V6 (band)

V6 (ブイシックス, Bui Shikkusu) was a six-member Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. The group debuted on November 1, 1995, with the single "Music for the People", which was used as the image song for the 1995 World Cup of Volleyball. Their first four singles, including "Music for the People", were all cover versions of the same-titled Eurobeat songs composed by Italian producers such as Giancarlo Pasquini, Andrea Leonardi, Alberto Contini, and Sandro Oliva. Similar to their agency seniors Hikaru Genji, the group was separated into two subgroups based on age. For V6, the group was split into 20th Century and Coming Century, which consist of the three oldest members and the three youngest members, respectively. The band sold more than 13.5 million albums and singles. As separate bands, both of them performed the opening song for the anime, Eyeshield 21. Coming Century performed "Breakthrough", the first opening theme song, and 20th Century performed "Innocence", the second opening theme song. As V6, they performed "Chain of Power" as an insert song. They also sang "Change the World" and "Brand New World", respectively the first opening and eighth ending themes of the anime series InuYasha, as well as "Break Out", the 18th opening song of the popular anime Fairy Tail. They later performed the 21st opening song of One Piece, "Super Powers". As announced on March 12, 2021, V6 disbanded on November 1, 2021, their 26th anniversary since their debut. Many of its former members left the agency throughout 2023 as the Johnny Kitagawa sexual abuse scandal broke that year. The sub-group "20th Century" would have continued activities since.