The Famous Japanese Group Known As the Ebisu Muscats

You can never really tell when something you create will turn out to be great. If you paint a picture, you are never assured that it will be seen as a masterpiece. You can scout a sports player with tremendous potential but you will never have the guarantee that he or she will become a superstar in the future. Sometimes, the purpose for why you created it isn’t even what it ends up being but ends up being a success anyway and a solid example of such an event was the founding of a Japanese idol group called the Ebisu Muscats.

manboy [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Things about the Ebisu Muscats That You Can Learn From Wikipedia, Youtube, and Instagram

It is undeniable that there is a passion for “cute” things found in the culture of Japan. You can notice it in their fashion, their movies, as well as their anime that usually illustrate girl idols being swarmed but a mixed crowd of heavy infatuated men. With this being the case, it becomes easy to understand why a group of extremely attractive women may cause quite the commotion amongst the people of Japan. There have been many J-Pop groups by the time that the Ebisu Muscats was created in the year of 2008 but it was this particular group that definitely created a whole new level for all J-Pop groups because of how they composed themselves.

YouTube [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Searching for them in Wikipedia will show you that this particular group was created simply to be a part of a variety show that TV Tokyo was hosting during the year of 2008. The show was called “Onegai! Muscat” and it was aired in April of 2008. If you’re curious enough to see how it was, you can search for it on Youtube to see live footage of the event. During the show, the Ebisu Muscats were able to capture the heart of the crowd entirely with their dazzling performance. This success led to their solidified establishment which opened up the pathway for them to create their first single that they released in the year 2010. This single was ranked top 8 in the sales of Oricon’s charts. If you do not know what Oricon is, it is a Japanese company that provides statistics and analysis on music and the music industry so you can be sure that if a song is on their charts, it is something special. In addition to the single, the year of 2010 would also be the year of their first live show which happened in July 2010 in Shibuya, Tokyo.

These achievements proved that they had talent but before they even got the chance to showcase what talents they had, they had already been labeled as unique. This is so because this J-Pop group is made up differently as compared to the other J-Pop groups you may be following or know off. If other J-Pop groups have a limit to the number of members in a group, the Ebisu Muscats is the obvious exception because this group doesn’t have a fixed roster. To simply things, you can think of the Ebisu Muscats as a draft pool on its own that have interchangeable members who participate in events depending on their availability. In addition to their number as a group, they have also been able to catch the attention of people because the majority of the members of their groups are either AV Idols, gravure idols, or even both. This meant that they were extremely sexy with a beautiful face to match. To name some of the members you may know from the original group, there are the likes of Aino Kishi, Yuma Asami, Sora Aoi, Aika Ando, Akiho Yoshizawa, and even Maria Ozawa.

The Concert in Singapore

Chinnian [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

As stated earlier, the Ebisu Muscats was like a draft pool because they easily changed one active member for another depending on their availability to a certain performance or event. As time passed, certain members of the group had to retire due to a variety of external reasons and by the year 2012, there were already around 45 members of the group that had retired. To name some of them, there were Yumi Nagase, Kaho Natsumi, and Shiori Tsukimi.  At that point in time, there was still around 30 active members but it was becoming clear to both the members and Pony Canyon that their time in the sun was coming to a close.

They announced their farewell tour at the start of 2013 and by the middle portion of that year, particular in the month of April, the Ebisu Muscats were one performance away from their official disbanding. Their fans in Singapore were the luckiest ones because it would be the group’s concert here that would be the very last time they all hit the stage together as the Ebisu Muscats. It was such a monumental event that even Yuma Asami, who just underwent a major surgery, couldn’t help but participate in the final concert despite the health issues that she was facing during that time. Throughout their entire existence, the most members they had on their roster was around 80 people but at the very end, it would only be the likes of Rio, Jessica Kizaki, Aika Ando, Rika Kawamura, Rion Sakamoto and 25 more ladies who were fortunate enough to be recognized as the final lineup of the original Ebisu Muscats.

The original Ebisu Muscats ended things on a great note but it didn’t change the fact that the Japanese culture loves the kind of entertainment that they provided their audience. With this being the case, it was only a matter of time before they revived it or made another group that was very much like it. On September 2015, the Pony Canyon label did just that as they created a successor to the group called “Ebisu★Muscats”. Due to the extreme similarity of the new group’s name to the old group’s name, in the month of October 2017, they renamed the new J-Pop group as the Ebisu Muscats 1.5.

The former leaders of the Ebisu Muscats, who are namely Sora Aoi, Yuma Asami, and Tina Yuzuki, all came back to be a part of the new crew. However, they are no longer members of the group but PTA members. Aside from the former leaders who joined the Ebisu Muscats once again, the likes of Mihiro also returned with the new crew. The Ebisu Muscats 1.5’s roster is definitely smaller than the old group’s roster but they are still quite a huge crew considering that there are currently 26 active members of Ebisu Muscats 1.5 including the PTA members. There are many new faces in the group like Aika Usui’s and Rika Usui’s but amongst all the new members, the name Misaki Tamori may ring a bell more than others because she was made an appearance in the reality TV show of Japan called “Terrace House”. Her part on the reality TV show got to document her beginnings with the Ebisu Muscats 1.5 which helped them gain attention from other mediums.

The Discography of The Ebisu Muscats Which Includes Songs like Abayo and Adalah

Maciej Bliziński from Dublin, Ireland [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Ebisu Muscats weren’t just pleasant to the eyes but to the ears as well. They would sing extremely catchy songs that they would perform with subtle yet perfectly fitting moves and it somewhat defined what they offered to the crowd all the more. The first generation of Ebisu Muscats was quite active in releasing music because in the latter years of their run together, they were able to create 9 songs. They released their first song in the year of 2010 which was entitled “Banana Mango” and as mentioned earlier, it was ranked 8th in sales based on the charts of Oricon. That same year, they release 2 more songs which were entitled “OECURA MAMBO/Watashi Manbo” and “Chiyokoreito/Kawaii Koshien”. These songs also placed within the top 20 of the same charts as they ranked 14th and 17th, respectively.

In 2011, the Ebisu Muscats were able to produce songs that were ranked 8th and 28th on Oricon’s singles chart and these songs were “Spring Holiday/Kuchigenka Shinai de” and “Ropponpon Fantasy”. It’s important to note that these rankings are based on the sales of the singles so for it to rank as high as the ones mentioned means that they were able to sell a lot of these singles. They didn’t slow down in the year of 2012 as they would once again release 3 more singles which were entitled “Hani to rappu”, “Oyafuko Beibe”, and “Gyakusou Aidoru”. This batch was hot because all songs fell within the top 15 singles of that year with the first ranking 13th, the second ranking 8th, and the last ranking 7th.

Despite the fact that they disbanded in April of 2013, they were still able to release a single and an album that year. The single was entitled “ABAYO” and it was ranked 22nd on the singles chart. Some may say that this was a disappointment considering the ranking of all the other singles that they have released but the album they released this same year kicked all that doubt away with ease because that album called “Sotugyou Arubamu” ranked 8th on the charts. This particular album was the second and last that was made by the original Ebisu Muscats with the album that they released in the year of 2011 was the very first one for them. That first album was entitled “Za Masukattsu” and it was ranked 17th on the Oricon chart of that year.

The Ebisu Muscats 1.5 has only released a total of 2 singles and 1 album but that should not mean anything negative for them because they were able to produce these creations within their first 3 years. They released the single “TOKYO Sexy Night” in the year of 2015 and another single entitled “Sexy Beach Honeymoon” in the year of 2016. As for their album entitled Kidoairaku, it was released in the year of 2017. The fact that they were able to create good music right off the bat says a lot of how serious they are as a musical group and you can expect more great music to come from them in the near future.

Taking into account all that has been said about both the original Ebisu Muscats and the Ebisu Muscats 1.5, it has become clear that this group has become an icon in the J-Pop industry. Their history and uniqueness have made this possible and they were milking every second of it by taking it as seriously as they can and produce as many catchy songs and dance moves that they can as well. This new batch or generation called the Ebisu Muscats 1.5 have only been active for 3 years now and there is still a lot of upside for them especially because of the experience and guidance that is to them given by their crew, particularly their PTA members who were once the leaders of the first generation of Ebisu Muscats. Great things are in store for you if you are a fan of this group. All that is left for you to do is to continue to support them and wait for them to drop their next gold mine. For all you know, a copy of their newest single or album may be available before June or January of next year.