10 August 2012

Kis-My-Ft2 One Year from Debut

It feels strange celebrating the 1st anniversary for Kis-My-Ft2 as they have such a long history as a Junior group . But today is the day their debut single Everybody Go was released, marking their move from being a Junior group to being a long term debuted group.

Remembering hearing about their debut still makes me feel great joy and pride as a Kisumai fan. Especially as I knew that they had to debut in the first half of 2012 as the second half would be given to the new FIVB unit for the year. I also doubted if Kisumai would debut if they did not debut before that group. But thankfully my hopes were realized and the debut I had been waiting years for happened.

I like that they have Avex as their record label, as Avex has a good track record for having their popular artists release on a regular basis, so I would not have to worry about having a year without a new release as I had to endure with NEWS and Hey! Say! JUMP. In fact I am amazed that we already have an album for the group and will have a new single just in time for their one year anniversary. It probably will not take long for them to have a larger discography than Hey! Say! JUMP even though they had a four year lead on Kisumai.

And while the music style of the group did change post-debut it is not one that I dislike and with any group I am sure they will change their style eventually so I look forward to what direction they will go. Not to mention older fans have been pretty lucky to get a good number of their Junior songs on CD and hopefully eventually we will get the rest.

As expected Fujigaya Taisuke and Tamamori Yuta are the main actors of the group. Ikemen Desu Ne was a big boost for both of them. I am really excited that Fujigaya gets to be the lead in a drama, even if it does not look to be his breakout drama. It feels like a long time coming for him and should just be the start for him. It is also nice to see some of the other members get into dramas, like Kitayama Hiromitsu being the supporting cast of Fujigaya’s drama and Miyata Toshiya making his drama debut with Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou. Hopefully the other members will get chances to get drama roles as well.

I do not think I would have imagined the guys appearing on so many variety programs so quickly. Not to mention getting one of their own, as these Johnny’s seems to be a bit more picky about which groups get their own variety programs. And I am definitely happy that Senga Kento has a variety program only he is on, even if it is a regional one, but as one of the lesser pushed members these things count. Not to mention but as Johnny’s groups get older the variety aspect of their careers seem to get more important so this experience is something that will help them for a long time to come.

Like other Kisumai fans I have not been happy with the obvious split of the group between Kitayama, Fujigaya and Tamamori and Senga, Miyata, Yokoo Wataru and Nikaido Takashi. Or the KiFT and s-My-2 split as I like to call it. Though it looks like the split is just starting to even out a bit as Miyata and Senga are getting more to do but even then KiFT is definitely the ones that look like they will be getting the main pushes from the agency. I would be okay with that only if s-My-2 did not seem so ignored and overshadowed. So I hope the smaller pushes for Miyata and Senga stay and perhaps even grow so it could possibly fix that issue.

Even though I have some issues with how Kisumai has been post-debut they are not enough to stop me from loving this group and being glad they did debut. I think in the coming years things will balance out a bit more as the rest of the members get chances post-debut to get them out into the spotlight. This is only the beginning and there are sure to be many great things to come for this group. I was so happy to be following them this past year and hope to continue to enjoy the group in the years to come.

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