Our Fathers grew up in a very small and semi-rural town. They were highly respected in our community growing up. They are very good and honest men. Our grandparents were very humble people. Hard working class folk. Our Fathers are the first in our family to go to a University. Our Dads met our Moms while in college. Our Moms were very, umm…, “Popular”, due to their…, “Unique Features and Assets”. Some how, our dopey Dads managed to charm and sweep our Moms, and Married them after they graduated college and got their jobs. They had us soon after.
Our Dads became co-workers and corporate managers for a major Japanese car company. They were transferred to Los Angeles, CA in the United States to oversee marketing and business development. We were only eight years old when we moved to Los Angeles. It was complete culture shock and we didn’t know English well.
Mel 🐰
The day I met Rina, I was introduced to our 3rd grade class in American public school. She was very quiet and depressed sitting in the back of the class. I instantly felt like we were mutually connected by us being Japanese and our “Unique Features”.
During our first recess, I saw some girl picking on her. She began pulling on her ears aggressively. That’s when I came over and confronted her. And when she got physically aggressive with me, I shoved her to the ground, scraping her knees. She then got up and ran away crying. I said hi to Rina, pulled out my coloring book and crayons from my bag, and ask if she wanted to help me finish it. I remember her smile vividly. We spent the rest of the recess coloring and talking. We’ve been best friends ever since.
Rina 🐮
I was a timid and sensitive child, so I was an easy target for aggressive kids to take their frustrations out on. A lot of kids in Los Angeles don’t have a healthy family like Mel and I do. In retrospect, I realize it was all just simple minded jealousy. We were different. We were foreign Japanese girls with unique features, and our Fathers made lucrative money as corporate managers. Mel, who is more of a “Type A” personality, stood up for me. There was a lot of physical fights. Our parents eventually took us out of public school and put us in a private one. The bullying didn’t stop though.
Mel 🐰
In 8th grade, a couple of weeks before graduating to high school, Rina had her locker vandalized. I was right there with her when we found what was written with permanent marker in bold letters, “GO HOME FREAKS”. Rina broke down crying into my shoulder. She couldn’t take it anymore. That’s when I heard snickering coming from around the corner. I spotted the two who did it and instantly charged in to KICK THEIR ASSES. I knocked out one with a punch to the jaw. The other one put up more of a fight, and I got punched in my eye. I shoved the guy to the ground and started kicking him repeatedly. Rina joined in, screaming with anger as she kicked away. We kicked mercilessly until that punk was black, blue and red all over. Our teachers had to pull us away. From that day forward, no one messed with us in our neighborhood.
Rina 🐮
The police were called to the school and we were cited for assault. When our Dads arrived to pick us up, Mel and I smiled big for them to show them we’re okay. Mel had a black eye, but was still in high spirits about the whole incident. I was just so happy to finally get some payback for all the years of torment I was put through. Our Dads knew we were only sticking up for ourselves and we were being treated unfairly by the school system.
We were sentenced to a ninety day probation and community service for most of that summer. We had to clean roadsides and public parks with a county supervisor watching over us. Mel and I didn’t care. We got to go swimming for free at the park public pool, after our community service was done. We watched movies and played videos games almost everyday. I honestly felt it was the best summer I ever had with my best friend. When it was almost time to start high school, our parents told us that we’re all moving back to Japan for a fresh start. Our Dads got approved to transfer back.
Our parents knew they could never separate us, so they got apartments close to each other. Our Dads took pay cuts and took on paying rent for apartments, while still paying their mortgages back in Los Angeles. We had our relatives move in our L.A. homes, to make sure nothing happened to them. Our Moms got jobs at grocery stores too. Our parents did all this, just so we can stop being bullied in American schools. I still tear up whenever I think about it. I’m so grateful for our parents. We enrolled in our parents’ high school. The teachers knew we were our parents’ kids and everyone respectfully accepted us. We were so happy to finally live our childhoods normally. As normal as we can be, at least.
Mel 🐰
We both graduated high school with honors, but the economy wasn’t great at the time due to the Pandemic. To save money, Rina and I enrolled in a two year community college online to get Degrees in Business, just like our Dads. We took a learning guitar curriculum course together and that’s when we realized we both love to ROCK! While doing class assignments, we were watching Dubbed English Animes. We were poking fun at how bad Americans dub over Japanese dialog. Rina then tried to imitate an American anime voice actress, and that’s when we discovered she is Really, REALLY, Good at it. It was right around when Hololive Myth just debuted and we really admired Gura the Shark. It was decided right there and then that we will become an Anime style band of our own. Our parents took us to the near by major city and bought us our instruments. We practiced them almost everyday together during the Pandemic. Our parents were very supportive the whole time. Rina’s parents even bought ear plugs, while we practiced in her apartment complex courtyard.
We both got part-time retail jobs a year later, when the economy was finally opening up again. I got hired at a gardening supply and nursery store. I remember the manager was a little hesitant to hire me, because the job required a lot of lifting. I soon proved that I was well capable of handling the work. I was promoted to assistant manager, then promoted to store manager, after the store manager before me was caught stealing money. The store owner appreciates my honest and dedicated work ethic, which is why I was trusted to run the whole store. I guess I get it from my Dad.
Rina 🐮
I got a job at a beach store. The store owner was struggling, so I offered to help market the shop outside by the entrance. I would model the bikinis while inviting customers in to see our products. The store quickly turned around in a month, making profits the owner had never seen before. I got promoted to assistant manager, then store manager when the owner felt I am fully capable. The store owner has other businesses, so I manage the store on my own, even during the slow seasons. All the regular beach goers know me and appreciate my caring attitude. I also get my business personality from my Dad.
Mel 🐰
Instead of getting an expensive apartment, our Moms had the Best Idea Ever. Our Moms convinced our Dads to live at our apartments for one more year, while we saved 80% of our paychecks. We pooled our money and got our own house with a mortgage together. Our Moms even helped us pick home decor and furniture, and moved us in. Our Dads wanted to help, but they were too busy with work. We were able to move in completely in one weekend. Our Moms are so smart and time efficient. They are the BEST! Now we're Housemates instead of Roommates. We run this blog as a hobby, while we work our store manager jobs. Rina and I LOVE Video Games. It was really Rina’s idea and it’s a Great one.
Rina 🐮
Growing up, we played with our parents’ game consoles, so we LOVE Retro Games. I grew up watching 80’s and 90’s movies too. In my opinion, I think media entertainment peaked in the 80’s. Retro media just has better imagination and storytelling. We want to fill this blog with every American NTSC video game from the third generation consoles to the fourth. Why American Games when we’re Japanese? Because there are way more Japanese Games than American. We don’t want to do this till our retirement years.
Mel 🐰
We started recording our music in our garage. I play the guitars and keyboard. Rina plays the bass and drums. Her rhythm is excellent. She carries a beat and grooves like a legend. We took a lot of inspiration from American Classic Rock and Classic Anime Music. I loved listening to the American Rock Radio Stations growing up, so I know all the Legendary Greats. Rina likes R&B and Dance, so we put our tastes together to make our own alternative sound. I know our recording setup is not the best and the sound quality can be improved, but we love it. And after six months of searching for a Japanese music label to accept our demo, we gave up and decided to go independent. The Japanese music industry is just so saturated and honestly very toxic. We wanted to things our own way and have full creative freedom.
Our parents had moved back to Los Angeles and we went to visit them that summer. We’d go to Anime Expo every year as kids, and this was the first time going on our own. While wondering around the convention, we met Joe, our now Professional Manager. We were a little lost and he showed us the way to the panel we wanted. While in line waiting for the panel, we got into a conversation with him. We told him that we are a duel independent studio band that wanted to be published. Rina demonstrated her vocals and he was very impressed.
He offered to help us get legitimately American published when our first album was completed. Joe being a former member of a band knew exactly what to do. He then co-founded his own publishing label just for us. We our now the one and only band signed to his label, IndiePublishings. When our first album was finally done the following year, he fully published it for us. We have full rights to our music under a legitimate legal contract. This was the nicest thing anyone has done for us. He really does believe in our music. And the Best part…
Rina and I have full creative control of our songs!
We fully own our lives and this is our story. We make our decisions and own them. We decide our own fates. We’re Best Friends and we’re living happily together in our own home. Nothing and no one can change us, or make us feel bad about ourselves.
Thank you so much for reading our blog!
❤️ Mel and Rina 💙
Our Time Line
2002 - Born in Japan.
2010 - Moved to United States when our Dads got transferred over by their company.
• Met each other in our American school class.
2015 - Our parents became naturalized U.S. citizens and still are to this day.
• Moved back to Japan after years of being bullied in U.S. schools.
2019 - Graduated High School with Honors.
2020 - Enrolled in Community College Online.
2021 - Got our Jobs.
2022 - Got our Business Degrees with Honors.
• Got promoted to Store Managers at our jobs.
2023 - Got our own house together.
• Parents moved back to U.S. for their careers.
• Met our Friend, Manager and Publisher, while attending Anime Expo
2024 - Started our Blog and rebooted our YouTube Channels.
• Released our First Album: 2 Girls - 1 Quest