Hybrid voice actress-idol group i☆Ris is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2022. The group released its new track, Queens Bluff, on July 20, and the music video for the song is now available on YouTube! 

Queens Bluff is being used as the ending song for the anime series Kakegurui Twin, which will air on Netflix globally starting August 4, 2022. 

Queens Bluff Music Video (Full Version)

The music video teaser trailer was released on June 5, and the song was first performed during the final performance of i☆Ris’s national tour on July 7. The member’s speedy dance moves and style quickly caught on on social media, and the song has been called the most ‘seductive’ track in the group’s discography.

Since debuting in 2012, i☆Ris has been active in the voice acting scene, with the members starring in the PriPara series. They have also starred in stage performances and films, while also carrying out solo activities.

On November 7, i☆Ris will hold their 10th anniversary concert at Tokyo International Forum Hall A. In addition, they will also release their first best-of album to celebrate this huge milestone. To express their gratitude to their fanbase, the best album will also include a new track written by the members. This song will be performed for the first time at the 10th anniversary concert.

Be sure to keep an eye out for more from i☆Ris on the group’s 10th anniversary!

Japanese voice actress veteran Kana Hanazawa (Oreimo, Steins;Gate, Tokyo Ghoul, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) has moved labels to Pony Canyon and announced the release of her first single with them. Titled Moonlight Magic, it will be released on CD on September 29, 2021.

Moonlight Magic is Kana’s first single to be released since Daijobu in July 2018. It will feature lyrics written by her and be made in collaboration with Japanese sound producer Katsutoshi Kitagawa who has worked with Kana since her early years in the industry. The single will be coupled with the song Minato no Mieru Oka which also has lyrics written by Kana, as well as two Chinese versions of both tracks.

The title track will be used as the opening theme for the Japanese drama series Omimi ni Aimashitara which will begin airing on TV Tokyo on July 8.

Kana Hanazawa | Comment

I have made the decision to move from ANIPLEX and SACRA MUSIC, where I have been for around nine years, to Pony Canyon. This is a positive reason for me to continue actively delivering music. I’m really happy to be able to take on new challenges without worry together with the staff that I’m usually working with on anime.

While it has been frustrating to not be able to see all the people who have been supporting me, as well as my live shows being stopped, due to COVID-19, I have been working hard with the music producer Katsutoshi Kitagawa to create songs. We’re working on a lot of great songs which I can’t wait for everyone to hear.

My first single, “Moonlight Magic,” was composed by Katsutoshi Kitagawa and the lyrics were written by me. We poured all of our energy in, which has grown over the past nine years, into this sparkling song reminiscent of “Hoshizora Destination.” In the lyrics, I wrote about my hopes that people will cherish the time when they feel happy because the world is so constrained right now.

I’m looking forward to this song reaching everyone, and I’m looking forward to seeing you all again in that happy place at my next live show. Thank you for your continued support!!

©「お耳に合いましたら。」製作委員会 

After making her debut as a voice actress, Suzuko Mimori began to rapidly develop and build strength in her career. It was refreshing to hear “μ’s” performance last year on NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, the female idol unit from the anime “Love Live!”

It was announced this year that Suzuko Mimori is perform at “Anime Festival Asia Thailand”, the biggest J-POP culture event in South-East Asia. Let’s take a look at Suzuko’s charm, and how her musical activities are spreading not just within Japan, but around the globe.

Out from her discouragement and onto her favourite path
Suzuko made her voice actress debut by performing the role of Sherlock Shellinford in the anime “Tantei Opera Milky Holmes” back in 2009. Until that time she was an actress in musicals, but left that part of her on stage in order to follow the dream she had held close to her since her schooldays.

Suzuko began learning ballet in elementary school and so was already used to performing in stage. But her turning point came in middle school. She was yearning for a place in Takarazuka Revue and had even studied the music for it, but she was unaccepted. But she decided that Takarazuka Revue isn’t the only place for musical theatre, and so after reorganising her feelings, she turned it around and began aiming to become a musical actress.

She joined the Musical Club during her time at high school and absorbed herself in music, commuting to jazz dance and tap dance schools, as well as vocal lessons, and headed straight for the musical world after graduating. However, every day was a fight, and she was unable to attain the rank of a principal dancer.

What kept her going during those times was her willingness to continue persevering and working hard, and her personality who hated losing. But even more than that was her simple love of musicals.

The path of guidance taught to her by her fans
When the fruits of Suzuko’s efforts finally sprouted and she was able to acquire a lead role in a musical, she reached her second turning point. And that was an offer from the president of a production company who attended the performance, who asked her “Do you want to try out being a voice actress?” It was a kind of destined encounter.

Although confused and puzzled by the offer, Suzuko thought it might provide useful study to her acting. Although she boldly decided to try challenging herself, taking on roles within nothing but anime and games, she has re-experienced days of distress as a result of entering into a completely different new world.

The voice acting she performs for the unit “Milky Holmes” within the anime “Tantei Opera Milky Holmes” is something completely different from being an idol or a musical female actress. It’s an entirely different stage presence, like she has invited a situation where she is unable to follow her feelings from what she has cultivated in her career up to now.

However, because it’s Suzuko’s nature to keep fighting and persevering, the number of fans she has for the same unit has increased greatly, and she was able to make her CD debut. Since then, she has continued to perform at “Animelo Summer Live” every year, and even performed at the Nippon Budokan for the first time in 2012 with the rest of the unit. By accomplishing great achievement after great achievement, the charm from Suzuko’s heart has begun to be felt from her work in voice acting.

Herself as a new Suzuko Mimori
Suzuko had great success in April 2013 where she made her solo debut with her single “Aitai yo… Aitai yo!” In the same year she announced her second single “Yakusoku Shite yo? Issho da yo!” for July, made her first anime main theme song “Univer Page” in October, and then released her first album “Suki” the following year in April. In 2014, she successfully performed two consecutive days at Saitama Super Arena as Sonoda Umi from the unit “μ’s” in “Love Live” and even held her live tour “1st LIVE TOUR 2014 Daisuki”.

It’s clear to see that Suzuko’s powerful performances and singing ability she attained during her time in musicals has blossomed, and not just as a voice actress. Year after year Suzuko has borne fruit, and it’s something only she can do.

This year, in 2016, she is to embark on her first nationwide tour “Mimori Suzuko Live Tour 2016 Grand Revue”, which will end with a performance at the Nippon Budokan on the final day. Moreover, in addition to her 6th single “Xenotopia”, she will release her 3rd album “Toyful Basket” on September 7th.

Then comes “Anime Festival Asia Thailand 2016”, for which Suzuko has promised to demonstrate herself to the fullest as Japan’s representative artist. “Anime Festival Asia” began in 2008 in Singapore. Last year, an estimated 90,000 people attended the festival in Singapore, an event which has grown more and more to span out to other countries to deliver the culture of J-POP.

The event, which boasts its enormity throughout South-East Asia in name and reality, will see Suzuko attending for the second time as a solo artist, continuing on from her attendance last year. She does not intend to let her influential music stop there as she heads to the festival again for 2016. Suzuko Mimori has given rise to many roles in her career, within voice acting, as an actress and as a singer. Let’s keep watching her from afar to see what kind of girl she will become or what she will announce next – perhaps something we have yet to see.

Original Text: Naoko Sugita

Suzuko Mimori Official Website: http://mimorin.com/