FERN PLANET - イルシオン (Illusion)
Added 2025-04-20 15:00:15 +0000 UTCAnother band that I will never get new material from ever again.
This kind of thing kills me. I know that we at least have the memories and what is created now, but man...this band has a cool sound. The harmonies of the vocals and the sheer musical talent of all three memebers here shines so bright!
This was a cool suggestion.
Comments
Fern Planet formed out of the remnants of Rick-Rack which Serina (guitar/vocals) started back in high school in 2013 and had a cult following (including a surprising amount of international fans) until they disbanded in February 2017. The final line-up featured Meiko Yamaguchi on bass/vocal harmonies (who had replaced original bassist You) and she stuck with Serina in order to form the trio that followed. Fern Planet were active from early 2017 to the end of 2019, disbanding suddenly on 6th December and then disappearing off social media entirely in the case of Serina. They released two mini albums during their existence, "stardustbox." in Dec '17 and "Bokura no Träumerei" in July '19. The band had moderate success but never really broke through commercially. For the first year or so of their existence they were called ELFiN PLANET and had a female drummer, Haruki Muziguchi. After she left in July of 2018 they got Motoshi from Pool Ice Moon in as a regular support drummer who you saw here. He was involved with the group until they split up and Meiko actually later played as Pool Ice Moon's support bassist a few times when she was making ends meet before she got the Dizzy Sunfist gig. As @ferretarmy pointed out, you've almost certainly seen Serina perform more recently within your first Bocchi/Kessoku Band studio live performance reaction to 'Seishun Complex' on YT, as the lead guitarist/secondary vocalist. It's an open secret amongst the Japanese fanbase that they instead appear to now go by the stage name 音羽 aka. 'otoha' and have adopted a dansō persona (a term culturally similar to cross-dressing, where someone born female dresses masculine, with a more gender neutral hairstyle but doesn't necessarily change pronouns). The otoha persona & YT account has publicly existed online since Dec 2016 but became more active in the months leading upto Fern Planet ceasing activity. They have never publicly confirmed they are the same person, instead thanking fans for their support of 'previous projects' without specifying names. However they have a near matching biography, have stated the same early guitar influences, own several identical unusual/customised guitars and have a distinctive playing style on guitar & very recognisable singing voice. otoha has built a decent solo career since releasing their first solo single in January 2020 and has also been responsible for multiple different anime themes in the last few years, building on the industry recognition that followed composing several songs for Bocchi the Rock! including 'Seishun Complex' and 'Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet'. The next track I'd recommend checking out would be the Fern Planet version of 'Soldier Girls' released as a single in March 2019. This is originally a Rick-Rack song from 2015, the MV is ostensibly shot as a performance video but does also include an additional studio overdubbed rhythm guitar layer in places, as well as some wah pedal usage which isn't replicated for the video: https://youtu.be/EnZuLUHEpFs?si=qTlHUgV53kbFDnb8
Andrew Hellebrand
2025-04-21 01:04:43 +0000 UTCSerina the vocalist now goes by 音羽-otoha- and does solo stuff this is her youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@otoha_official/videos. You also saw her perform in this Bocchi the Rock studio live where they played Seishun Complex : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1K5BDHnr7c she is the one playing guitar and doing back up vocals.
ferretarmy
2025-04-20 21:34:42 +0000 UTCI discovered the Japanese music scene only a few years ago. And my only disappointment is that I keep finding great bands that are no longer around. Just suggesting a few to look into: Kinoko Teikoku - “Whirlpool” https://youtu.be/VUkxm-8u_B4?si=uYLiMvrMn4kHglVH Chatmonchy - “Shangrila” https://youtu.be/zE9Y5kWBX1o?si=9HUmlnz6mBaxqPVh School Food Punishment - “Futuristic Imagination” https://youtu.be/NglpQ3JF7NQ?si=BGs9V6qtViSkfzud Girlfriend - “Full House” https://youtu.be/5scXSn35gsU?si=OL0J6lNgajoU9yeq (Mina is the new bass player for East of Eden) Ironbunny - “Street Strider” https://youtu.be/CmrZwONPtq8?si=Ek7_o6qPpvxJs4Z0 (until recently, Kotono was the singer for KOIAI) Akaiko-En - “Absolute Zero” https://youtu.be/B7HeN3JO9OI?si=jE0nHO8Xe-Y0RLC8 (disbanded after Tsuno, guitarist and principal songwriter died in 2020. Singer, Ishino Riko is now a member of the band Aooo)
Kevin (WhirlwindMediaStudio)
2025-04-20 21:24:01 +0000 UTCMEIKO is in the current version of Dizzy Sunfist and was in the first song you heard "Stay with Me". The song you just reacted to "Life is a Suspense" features the original bassist Iyama. Sorry for creating confusion and giving them to you "in the wrong order" :p .
PANIC
2025-04-20 16:37:10 +0000 UTC
