Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku

History

Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku is named after a fictitious school in Ebisu, a neighbourhood in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was planned as a group of elementary and middle school students. The band was officially nicknamed "King of School Play", and its concept was advertised as being a group with very rough singing and dancing skills. Or, more accurately, the band's slogan was "Unarticulated dance and shaky vocals." Ebichu was formed as a quintet on August 4, 2009. Since then the lineup changed several times, with some members having "changed school" (the group's official term for leaving it) and some having "transferred in" (joined).

In June 2011, it was announced that Ebichu was to hold its first solo concert, on October 8 at Shibuya O-East. Parts of it were released on the band's first solo live DVD, which appeared on February 15 of the next year. In total, in October Shiritsu Ebisu Chūgaku gave three sold-out performances.

As of March 2012, there were nine members and the only two original members who still remained in the group were Rika Mayama and Mizuki. Although in April 2012 they both entered high school, it was decided that they would remain in the group. They started joking that they were middle school students forever.

After six self-published "indie" singles on the talent agency's recording label, the latest few of which charted on Oricon, the group signed a temporary contract with the major label Defstar Records to release a single titled, incidentally, "Karikeiyaku no Cinderella" ("Temporary Contract Cinderella"). The release date had already been determined as May 5, 2012, the Children's Day. The contract signing was made into a ceremony, which was held on March 4 in the presence of a large audience of fans. The single "Karikeiyaku no Cinderella" debuted at number 7 in the Oricon daily ranking for May 1. Having peaked in the daily chart at second position, it also debuted at number 7 in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart.

On June 25, 2012, Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku took part in Yubi Matsuri, an idol festival produced by Rino Sashihara from AKB48. The concert was held at Nippon Budokan before a crowd of 8,000 people and featured such girl groups as Idoling!!!, Super Girls, Tokyo Girls' Style, Nogizaka46, Passpo, Buono!, Momoiro Clover Z, and Watarirouka Hashiritai 7.

On July 1, 2012, Ebichu held a three and a half hour solo concert at Nippon Seinenkan, their first solo concert at the venue. The show was called "Jā Best Ten" and featured an imaginary ranking of the band's songs, counted down in the style of 1980s TV shows. It also included the first public performance of the song "Go! Go! Here We Go! Rock Lee", a closing theme of the anime Naruto SD, to be released as the group's second single in August.

The girls declared that they were aiming for third place in the Oricon chart with their third single, titled "Ume". The goal was achieved — the single actually placed 3rd in the weekly chart.

In December 2013 it was announced that 3 members, Mizuki, Natsu Annno and Hirono Suzuki, would leave the group at a concert that would be held on April 15, 2014, at the Nippon Budokan. After leaving, they will study to enter universities and get trained to be actresses. It was also said that one of the three, Anno, would study abroad and would not return to Japan for a long time.

In the middle of December 2015 it was announced that Hinata Kashiwagi had been diagnosed with sudden deafness and that the release of the group's third album, scheduled for release on 10 February 2016, had been postponed for an indefinite period of time. The album, titled Anarchy, was finally released on April 20.

In November 2016, the group simultaneously released two best-of albums, "Chūsotsu": Ebichū no Ike Ike Best and "Chūkara": Ebichū no Waku Waku Best. The latter featured one new song, titled "Sudden Death".

On February 8, 2017, member Rina Matsuno passed away, aged 18. Matsuno was unable to perform at the group's concert the day before due to a health issue and was taking medical treatment at home in Tokyo. In the early morning on February 8 her condition suddenly worsened. At around 5 AM her parents called 119. She was taken in the ambulance, but pronounced dead at the hospital. It is presumed that she died from an illness. In her last post on Instagram on February 6 she said that she had returned from a family trip to Hakone.

Musical style

The group has recorded songs in many different genres, including heavy metal, melocore and electro. The Japan-based music website CDJournal in its review of their 2017 best-of album "Chūsotsu": Ebichū no Ike Ike Best noted the band's individuality, the musicality of the songs and also how their lyrics made use of individuality of each member.

Members

The members are assigned so-called attendance numbers, just like in Japanese schools. Initially the numbers were given in the order of joining the group, but once, when several members left, the remaining members held an election to reassign their numbers.

Current members

3. Rika Mayama (真山りか), born (1996-12-16) December 16, 1996
5. Ayaka Yasumoto (安本彩花), born (1998-06-27) June 27, 1998
6. Aika Hirota (廣田あいか), born (1999-01-31) January 31, 1999
7. Mirei Hoshina (星名美怜), born (1997-11-02) November 2, 1997
10. Hinata Kashiwagi (柏木ひなた), born (1999-03-29) March 29, 1999
11. Kaho Kobayashi (小林歌穂), born (2000-06-12) June 12, 2000
12. Riko Nakayama (中山莉子), born (2000-10-28) October 28, 2000

Former members

1. Kanon Nanaki (七木奏音), born (1997-02-07) February 7, 1997
2. Narumi Uno (宇野愛海), born (1998-03-19) March 19, 1998
7. Hinaki Yano (矢野妃菜喜), born (1997-03-05) March 5, 1997
10. Rio Koike (小池梨緒), born (1998-01-18) January 18, 1998
2. Reina Miyazaki (宮﨑れいな), born (1997-08-24) August 24, 1997
1. Mizuki (瑞季), born (1997-02-27) February 27, 1997
4. Natsu Anno (杏野なつ), born (1997-07-12) July 12, 1997
8. Hirono Suzuki (鈴木裕乃), born (1998-03-24) March 24, 1998
9. Rina Matsuno (松野莉奈), born (1998-07-16)July 16, 1998; died February 8, 2017(2017-02-08) (aged 18)

Singles

^* Cover single^** The song "Go! Go! Here We Go! Rock Lee" is an ending theme for the new Naruto anime series "Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals" (Ep. 14 – present).

Albums

^* Greatest hits albums