Other Idols Master Post 003

Time to round up information for the various other idol groups that I follow.

First up is E-Girls news. They will doing the theme song for the upcoming Getsu 9 drama, Biblia Kosodou no Jiken Techou. They will be performing a cover of the song The Never Ending Story. And yes, it is that The Never Ending Story song from the movie of the same name that came out in 1984.

Sanspo article (Japanese)

I am quite interested in how this is going to turn out, as The Never Ending Story is a rather dated sounding song. Not to mention something that I cannot imagine dancing to like E-Girls songs tend to be with most of the group being just dancers. But it is a wonderfully 80s song, and I am curious if we are going to get this in Engrish.

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Yamashita Sean has a new theater role in the play Hashire, Melos! The first show will be on December 27th, 2012 in Tokyo and the final in Osaka on February 2nd, 2013.

OHP (Japanese)

There is information about the story line that this play is adapted of on the Wikipedia page, and it sounds pretty interesting. And I think I would want to watch it even if I knew none of the actors in the production. So I hope Sean well with this venture and I can understand why he is excited in having a role in this.

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Despite semi-frequent visits to their official site and recently began following their official twitter account Love La Doll managed to ninja in a new release for December 12th. This is their third single and it is titled Seishun GIRLZ Saizensen.

One of the most exciting parts about this release is that they actually have a PV for the title track. Their past two singles have only had dance shots so this is a step up from past releases. Plus it looks like the PV actually had something of a budget for an indie-idol group.

While I do not like the song as much as what I have heard from them so far I do like the PV and there is always a chance the song can grow on me. Either way I am still happy to see the group finally have their own PV.

While I cannot find the CD to purchase on the usual online stores it is up on iTunes Japan, with the rest of their previous singles, and I figure that is probably where I will buy it from. Especially as the single is the one title track with karaoke version only.

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The word cannot end this year as then it will miss out on JYJ's Jaejoong's solo album that will be released in January 2013. The genre of the music for the album is going to be rock as Jaejoong has done well with singing the genre in the past. You can check out his solo Maze from his Tohoshinki days to see an example of this.

Kpop Starz article (English)

I am really excited for this release as a fan of rock music and Jaejoong. I really agree that rock songs suit him well too, his voice is just a good match for the kind of songs that genre produces. And I am glad that the chances of it being available on iTunes US are high so I will have no trouble getting this album when it comes out.

Other Idols Master Post 002

Hooray! I have a non-Johnny's post that does not have news of group loosing a member! In fact there is much better news than that here.

While I have always remained mostly focused on Japanese idols there are a few Korean groups that have caught my attention over the years, though fewer still that has kept it. One of those groups is the Wonder Girls, who I am quite happy I got to see live when they did their USA tour a couple of years back.

That said the news that surprised fans that was recently announced is that one of the members, Sunye, will be getting married to her boyfriend of two years in late January.

Allkpop article (English)

All I have to say about the news is congrats to Sunye and her soon to be husband and I wish them the best of luck. That and I am happy to hear that she is not going to have to leave the group when she does get married, even though the members are going to focus on solo activities in the coming year. But it is probably for the best, she will get to spend time as a newlywed with her husband as the rest of the girls get to pursue things they would not be able to do as a group. I just hope that Sunye will want to come back when they are all ready to.

On another note, I will say that agencies lifting the dating ban for both their male and female acts is something I see a step above the Japanese idol agencies. Sure it seems to happen for Johnny's unofficially at some point but female idols really only have the choice to date in complete secret or leave the group just to date. And I am personally interested in seeing how things play out for WG with one of their members being married when they get back to group activities at some point, perhaps in the next decade with the usual rate they have been going.

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There is a special dance unit created with three members of EXILE, Usa, Tatsuya and Nesmith and singer Crystal Kay. The unit will be called DANCE EARTH PARTY and be produced by member Usa.

Universal Music Japan OHP (Japanese)

They will release their debut single, Inochi Rhythm, on January 16th in two editions. The limited edition has everything the regular edition plus a DVD with the PV and the making of for it.

Inochi Rhythm [Regular Edition] / DANCE EARTH PARTY

Inochi Rhythm [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / DANCE EARTH PARTY

I have been a fan of Crystal Kay's since about 2004-ish and have followed pretty much liked everything she has released. So I have often found myself disappointed that she has not been doing so well with sales in the past few years, as I think more people should be listening to her. This news has me hoping that this group will get a good deal of promotion and hopefully she will benefit from it.

Other Idols Master Post 001

Since it seems the Master Post thing is going well I am adding one more, this one for the other idols that do not fit under Johnny's or AKS.

Unfortunately I do have a member leaving news for this post. But honestly this was probably a long time coming. Happiness/E-Girls member MIMU, will be withdrawing from the groups. She had been on leave for a while because of academic reasons, the rumor being that her grades were suffering so her parents made her stop activities to fix that. So having this announcement is not a great blow as it was always very iffy what her future would be, especially as she was only one of the dancers for the group, not one of the two vocalists.

Oricon Style article (Japanese)


In much happier news rookie idol group, Love La Doll, will be releasing a new single on November 7th. The title of the single is Honey Bee which is produced by Armyslick, who has produced for K-pop idol group KARA. This will be the group's second single after debuting with their first single back in August.

Honey Bee

Love La Doll