じ――ンಠ_ಠ。。。

I’m not even kidding. This last month and a half I’ve been on a total Perfume high. Not that I’m saying that I just discovered them (I would say my following started circa 2006 with their Best album), but with all the hub-bub in the news lately surrounding the girls (hello, Kouhaku Utaga, Budokaaaaaaaan, and 1st photobook), I’ve quickly gone mad in Perfume fandom. It also helps that they’re mesmerisingly beautiful and have catchy songs with intricate dance routines. So why do I like them out of all the other girly j-pop idol-esque groups?

Since I’m too lazy to whip out a fancy pants introduction, here’s a small video that pretty much sums up their history. (WARNING: Episodes of BAAAAWWWWW)

During the time A~chan and Kashiyuka were in Hiroshima Actor’s School, they wanted to start a pop unit. They were all big fans of girl groups like SPEED. So the two, and former short-time member, Kawashima Yuuka, created Perfume (香), deriving from the kanji in each of their names. However, Kawashima left to focus on school work, so A~chan invited Nocchi to join, who was also in the school. Obviously they still kept the name Perfume, in which A~chan later explains that “perfume can make people comfortable or pleasant and we hope to be like it”.

As for the girls themselves…

Nishiwaki Ayaka (西脇 綾香) a.k.a. A~chan
DOB: Feb. 15, 1989
Blood Type: A
Height: 160cm
Favorites: Laughing, Talking, Walking, Make-up
Hobbies: flowers, racing, *kirakira*-ing, Mascara, Pink pajamas, gathering things (I swear, this is from her blog)
Skills: Health “otaku”

The youngest out of the group, A~chan is probably the most talkative and charismatic, as far as public speaking goes. She’s usually the one that talks for the group when needed during interviews. Her knack for humor ranges from a “dumbe blonde” to genius. Sweet and kind in nature, she’s probably the most open member. Arguably the most skilled singer (my proof would be this video). A majority of the time she wears dresses in front of the camera. Incidently, her younger sister, Nishiwaki Sayaka, is also a member of an idol group called 9nine.

Kashino Yuka (樫野 有香) a.k.a. Kashiyuka/ksyk
DOB: Dec. 23, 1988 (Today! 誕生日おめ～)
Blood Type: A
Height: 161cm
Favorites: Music, Books, Walking, Sleeping
Hobbies: Ice cream, hair care/styling, pretty accessories, photography
Skills: Hiding things(?), replying to email

She seems to be very enthusiastic about all things Perfume and quite proud to be part of the group. I would say that she gives the group that extra cuteness, as she has a very cute personality and soft, breathy voice herself; gives off a sense of moe. She seems to be the most composed and polite of the three. She loves animals and has two hamsters named Choro-chan and Fu-kun, whom she adores. She hates vegetables and has a sweet tooth. Her fashion sense is quite broad, sporting many fashionable skirts and boots to show off her fabulous legs. She has a knack for pulling off flawless zettai ryouki. It has been said that KREVA is a big fan of Perfume, Kashiyuka in particular.

Oomoto Ayano (大本 彩乃) a.k.a. Nocchi
DOB: Sept. 20, 1988
Blood Type: A
Height: 163cm
Favorites: Music, manga, concert DVDs, curry rice
Hobbies: Reading manga craploads of manga
Specialty: Remembering all the essential amino acids and saying all the number units really fast (…)

Nocchi is the oldest of the group. Seemingly shy at the start, she has grown up to be more outgoing and attractive. She still is quite eccentric and dorky at times; she reads manga, go figure. Sometimes she’s seen as tomboyish, since her voice is a tad deeper than the others (she even played all the boy roles during the reverse part of the Love Dojo segment on Perfume’s past talk show, Happy! [which is still up on Veoh]) Nevertheless, fans often regard her to have grown to be quite alluring and sexy, wearing shorts in many of her media appearances; very attractive thighs, I’d say. Many fans say she’s easy to relate to.

Others that have contributed to Perfume’s success:

Yasutaka Nakata – He formed his techno duo capsule with Kojishima Toshiko in the early millennium; he produced the music while Toshiko sang. Their latest albums, MORE!MORE!MORE! managed to place in the Oricon Top 10. Perfume’s major producer and has composed songs for them since their Linear Motor Girl single in 2005. He has also worked with other techno artists like MEG and Suzuki Ami under his own label called contemode.

Official Website for capsule

Mizuno Mikiko – Often called simply MIKIKO, she has been one of Amuse (their agency)’s choreographers, as well one for Hiroshima Actors School, and has been creating the intricate choreography Perfume is known for since Chocolate Disco. In one of the backstage segments of NHK’s coverage for their Budokaaaaaaan concert, she describes how the dances look simple at first, but it’s actually very complex and those who have tried to learn it would understand (and I second those sentiments). The girls put her in high regard, as Nocchi says that with her it seems like there are not just three members in Perfume, but four. In addition to being a choreographer, she is also skilled in Stage Directing (as shown in Perfume’s concerts and the stage play Proto-Shop-Band) and Art Directing (Cathy Hair Show in NY). Many Perfume fans refer to her as god (神).

MIKIKO’s Official Website @ Amuse

2008 has been a major year for them. With their huge break with Polyrhythm in 2007, they were catapulted into various big events this year. Since then several singles released (with love the world reaching a record breaking #1 on Oricon in July, the first techno single to top in 25 years and first one in Japan history to get #1; and their most recent single, Dream Fighter, reaching #2, if not for UVERworld). They released their second album GAME, which also have several new songs for the first time. This led to their 1st big tour with the same title as their album, later receiving a DVD release due to popular demand and reached #1 on the DVD charts, surpassing both Koda Kumi and Namie Amuro. They were also the first techno group to perform at Rock in Japan Festival. Towards the end of the year, they got nominated as one of the contestants for the 59th Kouhaku Utagassen, a big honor as the show represents the top artists of the year in Japan (Tohoshinki and Jero were among those included). Finally, one of their wishes was granted, as they perfomed, not once, but twice at the Budokan arena–the first time for their 2-days concert on Nov. 6 & 7 and the 2nd time for the Act Against AIDS concert on Dec. 1st. On Dec. 17th, they released their first official photobook called Perfume Portfolio.

Throughout the year, they snagged various endorsement contracts and opportunities after Polyrhythm’s co-op with the NHK Recycling Campaign. The biggest one being with Eskimo Pino ice cream, where their Secret Secret PV largely revolved around and continues to be one of my favorite PVs from Perfume. The pino website has also updated, themed with Dream Fighter’s c/w song, Negai. They have also done endorsements for Nike (above), Sony PSP and Sony Vaio. They even ranked #10  in the CM Talent Top 10 from the CM NOW magazine. Porno Graffiti got them to cameo in one of their PVs for one of their songs, Itai tachi ichi (痛い立ち位置). The full PV keeps getting pulled off, so you can see the short part with the girls singing a small bit of it. [Edit] A full PV can be found here.

If you’d like to know more about Perfume, there are tons of videos on YouTube, Nico and other video sites. The BEE-HIVE webcam videos are quite interesting if you’d like to take a peek into their early day. You can also see uploads of their many interviews (the one above I found to be very amusing) and their Happy! variety show, as well as their newest Q&A round table show, Perfume no Kininaru ko-chan (Perfumeの気になる子ちゃん). Be sure to check out the following links as well!

Perfume Official Site @ Amuse

Perfume City (fansite; check out their forum, too!)

Monochrome Effect (fansite)

It’s been 8 long years for their launch into massive stardom. Here’s to the promising future of near-future techno sound Perfume!