ParaPara is an original dance craze from Japan. Based around Eurobeat or Trance music, ParaPara’s predominantly hand movements are memorized and performed alongside others. Like most things Japanese, the craze has caught on in America and Europe, mainly with cosplay fans and anime otaku. Without doubt, ParaPara is here to stay. Though it’s also fairly old since it’s inception now, it’s still alive and kicking in it’s country of origin here in Japan, though mainly amongst the Yankee’s and Gyaru (the bad boys and girls).

I’ve gathered together here the best ParaPara videos from Japan (sorry, no cosplaying american performances are making it onto this page) for you to enjoy and learn from. Please add comments if you know of a video I’ve missed and you’d like included here.

Youtube Videos:

To download any youtube videos, I suggest youtubex.com

Hinoi Team

The queens of ParaPara, Hinoi team is a group of highschool girls led by Asuka Hinoi. Their career began a long time ago with various minor movie parts and singles, until in 2004 they formed Hinoi team and turned their attention to taking taking the ParaPara world by storm. They had numerous hits, but only two are noteworthy - “Ike Ike”, and “Night of Fire”. Here, as is tradition it seems, Night of Fire is performed with a male japanese comedian Korikki, who otherwise goes around as a pro-wrestler in tight shorts and far too small t-shirt. Enjoy….

Kimutaku Mega-mix!

Kimura Takuya (of multi-talented singing dancing cooking boy-band SMAP fame) does a special Night of Fire / Mickey Mouse March mix (with the real Mickey and Minnie too!)

Soran Happies:

More recent additions to the ParaPara scene are The Soran Happies and Neko Hiroshi; consisting 4 junior idols and one famous comedian. They release da special ParaPara song called “Odore! Soran”, loosely based on the traditional Soran Bushi dance.

If you wanna learn the dance, this video is easier. It’s been slowed to half speed so you can see the movements easier. Gambare!

HareHare Yukai

From the ending of Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi), this is said to be the most exhausting dance around, at least by the hordes of cosplayers that attempt it. Give it a try if your’e in need of losing 300 pounds quickly.

Maeken Trance Project
(???????????????? - )

If Hinoi team are the queens, Ken Maeda (yes, a guy, and yes, very much gay) is totally the Princess. Yet another Japanese comedian, Maeda formed the Maeken project with a bunch of seemingly random ganguro girls and took Japan by storm with this trance remix of Maiahi / Dragonsta Din Tei (Numa Numa song). “?????????” (koi no buchiage tengoku) is a mix of maiahi + the coca cola chihuahua song + banzai, and it rocks…

This version is easier to learn the moves and has sing a long karaoke lyrics