My JPop year 2019

2019 was overall a great year for me and music definitly played a big part in it, I have to admit though that I listend to a lot of other music besides jpop. Most of my playlist is still japanese music but a lot of english, some korean, some chinese and some thai music found it's way on my playlist and there were some I badly love and played on repeat for weeks. Let's go in detail with what I liked best this year when it comes to japanese music. The start is a list of the songs I absolutly loved that have been released this year.

Battel Boys Osaka - Kimi no Tame ni

Battle Boys Fukuoka - 1000 km (this is by far my favorite Battle Boys song ever)

Shimizu Shota - Sorry

Shimizu Shota - Breath Again

Amezari Red Stars - with my step

Amezari Red Start - Maboroshi no Daichi

Amezari Red Stars - Be Alright (couldn't find it online)

Edamame Beans - Stop That Girl

SIRUP - Eien (towa) ni (sadly I couldn't find this online but if you have the chance please listen to it, it's so freakin' good, much better then the originial!!)

Color Creation - Mimoza

EBiDAN - New Day! New Wave!

DJ Hasebe feat. SALU & SIRUP - Midnight Dreamin'

ONE N' ONLY - Category

ONE N' ONLY - Pop! Pop!

3WAG - Make Up

Super Dragon - Don't Let Me Down

Super Dragon - Jacket

Super Dragon - My Playlist

Super Dragon - La Vida Loca

I don't like mondays. - DIAMOND

UNIONE - Amante

Rude-a - It's Only Love

KO from SF9 (10JinActor) - Nagasaki wa Kyou mo Ame datta

iri - Wonderland

Chotokkyu - Before Dawn

SIRUP - Evergreen

WILYWNKA feat. SIRUP - Stay

Of course these are not the only songs I loved the most this year, there have been a few albums I enjoyed pretty much all songs of, so I listed them extra. I did write a little about the album but I didn't link every single song but I did add a spotify link to the albums.

HARUMI - MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Listen to on Spotify

I wrote about this album before. I really love all the song on this so freakin' much. Her voice is super powerful and strong and she delivers the emotions in some of the songs so well. My absolute favorites are "Don't Break My Heart" and "DARE ME" but all the songs are so good. For only 5 songs this 'mini' album also has a good mix of songs. Absolutly recommended!!

_PRIZMAX_ - FRNKSTN

Listen to on Spotify

DANCE was the first song of this album that got uploaded to youtube. I loved it right away, thought now it's my least favorite song on the album. I honestly didn't knew what to expect of this album with the new members. I was so supprised that this is such a good album. All the songs are freakin' amazing up beat songs fully sung in english. By the way my absolute favorite of them is "WHO".

Mukai Taichi - 27; Mukai Taichi - Savage

Listen to 27 on Spotify

Listen to Savage on Spotify

I am a huge fan of Mukai Taichi. Not only is his voice really beautiful but I tend to really enjoy the style of his music. As you can see he released two albums this year. I would consider '27' to be a mini album since it has only 7 songs, thought Savage has only 11 songs as well. However what is most important is the music and guys you have to listen to this if you liked any of his music before. 

I recommend all of the songs but it seems like I listend to ICBU and I very much recommend I Like it, thought honestly if you have some time do listen to all of his music, maybe you will love it as much as I do.

Sakudara Dori - Sakura da Festa BEST

Listen to it on Spotify

Whenever I think about listening to this album I am like, naaahh this wasn't that good but then I listen to it and I love it so much each time. I don't know why I always think this way, maybe because Sakurada Dori will always be more of an actor then a singer to me or maybe a little bit because this cover looks so not like an album cover. However that doesn't matter because the songs on this album are amazing and I love that the style of music is very versatile. You will get everything from a slow songs, to a rock songs, to a song that gives happy summer vibes, to a badass song and more. I can't even name a favorite this time, I love the songs equally. 

Super Dragon - 2nd Emotion

Listen to it on Spotify

This is probably the album I listened to the most this year. After I went to two of their concerts of the Emotions tour back in March, I couldn't stop replaying this album for a long time. The songs on this album are seriously so good. My number one being 'Paya Paya' also because I love the dance but all the others are so damn good too. I even love the remixes and I uselly don't like remixes a lot. If you haven't listend to it, you should do it soon.

AKLO - REGULAR

Listen to it on Spotify

I was so excited when AKLO announced to finally release a new album this year. I dig his three albums he released before as well as the collaboration album with Jay'ed so much. To be honest it took me a little to fully appreciate this album but I do now and if you like Rap you will love this as well, thought I would always recommend his older work more over this one. It's a great album anyway. My favorites are definitly 'Addicted' and 'WFN'.

INTERSECTION - INTERSECTION

Listen to it on Spotify

I love these guys music since they released their debut song 'Heart of Gold'. They have the typical boy group sound, with some nice voices and addicting beats. I love singing along to their songs. When this got released I didn't expect to like all the songs on the album but I was so wrong. Each and every song on this got me so bad. All songs have this super addicting part that makes you want to sing along so bad and you will get them stuck in your head many times. Absolutly recommended!

Chanmina - Never Grow Up

Listen to it on Spotify

If you like her music and style you will most likely love this album too. I especially love 'Call', 'Never Grow Up' and 'Like This'. To be fair I don't love all the songs on this album but most of them are really good so I decided to post it under the albums too. 

DEVIL NO ID - Devillmatic

Listen to it on Spotify

This album is so different to what I usually listen to. This whole album feels so messy but it works so well as a whole and even though all the songs have their specific sound it doesn't feel like one is sticking out more then the others. I don't know how to explain the music these three girls created. I just now I very much enjoy it! Give it a try if you haven't listend to any of their songs and if you might not like a song try out another one because they are quite different from each other. By the way I do love all the songs on this album.

Besides the new songs my new discovery of this year is "Official Hige Dandizumu". They are an indie rock group and their music is amazing. I bought three of their albums on itunes and so far I do enjoy them a lot. Another group I discoverd is "Novelbright", gosh they are awesome too, they are also an indie rock group. Besides these two I got very much into the group "NORD". I don't like all of their music, some is just too messy for me but I love some of their songs badly, especially the song 'Mirai'. Then I got more into the music of "CUBERS", I don't think the songs are super outstanding but they are really nice listening to and whenever a song of them get's played when I use the shuffle mode, I am very plesantly supprised to see it's on of their songs.

What are your favorites of 2019? Did you discover any groups you didn't knew before?

How I fell deeply in love with AMEZARI!! aka Fan Report: AMEZARI -Red Stars- Rowan & Ayumu Okaeri (welcome home) Event

takken from their official twitter account

I always had a thing for Hibiki even when AMEZARI or before that "EBiKAN" and later"American Zarigani" still weren't excisting. He always got my attention. So when I went to Japan this year in March and they announced to hold a free mini live on March 23rd, I knew I had to go there. I even changed up my plans to be able to go there and guys I am so glad I did it. This was an amazing experience that I don't want to miss anymore. But let's start.

takken from their official twitter account

The event was held a TSUTAYA EBISUBASHI and before it opend around 12:30pm you were able to buy merch and get special tickets. I was actuelly way too early but I couldn't find the entrance, since it was a staircase on the side, and there wasn't any sign and the staff of the Tsutaya couldn't help me at all too. Therefor I was a little too late and all the really good tickets for the event have already been gone. However in the end I still had a good standing place und could see them very well.
But first of here is what I bought.

As you can see I bought their t-shirt, which I dearly love the design of, their AMEZARI RED BOOKS and photos. As you might already know I love photos but in this case the main reason I bought them was because if you bought three sets you got two photo tickets. Also as you might see some of the photos came with actual signs of the members. I got three in total, one of Jay, Rowan and Ayumu. As for the book you can see that it has a sign on it as well. That sign wasn't on the book when buying it, you got a ticket for that as well, so you were able to choose whose autograph you want to have on the book. Here is what these tickets looked like.

If you can read a little bit of japanese you can see that I bought two tickets for a groupshot and one with only Hibiki.
After all the buying we had to wait a little until the actual event started and it also started at a different place but this time I directly found it. So this event was a special one because it celebrated the comeback of Rowan and Ayumu. They both have been absent from activities of the group for a few month and on that day was their first event as seven members again.
Since you weren't allowed to take any pictures while the event was held, I can only tell you what I do remember.
They started the event with the song "with my step", which became my favorite song of them after this. I love this song a lot and Rowan looked so cool an handsome performing this song. I mean all did but since he is the main performer of this song, he really stood out. After that they all introduced each other and did some talk and they performed more songs. I can never remember what songs it were, I guess because I was just too excited watching them. Here are some impressions I do remember very well.

*They all had a solo live, that was so awesome.
*Shion was interacting with the fans a lot through his solo, that was super lovely.
*Hibiki looked so nervous with his performance, often looking down and fondling on his clothes, waaaaaaahhhhh so cute!!!!
*Yori has such a beautiful voice, I didn't expect that becaus he is not one of the main vocalists.
*And gosh damn it they are such great dancer and this whole time looked like they had so much fun on stage. I loved seeing them perform.
*The last song they performed was ZARIGANI DANCE and it was such a great performance.

After the mini live the part with photos, signs etc. hold place. At first was the handshake event, after that the sign of the new EBiDAN magazine, then the RED BOOK sign and at least first the group shots and after that the solo shots.
Because I had to wait quite a while, I basicly just observed all the excited fans as well as the members. At one point Hibiki and Andy waved in my direction and I was so shy I looked away.  I guess my head turned bright red as well. I am really not good with dealing with such situations but I still love them anyway.
So when the sign for the RED BOOK finally started I directly went to Hibikis place. I was so excited and smiled brightly. He asked me in english if I am from Germany and was like "yes... how do you know?". Then he tried to explain me that his manager or someone of their stuff, I am really not sure, saw that I tweeted that I will go to the event. I was really happy they knew I was going there.
After that I had to wait again but not for long. As you know I got two group shots and while I actually don't like to put pictures of me on here, here is one of the pictures.

All of the members were so cute and lovely, especially Andy tried to speak english and well Rowan and Jay do speak english fluently but because I kind of rushed (I am to much of a shy person to take my time) I didn't really speak much with them. If I get a chance like this again I want to take a solo picture with each member and I will think about some cool poses because the poses I did were so lame.... Anyway I enjoyed this so so so so so so.... much! It's one of my all time favorite memories.
After the group shots I had to wait until I could take a picture with Hibiki. In between I talked with some very cute fans. One man asked me if I liked Hibiki the most and later he came to me and gave me a signed picture of Hibiki as a present.

That was so nice and cute and I am so thankful to him. I wish I could have given him something as well. After I took the solo picture with Hibiki, which is my dear treasure now, I said goodbye to the fans I had met and went back to my hotel, grinning the rest of the day.

Just thinking about this event get's me fangirling again. While I did mostly love Hibiki before the event I started to love all of the other member as well after this event. They were so cute and friendly and adorable and and and I just love them. I do hope to go to a live event of them again when I am in Japan in August.

Is there anyone who likes them a lot too? If yes who is your favorite member?

AMEZARI -Red Stars- released 2nd music video

It's here!!! I am super excited for this and so happy they finally released a 2nd music video. The video is for their song "Maboroshi no Daichi", which is not a new song but one of their popular songs they haven't released on cd jet. I guess this means that it will be on the 3rd album that will come out on July 13. That also gives me hope that "with my step" will also finally be released on cd, since it is also an older but popular song. 

However I do love "Maboroshi no Daichi". It's a fun and cute song that I always enjoyed watching them perform and I am happy they released a music video for it. The video is done so well. They all look really handsome and cute. Some of the shots are being so nice, I always fangirl over them watching the video. Like that scene of Shion standing in the door and looking up, waaahhhh that's so handsome. And basicly all scenes of Yori because he looks so cute e.g. while listening to music and looking like he is daydreaming. Of course I LOVE all the scenes of Hibiki too, I mean he is my bias, how could I not. He is such a sunshine to me because whenever I see him my world get's brighter. That was cheesy but it's true! Rowan looks so cool in all the scenes and Andy is upper cute and super handsome too, I love seeing him playing the guitar together with Ayumu, besides Ayumu is so lovely in this video as well. At least Jay is flawless like always. His performance is great and he has such a great aura to him. I like that he always looks so self-confident and everything he does feels so natural. I love these guys so much and I am so extremly proud of them and I hope they are proud about themselves too. 

What do you think about the video?

EBiDAN Ranking 2019

I first posted this on JPopAmino but decided to post it here as well.

Today I will do my personal ranking of all the active EBiDAN groups right now. I did that like two or three years ago and thought it’s time for a new one. I will not include Battle Boys because they are not an actual group and I won’t include Hongyo.jp because they will be disbanded soon. So let’s start!

12. ZeBRA☆STAR

Favorite Member: /

Favorite Song: Dancing! Dancing!

To be honest after Aruki left the group I stopped caring about them much. Since then there have been so much changes again. Three new members have been added, Knight is now a member of both ZeBRA☆STAR Black and Red, Kousei is now a Z☆S Black member and Kaito changed his name to only Kai. So much is going on.

I should really get on track with them again because I want to support all the EBiDAN groups and while I will always be sad over Aruki who left them I still want to give my best to support the remaining members.

11. Edamame Beans

Favorite Member: Keyon & Haruto

Favorite Song: Puzzle

They are so freakin cute and Keyon is such a brat being all loud and noisy but I love him for that. I like that they try to speak some English once in a while, like doing English introduction videos. That’s awesome.

As for their music I do like their songs but they still have to improve their singing skills a lot. However their dancing is pretty good already. I will enjoy watching them get better and grow up.

10. Sakura Shimeji

Favorite Member: Hyouga

Favorite Song: Ikujinashi

As for Sakura Shimeji I love both Gaku and Hyouga, they are so cute and I bet really nice and lovely too. However when it comes to their music, sometimes I feel like their voices are just to high for my taste. I do love some of their songs and I usually enjoy their concerts but out of EBiDAN they are probably the group I like the least songs of. Nevertheless I will keep supporting them because I love the members and there are songs I love.

9. Starmen KiDS

Favorite Member: Taisei

Favorite Song: STAR★MEN SUMMER DAYS!, Starmen Pirates

These little boys always surprise me with their music because I always expect childish songs that I am not much into but many of their songs turn out to be really addicting.

Also some of the members have been with EBiDAN for so long already, it’s crazy. Taisei, Rui and Taishi are in EBiDAN for around 6 years already, that’s nearly half their lives, since all three of them turn 13 years old this year. So crazy.

They still need more training but in these years they improved a lot and I am very much looking forward to watch them grow up into talented, handsome man.

8. EBiSSH

Favorite Member: Tetta

Favorite Song: Koi no Timing

It took really long until I started to like EBiSSH. I first checked them out when the “EBiDAN The Street” Groups have been featured in the EBiDAN magazine for the first time. They all looked so handsome but when I checked some fan recordings of some of their in-store lives, I felt like they lack too much vocal skills. I really didn’t enjoy their music at all. It took as long as their cd debut to get me interested in them again. I love “Koi no Timing” which is their debut song and when checking out their live again, I felt that they already improved. Until today they still have to improve their vocal skills but nowadays I do enjoy listening to Tettas voice a lot and Rei sounds so much better now too. I can really say that EBiSSH is a group that grew on me.

7. Satori Shonen Dan

Favorite Member: Eiku

Favorite Song: I wanna say...

They were the first “EBiDAN The Street” group I loved. Right from the start you got the feeling that these three boys are really talented. Eiku has a very beautiful voice and Hayato and Kenshin have always been amazing dancer. I still enjoy watching their old street lives on YouTube. Also because my favorite song of them still hasn’t been released on cd. I am seeing a bright future for Satori Shonen Dan.

6. M!LK

Favorite Member: Sano Hayato

Favorite Song: milky snow, Coffee ga Nomimasen

M!LK went through some major member changes last year and I think you can’t really compare the old M!LK with the new one. I do like both a lot though. I feel like even though the new members are younger, their music is much more mature now. However I do like the cute music they did before too. Listening to my favorite songs of them you will know for sure that I a really like their cute songs!

Despite their music I really like the members too. I know all of them since they were still trainees. Mizuki, Jinto and Daichi have already been a part of the trainees when I got really hard into EBiDAN. That makes them very special to me. However Sano is still my bias. He is so freakin adorable. And the new members are great too, Ryubi e.g. has always been a trainee I really liked, so I was happy he joined M!LK.

5. AMEZARI -RED STARS-

Favorite Member: Hibiki 

Favorite Song: With My Step

I liked them a lot even before I met them this year but after meeting them I started to love them SO much more. Before I mostly liked Hibiki but now I like all the members so much. They are so cute, nice and awesome and I hope they will get more and more popular and can reach their goals. What stands out most when it comes to them is their incredible dancing skills. I mean they are still pretty young but so freakin good dancer. As for their singing they still have to improve but there definitely is potential. I mean they don’t sound bad, especially Yori has such a nice voice, I was so supprised when I saw them live. The others have nice voices too but I think Yori has the most talent and the others just need more vocal training. However I do enjoy their music, not everything but a lot of their songs.

4. Super★Dragon

Favorite Member: Tsuyoshi

Favorite Song: Paya Paya

I saw them live three times already. Once in 2016 and twice this year. They are great dancer and I love the voices of Tsuyoshi and Hyoma a lot. Especially Tsuyoshi has such an extremely beautiful voice. But I also love the rap of Jean a lot and Koki and Tomoya doing pretty good with rapping too. Besides their performance I like the members a lot too. They are cute when interacting with each other. I absolutely recommend watching “Super Dragon TV” on YouTube, if you want to get more into them. Another thing I love about them is of course their music. I love their mix of rock, pop, EDM and rap music. They have so many freakin awesome songs!!

3. PRIZMAX

Favorite Member: Tsubasa

Favorite Song: Never, Three Things, Without You, Lonely Summer Days, Up > Up Beat, Fantasista, Mysterious Eyes, Orange Moon, Truth, HUG & KISS

I still remember when they were only three members and you could find so many fan recordings of them on YouTube. When they announced to debut in 2013, I got so excited and happy and I was also happy about Yuuki and Tsubasa joining the group. Since then they have released so many good songs. I love listening to their whole discography. There is not a single song of them I don’t like.

Something I like about their songs a lot is that they have a lot of English in their songs, this way it’s much easier for me to sing along with the songs and I absolutely love this.

2. Chotokkyu

Favorite Member: Takuya

Favorite Song: Gr8test Journey

Chotokkyu is probably the most well known group of EBiDAN and it’s no wonder. They are great dancer, their songs are freakin good and the members are lovely. Also their concerts are really fun to watch all the time. Besides all these reasons I like them for their great humor. One scene I can’t get over is Yusuke dressed as a girl saying „muri desu“ in the music video for „Tsundere Chibi Ouji“.

Thought this whole video is just so freakin hilarious!! I really love these guys a lot.

1. DISH//

Favorite Member: Daichi

Favorite Song: Honestly I cant choose one... but here is a few songs I would recommend listening to. Hareru YA!, Yume Tabi, Starting Over, Yay Natsuyasumi, Flame and The Phantom.

Still and probably always my favorite group is DISH//. Why you might think? The answer is easy, when it comes to DISH// I like everything. I am hugely addicted to their music, the members can be super weird but are freakin lovely and adorable too, their live performances are perfect (I actually saw them live twice, so I can tell for sure) and I love them deeply from the bottom of my heart!!

That was my ranking of the EBiDAN groups. I would love to get to know your ranking too!!

My EBiDAN Collection

I felt like showing you my EBiDAN collection so here it is.

[AMEZARI RED STARS]

1st Album

lot's of pictures of Hibiki...

and more...

[Battle Boys]

1st & 2nd Single of Battle Boys


[Chotokkyu]

AMEZARI -Red Star- released 1st ever Music Video

Today AMEZARI - Red Stars- released their first ever music video. The music video is for the song "Zarigani Dance". I LOVE this song so much, it's really addicting, I don't know how many times I already replayed this song! >0< The video turned out so well too. All looking really cool in their outfits and the dance turned out so good as well. This is much more awesome then I would have expected. Not that I don't expect good of them, it's more that they are still so underrated that I thought the quality might not be that good. Enough writing here is the video, please check it out.

Also it was so weird to see Jay with short(er) hair. He had long hair since forever... I never before saw him with short hair. It suites him too but I am so not used to it. XD

He looks so different now. >-<

Also I realized once again how biased I am towards Hibiki... while doing the screenshots of this video for this post I put so much effort into taking a good screenshot of Hibiki, just so he get's his solo screenshot... XDDDD Sorry I am such a fangirl over this little boy. So at least here is one more picture of Hibiki (besides the two I put into the picture in the beginning XDDDDD).

What do you think about Hibiki the music video?

EBiDAN Discography

I don't know if any of you is interessted in this but I made a list of all the releases of EBiDAN groups, that also includes all the releases of the trainees. I find it interessting to see how much has been released in which year. I think it's awesome that EBiDAN Okinawa were allowed to release a single and EBiDAN Osaka's "AMEZARI RED STARS" released and album. I wish for the other trainee groups to release one as well. EBiSEN (EBiDAN Sendai) and EBiDAN Nagoya are awesome, they deserve an own release! I feel like there could have been a little more releases this year but as long as they keep releasing cds everything is fine for me. Here is the list.

albums

music cards

[2010]

25.12. EBiDAN - Sparkling Adventure/Koi no Ding Dong

[2012]

10.06. DISH// - It's alright

10.06. Chotokkyu - Train

10.10. DISH// - Peter Pan Syndrome

24.10. Customiz - Hare Hare Yukai

24.10. Chotokkyu - Shake body

[2013]

13.02. DISH// - Give Me Chocolate!

13.02. Chotokkyu - Policemen

27.03. PrizmaX - Mysterious Eyes

10.04. Customiz - Mononoke Hime

29.05. PrizmaX - Mysterious Eyes [DVD Ver.]

05.06. Chotokkyu - Bloody Night

19.06. DISH// - I Can Hear

17.07. Chotokkyu - Starlight

16.10. DISH// - HareruYA!

23.10. PrizmaX - Ready

13.11. Chotokkyu - Kiss Me Baby

04.12. DISH// - Itsuka wa Merry Christmas

[2014]

05.03. DISH// - Freak Show

12.03. PrizmaX - take me

26.03. Chotokkyu - ikki!!!!!i!!

29.03. EBiSamurai - Chanbaraya baraba

28.04. CLASH - Aozora Center Forward [Digital Release]

05.05. Kemopan5 - Kemopan Sekai Title Match

19.05. EBiDAN Tokyo 39 - Ebibi ~THE Yell~ [Digital Release]

11.06. Chotokkyu - BelievexBelieve

08.06. EBiKokoro.com - Like a star

25.06. DISH// - Saisho no Koi ~motetakute~/FLAME

27.08. CustomiZ - Life and death

10.09. PrizmaX - Reborn

12.11. Chotokkyu - Star Gear/EBiDAY EBiNAI/BURN!

24.11. Sakura Shimeji - Ikujinashi / Kinou no Yume [limited release]

03.12. DISH// - Hengao de bye bye

03.12. Chotokkyu - RING 

10.12. PrizmaX - FANTASISTA

[2015]

14.01. DISH// - MAIN DISH 

04.02. CustomiZ - Hitsuji no Hikari

11.03. Sakura Shimeji - Ikujinashi / Kinou no Yume

18.03. MAGiC BOYZ - MAGiC SPELL ~Kakechauzo! PiPiPi~ 

25.03. M!LK - Coffee ga Nomemasen

27.05. PrizmaX - OUR ZONE

03.06. CustomiZ - Requiem

10.06. Chotokkyu - Stardust Love Train/Battaman

24.06. Sakura Shimeji - Kimi de Shita / Seki ga e no kami sama

01.07. DISH// - Yay!!☆Natsuyasumi

12.07. MAGiC BOYZ - illson feat. NIPPS, Okamoto Reiji (OKAMOTO's)

19.08. M!LK - Hankoki Aventure

09.09. Chotokkyu - Beautiful Chaser

30.09. PrizmaX - Lonely Summer Days

04.11. DISH// - Bokutachi Rookies

18.11. CustomiZ - Kai

[2016]

13.01. Sakura Shimeji - Hajimaru Kisetsu / Thank You

03.02. MAGiC BOYZ - Ari no Mama de Majibo

02.03. Chotokkyu - YELL

26.03. Starmen KiDS - Terakoya 

30.03. M!LK - Shingakki A La Carte

06.04. PrizmaX - UP<UPBEAT

27.04. CustomiZ - Customi-Z

27.04. CustomiZ - Coolest

23.05. SUPER★DRAGON - Big Dipper 

23.05. SUPER★DRAGON - Hack My Choice

31.05. SUPER★DRAGON - ZEN-SHIN-ZEN-REI

31.05. SUPER★DRAGON - BAD BOY 

05.06. Satori Shonen Dan - I wanna say... 

22.06. DISH// - HIGH-VOLTAGE DANCER

10.08. M!LK - Natsuaji Rendezvous

17.08. Sakura Shimeji - Hidarimune

24.08. MAGiC BOYZ - Do The D-D-T!!

30.09. SUPER★DRAGON - Pendulum Beat!

26.10. Starmen KiDS - Terakoya EP

26.10. Chotokkyu - Dramatic Seven  

07.12. SUPER★DRAGON - 1st Impact 

14.12. DISH// - Mashiagare no Gatling 

21.12. EBiDAN39 & KiDS - EBiBEST 

25.12. MAGiC BOYZ - Oh!!! Juken☆Night Fever

[2017]

11.01. M!LK - Shisso Pendulum

28.02. ZeBRA☆STAR - ZeBRA World / Boys, Be Ambitious!

22.03. Sakura Shimeji - Sakura Shimeji 

29.03. MAGiC BOYZ - 3.141592

29.03. SUPER★DRAGON - Wacha-Gacha!

29.03. PrizmaX - Gradually 

29.03. DISH// - JK// [DVD Single]

26.04. Chotokkyu - Cho Never Give Up Dance 

10.05. M!LK - Terunero Fighter 

13.05. AMEZARI Red Stars - Saraba AMERIKAN ZARIGANI 

07.06. DISH// - I'm FISH//

22.07. ZeBRA☆STAR - Don't Stop Romantic

26.07. Chotokkyu - My Buddy

02.08. Starmen KiDS - STAR★MEN SUMMER DAYS!

04.08. EBiDAN Okinawa - Nextage

16.08. DISH// - Bokutachi ga Yarimashita

23.08. Sakura Shimeji - Ayamarizumu

30.08. MAGiC BOYZ - Dai Ichi Ji Seicho Ki ~Baby to Boy~ 

30.08. PrizmaX - Orange Moon

20.09. EBiSSH - Koi wa Timing

15.11. Satori Shonen Dan - Help You

22.11. M!LK - Osama no Gyunyu 

23.12. EBiSSH - My Friend/Kimi de Ippai

[2018]

31.01. SUPER★DRAGON - Monster!

10 Reasons why I love EBiDAN

*This is a post I first shared on JPop Amino but I felt like posting it here too!*

EBiDAN is my all time favorite group of artists! It's actually a dance and acting school for boys under Stardust but grew bigger and bigger and is now known for a handful of great groups. Today I want to tell you 10 reasons why I love EBiDAN so much and maybe if you never heard of them you might get interested!

I didn't intent to write so much but yeah... it's actually quite a lot I wrote!

#01 EBiDAN the Street

EBiDAN the Street is a project of EBiDAN that focuses on groups that mostly do street performances. I personally only know about two. Satori Shonen Dan, which I think are the most well known (and in my opinion most talented) and Edamame Beans! EBiSSH (former known as Monochrome Rainbow) have been a group under this project before as well but they got their own little project and are not under this project anymore!

#02 awesome musicians

What I love a lot is that EBiDAN has a handful of awesome musicians under them! And with this I don't mean the vocalists but all the awesome guys who play an instrument! When it comes to playing instruments I always liked CustomiZ the most, sadly they already disbanded but at least their drummer Daichi is now a member of DISH//! However I hope to be able to watch Hiroki performing on stage someday again! I always loved how his whole appearance changed as soon as he started playing the bass! That is one giftet bassist! But Daichi is an incredible drummer as well and coming to DISH// I really like the guitar playing of Takumi and Masaki as well and even thought not as good as Hiroki I also love Ryuji as a bassist! Besides them SakuraShimeji members Hyouga and Gaku are really good with playing the guitar as well! I hope with more groups coming there will be more who play an instrument!

#03 variety in music

When it comes to the EBiDAN groups and bands you will find they all have a different style! DISH// who have a rock sound to them, Chotokkyu with their electronic influences, Magic Boyz who doing Hip Hop music, Starmen Kids with their very childish pop, PrizmaX who are very much influenced by western pop, Super☆Dragon who create a mix of EDM and rock, M!LK who mostly produce very fun and energetic pop and last but not least SakuraShimeji with their very sweet and pure jpop!

#04 awesome vocalists

Watching as many lives of them as I can I know that some of them have stunning voices! My favorite being Tsuyoshi of Super☆Dragon because he has a very outstanding voice and I enjoy listening to him a lot! But when it comes to Super☆Dragon I also appreciate the voices of Koki, Hyoma and Tomoya a lot and Jean is a great rapper! After Tsuyoshi my second favorite vocalist of EBiDAN is Takumi, his voice is incredible, very powerful and extremely nice to the ears and it's one you easily recognize! Thought Masaki has a nice voice too and again I really appreciate the rap of Ryuji and To-i! PrizmaXs Win and Tim have very beautiful and strong voices as well! I saw them live once and they blew me away with their great voices! And then they have Daiki who is my favorite rapper of all the EBiDAN members! Then there are Takashi and Koichi of Chotokkyu who have super beautiful voices too! I prefer Koichi a little over Takashi but they both have very beautiful voices! When it comes to M!LK I really like the voices of Jinto and Sano thought they still can improve! To be honest I am not a big fan of Harukis voice! It's a little to high for my taste! Another great vocalist of EBiDAN is Eiku of Satori Shonen Dan! His voice is super beautiful, he still needs more training but there is SO much potential in him! Sakura Shimejis Gaku and Hyouga have very nice and soothing voices as well! At least I want to mention Mahiro of Magic Boyz. Even thought I am not the biggest MagiBo fan I can't deny that I really appreciate his voice! He is definitely the best rapper in this group and the one I see the most potential in! About all the other vocalist they need more training but I am sure they will get better with time!

#05 EBiDAN songs

Despite that of course each group has their own songs, there are a few songs that are sang by all of them together! They are like the theme songs for EBiDAN! They mostly sing these song at the "EBiDAN the Live" events. My favorite of these songs is "Koigokoro" but all of them are extremely beautiful! The other songs are "Believe Yourself", "Sparkling Adventure" and "Koi no Ding Dong". I often get emotional watching them all performing together because even thought they all have a big age gap, their popularity is very different and the music is so different they are like a huge family supporting each other and getting along really well!

#06 the Trainees

Ok Trainees are nothing special when it comes to Japanese music but what I really like about the Trainees of EBiDAN is that you can find them all over Japan! There is not only a Tokyo and maybe Osaka trainee group but also one of Okinawa, Sendai, Nagoya and Fukuoka! All of these Trainees have activities in their surrounding and even small events hold just for them! They get dance and vocal lessons and have their own merchandise. What I also like about the Trainees is that they not only have an own blog but also their own twitter and instagram account not to forget the website "EBiDAN.jp" on which you can find all the important news about them!

Besides all that what I love the most about the trainees of EBiDAN is that they have not only their own live events but also their own tv show! The first one was called just EBiDAN and after that EBiDAN Amigo started to air and is still ongoing! There was a show called EBiDAN Bomba but it didn't last long and their is a show on YouTube that is called EBiDAN station but it's not released regular! However these shows mostly focus on the trainees means you can really get to know and like them before they eventually have a debut! That's an awesome thing I love and the reason I like the members of M!LK, Magic Boyz, Super☆Dragon, Sakura Shimeji, Starman Kids and ZeeBra Star a lot!! I got to know all of them before their debut I liked some of them a lot when they were still trainees!

#07 Stardust Channel

As an EBiDAN fan living outside of Japan you might think it's hard to find all the shows and lives they did online but it's actually not because there is the Stardust Channel! This is a website you can creat an account on even when living outside of Japan!! It costs 400 yen a month and you need a credit card but it's really not much for the content you get! You can watch many of their lives including the "EBiDAN the Live 2016", full concerts of some groups, all the shows they release and special content! It's really amazing and I love that it's available for us international fans as well!

If you have interests in joining I did a post on that on my blog, klick here to go there! I absolutely recommend it if you love EBiDAN!!

#08 their promotions

EBiDAN was able to get quite big in such a short time because of their great promotions! Besides having various shows that air on tv, and them appearing on various other variety shows, they also held events and concerts regular and their groups attend other big events!

They have an own magazine which only focuses on them and are regular featured in magazines like JUNON and Backstage Pass!

They have temporary fan cafes (I went to an chotokkyu one this year, see picture above, and loved it) and do quite a lot of free lives, especially the newer groups!

Besides that they are cooperating with HMV and therefore have their own EBiDAN space at every HMV store in Japan, which gives them more of a spotlight! But even in other stores like Tower Records or Tsutaya you will most eventually find at least a small EBiDAN corner!

(At Tower Records Shibuya)

#09 their concerts/lives

(From Time Limit Museum 1.1.2017 of DISH//)

I own most of their concert DVDs and love all of them! They always do a great show and include something special in their concerts! For e.g. DISH// always do a special challenge and show the results at the concerts e.g. for the Time Limit Museum their challenge was to master playing the Shamisen (a tradition Japanese instrument). They honestly did so well with that! I was super excited listening them playing it while wearing beautiful traditional clothes! Chotokkyu's concerts are very fun too because in general these boys have a lot of fun at stage and their songs are fun but what I love about them is that they focus so much on the dancing! I mean they are said to have 5 main dancer and two back vocalists so it's obvious that they focus on their dancing a lot! However seeing their concerts is much better then you might think! Their dancing is very powerful and outstanding and I always enjoy their performances to the fullest!

I also love the simplicity of Sakura Shimejis lives and the cute lives of M!LK! Super☆Dragon on the other hand has a very strong badass image and that's what their performances always feel like! I was lucky enough to see them live for real and I enjoyed those three songs they performed SO much! Their dancing feels powerful and the vocals of Tsuyoshi made me melt!

Same goes for the vocals of Win and Tim of PrizmaX! A dream came true when I saw them live and they are really adorable! Win is such a flirty guy what made the performance even more fun to watch and the others were awesome too! Always kind of outstanding for me is Tsubasa who is really dorky and super lovely!

All in one I would always recommend watching a live of them! All of the EBiDAN groups are wonderful live!!!!! 

#10 The groups

Best for last, the groups! To be honest each group is already one reason to love EBiDAN but that would have been to easy so I decided put them all together under one point! I can honestly say that I like all the groups under EBiDAN thought there is some I like more and some less! For example my least favorite group is MAGiC BOYZ and my all time favorite is DISH//! But In general they are all incredible and I enjoy everything of them, may it be their music, lives, tv shows or anything else I can find of them!

Does any of you like EBiDAN? What are your reasons for liking them? If you didn't know EBiDAN are you interested now?