Music / AAA

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AAA (トリプル・エー Toripuru Ei, Triple A), standing for Attack All Around, is a 7-membered Japanese co-ed dance vocal group under the label Avex Trax. The group is marketed by their label as a "super performance unit", with its name 'Attack All Around' referring to the group's intention to tackle all kinds of different music genres and challenge all areas of the entertainment industry. AAA initially made their debut as an 8-membered group on 14th September 2005 with the single Blood on Fire👁 Image
, however in mid 2007 female member Yukari Goto left the group due to health reasons. Both Chiaki Ito and former leader Naoya Urata later left the group in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

The group is currently on indefinite hiatus as of 2021.

Current Members: (in age order)

• Misako Uno (16th July 1986) - ♀
• Takahiro Nishijima, aka Nissy (30th September 1986) - ♂
• Shuta Sueyoshi (11th December 1986) - ♂
• Mitsuhiro Hidaka (12th December 1986) - ♂
• Shinjiro Atae (26th November 1988) - ♂

Discography:

• ATTACK (2006)
• ALL/2 (2006, EP)
• ALL (2007)
• alohAAA! (2007, EP)
• AROUND (2007)
• CHOICE IS YOURS (2008, EP)
• depArture (2009)
• HEARTFUL (2010)
• Buzz Communication (2011)
• 777 ~Triple Seven~ (2012)
• Eighth Wonder (2013)
• GOLD SYMPHONY (2014)
• WAY OF GLORY (2017)
• COLOR A LIFE (2018)

Tropes associated with AAA's works:

• Alternative Foreign Theme Song:
  • The theme song for the Japanese version of The Fault in Our Stars is "Lil Infinity"👁 Image
    .
  • The Japanese release for the Chinese live-action film adaptation of Initial D uses "Blood on Fire"👁 Image
    .
• Anime Theme Song: Quite a number of them.
  • "Crash👁 Image
    " as the opening to Sands of Destruction's Japanese release.
    • ...as well as "ZERØ👁 Image
      " for its anime adaptation.
  • "With you" as the first ending theme song to Inuyasha: The Final Act. This is basically "Hide-away👁 Image
    " with different lyrics.
  • "I4U" as the ending theme to movie Prince of Tennis: The Battle of the British City.
  • As AAA was appointed as PR ambassador for One Piece's 15th anniversary in 2014, many of their tracks have been associated with the series (much to 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
    Nissy's delight).
    • AAA did a cover of 'We Are!' in 2012 as the ending song for One Piece's TV special Episode of Nami: Tears of a Navigator and the Bonds of Friends.
    • "Next Stage👁 Image
      " was used as the ending theme of another One Piece special 3D2Y: Overcome Ace’s Death! Luffy’s Vow to his Friends.
    • "Wake up!👁 Image
      " is the 17th opening for the anime.
  • "Ashita no Hikari👁 Image
    " as the second opening song for World Trigger.
• Ascended Extra: Chiaki, Shuta and Shinjiro used to be just background dancers/backup vocals in AAA until much later after debut.
  • Chiaki started having her own lines in 2008, joining Misako, Nissy and Naoya as the main singers of AAA.
  • Shuta and Shinjiro got individual vocal lines in all singles starting with "CALL" in 2011.
• Audience Participation Song: "Hurricane Lili, Boston Mari👁 Image
  ", a concert favorite. AAA performs this song every single year at a-nation without fail. Everyone, literally everyone, has to spin a towel above their heads during the chorus of the song.
• Color-Coded Characters: Each member of AAA has their own official representative color. These colors are orange (Nissy), purple (Misako), green (Naoya), yellow (Hidaka), blue (Shinjiro), pink (Shuta) and red (Chiaki). Before Yukari left, her color was pink and Shuta was black.
  • For some strange reason, in their 2010 double A-side single Aitai Riyuu👁 Image
    /Dream After Dream ~Yume Kara Sameta Yume~👁 Image
    the member colors seemed to have gone through a shuffle for both PVs. Nissy was red, Misako was pink, Naoya was dark blue, Hidaka was a lighter blue (doesn't look green...?), Shinjiro was purple, Shuta was orange and Chiaki was yellow.
• Design Student's Orgasm: The video for "Break Down👁 Image
  ". Enough said.
• Gratuitous English:
  • Plenty of Hidaka's lines will have this.
  • The song title to "No cry No more👁 Image
    " itself is already cringeworthy.
  • Shinjiro was shockingly bad at English👁 Image
    during AAA's baby days. Ironically, he is now AAA's English master thanks to his obsession with America.
• Hip-Hop: Hidaka's speciality as the group's designated rapper, as well as in his solo works under the name SKY-HI.
  • A Wild Rapper Appears!: Hidaka usually never sings outside of his own verses.
• Japanese Pop Music: Duh.
• Manly Tears: Shinjiro leaks a drop or two at the end of "Aishiteru no ni, Aisenai👁 Image
  ". This is rather unusual as Shinjiro normally doesn't show his tears to the public (unless filming a drama or movie).
• Mascot: A~panda, a panda with the letters "AAA" on its belly. It is colored in the members' official colors, and is frequently used in concert tour goods as soft toys, figures, straps, etc. A giant, life-sized A~panda is often seen walking around at concert venues.
• Stop Motion Lighting: The videos for Hide-away👁 Image
  (2:59 - 3:13) and "Still Love You👁 Image
  " (2:58 - 3:12 and 4:27 - 4:41). May cause epileptic seizures.
• The Four Chords of Pop: They use the chord progression's minor variant vi-IV-I-V in their tracks. Examples include "PARTY IT UP👁 Image
  ", That's Right👁 Image
  , "SHOUT & SHAKE" and boys-only song Soul Edge Boy👁 Image
  , although other songs like "Next Stage👁 Image
  " and "HAN Ds" also slip that chord progression in their choruses.
• Two Girls to a Team: They may be a co-ed group, but their gender ratio is rather unbalanced.
• Vocal Dissonance: Shinjiro, particularly during AAA's earlier days. Many fans were shocked that such a deep, husky voice came out of the youngest member of the group.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Hidaka is perhaps the most noticeable example. In the group's early days, his voice was super deep and heavilly slurred. Beginning around 2011, his voice became a lot more nasally and higher-pitched.
  • Shuta's voice got slightly throatier by the time he started singing regularly in 2011, and a lot more by the end of the decade.
  • Both Nissy's and Misako's voices gradually became softer throughout the 2010's.
• Vocal Tag Team: Nissy and Naoya (with Misako as the lead female singer) back during AAA's earlier days. This has now changed, with all members (except Hidaka) having a fair share of their own lines.