Hey guys.

Guys.

Check this out.

That’s Artema Doll (Twitter). “Ultimate Doll.” They like intensity. And their song is great.

I feel like I need to elevate a thought, if you’ll indulge me: I think Japanese composers have found a sweet spot between “what idols would usually do” and “what if we played LOUD GUITARS,” because Atarashii Gakkou no Leaders is doing similar things, and groups like Chemical Reaction and even the soon-to-disband KIRAKIRA GERIRA have been doing this like 1:1 idol-heavy thing. I approve, and I don’t think it’s a formula so much as a philosophy, like somebody listened to … oh, I guess Himekyun Fruit Can … around 2015 or so and thought, yeah, that’s about how we should be approaching this.

Anyway, Artema Doll is cool on their own. Look at the art on this releases page. Who are the people who manage idols anymore?

There’s a little bit of a fun backstory here, too, because somebody (probably the Viz) was passing around some Artema Doll a few months back, and I definitely made a note to come back to it, and then months passed and I definitely forgot about the draft post that’s buried like three pages deep in my queue now, but that’s fine because now this is here and sweet merciful hell what is going on with this song?