Hinabita (short form for Hinatabi Bitter Sweets), is a fictional band of five girls produced by Funaki Tomosuke, a composer of Konami Digital Entertainment. Initially a project of Konami Digital Entertainment to sell music digitally through downloads on iTunes, Hinabita has since gained popularity with Bemani players and even a considerable number of non-players and has expanded to many other kinds of merchandise.
The story of Hinabita goes like this. In the small town of Kuranogawa, there is a very old shopping district known as the Hinatabi shopping district. Due to the poor accessibility of Kuranogawa, the shopping district sees very little business and the residents survive by helping each other. A large corporation decides to build shopping malls to draw more business to the area, and the continued existence of the Hinatabi shopping district is threatened. A group of five girls, led by Yamagata Marika, decides to form a band and bring life back to the Hinatabi shopping district through the power of music.
Hinabita consists of five girls:
Yamagata Marika, keyboardist and vocalist. The daughter of the owner of a retro records shop. A carefree girl who lives by her gut feelings. Appears to be insensitive to people’s feelings, but is actually smart and mature.
Izumi Ibuki, bassist and vocalist. Daughter of the owner of a suit shop targeted at older people. Neighbor and childhood friend of Marika. A rather simple-minded and emotional girl with a sharp tongue, but is actually serious and kind at heart.
Kasuga Sakiko, acoustic guitarist and vocalist. Daughter of the owner of a café. Goes to the same high school with Marika and Ibuki. A mature and kind girl well-liked by peers.
Meu Meu, drummer and vocalist. Daughter of the owner of a stamp seal shop. A middle school girl who loves eating parfait. Loves anime, games, and otaku culture in general. Her words and actions are heavily influenced by anime characters. Loves rhythm games such as Drummania and Pop’n music.
Shimotsuki Rin, electric guitarist and vocalist. Daughter of the owner of a book shop that specializes in old books. A quiet and negative girl who loves to be alone. Has trouble communicating with people.
As Hinabita is first and foremost about music, let’s start by listening to two of the most popular Hinabita songs.
Chikuwa Parfait Dayo☆CKP
Meumeu pettantan!!
Almost all of Hinabita's songs can be found on this itunes page. Each song costs 250 yen.
Hinabita has gone beyond just music. They have radio shows, dramas CDs, manga, and novels, as well as a ton of other merchandise. Here is a picture of Hinabita’s goods from Sapporo’s Gamers.
Do you like the character design of Hinabita? The design and illustrations are done by the famous South Korean manhwa artist/illustrator CUTEG. You can check out her Pixiv page here.
Hinabita’s music are featured prominently in most bemani games, including Jubeat which I wrote about Jubeat in a previous article. Hinabita has four packs in Jubeat+. Do give it a try. I took some screenshots to help guide you through the process.
Go to the jubeat store and select KONAMI music under category.
Hinabita packs 3 and 4 can be seen on the top. The first two can be found by scrolling down.
On the pack's pop-up, you can listen to previews of the songs or download the songs on iTunes.
