Up Up Girls (Kakko Kari)
Up Up Girls (temporary) (アップアップガールズ(仮), Appu Appu Gāruzu Kakko Kari), or simply Up Up Girls, is a female Japanese idol group consisting of seven graduated Hello! Pro Egg members. They were originally known as Up Front Girls (temporary) (アップフロントガールズ(仮), Appu Furonto Gāruzu Kakko Kari), but they changed to their current name in June, 2011. As the name implies, the group is still in its tentative stage. The last part of their name, (仮), read 'kakko kari' is often used as a logo to represent the group. UFZS is the name of Up Up Girls' sub-unit, a dance unit which mainly covers K-Pop songs.
Contents
Members
- Sengoku Minami (仙石みなみ), leader
- Furukawa Konatsu (古川小夏)
- Mori Saki (森咲樹)
- Satou Ayano (佐藤綾乃)
- Saho Akari (佐保明梨), joined in May as new member
- Sekine Azusa (関根梓)
- Arai Manami (新井愛瞳)
History
2010
After their last Shinjin Kouen concert in November, Hello! Pro Egg underwent a major change, in which it dramatically slimmed down its membership by graduating more than half of its members. Sengoku Minami was among the first to announce her training completion from Hello! Pro Egg, through Hello! Project fan club website in December.
2011
Following Sengoku's announcement, Mori Saki, and then Furukawa Konatsu, also announced their training completion in January.
In March, it was revealed that a new TV show featuring 'Up Front Girls (temporary)' with Sengoku, Konatsu, Mori, Satou Ayano, Sekine Azusa, and Arai Manami would be aired on Sky Perfect TV channel, entitled "Up Front Girls". This was the first mention of the group name. Not long after, Satou, Sekine and Arai announced their training completion. Various internet social media also opened for Up Front Girls, such as Ameba blogs, a Ustream channel, a Nico Nico Douga channel, and a staff Twitter account.
In early May, Up Front Girls held a series of shows for a fan club event. In the last show of the event, Saho Akari, who had already completed her training at Hello! Pro Egg in April, made a surprise appearance, and announced herself as a new member of Up Front Girls. The show was broadcast live through their Nico Nico Douga channel.
In early June, each member was finally assigned an image color. This procedure was shown live on their weekly Ustream show, where each member actually picked their own image color. The order of this process was determined by two games played before. The result was Sengoku – red, Furukawa – pink, Mori – green, Satou – purple, Saho – yellow, Sekine – orange, and Arai – blue.
In late June, 2011, at their weekly Ustream show, to the members' surprise, the management decided to change the group name to 'Up Up Girls (temporary)'.
A few days later, it was revealed that the group has been chosen as one of the regular performers at a new stage at Akihabara: MAP Theater, a joint collaboration between PigooHD and Sofmap Akihabara.
Media
TV Show
Aired at Sky Perfect Channel as a monthly show, re-aired weekly and available to watch at pay per view service PigooHD, Up Up Girls' TV show titled the same as their name, 'Up Up Girls', featuring all members of the group. The show follows the pattern of a typical idol TV show, with lots of games and challenges done by the members. Occasionally, the show also includes various footage of the group's activities, such as events and live performances.
Internet
Two blogs opened for the group at Ameba, one for the members' daily blogging, and one solely for news purposes. They also have two internet video and broadcast portals. The first is Ustream, where they do a weekly show every Monday night. The second is Nico Nico Douga, where they upload various videos, ranging from event footage to dance covers. The staff also have an active account on Twitter.
Live Stage
Up Up Girls perform live every Thursday at MAP Theater, Akihabara, as one of the regular weekday acts.
Discography
DVD
- [2011.08.10] Up Up Girls Kakko Kari ga Up Front Girls Kakko Kari datta koro no Event DVD ni narimashita!! (Up Up Girls(仮)がUp Front Girls(仮)だった頃のイベントがDVDになりました!!)
UFZS
UFZS is Up Up Girls' sub-unit, a dance unit focusing mainly on covering K-Pop songs. It is produced by Josei Jishin. The group wa revealed in late February, 2011, long before Up Up Girls was even revealed to the public. Initially formed to compete in a K-dance competition, "DREAM ON! vol.2", the group has since made a few appearance in a number of events and competitions, including Korean TV talent show, SuperstarK 3.
UFZS was originally a five members unit: Furukawa, Mori, Satou, Sekine, and Arai. Sengoku and Saho joined later, in May, 2011, making all Up Up Girls members also member of the dance unit.
