Sunday July 30, 2023 9:00 am to 10:00 am

Have you ever wondered why idol anime franchises like Love Live or iDOLM@STER continue to be greatly successful? Or why huge scale female-fronted J-pop groups like AKB48 always top the music charts? Large scale female idol groups are now everywhere in East Asia. But it wasn't always that way. In 1985, a group of 11 normal girls, a TV special, and one soon-to-be very famous man changed the scope of J-pop forever. All it took was a fresh new perspective on what the word "idol" could mean. Let's travel back in time to the 80's Bubble Era of Japan to unfold the phenomenon that started the girl idol group boom today, and how it crossed over into the world of animation.

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