Now it's official. After their live concert on May 14th 2005, fra-foa announced their breakup. From now on, each single member will pursue their own musical carreer. fra-foa's website will keep you updated on the paths Chisako, Seiji, Koji and Manabu decided to go.

According to their official website, there are plans for a fra-foa live concert in spring 2005. Unfortunately, there is no more information available right now.

According to fra-foa's newsletter, a 'live and promotional video DVD' is planned. The release is scheduled for September 28th 2004.
The DVD will contain fra-foa's live concert from January 25th 2004 as well as all of their 7 so far released promotional videos.

For a preview of what's awaiting you, you can check the gallery for snapshots of all the videos. If you already have the videos, you might want to download subtitles for them. You can find the subtitles here on the news site. (check entry from September 5th 2003)

update: The DVD has been released and is temporarily available through mailorder on fra-foa's official website. It will only be shipped to locations in Japan, though.

The official fra-foa website www.fra-foa.net has been updated and redesigned. Whereas the content became less (no lyrics anymore, discography featuring only the two albums and not the singles anymore), you can see few new pictures there and most importantly watch a short clip of fra-foa's new song "tobenai tori" (A bird which cannot fly) performed at their January 25th concert.
However, no information on whether this song will be released as their new single or on upcoming releases or concerts is given.
Check the video out.

Like members of the fra-foa unofficial Yahoo Group should already know, fra-foa will be performing live in the metropolitan area of Tokyo on January 25th.
It has been quite a while since their last concert and tickets for this concert have been sold out on the first day.

more information:

ACOM Get a Live (Keri)

fra-foa live
Sunday, January 25th 2004
shimokitazawa CLUB251

open 17:00
start 18:00
3150 yen

Lets all hope they will perform any new songs on their concert. fra-foa is back.

I think understanding the really wonderful lyrics of fra-foa is a big plus in enjoying their music. For an easier and more comfortable understanding of their lyrics for people who don't speak Japanese, I've created subtitles (translation and original) for fra-foa's music videos.

You can download all subtitle files in a *.zip file HERE

Some technical details on HOW to actually use them:
I'm no expert at all in subtitling, but that's how I do it. The subtitle files are *.ssa (Sub Station Alpha) files. For each music video there are two files. The translation and the Japanese one.
However, I hope you understand that sometimes the translated part is not 100% in sync with the part that is sung at the moment, simply due to differences of word order in Japanese and English.

What you need for encoding the PVs with subtitles:

• VirtualDub
• subtitler plug-in for VirtualDub

Encoding the music video:
This is pretty easy. Download VirtualDub and the Subtitler plug-in for *.SSA files. Now, copy the files from the plug-in into the plugins folder of VirtualDub. Start VirtualDub and click on File -> Open video file. Choose the music video you want to encode. Then, click on Video -> Filters and choose the subtitler filter. Choose the correct subtitle *.ssa file and leave the other settings like they are. If you want to add the Japanese original lyrics as well, simply add another filter - this time the Japanese *.ssa file.
Back in the main window, press F5 for the preview and see if the subtitles are added to the clip the way you want it. If it's okay, then just save the clip with the subtitles.

Note: When you save the file as *.avi it will be pretty big (about 2-3 GB). Use TMPGEnc to convert it back into *.mpg of only 50-100 MB.

Just try some stuff and find out what you can do with the subtitle files on your own. There are plenty of possibilities. If you have any questions just drop me a mail.  

Hello everyone! Good news today: On May 10th, fra-foa vocalist Chisako Mikami gave birth to a baby girl. I don't have any further information nor name of Chisako's daughter, but both seem to be healthy and well.

The online anime magazine 'animefringe' is featuring an article on fra-foa. It is quite a good article and can be found on www.animefringe.com/magazine/2003/05/feature/03/.
Check it out!!

The 'sumiwataru sora, sono mukou ni boku ga mita mono' guitar tab is available for download now, thanks to jrocker_03:
download

From the fras newsletter:

"fra-foa's Vocalist, Mikami Chisako has happily married. Since her partner is not famous, his personal details are being witheld. Also, it appears that Mikami is pregnant. Please send any congratulatory email to fras@fra-foa.net, and it will be forwarded to Mikami. Due to this, fra-foa's live activities will, unfortunately, be suspended for a time.

Mikami has already begun to write a new song. Since the expected delivery date is in the end of May, live activities are expected to resume around the end of July or beginning of August. Next year, Mikami plans to make various changes to her live performance style as well as working on a solo project.

Finally, fra-foa's contract with Toys Factory has ended. Next year, they will change to a new label. As soon as a decision has been made, we'll let you know."

credits to Boo

My best wishes to Chisako, may a bright future be waiting for her!