#4 Zenitani Nozomi (銭谷のぞみ)

Zenitani Nozomi is an idol soloist signed to the same managing company (EBA Production) as Oota Yuuki, as mentioned before.

She was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture on January 14, 1989 but currently lives in Tokyo. Her blood type is A, her height is 155 cm, and her hobbies and talents are collecting kitty's, painting her nails, shopping, dance, and singing. Her favourite colours are black, white and pink and her favourite word is "Arigatou".

This girl has quite the biography; In April, 2003, she acted as a background dancer during the Red and White Kohaku Uta Gassen and was the event campaign girl for Lipovitan D in 2007. In that same year of 2007, she was part of the cast of the musical "Ashita e no Tobira". During the year of 2008, she was a background dancer for 175R's tour, "175R Kessei 10 Shuunen Kansha no Yaon "THANK YOU FOR THE FUN"", Southern All Stars' "Manatsu no Dai Kanshasai" 30 Shuunen Kinen LIVE, and Southern All Stars' CDTV Special, as well as being a background dancer once more for the 59th and 60th Annual Kohaku Uta Gassen. In 2009, she was in the CM for Iwatani International Corporation and for Nisshin Shokuhin. In addition, she was in the cast for the stage play "Flying Pirate" and was a model for the magazine "Kira Kira hair" the following year.

From the videos that I've watched, I am in love with this girl's voice! It's spunky, slightly raspy, slightly deep, and her adorable vibrato, too! X3 And her talking voice is really cute, as well, with that raspiness and hoarseness to her voice. I picked the videos that I personally liked best from her and that showcase her very unique voice!

Tsumetakushinaide


DARTS


Again 2


say the world (Great song, great dancing, great vocals, in my opinion, of course :P)


Links
Official Blog
EBA Profile

#3 Starmarie (スターマリー-)

Starmarie is a three member idol group (They used to have four) that's located in Tokyo.
The girls debuted in July 2008, and their first live was held in Shibuya. They have been active ever since.
Offical Website

Members

Name: Takamori Shino
Nickname: Shinohamu
Birthday: 1992.07.19
Shino's Blog 

Name: Aoki Shiori
Nickname: Bushi
Birthday: 1991.05.01
Shiori's Blog 

Name: Kishita Nozomi
Nickname: Nonchan
Birthday: 1990.05.21
Nozomi's Blog 

Singles

Febuary 2009

1st Single  「Time Machine Love」  *Reached #7 on the indies charts

May 2009
2nd Single 「Mahou Tuskai Ru Ru」 *Reached #13 on the indies charts

2010
3rd Single 「Andromeda Propose」 *Reached #5 on the indies charts
4th single  「Nero Mimic」 *Reached #5 on the indies charts
 「Namida no Pan Kojo "Konseru Kamata」
5th single 「Mononame Shinero」
6th single 「Mogura Mystery」

2011/2012
7th single 「Mr. Kurisu no Present」
Album (Feb 23)

30 Fresh Faces Part 3B

Fresh 30 Vol 3B
Another set of first time on Pure Idol Heart artists. More formal profiles will be coming later.
Artists 14-15


14 Ponbashi wktk Mates

http://ponbashiwktkmates.com/




15. C＊LOVER

C＊LOVER has several units and idols under contract including Prima Rock [hard rock idols] they are the second group on stage in the clip above. Jewel, they are the third group on stage in the above clip. Ange and others.

http://www.c-lover.jp/index2.html

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/c-lover-show/videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/CLCL2011/featured



Another mini program with the groups


Other Parts
Part 3A
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/03/30-fresh-faces-vol-3a.html

Part 2 B
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces-part-2b.html

 Part 2 A
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces-part-2.html

Part 1
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces.html

30 Fresh Faces Part 3A

Fresh 30 Vol 3A
Another set of first time on Pure Idol Heart artists. More formal profiles will be coming later.
Artists 12-13

12- Meguriai

http://meguriai.tv/profile/
http://www.youtube.com/user/palproject/videos

If you watch Tsuntube, you have seen this group a lot






It`s really easy to take to the members



13 Nama Station

http://ameblo.jp/station-info/





Part 2 B
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces-part-2b.html

 Part 2 A
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces-part-2.html

Part 1
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces.html

Nogizaka46 Land Major Sponsorship Deal

Nogizaka46 has landed a major sports sponsorship .Nogizaka46 song “Hidari Mune no Yuuki“, has been chosen as the official support song for “Sukapa! J League

2012″ [Professional Soccer League TV Broadcast].
The song will be used during the season broadcasts schedule and as part of the related commercials.
This is a special deal for Miyazawa Seira, whose father is Miyazawa Michel [French-Japanese], who is a retired player of the J-League for JEF United Ichihara playing in a total of 134 games and scoring 6 goals as a defender.

Seira said at the press conference “I want to do my best for my dad, and liven up everyone in the stadium.”

AKB48 Add another TV Show

AKB48 are teaming up with SMAP`s Nakai Masahiro and actress Esumi Makiko as hosts for a new TBS music show. The untitled set to start in April TV show will

see the Senbatsu members joining Nakai and Esumi as MC for the new program. Each week AKB48 Senbatsu members will be show regulars with 2-3 serving as MC

on a rotating schedule.

Cheeky Parade

Cheeky Parade is a new group under the Idol Street family of groups [SUPER☆GiRLS home base]
The members are

Top Row, left to right: Suzuki Yuriya, Shimazaki Rino
Middle Row, left to right: Watanabe Asami, Nagai Hina, Yamamoto Marin, Mizorogi Seran, Sekine Yuuna
Bottom Row, left to right: Kodakari Momoka, Suzuki Mariya

Their debut release will be titled “Cheeky Dreamer”

http://idolstreet.jp/index.html
http://ameblo.jp/cheekyparade/
 Facebook

Majisuka Gakuen Season 3

It was announced the other night on AKB48 All Night Nippon program, that there will be a season 3 of the drama. It`s also being reported that the show will be different from the first two seasons.
More details when they become available

#2 Doll☆Elements

As mentioned before, Doll☆Elements is a group directly related to Lovely★DOLL (Or 愛乙女★DOLL), as they are a unit made up of third generation research students to the main group. They made their debut performing songs such as "GO!!MY WISH!" and "LOVE&PEACE", which are originally Lovely★DOLL's songs.

The members are, in order of the picture from left to right:
Tamechika Anna (為近あんな) aka Tamechan - Born October 29, 1992
Gonda Natsumi (権田夏海) aka Gonchan - Born June 13, 1991
Tonosaki Rika (外崎梨香) aka Rikapyon - Born April 22, 1992
Ayamori Aoi (綾森あおい) aka Aoidon, Donchan - Born August 13, 1993
Kojima Runa (小島瑠那) aka Runaruna, Runapon - Born October 31, 1994

This video was shown before, but there's only a few videos of this unit, unfortunately.




Links
Official Site Profile
Official Blog

#1 Oota Yuuki (太田ゆうき)

Oota Yuuki got mentioned is PIH Fresh 30 Idols post, but now I'm going to expand and tell you a little more about Oota Yuuki.

Oota Yuuki is a singer who lives in Tokyo. Her birthday is June 6, 1986. Her blood type is A. She's 156cm tall. Her hometown is Aichi prefecture. Her hobbies are carving, painting, and other arts.
She is signed to dream seed craft. (Is that a record label or company...?) She's been active since 2007. I think she is also a gravure model (???).

She seems to be a really energetic person, and she has a lot of fans (from what I can see from her performances). She also seems to have really solid singles. I like her voice. She performs live well live. My favorite song by Yuuki is DREAM MAKER.  

Offical Blog
Offical Twitter
Offical Youtube

Singles
1st single 「Speed☆Drive」



2nd single 「Sweet Effector 〜Kimi ni Tsunagaru Shuhasu〜」



3rd single 「STAR MAKER 」



4th single 「Sorairo Graffiti 」



5th single 「ACE」


6th single (???)  「Super Song 」



Compilation Album
Live IDOL super compilation Vol.1

Mini Albums
「UKI STYLE」

Based on reader reactions, we will know who to focus on when writing about indie idols.

Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku debut!

Momoiro Clover z's sister group Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku (Ebichu for short) will be making their official debut this May on the 5th. Their single is called "Karikeiyaku no Cinderella" and will come in 3 types.

I'm so excited for Ebichu's debut! I wondered, after already having 6 indies singles, when they were going to debut officially.

This is just a short post announcing Ebichu's debut. Pure Idol Heart has never covered Ebichu before so I will have to make an official post about them later.

30 Fresh Faces Part 2B

Because some of these groups have more videos then others I have split this post into A & B parts.
As with part one these groups will be revisited with solo profile features.




8. Otome Corporation

http://otome-corp.syncl.jp/
http://www.youtube.com/user/OtomeCorp

Hard working idols








09. Smile ☆Pocket

http://ilabo.jimdo.com/



10. Melody Lien

http://m-lien.net/
Related USTREAM Programs

http://www.youtube.com/user/MelodyLienCh#g/u





Related to Melody Lien
Pinafore

http://pinafore.jp/
http://www.youtube.com/user/akibapinafore

Pinafore has almost 120 videos on their YouTube Account
Pinafore is a maid café/ idol group from Pinafore Café and directly related to Melody Lien
Because of that they get added to part two



Cutepia

Is another maid café related to Melody Lien
http://blog.livedoor.jp/cutepia/

 Part 2 A
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces-part-2.html

Part 1
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces.html

30 Fresh Faces Part 2A

Because some of these groups have more videos then others I have split this post into A & B parts.
As with part one these groups will be revisited with solo profile features.

# 6 PIECE
PIECE is a new unit that has not released an original single yet; however you want to keep their YouTube channel handy as they have a number of little clips on the site.

http://piece-net.syncl.jp/

http://www.youtube.com/user/piecech#g/u







07. asfi

http://ameblo.jp/asfiblog/
http://www.youtube.com/user/iammasda3
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/asfi-gakuya

asfi which stands for [actress, singer, fighter, and idol] was created in 2011 by the live house Shibuya DESEO








Part 1
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces.html

Dorothy Little Happy Mini Live

The darlings of Pure Idol Heart [if you remember the earthquake story, you`ll get that remark] drop in on Pure Idol Heart to offer up a special mini live filmed on the 19th.

BABY METAL Vs. The World + Li Ne

BABY METAL is coming, the world better prepare, lol


http://youtu.be/wqhIydd1bhc

Li ne PV
[Enjoy while it`s still up]

BABY METAL is back with another release “Li Ne”
The video features the group in various group styles, from idol pop, to rap group, to their trade mark princesses of metal. As much as I love the PV, I really wished they had stayed with their heavy metal style of their first release.

With my objection cast to the side, this is a great song and PV, if you’re not a metal head and like to go clubbing or practice dance, this song is for you.



http://youtu.be/5EdROY2yIf4

BABY METAL has another song coming out March 7 ,which is what the first video is about

EDIT
Here is the short version ,it`s not as cool as the long version that was on this post before but still good for now .

30 Fresh Faces

30 Fresh Faces is something that I have wanted to do for some time and that is present you the readers of this site with 30 idol groups or soloists that have never appeared on Pure Idol Heart.

Plans are underway for formal artist introduction posts after these previews. Each one of these artists have different levels of experience and in no way should they be compared to 48`s or H!P level idols ,if they were ,they would be in those groups . Instead these artists should be compared with the other artists in this series .

Regardless if an idol is performing in front of 50 or 5,000 ,they are deserving of our respect and support. If you’re a true fan of Idol genre , then a level of an artist ,should not matter to you if they bring you happiness in their performance.

So let’s get started
#1 first up is the charming Oota Yuuki

http://ameblo.jp/ukiu-ki/





PV for 6th single


#2 Doll ☆Elements

Doll ☆Elements is a group directly related to the idol group Lovely ☆Doll a group that you have seen on Tsuntube.
http://lovelydoll.jp/profile/elements/
http://ameblo.jp/doll-elements



#3 Starmarie

http://starmarie.syncl.jp/

We have actually previewed groups on their label before , just never got around to Starmarie .Starmarie are with a bunch of pretty established Tokyo Indie Idol groups and soloists .


Outdoor sound not as good as indoors



#4 Zenitani Nozomi

[Note –Oota and Nozomi belong to the same management company]
http://ameblo.jp/arty0074/





#5 Miduki Momoko

http://ameblo.jp/mktn0516
http://www.miduki-momoko.info/

USTREAM Concert
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18054906

Momoko splits time as an idol singer and being a member of a rock band , and making Gravure books.

Of the two music genres ,she is more famous for writing the lyrics for the idol songs that she sings as an idol. She is also under the same record label as Starmarie







Other Parts
Part 3B
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/03/fresh-30-vol-3b.html
Part 3A
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/03/30-fresh-faces-vol-3a.html


Part 2 A
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces-part-2.html

Part 2 B
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2012/02/30-fresh-faces-part-2b.html

Houkago Princess @ White Base Pt2 + PV

Another trip to this group White Base Theater


Recently they released their new single; look for Candy to do a full review in the coming days.

Houkago Princess:Live Internet Show

Sorry for the short notice; every Tuesday at 7PM Japan Standard Time, Houkago Princess has an  45 min internet show . The station is live broadcasting network .Another idol group show is now on. HouPri comes on next.

http://www.odoroku.tv/idol/houpri/index.html

Click the red live program button to watch the station broadcasts  .Program Guide is below it .At the end of each program there is about 15 minutes of Advertisements so shows can set up for their broadcast.

Alice Project Special

Indie Idol company Alice Project ,which handles a number of groups we have covered on this site ,is having a special continuous live USTREAM broadcast ,the broadcast started 9hrs ago ,I was unable at the time to let you know about it , due to other commitments.
It`s not your standard idols, sit around and chat type program. Instead this involves the groups trying to hatch quail eggs sold at supermarket. There is not really much to the broadcast the eggs and the brooder are the focus, twice a day a member from one of the groups will come in and roll the eggs over. The eggs get to listen to the groups songs all day as well.


If you just want to take a look in from time to time and check on their mission, you can here.
Alice Project Special Live USTREAM

 

If you want to watch a recorded program they have , you can go here

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17954149

To see their groups in action

 http://www.youtube.com/user/aliceprojectcompany

Momoiro Clover Z “Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou ‘Mugen no Ai’”

Momoiro Clover Z “Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou ‘Mugen no Ai’”

Momoiro Clover Z recently released the video for their upcoming single “Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dainana Gakushou ‘Mugen no Ai’”.
The video features the group in several CGI created backgrounds, riding space bicycles while wearing pirate costumes.
I have to say they make for some cute space pirates.

Tokyo Girls Style' Rock You!

 The full preview for Tokyo Girls' Style 9th single Rock you! / Onnaji Kimochi -YMCK REMIX was uploaded on avex track channel a few days ago. I love the grayish tint that the PV has to it. It's simple, fun, and the girls look fierce and tough sporting simple military themed outfits.This is hands down, one of Tokyo Girls' Style best singles. TGS has been flawless, releasing good single after good single consistently.

Up Up Girls Going My Way

Remember UFZS, that new UFA kpop/jpop unit that was announced almost a whole year ago? Well, their back!

Up Up Girls (formerly UFZS) is a dance unit has consisting of former H!P Egg members Saho Akari, Furukawa Konatsu, Sekine Azusa, Mori Saki, Arai Manami, Satou Ayano, and Sengoku Minami.
They'll be having a new single called Going My ↑ I thought the girls had dreams to debut in Korea. I hope that remains true! 

There is no release date yet, but you can hear a preview of it!

PASSPO☆ Kimi wa boku wo Suki ni naru

PASSPO☆ released their third single Kimi wa boku wo Suki ni naru on the Universal channel Today. The girls look pretty, the dance and outfits are great! I love how PASSPO☆ PV's are mainly outse too. it gives everything a fresh, bright feeling, I'm not completely feeling the song yet.

AKB48 Just Miss 1 Million Day One Sales

AKB48 “GIVE ME FIVE” entered Oricon at #1 with first day sales of 966,529 this is the third record breaking first day release for AKB48. Unless there is a down turn in sales, this will be the 6th consecutive and 7th single overall to sale one million copies.

AKB48 GIVE ME FIVE

A sub team known as Acchan48.net has taken the time to sub the entire 34 minute version of AKB48 single GIVE ME FIVE!


Give Me Five (Full Version) Eng Sub from Acchan48 on Vimeo.

UFA Sapporo

We haven`t mentioned it in the past however Up-Front have several regional offices and spin off agencies such as Hello!Project.
Former Viyuden member Miyoshi Erika who is from Sapporo has transferred to Up-Front`s Sapporo office.
She will be playing on the Sapporo based Sapporo Cerbies futsal team and other regional activities along with Tokyo events.

UFA Sapporo related site
http://www.ufa-sapporo.com/

Recent photo of Erika

http://www.ufa-sapporo.com/information/index.cgi?no=662

http://gree.jp/miyoshi_erika

AKB48 GIVE ME FIVE Coupling PVs

Recently the videos for the AKB48 “GIVE ME FIVE” single have started to come out. Below is the videos for ”NEW SHIP” which is a story about JKT48 Melody transferring to a Japanese school by Special Girls A , and “Hitsujikai no Tabi” by Special Girls B.


“Hitsujikai no Tabi”

Hitsujikai no Tabi (Special Girls B) - AKB48 by mariixd20

“New Ship”
I think they did an ok job here with Melody from JKT48, in symbolizing that while the group maybe from outside Japan; they are a part of the 48 family.

BRIGHT "Kimi ga Iru Kara~Kokoro no Tonari☆"

PIH hasn't covered the avex 4 membered girl group BRIGHT that much.
BRIGHT has a new single coming out February 2nd. A preview for this single was posted in December of last year, but the full PV is finally out!


BRIGHT - Kimi ga Iru Kara ~Kokoro no Tonari ☆ by yana-sakurami

My background of BRIGHT
I got into BRIGHT by chance. I'm subscribed to many Japanese record companies on YouTube including avex (which BRIGHT is signed to). I saw them in my subscribers list, and it looked interesting. The song was "Feelin' You" and I immediately feel in love with the song and video. After discovering "Feelin' You", I loosely followed BRIGHT. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of them. On my ipod, I only have 4 songs from them: Feelin' You, Ichi nen ni Kagetsu Hatsuka, Love ~Aru Ai no Katachi~, and Still... Really, it's only 2 singles if you subtract the B sides. BAD GIRL!!! Isn't really bad either~ I really need more of their songs.

BRIGHT is way underrated! The girls are so talented in singing and dancing. Nanaka's voice is beautiful! She can really hit the high notes; she has a wide range. My other favorite voice and member is Nagi! I like her short hair and her deep voice~

On to the video
It's obvious that Nanaka is the most popular member. It's basically her singing the whole thing while Meg, Nagi, and Mimi are stuck with the backup vocals. Even in other singles, Nanaka has always gotten more lines and attention. I hate when groups do this. Yes, Nagi has a really nice voice, but the other members are just as pretty and talented. It just makes me so mad! Isn't Nagi the leader? If anyone's going to get a solo song, it should be Nagi! (I need to write about how being the leader/captain in a group doesn't have any meaning.)

Anyways, besides the obvious Nanaka bias, all of the girls are flawless. Nagi's red hair looks gorgeous on her, and Meg's short hair suits her so well. Mi-mi has this beautiful chocolate brown shade of hair that I love and everybody just sparkles. Nanaka looks so breathtaking and stunning.

I love the outfits. They honestly remind of 2NE1 a little bit, and I don't know why. I  also don't get the point of the little boy that is shown often. The song is the typical bright song. I like it, but I think that they could do better. Nanaka's voice, as I keep mentioning, is really good, but with her just singing, I just get tired of hearing it. I miss the voices of the other three members! I also wish they showed more of the dancing.

I give this single a 3.5/5. Compared to the other songs I have from BRIGHT,  I just can't feel this one. BRIGHT songs generally take time for me to warm up to them, so I think I'll have to listen to it more. I could change my mind.


Related post: http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2011/12/bright.html
More video's from BRIGHT: http://www.bright-online.net/movie/

Nogizaka46: Aitakatta Kamo Shirenai PV

The video is out for Nogizaka46 remake of the AKB48 single “Aitakatta”.

The song is called “Aitakatta Kamo Shirenai”, there is not a lot of difference if my memory is correct between the two outside of it being a rocked out version of the song. The great one herself Maeda Atsuko makes a guest shot near the end.

Depending on which side of the fence you fall in this debate ,you`ll either like the song or find a reason not to ,either way the rocked out version is very good and the group sound good together.


乃木坂46　会いたかったかもしれない by hiro32612000

Discuss this group on our new message board

http://z13.invisionfree.com/Pure_Idol_Heart/index.php?act=idx

SCANDAL –Harukaze PV + Extras

SCANDAL is back with a new release “Harukaze”, the song is an excellent mix of vocals and soft rock .The ladies are also sporting new hairstyles and costumes.
“Harukaze” is currently the opening theme for the anime “BLEACH”


Live Version


Bonus videos
60 minute program
Not subbed

May`n x SCANDAL


Discuss this group on our new message board

http://z13.invisionfree.com/Pure_Idol_Heart/index.php?act=idx

SDN48 Final Single Preview

SDN48 have released a teaser for their final single “Makeoshimi Congratulation”.
Here is the brief 40 second clip, really not a lot to go on at this time with the preview

LINQ Sakura Monogatari/Sakura Kajitsu

It's been a long time since LINQ has appeared on PIH!
Related posts: http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/search?q=Lin+Q

Just to remind you guys, LINQ is 22 member idol group in Fukuoka. They are fairly new, only debuting in April 2011. Their first indies single was "Calorie Nante" that came out in November of last year. They are signed to T-Palette records.

And now, their second indies single "Sakura Monogatari/Sakura Kajitsu" will be released on February 29th.

Sakura Monogatari

Sakura Kajitsu

Sakura Monogatari  and Sakura Kajitsu are completely different than Calorie Nante. You ask yourself "Is this the same group?"

I really like the overall theme for Sakura Monogatari. The outfits, dance, and colors go perfectly with the song's mood and overall theme.I really like traditional-sounding songs like this. Sakura Kajitsu is a really catchy song. Though I can't say I'm a fan of the outfits.The simple backgrounds in these two PV's work, and I really like the overall theme for both!

Maeda Atsuko spotted in Nogizaka46 Video

Has the great one changed groups? No, lol Maeda is just doing a guest spot.
Maeda makes a guest appearance in the video for “Aitakatta Kamo Shirenai”

“Aitakatta Kamo Shirenai” is just a remake of the AKB48 single and video “Aitakatta” and Maeda makes a passing appearance and is just another of several recent supporting promotions by the groups.