If there’s one constant in the world of Japanese idols, it’s that everything changes quickly. That is especially true in the underground world of chika idols, an interesting subculture where groups perform three times a week on some basement stage in front of the same 20 to 50 people, all while making a part-time living. In this context, we say goodbye to some chika formations who managed to survive those dynamics for many, many years, but now cease their activities.
December 3rd, 2026: AKIARIM
After nearly seven years active, the girls from AKIARIM will indefinitely suspend their activities with a final showcase at Shibuya Star Lounge. Until that day comes, they will keep doing what they have been doing since February 24th, 2020: performing three times a week on average and entertaining their loyal fans. It really is an achievement, if you take into account that these five members basically kicked out their own management and left their agency to become truly self-produced idols.
Let’s start at the beginning. February 2020, in case people have started to forget, was the final month before the Covid-19 pandemic turned the world upside down. This was a hard time for performing artists, as lockdowns made it impossible for idols to meet their fans. It was at that moment that Mee, Kotono, Reina, and Ruka were launched by Echord Entertainment as AKIARIM. As a pop-rock girl group, they were kind of the continuation of FLOWLIGHT, at least in spirit.
Only Kotono had been a member of FLOWLIGHT until its disbandment in December 2019. She had also been a member of the J-pop idols Karen-cies for a few months, but Echord saw more possibilities with her in a pop-rock unit. Then came Mee from the metal group ShiX, where she was the vocal ace of. Reina‘s first idol stint was in the second line-up of Shuuengo Buppan, which was later renamed Sandal Telephone. Ruka might be the odd one in this team. Her history consists of METROPOLIS, Shoujo Koukyoukyoku ~GirlsSymphony~ and MUCHA BRIS, but I got to know her as one of the back-up dancers of GACHARIC SPIN in 2018. At the time of her recruitment for AKIARIM, she was still under contract in a different agency, but they nevertheless allowed her to participate in this new project.
The bottom line is, these four have been struggling to find a steady place in the Tokyo entertainment industry before being brought together as AKIARIM. And with a pandemic stopping everything for what felt like an eternity, it’s almost miraculous how AKIARIM became that solid of a basis for them.
So, most of 2020 has to be spent in hiding. A few gigs here and there, including releasing the mini album “Action!” in October. Four of the five songs get a video release, which helps them establish a name for themselves. And, as soon as live shows are possible again in June 2021, they take the odd step of recruiting two more members during a time when most chika idol groups have to disband…
Chinatsu started her career in the adequately named Pink Babies, a junior idol group with members aged between 13 and 17, and where Kotono also took her first steps in. Saya came in from Pimm’s, where she was mainly rapping.
So most people got to know AKIARIM as a six-piece. With each member having their own role and image, the group found an internal balance that showed on stage. All the girls could sing, but Mee‘s vocal power could lift the roof from a venue. Stage choreography gave more room to Kotono and Ruka, who were being presented as the main dancers of the group by giving them solos. They all dance, they all sing, but the balance between those two is a bit different for all of them, creating an interesting dynamic. They performed in different parts of Japan while working towards the release of their debut album “All is well” in June of 2022.
But at the time of the release, it was announced that Chinatsu, Mee, and Saya would leave the group in September. Somehow, this didn’t become the group’s final destination. Many production companies usually call it quits two years after releasing an album if their vocal ace steps down. But not this once, as two new members were recruited, and AKIARIM continued as five.
Nanae and Risa both come from PUNKY RAD PINK, another Tokyo-based pop rock chika group where they had been founding members on. Risa had a background in SO.ON project as well, the official idol club of the Osaka School of Music. They were solid picks, one could say.
This was the line-up I had the privilege to see perform live twice, back in December 2024. I was just a simpleton who loved rock idols with their basic audience participation in the form of fistpumps and the occasional clapping. Somehow, AKIARIM managed to combine creative on-stage choreography with this type of fan participation. You could enjoy AKIARIM from the back of the room with a beer on hand, or endulge in the full-on “oner” fan experience without difficult initiation rituals, and anything in between. Even though they played two completely different sets of songs both times I attended their taibans, my favorite track was not among them. Still, I was not disappointed at all. Then, with two 2-shot chekis with Kotono (one in a Christmas outfit) in my luggage, I headed back home.
Half a year later, the girls dropped a bomb. They haven’t been paid for months, and they will cut ties with their management and leave their agency. How did they manage to get the rights to the group name, the songs, and the usage of backing tracks? My guess is that the mismanagement truly was accidental and not a deliberate attempt to gain a living over the back of hard-working performers. Their management publicly acknowledged that they failed them and agreed to the new set-up. Within a month, AKIARIM became a completely self-produced group, with the members themselves now responsible for everything—booking, planning, outfits, new song material, choreography, but also artist management.
In a “by-the-way” byline, they also announced that they will end activities in December 2026.
What strikes me the most is how these girls take care of each other. Nanae‘s health problems, caused by the stressful situation generated by the management, were the reason behind this monumental decision. Kotono and Reina drew a line there, and decided that their independance was the only way to get Nanae back on her feet. Since then, the girls urge each other to skip a show or two if they’re feeling unwell or having a fever. In the summer of 2025, AKIARIM showed that it’s a bastion of girl power in the uncertain world of chika groups—a beacon of self care, and hopefully a shining example for other aspiring idols.
A year of intensive live schedules followed the announcement, with Kotono as the leader of the business aspects of the group. The members got more room to develop as individual artists too: Ruka doing side shows as a singer-songwriter, Reina as choreographer, Kotono through acting work, Reina and Nanae as lyricists. Not that much new material gets published, only the single “JION” marking their status as self-produced group, and recently “BLOWOUT!” just six weeks before their disbandment. But they managed to work three shows a week with their existing song material, with a dedicated following called “oner” showing up loyally. Those fans are loud, sporting the colors of their favorite member, but also very open to newcomers, like this shy half-Swede way past his midlife crisis.
I wonder what those fans will do. For most of them, attending an AKIARIM live is their entire social life. With many people living alone in Tokyo, in combination with hard work ethics, idols are often the only form of entertainment and interaction they engage with. I’m also curious to see what will become of the girls. Mind you, they’re still pretty young, with an average age of 26. Post-idol careers can include becoming the vocalist of a rock band, becoming a solo artist, taking up artist and idol concept management, or withdrawing completely from public status and building a family. Whatever the future holds, I hope they’ll find the happiness and love they have managed to spread themselves during their seven years as AKIARIM and idol careers that span twelve to fourteen years. Yes, they have grown up as idols, having spent half their lifes performing on stage. That’s an incredible achievement, and I can only thank them for their hard work.
Is this the end of AKIARIM? Actually, it isn’t. They will cease activities, stop performing, and won’t release new material anymore. But they’re not actually disbanding. AKIARIM will still exist, even without activities. The bond between the members seems eternal. These five, and even the former members, are part of a unique group that spread joy, built a small community and left dozens of videos and music tracks for new and old fans alike to go back to. As long as someone thinks about AKIARIM, the group is still there. I’ll do my best to do my part.