The aforementioned drummer Natsume who did the Urban Night album and tour with Cyntia has and does drum multiple gigs. One that had been simmering and began taking off early in 2018 was first called “The Third” because they were the third band to appear live on the “BanG Dream” program on Bandori TV. BanG Dream is an anime series about young female bands. Each character is very detailed. The studio musicians who ended up singing and playing the music began to eventually be revealed because people wanted to see them. The Third live band was renamed “Raise a Suilen” which is to say “Raise a bamboo curtain” revealing who the human band members are.
The anime characters are way young, none older than high school sophomores and some in middle school. The live band is considerably older, and that’s good because their musical skill level is commensurate. (Yes, I know there are child prodigies. They’re notable, because they’re unusual. If all child music students were prodigies, none would be notable nor even called a prodigy.)
So they’re a live band, and they’re an anime series. I’m probably oversimplifying or misstating the sequence and relationship, but that’s basically it.
They are:
• Raychell (vocals and bass)
• Kohara Riko (guitar and vocals)
• Natsume (drums and vocals)
• Kurachi Reo (keyboard and vocals)
• Tsumugi Risa (DJ and vocals)
On to the music. It’s high energy rock. So far, there are only four songs I see out there from this group.
"Unstoppable" -
Raychelle sings it cool, there is also vocal participation from the others, and most are very, well, animated. About the 3:10 mark, keyboardist Reo throws a high kick in the middle of playing. Lightning-fast, her foot flies up above her head for less than a second. Wow. Can’t fault the enthusiasm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReM4oBWpv7E
This is posted as "R.I.O.T" but sounds very similar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhCp3XEWtw
Here’s the second live performance of that. We get a look at the DJ handling the intro music and the more complex electronica and visuals. I think. Overall they did a “value-added” presentation compared to the first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhCp3XEWtw
“A Declaration of xxx” plus “Expose Burn Out!!!” - Not live but the only vid I see of these. About the first - it seems to be more or less a dating custom in Japan to begin dating after a “love from afar” period followed with a declaration/confession by the young man of having feelings for the young woman and then if she agrees to go out, zap they’re in a relationship. In a video about dating in Japan, a young Japanese woman told of what a surprise it was when a western guy simply invited her out, and she came to realize they didn’t have to go from zero to relationship in seconds flat, they could get to know each other first. She rather liked it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVZPU44Ap-M
A further observation about the group: Raychelle is relatively tall, 173 cm/5’8”, and Natsume is about the same, and everyone else is considerably smaller. So the more petite ones dress more like the young-girl anime characters while Raychelle and Natsume don’t even try because it would look silly. They get to be the adults I guess.
Some info pages. The first is a nicely detailed fan page. In all these, it is somewhat difficult to distinguish between the live band members and the characters that correspond in the anime series. In general, I’m thinking the quirkier the description, the more likely it is to be the anime personality. If I’m reading it correctly, this page says the live performance songs except “This is the Way We Roll” were their originals.
https://iviachupichu.home.blog/raise-a-suilen-overview/
http://bandori.wikia.com/wiki/RAISE_A_SUILEN
https://www.reddit.com/r/BanGDream/comments/a3zjin/raise_a_suilen_characters_revealed_manga_revealed/
These days Natsume also drums, and Raychelle does backing vocals, in Shazna, a “visual kei” band originally formed in Osaka in 1993 and currently in its third incarnation with three of its original members. “Visual kei” is the often-androgynous Japanese style glam rock, which can encompass any of several genres of music. I may expand on them in future following this series, because they’re not an all-woman band which is what I’m doing right now.
Two other bands of note in the BanG Dream franchise, which are all female: Roselia and Poppin’Party. Like Raise a Suilen, they are both real live bands and anime cartoons. Briefly -
A fan magazine page covering Roselia, whose outfits seem to be flamenco-inspired. With video links. Just addressing the live performance vids, “Re:birth day” is nicely done rock/pop. “Netsuiro Starmine” is more intense, inventive and driving... Liked. “Louder” also; lead singer pushed her expression to the edge on this, deliberately (IMHO) going for a kind of desperate outpouring, which is not a bad thing. Many singers play it safe. She didn’t. My respect.
Band characters’ popularity poll is listed near the bottom of the page. Two tied for first, though all were really close. Japanese diplomacy? The list is useful for names anyway.
https://j-mag.org/en/2018/03/01/bang-dream_survey-3/
Poppin’ Party, nickname Popipa: They actually perform the theme song for the TV anime “BanG Dream” series, linked in the page here. Over-the-top cutesy. They seem to be going for the anime character very-young-girl persona. I haven’t looked up the individuals, though most of these bands have members who are twentysomething. Similar to the Roselia article, popularity poll gives us the names.
https://j-mag.org/en/2018/02/20/bang-dream_survey/
There are other anime bands in the franchise, but those are the ones I know that have a live-band presence.
The Wikipedia article on the BanG Dream! world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BanG_Dream!
J
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