Japanese Kidz Bop???? Lost Content?
Jul 28, 2022 21:10:35 GMT
glossycherries, Trance, and 1 more like this
Post by sususoup on Jul 28, 2022 21:10:35 GMT
While searching for Jpop: I found a song by the title of "Sweet and Toughness" by "Minami Aoyama Shoujo Kagekidan".
The song was super good, so out of morbid curiosity I decided to look into it and found a BUNCH of information featuring (likely) lost albums and singles, a anime opening for a extremely rare anime, a video game subunit, and many, many pieces of fascinating info about this Japanese idol group from the 80s.
Apparently, Minami Aoyama Girl Opera Company (the english title) is a Japanese theater trope with large amounts of members that are young children to teenagers, they sang, dance, an![]()
d even had several shows, including live ones, many of which have now been lost to time.
The only other evidence of their existence being thier main website: www.spacecraft.co.jp/nan-sho/ which showcases several screens of their performances.
(which also seem to be lost as well, since none of the screenshots shown are from any available videos online.)
In fact, they had really impressive dance skills for their age! So the fact that they failed the charts in Japan is a mystery in itself.
So after finding all of this (plus the only albums I could find online being sold out) all that I could ask myself was:
"Who knew that the jpop group that created one of my favorite songs had so much content either buried deep or lost?"
So... I dug deeper.
After several hours of research, turns out:
They also made a anime opening (the opening and the anime has been found luckily) though only by chance seeing that very few saw it as children and it seemed to have gotten a eng dub and the romaji title being "Space Oz No Bouken." or simply- "The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz."
As for the theater troupe's other songs, here are some of their other found videos as an example:
Fun Fact: This group also created a subgroup, "FEEL", specifically for one game by the name of "Omakase! Savers" on The Sega Saturn.
The other subgroups of the trope being:
Nansho Kids: Who... were only used for a book? (I cant find info on it anywhere, I found some sellings of it, but theyre all "Japan Only" and seem to also only be in locations- you guessed it, in Japan.) Why a jpop group would only be created for a book? Who knows...)
FEEL (The one that was created for the video game.)
SKIRT. (Not much info here either: Besides the fact that two members (Horikawa and Sogawa) graduated from it.)
Minami Aoyama Yuukigumi (Fun Fact: They created one single, and then disbanded immediately after, lol!)
Each Member in Total Being:
First Generation
Higuchi Natsuko (樋口奈津子)
Fukushima Ai (福島愛)
Sato Taeko (佐藤妙子)
Ohno Chihiro (大野ちひろ)
Ohkoshi Shiho (大越史歩)
Komazaki Kaori (駒崎香織)
Kikuzawa Miwa (菊沢美和)
Kawachi Namie (河内浪江)
Iio Maya (飯尾麻耶)
Reika (玲花)
Yokoo Kaori (横尾薫)
Yoshida Yuri (吉田ゆり)
Kikuchi Ere (菊地江麗)
Kinoshita Rinko (木下綾子)
Kimura Yoko (木村容子)
Oka Mariko (岡真理子)
Komura Mika (小村美佳)
Yukari (ユカリ)
Kazama Arisa (風間ありさ)
Jennifer (ジェニファ)
Second Generation
Kataoka Kanako (片岡香奈子)
Ichikawa Emi (市川絵美)
Nakagawa Toshiko (中川登志子)
Senaga Ami (世永亜実)
Saijo Yurika (西條由利香)
Tajima Ayako (田嶋亜弥子)
Kusaka Emi (久積絵夢)
Sogawa Kimiko (十川貴美子)
Nakano Kaori (中野薫)
Baba Hiromi (馬場宏美)
Wakamura Megumi (若村めぐみ)
Morikawa Yukiko (森川友紀子)
Akagi Eriko (赤木江梨子)
Kataoka Maho (片岡真秀)
Tsutsumika Nami (堤加奈子)
Kamiko Chiharu (紙子千春)
Nakano Ayumi (中野あゆみ)
Horikawa Yuri (堀川由理)
Akiyama Erisa (秋山エリサ)
Third Generation
Urakabe Tae (浦壁多恵)
Nishizaki Wako (西崎和子)
Sakazume Kana (坂爪加奈)
Kataoka Wakako (片岡和香子)
Wakamura Rieko (若村梨枝子)
Ikeda Yoshiko (池田淑子)
Iida Hidemi (飯田未)
Kurosaki Nanami (黒崎奈那美)
Ochi Masumi (越智真澄)
Inoue Yukiko (井上裕紀子)
Honda Risa (本田梨沙)
Ichimaru Kaori (市丸香織)
Fourth Generation
Chiba Saeko (千葉紗子)
Takano Ran (高野蘭)
Hirohashi Kai (広橋佳以)
Yamashita Junko (山下順子)
Endo Masako (遠藤雅子)
Yuta Mio (湯田美央)
Shimizu Miyuki (清水美幸)
Nigu Miyuki (二宮由希子)
Umeda Kanako (梅田加奈子)
Okumura Hicho (奥村飛鳥)
Inhata Eriko (稲端江梨子)
Shinohara Yuka (篠原有加)
Ishiwata Ayumi (石渡歩美)
Teshima Yuri (手島由莉)
Konno Eri (今野恵理)
Fifth Generation
Kobayashi Akiko (小林晃子)
Tsurumizu Rui (鶴水ルイ)
Sugawa Kanako (須川華奈子)
Ando Mai (安藤舞)
Yamanishi Yuka (山西由香)
Sonezaki Chihiro (曽根千尋)
Aoki Mayuko (青木真由子)
Fujii Eri (藤井絵梨)
Kurokawa Satoe (黒川智永)
Ohta Yumi (太田有美)
Sato Rie (佐藤梨恵)
Shabungi (車文宜)
Sixth Generation
Ogino Eri (荻野恵理)
Kurihara Umi (栗原海)
Morita Anri (森田杏里)
Mayo (真代)
Someya Yuki (染谷有紀)
Okajima Akiko (岡島明子)
Kyujo Aki (宮城亜希)
Kuwayama Yurika (桑山夕利果)
Shinkai Rie (深海深海)
Okazaki Asami (岡崎亜紗美)
Takeda Miho (武田未帆)
Kajimoto Risa (梶本梨沙)
Ishimoto Hina (石本ひな)
Yamaguchi Nodoka (山口のどか)
Seventh Generation
Nanri Yuuka (南里侑香)
Morita Konomi (森田このみ)
Eighth Generation
Nakayama Rina (中山理奈)
Miyamoto Kayaoko (宮本佳代子)
Komuro Yayoi (小室弥生)
Kuriyama Emi (栗山絵美)
With the songs (the main thing that im featuring this here for, since most are either sold out or entirely lost.) are:
(If anyone has the songs in possession or know of where they are online, please let know, ive been searching for info on many of these songs for months now and to this day, have found almost no info on them despite some still being (apparently) available in Japan.)
MILLION KISS (Which is known as the "final" single.)
MILLION KISS (Instrumental Version)
Thier vhses, all of which are currently lost:
[1992.03.25] Rin no Shoujo girls, so vivid (凛の少女 girls, so vivid)
[1993.03.25] Kaze ga Hakonda Shouj ~1992 Haru Kouen~ (風がはこんだ少女~1992春公演~)
[1993.07.01] Toughness ~Single Video Clips~ Minami Aoyama Shoujo Kagekidan 3 (Toughness～Single Video Clips～ 南青山少女歌劇団3)
[1998.12.02] Minami Aoyama Shoujo Kagekidan Sotsugyou Kouen Video ~Dream~ (南青山少女歌劇団 卒業公演ビデオ~夢~)
Yume wo Shinjite (夢を信じて; Believe in Dreams)
Yume wo Shinjite (Original Karaoke)
Yume no Bouken e (夢の冒険へ; To the Dream Adventure)
Donna ni Tookute mo (どんなに遠くても)
Yume no Bouken e (Original Karaoke)
Donna ni Tookute mo (Original Karaoke)
SATURDAY NIGHT
DREAMIN' TRAIN
Yume no Bouken e (Original Karaoke)
DREAMIN' TRAIN (Original Karaoke)
Dou ni Kashite! (どうにかして!)
START
Dou ni Kashite! (Original Karaoke)
START (Original Karaoke)
Namida Nanka... (涙なんか...; Tears Somehow...')
Chance Tourai (チャンス到来; Chance Arrival)
Dou ni Kashite! (Original Karaoke)
Chance Tourai (Original Karaoke)
SWEET&TOUGHNESS
Shinshunki sickness (思春期 sickness; Puberty sickess)
SWEET&TOUGHNESS (Original Karaoke)
Shinshunki sickness (Original Karaoke)
Tenshi ga Ippai (天使がいっぱい; Lots of Angels)
Aimai Me (曖昧・Me; A Fuzzy Me)
Tenshi ga Ippai (Original Karaoke)
Albums:
"Natural High" which features: Aimai Me (曖昧・Me; A Fuzzy Me)
SWEET&TOUGHNESS
Dou ni Kashite! (どうにかして!)
Chance Tourai (チャンス到来; Chance Arrival)
Donde mo Nai Natsu ni Narisou da (とんでもない夏になりそうだ)
SATURDAY NIGHT
Suki Dakara (好きだから; Because I Like You)
Shinshunki sickness (思春期 sickness; Puberty sickess)
Namida Nanka... (涙なんか...)
"Start" which features Yume no Bouken e (夢の冒険へ; To the Dream Adventure)
Jiyuu ni Ikite Yukitai (自由に生きてゆきたい)
Dust Busters (ダスト・バスターズ)
Kagerou (陽炎)
START
Pumps wo Haita Neko (パンプスをはいた猫; A Cat That Wore Pumps)
Rock n' Roll Love Letter (ロックン・ロール・ラブ・レター)
Ready Steady Go!
Merry Xmas wo Utaou (Merry Xmasを歌おう; Let's Sing Merry Xmas)
Tabidachi no Toki (旅立ちのとき; The Time for Setting Off)
Yume wo Shinjite (夢を信じて; Believe in Dreams)
They were also featured on the idol complation album:
"My! Kore Kusshon Pony Canyon Hizou Idol Unit 16 ~Onyanko Club Kara Checkicco Made~"
The complation album itself (so far) seems to have a single available copy on Amazon, but that's about it.
There also seems to be covers of "Sweet and Toughness" (the song that led me to finding out about this trope) by several other jpop groups.
One of which being Canary Club: One of the groups behind the album for the game "Rhythm Heaven Megamix." by Nintendo.
(Another Fun Fact: This was actually my first hearing of the song before discovering the main group behind it.)
There also being one by an idol by the name of Ami Tokito, who seems to be active to this day and even apparently has a twitter account where she still posts.
The fact that there were covers does mean that it had a decent enough following to where quite a few Japanese audiences where aware of this group's existence.
So the question to ask from all this is...
If this are multiple covers of this song, why did so much of this group's content become so lost, so unknown to many audiences, even in Japan, that the majority of the group's albums had failed the charts and havent seen the light of day in generations?
So many of their performances not being archived?
So many of their appearances live on stage, yet to see the light of day since the 1980s?
Having failed so many charts, that much of their content has now been lost to this day?
They were such an amazing group, how did could this have happened?
In a nutshell:
Much of this amazing theatre trope's content (along with almost all records of thier live performances, the only known archive of them (so far) is screenshots on their website.) has been lost for decades and they havent been active since 2001, likely because many of the albums failed to reach "Orichon" (the music charts in japan.) charts. The only other evidence of their existence, again, being thier main website: www.spacecraft.co.jp/nan-sho/
As someone with a passion for idol music, I feel that archiving the works of this wonderful group is truly important.
So if anyone here owns any of the albums, or a possible recording of their performances, or any other resources of this group that has yet to be discovered:
Please notify me about it, I dont want these works to be lost forever (or for their songs to stay majority unknown) and it would be great if the creations of this wonderful theater trope ended up being found/archived, and for them to finally have a chance to be seen by more than a few select crowds.
Thank you.
The song was super good, so out of morbid curiosity I decided to look into it and found a BUNCH of information featuring (likely) lost albums and singles, a anime opening for a extremely rare anime, a video game subunit, and many, many pieces of fascinating info about this Japanese idol group from the 80s.
Apparently, Minami Aoyama Girl Opera Company (the english title) is a Japanese theater trope with large amounts of members that are young children to teenagers, they sang, dance, an
The only other evidence of their existence being thier main website: www.spacecraft.co.jp/nan-sho/ which showcases several screens of their performances.
(which also seem to be lost as well, since none of the screenshots shown are from any available videos online.)
In fact, they had really impressive dance skills for their age! So the fact that they failed the charts in Japan is a mystery in itself.
So after finding all of this (plus the only albums I could find online being sold out) all that I could ask myself was:
"Who knew that the jpop group that created one of my favorite songs had so much content either buried deep or lost?"
So... I dug deeper.
After several hours of research, turns out:
They also made a anime opening (the opening and the anime has been found luckily) though only by chance seeing that very few saw it as children and it seemed to have gotten a eng dub and the romaji title being "Space Oz No Bouken." or simply- "The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz."
As for the theater troupe's other songs, here are some of their other found videos as an example:
Fun Fact: This group also created a subgroup, "FEEL", specifically for one game by the name of "Omakase! Savers" on The Sega Saturn.
The other subgroups of the trope being:
Nansho Kids: Who... were only used for a book? (I cant find info on it anywhere, I found some sellings of it, but theyre all "Japan Only" and seem to also only be in locations- you guessed it, in Japan.) Why a jpop group would only be created for a book? Who knows...)
FEEL (The one that was created for the video game.)
SKIRT. (Not much info here either: Besides the fact that two members (Horikawa and Sogawa) graduated from it.)
Minami Aoyama Yuukigumi (Fun Fact: They created one single, and then disbanded immediately after, lol!)
Each Member in Total Being:
First Generation
Higuchi Natsuko (樋口奈津子)
Fukushima Ai (福島愛)
Sato Taeko (佐藤妙子)
Ohno Chihiro (大野ちひろ)
Ohkoshi Shiho (大越史歩)
Komazaki Kaori (駒崎香織)
Kikuzawa Miwa (菊沢美和)
Kawachi Namie (河内浪江)
Iio Maya (飯尾麻耶)
Reika (玲花)
Yokoo Kaori (横尾薫)
Yoshida Yuri (吉田ゆり)
Kikuchi Ere (菊地江麗)
Kinoshita Rinko (木下綾子)
Kimura Yoko (木村容子)
Oka Mariko (岡真理子)
Komura Mika (小村美佳)
Yukari (ユカリ)
Kazama Arisa (風間ありさ)
Jennifer (ジェニファ)
Second Generation
Kataoka Kanako (片岡香奈子)
Ichikawa Emi (市川絵美)
Nakagawa Toshiko (中川登志子)
Senaga Ami (世永亜実)
Saijo Yurika (西條由利香)
Tajima Ayako (田嶋亜弥子)
Kusaka Emi (久積絵夢)
Sogawa Kimiko (十川貴美子)
Nakano Kaori (中野薫)
Baba Hiromi (馬場宏美)
Wakamura Megumi (若村めぐみ)
Morikawa Yukiko (森川友紀子)
Akagi Eriko (赤木江梨子)
Kataoka Maho (片岡真秀)
Tsutsumika Nami (堤加奈子)
Kamiko Chiharu (紙子千春)
Nakano Ayumi (中野あゆみ)
Horikawa Yuri (堀川由理)
Akiyama Erisa (秋山エリサ)
Third Generation
Urakabe Tae (浦壁多恵)
Nishizaki Wako (西崎和子)
Sakazume Kana (坂爪加奈)
Kataoka Wakako (片岡和香子)
Wakamura Rieko (若村梨枝子)
Ikeda Yoshiko (池田淑子)
Iida Hidemi (飯田未)
Kurosaki Nanami (黒崎奈那美)
Ochi Masumi (越智真澄)
Inoue Yukiko (井上裕紀子)
Honda Risa (本田梨沙)
Ichimaru Kaori (市丸香織)
Fourth Generation
Chiba Saeko (千葉紗子)
Takano Ran (高野蘭)
Hirohashi Kai (広橋佳以)
Yamashita Junko (山下順子)
Endo Masako (遠藤雅子)
Yuta Mio (湯田美央)
Shimizu Miyuki (清水美幸)
Nigu Miyuki (二宮由希子)
Umeda Kanako (梅田加奈子)
Okumura Hicho (奥村飛鳥)
Inhata Eriko (稲端江梨子)
Shinohara Yuka (篠原有加)
Ishiwata Ayumi (石渡歩美)
Teshima Yuri (手島由莉)
Konno Eri (今野恵理)
Fifth Generation
Kobayashi Akiko (小林晃子)
Tsurumizu Rui (鶴水ルイ)
Sugawa Kanako (須川華奈子)
Ando Mai (安藤舞)
Yamanishi Yuka (山西由香)
Sonezaki Chihiro (曽根千尋)
Aoki Mayuko (青木真由子)
Fujii Eri (藤井絵梨)
Kurokawa Satoe (黒川智永)
Ohta Yumi (太田有美)
Sato Rie (佐藤梨恵)
Shabungi (車文宜)
Sixth Generation
Ogino Eri (荻野恵理)
Kurihara Umi (栗原海)
Morita Anri (森田杏里)
Mayo (真代)
Someya Yuki (染谷有紀)
Okajima Akiko (岡島明子)
Kyujo Aki (宮城亜希)
Kuwayama Yurika (桑山夕利果)
Shinkai Rie (深海深海)
Okazaki Asami (岡崎亜紗美)
Takeda Miho (武田未帆)
Kajimoto Risa (梶本梨沙)
Ishimoto Hina (石本ひな)
Yamaguchi Nodoka (山口のどか)
Seventh Generation
Nanri Yuuka (南里侑香)
Morita Konomi (森田このみ)
Eighth Generation
Nakayama Rina (中山理奈)
Miyamoto Kayaoko (宮本佳代子)
Komuro Yayoi (小室弥生)
Kuriyama Emi (栗山絵美)
With the songs (the main thing that im featuring this here for, since most are either sold out or entirely lost.) are:
(If anyone has the songs in possession or know of where they are online, please let know, ive been searching for info on many of these songs for months now and to this day, have found almost no info on them despite some still being (apparently) available in Japan.)
MILLION KISS (Which is known as the "final" single.)
MILLION KISS (Instrumental Version)
Thier vhses, all of which are currently lost:
[1992.03.25] Rin no Shoujo girls, so vivid (凛の少女 girls, so vivid)
[1993.03.25] Kaze ga Hakonda Shouj ~1992 Haru Kouen~ (風がはこんだ少女~1992春公演~)
[1993.07.01] Toughness ~Single Video Clips~ Minami Aoyama Shoujo Kagekidan 3 (Toughness～Single Video Clips～ 南青山少女歌劇団3)
[1998.12.02] Minami Aoyama Shoujo Kagekidan Sotsugyou Kouen Video ~Dream~ (南青山少女歌劇団 卒業公演ビデオ~夢~)
Yume wo Shinjite (夢を信じて; Believe in Dreams)
Yume wo Shinjite (Original Karaoke)
Yume no Bouken e (夢の冒険へ; To the Dream Adventure)
Donna ni Tookute mo (どんなに遠くても)
Yume no Bouken e (Original Karaoke)
Donna ni Tookute mo (Original Karaoke)
SATURDAY NIGHT
DREAMIN' TRAIN
Yume no Bouken e (Original Karaoke)
DREAMIN' TRAIN (Original Karaoke)
Dou ni Kashite! (どうにかして!)
START
Dou ni Kashite! (Original Karaoke)
START (Original Karaoke)
Namida Nanka... (涙なんか...; Tears Somehow...')
Chance Tourai (チャンス到来; Chance Arrival)
Dou ni Kashite! (Original Karaoke)
Chance Tourai (Original Karaoke)
SWEET&TOUGHNESS
Shinshunki sickness (思春期 sickness; Puberty sickess)
SWEET&TOUGHNESS (Original Karaoke)
Shinshunki sickness (Original Karaoke)
Tenshi ga Ippai (天使がいっぱい; Lots of Angels)
Aimai Me (曖昧・Me; A Fuzzy Me)
Tenshi ga Ippai (Original Karaoke)
Albums:
"Natural High" which features: Aimai Me (曖昧・Me; A Fuzzy Me)
SWEET&TOUGHNESS
Dou ni Kashite! (どうにかして!)
Chance Tourai (チャンス到来; Chance Arrival)
Donde mo Nai Natsu ni Narisou da (とんでもない夏になりそうだ)
SATURDAY NIGHT
Suki Dakara (好きだから; Because I Like You)
Shinshunki sickness (思春期 sickness; Puberty sickess)
Namida Nanka... (涙なんか...)
"Start" which features Yume no Bouken e (夢の冒険へ; To the Dream Adventure)
Jiyuu ni Ikite Yukitai (自由に生きてゆきたい)
Dust Busters (ダスト・バスターズ)
Kagerou (陽炎)
START
Pumps wo Haita Neko (パンプスをはいた猫; A Cat That Wore Pumps)
Rock n' Roll Love Letter (ロックン・ロール・ラブ・レター)
Ready Steady Go!
Merry Xmas wo Utaou (Merry Xmasを歌おう; Let's Sing Merry Xmas)
Tabidachi no Toki (旅立ちのとき; The Time for Setting Off)
Yume wo Shinjite (夢を信じて; Believe in Dreams)
They were also featured on the idol complation album:
"My! Kore Kusshon Pony Canyon Hizou Idol Unit 16 ~Onyanko Club Kara Checkicco Made~"
The complation album itself (so far) seems to have a single available copy on Amazon, but that's about it.
There also seems to be covers of "Sweet and Toughness" (the song that led me to finding out about this trope) by several other jpop groups.
One of which being Canary Club: One of the groups behind the album for the game "Rhythm Heaven Megamix." by Nintendo.
(Another Fun Fact: This was actually my first hearing of the song before discovering the main group behind it.)
There also being one by an idol by the name of Ami Tokito, who seems to be active to this day and even apparently has a twitter account where she still posts.
The fact that there were covers does mean that it had a decent enough following to where quite a few Japanese audiences where aware of this group's existence.
So the question to ask from all this is...
If this are multiple covers of this song, why did so much of this group's content become so lost, so unknown to many audiences, even in Japan, that the majority of the group's albums had failed the charts and havent seen the light of day in generations?
So many of their performances not being archived?
So many of their appearances live on stage, yet to see the light of day since the 1980s?
Having failed so many charts, that much of their content has now been lost to this day?
They were such an amazing group, how did could this have happened?
In a nutshell:
Much of this amazing theatre trope's content (along with almost all records of thier live performances, the only known archive of them (so far) is screenshots on their website.) has been lost for decades and they havent been active since 2001, likely because many of the albums failed to reach "Orichon" (the music charts in japan.) charts. The only other evidence of their existence, again, being thier main website: www.spacecraft.co.jp/nan-sho/
As someone with a passion for idol music, I feel that archiving the works of this wonderful group is truly important.
So if anyone here owns any of the albums, or a possible recording of their performances, or any other resources of this group that has yet to be discovered:
Please notify me about it, I dont want these works to be lost forever (or for their songs to stay majority unknown) and it would be great if the creations of this wonderful theater trope ended up being found/archived, and for them to finally have a chance to be seen by more than a few select crowds.
Thank you.
