Tokyo Idol Festival 2011 Part 2

The post in which I investigate and find more about the groups performing at this year's Tokyo Idol Festival, which by the way will be held 8/27 and 8/28. I'd be VERY happy if it was streamed live somewhere, but the DVD will come out later, definitely.

Circadian Rhythm: Again a weird named group; first the group that has "colon" in their name and now there's a group named after a body's 24 hour sleep/wake cycle.

I was able to find a couple of links with them on YouTube, with this being their debut single "Yume Hito Yo" with the coupling song. I like Yume Hito yo a lot, though it does sound kind of familiar in a way I can't put my finger on. Still, I like these two women (as they do seem older than most indie idol groups). They have a more mature sound than most young/indie idol groups have right now, and it's kind of interesting.

However, other than finding these links, I am having serious trouble finding any information about them at all, since searching "circadian rhythm" only gets the scientific term, and searching for circadian rhythm in katakana is just the Japanese wiki site about the scientific term. So if they have any specific concept, I don't know it, and I don't know the names or ages of these girls at all.

Sakura Gakuin: This is a newish group that I really like so far, that has released one single (Yume ni Mukatte/Hello IVY) and one album (Sakura Gakuin 2010 ~Message~). They have a school theme (hence being named Sakura Academy), and one of the most notable things about them is the big difference in heights between all of the girls.

I'm wondering what they'll perform this year; last year at the Tokyo Idol Festival they performed Yume ni Mukatte (though at that time it wasn't a single yet, it was just their one song). This year I'll imagine it will be more than one song (since they do have multiple original songs). I'm hoping that some of the subgroups from their album (which are all based off of different school clubs) will perform. I'm particularly fond of the subunit "Twinklestars", which is the baton club. They actually have released one single so far by themselves and will release a second.

I am interested in their second single as twinklestars, but I'd LOVE for them to perform the above single, "Dear Mr. Socrates" live. I love the song, and the PV makes me giggle.

But if you're planning on watching anything from the Tokyo Idol Festival, I'd look out for Sakura Gakuin. They're still really new, so I don't know TOO much about them, but I really like them so far!

ShizuKaze: When I first saw the name (written in Japanese as しず風) I thought it was just a punny name; Shizuka means quiet in Japanese, and Kaze is wind, so I thought it was supposed to be a quiet wind. And it could still potentially mean that, but then I found out it was a duet unit between a gravure idol named Mano Shizuka (I don't follow gravure, but she has a LOT of DVDs/photobooks to her name) and another girl named Tachibana Fuuka (the first kanji in her given name is the same as kaze).

They hail from a production company that I haven't heard of before, Versus pro. They look like they're the top-billed stars of Versus Pro, so I'd imagine it's a pretty small company. According to their site they've been doing some things since 2009, but I can't find much in the way of singles; they've done live events and I THINK a DVD, but not much else. They actually also performed at Tokyo Idol Festival 2010,

They're trying to sing live it sounds like, but aren't super amazing yet. Again, can't find too much on Shizukaze.

Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku: Also known as Ebichu, these girls hail from Stardust Promotions, the agency behind Momoiro Clover. So this is MomoClo's little sister group! I haven't seen much from them as of yet, but Stardust is a pretty great agency, and I have a lot of faith in them. They formed in 2009 and their numbers have grown so now there are 12 members in EbiChu! 

I don't know much about them, like I said, but they seem pretty well loved. They've released 5 singles so far, but they've all been on indie labels, so that means they've yet to make their major debut. One single is called "The Tissue ~ Neverending Youth~" which I think is pretty fantastic. 

They seem like they're on that cusp of being relatively well known and not. They're no where near the most indie group at Tokyo Idol Festival, but certainly not the most popular. There's not too much about them in the English-speaking fandom, but consiering the success that Stardust has had with MomoClo, I feel like trusting them and following EbiChu is a decent idea.

I'm a bit tired, so I will continue more of this tomorrow! So many indie idol groups, so little time!