10 Crazy Japanese Idol Themes Which Actually Work

No market is more saturated that the J-pop idol market. New groups come and go almost monthly and people will try anything, throwing it all at the wall just to see what sticks, in an attempt to strike gold. Sometimes, even the crazy and ridiculous work.

10. Hamburgirl Z

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This 15-member idol group was started by Shintaro Yabu, chairman of the prestigious “West Japan Hamburger Association”. So, it only makes sense that he would start a group based around something he’s clearly passionate about, hamburgers. Yes, they sing and dance and it is all based around hamburgers. In fact, each group member represents a hamburger ingredient and wears it on their head during the performance. These range from the mundane, pickles and tomatoes, to the more bizarre, Awajishima fish and eggplant.

9. Tsuri-bit

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These five girls are gaining popularity in Japan with their fishing based theme. Whereas J-pop idol Giant AKB 48 determines who will be center stage with rounds of rock-paper-scissors, Tsuri-bit hands out the coveted “tsuri-center” position to whoever for their yearly single release based on their fishing records, a fishing test and a paper based fishing examination on all things fish related.

8. Tenkoushoujo Kagekidan

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Five seems to be a popular number amongst Japanese idol groups and Tenkoushoujo kagekidan, a military themed group, sticks with the lucky number. The concept is that the girls were transferred to an imaginary girls school, where they became military operators. Their promotions follow the theme and they have collaborated with a Japanese outdoor magazine at which time they collected bugs and weeds and ate them. They also butchered a turtle and ate that as well, because well, Military.

7. Magical Punchline

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Founded by a former idol, Magical Punchline apparently has stolen the hearts of many in the “Cute Pop” genre. The concept behind “Magipun”, the nickname, is a mixture of Harry Potter and Dragon Quest, all in an original fantasy world where the group members attend a magical training school called “Tiger’s gate”.

6. Smile Pirates

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The Smile Pirates are girls dressed as pirates. They do battle on the “Idol Sea”, not with swords and muskets but, according to their website, with singing, dancing and doing something fun. Of course, like all pirates they collect treasure, but they aren’t after gold. No, their fans are considered their treasure.

5. The Margarines

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The entire theme of this group is insolvency; each member of the group owes money someplace, and must sing and dance until their debts are paid off, that’s it. The slogan used to promote the group is “People with big debts have big dreams” and in an already jam-packed industry, it’s hoped that The Margarines will dance and sing a little harder than the other groups simply to get rid of their financial burdens.

4. KBG84

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With 33 members, KBG84 has done far more in the idol universe than anyone would have expected, and all this with the average group members age being…84 years old. The group hails from the remote Kohama island in Okinawa. The minimum age to enter the group is 80 and the eldest member is 97.

3. Kiyoshi Ryujin 25

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Kiyoshi Ryujin is a singer/songwriter who after some mediocre results on this own, hit pay dirt when he decided to make an idol group fulfilling his, and every man’s fantasy, of having six hot, young wives. That’s it; the entire promotional premise explained.

2. Rice Girls

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Once being really old is not enough to make one utterly ridiculous enough to sell, in an industry based on the really young, it’s time to think outside the box for a new, and spectacularly ridiculous angle. That angle is rice. All 7 group members, between the ages of 50 and 70, are actually rice farmers from the Niigata region of Japan.

1. la BIG 3

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The average weight of a 20-year-old Japanese woman is 111lbs (50kgs) (link 18). The desired weight for most Japanese women is anything under this. So, anything over this, say, 120lbs or 125lbs, equals fat in Japan. This is the winning theme for the idol group la BIG 3.