Haruna Iikubo

***Haruna** redirects here, if you are looking for the 12th generation member of Morning Musume with the same name, head to Haruna Ogata.*

**Haruna Iikubo** was a 10th generation member and former sub-leader of Morning Musume and a member of DIY♡. She is also a former fashion model and actress.

As of the 20th of September 2017, she is the longest serving sub-leader of Morning Musume, and the first one to be a sub-leader under two reigns. One under Sayumi Michishige and the other under Mizuki Fukumura.

She graduated from Morning Musume '18 and Hello! Project on December 16, 2018 to work as a multitalent. At the same time as her graduation, she became the producer and voice of the virtual idol Ni-na (ニーナ).

## History

### Early Life

Haruna Iikubo was born on November 7, 1994 in the Harajuku district in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

In 2009, Iikubo won a special award at the exclusive auditions for the fashion magazine Love Berry. She first appeared as a model in the June issue of the magazine. Since the July issue, Haruna Iikubo adopted the stage name Dan Hau (壇 はう). She "graduated" from Love Berry (left the project) in the February 2011 issue.

On September 29, Iikubo was selected from Morning Musume's 10th Generation audition to join the group along with Ayumi Ishida, Masaki Sato and former Hello Pro Kenshuusei member Haruka Kudo. The tenth generation made their official presentation on the same day they were announced as new members in the "Morning Musume Concert Tour 2011 Aki Ai Believe ~Takahashi Ai Graduation Memory Special~" concert, and they participated in a performance of the song "Tomo." They also participated in the end of the song "Namidacchi."

### 2012

On April 18, it was announced that Morning Musume's Reina Tanaka and the 9th & 10th Generation members would participate in a new stage play, titled Stacey's Shoujo Saisatsu Kageki. The musical ran from June 6 through June 12.

On May 13, information was released about an event for the 9th and 10th generation members of Morning Musume as well as S/mileage’s 2nd generation members, titled Mosuma FC Event ~Gachi☆Kira~, set to take place on June 15th, 18th, and 20th at Yokohama Blitz.

On July 20, it was announced that Iikubo, Yajima Maimi, Tokunaga Chinami, Natsuyaki Miyabi and Nakajima Saki were chosen to form the unit DIY♡. The unit released an indies single, titled "Forefore ~Forest For Rest~ / Boys be ambitious!" (with GREEN FIELDS), on November 7, Iikubo's 18th birthday.

On July 27, it was announced that Iikubo would change her Morning Musume color. Her new color, Honey (A shade of Yellow), was revealed in a Ustream show on July 30

### 2013

In April, Iikubo became one of the new hosts for the radio program "Young Town," replacing Aika Mitsui.

On May 21, at Tanaka Reina's graduation concert, Tanaka announced that Iikubo and Mizuki Fukumura (who was appointed as leader of Morning Musume by Sayumi Michishige) were appointed as sub-leaders of Morning Musume.

On November 7, Iikubo celebrated her 19th birthday. The special event was called Iikubo Haruna Birthday Event 2013, which included the participation of Ayumi Ishida and Sakura Oda. The event was held at Tokyo FM Hall and had two performances.

### 2014

On July 31, Iikubo was a special guest on the Nico Live stream for the Zelda Musou (Hyrule Warriors) event. During the event, she talked about the Zelda games/series and also played a demo.

On November 7, Iikubo celebrated her 20th birthday. The special event was called Morning Musume '14 ~Iikubo Haruna Birthday Event 2014~, the event featured two performances in Tokyo.

### 2015

In addition to Morning Musume '15 providing the theme song "Ima Koko Kara" for the *Pretty Cure All Stars Haru no Carnival♪* movie released in theaters on March 14, three exclusive characters were voiced by Iikubo, Ishida Ayumi, and Oda Sakura. Their appearances were based on illustrations by Iikubo, with her own character (also named Haruna) being honeybee-like.

On March 16, Iikubo participated in the Digital Content of the Year '14 / The 20th AMD Award Ceremony as assistant moderator.

On November 9, Iikubo celebrated her 21st birthday at a special event called Morning Musume '15 Iikubo Haruna Birthday Event, featuring two performances at TOKYO FM HALL.

### 2016

On November 14, Iikubo celebrated her 22nd birthday at a special event called Morning Musume '16 Iikubo Haruna Birthday Event, featuring two performances at TOKYO FM HALL.

### 2017

On January 28, Iikubo released her first solo photobook Haruiro.

On July 14, Iikubo released a digital song with Kanazawa Tomoko titled "Obaka Neko to Obaka Neko Baka no Uta".

On September 20, Iikubo became the longest serving sub-leader in the history of Morning Musume, beating Niigaki Risa's previous record of 4 years, 3 months, and 28 days.

On November 7, Iikubo celebrated her 23rd birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '17 Iikubo Haruna Birthday Event, which featured two shows at TOKYO FM HALL.

On November 8 and 9, the 10th generation members of Morning Musume '17 held a fanclub bus tour titled Morning Days Happy Holiday 10ki Member Iikubo Haruna・Ishida Ayumi・Sato Masaki・Kudo Haruka Fanclub Tour in Yamanashi.

### 2018

On May 12, Iikubo released her second solo photobook female.

On August 17, Haruna Iikubo announced her graduation from Morning Musume and Hello! Project. She will graduate at the end of Morning Musume's autumn concert tour GET SET GO, after which she would continue working in the entertainment industry as a soloist.

On November 7, she celebrated her 24th birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '18 Iikubo Haruna Birthday Event at Katsushika Symphony Hills Mozart Hall.

On November 8, she became the main MC for the JFN radio program *Min 5 Chara-Van* (a pun on "Caravan") which introduces various local characters and mascots from across the country.

On November 25, Iikubo announced on her blog that she sings the ending theme song "???" for the VR YouTube stream *VER. (Version Dot)* in collaboration with virtual YouTuber Midori Todo. The song premiered at the end of the special *Virtual Star Tanjou! VER. Jushoushiki ~Densetsu no Hajimari~* broadcast that day.

On November 26 and 27, she held the Morning Days Happy Holiday Iikubo Haruna Fanclub Tour in Kinugawa.

On December 15, Iikubo announced she would produce and lend her voice to the virtual idol Ni-na under the VR corporation HIKKY. Also, on that evening's broadcast of *Young Town Doyoubi*, it was announced that Iikubo would continue as a regular on the radio show.

On December 16, Haruna Iikubo graduated from Morning Musume and Hello! Project at the end of Morning Musume's autumn concert tour GET SET GO and at the same time as her graduation, she became the producer and voice of the virtual idol Ni-na. Following Iikubo's graduation, Ayumi Ishida was given the title of sub-leader alongside Erina Ikuta. The next day she joined Just Production in partnership with UP-FRONT PROMOTION, and opened a personal Ameba blog and official Twitter and Instagram accounts.

In the first post on her new blog, Iikubo announced that she had joined M-line club.

### 2019

In the beginning of January, Iikubo transferred from UP-FRONT PROMOTION to J.P ROOM as her primary agency.

On March 23, Iikubo announced that she would make her first post-Hello! Project drama appearance in episode 8 of Hikari TV's *Toubou Ryourinin Watanabe* on May 10.

On March 28, Iikubo, as the virtual idol Ni-na, uploaded her first cover video of the Vocaloid song "Charles" to YouTube. The song is originally by Vocaloid producer balloon using the Vocaloid flower.

In April, she along with model Kondo Chihiro became regulars in the Wednesday "Oshare Sanpo" corner of CBC TV's *Chant!*, the same corner which Takahashi Ai and Niigaki Risa had become regulars for a month before.

On April 20, she was a guest model in the TGC KUMAMOTO 2019 by TOKYO GIRLS COLLECTION at Grandmesse Kumamoto.

Iikubo starred in the MBS/TBS drama *Toritsu Mizushou! ~Reiwa~*, the second live adaptation of the novel *Toritsu Mizushou!* about a fictional high school that teaches water trade skills, which began airing on MBS on May 5 and TBS on May 7. She was casted as a Nukui Nene, a gyaru-style student in the Cabaret Club Department.

On May 18, she was a model in the Rakuten GirlsAward 2019 SPRING/SUMMER at Makuhari Messe.

From June, Iikubo appeared as the fall 2019 poster model for the "Copywriter Academy Course" by Sendenkaigi, the leading publishing and communications company in Japan.

On August 8, she announced a clothing collaboration with the brand KANGOL REWARD, which opened for orders on September 4.

On September 19, she began a video series on Square Enix's official YouTube channel, titled "Iikubo Haruna to Kanta no Game Future!", in which she plays various games published by Square Enix.

On October 9, it was announced that Iikubo would star in the short film *Phantasm*, which is part of the omnibus horror film *Gekijouban Hontou ni Atta Kowai Hanashi 2019 ~Fuyu no Tokubetsu Hen~* that will release in theaters on November 16.

Iikubo held her first M-line club event, titled Iikubo Haruna FC Event '19 ~Akabanebashi Kara Shibuya Made Harunan GO!~. Three shows took place on October 19 at Pacific Heaven, and two shows took place on November 7 at Shibuya SHIDAX Culture Hall in celebration of her 25th birthday.

### 2020

On March 5, it was announced that she would make an appearance in the television drama *FAKE MOTION -Takyuu no Osho* airing in April.

On April 9, it was announced that she would appear as one of the two MCs in BEYOOOOONDS' variety show, *KURAGAE ~Watashitachi no Koto, Oshite Kudasai!~*, on April 15 and April 22.

Some time before February, she pitched the idea for the Hello! Anison Bu (Hello! Project Anime Song Club) YouTube channel and became the channel MC and Club President. The channel was opened to the public on June 4.

On October 12, she started a bi-weekly gaming show on Japanese live streaming service Mildom, titled "Harunan's ROOM".

On October 21, she released another wave of collaboration T-shirts with the clothing brand KANGOL REWARD, which were made to order.

On December 24, it was announced that Iikubo Haruna had tested positive for COVID-19 after undergoing a test due to feeling unwell. She received medical treatment and complied with quarantine measures at the hospital.

### 2021

In November 2021, it was announced during the annual *Tales of Festival* that celebrates the *Tales of* video game franchise that Iikubo Haruna would perform in *Tales of Arise Online Theater: Liberators* as the heroine Shionne. Due to restrictions in place in accordance with the COVID-19 pandemic, the stage play was announced as being released only online, performed at Bandai Namco's MIRAIKEN Studio. The stage play, adapted from the then newly released *Tales of Arise* video game, was set to premiere in March 2022.

### 2023

On January 1, she was transferred from J.P ROOM to UP-FR0NT CREATE alongside Miki Fujimoto, Kei Yasuda, Rika Ishikawa, Maasa Sudo, Yurina Kumai, Erina Mano, Maimi Yajima, Saki Nakajima, Haruka Kudo and Rina Katsuta.

## Appearance

Haruna wears a yellow jacket over a yellow shirt, yellow trousers and yellow shoes. She has black hair.

## Trivia

* She was the second member to be killed in Homer Kills Morning Musume/Gets Grounded after Sayumi Michishige.
* She voiced her own character in the movie Pretty Cure All-Stars Haru no Carnival, as a bee-typed fairy.
* Her official YouTube username is IikuboOfficial.
* She shares the same name as 12th generation member Haruna Ogata.
* She is the second sub-leader not to have become leader later on, the first to do so is Kei Yasuda.