Banner image: YOLOZ.
My trip to Japan is, sadly, drawing to a close. This is my last weekend in Tokyo for the foreseeable future and I am scrambling to get my last few shows in. Last night was YURAPICO’s birthday party which was a blast. Shion dropped by for a mini-GUSO Drop reunion and Boss Rei’s fancy animal punk band, Knuckle Chiwawa, performed for the first time in over a year. It was an very loud and awesome evening. Today is the finale of the “tie in reaction” concert series featuring about 20 standout shoegaze and alt-rock bands as curated by of Yuua Uchiyama of RAY. I will be doing my best to ignore the fact that this only gives me one more day before I have to get on a plane and head back home on Monday.
The good news is that, even though I am heading back to the west, so are idols! Such as:
Zenbu Kimi no Sei da. who released details of their upcoming European tour with confirmed shows in Poland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Austria, the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Germany.
pinponpanpon, who is slowly leaking more info from their upcoming pilgrimage to America.
YURAPICO released a new single and MV to coincide with her birthday live. Happy Birthday Yura!!
YOLOZ new MV borders on a religious experience.
Maid in Maiden, our Best Debut of 2025 released their first MV of 2026.
Post-hardcore favorites, MAZE, released a new single
We got a new mini album from I to U $CREAMing!!
The new SUPER MACARONI SALAD MV comes with English subtitles.
The perpetually underrated Finally offer evidence of why they deserve more attention.
ZOCX “flop” live.
MADMED drop one last release before their disbandment this coming Tuesday.
Here’s MIC RAW RUGA kickin’ it live.
The latest MADS iNK unit, Zetsubou Kinema, give us a sample of what’s to come.
MOON RABBITS is always fun.
Oshiloss Corner
lyrical school is one of the most unique indie idol units out there. Founded in 2010, they are not only one of our oldest active groups, but they are also one of the few hip hop units, and one of the small handful of co-ed idol groups. They storied unit has, unfortunately, announced that they will be disbanding on April 19, 2026.
One of the best reboots of 2025 will call it quits in 2026: Akatsuki (ex. Antithese) will disband on April 24th.
Uyuyuka is graduating from Cinder-ella and ending her career as an idol at their 5th one-man live on March 1st.
Kirari and Fuuka graduating from Schrödinger’s Dog on April 5.
Oshifound Corner
As always, YURAPICO’s birthday live served as a mini-GUSO Drop and BURST GIRL reunions.
https://twitter.com/reichan_Chiwa/status/2014711509587546237
As mentioned in the pre-amble, this year also brought Knuckle Chiwawa back together. To mark the occasion, they re-released their catalog on streaming services.
