Ai Kago's Career With Girls Beat!! and the Formation of the New Group Bokura no Zaidan

Ai Kago, the former member of girl group Morning Musume formed a girl group that was an interesting pop and rock kind of group called Girls Beat!! She has also formed a new unit which we will discuss shortly. It would be in October 2013 that Kago would announce on her blog that she was forming a group and that there would be auditions for new members. That is where the group Girls Beat!! would eventually form and take shape.

However, there was one aspect about “Girls Beat!!” that was unique in the sense that the lyrics, music, and ideas for the costumes would be submitted by fans and through an online voting system.

The first winner of these auditions was Remi Kita. There was a person that finished as the runner-up in the auditions and her name is Ryona Himeno. She was given training before becoming part of this group. On July 22, 2014, their first single called Sekai Seifuku (World Domination) was released.

However, a major incident happened in October 2014 that would put the group’s future in doubt. Girls Beat!! had to suspend their activities after police issued an arrest warrant for Kago's then first husband. The story is that he was a member of the organized crime syndicate called Yamaguchi-gumi. Tokyo Police claimed at the time that he illegally loaned 2.5 million yen to someone. The group was in the middle of holding auditions for new members when those activities had to be put on hold.

After the work resumed, several months later in May 2015, Remi Kita left the group after her contract was not renewed. Meanwhile, Kago would leave the group on August 4^th of that year after her divorce was finalized. Taking care of her daughter Minami would have to be her highest priority. But she would return to Girls Beat!! with Ryona in November 2015 and they would be in attendance at an event in Taiwan. On December 1, 2015, Yui Momose would join Girls Beat!! In February 2016, Kago left or “graduated” from Girls Beat!! The reason given was so that she could exclusively focus on her solo work as an artist. The album Get Ready released in March 2016 was the last musical work to feature Ai Kago as a member. However, with the departures of Yui Momose in September 2017 and Ryona Himeno in June 2018, Girls Beat!! was no more as the group disbanded.

As for the new unit, Kago is working in conjunction with the entertainment group Bokura no Zaidan and there is a new unit called Watashi to Bokura no Zaidan that has been formed. Bokura no Zaidan is a group that does various works and this includes holding LIVE events. Kago was the main person that was in charge of planning and producing this new unit. She had been in Bokura no Zaidan’s stage plays and music videos. There is a music video of the song “Wonderground” which is really basically Japanese style rap combined with Japanese pop. That rap parts isn’t exactly my cup of tea but it is good to see Ai Kago getting busy to form another unit after the dissolution of Girls Beat!!