http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/PassCode

From left to right: Kaede Takashima, Nao Minami,

Yuna Imada, Hinako Ogami

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PassCode is a Japanese Idol Girl Group from Osaka, produced by Koji Hirachi (平地孝次)  who also composes and arranges all their songs  managed by We-B Studios agency, and signed to Universal Music Japan.

Known for their energetic stage presence and ensuing wild live shows, tight musicianship and dancing, robotic sound through liberal use of processing, screaming, and ability to fuse multiple genres within a single song, they are often compared to the all-male "electronicore" group Fear, And Loathing In Las Vegas and could credibly be called the Queens of the alt-Idol scene.

The current lineup consists of:

Nao Minami (南 菜生) [Date Of Birth: 1996/11/27]

Kaede Takashima (高嶋 楓) [D.O.B: 1993/12/25]

Yuna Imada (今田 夢菜) [D.O.B: 1994/12/17]

Hinako Ōgami (大上 陽奈子) [D.O.B: 1998/6/22]

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The group's notable former member:

Yuri Kurohara (黒原優梨) [D.O.B: 1993/10/11]

PassCode lists its official "birthday" as October 26th (the day in 2016 they released their first single under Universal Records), and it traces its history back to 2014 with the release of their music video "Asterisk" on February 23rd and their first single, Nextage, on September 26th. However, its true nucleus was about a year earlier, and it took some time plus a LOT of member turnover to discover what musical direction the group should take. That direction turned out to be, in essence, All of Them at once as a group of four girls.

For a very brief period in Summer 2015, after Hinako Ogami joined, PassCode became a five-girl group. But that October, original leader Yuri Kurohara abruptly left, bringing it back down to a foursome, and the lineup has remained consistent since.

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Unlike many self-styled Idol groups, PassCode performs with a live backing band, and has done so consistently since mid-2016. Perhaps in part because of this, the atmosphere at the group's shows is known for being extremely rowdy, with moshing and crowdsurfing normal sights. The girls themselves would traditionally encourage this "freedom" and feed off it, though crowds have sometimes gone too far and received rebukes from the girls.

As of 2019, the group has toured Japan multiple times, and also performed abroad in Taiwan and South Korea.

CD Singles

Nextage (2014)  (B-side is "Shake It Up Tonight")

Now I Know (2015)  (B-side is "Orange" or "Seek Out the Truth" depending on version)

Never Sleep Again (2015)  (B-side is "Rize!")

Miss Unlimited (2016)  (B-side is "Cry Out" or "Trace" depending on version; this is also their first UMG single)

Bite the Bullet (2017)  (B-side is "Lost" or "Catharsis" depending on version)

Ray (2018)  (B-side is "Untill the Dawn" or "Trickster" depending on version)

Tonight / Taking You Out (2018) {this is a double-A-side single}

ATLAS (2019)  (B-side is "Golden Fire" or "Future's near by" depending on version)

STARRY SKY (2020)  (B-side is "Tramonto" or "Seize Approaching BRAND NEW ERA" depending on version)

Studio Albums

All Is Vanity (2014)

Virtual (2016)

Zenith (2017) {their "Major Debut Album", the first after being signed to Universal}

Locus (2018) {an "Early Works Reconstruction Album", redoing 10 of their 26 pre-UMG songs}

Clarity (2019)

Compilation Albums

Ex Libris PassCode (2018) {meant for international markets, it's basically Locus with a few more songs added}

The group's Youtube channel is here. Their official website is here. Their twitter feed is here, wherein may be found links to each girl's official accounts.

Compare Ladybaby, a newer & younger group of similar style (minus the vocoder); and Perfume, who also use tech to sound robotic and have been produced by one man since their beginning. Contrast Band-Maid, who fit squarely into the hard-rock genre, play their own instruments, and write their own songs  though PassCode has performed "Versus" shows with them; and Babymetal, who started out Alt-Idol but employ multiple composers, focus chiefly on the lead singer, and go out of their way to avoid most Idol trappings.

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