Magnolia Factory


Magnolia Factory was a Japanese girl idol group, formed by Up Front Group under the umbrella of Hello! Project in January 2015. The group was initially composed of eight girls who were members of Hello Pro Kenshusei. Their sister group is Camellia Factory. They disbanded on March 30, 2020.

History

2015-2016: Formation and Debut

On January 2, 2015, during the first stage of the Hello! Project 2015 Winter concert series, it was announce that the new unit consisting of Rio Fujii, Ayaka Hirose, Minami Nomura, Rena Ogawa, Ayano Hamaura, Natsumi Taguchi, Sakurako Wada, and Rei Inoue, was formed. Up Front Group announce that the name for the new unit was determined as Kobushi Factory on February 25. On March 8, it was announced that the leader and the sub-leader of the unit were determined as Ayaka Hirose and Rio Fujii respectively.
After member colors were announced through the episode #120 of YouTube program Hello! Project Station on June 3, their debut from a major label in Fall 2015, and the titles for their debut singles were announced during the first stage of the Roku-gatsu no nama-tamago Show! concert series on June 14. The date for their debut from a major label was announced as September 2 through the episode #125 of Hello! Project Stationon July 8.

2017-2018: Line-up changes

On May 12, Rio Fujii announced she would graduate from the group to focus on becoming a nurse or a teacher. Later on, the management issued a statement on Hello! Project website that Rio Fujii would no longer be part of the group for not complying with the rules. As a result, her graduation would not take place and her contract was terminated, effective immediately. Both Fujii and the management did not elaborate further, the details and nature of the violation remain unknown to public.
On July 13, Hello! Project announced that Rena Ogawa would take a hiatus from the group's activities until at least mid-August due to anxiety neurosis. However, on September 6, it was announced that Ogawa had graduated from Magnolia Factory and Hello! Project after her condition failed to improve.
On December 6, Hello! Project announced that Natsumi Taguchi would no longer be part of the group for not complying with the rules. As a result, her contract was terminated.

2019-2020: Disbandment

The group disbanded on March 30, 2020, with a concert at Tokyo Dome City Hall.

Members

Former


ImageSize = width:600 height:150
PlotArea = width:405 height:125 left:75 bottom:20
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:2015 till:03/30/2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2015 gridcolor:black
PlotData =
color:red width:8 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from
bar:Fujii from:start till:07/06/2017
bar:Ogawa from:start till:07/13/2017
bar:Ogawa from:07/13/2017 till:09/06/2017 color:black
bar:Taguchi from:start till:12/06/2017
bar:Hirose from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Nomura from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Hamaura from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Wada from:start till:03/30/2020
bar:Inoue from:start till:03/30/2020

Albums

Singles

DVD singles

Awards

Japan Record Awards

The Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show held annually in Japan by the Japan Composer's Association.