marble is a Japanese musical duo, originally named The Student's and formed in 1999. The members, Micco and Tatsuya Kikuchi, met and became friends while they were both enrolled in music school. Kikuchi was the main musical support for Micco at that time, who was acting as a solo artist. As they got to know each other better, they decided that they could both make better music if they performed together, and formed The Student's. After getting signed to Warner Music Group's indie label in 1999, they had two releases, but got increasingly more involved in production for other artists and gradually did less and less of their own activities. However, the urge to write and perform their own music came back, and to commemorate this change in attitude, they renamed themselves 'marble' in 2003 and played shows with a backup band, but they split from the band in 2005, and Micco and Kikuchi continued their performances as a duo.

Since their major debut in 2007 with Lantis

Lantis (company)

is a Japanese company that specializes as a music publisher label for Japanese musicians, anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks. It was established on November 26, 1999, and in May 2006, it was bought by, and became a subsidiary of, Bandai Visual...

, they have had a number of releases, including their first album in February 2008. Their songs have been featured in such anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 as Hidamari Sketch, Kamichama Karin

Kamichama Karin

is a Japanese manga originally written by Koge-Donbo about a seventh grade girl named Karin who finds out that she can transform into a goddess. The series began as a manga first serialized in January 2003. Kamichama Karin was serialized in the Japanese shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi and published...

, KimiKiss pure rouge and Tamayura ~hitotose~

Tamayura

is a Japanese four-episode original video animation series produced by Hal Film Maker and directed by Junichi Sato. The episodes were released over two Blu-ray Disc and DVD volumes in November and December 2010. An anime TV series, titled Tamayura: Hitotose, began airing in Japan from October 3,...

.

Their sound is described as calm and soothing "organic pop", most likely because they use very few synthesized instruments and the main instrument is an acoustic guitar.

Members

- vocals, lyrics, and occasional composition. - acoustic guitar, bass guitar, composition and arrangement.

Singles

• deep breath (released 2003) - limited pressing, 100 copies.

2. Paper Plane
4. (acoustic version)
5. (acoustic version)

• Free CD (released 2003) - only 50 copies exist. It was handed out at a gig.

1. frail

• Is it over? (released 2005)

1. Is it over?

• Christmas Gentei Free CD (released 2005.12.24) - handed out only at their gig at Yotsuya Tenmado on Christmas Eve, 2005.

2. Early Christmas Morning
   Early Christmas Morning
   "Early Christmas Morning" was the only single from Cyndi Lauper's Christmas album Merry Christmas...Have a Nice Life It was only released officially in Japan....
   
    - Cyndi Lauper
   Cyndi Lauper
   Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
   
    cover

(released 2005)

2. Wind Thread on a Spool

(released 2006 summer)

3. I'm free

(released 2007.2.21) - ending theme of Hidamari Sketch

3. Mebae Drive (instrumental)
4. Rin (instrumental)

(released 2007.7.25) - second ending theme of Kamichama Karin

Kamichama Karin

is a Japanese manga originally written by Koge-Donbo about a seventh grade girl named Karin who finds out that she can transform into a goddess. The series began as a manga first serialized in January 2003. Kamichama Karin was serialized in the Japanese shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi and published...

2. Rain Drop
4. Kūchū Meiro (instrumental)

(released 2007.10.24) - opening theme of KimiKiss pure rouge

KimiKiss

is a dating simulation game for the PS2. Released by Enterbrain in 2006, KimiKiss has become a media franchise, including manga, light novel, and has been made into an anime as of 2007-2008.-Story:...

2. clover
3. Aozora loop (instrumental)
4. clover (instrumental)

(released 2008.8.6) - ending theme of Hidamari Sketch × 365

3. Ryūsei Record (instrumental)
4. Hummingbird (instrumental)

Albums

(released 2008.2.6)

5. Move
14. (released 2008.10.15) - This is their first entirely acoustic album, released exclusively on iTunes Japan. It includes previously unreleased songs. (released 2009.1.21) - this is a selection of their earlier indie works, many of which are otherwise no longer available.

Collaborations

• Nana Kitade
  Nana Kitade
  Nana Kitade , is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician. She has had success as a solo artist, model, actress, fashion designer, and the lead singer of the Germany based noise pop band, "Loveless"....
  
  's song was originally created by marble and named "Tenohira (てのひら)".
• mona records / Subarashiki Jishu Seisaku no Sekai Vol.4 (released 2006)

  8. Rin (凛)

• Mai Nakahara
  Mai Nakahara
  is a voice actress. She is employed by I'm Enterprise. Some of her hobbies include cooking and watching movies, and she is skilled at kendo. She worked with voice actor Ai Shimizu in eight anime where most of the characters they voiced in together had close connections: DearS, Kage Kara Mamoru!,...
  
  's songs , , , , "Merry-go-round", and "Twinkle"
• Ryoko Hirosue
  Ryoko Hirosue
  is a Japanese actress and pop star, best known in the West for her roles in the Luc Besson-produced Wasabi and the Academy Award-winning Japanese film Departures. She also starred in a comedy series Yasuko to Kenji in 2008.- Early life :...
  
  's song

External links

• marble official website
• marblepedia
• Lantis' official marble website