As an old lady that’s loyal to all things of the past, I find that the Reiwa era of Gyaru is somewhat awkward to me. Perhaps I am old and jaded but I think I’m just wise enough to know better. The effects of the idol boom and the Hallyu wave along with the rise of social media platforms have truly left a large imprint on any sort of revival that has occurred in the past four to five years. Despite all of that, sometimes I see glimmers of hope or an attempt at something that could have great potential if placed into the right hands.
Koakuma Ageha for instance had a pretty strong first revival when they included their OG models that helped make the magazine to start with. However, where they failed is a critical part of why the second Koakuma Ageha revival didn’t leave as strong of an impact. How the hell can you fill the shoes of a model that’s been the face of your magazine for over ten years and lasted through a magazine death? Ageha did not prepare themselves for a predecessor to pass down Sakurai Rina’s crown. In turn, the magazine lacked a memorable charisma model that could have potentially been hyped up by her senpai. The glamor of blinged-out swallowtail gowns and large hair sets have been traded out for bodycon style dresses that look like a titty could fall out any minute. Agejo brands that have remained alive thanks to the previous revenue of their sub-brands have shifted towards ryousangata and jirai-kei styles. Thus, all of these styles feel like a handbook to attract men rather than Gyaru wearing garb to feel powerful and attractive to themselves.
The same could be said for the revived Reiwa-era Egg magazine. Seeing the girls introduce themselves with idol-like introductions (hand sign included) to someone impactfully as iconic to the Para Para world as Satoko of the Para Para All Stars unit just felt off to me. Especially given how Aina Tanaka and Kanako Kawabata would introduce themselves to reporters who delved into their world to get a glimpse of the Gyaru lifestyle for television.
Reiwa gals feel more like Gyaru-themed idols rather than charisma gals and I think that’s the biggest problem. There’s a lack of charisma that thrived in the Heisei era of Gyaru. Scripted reality TV shows on YouTube, cutesy idol-esque renditions of old Para Para songs, and prank videos with bad taste plague the new Egg magazine. To make matters worse, they do not have clothes made for them anymore like they did when Shibuya 109 was thriving as a Gyaru mall. The exclusivity of what made Gyaru stand out and feel different is lost in hypebeast items and Shein coordinates. The overuse of neon print at this point makes my head spin.
Popteen is entirely an irrelevant magazine when it comes to Gyaru fashion. I walked into Kinokuniya with a friend and we both thought the same thing, “Where the heck did the flavor go?” I suppose it’s a great magazine if you’re a teenager but I see nothing worth flipping through compared to my May 2007 Popteen.
However, I am old. This perhaps just isn’t catered to my era anymore in order to really appreciate it in the way that it’s meant to be. But then I’m confused as to why everyone always looks back on the good old days with such fond eyes when there is no actual effort to properly bring it back…?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxn6g2OmiHw&list=PL-Vr83_uE87Thgo6mzwqd-isIk03CwSyA&index=9
There are some positive aspects or attempts that have been made that I can see that have very slow movement: Avex attempted to have a fourth queen to follow in the footsteps of the other three. However, she hasn’t gained the same momentum in the way her senpai have. I do see hints of what they were trying for with Kalen Anzai. First and foremost, she debuted with songs that were produced by HAL, similarly to Ayumi Hamasaki who Kalen then took the role on of in the popular J-Drama series “M” which was kind of a cheesily interpreted biopic about the Queen of J-Pop’s Life and her previous relationship with her producer. Unfortunately, it was released during the pandemic’s peak, and talk about it being super strange to see a ton of promotions for “M” everywhere in Shibuya only for it to not be airing because of filming restrictions.
All in all, Kalen lacks the charisma or skillset to truly fill the shoes of Ayumi Hamasaki and I think even the directors of the drama knew so as well-having her only cover Keiko of Globe vocals with “Departures” but making her lip-sync to any of Ayumi Hamasaki’s songs. I see the potential but I feel like Kalen will have to be her own thing and I don’t know if that would work specifically for the Gyaru market. The Reiwa Egg magazine had her on the back of every single cover whether it be for Mac Cosmetics or for Tower Records, hence why I truly think they were trying to make Kalen the next big thing.
Currently, Avex is underwater with bankruptcy and has recently merged with Johnny’s Entertainment to stay afloat, thus, many of their up-and-coming artists, or the ones who do not sell well, are most likely barely keeping their head above water.
However, Ayumi Hamasaki despite the deterioration in her vocal abilities due to hearing loss and her age (which occasionally has faced some criticism), she still has been performing and lately, has been looking more Gyaru than ever, which is interesting to witness given that I thought that she’d be the last person to push for a Gyaru revival in that way. But I suppose, the time is as good as ever given that Namie Amuro retired from the entertainment industry back in 2018 and Koda Kumi is basically Ayumi’s only competition in regards to legacy acts that are a part of Avex. Say a lot given A-Nation, a very popular summer music festival that used to be the place to see all of your favorite J-Pop acts in the same place. Nowadays, I’ve noticed there are more K-Pop headliners at A-Nation than Japanese ones. Though I do see LDH pushing through strongly with the baby Exile Tribe groups in a move to keep the Japanese side of things alive still.
So what artists do Reiwa Gyaru even like if there’s not much of a Popteen presence or “it-girl” anymore? There are several acts that I can see appealing to Gyaru that are currently relevant outside of Egg and Black Diamond’s attempts to push cutesy idol careers on girls that just happen to have tan skin. While the rapper Chanmina doesn’t identify with the label Gyaru, I’ve seen many Gyaru enjoy her music. Understandably so given the fact that fans of more adult-oriented music haven’t been given something this strong in quite a long while. The South Korean and Japanese rapper has a boss bitch attitude and has fought tooth and nail to secure her place in the industry as expressed by songs like, “Bijin” that express that she didn’t fit the ideal beauty standard that was set for girls in the industry.
However, I find that she probably held the most impact and proven to be quite successful even outside of Japan given that she has been granted collaborations with other artists from overseas. Regardless, I’ve seen various Gyaru on TikTok using her music for their videos and I’m quite shocked that Egg magazine hasn’t reached out to her given her relevant star status in the industry versus someone like Doja Cat who definitely should be a featured artist in the music section of the magazine but that I find it difficult for Japanese Gyaru to replicate both musically and stylistically. Especially since they’ve gone a much cuter and meeker route than the previous generation of Egg gals in the 2000s.
The second set of artists that I have seen silently go under the radar that deserved more attention in the music is the group BananaLemon. They’re a diverse set of girls who have definitely honed in on the “girl-crush” concept that was much needed in Japan given the appeal to Korean YG signed artists such as BlackPink and previously, 2NE1. It conveyed that there was interest there, and much like Faky, BananaLemon struggled to stay afloat and are considered freelance artists on several occasions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-2z46wOxTQ
What makes BananaLemon Gyaru to me personally is the fact that musically, the lyrics mention slaying the streets of Shibuya with their girls in songs like “Girls Gone Wild” and not changing for anyone. They also did a cute cover melody of several iconic R&B songs both from America and from Japan-all while wearing trendy items from 109 department store such as BabyShoop and the infamous Kiko x Esperanza Gyaru throwback boots that sent every Gyaru into a wild buying frenzy and basically conveyed to 109-there was a market for this shit: People were willing to buy Gyaru-style items. Just nothing was being made for that market despite the demand and it still remains this way to this day given the influx of pricing and how swiftly Gyaru branded clothes from defunct stores are quickly bought on second hand buying sites.
I personally see so much potential with BananaLemon if they were marketed properly and had a consistent member lineup. It’s yet again, another missed opportunity for Egg magazine to feature local talent rather than push their models into short-lived entertainment careers.
The pandemic also led to more people having time to really delve into things they may have stumbled across through swiping through TikTok or trying things that they always wanted to but never had the time for. This happened with both Gyaru fashion and ParaPara. Several Japanese Gyaru and Gyaruo have appeared in videos in which they participate in video trends or do Para Para routines.
Egg magazine also hopped onto the hype by creating the Reiwa unit of Para Para Dancers consisting of models Ayaka, Seina, and Nagi. Avex was also attempting to do an old-school revival themselves, by releasing old Para Para routine videos on YouTube during the lockdown and having the cluster of artists that they did have, cover old songs to showcase for the Ayumi Hamasaki J-Drama. Some of these songs were even featured in the Reiwa Para Para Dancers routine video which consisted not only of Eurobeat classics such as Try Me, Dejavu, and Velfarre but also featured straight up Avex J-Pop by consisting of Faky’s, “New Age”, several Ayumi Hamasaki classics such as “Depend on You” and “Boys and Girls” alongside the track that was featured for “M: Aisubeki hito ga Ite” that was a cluster of Avex signed artists (lol, Faky, FEMM, Kalen Anzai) called “Can’t Stop This” which had samples of the TRF classic, “Easy do Dance”.
All of this displays why Avex and J-Music culture were rather relevant to Gyaru in the past and it was extremely necessary to have it be a part of the new era of Gyaru. Especially when the new era idolized the 90s and early 2000s so fervently. However, this new wave of making the old new again ended up missing the mark due to a lack of proper charisma gals who were truly enthused and had a genuine connection to these old relics. It didn’t hit on the same level but maybe it is too crazy to expect new kids to fill the very large shoes of people who were iconic in that time period and left a lasting impact that would grow to be memorable far off into the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkkamh7M4c4
Outside of Avex-based works, ParaPara also was gaining a resurgence in strange ways. HyposisMic has been relatively popular (though I personally can’t seem to grasp the concept of HypMic) as it involved a battle of the bands situation but with idols. So with this concept kept in mind, “ParaHosu” was created in which host club boys battle out specific ParaPara routines and songs best suited for their respective clubs. Eurobeat staples such as, “Night of Fire” and “Beat of the Rising Sun” or included alongside a strange Eurobeat rendition of L’arc-En-Ciel’s, “Ready Steady Go” among some other songs.