Juice=Juice

Juice=Juice are a Japanese idol group under Hello! Project. Juice=Juice was formed in early February 2013 by producer Tsunku, through a letter announcement during the annual Hello! Project Winter concert tour. It was said to be the first of multiple new units created using members from the Hello! Pro Kenshuusei. The members, Miyamoto Karin, Takagi Sayuki, Otsuka Aina, and Kanazawa Tomoko from Hello! Pro Kenshuusei, and Miyazaki Yuka from Up-Front, were revealed at the concert. Tsunku stated that despite Yuka not being a trainee, he decided to add her due to her already close relationship to Hello! Project through auditions and activity as a member of the SATOYAMA unit GREEN FIELDS, and because he thought it would be fun and interesting. He also stated that the group would start at an indie level and work their way to a major debut, and that the lineup was not yet permanent, therefore as they worked to their debut he may add, remove, or change out members. On February 25, 2013 Tsunku revealed the name of the group to be "Juice=Juice", stating that he wanted it to be always fresh and full of personality, and that in Japan anything is called "juice" whereas overseas unless it's 100% pure it's not "juice". Despite that he said they would not be a childlike group and that he wants them to reach beyond their limits with being cool. An official video announcement was also uploaded, where Tsunku revealed the name and meaning to the group members for the first time, and assigned them each a fruit and corresponding color. Karin received grape (purple), Sayuki lemon (yellow), Aina orange, Akari melon (green), Tomoko apple (red), and Yuka peach (pink). The group's first live appearance took place at the "Hello! Project Haru no Dai Kansyasai Hinamatsuri Festival 2013" on March 2, 2013. Three months later at an event taking place on June 13, 2013 at Ikebukuro Sunshine City, Tsunku announced the group's major debut to take place sometime in the summer. He also announced that Miyazaki Yuka would be the leader and Kanazawa Tomoko would be the sub-leader. On July 5th it was announced that Otsuka Aina would withdraw from Juice=Juice and Hello!Pro Kenshuusei because of contractual issues with her family. The group would continue with just 5 members and no member additions were announced. On September 11th, 2013, their first major single "Romance no Tochuu / Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne (MEMORIAL EDIT) / Samidare Bijo ga Samidareru (MEMORIAL EDIT)" was released. The single debuted at #2 in the weekly Oricon charts with 37,213 copies sold. Their first full-length album "First Squeeze!" was released in July 2015. They held a total of 220 solo live shows during this year. In 2016, they starred in the drama Budokan as the members of the fictional idol group NEXT YOU, and released the single "Next is you! / Karada Dake ga Otona ni Nattan ja nai" under that name. On November 5, they held their first live show at Budokan. On June 26th 2017, it was announced through a special episode of Hello! Project Station that Dambara Ruru from Hello Pro Kenshuusei and Yanagawa Nanami, as a concurrent member from Country Girls, have joined Juice=Juice as new members and would begin activities in the group in the "Hello! Project 2017 SUMMER" concert tour and "Juice=Juice LIVE AROUND 2017 ~Seven Horizon~" summer live tour. On June 13th 2018, it was revealed that former Country Girls member Inaba Manaka had joined Juice=Juice as a new member and would begin activities with the group in the "Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project 2018 SUMMER" concert tour. Current Members: Yuka Miyazaka (宮崎由加) Tomoko Kanazawa (金澤朋子) Karin Miyamoto (宮本佳林) Sayuki Takagi (高木紗友希) Akari Uemura (植村あかり) Ruru Dambara (段原瑠々) Nanami Yanagawa (梁川奈々美) Manaka Inaba (稲場愛香) Formed members: Aina Otsuka (大塚愛菜) - 2013 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.