MIX, Its origins and its future within Idol-culture.
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-standard MIX
---MIX, the chants synonymous with Japanese idol culture.
But what was its origins?... AKB?, Hello!Project?...
The answer in reality is none of these things.
Mix goes further than AKB, further than Hello!Project.
But before we understand MIX, we have to understand the people behind it.
Sometime within the 90s, in Hokkaido there was a dance group known as "EVEL" (Dancing little bears in Ainu language). EVEL had five members as mentioned by 3rd generation MIXer Pika (more about him soon)'s blog:
"Two of them, Kurofuku and Zenkyou, were the ones who would take the role of leaders.
The members of EVEL are Zenkyou, Kurofuku, Enchou, Sting, and Mars"
-Pika 3rd generation MIXer
Before MIX was around, there was the Hentai Shichi-dan Katsuyou (Weirdo 7 step congregation) built from words that the 5 said in their daily lives, and with all those things blended together into one, it became MIX.
On June 20th, 1992, at Tiger Road in Atsuta, Kurofuku and Zenkyo did what Pika calls the first "Tiger Fire shout."
On December 28th, 1994, Kurofuku and Zenkyo, at Zenkyo's parents house, then takes that "Tiger Fire shout" and adds upon it. What we now know as "Standard MIX", or "Normal MIX" was born on this day.
Now, you may say "Oh! so that's when they started going to idol lives?"
Well, you'd be wrong...
What actually happened is they used MIX at heavy metal and rock concerts they frequented, such as the band "anthrax."
Kurofuku mentioned the original usage was to give a burst of energy before the vocals came back again during a guitar solo.
well after around a year, MIX's history becomes more modern, as in 1995, they would start doing MIX at the idol group MELODY and in 1996, mizuno aoi. according to Pika, this is the exact date EVEL started to goto idol sites.
At around 1995-1996, Pika mentions also seeing them at TPD lives, although he didnt exactly who they were at first.
around the same period of 1996, they would MIX around the site of well-known idol, Mizuno Aoi.
Those mentioned above, Asuwan, OMP, and so on became the main sites of EVEL.
Another thing which is mentioned in Pika's blog is the idol Z-1's
"You Your You", as he states:
"If you’re a MIXer, you have to listen to this masterpiece at least a thousand times. Listen to it a thousand times and you'll learn the basics of MIX. "
-Pika 3rd generation MIXer
This song is also one of the earliest videos we have of MIX, listening to it you can hear a very different rhythm than of today.
No exact date, but sometime after Melody's disbandment(2001-2002?), Kurofuku had to step down from EVEL due to work, and Encho receives a text message stating he would inherit MIX, becoming the 2nd generation MIXer, and starting what I would call the "Historic MIXer line."
With MIX now intrusted to Encho, he started doing MIX alone in hokkaido..
Further on in the future he started to meet up with ZONE wota MIXing around their site. People mentioned are "Maecchi, EDEN, Shin, and Keiji" these people became direct successors to encho and started to MIX doing it to BUZY, Dream and Bombura.
Pika called these guys "Class A criminals" due to them spreading MIX to people exposing the wider otaku to the culture,
The main "Class A criminals" , including the people above were as followed:
EDEN (ZONE wota)
Masaashii (Bombura wota)
Papa (Sunflower wota)
There is one person we want to focus on here, and his name is "Papa"
Pika states he became the basis of MIX here on out, starting the "start shot ceremony" where you make a pistol pose with your fingers and shout "YOSHAA IKUZO!!"
Pika states this is not always needed, and only used to make people fired up or understand better, and EVEL instead used "SHAAA IKUZEE."
Now we can finally get to Pika's origin story..
Pika started MIXing when he became a bombura wota...
although at first, he thought MIXing was stupid..
"At first I wondered why everyone started doing it out of the blue.
I wasn't even interested in it, and I thought..
"Just shut the fuck up…” "
-Pika 3rd Generation MIXer
But then on a fateful day he heard a person known as "Gomu Nii-san" and "shin-sama" start MIXing and thought to himself that it was the coolest thing he's seen.
"When I saw and heard Gomu-niisan and Shin-sama give the order, I thought…
"Holy shit, that's so cool... I want to be like that.” "
-Pika 3rd Generation MIXer
After that apparently his MIX was so terrible, his teacher named Na-san told him to listen to Z-1's You Your You a thousand times.
Pika was angry, but he continued practicing and got better fast.
Somewhere around here, Pika also becomes the 3rd generation MIXer, my research is not complete in this section, but we can safely say it was in-between this time-period.
Pika then started writing about MIX on hatena(even though he was told not to), eventually spreading MIX to a little-known group, AKB48
And with that, Pika himself became one of the so-called "Class A criminals."
Pika was then seen MIXing all over the place during this time. famously there was a video uploaded on September 11, 2007, titled "ライブ中に席を立ってのMIX行為" with the caption:
The man in the front row wearing a flashy patterned T-shirt is "Pika".
This man suddenly stood up, waving his hands in the air and giving the MIX order, shouting "YOSSHA IKUZO!"
The place was Sun Street Kameido, which no longer exists.
Later on, I don't know the exact story, but a Mary angel otaku known as "Imura" then became the fourth generation. at first, Imura rejected because didn't want to feel tied to anything and wanted to MIX freely, but in the end, he gave in and took the title.
And after him came the last modern day Historical-line MIXers, LEFT, or more commonly known as Ichiban-sensei, who would be named the 5th generation MIXer.
His main focus is on promoting both MIX and wotagei, and it is said he has the most connection to the original EVEL's ideology, as his "performance" aspect goes back to its roots in dancing.
And there we have it, the History of MIX. Now that you have learned the roots of the culture, I hope you've gained a better understanding of MIX and its roots within idol culture.
IETTAIGA!