Tuesday, October 21, 2014

St. Bonapro School Closes


St. Bonapro School (or St. Bonapro Gakuen, as it's pronounced in Japanese) is an idol group that was formed by BONAMII Inc. (Bonamii Model Production) in 2013 with seven members.  The group's YouTube channel debuted on May 29, 2013 and the digital download (no CD, unfortunately) for their first single, "St. Bonapro School", appeared on June 30, followed by a YouTube video on July 5.  St. Bonapro School's second single, "Yumemiru Carnival", followed the same pattern, with a digital download debuting on August 31 and the YouTube video on September 12.  In the early part of December Marumoto Rin joined the group, writing in the group blog for the first time on December 8.  The eight member lineup didn't last long as Ishikura Miyuu and Yoshikawa Rio graduated on December 21, 2013.  2014 saw the debut of a tennis-themed subunit named Yellow Ball with the youngest members, Mafune Nono and Rin.  New members joined and old members graduated, with sisters Ishikawa Suzuka and Yumeka leaving in April, and Yoda Ayaka officially leaving in June (although her activities with the group stopped sometime before this).  Sakurai Rico and Nono eventually became the last of the original seven to stay with the group.  One new member, Ohashi Remi, was a member of St. Bonapro School for only two months before she graduated.

Two important announcements were made yesterday on Twitter by members of St. Bonapro School.  The first was from Rico, who announced the group was breaking up after their 11th One Man Live on November 24, 2014.  The second was from Rin, who said she was leaving the group on October 23.  The girls and the staff thanked everyone for their support, and apologized for the sudden announcement.  At the end of next month only Rico and Nono can claim to have stayed with St. Bonapro School for the entire 18 months of the group's existence, with Rin claiming the second longest tenure of any member.

I became aware of this group some months ago.  Someone linked the video for "Yumemiru Carnival" on a forum of a French website I use.  I didn't really like the song at first, thinking it was too electronic.  I did like the girls, though, as they are very cute.  Rico in particular has an incredible voice, and she's very beautiful for her age.  I should have watched St. Bonapro School's self-named debut song to see what else the group had to offer, but I didn't until two-and-a-half months ago when the same person on the French forum (which thankfully allows English language comments) linked the video for that.  "St. Bonapro School" is a great song, and it hasn't left my head ever since I heard it.  I wanted to slap myself for ignoring this group based on one song that I didn't care for.  I listed to "Yumemiru Carnival" again and it grew on me.  I then had to check out the other videos on their YouTube channel.  The live videos feature excerpts of three songs, with about two minutes of each song heard.  The only live video you can hear the whole of is a graduation song sung for Miyuu and Rio, although some of the members are crying and can't get the words out.  I should have written about St. Bonapro School long before this, but kept putting it off.  I doubt that an article in English would have kept this cute idol group from breaking up, but maybe if I had written this over a month ago I would have made more people aware of them before this sudden news.

"St. Bonapro School"


"Yumemiru Carnival" 




Members: 

Sakurai Rico 
Born on May 3, 2002 
Nickname: Ritchan 
Hometown: Tokyo 
143 cm 
Blood Type: O 

Mafune Nono 
Born on July 8, 2004 
Nickname: Nono
Hometown: Kanagawa Prefecture 
125 cm 
Blood Type: B 

Imamura Misato 
Born on April 8, 2003 
Nickname: Mi~pi 
Hometown: Saitama Prefecture 
148 cm 
Blood Type: Unknown 

Amano Mimi 
Born on November 10, 2001 
Nickname: Mimipyon 
Hometown: Tokyo 
153 cm 
Blood Type: A 

Amano Misaki 
Born on March 9, 2005 
Nickname: Misaki 
Hometown: Tokyo 
136 cm 
Blood Type: A 

Akai Sakura 
Born on November 20, 2004 
Nickname: Sakupon 
Hometown: Hokkaido 
131 cm 
Blood Type: O 

Graduated Members: 

Ishikura Miyuu
Born on December 26, 2002 
Nickname: Miyuyu 
Hometown: Kanagawa Prefecture 
139 cm 
Blood Type: Unknown 
Graduated on December 21, 2013  

Yoshikawa Rio 
Born on March 14, 2003 
Nickname: Rio 
Hometown: Chiba Prefecture 
133 cm 
Blood Type: Unknown
Graduated on December 21, 2013 

Ishikawa Suzuka 
Born on January 8, 2002 
Nickname: 
Hometown: Yamaguchi Prefecture 
143 cm 
Blood Type: O 
Graduated in April 2014  

Ishikawa Yumeka 
Born on December 16, 2003 
Nickname: Yumerin 
Hometown: Yamaguchi Prefecture 
132 cm 
Blood Type: O 
Graduated in April 2014 

Yoda Ayaka 
Born on February 23, 2004 
Nickname: Ayaya 
Hometown: Yamanashi Prefecture 
133 cm 
Blood Type: O 
Graduated in June 2014, although she stopped her activities with the group sometime earlier.    

Ohashi Remi 
Born on May 31, 2003 
Nickname: Remimin 
Hometown: Tokyo 
142 cm 
Blood Type: A 
Graduated on August 31, 2014

Marumoto Rin 
Born on April 23, 2005 
Nickname: Rinrin 
Hometown: Kanagawa Prefecture 
131 cm 
Blood Type: B 
Graduated on October 23, 2014

Singles: 

"St. Bonapro School" (June 30, 2013, mp3 download; July 5, 2013, YouTube video) 
"Yumemiru Carnival" (August 31, 2013, mp3 download; September 12, 2013, YouTube video)