Secret Girls

Secret Girls (シークレットガールズ) is a Japanese direct-to-video and streaming television series produced in cooperation with Fuji TV, Bandai, and Dentsu. The series stars Idoling!!! members Yūna Itō, Kaede Hashimoto, and Nao Asahi, as well as Sena (actress) and Mayu Tomita. The series is centered on the fictional girl group of the same name, who lead a double life as normal middle school students and must hide the fact that they are idol singers in their daily lives.

Secret Girls ran for a total of two seasons, with 19 episodes released between 2011 and 2013. Each episode was distributed on the Ciao Ciao TV! DVD discs that were included as a bonus in the monthly shōjo manga magazine Ciao, with the episode later made available on Fuji TV's online streaming service, Misanga (streaming service), in the same month.

Secret Girls launched a brief singing career for the cast, who performed as their characters at music events. In addition, manga and light novel adaptations were published, along with a merchandise toy line.

Synopsis
Third-year middle school students Rio Shibaski and Maya Aramaki are fans of Secrets, an idol girl group whose personal lives and identities remain private. Rio and Maya later find out that the members of Secrets are their classmates, and they are recruited into the group. The five girls begin performing under the name Secret Girls and must continue to keep their double lives separate and a secret from others.

Cast

 * Yūna Itō as Rio Shibasaki (柴崎リオ), known under the stage name Liz
 * Kaede Hashimoto as Maya Aramaki (荒木まや), known under the stage name Bee
 * Nao Asahi as Miki Morikawa (森川未紀), known under the stage name Morm
 * Sena (actress) as Asako Yamamoto (山本麻子), known under the stage name Yah
 * Mayu Tomita as Ai Takano (高野愛), known under the stage name Eye

Episodes
Each episode of Secret Girls was released monthly through the Ciao Ciao TV! DVD discs that were included as a bonus in the shōjo manga magazine Ciao, with the episode later made available on Fuji TV's online streaming service, Misanga (streaming service) in the same month. Throughout the show's broadcast, Secret Girls was used in commercials for Curl C Girl, a hairpiece line by Bandai.

A second season was serialized monthly beginning with the August 2012 issue of Ciao, which released on July 3, 2012. The digital broadcast of the series was also made available on iTunes.

Discography
Secret Girls briefly launched a singing career for the main cast of the show, where they released music under the group name Secret Girls and performed as their characters at live events. They held their first live concert in July 2011. They also performed at the Tokyo Idol Festival 2011 Eco & Smile event on April 6, 2012.

On March 21, 2012, they released the single "Secret Girls." The single contained the songs "Go! My Way!", "A Little Star", and "Change the World", which were featured in the show. The limited edition contained a DVD disc containing footage of their 2011 concert, a choreography lesson, and behind-the-scenes footage for their music videos.

Manga
A manga adaptation by Pochi Kashiwa titled Secret Girls: Naisho no Idol (シークレットガールズ~ナイショのアイドル~) was serialized in the monthly magazine Ciao beginning with the September 2011 issue released on August 3, 2011 to the May 2013 issue released on April 3, 2013. The chapters were later released in 2 bound volumes by Shogakukan under the Ciao Comics imprint.

Light novels
A light novel adaptation of Secret Girls is written by Uiko Miura, the show's screenwriter, with illustrations provided by Pochi Kashiwa, the author of the manga adaptation. The light novel series is published by Shogakukan under the Shogakukan Junior Bunko imprint.