12 August 2012

Johnny's still doesn't understand what sexy means.

So apparently I am slow and did not realize that they have already recorded for the September episodes of Shounen Club. I guess I was taken off guard with how early they did them, but I guess it makes sense since the Juniors are going to be really busy this month.

The big news though is that a new unit has been formed, Sexy Boys. I guess Johnny's did not want to let Sexy Boy (a short lived unit that had the younger members of Sexy Zone in it) go to complete waste and came up with this group. Though I am sure there is a bit more to it.

Before I get into my own personal speculations about this here is the list of the members that this unit consists of; Matsushima So(Sexy Zone), Yo Marius(Sexy Zone), Jinguji Yuta, Kuramoto Kaoru, Haniuda Amu, Nakamura Reia, Inoue Mizuki, Matsukura Kaito, Matsuda Genta, Motodaka Katsuki and Muramoto Ryota.

This will not be the first time someone from a debuted unit has been a part of a Junior unit, Masuda Takahisa was a part of Kis-My-Ft even though he had already debuted with NEWS. But I think the cases may be a bit different as I am sure this group is not required to have a skill that not all Juniors can do, like perform in roller skates.

And yes, I do consider this unit a Junior unit, or at least until they end up on a CD, but I doubt that will happen. Instead I see it highly more likely for So and Marius to be pulled out of the group at some point and the group going on without them, kinda like with Nakayama Yuma and 7WEST.

I think this group is designed for two main purposes. One to give So and Marius boys around their age to perform with and two, to really start promoting this group of young Juniors.

I think the first reason is important because of the age gap with the members of Sexy Zone. Between the eldest member and youngest there is about a six year difference and while it may not be so bad in the future right now when the boys are still so young there is large difference in maturity and life experience. At least with Hey! Say! JUMP the younger and older boys were grouped with others of their same age within the group while Sexy Zone, being a smaller group cannot really do that. As the older three, Nakajima Kento, Kikuchi Fuma and Sato Shori are all older teens (though Sato is a bit of a stretch but probably does have more in common with the older two instead of the younger) the age difference is not so bad and it will become this way for the whole group once the younger two are older. But of course right now So and Marius can still be easily considered to just be kids, especially with Marius not even being a teenager yet.

So by giving So and Marius this group they get to be with others their age and grow with them. And considering that Nakaken and Fuma have a good deal more experience than the rest it also might be better for them to be with these Juniors that are a bit more on their level with all that.

The second reason for the group is just common sense. With all the recent debuts and the fact that it has been a while since the last of those debuts it is time to start getting people excited about the Juniors again. We already have the Bakaleya6 for the older Juniors, even though they still are not an official group, and with this group we will have a younger set of Juniors highlighted. And the fact that this group has Juniors that have gained a good amount of attention like Kaoru, Jinguji and Inoue should not be lost.

These are bound to be the Juniors that in the coming years could really start shining and who knows, there might be at least one among them that may end up in the next FIVB debut unit. But at least for Junior fans like me it will be much easier to know who the younger Juniors when you can see them grouped together like this instead of having to constantly figure out if the one being shown in a SC episode will show up again or not.

I think the only complaint I have about the group is the name. Not only because it is clearly recycled but also because I find names with the word 'sexy' in them cringe worthy. And it is not just the age thing, I think I have gotten to the point that I automatically refuse to connect 'sexy' to the boys in SZ and it seems to work just as well with this new unit. But there is just something that comes across as so ridiculous and laughable about using that word in a title or name. Maybe because it has been abused in the English language so much or something. But at least since is a Junior unit name it will not stay for the long haul unlike Sexy Zone.

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