Aoen (, stylized in all lowercase) is a Japanese boy band managed by JCONIC. The group is composed of seven members: Yuju, Ruka, Gaku, Hikaru, Sota, Kyosuke, and Reo. They were formed through the reality-survival program Oen-High. Aoen released their debut single "The Blue Sun" on June 11, 2025.
Their group name is a combination of the purity and possibility represented by "Ao (éÂÂ; translation: blue)" and the encounters and connections represented by "En (çÂÂ; translation: flame)". It holds the meaning of "a passionate run that fills the world with blue, the color of the hottest flame", and symbolizes the world's hottest flame burning inside the group's heart while they work energetically and support everyone.
On September 24, 2023, HYBE Labels Japan announced their upcoming boy group through the opening of their official SNS accounts on various platforms under the tentative name 24kumi (24çµÂ). By mid 2024, the group went inactive and was ultimately disbanded.
On February 2, 2025, HYBE Labels Japan announced the launch of a new project to form a next-generation J-Pop boy group. To achieve this, an audition program titled Oen-High would air starting February 15, 2025. The eight members previously introduced as 24kumi were revealed to be contestants on this show.
On April 4, it was announced that the group produced by Oen-High would be called aoen. Five members would be chosen through the results of their stage performances and two members would be chosen through a public fan voting making the team a seven-member group. Their official SNS accounts were also opened by YX Labels.
During Oen-High<nowiki/>'s finale on April 12, the first five members of the debut team were announced. Kyosuke ranked first overall, followed by Yuju, Sota, Ruka and Hikaru respectively.
The results of the public fan voting were announced during a live broadcast of Nippon TV's show DayDay. on April 23, 2025. Gaku and Reo ranked sixth and seventh overall respectively therefore completing the lineup of the aoen. The same day, the group's fandom name was also announced to be "aoring".
On April 24, 2025, it was announced that aoen would be making their debut with their first single album "The Blue Sun" on June 11. The group held a debut announcement press conference the same day. "Finish Line ~Last Race, New Start~" and "The Blue Sun" were pre-released on May 16 and June 2, respectively.
On September 26, aoen announced that they will release their third Japanese digital single "Seishun Incredibles", on October 15.
On December 7, 2025, aoen announced their second single album "Instant Crush" (ç§Âã§è½ã¡ãÂÂ), set for release on March 18, 2026. On January 5, 2026, HYBE Japan announced that the group was transferred to JCONIC, a new record label established on January 1, as part of the restructuring of HYBE Japan's multi-label system.