Juice=Juice week: History of the Juice

Juice=Juice has been around for almost 5 years, which means it is time to look back on their history!

Below you will find my take on their history and in the end there will be links to all video's of their history!

Indies

On the 3th of Febuary 2013, during the Hello!Pro winter con of that year, 5 kenshuusei and 1 soloist were called on stage to reveal they would be forming a new group!

By then, the last time this happend was with the formation of S/mileage in 2009.

Hello!Pro Kenshuusei members Miyamoto Karin, Otsuka Aina, Takagi Sayuki, Uemura Akari and Kanazawa Tomoko would join Miyazaki Yuka in a new unit that would aim for their debut.

The girls had known for a while, as they were told in a letter by Tsunku. We later on got a video which showed the girls reaction to the news.

The group was revealed on stage and the 6 members got to introduce themselfs. Long serving Kenshuusei like Karin, Sayuki and Aina were well known by the fans, but newcomers Akari and Tomoko weren't and suprised many fans. The biggest suprise, however, was Miyazaki Yuka. Fans did know her as a talent under Up-front, who participated in S/mileage's auditions and was a member of Green Fields with Shimizu Saki and Mitsui Aika, yet it was a total suprise for her to join Hello!Pro like this. Yet fans were happy a new fresh group would be joining the Hello!Pro family.

A new group was formed and soon this group would be getting a name! On the 25th of febuary, the girls were gathered and got an announcement from Tsunku! The group would be names Juice=Juice, which would be said like Juice Juice. All girls also got image colors or Fruits to match their theme! 

Uemura Akari got Melon (green), Miyazaki Yuka got Peach (pink), Takagi Sayuki got Lemon (yellow), Miyamoto Karin got Grape (purple), Otsuka Aina got Orange and Kanazawa Tomoko got Apple (red). Tsunku wanted them to fresh like fruit and juice, yet also cool.

And with that we entered a time of new and exciting things!

Juice=Juice started recording their first indies single: Watashi ga Iu mae ni Dakishimenakya ne and preformed it for the first time on March 2. The indies single was released that same month as a pre-release and in April the single had it's general release!

In May the group released their 2nd indies single Samidare Bijo ga Samidareru and soon after it was announced that Hello!Pro Kenshuusei would be releasing a single togheter with Juice=Juice called Ten made Nobore! This single was the second single by Hello!Pro Kenshuusei and the third indies single by Juice=Juice.

During their indies time, the fruit/color theme was used quite a lot in Juice=Juice's promotional material. They outfits usually always had accesoires in their fruits color. Yet after their debut, this theme would be shoved away more and more.

Debut Announcement & Otsuka Aina's departure

During a release event for Ten Made Nobore in Ikebukuro Sunshine City on the 13th of June, Tsunku made an announcement: Juice=Juice would be debutting in the Summer! Miyazaki Yuka was announced as leader and Kanazawa Tomoko as sub-leader.

In that same month Otsuka Aina had been injured and couldn't preform during the event. She however was present for the news and was less happy with it than the other girls.

This would be the last time we got to see Juice=Juice as a six member group. On July 5th it was announced that due to problems with her contract and family, Otsuka Aina had left the group. Juice=Juice would go on as a 5 member group and release their debut single as announced.

5-nin and Debut

The group held various events and were present at a lot of tv and radio programs to promote their debut single. It was later on announced the single would actually be a triple a-side single called:

Romance no Tochuu/Watashi ga Iu mae ni Dakishimenakya ne (MEMORIAL EDIT)/Samidare bijo ga Samidareru (MEMORIAL EDIT). 

As fans later found out: the whole single had been recorded with Otsuka Aina and had to be redone without her. In some parts of the early released promotion video's Aina could be spotted (see here) and even a group picture with the six of them was leaked.

The single was released on the 11th of september and sold over 43,000 copies! Juice=Juice had become a real major group of Hello!Project and would continue to suprise us with their fresh and new songs! 

At the end of 2014 Juice=Juice alsos starred in their first ever Musical: Koisuru Hello Kitty, which had Miyamoto Karin in the lead role. The group also released a mini-album for this play.

Number 1 and first album

 

Juice=Juice released single after single and in 2015 they scored a number 1 single with Wonderful World / Ça va ? Ça va ?. This was the first single not released by Morning Musume to do so withing Hello!Project. It was also the first single by Juice=Juice not produced by Tsunku. 

Soon after Juice=Juice announced the release of their very first album. The album had 3 discs, with their single, new songs and cover songs on them. With the album, the group also announced they wanted to hold 220 preformances all over Japan and set Nippon Budokan as their goal stage.

Budokan

2016 started of with Juice=Juice staring in their own drama Budokan. The group played a idol group called NEXT YOU, that was working towards their own Nippon Budokan show. It showed the girls struggeling with fame and especially with the rules of that fame. The show was released in two versions, with the second one having longer episodes and showing us more about the non lead characters. Juice=Juice released two singles as NEXT YOU, called: Next is You! (which was part of their 7th single) and Otona no Jijou.

Juice=Juice was, ofcourse, also working towards their own Budokan concert and on May 4th it was announced that Juice=Juice would end their 220 preformance by preforming at Budokan on November 7th!

World Tour and New members

In April of 2017, Juice=Juice got to announce their first world tour! They will be the first Hello!Pro group to actually have a world tour. Juice=Juice announced they would be visiting London, Paris, Mexico and Dortmund, and more places to come! Currently they are still working on this world tour!

In May, Juice=Juice started releasing digital singles starting with Goal~Ashita wa Acchi da yo~ and Jouro a month later.

Soon after it was announced that Juice=Juice would be getting two new members. Due to Country Girls going part time, Yanagawa Nanami would be joining Juice=Juice as a full member and Danbara Ruru from the Kenshuusei would also be making her debut into the group. This would be the first time that Juice=Juice got new members and also the first time since Otsuka Aina's departure that a line-up change would occure.

With the addition of the new members, Juice=Juice announced their first official digital single: Fiesta! Fiesta! with an English version of Wonderful World as b-side. Both new members would also join Juice=Juice on their world tour. They also announced a new Budokan preformance on the 20th of November!

Juice=Juice is now a powered up group of 7 girls!

They will show the world their charm and skills!

Until the next history lesson!