Candy Stage

Candy Stage (キャンディーステージ) is the umbrella name for the all-female J-Pop internet idol units that are under contract with and managed by CS Agency. All units' recordings are published by the Candy Stag record label.

The mothership group of Hello! Project, despite being a trainee unit, is Candy Stage Kenkyuusei, due to being the starting point for most members of the label. Candy Stage Kenkyuusei is the most featured unit due to the high release rate and bi-yearly auditions. It is currently the only unit within Candy Stage as well as the only planned unit to hold its own auditions.

Since its creation in 2017, the main producers and managers of Candy Stage are Hayashi Mayu and Kuroshima Haruka. There is currently no leader for Candy Stage. All members will eventually have art specific to their groups that will be used within releases.

2017
In mid-September of 2017, Mayu and Haruka came together and decided to make a collective with a unique concept. By focusing on covers, the group would become internet idols (different from net idols) as well as have their own art to represent them instead of using reps like many cover groups. All members would start out as a trainee and eventually work their way to being added to a current unit or a brand new one. By September 23, all plans were complete and official accounts were made. Auditions for the First Wave of trainees began.