Mikeru On Japanese Music Today

Beckii Cruel (center of image), the 14-year-old British dancer who rose to Internet fame in Japan by dancing to anime songs in net videos, is forming a girl band that will make its CD debut in Japan on February 10. "Beckii Cruel feat. Cruel Angels" will sing the classic pop song "Tsubasa o Kudasai" in Japanese.

Beckii Cruel will be joined in the new group by an 18-year-old French female college student named "Sara Cruel" (pictured at far right) from Lyon, and a 16-year-old British female high school student named "Gemma Cruel" from Portsmouth. Tokuma Japan will release the new group's CD.

As a resident of the Isle of Man, Beckii Cruel began posting videos of herself dancing to Japanese anime songs on the YouTube website in early March. By May, the videos had spread to the Nico Nico Douga website in Japan. As of October, the videos were seen over 3.3 million times.

Her Japanese debut DVD, This is Beckii Cruel, was released this month, and it debuted on Oricon's daily DVD chart at #8. She already performed at a stage event at the Tokyo otaku shopping district of Akihabara on October 25.