Folder5 originated from the Avex band, Folder, which began in August of 1997, comprised of seven young members, all between the ages of 9 and 12. The members graduated from the famous Okinawa Actor school, which is responsible for producing many talents including Amuro Namie.
Among these seven members were the five girls of Folder5, and two boys, one being the vocal leader, Daichi. However, the boys left Folder when the band's disbandment was announced and their record company Avex carried out a new project, introducing elements of Eurobeat, a Japanese version of Eurodance, in the new band's music.
In the idea of the record company's marketing directors, they chose AKINA to take what would have been Daichi's place. She became the one who sang the most, and also represented what he would have visually, standing where he did in photoshoots and dances. This was a successful move because of her attractive appearance, which was the reason they chose to put her out front originally.
SUPERGIRL became the group's first single, an upbeat Eurobeat song including a rap part. Unfortunately, the debut single didn't sell as well as Avex had been hoping for and didn't live up to the expectations that they held.
Taking everything into consideration, it can be concluded that Avex didn't want to invest a great effort into this group and were satisfied with a reasonable profit. With this intention, the group was signed to be in advertisements as well as background music for drama credits to hopefully boost the music sales.
When Summer came, Folder5 was able to show previews of their live performances to promote new songs on Fuji-TV. The second single, AMAZING LOVE, was much more energetic than the first release and closer to the true Eurobeat.
In November the group was selected to sing the opening theme for the anime "ONE PIECE". The song was BELIEVE, which was a different version of a Eurobeat song called DREAMIN' OF YOU by LOLITA. The single had a surprising rock intro, and became the most popular single of their whole career.
The girls then announced that their first album would be released in July of 2001, called HYPER GROOVE 1. There was a release party at the end of the month held at Akasaka Blitz. As for the album, it was a nice compilation for the new band, containing the singles they had released before. All in all, it can be called a summary of the band's first year.
The second phase of Folder5 began at the end of 2001 with the release GO AHEAD!!, consisting of songs influenced from remixes and trance songs which were popular at that time. For this release, Avex specially requested t-kimura from m.o.v.e. to compose and write for the band. Because of this, it was decided that the promotion budget for the band would be increased. Also around the same time, each member began to have equal vocal parts instead of the focus being on AKINA. These efforts were well-rewarded, the single went over well with the public and the other members could start to become part of the Japanese idol world.
The next two singles decreased some of the hopes Avex had for Folder5, as the band left the Eurobeat sound for a very pop-dance sound instead. The sales of those singles were not promising for the future of the band. The profits of Five Girls were nevertheless worse than those of its predecessor, which wasn't much of a shock. In August, the girls joined the boy bands w-inds. and FLAME on the single World Needs Love, one of the official songs for the World Cup organized by Korea and Japan for a group called Earth Harmony.
In November AKINA left the group to begin her solo career, but her own sales seemed to be the same as Folder5's. There were no confirmed activities for the remaining four girls. Again, with intentions to make profit from the money invested in the group, they released a mega mix album in January 2003 called HYPER GROOVE PARTY. Right after that, Avex combined the end of the groups Folder and Folder5 and released Complete Box, containing all the DVD's and albums by the group.
After the disbandment, some of the members tried to survive within the world of Jpop and Idols. AKINA released two different kinds of singles, but they quickly sank down the Oricon Chart. She also had very little success with dramas, and her official site has since remained unchanged for two years.
Hikari also tried to follow in the footsteps of many other idols. She finally succeeded, emerging from 2006 having performed in two dramas and took part in the "Death Note" movies. Since then, she continued in this direction.
Arisa continued to produce music, returning back to indies with the pseudonym of Arie and released an album in early 2006. As for Moe and Natsu, it seems that since the end of the group they have been forgotten, along the lines of so many other idols...
