Onyanko Club (おニャン子クラブ, Onyanko Kurabu?, lit. "Kitten Club") was a large all-girl Japanese pop idol group in the 1980s. The group gave a new approach to the idol formula with its 52 official members and three unofficial members. Some members of the group participated in several subgroups such as Nyangilas, Ushirogami Hikaretai, and Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi, with the latter two groups providing most of the soundtrack to the popular 80s anime series High School! Kimengumi.
The group debuted on 1985-04-01 on their own Fuji TV variety show Yūyake Nyan Nyan with eleven high school girls selected from participants in the Fuji TV All Night High School Girl Special (オールナイトフジ女子高生スペシャル, Ōru Naito Joshi Kōsei Supesharu?) aired in February that same year. The group disbanded on 1987-09-09 with a final concert. There have been several reunion appearances, including one on a recent episode of Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ. Several big-name idols stemmed from the group, one of the best known being Shizuka Kudō.
The same formula was used by the more internationally familiar group Morning Musume, and people regularly compare Onyanko Club to Morning Musume. They even gave a small tribute to Onyanko Club at the end of their member "roll call"-esque song "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari" when they do the classic "Nyan Nyan" pose. The song is similar to the series of three "Kaiin Bango no Uta" songs released by Onyanko Club.
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