Atarashii Gakko no Leaders !

Atarashii Gakko Graphic

An extensive guide for ATARASHII GAKKO ! Have any questions about them? Check the creator's retrospring and curiouscat that were made for answering questions about the group

FAST NAVIGATION !! "Who are they?" / Info about the members / Evolution / Discography / Resources / Highlights & Random Facts / Photo Gallery


"Who exactly is Atarashii Gakko?"

Atarashii Gakko is a 4-person vocal and performance unit that was formed in July of 2015. Their names are SUZUKA, MIZYU, KANON, and RIN . Their name in Japanese translates directly to "New School Leaders," but in English, there is a "no" between it. With that, it makes their name sound like "Atarashii Gakko no Leaders." There is no leader of the group (despite much misinformation), all of them are their own leader in a way.

The concept of their group is meant to be about individuality. If we got into a more descriptive sense, it's about sticking out with individuality while living in the confines of society as an student. They are representatives of the youth of Japan, which can be seen between their uniforms to delving deep into their songs.

Let's talk about their genre of music! They don't really have one, or better said, they don't stick to just one. Some, if not most, of these genres are merged together. Some genres in their music are J-POP, punk, hip-hop, rock, jazz, etc. It's almost impossible to reel them into just any genre, and that's how its supposed to be.

Their outfits are that of a sailor-fuku, having long skirts and pulled up socks which were worn by Japanese students back in the 70's and 80's. They're meant to refuse the taint of being objectified by such. In that case, there's also the way they perform. They perform their songs and moves the way they do to break the norm made in the West of Asian women being "fragile, delicate, quiet, and obedient." In a sense, the group is more keen on being "anti-idol."

They are also described as a “retro” group from some others. This is due to the references of old genres in Japan that they have in many of their songs. Such as Amayo no Seppun, the word Janome (蛇の目) is used in the song. Janome dates back to an traditional umbrella that was used in Japan through the 1800’s-1950’s. Their outfits are also considered old, as Japanese students used to wear them in the 70's and 80's.

"What about the members themselves?"

They all have some things they like and have different thoughts within each other. A look at this is their 50 questions video, although some may be unable to know what they're saying, so here's an english subbed version of their 50 questions video! Although, the video is pretty old, so some things like their ages and such have changed. Here's a more recent interview from 99.7 NOW, where they ask about the member's individual hobbies and the group itself!

Firstly, SUZUKA. Her real name is Kanazawa Suzuka and she was born in Osaka, Japan. She's currently 22 years old and her birth date is November 21, 2001. Her blood type is A and her zodiac sign is Sagittarius. She is also 168 cm (5 ft 6.1 in (the tallest!)) SUZUKA enjoys drawing pictures, she has an art Instagram where she shows them! SUZUKA attended Caless Vocal & Dance School Osaka, alongside her two sisters, SAKIKA (Kanazawa Sakika) and Momoka. SAKIKA was a member and vocalist of a group called GIRLFRIEND, which had disbanded in 2021. Their eldest sister, Momoka, works in the media team for the website TABI LABO. She also had used to perform with her two older sisters!

SUZUKA in April 2023 (this year

Secondly, MIZYU. Her real name is Ishii Mizuki and she was born in Tokyo, Japan. She's currently 25 years old and her birth date is December 22, 1998. Her blood type is B and her zodiac sign is Capricorn. She is also 151 cm (4 ft 11.4 in (the shortest!)) MIZYU has some experience as a dancer, as she was part of the dance group ABC under DSK and a former "Kyary Kidz" (background dancer for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu). She is also currently still good friends with the former TEMPURA KIDZ member, AO (Sekiguchi Ao). She also used to be a child model, with some photos posted on Instagram!

MIZYU in April 2023 (this year)

Third, KANON. Her real name is Kimura Kanon and she was born in Gunma, Japan. She's currently 22 years old and her birth date is January 18, 2002. Her blood type is B and her zodiac sign is Capricorn. She is also
153 cm (5 ft 0.2 in). KANON likes baking and cooking food, also eating it too! She also likes to read manga! She used to be part of a dance group called PiNK! where they would compete in contests. You can read some more about her based on these two articles for her (both in Japanese ! ➔ Kanata12 and Dobuku21) !

KANON in April 2023 (this year)

Finally, RIN. Her real name is Nagasawa Rin and she was born in Saitama, Japan. She's currently 22 years old and her birth date is September 11, 2001. Her blood type is A and her zodiac sign is Virgo. She is also 154 cm (5 ft 0.6 in.) RIN tends to change her hair style a lot, she's had many hair changes over the past years... She was a 1st generation idol at DSK, and which she also became a junior model for DANSTREET in 2014 seen here! She has also worked on the instrumentals in some of their songs, as she is a DJ herself. She likes to eat and cook!

RIN in April 2023 (this year)

Evolution

The group was founded in 2015 and managed by Asobi System. When they were first starting, barely any public information was released for them due to them all being underage. All that was known was that they decided to form the group together, and that the four had come up with the concept themselves. Many didn't even know their ages until 2020.

  • Note: Their birthdays were known in 2019, but not their ages. Although their ages were publicly said in live events and performances during the end of 2019, they weren't posted on their website until 2020.

ATARASHII GAKKO's first ever song was 噛むとフニャン tofubeats Remix (Kamu to Funyan tofubeats Remix) which was released on July 12, 2015. Later on, they made their Japanese debut in June 7, 2017 under Victor Entertainment with the single 毒花 (Dokubana)

On July 19, they had performed for their 5th anniversary. That performance is the one that let 88rising discover them! They've also made about several collaborations with different soloists and groups. Some of these groups and soloists are:

  • Klang Ruler
  • H ZETTRIO
  • MAYUMURA
  • URBANGARDE
  • Shingo Katori

In 2020, they had signed with 88rising. They went on to debut at the Double Happiness Global Holiday Festival on December 2, 2020.

Then on January 6, 2021, ATARASHII GAKKO uploaded a video commemorating their first Seishun Academy episode reaching 1,000,000 views. It was the first video of theirs that featured them that has reached that milestone!

Soon enough, ATARASHII GAKKO made their international debut under the label 88rising on January 20, 2021 with the song NAINAINAI. Since then, they've been creating songs under 88rising, with their digital album "SNACKTIME" and their EP "Ichiji Kikoku" !

Discography

I'll be listing their albums, EP's, and singles! Many of their songs go under Japanese names, but I'll list the English names too and link the songs as well in case you want to listen to any. These are all in order, and I will also be saying when each song/album was released. I will also show some songs that are not inherently under their name, but they're featured in + some unreleased songs of theirs!

I'll start off with their singles, then move onto the ordered albums and EP's! After that are either collab songs not listed on their official discography, or unreleased songs.

Singles
Digital Singles
マエナラワナイ (Maenarawanai)
[2018.03.20]
若気ガイタル (Wakage ga Itaru)
[2019.03.06]
SNACKTIME
[2021.11.12]
一時帰国 (Ichiji Kikoku)
[2023.04.12]
MANINGEN
[2023.08.16]
AG! Calling
[2024.06.07]
Collaborations / Unreleased / Other
Resources

You can check their official JP website which is located over at ASOBISYSTEM, they also have an official ENG website made purely in their name! You can also look at their Victor Entertainment and TWIN PLANET profiles! Although you might need a translator since a good few of these are in Japanese.

Official Playlists

You can watch their official live performances on here, which goes back all the way to 3 years ago. You can also view their current music videos and dance practices for certain songs here and here. A final one you can watch is... SUZUKA advertising their goods through this!

There’s a 5-episode series they have called Seishun Academy which teaches people all about Japanese culture! It covers up with school etiquette, new year’s, public transportation, asking the gods for help, and finally with school lunch. They also have a 3-episode series called the Japan Youth Trilogy which are practically small skits about youth!

Although this is necessarily made by a fan, you can check out this google drive that has the romanized lyrics for almost all of their songs! It also includes their unreleased songs as well.

Social Media

A list of socials from the group together and the individual members!

Official Socials
Individual Socials

SUZUKA

MIZYU

KANON

RIN

OTA

Misc

Highlights and Random Facts
  • Because they're named "NEW SCHOOL LEADERS," they all wear a red armband which in Japan, shows a symbol of authority. Although, there are also other colors and designs. A leader of a team might wear a red one, which is the one the four wear. The design of their armband has changed as well; first starting at a watermelon like pattern with black bumps (seeds), to now being a snake skin pattern.
  • They have had multiple sock changes over the years. The most recent ones with the blue letters that say 青春日本代表 (Seishun nihon daihyō) which in English, translates to "Youth representative from Japan." They have had ones in the past that say “Kosei ya Jiyuu de” which means “with Individuality and Freedom” which is part of the Leader's creed. Another sock design reads “Hamidashiteiku” - which goes to “I’m gonna stick out” and some others. The leaders themselves have documented all their socks here. You can also see a translated version here instead.
  • In 2020, they collaborated with a videographer called Takeshi Taniguchi to create an exclusive horror series for LINE named VISION. This series can be viewed on the LINE platform.
  • They have made numerous appearances such as: participating in shorts for NHK for School, making appearances on the Yokohama TV show Kannai Devil, and performing in front of a live audience for Buzzfeed Japan.
  • They have performed at many live events and festivals in Japan. There are many fan recordings of these events that have been posted that you can find on the internet!
  • They create their own choreography and performance sketches by themselves. They have also written the lyrics to some of their songs, some of these are; Kimiwaina'17, zzz, Koi no Shadanki, Sekigae Gattuso, etc.
  • Their full MV's were originally released on a special edition CD/DVD of their album Wakage ga Itaru which was available at Tower Records Japan and one other retailer.
  • Their first single "毒花 / Dokubana" was used as the theme song for the TV Asahi Friday Night Drama "女囚セブン / Joshu Seven," which was then followed by "キミワイナ'17 / Kimiwaina'17."
Growth

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2023

SUZUKA's Art

2023.06.06 2023.05.07 2023.04.07 2023.03.12 2022.12.09 2022.11.17

RIN's Cooking

2023.06.24 2023.04.04 2023.03.13 2022.12.17 2022.03.23

KANON's Baking

Decora MIZYU

Misc.


Thank you for reading all the way to the end, I hope this'll get some people interested in them. This guide was created by @majiyoroshiku on Twitter It'd be very appreciated if you could send me feedback of this guide on my cbox so I can see any criticsm or feedback on this! Please now that there is limited amounts of info on here. That means there are still some more info out there that I haven't added to reduce the reading, or I simply haven't found its source yet.

Edit
Pub: 15 Jul 2023 00:09 UTC
Edit: 09 Aug 2024 08:36 UTC
Views: 636