That’s totally ZOC’s Sayaka and not a snap of Bigfoot wearing a lacefront wig in the forests of Midwestern America.
With a total of 6 hours between the exposé and Sayaka announcing she has to leave, despite the group’s bad girl image it’s clear that Ekoms and the literal law don’t play when it comes to underage drinking. This is ZOC’s second graduation, with the first being Kitoki Fin who left in October 2018 after alleged reports of bullying from the other members. With both underage members gone, the members of ZOC are comprised entirely of adults which thankfully leaves zero room for anymore drinking scandals.
So what happens next? Sayaka will obviously not appear at the group’s next show and the intern they underpay for their graphic design will have to very quickly edit the former idol out of the poster for their 2020 “FINAL INNOCENT ZOC” tour.
Their recent music video for b-side “A INNOCENCE” is the last depiction of the now-former lineup of ZOC, and last chance to see Sayaka on stage with her groupmates.
Five years and 1,293 shows later, Screaming 60s capped what has been perhaps the most relentless and legendary run in chika idol history with am exuberantly emotional live at Zepp Nagoya on September 2nd.
As the group enters a period of indefinite (and perhaps permanent) hiatus, the entire chronology of the Screaming 60s saga has been painstakingly documented in a commemorative booklet available for download.
All parties involved have been cagey, carefully avoiding saying that Screaming 60s are finished and only reminding us that nobody knows the future. We do, however, know that Montero’s immediate future largely involves motherhood. Kai, for her part, didn’t even take a day off before announcing her new role as vocalist for a just-launched band, Tentai 3349. Continue reading →
Minna no Kodomochan has lost a child. Following an understandably emotional encore at their tour final Thursday night, Honoka announced her retirement from the unit. This was the first time Honoka had been able to appear on stage for the current national tour after a neck injury in July. Honoka assured fans that her physical state was good and her rehab complete, but she would still have to give up being a child.
Yesterday SENANAN, our favorite unstoppable ball of Monster Ultra Blue-fueled energy, took a break from her 300 active projects to make a few surprise announcements. First, she’s gotten married.
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.
【ラストワンマン】 ・・・・・・・・・ 第9回ワンマンライブ 「Tokyo in Natural Machine」
I know that most all of you who follow the group are already aware of the impending closure, because I heard from a number of you about it, some in personal messages, and others from reading your reactions online. It speaks to the unique specialness of this group in the way many of you expressed your thoughts with a feeling of personal loss and perhaps a sense of disappointment. Oshi-loss, as Kerrie refers to it, is a very real emotional reaction when you’ve connected to an idol who’s graduating or a group that’s dissolving. And although these dot-chans have largely maintained a sort of aloof anonymity, they still touched a part of each of us fans. It’s also very notable to point out, as this article from Matt Bedford of Muso Japan demonstrates, that the group succeeded in gaining followers outside of idol circles.
I did reach out to Japanese fans, and I also read the group’s blog entry containing the chan’s statements. I can tell you that amongst the fans, the announcement was a surprise, and there is no obvious tangible reason for the dissolution that’s been given. I can also tell you that the dot girls of Tokyo are going to remain just as mysterious as they’ve been right up to the end. Everyone is very much remaining in character, and I not only appreciate that, but I love that that’s how they’re going out. The more I think about it, I’m less interested in finding out the “why”, and more interested in celebrating what we knew. In their blog statements, the members of the group seem to be upbeat and positive to travel into their futures. I get no sense of sadness.
The group’s primary manager/producer/visionary also kept the mythology going, explaining that the ethereal manifestations that took the shape of girls will inhabit those forms for only a limited amount of remaining time, and then the end of that time on Earth is here. The dot-chans were always meant to be impermanent, and so they move on to new planes of existence.
If you really want my non-mythology theory, I believe the dots are disbanding for the very best of reasons: Because they’ve largely achieved what they set out to do. Now they can go explore new things in their lives which may or may not include obsessive fans and metaphysical concepts. (There’s also the matter of this being a nearly no-profit industry, but I think that’s a given with most art-driven projects.) Some time ago, it was hinted that there was a new project underway that I thought was going to be a sister-group to the Dot-chans. That project is still happening. So far, almost nothing has been revealed about it except that it’s continuing the innovative high art concepts that Dots have broken ground with. I believe a torch is being passed, and it’ll be exciting to see what’s coming as this new project takes a tangible shape.
I want to tell you dear people reading this: Do not anticipate this event with despair, but rather look forward to the new things to come. Don’t miss the Dots with sadness, but remember them fondly with affection. This is the way of things, and like a passing satellite in the sky, it’s something you should cherish for simply having seen it.
The dot-chans will have their final live on March 24. They will also have additional activities building up to the last show. And since they still have unreleased recorded material and more songs, including another great tune written by Azusa Suga of For Tracy Hyde, (The video posted above!) I also suspect that they’ll have some more musical output to be consumed as well. I know the fans will support the group to the fullest and send them off in celebratory style, because they deserve it.
Now let’s thank Dots for what they gave us and wish them the very best.
The Cyclone is a small black box theater in a Shibuya basement which, according to the posters it uses for wallpaper, has played host to gigs by just about everyone over the past 20 years, including Cthonic, Crossfaith, Abigail Williams and every chika idol unit you’ve ever cared about. This past Saturday, it also hosted Yukueshirezutsurezure’s Emergency One Man Live, the emergency being Futamaruya Shidare’s sudden exit from the group.
The Cyclone’s capacity is 300, which seems to have been determined not by some safety conscious fire marshal, but in response to a challenge to see how many people one could stuff into the space, shoulder-to-shoulder, wall-to-wall.
Building over from the weekend, the hottest concern in alt-idol these last few days has been the location, state and status of Kaqriyo Terror Architect’s Nonamera. In the lead up to KTA’s in-store appearances to promote their latest single, “The Forbidden Masturbating“, Codomomental let it be known over the weekend that they had not been able to contact Nona since noon last Tuesday.
After a few days of reasoned, rational and well-informed reactions to this news and no rampant speculation at all, it was announced last night that contact with Nonamera had been re-established and that she had decided to withdraw from the group.
Caleb has been so kind as to translate Shidare’s long message, as well as allowing us to post it on Homicidols. The original can be found here.
I, Futamaruya Shidare have decided to withdraw from Yukueshirezu Tsurezure. First of all, I’d like to say thank you and apologise to those of you I have upset with such a sudden announcement, to those who were looking forward to next meeting me, and those who supported the direction we were going in. The 28th November 2018 was 3 years since I had been announced as an initial member of Yukueshirezu Tsurezure. It was 3 years of thinking, worrying, trying, hesitating, fighting and pushing myself as to how we could make Tsurezure a good group, how we could make our concerts good. However, in some respects I’ve realised I found myself thinking I can no longer stand here, or keep walking on. Even so I pushed through and came to where we are now, but now that Kotetsu and Takara have been so kind as to join us, I came to the conclusion that perhaps Yukueshirezu Tsurezure has a better chance going forward without me, and decided to withdraw. It was my dream as a member to show you Yukueshirezu Tsurezure’s songs and worldview. I still believe Tsurezure’s songs have the power to save people. Our weak yet strong songs embrace a lot of people’s isolation and darkness. However, I feel it regrettable and vexing that I overwhelmingly lack the actual strength to convey our worldview, and if I think about it I might have always been stuck in the same place. And before I knew it I had trapped Tsurezure in my negative loop. I, who wanted to be part of a group, had personally confined Tsurezure. And going on, I thought of the possibility of me changing. However the more I thought about it, I decided to stop clinging on as now I have lost the confidence to dedicate everything as a member of the group; as Yukueshirezu Tsurezure. I originally also thought “what if I could change through our tour that begins this February”. Throw away every part of me, kill it, as if it were life or death and if even then I couldn’t change then I’d think again about quitting. However, as the other members are going into this tour frantically trying to climb higher, I found myself in a completely different direction. I felt that this was a betrayal to my other members and the gunjou who so kindly support us. There are many ways of grasping betrayal. To everyone who was looking forward to the tour, I’m truly sorry. Those of you who said you’d celebrate my birthday in February, those who anticipated Yukueshirezu Tsurezure as a 5 member group, and you who said you’d always support me, I’m sorry. I’ve gone so far as to do this for over 3 years, so I have no regrets. Also, I’ll be looking up from here so Yukueshirezu Tsurezure can continue to shine. I pray I can see Tsurezure and the gunjou smiling from here. Thank you for allowing Futamaruya Shidare into your lives, for letting me live. Yukueshirezu Tsurezure, thank you. Do your best, don’t be defeated, take care.
