It’s here! The final moments of 2021 and time to unveil the results of the Homicidols community vote for best or, at least, most significant moments and releases of the year. I want to thank everyone for their participation in the voting. We had an awesome turnout which I credit to the incredible talent of the artists we cover and the superb work they turned out in the past year. 

If your favorite idol, album or MV didn’t win in their category, just remember that geniuses are seldom recognized during their time (we stole this from SubenW in the Homicidols Discord Server as it was their reaction to the lack of any Best Of nominations for situasion; but we told them that we were going to steal it, so it’s okay).

Now, on to the winners! And on to 2022!!  My fervent wish for the new year is for a world where international travel restrictions can be lifted. Let’s go!

Biggest Surprise

By this point nothing WACK does should surprise us anymore but, apparently, bringing in Yuki Kashiwagi of AKB48 to execute crossover projects between units like ANAL SEX PENiS and the tradition idol world still came as a bit of a shock.

Best Collaboration

What did not come as a surprise was that the KASHiWACK collaborative singles and MVs created a catalog of quality WACK tracks that effectively showcased each units’ strengths and appeal.

Biggest Letdown

In a year chock full of disappointments, Sieko Oomori let us down the most. The lack of any satisfactory explanation or consequences for the toxic behavior caught on tape continues to cast a pall over ZOC, a group that was supposed to represent a safe haven for victims of similar abuse.

Saddest Disbandment

This was a year of very tough disbandments but, still carrying the last vestiges of GUSO DROP’s legacy and with their overseas debut cancelled due to the pandemic, the end of the truly independent BURST GIRL hit the hardest. 

Saddest Idol Blogger Graduation

Okay, so no one voted for this one, but we had to put it in here anyway. This is the first annual Homicidols Best Of where the Homicidol Maniac isn’t at the helm. While Maniac enjoys a well-deserved semi-retirement, Team felt the need to appropriately mark this solemn occasion with the all the dignity and grace expected of the site that bears his pseudonym. We learned it from you, Maniac! We learned it from watching you!!

Saddest Graduation

After persevering through health issues the last few years, it was pure heartbreak that Imada Yuna, idolcore pioneer and perhaps the most recognizable harsh vocalist in idol, had to call it quits with the Budokan in sight. 

Best Debut (Individual)

Replacing a legend like Yuna is a pointless endeavor, but PassCode reached out to one of the few who could credibly make the attempt: screamer/songwriter and LADYBABY veteran Emily Arima’s entrance into the storied group was practically seamless.

Funniest Moment

Chair-chan played such a supportive role for Mimimiyu during her leg injury, it was only right that MIGMA SHELTER honored it with a graduation live.

Best Promo Art

The nod goes to MIGMA SHELTER’s Tamane doing a dayglo impersonation of a 60’s It Girl on the poster advertising her birthday rave.

Best Overseas Unit

This was our most exciting category this year, not only because every nominee except Poppy (who is, understandably, distracted by boy troubles) mobilized their fans to vote, but because, more and more, we are seeing how alternative idol truly is a global art form. At the end of the day, Fingers Cross, the socially conscious shoegaze unit from Thailand, took this competition, but the quality work of all the nominees (as measured by the enthusiasm of their fans) is undeniable.

Best Friend of Homicidols

Our eternal shironuri queen, Sari, continues to transcend idol and will never be far from our hearts.

Best???Worst??? New Unit Name

This was such a deep and competitive category where promising names like “MIDNIGHT LITTLE GORILLA” and “Tsuki ni Ashiato wo Nokoshita 6-ri no Shoujo Tachi wa Ittai Nani wo Mita no ka…” couldn’t even land a nomination. But, at the end of the day, there was never any real competition. The best AND worst new unit name of 2021 is absolutely, ANAL SEX PENiS.

Best Performance

After Kamiya Saki’s graduation live got cancelled due to COVID, a crowdfunding effort set the stage for Saki’s retroactive graduation and GANG PARADE’s final one-man live more than a year after they had been disbanded. FOREVER GANG PARADE FOREVER!! was that rarest of moments when a unit was resurrected just so they could hold their own celebratory funeral.

Best Music Video

If you are wanting to impress your chika idol-loving friends next trivia night, be sure to drop the fact that, while NECRONOMIDOL have taken home the trophy for best MV now on four separate occasion, 2021 is the first time that they have won the prize in an odd-numbered year.  For bonus points you can point out that, NECROMA’s previous wins were: 2020 – “sante sangre”, 2018 – “STRANGE AEONS”, and 2016 – “SKULLS IN THE STARS” (when they tied with DEEP GIRL’s, “I KILL”). 

Best Single

MIGMA SHELTER’s fans always break themselves out of their 120 BPM trance this time of year to ensure that their group always takes home at least one major Best of award. This year, that nod goes to Coro Da Noite, a bit of a departure for our rave idols, infusing their trance EDM sound with flamenco guitars and featuring lyrics in Portuguese and English.  

Best B-Side

This is a first! While I was in the archives looking up NECROMA’s previous Best MV wins, I also did a spot check and, believe it or not, this is the first time ever that Best B-Side of the Year went to the flip-side track of the winner for Best Single. Congrats MIGMA SHELTER on this ground-breaking win!

Best EP

This year’s awards are remarkably short of Codomomental artists, but as the debut EP from Akugi, their newest and most enigmatic unit, Playplay represents the label well. Featuring contributions from members of KAQRIYOTERROR, Zenkimi, Seireki13ya  and TOKYO Tefutefu, Akugi has quickly established an artistic playground that is a wide open and welcoming place. 

Best Debut (Group)

From the moment WACK announced the formation of a new unit called ANAL SEX PENiS to the recent addition of actual twin members named Matilder and Wonker, ASP has given us a wild ride in the short amount of time since their formation. It has also helped that their music is imbued with plenty of that no-fucks-given chaos that other WACK units seem to be missing of late, as evidenced by: 

Best Album

A few short months into their nascent existence, ASP dropped the album that would almost single-handedly remove Homicidols dot com from Google Safe-Search results. When I asked Team for help writing this blurb, they provided a fantastic litany of increasingly obscene puns, each one less safe-for-work than the last. They were all brilliantly crass and entirely unusable. If their debut album and inaugural year is any indication, ASP will continue as the most noteworthy unit in WACK, continuing to give us huge headaches in our attempts to generate headlines and content that are viewable in polite company.

Best Song

The race for Best Song resulted in a rare tie between two of the best and darkest groups out there, both touching on a similar theme. In “The Final Blinkings”, Minna no Kodomochan sings, “I’ll kill my mind to keep myself alive”, while the chorus of ASP’s “SAKEBE” goes, “I’ll scream until my heart dies”. Both songs speak to a defensive need to shut out thoughts and feelings in order to persevere, offering a timely yet grim reflection of the survival mode we find ourselves often reverting to these days. We are fortunate to have these artists to provide us some catharsis to help get through it all.

Best Idol

While their new album dropped mere weeks out of contention for Best of 2021 consideration, PIGGS strong and ever expanding catalog, incessant touring and constant social media antics kept them hogging the spotlight as the most relevant unit in independent idol. While Pour Lui swears PIGGS will be her last group, the godmother of punk idol doesn’t look like she is anywhere near done shaping the genre she was instrumental in creating.

Most Expected to Breakthrough in 2022

In this, their second year of existence, NELN dropped dawn, one of the best debut alums in recent memory that was just barely nudged out of the Best Album title by the literal obscenity above. On the strengths of that album and the stellar creative production work of their management team, NELN’s future looks bright, at least from a perspective of content and artistry. The group is currently conducting auditions to replace original member Akari and the soon-to-be departing Mao, but if they can weather these personnel changes, NELN has all the potential to become one of the shining stars of the scene.