All Things Small Web

I dimly remember THE COINLOCKERS but I had no idea that their membership rotated so significantly during the three years they were active. That surely should have been a sign considering the higher bar of entry, the need for all prospective members to not only play but be fairly proficient with their instruments, but, whatever the case, hot off the heels of WWTHYWC!'s band theme, this Akimoto Yasushi idol-group-band weathered a fairly tumultuous storm, even if only for a few years.



Before the debut of the group, however, bass player Hayasaka Tsumugi debuted in the original line-up of Team 8 in 2014 alongside, deep breath, Abe Mei, Okabe Rin, Okubora Chinatsu, Oguri Yui, Oda Erina, Nagano Serika, Fujimura Natsuki, Onishi Momoka, Kuranoo Narumi, Shitao Miu, Cho Kurena, Hamamatsu Riona, Fukuchi Rena, Honda Hitomi, Yokomichi Yuri, the other Yokoyama Yui, and Yoshino Miyu. Like her colleagues, she was there for the first performances of Team 8's revival of PARTY ga Hajumaru yo, appearing on stage at the SKE48 theatre in early August of that year. In September, when the team moved on to performing Aitakatta, Tsumugi was there also, the youngest member of a very young team, a girl who loved omurice and whose oshi was Goto Moe. Like Yoshino Miyu, she was also present on the on the B sides of every AKB release from Kokoro no Placard through to High Tension, as well as outlasting her by one single with the dubious honour of appearing on a B side for Teacher Teacher, Romantic Junbichuu.

When Tsumugi announced her graduation in 2018, there must have been some knowledge of what was coming next, of Akimoto's plans to launch THE COINLOCKERS as an independent idol-group-band. Debuting in December of that year with a significant rotation of members in the three short years in which they were active, THE COINLOCKERS felt like they were trying to capture some of that feeling that bands such as Whiteberry evoked in the late '90s as well as conjuring up that nostalgic feeling of school festival bands. I have no sources to confirm this, but I feel the roots of the project and Akimoto's creative motivation lay with GIVE ME FIVE!, and, even further back than that, with the Team K song, Tomo yo. What is disappointing in terms of Tsumugi's tenure with the group was so short. Before the year was out, Tsumugi had gone on hiatus in order to focus on school, and by the time the band's contract was renewed for 2019, she came back for the big end of year concert at Zepp Tokyo, along with all but thirteen members, she graduated as the record company "restructured" the band in light of sales for the concert not having reached some arbitrary target.

If this sounds gross to you, it's because it is. Already, THE COINLOCKERS were set up not in terms of a "real band" but much more in spirit like Team 8, a large cast of members who could fill in for different parts on different dates. Whilst Tsumugi was on hiatus, there were still Kagami Nozomi, Nakajima Sumire, Yamagishi Uta, Terada Momo, Yoshida Momo, and YURI who played bass in the band, and concerts were far more like idol concerts, consisting of a number of subunits rather than being like a regular band. You can see the impact of Team 8's popularity in this approach, you don't need me to point it out to you. Whatever happened after that 23rd December concert, however, Tsumugi was not a part of it.

It's a sad note to end it on. Tsumugi, who sold herself as being expressionless and tomboyish, made a jump following Team 8's success and it feels like she was both let down by record companies and management as well as maybe overestimating how much she could commit to in light of schoolwork. That really makes me sad, friends. I hope that whatever she is doing now, she is happy doing it. I hope that, from time to time, she still picks up her bass.