Enogu

Enogu (えのぐ, from the Japanese word 絵具, meaning distemper) is a group of Japanese Virtual Idols under Iwamoto-chou Geinousha's virtual idol project. They started activities as a 2-person group known previously as Antama (あんたま) formed by Suzuki Anzu (鈴木あんず) and Shirafuji Tamaki (白藤環), who debuted on YouTube on 28 August 2017.

On 25 December 2017, a new group called the Actresses Unit (女優部 / Joyū-bu) was debuted with new three members: Natsume Haru (夏目ハル), Hinata Nao (日向奈央) and Kurihara Sakurako (栗原桜子).

On February 21 2018, Enogu formed its classic lineup when the two units were merged. On May 5, 2018 they did their proper first show as five girl assembly with a live performance of their first single, the eponymous song "Enogu". The Actresses Unit was later renamed as Hinatsukuri (ひなつくり).

Since 31 January 2020, Enogu was reformed as an idol quartet after the departure of Kurihara Sakurako due to poor health and following her absence from streams, events and performances since April 2019.

It is expected that Enogu will return to be an idol trio group from 31 December 2022 onwards, since the announcement of Natsume Haru's graduation on 10 July 2022.

Introduction Video




History

 * The initial announcement of the creation of Enogu was received with a harsh backlash from their fans because of misunderstandings originated from the official statement released by the chief manager of the group, Yuuta Marumo . The way he delivered the statement was interpreted as he was changing completely the lineup with new members instead of just merging the two existent groups. On 23 February, 2018, the Actresses Unit released an apology video explaining the reasons who lead to this misunderstanding and reassuring the fans that there won't be changes on the formation beyond of a merge. In the video, Rako, who was wrongly targeted with some of the fan backlash, was crying, and when the other girls tried to touch her to console her it caused glitches in the motion capture system. To this day the first announcement video is the most disliked video in all Enogu's videography.
 * On 4 March 2019, it was announced that the voice actress behind Natsume Haru will take a break due to her poor health.
 * On 2 April 2019, it was announced that the voice actress behind Kurihara Sakurako would temporarily suspend activities due to an undisclosed medical condition.
 * On 7 April 2019, the 1-year anniversary VR live event was held at DMM VR theater, with the 3 active girls: Anzu, Nao and Tamaki.
 * On 13 September 2019 Natsume Haru resumed her activities with Enogu.
 * On 31 January 2020, Iwamotochou Geinousha (via the official twitter account of Enogu and their official website) announced the permanent retirement of Kurihara Sakurako. Rako's departure from Enogu and Iwamotochou Geinousha is scheduled to be effective on 29 February 2020. According to the official statement, despite Rako's intentions to resume her activities, the specialists in charge of her medical condition had clarified that her long and ongoing treatment had made impossible for her to continue, so the best for her in this situation was to conclude her activities as an idol altogether. Iwamotochou Geinousha also stated that they will not expand on the details of Rako's medical situation and urged her fans to respect her privacy. Also Iwamotochou Geinousha confirmed that Rako will not release a personal statement addressing her fans nor she will be active on her official social network accounts.
 * On 10 July 2022, Natsume Haru and Iwamotochou Geinousha announced the conclusion of her activities with Enogu to be effective on 31 December 2022, citing personal reasons related with her family. The same day Haru and the rest of Enogu did a livestream addressing this announcement.
 * On 06 November 2023, Iwamotochou Geinousha announced their bankruptcy and closing of all activities on 31 December 2023. Nonetheless the talents have announced they will continue activities in a semi-autonomous scale, honoring previous commitments while becoming independent and/or transferring their brand to a another company.

Trivia

 * As of 2019, along with Kizuna AI, Weatheroid Type A Airi and Kosaki Micha, the members of Enogu are the only virtual youtubers who had their accounts officially verified by Twitter. Eventually as the Vtuber fad grew and become more popular, the number of virtual talents having their verified twitter accounts increased.
 * The hashtag #えのぐ was nominated in the breakthrough category (VTuber) on the 2018 Twitter Trend Awards in Japan. Enogu was nominated along Kizuna AI, Kaguya Luna, Mirai Akari, Dennou Shojo Siro, Tokino Sora, Tsukino Mito, Nora Cat, Shinonome Megu and Yozakura Tama. AI was the winner of that category.
 * Along with Fuji Aoi and MonsterZ MATE, Enogu is also an artist who signed a deal with Universal Music Japan for the release of their music.
 * They have a collaboration with the YumYumMonkey ice cream/snack shop in Akihabara (at Don Quijote building).

Media

 * Enogu's official site
 * 【VRアイドル】えのぐチャンネル - YouTube Channel
 * Enogu's corporate profile on the Iwamotochou Geinousha website.
 * @rbc_geino - Official Enogu Twitter Account
 * @anzu15_225 - Anzu Twitter
 * @erimakitamaki - Tamaki Twitter
 * @hinao_23ku - Nao Twitter
 * @haru_neee - Haru Twitter
 * @rako_29 - Sakurako Twitter (Inactive since July 2019, deleted since March 2020)
 * Showroom (used often for live shows).
 * Enogu's music on Spotify

Twitter hashtags

 * #えのぐ - General

Further readings

 * あんたま - Nicovideo Encyclopedia
 * えのぐ - Pixiv Encyclopedia