Who/What is ClariS?

If you've been keeping up with the past two anime seasons (Winter 2010/2011 and Fall 2010), you may have seen a show or heard of a show titled Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (My Little Sister Can't be this Cute) or Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Magical Girl/Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica). Putting the popularity of the series aside, the most surprising factor that these two series share in common is their opening theme, particularly the artist behind it: ClariS.


ClariS made its debut with Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai. Now, one may be curious as to what's so special about another artist's/band's debut. The catch here is that ClariS is actually made of up of two female singers, both of which are in junior high/middle school. That's right they are in junior high middle school! Because of that reason, their actual names and faces are not allowed to be disclosed, hence why no one knows a thing about them! Prior to their major debut, they often performed under the name "Alice☆Clara" on the famous Nico Nico Douga website, which is relatively the Japanese equivalent of Youtube.

Regardless, it's rare to see artists that young really shine nowadays. Usually major debuts are around 19 with occasional exceptions of 16-17. But nevertheless, it's absolutely astonishing two see two middle school students not only soar on the Japanese Oricon charts, but also have two major singles back to back. Both singles, "irony", and "Connect" are fantastic and definitely deserve a listen if you have heard them yet:

Of course those two are not the only good songs from them but are probably the most popular at the moment. Searching up ClariS or Alice☆Clara on Nico will likely reveal some more of their older works as well as other songs found within the irony and Connect singles. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how these two grow over the next few years, especially hoping to see a live performance from them in the future!