Your Homicidols Weekender #165

/ Homicidol Maniac

Good morning! It’s a little late! That’s okay! I was actually about as out of the idol loop this week as could be possible to be and still be able to cobble something like this together, but my hunt for content in review turned up a pretty empty week, to be honest. I mean, I’m sure that there are some crannies in the scene that were quite explosive and interesting and filled with developments, and yes there have been some things that we haven’t posted about at all, but it was kind of a dull week overall. And put into context, this January vs. last January? Frankly, I’ll take it.

Neil Peart’s dead, and of the same cancer that a friend of mine is battling about as hard as a person can. Neil was an important musical icon — if you grew up where I did when I did, chances are very good that you listened to a lot of Rush — but my friend is both my friend and also a mentor, an artist in several media who always translated her own underprivileged upbringing into building opportunities for others. I consider her and Neil together because of their shared illness and because of their shared gifts, and how they share them. So I think about people and what they mean to you and why they mean the things they do, and wonder why it is that genius and generosity are so often taken from us too early but the worst people possible seem to live forever.

You’d think that it doesn’t have to do with idol, but it does in an indirect sense. A lot of the people active in the scene are just kind of there, here today and gone tomorrow and maybe they inspired or excited some people and maybe they didn’t. This isn’t to slight them at all, but instead to juxtapose the ones who really do make a positive difference through their art or personality or sheer ornery will, and to note that we’re lucky to have them as long as we do, even if in some cases it’s a blink of an eye.

Anyway, strive to do good things and put a stamp on the world around you. That’s the lesson. We ain’t all gonna be Neil Peart or the like, but we can all be like my friend. Create. Share. Help.

Sigh

The undeserved gift to humanity that is Mayumura Chiaki is headed to the USA, presumably will single-handedly double Kansas’s tourism revenue for the year:

Oh, and this goddess is on her way as well:

CY8ER:

I felt it necessary to point out that this awesome EMPiRE thing was at ZEPP DC the day before my brother was there!

Here’s another one for you CODE OF ZERO fans:

You might dig this one from Lily of the Valley:

New single soon from KAQRIYOTERROR:

Everything that BURST GIRL does is loud:

When a Moecore Gakuen does it solo:

(Just in case you hadn’t noticed, I have a weakness for this kind of thing):

Idol in Focus

This week’s Idol in Focus is BLACKNAZARENE, who are the Idol in Focus because there’s plenty enough for a full post but I still can’t bring myself to take them that seriously. Sorry girls! Nonetheless, they’re hitting 2020 at a full sprint:

Good stuff! Plus here’s a clip:

And as if by some incredible accident of fate, for all of us who’ve long wondered why an idol group with a name this brutal could nonetheless sound very not-brutal, along comes Rain with one of the best explainers ever:

Brutal!

In addition to the release of that re-recordings Not Secured, Loose Ends album, these kids are getting their own solos:

I’m always so proud of Devil ANTHEM:

Poppy released her new album this week. The idol pretenses are as gone as Titanic Sinclair, but I know that she appeals to a lot of us in the same way that idol does, so I gleefully share the album closer and encourage you to make sure that the world knows about it:

Clip Corner

We don’t have much LADYBABY time left:

Here’s a little change of pace with Oomori Seiko:

This Nue clip eventually becomes coherent, I promise:

Old now yes, but still really great BiS:

I think Atarashii Gakkou no Leaders are on to us:

GENSHOKU THEATER MOTHER FUCKER:

Let’s close with Temma being cooler than you:

Have a great weekend!