BiS to disband (again). Will reform (again) after auditions later in the year.

At the finals of WACK's Training Camp over the weekend, it was announced that BiS would disband, with their final concert taking place on May 11th. Details were posted on WACK's Official site.

BiSより大切なお知らせhttps://t.co/qTXtY07sQx

— BiS−新生アイドル研究会-オフィシャル (@BiSidol) March 30, 2019

"Regarding the BiS members, thank you for always supporting them.

We would like to make a report on the members.

We accepted a request by all 9 members to disband.

The date of their final performance has been decided on May 11th, the final show of the "Are you ready to go?" Tour.

We sincerely apologize to all the Researchers (BiS fans) for the sudden announcement.

We look forward to your continued support of BiS."

Watanabe Junnosuke, the mastermind behind WACK and all it's groups, announced auditions for the next incarnation of BiS.

速報
BiS解散にともない、
新しいBiSを結成いたします。
オーディションを改めて開催いたします。
詳細は後ほど。

— 渡辺”ジュンジュン”淳之介 (@JxSxK) March 30, 2019

This marks the second time BiS has disbanded. The original group disbanded in 2014. 2 years later, it reformed with 4 new members and founder Pour Lui returning.

To put the announcement into perspective, here's a little history.

The WACK Training Camp, or WACK Audition Camp, is a place where young hopefuls can audition to join WACK's stable of groups which include BiSH, BiS, GANG PARADE, and EMPiRE, and a new trainee program called WAgg. The audition takes place over the course of one week at the end of March, culminating with the WACK Exhibition where the winners are chosen from the finalists. The Exhibition also features live performances from all the WACK groups as well as a major announcement.

Last March, the BiS.League was announced. BiS, which at the time had grown to include 12 members, was split into 2 Units: BiS1st and BiS2nd. There would be an AKB48 style Election where fans could buy CDs and use a code to vote for members online or at live events. Whoever ranked the highest would be in BiS1st and receive the majority of promotions. The low ranked members would be in BiS2nd and get minor promotions. The members didn't enjoy competing like this, and the BiS.League ended after the 2nd Election.

It's been speculated that the members decided to disband out of protest. During the 2nd Election, Watanabe announced that the lowest ranking members could be removed from BiS. The 5 members who ranked in the bottom were: Toriaez Hana, YUiNA EMPiRE, Muropanako, Nel Nehru and Aya Eightprince. Because of their low ranking, all of them except Nel Nehru would participate in this year's Training Camp (Nel Nehru withdrew from BiS in January due to poor health). The stipulation was added that, if any of them were eliminated, they would be fired from BiS. Ultimately, Aya Eightprince and Toriaez Hana were eliminated and required to leave the group, but would still remain in the company. It seems that the members decided if all 9 couldn't be in the group, they would rather disband.

Peri Ubu, an original member of the reformed BiS, confirmed the decision was made by the "BiS Team" to disband.

BiS解散します。
悲しんでくれる方や惜しんでくれる方がいて心が痛い半面嬉しいです。
これを前向きな解散だとわかっていただけると幸いです。
これが最善だとBiSチームが思った結果です。
これからそれぞれ何をするのかまだわかりませんが、ひとりひとりにもっと輝ける場所があると思います。

— ペリ・ウブ (@UBU_BiS) March 30, 2019

The status of the remaining members is unknown. Will any of them still be part of WACK? We'll have to wait and see.

Anyway, thanks for over 2 yrs. of fun and chaos.

2016

2019

This means that "Are you ready?" will be the final single for this Era.  It's a fitting farewell song. Judging from the MV, it's almost like they knew it would come to an end.