generasia:Featured article for 2023 week 48
=LOVE
=LOVE (イコールラブ), colloquially known as Ikorabu (イコラブ), is a seiyuu idol group formed by YoAni and produced by former AKB48 and HKT48 member Sashihara Rino. They made their debut under the label SACRA MUSIC. Their sister groups are ≠ME and ≒JOY.
=LOVE's first live performance came at the 2017 Tokyo Idol Festival, a venue they would continue to visit for the next two years. The group debuted their first eponymous single, "=LOVE", on September 6, 2017. The single reached #8 on the Oricon Singles Chart and #14 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart. Between the 15th and 18th of February 2018, =LOVE appeared in their first stage play, a 2.5D musical based on the media franchise Kemono Friends. They also held their first overseas performances in Taiwan, first on March 18th at the Megaport Music Festival in Kaohsiung, then a solo live on March 25th at the Syntrend Creative Park in Taipei. They also performed at the Japan Expo in Paris on July 6th.
All of their releases to date have charted within the top 10 on the Oricon charts, with five of them debuting at the #1 spot.
Their 15th single, "Last Note Shika Shiranai", is released this week on November 29th.
