The Hoopers
The Hoopers, stylized in all caps, was an all-female Japanese pop group who dress in masculine clothing inspired by Takarazuka Revue. The group was signed to Universal Music Japan.
The band was formed after twelve of the five thousand participants of Fudanjuku's 'Next Generation Audition' were selected. Seven of the chosen participants went on to form The Hoopers, and the remaining five formed Axell.
The Hoopers debuted on March 4, 2015, with their single 2=イトシコイシ君恋シ. Their eighth member Cecil was introduced on their single "Passionate Love" as a permanent member. Later in 2015 they held the Ikemen Audition, where they selected 6 people to become members of Little Hoop. Lee of AXELL and Noa of Little Hoop joined the group as new members on June 25, 2017, and on July 28, 2017, They released their new single "Shamrock".
They disbanded on January 25, 2019, with a concert at Kanda Myojin Hall.
History
Japanese idol group Fudanjuku held an audition for juniors. Of the approximately 5,000 participants, 12 were selected as winners, with 7 to form The Hoopers and the remaining 5 to form another group, Axell.The winners, both those who would become The Hoopers and Axell, appeared as backup dancers on March 30, 2014 for Fudanjuku's performance at Nakano Sunplaza. While this was after they were selected from the audition, they were not introduced to the audience as it was before for official debut. They made their debut on May 2, 2014 when they were unveiled on the internet TV show Ikesuta. They performed their first open-air performance on May 5 in Yoyogi Park.
Universal Sigma released their first single, 2=イトシコイシ君恋シ, on March 4, 2015. In April, the Hoopers hosted two abnormal sponsor programmes that started at the same time to mark one month after their major debut. On July 6, they announced on their official blog that Yuhi would be taking time off from the band due to poor health and that during that time Axell member Cecil would be substituting for her.
The band announced on September 29, 2015 on their weekly show 2=THE HOOPERSの原宿キュン♡キュンSTATION that they would be having their first solo performance, that Yuhi would be making her return to the band at the performance, and that Cecil would officially be joining the band, while also remaining in Axell, bringing the band to 8 members. On October 17, 24, and 31, they visited school festivals in their 2=HOOPERSを追いかけて〜キュンキュン❤プロジェクト. Their first solo performance was held on November 15 at the live house Niconico-fāre with all 8 members, including Yuhi who had been on leave since July and Cecil who had become an official member after substituting for Yuhi.
On May 4, 2017, Yuhi and Mizuki officially left the group after a leaving ceremony was held for them at a tour finale in Tokyo. At the ceremoney, the other members of the band surprised the two leaving members with a new song, "Life is Beautiful", made for them which they performed to a video accompaniment. On June 24, the Hoopers performed live at Niconico-fāre where they announced their new members, Lee and Noa. They released their new single, "Shamrock" on July 28.
A leaving ceremony was held for Makoto on February 10, 2018 during their performance, The Hoopers Kako Saichō Live!: Makoto Sotsugyō Kōen, at Niconico-fāre. On December 6, it was announced on a Showroom stream that there would be a drastic change to the ikemen girls project that is the Hoopers and that their final solo performance would be on January 25, 2019, after which the members would appear in different projects. It was also announce that Tsubasa would retire from the project after this performance.
On January 25, 2019, the band held their last performance, 2=FINAL FANTASIA〜愛の全部、For You! at Kanda Myoujin Hall in Tokyo. Tsubasa retired and the Hoopers disbanded at the performance. Later on March 1, it was announced that they would begin a new project in the form of the male-dressing all-female idol group dreamBoat.
Members
Past Members
Timeline
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Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:05/02/2014 till:2018
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2015 gridcolor:black
PlotData =
color:red width:8 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
bar:Yuhi from:05/02/2014 till:05/04/2017
bar:Mizuki from:05/02/2014 till:05/04/2017
bar:Makoto from:05/02/2014 till:02/10/2018
bar:Mirai from:05/02/2014 till:end
bar:Sena from:05/02/2014 till:end
bar:Tsubasa from:05/02/2014 till:end
bar:Haruki from:05/02/2014 till:end
color:orange width:8 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
bar:Cecil from:11/15/2015 till:end
color:yellow width:8 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
bar:Lee from:06/24/2017 till:end
bar:Noa from:06/24/2017 till:end