Introducing: Kirei Ningyou

As I’ve said in my previous entries, I will be featuring cover groups a lot. But before all that will be the introduction posts for each cover group. You’ve seen the introduction post of KIS-MY-BOYS and DreamCatchers and now it will be Kirei Ningyou’s turn.

Kirei Ningyou is an all-girl cover group that is giving tribute to one of the most famous filr trio in Japanese entertainment industry, Perfume.

A little background on Perfume: They are an all-girl trio in Japan. The three members: Yuka Kashino (Kashiyuka), Ayano Omoto (Nocchi), and Ayaka Nishiwaki (A-chan) all came from Hiroshima.

Kirei Ningyou had their first major performance last March 11, 2012 at the Jpop Hrand Festival. Kirei Ningyou started to perform as their group now during the Jpop Dance Cover competition and over 15 contestants they won as champion.

“We were really glad we won since there is only one group recognized as winner. The feeling before and after the performance was extreme since WE COVERED A GROUP without FANS in the VENUE. I mean we do not know any PERFUME FAN in the VENUE aside from some of our friends. And those people who supported us, are our J.E. fan friends. We are actually fans of Johnny's Entertainment talent, which includes ARASHI and NEWS. Before we actually cover Arashi in the JPOP KICK OFF FESTIVAL last NOVEMBER 2011 we also won the event as JPOP DANCE COVER WINNER.” ---Kirei Ningyou

Past performances include:

The Grand Pop Culture Fair

Asian Pop Expo 2012

Enchanted Culture Fest

J-Pop Music Festival

J-Pop Festival: The Grand Event

Introduction of the individual members:

Ayano Omoto (Nocchi) cover girl

Name: Mary Jane Gunting

Nickname: Jenpi

Birthday: June 6, 1991

Studied: Bachelor of Science in Banking in Finance (Graduated this 2012) at Polytechnic University of the Philippines

From: Taguig City
Interests: Reading Books, surfing the net, Anime, Japanese Music, dancing, Science, English, Literature and FOOD
Hobbies: I watch a lot of animes, Japanese dramas and I listen to a lot of Japanese artists mostly Johnny's idols (NEWS, Yamapi, Kinki Kids) GACKT and Perfume ♥  I love eating sooooooo much! I'm an "extra-rice" person.*laughs*. I love reading books-I finished “A Walk to Remember” in 5 hours. Well, I love fan fictions too. and I'm a fujoshi .

Favorite perfume song/performance:

Fave song: Perfect Star,Perfect Style

Faveperf: JPN Mix

Tips or words of encouragement for those who want to perform just like you guys: Well, it may be a cliche, but.. "JUST DO IT". You just have to do it if you have the passion to perform and you love the fandom you're in. I decided to do this with Jewel and Yannie because we'd really want others to appreciate how awesome Perfume is. Second is COMMIT. You really have to commit yourself if you really want to make it work. Focus, effort and perseverance were the things we really gave for this group. Jewel and I are already working, to make it more difficult, I'm working the night shift and Yannie is still in College. We only have weekends to practice and I have to attend that after my shift without any sleep at all :)  But we made it work. Third would be TEAM WORK -each of us trying to help one another by all means.

Message to fans: We never considered ourselves as artists with fans... WE ARE FANGIRLS ourselves. But we really do appreciate those people who come and support us in every performance. I'd really feel nervous before any performance we have, but when I see all of them cheering there, I get so energized on stage! If I'd be given a chance, I'll give 'em all a hug!! And I also want to thank them for appreciating PERFUME's music♥ ♥  I hope you continue to support our cover group – Kirei Ningyou, as well as PERFUME .Arigatou Gozaimashita!!!!

Have you ever tried to do a collaboration with other cover groups?: We'd love to do that! I think it’s going to be awesome, it’s just that we haven't have time to talk about that and with other groups. JPOP collab... I'm excited with that Idea! Do you want to do it with us? ^.^

Affiliations: I am a member of United Jpop Philippines--- a group of Jpop enthusiasts who performs. It is where Kirei Ningyou was born. Yannie, Jewel and I were actually members of Stormbound (ARASHI COVER GROUP) Yannie(ohno), Jewel(Jun) and me(Aiba). The story would start with ME(nocchi).. I really loved perfume way back 2 years... and I felt like I want to dance some of their songs. It happened that our Kashiyuka (Yannie) is also a perfume fan. We would flail over perfume through text messages...at that time, Achan(Jewel) is still focused only with Arashi. An idea suddenly came up to me. I noticed how our hair resembles each perfume member, I suggested we do a cover of perfume. And along the way Jewel became a fan too. She’s the one studying perfume's choreography for us :) ... and that's where it started.

One of the biggest inspirations I have is of course the members who are like real sisters to me now :D Jewel and Yannie. They've been with me since forever and I shared a lot of memories with them. May it be happy or sad ones... They were like my batteries, giving me power to continue this. My mother, I don't tell her much about this stuff but she searches about this with my sister and I'm touched that she's happy that I’m doing what I love. Our manager, Ate Ekai... who really stood up for us on anything. She was like our Mother... the big sister.. always taking care of us... of course our friends from all fandoms- YNW,MJPH,Kismyft PH, NYUSU PH, Eito PH, UJPH,PerfumeDesu PH,KTPH, JFC and many more... you know who you are!

Other facts: One of the biggest trivia about me is probably my ability to SLEEP ANYWHERE in ANY POSITION. *laughs*. I don't know if you could call it a talent.*laughs*. But definitely that's something I'm known for by my friends and the members.

Yuka Kashino (Kashiyuka) cover girl

Name: Dyan Quinito

Nickname: Yannie

Birthday: June 20,1994

Studying:  Bachelor of Science Hotel and Restaurant Management at National College of Business and Arts in Cubao

From: Quezon City

Interests: chocolates, Novels about mystery/detective, horror/thriller movies, food, Japanese Culture, anime, Jpop, Arashi

Hobbies: When I have free time, I watch Jdramas or suf the net and read updates about my favorite artists and anything about the Japanese entertainment. :)) I'm a big fan of J-Pop and Johnny's Entertainment idols, especially ARASHI!!♥  Some of my favorite artists are Otsuka Ai, Nishino Kana, Ayaka, KyaryPamyuPamyu, GReeeeN, Becky♪♯ , Scandal, Tokyo Joushiryu, etc., and of course Perfume!

Favorite perfume song/performance:  

My favorite Perfume songs are Dream Fighter, Chocolate Disco, Spice, Kasukana Kaori, VOICE, KareshiwoBoshuchuu. When it comes to their performances, I like Night Flight the most because I find it really cool especially in their Budoukan concert.

Tips or words of encouragement for those who want to perform just like you guys: For those who want to perform and do dance covers just like us, don't be afraid to try. Before, I don't really like dancing. I'm shy to perform in front of many people. But because of my passion, which is this J-pop fandom, I challenged myself to try and overcome my weakness. Also remember that sometimes it's okay to have mistakes because it makes us learn and realize that there's still something for us to improve. Most of all, ENJOY. In every performance, it's not just about doing the steps right, the audience should see that you enjoy what you are doing.

Message to fans: Thank you very much for our friends and fans that have supported us way before our Stormbound days until now. For making us feel comfortable every time we feel nervous before our performances, for cheering us every event, for complimenting us even though we know we made a lot of mistakes. XD Thank you!!!! As Ate Jenpi and I always say, we are doing this for Perfume. We want to spread how amazing and unique they are. I'm so happy that because of our group, some of our friends already became Perfume fans. We will do our best to give you great performances in the future so please continue to support Kirei Ningyou and also Perfume!♥

Have you ever tried to do a collaboration with other cover groups?: All of us also dance in UJPH but we haven't tried dancing as Kirei Ningyou with other groups. Doing a collaboration would we great! I hope we can try that some time!! :)

Affiliations and Inspirations: To United Jpop Philippines, Matsujun Philippines, Perfume Desu PH, Arashi Philippines, Amuse PH and all the FCs. Most especially to our ever supportive manager, Ate Ekai! we love you!! ♥  And of course to Ate Jewel and Ate Jenpi, thank you for always taking care of me. You're already my mothers in this fandom. I love you both! To my little sister, the one who I always flail with on Perfume even before when we beacame fans. She also gives me ideas which song is better to perform. For all my friends in this fandom!

Other facts: I became a fan of Perfume in 2010 when I watched them as guest on Arashi's variety show, Himitsu no Arashi-chan in the VIP Room segment. :)  I find them very cute and I was so amazed how synch they are that it made their dance looks so easy. >< But you know, it's so difficult~

Ayaka Nishiwaki (A-chan) cover girl

Name: Jewel Esparagoza
Birthday: June 25, 1992
Studied: Bachelor of Business Teacher Education (Graduated this 2012) at Polytechnic University of the Philippines

From: Antipolo City

Interests: Fangirling specifically ARASHI! And when I say fangirling that includes everything about the fandom. You’ll see me at fan gatherings a lot. I am serving to the Lord as a choir member and a youth leader. I love kids as much as teaching them. Some people address me as a Sadist that is why I am using Matsujun’s “DoS” (my ichiban) but the real truth is I am just a disciplinarian.

Reading detective-suspense-horror and brain-stimulatingbooks and watching movies (this excepts romance, I prefer horror!), Aside from Chess (the only time I get serious) anything that I can actively do is my character such as Sports and Public Speaking.

Favorite perfume song/performance: I love most of Perfume songs but my favorite songs are Kasuka no Kaori, Macaroni, My color, Perfect Style, Gravity, Puppy Love, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. But most of the songs we usually perform as kirei ningyou are members choice too. That includes; Nee, chocolate disco, seventh heaven, hurly burly, glitter, one room disco, fushizenna girl, secret secret, baby cruising love, polyrythm, laser beam, spring of life. In short, many to mention.

Give some tips or words of encouragement for those who want to perform just like you guys: To those who want to start performing as a cover group. It starts from the HEART. Since in Kirei Ningyou are FANS OF THE PERFUME ourselves, when we perform, we always ask ourselves “Will this performance please perfume fans?” In fact in every performance, we count how many times we made mistakes,(those mistakes that sometime only the three of us and our manager knows) .

Yannie and Jenpi asked me several times before they really convinced me to do PERFUME (I was convinced when they showed me “Nee” footwork—I was shocked I can’t copy it—I challenged myself). Because I only started to be a fan A WEEK or TWO before the “GRAND JPOP FESTIVAL” last March 2012 ,I know, I can’t perform well if I don’t even know the characters I will be performing.

When you have the HEART on your work then COMMITMENT follows. Commitment is something that we can’t explain when we finished a performance. We are not the kind of people who got a lot of EXTRA TIME that’s why we can practice and perform dance. That is why when we meet for practice, we maximize the time we have. Sometimes we only meet twice. (first day for practice and second day for the contest itself. HAHAH!!! XD). When we commit, we tend to do our best without asking for something back. Though fans send us message on our fan page we are more energized to do our work. We don’t dance because we think that we will have more fans. There are times when we thought that the crowd do not even know perfume. But since the three of us plus ate Ekai (our ever supportive manager) knows the song, It will definitely be okay! (Kung di niyo kilala, e di ipapakilala naming sainyo ang MOTTO J.)Given the opportunity to perform on stage for perfume, is a pleasure.

Next is TEAMWORK. Surprise! If you want to be in a cover group you must convince yourself that you don’t dance as a solo performer. Even though there are only 3 of us teamwork is really important. And since I know Jenpi since 5-6 years ago and Yannie since 2-3 years ago and being in the same fandom where we meet each other every gathering, we are comfortable to each other. So comfortable that during practice I sometimes give harsh comments when they do not perform the steps well (Sorry, I’m really strict, and perfume never had an ADLIB during performance, EVERY STEPS counts). This is an advantage, because I can openly tell them when we have to improve this and that. Everyone adjusts if needed including me, even if it is for schedule or performance itself. What I love with these girls is they give the best effort they have. Those times when we think we can’t accomplish something that is the time when we hold on to each other and tell ourselves to push more! Each of us gives our part in doing this cover.No one is better than the other.

Message to fans: Yeyyyyyy!! Group Huuuuug! Thank you so much guys! WE LOVE YOU ALL!! Thank you for appreciating the talent we have. Specially to those fans who are not really PERFUME fans, but then when they watched us perform they eventually became PERFUME fans as well. Kung nagpperformnga kami nghindi perfect e natutuwa kayo! Pano pa kaya kungungmismong PERFUME ungpinanoodniyo! Siguradokikilabutan kayo! Hihi! I have to acknowledge our close friends to who supports us as well in every performance. I have to mention these people. My little sister, Jasmine, my no.1 fan! (Perfume flailing with her always, plus accomplice).KuyaChriswin. Thank you for taking and uploading our videos in every performance.Kuya Kevin for Photos and Videos too. And ate Ekai, our best manager ever!!!!Thank you! For supporting us with all you got, best manager ever! We don’t gain profit here yet you keep on supporting us.

Have you ever tried to do collaboration with other cover group?: Since the three of us are part of UJPH (as we always mention), we dance different genre too. But as PERFUME ourselves together with other group, we never tried, but we loved to do that!!!!

Affiliations:  Admin of Matsujun Philippines, Core of United Jpop Philippines,  Member of most of the JE fansclub in the Philippines. Amuse Ph and Perfume desu Ph.

Other facts: People think I am snob and a quiet type of person. Its funny when people think that way because I am really talkative. I love being part of a~chan since we have the same personality of talking a lot and then suddenly crying during mc parts. I can’t hold back tears when I am really happy and sad. There was a time I bit my lip so hard to prevent tears to fall down. UMMC know that I am such a crybabyJ

And there you have it, the introduction of Kirei Ningyou. If you want to know more about them don’t hesitate to leave a comment and who knows maybe your questions might be answered!

That’s all for now! Until next time!

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Hoping to work with KIS-MY-BOYS, Kirei Ningyou, and DreamCatchers again but this time I'll feature their performance videos or maybe one of their cover songs. And hopefully they'll answer a few questions regarding their performance/s or cover/s.

---Gel