Afilia Saga East is a café Idol group that is a part of what I call the Neo-Idol [New Idol] Generation. The NIG is a push that is underway of previously underground or independent idols breaking into the media mainstream, thanks in large part to the success of AKB48 opening the doors for other groups to be noticed.
What makes Afilia Saga East different from other traditional idol units on the scene today such as the Hello!Project groups and AKB48 is that they are employees of a café franchise called Afilia. While the members of Afilia Saga East are an idol group that is co-produced by famed voice actress/singer/producer Halko [Momoi Haruko], they also have duties related to being cafe idols. What this means is, if you just happen to enter one of their café’s on a day they are working, you could end up being served a meal and play a game with a member of the group.
To understand the idol group portion, you first have to understand the concept of the Afilia Kingdom. Afilia Kingdom is set up as an imaginary anime role-playing game style magic school and Kingdom world .Each café is a different part of the Kingdom with their own role-playing games and advancement awards. For example in Ikebukuro, Tokyo is the High School .In this café you are greeted by young ‘witches in training’ dressed in their cosplay costumes. Inside this, “school” there is a bookshelf filled with antique magic books. The design of the café is a dimly lit European cottage inn, such as you would see in any film on magic, giving this café a magical feel. In this café and the others in the Afilia Kingdom, you can earn coins and rankings that take you deeper into the kingdom and the games and gifts that each café has.
The members of Afilia Saga East come from the different branches of the Afilia Café franchise.
The Members of Afilia Saga East are
Representing the Afilia Magic High School in Ikebukuro, Tokyo
http://www.afilia.jp/cafe/PictureOfInside.html
http://www.afilia.jp/cafe/Members.html
Aria M. Milvana
Kohime Lit Pucci [Stands 140cm]
Meena M.Frace
Meiry Malonfeel
Louise Sforzur
From the Astronomy Observatory in Roppongi, Tokyo
http://www.afilia.jp/stars/PictureOfInside.html
Ayami Chercy Snow
Rose Gardenfairy
From Afilia Sherrys in Ueno, Tokyo
http://www.afilia.jp/sherrys/Members.html
http://www.afilia.jp/sherrys/PictureOfInside.html
Kurumi Lala Milk
Miku Doll Charlotte
Yukafin Doll
There are currently no members from the Afilia locations outside of Tokyo
Outside of the Café franchise Afilia Saga East are just like any other Idol unit , they perform lives ,have fan events , release singles , music videos , radio show, merchandise sales and a television show on Sky Perfect TV .
Afilia Saga East screams “moe” maybe they are a little too “moe” to make it to the mainstream like the Hello!Project groups or AKB48 . Even if they do not for Afilia Saga East that may not be a bad thing, their system for success is set up differently and is more designed to support their Café franchise magical world .
If they do ,then Afilia Saga East has enough talent to battle any group on the scene today.
Related Links
Afilia Saga East Profiles
Afilia Saga East Blog
[lots of links at the bottom of the blog]
Their fan events are called “Magical Time!” you can watch clips of them here.
http://akiba.tv/afilia/
New Related Post ,
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2010/10/afilia-saga-east-live-events-pv-videos.html
http://pureidolheart.blogspot.com/2010/10/afilia-saga-east-new-members.html
another thing to visit when i go to japan!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that what makes Afilia Saga East different is that they're maids...there have been a lot of maidoru since the 2000s, far more famous (like the girls from @home café, with a lot of well-known units/groups).
ReplyDeleteAkiba-kei idols and local/undergound idols have existed since the late 90s in Akihabara, Nipponbashi, etc. Halko Momoi herself was one of them. They always are very near to their audience, and is easy to meet them in person and see them regularly. Their goal is not to be mainstream idol rivals, but to be famous in the w/otaku environment.
Something special about Afilia girls is that they are "magic students" and not just regular maids, and I think their uniforms and the stories behind their songs are the most interesting!
The thing why i love your blog is that you introduce many new neu idols here.. and i dont have any other source for those and i would like to know a lot more !!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. My goal is to open the door to many idols here.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gaki for all the information!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea how the Afillia café worked... It sounds very different from the usual Japanese maid café.
I also think it's cool how the members come from different cafés.
If i lived in Japan, I'd always be at the Affilia Sherrys, because Yucafin Doll is my favorite. She's so cuuuuuuuteeeeaaa....
But she looks like she's everyone's favorite so, whatever.
I love these member pages as well... they just look so cool, with all these different idol photos... I saved plenty to my HD.
Thank you so much for the article...
Good article, i love this group and wish i can have more access to their info... btw last single is a collabo with none other that Tsunku (producer of hello! project)
ReplyDeleteLebird,
ReplyDeleteIf you ever visit a cafe, I do not think you would have a bad time at any one of them.
Really, each cafe company has their own style and charm. It`s really a heated rivalry between all the different cafe franchises and they are always expanding into different services.
All the members are older then they look by the way, but they just flow with charm.
Kohime is the group's official mascot and loves pandas, which is why you will see pandas in the videos and stuff.
If you go to their blog, you can find even more photos, they love taking pictures.
Shura,
If you go to the groups home page ,on the front page ,they play a preview of the single ,it`s very Hello!Project ,Tsunku style.