Legendary 5-member idol unit from Okinawa

A group that was reborn after the group that included Daichi Miura, a world-class artist who is currently active as a solo artist for each of the members of the 2021 group.
The name of the group is “Folder5”.
Folder5 was previously known as “Folder”, and Daichi Miura was the main vocalist of the group.
I consider Folder5 to be the forerunner of AAA and lol.
Folder 5″ still has hit songs that remain to this day. I wrote this article to let various people know about the current status of 2021.
All of them are from Okinawa Prefecture and graduates of Okinawa Actors School.
A five-member group consisting of AKINA, ARISA, HIKARI, NATSU, and MOE.
At first, AKINA was the main vocalist, but after the first album, AKINA and ARISA became twin vocalists.

1st SINGLE [SUPERGIRL] released on May 10, 2000

A cover of “My Name Is Supergirl” (“Supergirl In Love”) by the British female group Supergirl.
This song started out as a cover song, but it has the vigor of a debut song, bringing the whole group forward rather than making use of their individuality.
The rap in the song is full of childishness, and when you listen to it, you can feel a sense of purity because it is so new to the group.
I love the lyrics because they are always moving forward, to the world, to the world.

2nd SINGLE [AMAGING LOVE] released on August 23, 2000

From this song, the band switched to a Eurobeat line, covering ROSE’s “A SONG FOR YOU”.
Two cover songs followed in a row. The song is mysterious and has a solo part in the previous album, but in this album, the song is basically sung in unison.
The lyrics of the song “Higher than Heaven” are somewhat familiar to me, but the lyrics “Longer than Eternity” are not,
I was a junior high school student at the time, so I didn’t understand the analogy.
Now that I am an adult, I understand the meaning of “I can continue my feelings far, high, and long! I understand now.

3rd SINGLE [Believe] released on November 29, 2000

It was the group’s biggest hit and was used as the opening song for the anime “One Piece” and is a classic song that most anime lovers and One Piece fans know.
This is actually a cover song as well, a cover of LOLITA’s “Dreamin’ of You”.
Like the previous song, it is Eurobeat and features “Believe in Wonderland” at the end of the chorus.
In the music video, the background is so shiny that it looks like aluminum foil. I don’t know if they still have a DVD of clips of Folder5 or the official YouTube channel of avex.
I don’t know if it’s still available, but when I sang this song at karaoke, the monitor was designed to look like the One Piece anime. So you can enjoy it while watching or singing.
The center AKINA became stronger from this work. she was in the zentar from the first work, but from this work, the standing position of the center is stronger even when dancing.

Due to the popularity of the “ONEPIECE” anime, CD sales reached a personal best of over 100,000 copies.

4thSINGLE[STAY…] released on March 14, 2001

From this work, it is not a cover song but an original song. And the song assignment is almost always AKINA in the center.
All the members start singing in the chorus and chorus.
I love this song so much that I rank it as number 1 or 2 in my opinion. It is a song that attracts people with a little bit of Eurobeat and mysteriousness mixed in.
The lyrics convey the feeling of supporting each other and moving forward with the person you love, and that everything will be okay if it’s with you.
I love the choreography, especially the part at the end of the song where they join hands and then take their hands apart and turn around with one hand raised.
And the coupling song “Ready!” is a cover of LOLITA’s “BABY ONE BABY TWO” and was used as the theme song for the movie version of “Django’s Dance Carnival”.
The theme song for the first movie was worked by Folder5.

5thSINGLE released on June 13, 2001 [Final Fun-Boy].

It was a summer song and was used as the Family Mart commercial song at that time.
The song was sung mainly by AKINA as in the previous song.
When she performed it on a music program, she used a headset microphone and danced with both hands.
The end of the chorus, when she sings “Fun-Boy, I want you to tell me about it,” is a characteristic of the song.
I didn’t quite catch the “Fun-Boy” part and thought he was saying “PONPON.
The album was to be released the following month, and this was released as an advance single for the album.

1stALBUM released in 2001 [HYPER GROOVE1］

The first album by the five members to reach No. 5 on the Oricon Weekly Chart
I think Morning Musume。 Morning Musume。 I wanted this album so much that I worked hard to get it myself!
The case of the first edition and the regular edition were different, and some songs were included in the album while others were not.
The album contains songs from the first single “SUPERGIRL” to the latest song “Fanal Fun-Boy”, the theme song for the movie “One Piece” “Ready!
It contained cover songs of Eurobeat songs, and 14 songs, 9 of them were Eurobeat.
The album also includes “F5 HYPER GROOVE NON-STOP SPECIAL,” which is only included on the first pressing and is a mix of the single songs.

6th SINGLE released on November 14, 2001 [GO AHEAD!!！］

The album was just released in the summer and the next single has already been released.
The center of this song is played by AKINA, but all the members have their own singing parts.
It is one of the best single songs of the year. It is a song with a sense of speed that is typical of the fall sports season, but with the cuteness of an idol in it.
This song made me curious about HIKARI (Hikari Mitsushima). She is famous as an actress now, but she used to be an idol.
I recommend this song when you drive or run.

7th SINGLE [Magical Eyes] released on March 13, 2002

They used a stand microphone in the performance with this song.
And from this song, AKINA and ARISA became twin vocalists.
The secret story of the music video is that it was shot outside, but unfortunately the weather was bad on that day, so it was shot when the rain stopped.
It was a pity that the weather did not cooperate with the song, which is very bright and gentle, but the finished music video looks as if it never happened.

8th SINGLE [MY MIRACLE] released in 2002

This was Folder5’s last single.
At the time, it was not announced that this would be their last single, so I was surprised to find out later.
The lyrics of the song start with an allusion to the 2002 FIFA WORLD CUP, and it was a commercial song for FamilyMart.
It was a commercial song for FamilyMart. The weather was fine, but the wind was strong and the flames in the background were blowing in the wind.
The part of the choreography where she kneels down, grabs her hand, and asks for help was particularly impressive.

2ndALBUM【FIVE GIRLS】issued on July 17, 2002

It was the second album in a year and the previous one was labeled [1], so I wondered if it would be labeled [2]. I wondered if it would be labeled [2], but it was labeled FIVE.
This album contains solo songs by members other than AKINA.
I like MOE’s “Koi no Kakera…” among them, and HIKARI’s “Turn to you” is also hard to throw away!
I also like “Wonder” by NATSU, who always had a smile on her face, and “Midnight Train” by ARISA, which I felt was very typical of ARISA.
The single “Magical Eyes” is included in the album version with a slower tempo.
The remix version of “Believe” is also included in the album.
The lead song “Baby My Heart” is my favorite song on the album. The tone of the song is very Folder5-like, bright and powerful, and I still listen to it even today in 2024.

The best album of Folder5 was released in 2003.
It contains all the songs as Folder and Folder5’s songs non-stop.
SINGLE COLLECTION contains all the singles, including a new song called “Ano Sora no Mukou”, and the first edition includes all the album songs and single coupling songs.
Folder5 stopped their activities after this album.
In 2003, the group was practically disbanded, with each member going solo, returning to Okinawa, or returning to the general public.
If they had been more successful, would they have continued their activities? I don’t know if they would have continued their activities if they had been more successful, or if they have decided that they have had enough and are now moving on, but I loved Folder 5 because they were my generation.
AKINA is famous as the wife of solo comedian Bibiru Ohki.
HIKARI is an actress and works as Hikari Mitsushima.
ARISA is working as a solo artist mainly in Okinawa, NATSU is now a civilian, and MOE is working as a solo artist in Tokyo.