20 July 2018 marked the 7th year debut anniversary for popular 2D idol unit ‘ST☆RISH’ (reads: ‘Starish’) from popular rhythm game and anime series “Uta no ☆ Prince-sama” (A.K.A. ‘UtaPri’ in short). It was on this exact date in 2011 that the iconic and catchy ending theme-song ‘Maji Love 1000%’ performed by the unit officially released CD single for sales in the real-world market, effectively setting the debut milestone for the 2D idol unit. The group has since then progressed far with many live events, performances and winning many awards under their name.

© Saotome Academy

As the clock struck the hour of midnight in Japan on 20 July, social media site Twitter come abuzz with countless congratulatory well-wishes, messages and posts from fans as well as official staff and cast members related to the production. ‘ST☆RISH ‘was trending momentarily over Twitter (pictured) and many messages with the hashtag “#STARISH_7th_anniversary” came flooding upon the social media platform.

“UtaPri” anime series scriptwriter Tomoko Konparu was probably one of the first amongst production staff to post her congratulatory message on her Twitter – slightly before midnight on 19 July 2018, in fact.

After her, one of the very first cast members’ congratulatory Twitter messages came from popular seiyuu Junichi Suwabe – who is the character voice for the charming and charismatic Ren Jinguji in both the anime and game. Suwabe-san posted a picture of a bottle of Japanese sake named ‘DATE SEVEN’ with a rainbow-hued (coincidentally the representative colours of the seven members of ST☆RISH) label, mentioning that “there is no better time to open and enjoy this than now. A toast!”

On 20 July morning, a congratulatory Twitter message also showed up on the series’ music composer’s – Noriyasu Agematsu (ElementsGarden) – official twitter account along with a sweet and short video clip of him playing a remixed medley-arrangement of ‘Maji Love 1000%’ with ‘Happy Birthday’ on the piano.

We too, wish ST☆RISH a happy birthday, and look forward to future new releases of the series!