Even though this will not really effect overseas fans, as we cannot join the fan clubs, I thought some of the changes were a bit interesting to note.
Basically You&J, which was the combined fan club for NEWS, Kanjani8 and KAT-TUN is no longer for any of those groups. Instead You&J is now Yamashita Tomohisa's fan club now and the three groups each have their own separate fan clubs.
It makes sense now to split up the groups for their own fan clubs. It really only made sense to have NEWS and K8 share a fan club when they shared members between them. I never understood why KAT-TUN was mixed in with them. But now that they are all very much separate it does make sense for them to separate their fan clubs and to give Yamapi his own. And I am sure it will make managing things easier with smaller fan clubs than with the larger. Not to mention make hitting for concert tickets easier for some groups, as K8 fans have been having a harder time to hit for their concerts as that group has gained a lot of popularity.
I am not really happy that Yamapi gets to keep the You&J name for his though. Probably because I connect the name with those groups and it just does not seem right for him as a soloist to have it to me. But I guess there really is nothing I can do about the matter other than get used to it.
Another interesting thing to note is that Akanishi Jin is not getting a fan club. Johnny's has mentioned it is because he has activities in both Japan and the U.S. and that is why he is not getting one, but honestly with all the drama surrounding him it makes one wonder if that really is the case or not.
5 comments:
I think NEWS, K8 and KAT-TUN were in the same fanclub because they're somewhat in the same generation (?) Most of my friends who study in Japan complain that the separation makes thing more difficult and expensive for them to ballot for 3 groups' concerts :-/
The combined fanclub thing made sense at first as most of their fans overlapped? as the 1st anon said, the three groups were in the same junior generation (mostly) and they kind of came on the scene (debuted) around the same period. i know KT was a few years behind but considering their popularites/TV appearances and all they were pretty much the same.
I agree that they should separate the fan club now that each group seems to establish their own fan base (some overlap but much less than before i think). i guess that doesn't work well for fan of multiple groups. but i heard a lot of fans of only one group being happy w/ this development.
I was surprised w/ no Jin. I had an impression that JE want to keep You&J for solo artists (who know we might get more in the future) not just Pi but i could be wrong. Looks like Jin is put on hiatus now. We might not see anything of him till 47 ronin comes out in Nov.
@ Anonymous #1
But they have had groups that are from the same generation, like Kinki Kids, TOKIO and V6, and they always had separate fan clubs.
You&J was nice to save money for that, but it also seemed a bit unfair for others that were fans of other groups and had to get individual fan club memberships for them.
@ Anonymous #2
Well fans of multiple non-You&J groups had to deal with that issue and I am sure You&J group fans will just have to do the same. Though I also know a fan who is only a K8 fan and she is happy with the split as their tickets are getting really hard to get and some of it is from You&J members balloting for tickets for the group when they are not really fans.
Jin just cannot seem to catch a break. But I agree, it does seem like he is on hiatus now.
as you said, I think it was because they "shared" some of their members... and if you ask about KAT-TUN that was maybe because of Shuuji to Akira.
And I know it's good that they are having their own fanclubs, but, in my particular case is not that good. I mean, I don't live in Japan so I'm not in a fanclub, but I love both NEWS and K8: NEWS as my favorite group of all JE, but Nishikido Ryo as my ichiban...
When I was in Japan I did find being able to be a part of You&J for all of them really helpful. And it would have been very disappointing to be in a NEWS only fan club when I was there as it was one of the years they did almost nothing together as a group (2009).
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