Mihimaru GT were an urban and

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describ ...

group signed to Universal Music Japan and managed by Tearbridge Productions, a subsidiary of

Stardust Promotion is a leading Japanese talent agency, headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was founded in 1979 and invests in entertainment forms including music, cinema, and modelling. The agency has a dominant share in the management of actresses. For example, ...

and

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History

Mihimaru GT was a Japanese duet made up of composer, lyricist and vocalist, Miyake as well as vocalist and lyricist Hiroko. The group was formed due to the joint management of the two members during their solo careers. Before forming Mihimaru GT, each member had a relatively quiet career, with little to no major hits. To remind each other that the success of the group comes from the hard work and contributions of both members, the name Mihimaru GT was created for the band, taking the first two letters in each members' first name and adding "maru", or "perfection", to the end of it, as well as the initials for Miyake's favorite video game— Gran Turismo. Unlike many other groups, Mihimaru GT often recorded songs featuring only one of their members, though because of each members' background, they were both involved with every song in some way. Hiroko was usually responsible for the main melody of the song, whereas Miyake was featured in the rap that may appear in a song. The band is known for its urban and pop-oriented songs, as well as slow ballad oriented songs. They were signed to one of the largest independent music labels in the world. Prior to 2006, they have had an average career, with their singles ranking no higher than #16 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

charts. In 2006, however, their single, "Kibun Jojo" became the commercial song for Dariya's "Palty" and music.jp's commercial theme, as well as the ending theme for the variety program "Sukibara". The triple tie-up gave them considerable media exposure, and more people began to take notice of them. On May 5, 2006, they performed on the popular music show

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

and was featured on the "Young Guns" corner. The appearance on the show boosted their popularity and made "Kibun Jojo" onto the #7 spot on the Oricon charts. From then on, their sales peaked and eventually bottomed out, though "Itsumademo Hibiku Kono Melody/Magical Speaker" managed to reach as high as #3 on the Oricon charts. The song "H.P.S.J." was featured as the third ending song for the anime ''

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is a Japanese comedy manga series written and illustrated by Yoshio Sawai. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from February 2001 to November 2005, with its chapters collected in twenty-one ' ...

''; "Kibun Jojo" itself has been covered in rhythm action games such as Taiko: Drum Master,

Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 is a rhythm video game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It is the third of three rhythm games developed by iNiS for the DS, and is the sequel to ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'' while incorpo ...

and you can dance to the song in

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for

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. On November 7, Mihimaru GT released a hip-hop re-arrangement/cover of

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

's " I Should Be So Lucky" as a double A-side single (the other A-side being Ai Kotoba.) The song, "I Should Be So Lucky", was used as the ending theme for the Japanese drama ''Abarenbou Mama'' (Wild Mama) which stars Aya Ueto. "Girigiri Hero" is featured in the movie ''Shaoulin Shojou''. "Switch" was used for the 2009 World Table Tennis Championship in Japan. The duo's most recent single, ''Masterpiece'' was used as a main theme for the TV animation ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, is a Japanese manga and anime series and the third spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, after the preceding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. The manga began serialization in Shueisha's ''V Jump'' magazine from Dece ...

''. In April 2011, the duo performed with Korean singer Park Jung Min at an UN Charity Concert in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

, Japan to aid victims of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six m ...

. In 2013, the group went on indefinite hiatus, intending to focus on their individual activities.mihimaru GT announces indefinite hiatus
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History

Discography

Singles

Albums

References

External links