Alice Project

We're been around in here since the earliest of forever ever of mankind!
User OddBall82 just got 139yrs old! happy birthday ob82! blurryeyes is reaching 194yrs!
Is it not making the connection between Alice Project and Kamenjoshi?
Kamenjoshi came together in like the 3rd. years of Alice Project so earlier days Kamenjoshi content
is often found inside the AliceProject umbrella.

Armor Girls -『PROUD☆KNIGHT』

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Thank you for writing this! It really shows your love and also gives a nice behind the scene glimpse.
Personally I must say that her graduation stage with all those pictures must have been the most impressive one I have ever seen and Shihori did her last stage with a lot of courage.

@Shinga Kurukato Welcome here, I hope you will have a good time.


Short Seira Saria LiveOne report:

I was home from work early today (thank the gods for Dutch work ethics) and saw that Saria-san was going to do a LiveOne session. As mentioned before, she said she wouldn't do much LiveOne this month so I took this chance to go check up on her.
- She has gotten my presents!!!
She asked if she should do the opening right now or later but ofcourse I opted for opening it now. The first thing she took out of the bag was the Miracle Eye Pencil (by the way all the stuff was from a Dutch brand called "Rituals" see rituals.com for more info) which she immediately tried.
Second was the Rituals of Sakura handbalm. She reacted very enthousiasticly on the name and really liked the smell.
Third (and last, damn you 5000yen limit) was the Amsterdam collection body scrub (It is a limited edition item, celebrating the Dutch/Japan connection, smell: Tulips + Jpanese Yuzu). After explaining what it was and how it works (it's a bit of a multi functional thing) she was pretty impressed. She is probably going to use it on her knees as these have had to suffer a lot lately.
- In other Saria news: She moved out of the dorms into a share house! I asked her if she moved to another room because the background changed to which she confirmed that she moved. I didn't ask her why she moved as I think that would be to much prying into her privacy. It is however a share house without other members, so with people she didn't know before.

Personally I am a bit conflicted by this because I still remembered what Momomin did after she moved but on the other hand I don't see Saria-san graduate a year after finally becoming a full Kamenjoshi.

 

I'm just really happy that MASK A RAID is available on Spotify

 

I personally wish this thread was a little easier to find because I had been looking for Kamen Joshi discussion for a few months after I found them, and I stumbled across this place entirely by chance half a year before I started posting. This seems to be the only (if not, most popular place) to talk about Kamen Joshi for overseas fans. Maybe I'll post a link here on Twitter just to see if we can consolidate the other KJ fans.

I have to credit the Yes Tiger! idol blog for talking a lot about Kamen Joshi and introducing me to various things about them once I decided to start my hunt.
https://yestiger.wordpress.com/2018...and-maki-and-kanons-graduation-announcements/
I always thought these posts were interesting, but some of the posts about Alice Project seem to be deleted which is a little sad. The website's original poster (a woman named Bri, I think?) seemed to have stopped posting as much about Alice Project too in late 2018 or so, which I thought I could try to continue in some form. It's a little funny reading that article about "new Steam Girls" from 3 years ago because most of those members have leveled up their skills and are now representing Alice Juban.

I really do want Kamen Joshi to spread around and become more popular (although unlike Moa said, I don't believe I really do anything in particular to help that) because these girls work really hard and they aren't recognized for it as much as I think they should be.

I'm personally not a very outgoing person, but being part of the fanbase is very fun once you're in it. There aren't many people who really do speak English over in Alice Project or the fanbase so I imagine it's more difficult to be in a similar position as you have described above (Alice Project as an agency is also pretty strict about the distance between fans, members, and other fans).

I'm glad you guys enjoy my ramblings on here. All I really wanted was to share my experiences with Shihori since she's wonderful.

I work and live here, so honestly I can see a live at any time I wish, although I do have a little bit of a problem giving my money to Alice Project if Shihori isn't there (and this is not the right time to criticise management, haha). Also, I initially moved here to support Miishan, so I kind of do feel that my time as an otaku had already finished. I would be lying if I said I didn't like Kamen Joshi anymore. All the members are cute and funny, and I do want them all to succeed, but I've definitely changed on how I feel about watching them. I don't mean anything negative by this, but if Shihori wasn't on stage I would always feel impatient about waiting for when she'd get on. I think the best example of this was when she couldn't take her wisdom teeth pain anymore and had surgery the day of a special live and didn't appear for Cherry Blossom (but appeared for cheki time). I had landed the "best" seat, which was at the centre table at the very front for the best view, but Shihori wasn't going to be on stage so it felt like kind of a waste, and were I to do that day over again, perhaps I would've just sold my ticket to someone I knew and had them take chekis in place of me because I didn't feel that I had spent my time in the best way. I know Shihori herself felt really bad about doing that kind of thing but still. Shihori herself has always said that she can't dance, but she brings a performance that's unique to herself (all members do, that's the beauty of it), and that's something that I can't find here anymore. I never saw myself as an idol fan in the past, and even after seeing so many idol groups, I only like Kamen Joshi because I think they take their performance and music more seriously than others, and I initially was hooked because the music was good. I made my "last PARMS" June 6th, but I don't plan on quitting my Twitter and unfollowing members, so should you guys manage to come here, I wouldn't mind visiting PARMS again if you guys were there, so send me a DM on twitter or something. I do wish I had gotten to meet the people on here when our time lined up before the global pandemic.

Up until now this has been my favorite hobby though, so it's going to take a while to figure out how I want to spend my time.

@Oddball82
I'm glad Saria enjoyed your gifts, but I'm also surprised she moved into a sharehouse. I used to live in one and didn't like the experience, but I guess she's trying to get more independant? I'm sure she's trying to move up to her own apartment since a sharehouse is generally cheaper. As far as I know, she's one of the people that was part of the "dorm group", and they tended to have their own special bond with each other since they got to hang out outside of work time (which is forbidden in AP) because they live together. Saria will be guest appearing tonight on the monthly Shibuya CrossFM program with Seri and Mitsuki to see who will be the next radio personality with Mao and Yuuri. After watching the 3-part Junketsu videos of members sleeping over at Village Vanguard, I can safely say that Saria is the loudest (in a good way) member.

Did you guys enjoy Riru's graduation and the subsequent graduation/promotion ceremony the day after? I didn't watch either but I heard the set list was great. Steam Girls also got a new outfit (but I don't think it quite fits their image personally). New Juban also got a new outfit and I must say Maopi and Harumi looked very stunning in it. Satsuki is now the 5th Steam Girls leader.

 

Even though there is only a few of us that are active here, I am so thankful for this place, it has taught me MUCH over the years from the basics of PARMS to some deeper information about our favorite girls that I NEVER would have known.

@FruitPunchSamurai
That was Brita over on "Yes Tiger!" She used to post here years ago. I met her and hung out with her the first time I ever went to Parms back in 2016. She was very helpful. She seemed to be more into pop idols than alternative underground idols. She loved Kamen Joshi because she was a HUGE fan of former center Anna, and when An-chan left, she seemed to have never returned to KJ fandom.

I had NO idea you moved there for Miishan, than is some dedication, wow mad props! I love it.

I will definitely take you up on joining forces & going to PARMS when Japan let's tourists in again, I would love that... sorry we didn't do that last time, especially since we attended at least one of the same shows!

I hope that you will continue to post here, even if you don't go to PARMS, are not thinking of having another KJ oshi, or are even looking to find another idol group ...ever. You are a friend to us all, and we all really like having you here in our humble circle of foreign KJ fans!

 

2021/7/10　仮面女子　『MASK A RAID』リリースイベント　横浜ビブレniigo広場

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

So, not so much news from the front. Sadly I can´t give a liveone report as it has been a while since Moa-chan or Saria-san were online on a time that I was at home.
A few weeks ago I did have a short chat with Moa-chan but it was pretty busy so we didn´t talk a lot. One interesting thing that did happen though was that she actually streamed out of her family home living room for a short time with her mother present (not in view). She calls her mother "Mama" which, considering her age is pretty damn cute. Also a good part of screentime for her dog!

Anyway, Ao-san and the rest of the Armorgirls are/were on a tour in Osaka and Nagoya together with Satsuki Mine-san. I don´t know if Satsuki-san went with them because Waka-san couldn´t go (Health reasons) but she did perform in Armorgirl costume and seeing the pictures I must say it suits her well.
This is all speculation/wishful thinking on my part but I would love to see Satsuki-san transfer to Armorgirls. I think the Armorgirls feel and theme suit her much better then Steamgirls. It would also mean that Armorgirls would be, after the graduation of Ao-san, be back at 6 again.
When I read between the lines of the tweets of the Armorgirls members (especially Moa-chan) I get the feeling that they want to be a 6 member unit. It feels as if they don´t consider themselves complete without a 6th member and it is something Momomin also talked about when she was still a member.

On the YouTube front KamenJoshi had an interesting side-project:
Kart racing!!!

They collaborated with RDS racing. 2 videos were uploaded on the RDS channel and 1 on the KamenJoshi channel (which was more of a behind the scenes)

if the video does not show watch the video here

if the video does not show watch the video here


if the video does not show watch the video here

As I like racing I knew already that I would enjoy this. But a reason to enjoy it even more is because it shows members in a non-idol setting which is very fresh and interesting to see.

 

So it's been almost 3 weeks since Shihori left Alice Project on 6/30. She only did final live one from 22:00 to about 23:50, in order to get everything new ready, and after the final live one once the date changed she posted on her new Twitter. I don't really want to go into details about it but basically she said that this is not the last time we would be able to see her. About a week later, she posted how she has various good announcements to make, which were:

1. She is going to enter the acting industry.
2. She is appearing as a guest on her old radio show she hosted.
3. She will be appearing in a play in August.

I was really happy because I really enjoyed her acting in the radio drama she did last year, and I get to see her again. I'm all set to go see her play in August...except that due to the new state of emergency declaration, the play is postponed indefinitely, and her casting is also uncertain. She was also going to appear in Yamagami Wakaba's birthday festival (Wakaba's new stage name is Kawase Wakana) on August 1, but that was also postponed with her being uncertain if she'll appear because she her schedule was available and Wakana asked her. Shihori does plan on livestreaming, and she did her first non-live one livestream on Instagram the day she made those announcements. While it's great she's streaming on a free platform, I realized the days of just her and me chatting alone are long over. Also, she did her best to read all the comments, but unlike live one, since it's free there are so many comments so there were long stretches where she didn't read my comment. She is likely in a new talent agency, although she said that she couldn't answer that at the time of the livestream. I honestly think the new state of emergency declaration is a waste of everyone's time since nobody is going to be respecting it (except for businesses who have to), and so it just causes problems for everyone instead of being effective, but that's not really a discussion for here. I noticed that Brita had written about how she was Shihori's fan too and was there during Shihori's promotion announcement, so I asked Shihori if she remembered a blonde caucasian lady, and Shihori quickly mentioned Brita by name. One of Shihori's longest fans mentioned that he also remembered Brita, so they tend to remember fans pretty well. I kind of wish I could have gotten into contact with her to maybe get a message for Shihori and to thank her about all the info about Kamen Joshi, but I think she's out of the KJ fandom, so I just want to pay it forward to you guys.

Here are some final things and thoughts on Kamen Joshi:

• Ao was in Nagoya+Osaka for her graduation tour. She's from Nagoya herself, and Osaka is where she originally started her idol activities, so I think they're important places for her to do her tour. I forgot to mention this but last year when she was on Shibuya Cross FM, she mentioned how she's half-Filipino (her mother is Filipino), which was pretty surprising. Ao Ueshita graduates from Kamen Joshi on August 1.
• Satsuki was originally set to go on the trip since her and Ao have been together since they were Kamen Joshi Cadets WEST, and is the other Easter Girls transferee, so she may have asked to go along as well. Had Waka not been on leave, it would have been the rare 7 person Armor Girls. I do agree as well that the Armor Girls outfit fits her perfectly; I don't mind if she's in Armor Girls or Steam Girls since she's extremely cute and honestly has a natural idol aura and loves being an idol so much that I think she could fit anywhere. A while back she danced an Easter Girls song (released after she transferred) and did it perfectly (her dancing skills aside). She wore the Armor outfit in twintails hairstyle and I recall seeing someone say that he was seeing a Miishan with a really nice figure. I recall a story Harumi told where they first met at Saitama Super Arena as Slime Girls and did T-shirt sales, and was surprised that they were the same age since Satsuki looks mature for her age. Satsuki was also chosen to be the 5th Steam Girls leader, so she will likely be Steam Girls until the end. I don't forsee myself going to any KJ events in the near future, but I heard a rumor that Satsuki may be wearing a China dress or the Armor Girls armor for a photo session, if that's the case I am debating on whether to go to them or not.
• The racing video was quite interesting. I think I enjoyed the Yuuri parts the most, also she's grown into quite the pretty girl ever since I started watching KJ. Seeing both her and Maopi now taller than Moa always makes me remember a gag Miishan used to do where she'd say Maopi was "this tall when I first met her" and she'd indicate around her waist or even lower.
• Waka is on indefinite hiatus to focus on health issues, and I really hope it's not something like the Armor Girls "curse" of health issues→break from activities→graduation which has happened to about 3 members now I think. I think Waka does have maybe 2 more years in her, but even if we do think they can go for a long time, a lot of them are self-conscious about their age. A couple months ago, I heard from one of her fans that Waka had actually been dieting and losing weight last year, but now she had regained that weight, and maybe a little more (I did notice that her face was a bit more "round"), but I think she still looks pretty cute. Also there was one live where they were wearing the FUGA outfit (the black outfit with a form-fitting top) and she was very, uh, bouncy, in other words.
• I went to an album release event in Yokohama last month; I was not planning to go, but I got a message from an otaku I know that said they were selling photos taken from when they filmed the STORY music video, and Shihori was in them so I dashed over. It was honestly a little difficult to watch the live and keep myself constantly interested, but I did get the Waka+Ao cheki that I always wanted to take where they do heart pose together despite their height difference. There were two photos, and you could get them signed, so I picked Satsuki (new leader) and Hina (new addition). Satsuki was quite surprised to see me, and I really did just go to congratulate her on making new leader (and to compliment her figure a little). I have nothing against Hina, and I think she's cute but her looks aren't really my type. Still, I did want to congratulate her on making Steam Girls and really just see what it's like to interact with her. I was pleasantly surprised since even though it was our first time talking to each other, she told me she does know who I am (as far as that I'm a Shihori oshi) and saw me often. On that day Hina and Misaki did not join in the live since it was only Kamen Joshi songs and they had not officially joined Kamen Joshi, just their respective units, so I can't speak to their performance, but Hina was quite pleasant to talk with and so I have a new opinion of her.
• Koharu dyed her hair blonde, which is the most unexpected thing I've seen in a while. I thought she looked better with her black hair, but after a while, I think it's a nice image change.

I feel like there's more I could mention but it isn't really coming to mind. Honestly I am still sad that Shihori's gone, and despite her moving into the acting industry, with everything being uncertain it's probably going to be a long while before I can see her again. She occasionally updates her new Instagram too, but she was never the type to do social media constantly. No matter how I feel though, nothing is going to stop her from advancing into her self-described "3rd Chapter" of her life, and so I'll just need to support her acting career where I can since it's about all I can do. I will likely refresh this thread, but I don't keep up as much with members as much as I do and so I probably won't be posting, but I definitely had a great time here, and I hope you guys can come here and enjoy Kamen Joshi soon.

 

I wanted to respond to @FruitPunchSamurai his story but sadly some terrible news just arrived so the response has to wait a bit.

The news:
Several members (Seira Saria, Sena Mitsuki, Ueshita Ao, Misaki Kitagawa + several members of Cerisier) have gotten infected with the Corona virus.
Other members and staff have taken a PCR-test and for now their tests came out negative. However due to incubation times everyone is for now in self-isolation and I presume they will take another test in a few days.
All activities and performances are cancelled or suspended untill the beginning of August.

https://ameblo.jp/alicekusanagi/entry-12687617761.html

My personal thoughts:
I already had a bad feeling this morning as a couple of members were awfully silent on twitter, to bad this bad feeling turned out to be connected to a real shitty thing. I hope that no other members or staff will get a positive test and I wish the infected members a speedy recovery. They are young and healthy so I am sure they will get through this.
As to where the infection took place? I have no idea. That a few members of Cerisier were also infected gives me the gut feeling that there actually might be more the one source of infection. Offcourse both groups did that cheki-fest together a few days ago but if I am not mistaken the incubation time is to long to make that event the source. Although offcourse it is worrying that it might actually turn out to be an event in which more members and staff got infected, but this we will only know after a few days more.

Let me also say that I don't blame any company, idol group or person for trying to go on with business as usual for as much as that is possible within the guidelines of the government. People and companies want to keep their head above the water and their numbers in the black, it is only natural.
However, when I read the guidebook rules the Olympic athletes have to follow, or the fact that the Japanese government asked other countries to recognize the Japanese vaccination passports without, in return, accepting those countries passports, and then looking at what is still allowed to go on in Japan then I think the Japanese government is a bit hypocrite. It seems to me they want to have it both ways. From one side we have people who have huge restrictions laid upon them, almost prison like and on the other hand it seems like Japanese society is business as usual.
I know this whole corona situation is difficult but in my view the measures in Japan seems to lack any kind of direction or clear goal.

 

More news:

Hinata Koharu and several more members of Cerisier also tested positive for covid.

Edit:
Moa-chan also tested positive

 

Corona update:
Seira Saria has recovered enough to re-start her SNS. This is good news as she was the only member that stopped SNS after her positive pcr test.

While speaking of positive tests:
Kinoshita Yuri, Morishita Mao, Satsuki Mine and Hashimoto Yuri also tested positive for Corona.

I think, with the infection of Satsuki-san, we can conclude that the first infection happend during the Osaka/Nagoya trip.

I will post a LiveOne report with Moa-chan tonight in as an edit in this post.

 

Thanks for the updates on the infection status Oddball, I always thought Moa-chan was invincible.

 

I know I said I would write a report in an edit to my previous post but seeing this made me make it in a seperate post. Why? Because what @blurryeyes thinks is actually true: Moa-chan might be officially sick, atleast during LiveOne, you can´t notice a thing differently about her.
She is still her full energy all smiles self.

I actually did 2 sessions with her this weekend but the first one I could only stay a short while because I had to go out to pick up a package and when I got back she already finished. I joined it primarily to see how she was doing and feeling (it was the first LiveOne after the news) and was relieved to see that (for now) she is ok. Later in the weekend she did another session. I stayed for a long time but it was very busy (as expected, lots of worried fans) so not much talking but still enough interesting stuff.

The things I am telling here are from both sessions.

- First of all, she feels ok, there was a slight cough, but that might not be connected to coroana per se.
- She spends most of her day sleeping, playing bass, doing stuff on her computer. Not much to do otherwise as she is basicly confined to her room.
- Not a surprise but she does eat her dinner in her room. It does however offer fans, like us, a chance to see what the "Tsukino" (brackets because Tsukino isn´t her real last name) household homecooked dinners are like. I must say; I wish I could eat like that every day.
- During the 2nd session she sang "Fanfare"
- She also did a dance, but I am not sure what song. It did show however that her body doesn´t seem to care about covid.
This is a good point to tell something about myself. When it comes to girls/women (I always let them pick to how they want to be called) somewhat of a gentleman. However there are moments where I can say "Sorry for looking, after all, I am a man you know"
Moa-chan did her dance in, what I think, a pyjama. Dark blue/purple-ish, shorts and a loose fitting shirt. During the dance her shirt dropped off one of her shoulders and it looked so sexy! Bare legs with a naked shoulder? yes please! Now I should you people also let you know that there is one thing strage about my tastes: strapless clothes I find very sexy, but when it comes to swimwear/bikinis I prefet things WITH straps.
Ok, enough ero fantasies, let´s move on.
- Although she understands that people have questions about the whole covid thing, she burns down any lines towards that subject. Right now LiveOne is to her what she calls "Happy times" and she doesn´t seem to want corona to take up that time.
- Asking her what her favorite KamenJoshi song is will not get you an answer as that is a thing to difficult to answer.
- She was also sorting those trading cards of that muscled anime/manga (?) she is so into lately. She owns a lot of stuff from that.
- She did bump into her screen one time by accident closing the LiveOne app.
- The 2nd session was supposed to last an hour (from 2000 till 2100 jst) but she had so much fun that she extended it. This for me is interesting as it shows me a bit of what kind of character Moa-chan is. For instance: Momomin was always mostly very strict in her end times, even if she had nothing to do the day after.

All in all I had a great time listning to and just watching her in such a relaxed state.
I do hope for her (and the other positive tested members to) that she soon gets declared healty again. She might be fine for now but I fear what being locked up in a room would do to her if this is going to take a while.

 

Who is/are the current gravure talent(s) btw? Former members like Amaki Jun and Kamiya Erina where quite active when still members. Amaki Jun has made quite a successful career post-grad out of it.

 

As a career: Mine Satsuki

Enjoys it on the side: Moa Tsukino

Might consider it: Saria Seira

To look out for in Cerisier:
Uta Azumi, Eri Minami

 

Thanks for your Moa-chan reports Oddball... loved it!
Making of the "Story" MV...Good times!

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Part 2...

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Where is the champagne?

Momomin is back on SNS!!!

She is back on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube


if the video does not show watch the video here

Ah, I am so happy to see and hear her again.

On to a LiveOne report of a current member: Saria-san.

As I previously mentioned she has returned to sns (and liveone) after a, out of the top of my head, 5/6 day complete hiatus. Upon her return she did a LiveOne, sadly it was during my working hours and the location I was working at didn´t really have good mobile reception so I could only visit that to just see she was looking great and I managed to say that I was happy that she was back safe and sound.

Yesterday she went on LiveOne again and because it was weekend and my car its periodic apk was cheap I splurged a bit.
- Unlike what you would expect from someone who just recovered from Covid she came across as having even more energy then usual. Very hyper.
- She was painting various stuff with the theme "Summer things".
- The paint was waterpaint which she bought at a 100-yen store.
- Of course the chat was pretty busy.
- We talked about various subjects like the "Kermis" that was held in my town last week. (Personal note: I was very happy with this as it is a sign that life can go, for a bit, back to normal)
- Summer is offcourse time for barbeque. She didn´t know what BBQ stands for but now she does.
- Cute moment: at one point I had to go to the toilet but I didn´t tell her that (it was a "when you gotta go, you gotta go" moment) so while at the toilet I heard her call out to me to ask why I was so silent. When I explained it to her we had a good laugh.
- This time it was also really noticeable how she translates English to Japanese. She reads the English out loud first and then, out loud again, says the translation in Japanese.
- She wants to go to the pool or sea. If I have understood her correctly the last time she went to the pool was for a promotion video for that area area site.
- She did seem to talk a lot about mizugi, but I didn´t want to be called a pervert so I kept my mouth shut
- Saying that I looked up that video made me being called a pervert (in a playful way)
(What I did notice when looking up that video though: it seems that they make the exact same promotion video every year, the only thing they change is the girls in the video)

So, that is it, a bit short but we talked a bit longer then usual about things so the number of things we talked about is a bit less.
But, the most important thing is: She is full of energy and healthy again (as far as I can notice at least).

 

That was a fun Saria read! Thanks for the Hitomi news as well, I started following her again! https://twitter.com/hitomi_upgrade

 

Some of you may have noticed that Hitomi-san posted a tweet about a Note she wrote.
https://twitter.com/hitomi_upgrade/status/1422739532714184707?s=19
To gain acces to the full note it will cost 2000 yen and if you have the money I highly recommend buying it. Not just to support her (offcourse that is also a valid reason) but because what she wrote will make many things more clear and understandable.
I can't tell here what she wrote as she asked not to.
The only thing I can say is that the thoughts and speculations I posted in my LiveOne reports were so accurate it's almost scary.