Girls Band Cry introduces its newest band, Kuzumimizuku
The Girls Band Cry First Riff line-up has a fifth group: Kuzumimizuku, who arrive with a debut single, a free practice live in Daikanyama on 18 October and a guest slot at November's arena show.
Girls Band Cry has a new band. Toei Animation and DONUTS have revealed Kuzumimizuku, the newest group in the Girls Band Cry First Riff line-up, with a debut single, a free practice live in Tokyo on 18 October and a guest slot at the franchise's arena show in November.
Five members and their own website
Kuzumimizuku are An on vocals and guitar, Mana on guitar and vocals, Aina on bass, Noa on drums and Kaya on keyboards. The band has its own official site and X account, and each member has an individual X and Instagram account. The group also has a page of its own on the First Riff site, sitting alongside Togenashi Togeari, Canna Lily and F-272.
A first single, and a show the same day
Kuzumimizuku's debut digital single, Hane ga Haeta Riyu (羽が生えた理由), is released on 18 October, with a music video still in production. That afternoon the band plays Kuzumimizuku in Training! Open Practice Live at Daikanyama SPACE ODD, with doors at 16:45 for a 17:30 start, standing only and a 700 yen drink charge on the door. Entry is free but by lottery, and applications run from 20:00 on 3 October to 23:59 on 10 October.
Next stop, an arena
The bigger booking comes on 3 November, when Kuzumimizuku appear as guests at the Girls Band Cry Special LIVE 赤色の響祭 at Pia Arena MM in Yokohama, sharing the bill with Togenashi Togeari, Diamond Dust, Canna Lily and F-272. Doors open at 17:00 for an 18:00 start, and a First Riff advance lottery for tickets runs from 20:00 on 3 October until 23:59 on 12 October. Children under school age cannot attend, and everyone aged six or over needs a ticket.
Our opinion
Fictional bands attached to music franchises usually arrive fully formed, with an album, a back catalogue and a tidy piece of invented history ready to go. Kuzumimizuku are being introduced the other way round. The practice live comes before the single, the single comes with a video that does not exist yet, and the members' individual social accounts went live before anyone had heard a note. That is either confident or completely backwards, and the 18 October date suggests the band will be judged on a short set in a small room rather than on a polished campaign. The details are the tell: a free lottery for the show, a 700 yen drink charge at the door, and a guest slot in November alongside the groups the audience already knows. Sending a new act out to earn an audience in public is the slow way to launch a band, and for a group that is meant to feel like a band rather than a product line, the slow way is probably the right one.