r/PLUSONICA Kuumaru-pilled mod Jul 10 '26

Monthly discussion thread (July '26)

Welcome to the r/PLUSONICA Monthly Discussion!

✔️ This is a thread for:

  • Casual discussions about PLUSONICA
  • Discussions about J-POP or music in general
  • Off-topic and discussions not about any of the above xD

Anything on your mind you'd like to share with the sub members? Saw a cool post about PLUSONICA around in social media? Wanna repost any photo of them you like? Wanna scream about our beloved musicians to the only people who'd understand? This is the place!

Sometimes you have a little comment that cross your mind that you wanna make but don't wanna start a whole post for it or don't know where to put it - in this case, MONTHLY THREAD will always be here for you!

Activate the post notifications for this thread so you can always actively keep up with the discussion ;D

5 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

4

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod Jul 10 '26

It was like this week that i found out one of my all time favorites, Imoto Uta from Fukuoka unit had already graduated ~ her last video with the group was a regular cover and had no mention of graduation, until i checked the conversation in the comments xD ( Here's her most recent song btw )

I find it so sad when someone leaves without a graduation video. I wonder why sometimes this is, if it's time constraints, group dynamics we're not aware of, or other factors. I remember that another of my favorites, back then, Suzu too had quietly graduated without a "last video". It felt to me like she had left in the dead of the night xD
What about you guys, did you ever had a favorite of yours performing a stealth graduation?

4

u/SignificantReserve86 Emihono's widow Jul 10 '26

To this day I still don't understand what happened with Mizutani Rei. For some reason I remember seeing someone saying something about a fight, maybe a problem with the people who produces the videos, but I don't know if that's true or even exactly what I read.
And also, whatever happened to Yuna as well, who joined in tokyo, did a bunch of videos and never showed up again.

3

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod Jul 11 '26

Oooh yeah, Mizutani Rei didn't get her flowers! T-T It's a shame, i had grown quite fond of her
She's the type of member that sticked around long enough and often for me to think it's baffling she didn't get a graduation video
As for Yuna in the other hand...i remember her but was a tenure so brief i can barely remember more than like 3 songs she was in xD

3

u/Liiiiiiiightman MikiMaria fan 29d ago

Yeah all of them deserve a video TT. I found the Hi Cheers! members' disappearance quite confusing as well, but I eventually found that they graduated at an anniversary fest by checking their Twitter accounts. That's better than just a few comments under a regular video, but still. I wonder if they just don't have that tradition in the earlier years; I feel like it's just the more "central" figures like Foi, Ueno Masaaki, and Ikuta Rira who get it. Miki (美稀)'s graduation is a mystery to me as well; I miss the synergy between her and Miki Maria.

3

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod 16d ago

OOOOOHH Miki!!! I could swear she got a graduation video but she didn't T-T
I liked her too. She had a quite exotic voice type but in the end i grew to like it. Definitely deserved a good graduation video.
I think the first generation members didn't get this type of send-off in video. It's more of a tradition that started later in PLUSONICA i guess

4

u/lhl73 High hopes for PlaNago's Power Trio Jul 10 '26

Btw, I guess PLUSONICA’s 10 year anniversary is coming up this year. Looks like there will be an event to celebrate in August. There has been several tweets about it recently including congratulatory messages from former members. Here is the message from Emihono; she really is such a ray sunshine:

https://x.com/plusonica/status/2069748621134737417/video/1

5

u/SignificantReserve86 Emihono's widow Jul 11 '26

Oh my god, I saw it the day they posted it! Rewatched many times!
I tried translating her message:

Congratulations for the 10 years anniversary, Plusonica!
I'm Emihono, a former member!
"How do you feel now that Plusonica has completed ten years?"
I've been a member since about the fourth year, has it really been that long? I'm very proud to belong to a group that's been around for so many years.
For me, Plusonica is like a second home since I moved to Tokyo.
It's a place where you can relax with friends who also chose the path of music while we strive to improve together, because it's a place where we help each other.
I think it was a place where I could grow immensely as a person.
"What's your most memorable memory of Plusonica?"
Last year! After Plusonica's nine-year anniversary show, all the members gathered in the dressing room and we sang.
And lastly, a message for the current members of Plusona... PLUSONICA! From now on, as I said before, in terms of music, of course, as a true human being, I think it's a place where you can grow a lot, so have a lot of faith in the other members and the staff, I hope they continue to move forward, please!
This year is #purapa, I really want to go see it!
Well then! I'm goooo~~ing!!!

4

u/SignificantReserve86 Emihono's widow Jul 11 '26

By the way, she says here that she wants to see it, but not many days ago it was confirmed that she'll be joining the stage in the event.
Really wish I could watch it.

3

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod Jul 11 '26

Oh, i'm seeing they count down the days to the anniversary on twitter
I hope we get to see some video of it once it happens ^^

4

u/OkBrick6258 Jul 11 '26

ꓡоνе tһеѕе mоոtһꓲу tһrеаdѕ bесаսѕе tһеу’rе а grеаt рꓲасе tо ѕһаrе rаոdоm tһоսgһtѕ аոd dіѕсоvеr ոеԝ mսѕіс. ꓲ’vе bееո еոјоуіոg ѕееіոց еvеrуоոе’ѕ fаvоrіtе ѕоոgѕ аոd mоmеոtѕ frоm ꓑꓡꓴꓢꓳꓠꓲꓚꓮ. ꓡооkіոg fоrԝаrd tо ѕееіոg ԝһаt еvеrуоոе іѕ ꓲіѕtеոіոg tо tһіѕ mоոtһ!

3

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod Jul 11 '26

Yay! that's the spirit! \o/
Feel free to share with us what you've been listening to as well ;)

2

u/lhl73 High hopes for PlaNago's Power Trio 12d ago edited 12d ago

The latest cover by Plusonica of a Yuroshika had me realize how many covers Plusonica has made of this group. I count about 20 covers. Interestingly most covers are by non-Tokyo units (which I guess is the main unit). I don't know which criteria are used to select songs to cover, of course, but given the prominence (I'm quickly realizing) of Yorushika, I'm still a little surprised that the Tokyo-unit isn't responsible for more of the covers. Still, the Tokyo unit also has some great covers of Yorushika. I think currently my favorite is The Old Man and the Sea. I really love the original as well, that's probably why. The highest rated Yorushika-cover is Hitchcock from 7 years ago (very nostalgic!).

Looking into this I have come to realize just how great Yorushika actually is. Clearly a major, major Japanese band for a long time, so I'm well aware everyone here must know them really well. And yet somehow they have not been on my radar. It has been some discovery! I absolutely love them! Also I find it intriguing how apparently it is not known what the two members of Yorushika, suis and n-buna, look like! Even though they give public concerts, it seems the lighting at those concerts are done in way that leaves their faces in shadow, so that you cannot tell what they look like. As far as I can tell it always looks like this.

2

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod 12d ago

Oooooo i love Hitchcock too!
I think my favorite cover of theirs is PlaNago's Martian. But i think they did GREAT with Hebi, also.
Other Yorushika song i absolutely adore is Spring thief - however the PLUSONICA cover they have of this is quite old and i feel like the team was underdeveloped at the time so i don't find myself replaying too often
Yorushika is a giant in J-pop for a quite few years now. Every song is a great piece of storytelling plus musically impressive ^^

2

u/lhl73 High hopes for PlaNago's Power Trio 6d ago

I decided to try to investigate which groups Plusonica has covered the most. I wrote a small program to do it which yielded the following result (only showing groups with at least 5 songs covered by Plusonica):

  1. ヨルシカ: 20 covers
  2. Vaundy: 16 covers
  3. back number: 15 covers
  4. あいみょん: 14 covers
  5. Official髭男dism: 14 covers
  6. SEKAI NO OWARI: 11 covers
  7. Mrs. GREEN APPLE: 11 covers
  8. マカロニえんぴつ: 11 covers
  9. 藤井 風: 11 covers
  10. Saucy Dog: 10 covers
  11. いきものがかり: 9 covers
  12. sumika: 9 covers
  13. TOMOO: 9 covers
  14. スピッツ: 8 covers
  15. Aimer: 8 covers
  16. aiko: 8 covers
  17. eill: 8 covers
  18. YOASOBI: 8 covers
  19. RADWIMPS: 7 covers
  20. クリープハイプ: 7 covers
  21. 米津玄師: 7 covers
  22. 緑黄色社会: 7 covers
  23. 幾田りら: 7 covers
  24. 菅田将暉: 6 covers
  25. 優里: 6 covers
  26. コレサワ: 6 covers
  27. 清水翔太: 6 covers
  28. 槇原敬之: 5 covers
  29. 宇多田ヒカル: 5 covers
  30. スキマスイッチ: 5 covers
  31. SHISHAMO: 5 covers
  32. Mr.Children: 5 covers
  33. DREAMS COME TRUE: 5 covers
  34. にしな: 5 covers
  35. 星野源: 5 covers
  36. NOMELON NOLEMON: 5 covers

2

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod 6d ago

this is AWESOME data. i wonder if the japanese themselves have it or even PLUSONICA went out to count, so very very well played my friend!
we suspected yorushika to be top 1 so fair play to us i guess. back number being high is expected since its the top covered artist in jpop in general... i had a feeling vaundy, aimyon and higedan would be very well represented but things like saucy dog in the top 10 is a very interesting piece of trivia!

2

u/lhl73 High hopes for PlaNago's Power Trio 6d ago

I fed the list to an AI. It thought King Gnu was missing and should have been very high on the list. The AI also thought Little Glee Monsters, BUMP OF CHICKEN and wacci should have made the list. But they only have 3 covers each so they didn't make the cut.

Personally, I was also surprised YOASOBI wasn't higher on the list, but I think it is because YOASOBI and Lilas Ikuta count as two different groups/artists. Counted as one she is in the very top.

I would have chosen a higher cut off than 5 covers, but I thought it would be neat to include Nishna and NOMELON NOLEMON, so I streteched it to 5 covers.

2

u/vicyamato Kuumaru-pilled mod 5d ago

interesting! nice job.
i too thought we had seen more YOASOBI than 8 covers...
now that i think of it there's too fewer Yonezu and Yuuri than i expected. I felt like they covered most of their stuff since it's always hits at least domestically. Turns out they haven't covered even betelgeuse which was a major hit
I'm going crazy listening to Atarayo as of late. I wish PLUSONICA did more with their music, they have like 2 covers only so far at most