Article By: Benny / @Codomomentality
Edited by: Kelly-Mae Matt

Hello there! This is Benny / Codomomentality!

Over on twitter, I recently made a post expressing my desire to see the Western fans of Japanese music get into more idol groups. Right now, it seems like a lot of people stick to the same stuff but, once you really dig into the depths of Idol, you will see that there’s so many diverse and amazing groups hidden within it, and that’s what I would like to show the Japanese music fans today.

With that being said, here are 5 groups that I think we should all be talking about more and showing our support for!

Jiemei

Consisting of 4 members – Kurosame Wana, Kamishiro Rose, Nemume Ria and Yaotome Near – Jiemei have been taking no enemies since mid-2022. Their roots begin in Nagoya, however the group has quickly managed to build a pretty decent fan base throughout all of Japan, and have even had a chance to perform in China and Taiwan earlier this year.

After starting out with a couple singles, the group eventually released their first full-length album in October of last year, titled LUNA4. Personally, I would say that this has to be one of the best idol records in the last 3 years.

In January of this year, Jiemei released their EP IYKYK, which presented the members with a challenge to produce one song each, before finally coming together on the creation of the final track, ONGAKU.

If I had to describe Jiemei’s music, I’d say that they mix the theatrical and epic sounds with technical rock elements, creating energetic anthems that make you want to jump around! Combined with a truly insane live energy and some of the best costumes for a group (in my opinion), Jiemei seem to only shine brighter the more they do, and there is no sign of them stopping any time soon.

Be sure to check out support Jiemei on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!

MOZU 

MOZU is one of my favourite debuts of 2023! Starting out with some amazing teasers of the group, images were shared of five girls standing in a pond wearing ripped white dresses and paper bags over their heads. Later on, a visual was released that showed four members with masks on, all of whom were later unveiled to be Sili, Konchan, Ichijiku and Misaka Yuru. Currently, the groups line-up consists of Misaka Yuru, Konchan, Ichijuku and Sagiri Sei.

Some of you may recognise or even know the members already; Sili from her solo works, or perhaps her past activities in AiDER, which she was formerly a part of alongside Ichijiku. Konchan was formerly a member of Yumeiro∞Anfini, while Misaka Yuru has an extensive profile thanks to her history with RILISREVERSE, HAMIDASYSTEM and even the almighty MiGMA SHELTER.

After Silu’s departure from the group in December of last year, MOZU brought in Sagiri Sei in April of this year. Despite having no prior idol experience, Sei has been doing a great job with the group so far!

Just this year, MOZU started releasing their music to online streaming platforms and have amassed an incredible ten singles so far, with eight of them being released digitally. In terms of their sound, MOZU’s music could be described as dramatic rock tunes that embody a dark feeling. Lyrically, MOZU like to explore the depths of human feelings, hope and hopelessness while at the same time tackling hard-hitting topics like depression and self-hatred. Despite the darkness they express, though, you will often find that the members are fooling around on SNS or during their live shows and enjoying themselves.

After seeing the group 5 times in May alone, I would highly recommend seeing MOZU for yourselves. The girls are insanely nice and worth talking to if you have that chance.

Oh, and remember how I mentioned that there were 5 girls in the first teaser image to promote the group? Well, you might want to watch their Syndaraclone MV to find out exactly what happened to her…

Be sure to check out and support MOZU on Twitter, YouTube and their official website.

YOLOZ

After debuting on January 4th this year, YOLOZ are technically the youngest group on this list. Still, I am sure that we will hear a lot more from these girls in the future.

The successor group to On the treat Super Season under ANTVOX (the talent agency behind Prismin, Tellmit, yosugala and uijin), YOLOZ are produced by non-other than Ary of uijin, so it’s safe to say that the group is in good hands.

As of their debut, the group is comprised of members Rindou Rin, whose repertoire as an idol began when she was just 14! Now 23, she has been a member of 7 groups prior to joining YOLOZ. The second member, Ranzuki Ria, was previously a member of Parallel Cider and the combined group, HEROINES . Koguma Mirai is a former original member of On the treat Super Season, while Ichi is known for her work in ONEKILL and the almighty Zenbu Kimi no Seida.

Despite having only made their stage debut in February of this year, YOLOZ already have 11 songs on their roster, as well as an April Fools collab with Quubi, which turned out to be one of the sickest collabs in Idol!

In general, YOLOZ music is energetic and goes hard, and so do the fans. So, if you’re not used to the wilder side of Idol fans who will mosh to almost any song, climb on each others backs, crowd surf or lift each other up, you might want to stand in the back of a venue or on the edge to truly appreciate just how hard YOLOZ fans can go. They even managed to lift me, a big chubby German Guy, when I asked them to! That’s how far YOLOZ fans will go, and I highly recommend that you go and see these girls live and experience all they can do! Plus the members are super nice, though that can be said about every group on here!

Their energy is insane and, between us, I can already predict a huge One-Man for the 1st Anniversary live; think something like Zepp Shinjuku, if not bigger!

Be sure to check out and support YOLOZ on Twitter and their official website.

COMRIZED

I’m going to cheat a bit here for this next one, because COMRIZED is actually a whole agency instead of one single group. It’s my opinion that these groups need to be named together, and I will tell you why:

Active since 2017, COMRIZED is an agency with three groups under their belt, Aibeck, Leiwan and Empathy. Individually, we won’t talk about the members, otherwise we will be listing eighteen names in total. So, we will instead focus on the groups themselves.

Technically, all three groups under COMRIZED are pretty similar, with the main difference being that Aibeck are more rock-based and very two-step heavy, while Leiwan lean more into the party dance hits. Empathy, on the other hand, focuses on the more electronic side of things in terms of their sound, ultimately giving each group a distinct sound.

Each group has a fairly big big discography already, and to be honest, they aren’t that unknown within the fan sphere. I just happened to see a COMRIZED show that featured all three groups and thought it was one of the most fun shows I have ever seen in my life!

Every Tuesday – and I mean every Tuesday – all three groups under the COMRIZED banner team up and perform two shows at the legendary Meguro Rockmaykan, which includes one day time show where each group will play three songs before a cheki session, and a night show where each group will play 5 songs with more cheki to follow. Most of the time, these shows are actually free to attend or will cost 1000yen, sometimes even 500yen if you’re lucky. For women though, they are always free, so be sure to check it out when you’re in Japan!

Despite being active for a while now, none of these groups actually have an MV for you to watch. COMRIZED manager Miyata has said that this won’t happen, nor will it change since they need to sell the live experience. So, COMRIZED groups only have live videos available to watch so that people can see how worthwhile it is to attend a show. This approach works perfectly and, if you take a look at the COMRIZED merchandise shop, you will see that these girls are machines at merch selling game. So, what are you waiting for? Go see them live!

Be sure to check out COMRIZED on Twitter, and be sure to check out and support AIBEK on Twitter and YouTube, LEIWAN and EMPATHY

CHEMICAL X

Last but not least, I want to talk about one of my current favourite groups, the lovely CHEMICAL X!

Originally grabbing my attention when my Kamioshi KILLERMACHINE joined the group in December 2022 as a founding member, just days after leaving her old group Woven’s. CHEMICAL X also saw the debut of Amemiya R Galaxy – a few of you might know her from C.I.R.C.U.S or IQ99 – and Chii Mayu, formerly of My Best Friend and Fake Planckstars, as well as other founding members Setsuna Maho and Hitotsuki Aoi.

After a while, everyone except Chii Mayu left the group and new members were added to become what is now the current line-up. Consisting of Chii Mayu, Megaku Ramu, Shikogu Lia and Nekome Lulu, CHEMICAL X is also produced by CASTAWAY guitarist Yossy, who has previously produced songs for YURAPICO, among others. Honestly, having an active band member as their producer helps a lot, as CHEMICAL X’s production quality is top tier! With a wide variation of songs, ranging from hopeful ballads to energetic anthems and heavy breakdowns, CHEMICAL X’s collection of songs is nothing short of vast when it comes to style.

While writing this, CHEMICAL X have since had their first band set! I wish I could have been there. Also, I know that I say this all the time, but for this group especially I mean it: CHEMICAL X is the group where I feel the most welcome, and the members are literally the nicest Idols I have ever spoken to. So far, I have seen them eleven times, with each interaction being an amazing experience and so much fun! The group also has staff that have worked in the USA before, meaning communication with an Idol has never been so easy!

I highly recommend sticking with CHEMICAL X; they are currently on the rise, and I truly hope that they get all the attention they rightly deserve!

Be sure to check out and support CHEMICAL X on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

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So that’s it! A couple of groups that we should collective talk about more in the Western fan sphere!

Of course, you can all listen to what you want, but I want to also encourage everyone to expand their horizons and check out a couple more groups, because I am 100% sure that there is an Idol group for everyone out there just waiting to be discovered! And if you managed to read until the end, I just want to say that you’re cool! Thank you.

Finally, I would like to share a huge thanks to the folks at Beyond Senpai for giving me the opportunity to write this!