An Introduction to AromaFancy | Super Cute Underground Male Idol Group

AromaFancy are a now 7-member underground male idol group that debuted as 6 members in May 2022. The group's concept is 'aromas', with many of their songs referencing the tastes and scents of various foods and drinks. The group as a very fun and cute style and calls are a big part of their performances.

 

Though they don't have any music videos (hopefully, as of yet), you can find videos of them performing their songs live on YouTube. They also occasionally livestream their performances on TikTok and their songs are available to purchase or stream online (all links below).   

 

Members

 

 

Chiba Ibuki

 

@Chiba_Ibuki

Member Color: Red 

• He's the only remaining founding member of the group. 
• He's a former member of the group Shounen Jackal and he also briefly made YouTube content.
• This man was literally born to be an idol. If you saw my first post mentioning AromaFancy, you'd probably have noticed that I said Yuri was my oshi but while I do still love Yuri (and all the members!)  Ibuki ended up stealing my heart. He's very professional and dedicated, he has the perfect balance between being cool and cute, and he's just very funny, sweet, and good at talking to people. Seriously, if you want to meet an idol for the first time but you're worried about it being awkward then I would definitely recommend Ibuki; he'll absolutely find something to talk about and put you at ease.

 

Matsumoto Kazuma

@KaZuMaWORLDWIDE

Member Color: Green

• Arguably the most talented singer in the group.
• Surprising he's very into hip-hop.
• Probably the most polite and reserved member.

 

Shinjo Riku

 

@risky_02s

Member Color: Light Blue

• He's very sweet and friendly to his fans. He'll always make the effort to find anyone in the audience who's holding a light blue penlight and smile and make eye contact with them.
• He's usually in charge of the audience participation segment in the song "Bergamot" (my personal favourite and their most fun song in my opinion!).
• He can play the piano.

 

Hoshino Yuri

@yuri_hoshino52

Member Color: Pink

• Interestingly he and Kein joined around the same time and also share the same birthday.
• Is new to being an idol but has previous experience as an actor. 
• It's become a thing that during the line in the song "Bergamot" that says the word "naite iru" (crying), he'll pull a weird face, often making Ibuki laugh. He's generally just very silly and cute.
  

 

 

Ito Kein 

 

@aroma_kein

Member Color: Orange

• Always very cute and energetic on stage. You really can't help but smile when watching him. 
• A bit of a 'charai' (flashy), gyaru-type personality. 
•  Flirts with the other members a lot.

 

Yamamoto Sunao

@aroma_sunao

Member Color: White

• He previously assisted as a trainee member, usually performing in place of former member Miura Hiichi when the latter couldn't appear due to school commitments. However following the graduation of Hiichi and other former member Yanase Haku he was promoted to full member status in January 2024. 
• A massive crybaby. He cried at both the group's anniversary live and former member Shibuya Asuka's graduation live. 
• He's really bad at 2step.

 

Hase Daiki

@aroma_daiki

Member Color: Dark Blue

• His self-professed speciality is being handsome.
• A fan of Hauls, the fashion brand created by Yumekui NEON member Hauki. 
• Prior to joining the group he'd never been to Disney Sea. He finally went for the first time with fellow member Ibuki. 

 

Fujishiro Kyo

@aroma_kyo

Member Color: Yellow

• He's a former member of the now disbanded idol duo LovelyBUDDY. Though he joined Aroma most recently, this technically makes him a senpai to most of the members.
• His debut was announced at the group's anniversary live in May 2024. He officially joined the group in June, following the graduation of Shibuya Asuka.
• He's a Johnny's Entertainment otaku.
  

 

AromaFancy are my second favourite group after ED∞EN, and its kind of amusing how different their vibes are. While I love ED∞EN's more subtle and cool aesthetic, I've always been a big fan of full-on 'idol-like' groups complete with costumes in their member colours and upbeat songs with lots of calls. ED∞EN don't really do calls in the typical way, so I always have so much fun shouting with all of my might at Aroma lives, haha. For a while I couldn't decide on my favourite member (I went from Yuri to Riku to Ibuki) because I just loved the group as a whole and thought all of the members were super cute.

 

 

What do you think of AromaFancy? Which member has caught your interest? Let me know in the comments!

Links:

• Website
• Twitter
• YouTube 
• TikTok
  
• TuneCore (streaming links)
• Schedule

 

 

 

More on my YouTube channel:

Dance class and then a male idol event on Cat Day in Japan vlog

Going to see AromaFancy, ED∞EN and more at a free male idol event vlog

 

 

Idol Rewind | My Top 5 Jpop Boy Group Releases of 2023

As per tradition (albeit a very infrequent tradtion), here are my top 5 Jpop boy group releases of the year for 2023! It's a little late, I've literally had this draft saved on my computer for months oop. Looks like the list is all...underground groups this time. Maybe the title of this post should be My Top 5 Underground Male Idol Releases of 2023. Who is Johnny's? Never heard of them.

1. ED∞EN - Forbidden Fruits

I bet no-one saw this coming. Since coming to Japan, ED∞EN quickly became my favourite group. The other original song they released last year, "Magic Parade" (which - fun fact - reached number 1 on the iTunes Jpop charts in the UK literally just because of me lol) is also a banger but I went with "Forbidden Fruits" because it just holds a special place in my heart. It was the first song they performed during my initial introduction to the group at JOL Harajuku and I absolutely fell in love. It was their very first song to receive a music video as well so I'm sure you can imagine how happy I was when it was seeing it unveiled at their first solo live back in October. That's a lot of firsts, haha.

2. AromaFancy - Bergamot

This song is also somewhere in the top 10 Jpop ranking on iTunes in the UK because I listen to it about 20 times a day, no kidding. It's such a fun and upbeat song and I fell in love with it the very first time I heard the group perform it. Even now the magic hasn't worn off and it's still the song I get the most excited for at their lives. Everyone around me - even if they have no idea who AromaFancy are - know this song simply because I cannot stop singing "Motto motto berugamotto~" on a daily basis, haha. 

3. 8motion - Kimi Dake no Tensai Influencer

This song is just so cute bruh. It's basically about each of the members wanting to become your oshi, urging you to show your support for them online and acting jealous if you support anyone else. When Kouhei says "Doushite hoka no ko wo mite iru no? Boku dake wo mitete yo!" (Why are you looking at other guys? Look only at me!) it's so silly but my heart melts every time. 

4. Love Sick - Danshi Koi

I think you've figured out by now that I like groups and songs with cute concepts. "Danshi Koi" is the debut song from new group Love Sick produced by RINDO Entertainment who are also responsible for various other popular groups such as Yumekui NEON and Beardored. The song is about the members wanting to enjoy soft and cute things despite being boys, so right up my alley then lol. I'll give you five seconds to guess who my oshi in this group is. 

3. Poltergeist - POPPING DOLL

Poltergeist are another new group from RINDO Entertainment, this time with a 'haunted doll' concept and "POPPING DOLL" is their debut song. This is really just your typical cutesy, 'TikTok-able' idol song but it's still very catchy and adorable in my opinion.