Aqours: Bit of a reintroduction....

 

 Had a good amount of posts for these gals back in 2018/19 but only three last year which were all solo ones. Honestly can't think of why that happened as they are one of my top J-Pop groups, to me musically would place them third or fourth. Would recommend checking out older posts for bio info but Aqours is a nine member J-Pop group but actually they're so much more than that. The gals also are all voice actresses and they've done many animes with all nine featured. But they also do a bit of regular acting, all host radio shows, go on tour like other groups do, sing so many theme songs for anime series and films, what a busy troupe of gals who aren't as young as they may appear.

 One reason for the lack of posts is that it's so hard to do searches for the group but there's zero problems with the individual members. Aqours is also the name of their anime group which appears in the 'Long Live Sunshine' series so when you do a search 98% of what comes up are for the anime characters. So what I often have to do is look up a member, in Japanese, then kind of find out info that way which works but takes so much longer. No big deal as though even though they're a group most activities are solo ones but have a pair of huge group mag spreads today.

 If you're tired of the music of Nogi/Keya/AKB, etc.(I am!), then I highly recommend this group. All nine members are so likable and what a fun, entertaining show they put on. While it's harder to do a regular search for the group it isn't on YT and they have so many live videos there. Plus if you're a member of a music site they probably have many concert DVD's. These pics are of Aqours first American concert which took place on July 4, 2018 at the LA Anime Expo.

 Don't know if there will be any group posts in February but do plan on having two solo ones. My fave member is Rikako and does she make my heart flutter!!!! She's had about seven solo posts in 2 1/2 years and perhaps one day I should do a top ten for my fave voice actresses. Next month her second mini album "Fiction" will be released so am hoping to have a post for around the 24th of February. Every member is at least 24 in age, the only one who isn't will hit that age in less than four months. Rikako is the second oldest member, she'll be turning (29!) in August and the album's two covers.

 Besides Aqours concerts the members have also had many solo ones and usually are backed by a regular rock band. That was the case last month for Shuka and she just had a solo post not too long ago. She's the other member who I think will have a post next month as her second solo single "Sekai no Hate" will be coming out, surprised there's two releases so close together.

 Have one solo spread for today which features Arisa and she was the cover girl for volume eight of Shunsatsu Girl which came out last month. She's had more gravure spreads then the rest of the group combined, she does look good though definitely not too bodacious. In three weeks, February 5th, she'll be turning 27 in age.

 Those above three are the only members who have solo posts though I do like all of the members quite a bit. So need to start introducing a few other gals in these group posts, one reason they don't have solo ones is they seldom have their own mag spreads. Will have a pair of members today you may not know well, actually you may not know any all that well. First off is Ai Furihata, all of the members are kind of short and she's the shortest at 149 cm. She also has a February birthday, on the 19th she'll be hitting the age of 27 and like I said they're much older than they look.

 On December 23rd Ai released her second mini album, "Makeup", her first came out just three months before. It sold about 2,500 copies in it's first week out and sales are so down these last two months in Japan, these are pics from an interview to promote it with the Hominis site.

 

 Second member with a brief intro will be Aika Kobayashi, she's also 27 in age and hit the mark last October. Most of the members have solo singles and albums, her last single was titled "No Life Code" that came out eleven months ago. I'm a bit late for it but there were no group posts in 2020, the single did quite well as it hit #9 on the charts.

 Here's some super duper interview pics Aika did for the single with the What's in Tokyo? site, think she may have a digital single coming out in two weeks.

 Will get to the other four members in the next group posts and hopefully there's not another long gap. Every year the entire group has 2-3 massive spreads for the Young Jump mag and are always the cover girls. Have two of them for today, this first set is from their August 6th edition and you will find their names on some of the pics.

 Following this last batch is a short video for the above spread and in a nice surprise it's subbed in English. Final thing for today is a new Young Jump spread that's from their January 22nd issue. Aqours usually has a few holiday concerts for X-Mas and New Year's but sadly they had to be cancelled but they did do at least one live streamed show.