Announced earlier today at the Hello! Project Winter Tour stop at Tokyo Nakano Sun Plaza was the formation of a brand new unit! The unit name will be announced this month and their first indie single will be released in March.

The new unit consists of 8 members of the Hello Pro Kenshuusei: Rio Fujii, Ayaka Hirose, Minami Nomura, Rena Ogawa, Ayano Hamaura, Natsumi Taguchi, Sakurako Wada and Rei Inoue. Ayaka Hirose and Rei Inoue recently transferred from NICE GIRL Project! Kenshuusei on November 29, 2014 at the Hello Pro Kenshuusei’s November/December 2014 recital concert.

For more information on the girls from the new group, check out their profiles below.

Rio Rujii Nickname: Riorio Birthdate: 3/4/1999 Age/grade: 15 / 1st year high school Hometown: Aichi Blood type: B Height: 150cm Hobbies: Piano, handball Skills: Gymnastics (backwards somersault)

Minami Nomura Nickname: Minamina Birthdate: 2/10/2000 Age/grade: 14 / 3rd year middle school Hometown: Tokyo Blood type: B Height: 155cm Hobbies: Reading, collecting stationery Skills: Unicycle

Rena Ogawa Nickname: Renako Birthdate: 3/27/2000 Age/grade: 14 / 3rd year middle school Hometown: Tochigi Blood type: A Height: 158cm Hobbies: Appreciating Music Skills: Touching her thumb to her wrist

Ayano Hamaura Nickname: Hamachan Birthdate: 4/26/2000 Age/grade: 14 / 2nd year middle school Hometown: Saitama Blood type: Unknown Height: 160cm Hobbies: Watching musicals and plays Skills: Jumping rope, 360-degree splits

Natsumi Taguchi Nickname: Tagucchi Birthdate: 7/21/2000 Age/grade: 14 / 2nd year middle school Hometown: Saitama Blood type: A Height: 151cm Hobbies: Drama appreciation Skills: Hula hooping

Sakurako Wada Nickname: Wadasaku Birthdate: 3/8/2001 Age/grade: 13 / 2nd year middle school Hometown: Aichi Blood type: B Height: 162cm Hobbies: Playing with dogs Skills: Doing the backstroke without hands

Ayaka Hirose Nickname: Ayapan Birthdate: 8/4/1999 Age/grade: 15 / 3rd year middle school Hometown: Kanagawa Blood type: A Height: 157cm Hobbies: Reading, watching baseball, running Skills: Speed reading, memorization, cartwheels, roundoffs

Rei Inoue Nickname: Reirei Birthdate: 7/17/2001 Age/grade: 13 / 1st year middle school Hometown: Tokyo Blood type: O Height: 156cm Hobbies: Singing, drawing Skills: High-speed winking

This year will mark the debut of many new faces within Hello! Project.

In late September of last year, four new members were admitted to Morning Musume’s 12th generation and will make their debut this year as part of Morning Musume ’15. Additionally, S/mileage has become “ANGERME” and 3 members were added to the group less than a week after the Morning Musume announcement. In November, Country Musume prepared a comeback after 10 years, rebranding with the name “Country Girls” and a completely new lineup consisting of 6 new girls and Momoko Tsugunaga of Berryz Koubou.

(Via Barks)