27 September 2011

Let's speculate ... Where the "Sexy" comes from.

I really thought I only would do one blog about the whole Sexy Boy thing but a thought struck me and has been gnawing at me since. And I honestly still have thoughts on both this group and the A.B.C-xyZ thing as well as they actually tie together.

To best explain how these two groups could be connected it's good to look at how some Junior names are created. A good deal are acronyms that either stand for words to describe the group in some way such as with A.B.C. for "Acrobat Boys Club" or J.J. Express being short for "Johnny's Junior Express". Then there's the popular each letter of the name standing for the first letter of the member's names like how KAT-TUN and Kis-My-Ft2 were created. One of the other ways names seem to get created is to tie the group into an already existing group, like A.B.C. Jr or Hip Hop Jump. And if my theory is right Sexy Boy actually is perfectly in line with these Junior unit naming conventions.

I believe Sexy Boy is a unit that will be tied to A.B.C-xyZ. If you remember the explanation of the new unit name that "xy" stood for "sexy" so much like throwing a "Jump" onto Hip Hop Jump's name connects them to Hey! Say! JUMP the "Sexy" in Sexy Boy connects this group to A.B.C-xyZ. This makes good sense as with mentioning that Kikuchi Fuma is a candidate for the group it indicates that Juniors of his age are probably the most likely Juniors being looked at to be added to the group. So having a young tag-a-long group of their own falls in line with how things tend to be done, as despite the talk of the new members being sexy I'm sure Johnny is just trying to not outright say that he thinks the group needs younger members for him to think they will have a successful debut. Because honestly it's really harsh, though with Kis-My-Ft2 debuting with all the members being 20 or older having another group with a high age range for an idol group debut isn't going to help distinguish A.B.C-Z from the many debuted Johnny's groups that have plenty of members in their age group. While having sixteen year old members will give them the youngest members of a debuted group now that HSJ has lost their youngest member.

Now why would Johnny's have a group so young be connected to a group like A.B.C-xyZ? Simply put, the old man was actually dead series about this debut. If you're familiar with Johnny's concerts you'll find in mostly the younger groups, like from Tackey & Tsubasa and newer, have a Junior Corner. This corner is a bit of break in the concert where the main group gets a break as the Juniors back dancing get a chance to perform on their own in front of the crowd. Certain Junior groups tend to get placed with certain debuted groups, like Kis-My-Ft2 and A.B.C-Z with T&T and KAT-TUN or for Hey! Say! JUMP they have Hip Hop Jump and B.I. Shadow (whose name also connects to HSJ with their name most likely coming from Mayonaka no Shadow Boy). A-Z are bound to have such corners and if Sexy Boy are their usual Junior group they're coupled with it means this group will be featured then. So A-Z will begin to take over being the group that the really young Juniors get coupled with as HSJ can then better move on with changing their unit image to something a bit mature as they wouldn't have the youngest members of a Johnny's group anymore.

I will expect to see if this theory is correct or not in the near future. The concerts with Kisumai and the Juniors at the Imperial Theatre this week is one chance of shedding more light on the matter. The next of course will be the A.B.C-Z concert in November that I'd be more surprised to find doesn't give us anymore information about A-Z.

The name of this new Junior unit is still full of unfortunate implications though, and I can see that might influence in the kind of following it gets in the English fandom. Even though it would look more ridiculous I think if they went with "XY Boy" instead it would actually avoid some of the issues actually using "Sexy" brings for this group as well as still be well in line with the eye rolling kind of names Johnny's come up with, and honestly can't be considered worse than Mis Snow Man. Though until the group is around for a while no one can really tell how many are willing to overlook the name, just as most fans are willing to overlook about the rest of the ridiculous names Johnny's come up with. You can expect to see me reference them as simply SB from now on mostly. That, and wonder how long it will be until the other common Junior group naming technique is used and we get "Sexy Boy West" for the Kansai Juniors.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your theory really makes alot of sense! It'll be interesting to see if it comes out as true. I've been seeing this source going around http://www.purpleberry.com.hk/tomaki/?q=node/2053
and it's probably adding to all the confusion. If the illustration is of sexy boys and ABC-xyZ are featured in the mag too, they do indeed seem to be tied together in some way. Well, that source isn't reliable anyways. I can't wait to find out more.

Jackie said...

I think your thoughts are pretty good and I would probably never come with that idea, but reading this entry, I guess you may be right.
The announcement of "xy" and then shortl after , the annoucnement of the new group "Sexy boy", both things happened in such a short timerange, that it really might be connected to each other.
Let´s see if we were right..

Anonymous said...

Hmm, don´t know why but maybe Johnnysan named it just for Sato Shouri because he´s Johnnysans new favourite anyway

Anonymous said...

you should have a "Like" button for all of your posts. I read all of them but don't know what to comment. However, I want to let you know that there are many silent people like me who enjoy reading your blog

Oza said...

you should have a "Like" button for all of your posts. I read all of them but don't know what to comment. However, I want to let you know that there are many silent people like me who enjoy reading your blog

Chris said...

Regarding one comment here above, just because it´s called sexy"boy" (singular), it doesn´t automatically mean that this unit name is referred just to one person. If it would be called "Sexy Boys" , wouldn´t it be even more weird?!
It´s obviously, Johnny-san is pushing Shori a lot but I can´t imagine that he is the reason for that name.
Rather than that , I imagine that Sexy Boy will be backdancing for ABC-xyZ and maybe we will get to know more on ABC-Z´s solo concert soon. But I also think that sexy boy will perform medleys/songs by themselves too and not just backdancing because Johnny-san is really pushing those Juniors a lot.

Thennary Nak said...

@ Anonymous 1

I'm not sure if that can be a trusted source, especially as I don't think there's even a Japanese source saying the same thing about the volleyball debut. But I guess we'll see about it soon enough when the issue actually comes out.


@ Jackie

I think it's a part of my personality that I just want things to make sense on some kind of level and if they don't I keep trying to find ways to do just that.

Hopefully by the end of the year it'll be clear if my theory is correct or not.


@ Anonymous 2

I'm sure that was why the group was created but for the name itself I feel this is a good theory for it.


@ Oza

I don't think Blogger has a feature like that. But I always really appreciate it when a reader makes any kind of comment, even if it's just to say that they're reading. So thank you very much.

Thennary Nak said...

@ Chris

I agree that Shori isn't the reason the group was given the name it got. Though the group formation is a sign of the kind of promotion he and the other boys in the group are getting from the agency.

And I didn't mean to infer that Sexy Boy would only be back dancers, as groups like BIS and HHJ perform on SC on their own even though they are also the usual HSJ back dancers for their concerts and live performances. I think it's pretty common that once a unit like this is formed they start performing as their own group as soon as it can be fit in to the usual programs and concerts.

Misa said...

"Sexy Boy West".....
Do NOT want T_T But it really can happen. 7West, Shadow West.. it was the same. >_<

Karina said...

I wonder if only English speaking people feel embarrassed about saying "Sexy Boy" ? I really would like to know how japanese fans feel about it.

markl02 said...

I've been thinking "Sexy Boy" comes from the Ya-Ya-yah song "Love Together" with the line "moero sexy girl
cool na dangerous boy". Okay, it's not a direct connection, but Johnny always seems to be filing things away for a decade or so, then bringing them back. Hey, it has about as much logic as ABC-sexyboyZ. ;-)

Thennary Nak said...

@ Misia

But you know if this group is popular, which it should be with the boys in it and the kind of attention they're getting, it's bound to happen.


@ Karina

I'm kinda curious about that myself. Though I think in Japan they use the word "ero" more like most English speakers use sexy. But I guess we'd have to ask a native Japanese speaker to make sure.


@ markl02

Considering that in this month's SC they had Kansai Juniors covering a Yax3 song that could be possible. It's a bit sad that a Junior group that seems to have been so well loved couldn't be one of the lucky ones to have debuted together.

I think Johnny just likes to pull things like that out when he thinks everyone has forgotten so it looks like a new idea even though it's yet another recycled one.