Vorlage:Infobox musical artist Supercell is a Japanese 11-member music group led by composer and lyricist Ryo which formed in 2007 as a dōjin music group. Supercell started out by making use of the Hatsune Miku singing synthesizer to produce vocals for songs submitted to the Nico Nico Douga video sharing website. Popularity of the songs led to the group to release the independent self-titled album Supercell at Comiket 74 in August 2008. Supercell made their major debut with Sony Music Entertainment Japan with the professional release of their Supercell album in March 2009, which was updated with more songs and a DVD. Supercell released their first single, "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari", in August 2009 with vocals by Nagi; this was the first release by Supercell not to use Hatsune Miku for the vocals.
Members
Supercell is made up of 11 members led by Ryo who produces the music and writes the lyrics. The other 10 members provide illustrations, animation, design, and photography in album booklets, cases and music videos.[1]
- Ryo (music, lyrics)
- Shirow Miwa (illustration)
- Huke (illustration)
- Redjuice (illustration)
- Suga (illustration)
- Mac (illustration and animation)
- Yoshiki Usa at Wooserdesign (design)
- Hei8ro (Heihachiro) (support in illustration and photography)
- Guitar (support in illustration)
- Crow (support)
- Golv (support)
History
Formation and indie releases
On December 7, 2007, Ryo submitted the song Vorlage:Nihongo to the Nico Nico Douga video sharing website using the Hatsune Miku singing synthesizer for the vocals; since then, the video has been viewed over 4 million times. Ryo used without permission an illustration of Miku by illustrator 119, and after Ryo contacted 119 with an apology, 119 responded with great interest in "Melt" and began to work together with Ryo, thus forming Supercell.[2][3] More members joined Supercell since its forming leading to 11 members by the time the group made its major debut.[2]
Ryo chose to distribute his music on Nico Nico Douga since he liked the website along with its response system. Ryo did not originally intend to use Hatsune Miku as the vocalist for his songs, and most members of Supercell did not even know of Miku until after "Melt" gained popularity.[2] Since Ryo did not know any singers, he was recommended by his friends to use Miku, which he thought was a good idea since videos using Miku were already widely being distributed on Nico Nico Douga at the time.[2]
In 2008, Supercell continued to release songs which quickly became popular. Supercell's releases of Vorlage:Nihongo on February 22, Vorlage:Nihongo on May 31, and Vorlage:Nihongo on June 13 all received over 1 million views.[4] On Nico Nico Douga, "World is Mine" and "Black Rock Shooter" both achieved the #1 spot on the daily My List Rankings. At Comiket 74 in August 2008, Supercell released the independent self-titled album Supercell containing their most popular songs in addition to several previously unreleased songs.[5] On December 12, 2008, Supercell released Vorlage:Nihongo on Nico Nico Douga which stayed at #1 on the daily My List Rankings for three days in a row, and has received almost 1 million views; this was the last song Supercell posted on Nico Nico Douga.
Major debut
Supercell made their major debut with Sony Music Entertainment Japan with the professional release of their Supercell album on March 4, 2009. The updated release included the art book originally bundled with the indie version, contained more songs than the original, and included a DVD with music videos for five songs. The album obtained a #4 ranking on Oricon's weekly album charts,[6] and in June 2009 was awarded the Gold Disc by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for having exceeded 100,000 copies shipped in a single year.[7] Supercell released their first major single Vorlage:Nihongo on August 12, 2009, which ranked #5 on Oricon's weekly single charts.[8] The song "Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari" was used as the ending theme song for the 2009 Bakemonogatari anime series,[9] and the single also included two tracks featured in the 2009 animated film Cencoroll. The single marked the first time Supercell did not use Hatsune Miku as the vocalist, but instead having the singer Nagi provide the vocals.
An anime project entitled Black Rock Shooter will be released in spring 2010 based on the song "Black Rock Shooter" and its original music video featuring illustrations by Huke. A "Pilot Edition" of the anime will be released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on September 30, 2009.[10] Ryo and Huke are collaborating on the project with supervisor Yutaka Yamamoto and his animation studio Ordet; Shinobu Yoshioka is directing the project.[11] Black Rock Shooter will be Ordet's first solo production as the main animation studio.
Discography
Singles
| Single information | Oricon Chart | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks | Peak | ||
Vorlage:Nihongo
|
3 | 5[8] | 44,533 |
Albums
| Album information | Oricon Chart | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks | Peak | ||
Supercell
|
5 | 4[6] | 100,000 |
Compilations
- Vorlage:Nihongo
- Released: July 1, 2009
- Label: Dwango AG Entertainment
- Contribution: Vorlage:Nihongo
- Vorlage:Nihongo
- Released: August 26, 2009
- Label: Sony Music Entertainment Japan
- Contribution: Vorlage:Nihongo, Vorlage:Nihongo
- Vorlage:Nihongo
- Released: August 26, 2009
- Label: Sony Music Entertainment Japan
- Contribution: "Black Rock Shooter", Vorlage:Nihongo