From Blackpink to Twice, K-pop’s been getting most of the shine when it comes to the biggest girl groups in the world, but a new Japanese act debuting this week is hoping to become the biggest girl group in the universe, acoording to Rollingstone.com
The group’s name is SG5, and the five members are an IRL, musical take on the characters from the popular anime series, Sailor Moon. Spawning from the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon world, SG5 (“Sailor Guardians 5”) call themselves an “intergalactic pop supergroup that protects the universe from evil, injustice and negativity.” Their superpower: music, of course.
Sailor Moon is arguably one of the biggest anime series of all time. Based on an original manga series from Naoko Takeuchi, the cosmic adventures of Usagi, her black cat Luna, and her team of Sailor Guardians became an immediate hit in Japan and around the world, where it was dubbed into various languages. Premiering in 1992, the original Sailor Moon series went on for five seasons (it’s now streaming on Hulu). It also spawned numerous spin-off shows and movies, including a live-action Sailor Moon series in Japan called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, which serves as the inspiration for SG5.
Co-managed by Japanese entertainment company LDH Japan Inc. and global management firm Three Six Zero (Calvin Harris, Willow), SG5 debuts this week with concept photos and member introductions. The girls will make their first official appearance together next week when they perform at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles.
Plans for the SG5 first began taking shape two years ago, with the final lineup and debut concept solidified earlier this year. To use the Sailor Moon IP, the quintet had to put together a performance and presentation for Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi, who quickly gave her blessing for them to make this an official collaboration.
While SG5 is a new group, the five members all came up in the J-pop (Japanese pop) industry: Sayaka, Ruri, Miyuu and Kaede were previously part of the group Happiness, which debuted in 2011, while Rui came from the trio iScream, which debuted in 2021 and recently released their debut album (it’s unclear if Rui will continue on with iScream, though it’s not uncommon for J-pop idols to work with different groups and sub-units).
The group says their goal is to help “export Japanese music overseas,” taking the colorful and creative spirit of anime and applying that to their performances.
As for the actual music, while Sailor Moon was a popular series from the Nineties, the girls say their sound will be anything but retro. To wit, they’ve tapped producer BloodPop (Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber) to serve as Executive Producer and co-Creative Director of their upcoming album, which is expected to be a mix of futuristic pop and uptempo dance tracks. The girls will also be singing in both Japanese and English (a publicist says the members are “currently honing their English skills to be able to master the language,” adding that “it is exciting to imagine them performing and communicating with the fans in English at a native level”).
