Fantastics from Exile Tribe is a nine-member Japanese male dance and vocal group formed and managed by LDH. The group is part of the collective Exile Tribe, related to Exile, and signed to the record label Rhythm Zone from the Avex Group. Fantastics debuted on December 5, 2018.
History
2016: Formation
On December 29, Sekai, Sato Taiki and five performers from EXPG were selected to form a new dance group.
2017: Pre-debut
On January 31, the group's name and formation was announced in TBSTV show "Weekly Exile" consisting of 5 performers coming from EXPG and 2 Exile members Sekai and Taiki being the leaders of the unit. The 5 new performers also originated from the dance teamExile Generations and included: Natsuki Sawamoto, Leiya Seguchi, Natsuki Hori, Keito Kimura and Shota Nakao. From February 13 until April 16 the group started their Musha shugyō. On May 15, the Vocal Battle Audition 5 was announced on "Weekly Exile" in order to recruit vocalists for the new unit. On December 20, Yusei Yagi and Sota Nakajima were announced as the two finalist who passed the audition on NTV's "Sukkiri".
2018: Fantastic 9
On March 3, Shota Nakao announced that he would be suspending his activities due to stomach cancer to receive treatment. From April 14 to June 10, the group launched their second Musha shugyō, entitled "Yume-sha shugyō FANTASTIC 9". On May 1, it was announced that Ballistik Boyz would be the opening act of the events starting from May 12. On May 4, the group featured on Exile's digital single "Turn Back Time," which was dedicated to Shota and the group's first release. The music video for this song included hand-written messages and get-well wishes from every Exile Tribe artist for Shota. On July 8, it was announced that Shota had unfortunately passed away from gastric cancer on July 6, at 7:23 am. On July 14, at Dance Earth Festival 2018, which was the group's first stage since Shota's death announcement, the members announced that "FANTASTICS is 9 people.". Shortly after, LDH announced a memorial event dedicated to Shota for fans. The event was held on August 25 and 26, with fans bringing letters, pictures and art to share the memories they have of him. On September 15, during Exile's concert Exile Live Tour 2018-2019 "Star of Wish", they were announced as an official EXILE TRIBE group with the announcement of their major debut on December 5 with the single "Over Drive".
2019: Singles, Battle of Tokyo and first tour
On April 3, the group released their 2nd single "Flying Fish". After finishing promotions for their second release, LDH's multimedia project "Battle of Tokyo", which includes all Jr.Exile groups, started in June. During this month those 4 groups released collaboration singles every week, until they released a full album titled "Battle Of Tokyo 〜Enter The Jr.Exile〜" on July 3, 2019. Accompanying the album release, the groups held a row of live performances from July 4 to 7 with the same name. Since those dates included the first anniversary of Shota's death, a memorial for him was built at the concert venue. On July 6, the groups also performed "Turn Back Time" together in honor of Shota. On August 9, the group announced they will hold their first national hall tour combining "Sound" and "Drama" titled "Fantastics Sound Drama 2019 Fantastic Nine" beginning on October 11 and ending on November 21. On August 21, the group released their 3rd single "Dear Destiny", which is their first ballad as a title track. On October 9, it was announced that they would release their 4th single "Time Camera" on December 4. The title track will be an upbeat song in contrast to their previous single. On November 21, the last day of their first tour, it was announced that Fantastics would release their first full album titled FANTASTIC 9 on February 12, 2020, and their first photobook in spring of 2020. Additionally, it was revealed that the group would go on their second tour and first arena tour titled Fantastics LiveTour 2020 "FNT" in 2020 too. The tour would be part of LDH Perfect Year 2020: Season 2 "Imagination". On December 8, it was revealed that Fantastics and The Rampage would be in charge of the special movie theme songs for the 40th anniversary project of Mobile Suit Gundam titled Gundam × Ken Okuyama Design × LDH Japan “G40 Project”. Fantastics' theme song "To The Sky" and The Rampage's theme song "Show You The Way" would both reflect the story of Mobile Suit Gundam from two different aspects. The full special movie project was released on Gundam’s official YouTube channel on January 1, 2020.
2020: First studio album ''FANTASTIC 9'' and second tour
Shortly after the release of their first full album FANTASTIC 9 on February 12, 2020, it was announced that the group would release their 5th single "Hey,darlin’" on April 1. Fantastics's second tour Fantastics Live Tour 2020 "FNT" was scheduled from March 28 to July 19, but due to COVID-19 pandemic, all performances were postponed. On July 25, Fantastics announced their 6th single "Winding Road -mirai e-" to be released on September 23.
