Kiyoshi Ryujin 25
As a lot of your probably know by now, I love a good gimmick. Whether it be in wrestling or idols, chances are I’m going to give something a shot if it has some kind of interesting aspect to it. That sounds a bit basic I guess, but there’s so much dull and repetitive stuff out there that I find my time better served checking out the crazier stuff.
Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 are a group that popped up on my radar this year, apparently I’d missed their debut in 2014 for some reason but oh well. Them’s the breaks. When describing the group I guess the words…unconventional and probably even controversial would be a pretty good fit. Unconventional and controversial? Sounds like my kind of group!
I suppose I shouldn’t just dangle a carrot like that and not explain exactly why I think the above. You see, the whole thing with Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 is that the group has singer/songwriter Kiyoshi Ryujin as the center, flanked by 6 girls who act as his “wives”. It’s a harem group basically, that doesn’t shy away from its polygmatic nature. Something I don’t think they all that accepting of, even in Japan.
I’m not sure why it’s 25 when there’s only 6 girls though, maybe there’s an expansion planned in the future or something. Like wrestling though, none of it is actually real. It’s not like these girls have been sold into some kind of slavery or anything like that. It’s just a fairly original attempt at grabbing some news headlines. It certainly got my attention, that’s for sure so they must be doing something right there.
Musically, Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 had a couple of releases in 2015. The first being a single in February titled “A･B･C ja Gutto Konai!!”. It’s kinda weird but not really at the same time, I’m not sure how to explain it. As a first introduction to the group, it didn’t really give me a solid idea of their direction musically. However, the PV did an excellent job of driving home the fact that Kiyoshi Ryujin is living many the anime fan’s dream.
A couple of months later in May saw the release of “Mr.PLAY BOY…♡”, and that’s where my interest in the group musically really started to take off. I have no idea what genre of music you’d call it, swing or big band maybe? In any case, the song was awesome and the PV was definitely not something you see every day. If I was bothering to do a top 10 Singles/PVs of 2015 then this release would almost certainly get a spot on both of those lists.
Their last physical CD offering of 2015 saw Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 release their debut album titled “Propose” and with it the PV for the song “Hard-Boiled ni Aishite Yaruze♡”. The video sees Kiyoshi Ryujin meet his demise at the hands of some Cammy from Street Fighter rip-off, before being reborn like Jesus Christ by the power of one of his wives’ tears. Looks like idol tears can cure more than just cancer.
Joking aside, “Propose” is pretty much the perfect starting point if you want to give Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 a try. It has every song they’ve put out on it, apart from the digital single “Christmas♡Symphony” that came out in early December. You can pick that up on iTunes (as well as the album) if you feel inclined to. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
All of that being said, I’m still not really sure what the musical direction for this group is. Kiyoshi Ryujin produces all/most of the songs so I guess he’s experimenting or just doing whatever he likes. I guess in a way that’s fitting, considering the self indulgent character he plays as the girls’ husband. Fiction has some roots in reality after all.
As far as 2016 is concerned, I’m not really sure what I’m expecting from this group. I’d imagine there’ll definitely be a new single in the next month or two and who knows, maybe a new wife or three added along the way. I’m pretty sure they’re also playing a show with BiSH at some point so who knows what might happen there. I know I’m sticking around for the ride.
