Wake Up, Girls! was an idol unit active from 2014 to 2019 whose leader was none other than Yoshino Aoyama, voice of Hitori "Bocchi" Gotou in Bocchi the Rock. In this performance of the opening theme from Restaurant to Another World, originally a collaboration with Mayn, she's the one singing the very first line, with the light blue ribbon.

Far from the absolute nobody before Bocchi the Rock she's sometimes painted as (also by her own presentation), she had before already led this unit throughout the years, culminating in this final concert in a brimful Saitama Super Arena in front of about 35,000 people (full concert playlist) that wowed her senpais Rie Takahashi and Reina Ueda.

During the unit's active years, she also voiced the character based on herself in various accompanying anime productions.

After the unit disbanded after this concert, the only other member that continued to be significantly active in the idol and/or anime space AFAIK is Minami Tanaka, who e.g. went on to become part of Franchouchou in Zombieland Saga.

I think this is a pretty nice article going a bit into the background of YOASOBI and their recently exploded international popularity, mostly due to "Idol".

I rediscovered this song not that long ago, and an immense wave of nostalgia hit me when I listened to it. I distinctly remember sitting in my room in the late 1990s, having downloaded a compressed-to-hell clip of the Record of Lodoss War TV opening via my parents' dial-up line, watching it again and again, enchanted by this music and feeling sad that there's all this great anime that would be forever unattainable for me.

25 years later, there's more anime at my fingertips than I could ever watch, and I still haven't watched this series. I heard it's not that good really. 😂

But the song is still as enchanting as back then.

Shamelessly cribbed from Reddit, but I found this too interesting not to share here right away. It's a really fun kind of blues-styled pop-rock, give it a listen.

Bonus: An interview with the band where they talk about their background and their blues inspiration.

The other ClariS post reminded me of this version of the Lycoris Recoil opening theme "ALIVE" from The First Take. This beautiful piano and strings arrangement really allows the two to shine. And how they shine! There should be no doubt after listening to this that they are excellent singers.

I'm sure the recordings for The First Take are rehearsed beforehand, but the actual perfomances are absolutely the real thing. I find it remarkable how perfectly the two harmonize, while the performance still retains its individuality distinguishing it from the original studio recording.

ClariS also did another great performance of their Madoka Magica OP "Connect" for The First Take.

I wouldn't normally categorize Band-Maid as metal, but since they were mentioned specifically in the welcome post... 😄

I just can’t get enough of this song recently. It has the perfect synthesis of everything that makes Band-Maid great: heavy but precise drums and bass lines by Akane and Misa driving the rhythm, Kanami’s melodic guitar riffs, Saiki’s enchanting singing augmented by Miku’s harmonizing…

And I didn’t even realize until I saw the subtitles on this live video that it’s actually a very romantic song about unrequited love. That even adds to its appeal to me.

Man, I had decided not to post so many Band-Maid tracks here, lest I need to rename the community. (Or maybe I should just create /c/bandmaid?)
But this song... I just can't get enough of it recently.

It has the perfect synthesis of everything that makes Band-Maid great: heavy but precise drums and bass lines by Akane and Misa driving the rhythm, Kanami's melodic guitar riffs, Saiki's enchanting singing augmented by Miku's harmonizing...

And I didn't even realize until I saw the subtitles on this live video that it's actually a very romantic song about unrequited love. That even adds to its appeal to me.

It's Friday, so a song about staying up late is fitting I suppose! Although admittedly my plans for tonight mainly involve continuing to watch the anime named after this song, which also used it as its ending.

The opening song Daten, also by Creepy Nuts, is also pretty well-known I guess, but more of a hidden gem IMO is their insert song Losstime with its very chill vibes.

Majiko, like quite a few Japanese singers I guess, started out singing covers of vocaloid songs. And it's these songs interpreted by her that I love the most. I've already posted her heartbreaking live performance of Kokoronashi here, but this is the song through which I discovered her. It was actually this fan-made video which also has English subtitles if you want to read along.

This song also features Majiko's signature killer move, where she starts out with a relatively subdued performance, but gradually increases the emotional intensity, until by the end you think you can hear her literally cry her heart out.

One of those tracks that randomly played in some mix and instantly captivated me. I think it's the combination of those hymnic chords and Leo's intense, almost plaintive singing.

The song was also the opening theme of the movie Code Geass Lelouch of the Re;surrection.

Leo Ieri has a great voice, but her other songs are a bit hit or miss for me. Another song of hers that I really like is Pain where she shows that she can also really rock out!

It's mentioned in the sidebar, and although I don't want to make it a hard rule (yet?), I really want to encourage you to provide some context on the music that you post here. Use the text field in your post for this.

What you like about a track, some background about it or the artist, or whatever made you decide to post it here. I think it helps others immensely to appreciate a track and increases the motivation to actually give it a listen. At least that's the case for me.
Just a sentence can be enough. Ideally, you will even spark some discussion.

Otherwise this community is at risk of being just a link dump.

BAND-MAID have released a best-of double album on the occasion of their 10th anniversary today (streaming/purchasing links: https://lnk.to/bandmaid_10thbest). Reason enough to bring out one of the classics, of course as the fabulous live video!

I'm a bit salty they completely skipped Europe on their extensive tour plan this year, basically doing only the U.S. and Japan. I REALLY want to see them live. Hoping for next year...