31 December 2012

Mid-year predictions and thoughts, 2012 (reviewed)

I figured as the year closes it would be a good time to review the predictions I made mid-year to see what I was right on and what I was not before I make me predictions for the first half of 2013.

TOKIO, will release something? Maybe? Honestly TOKIO has gained a very erratic schedule when it comes to releases it makes it extremely difficult to predict when the next will be. They are long and well overdue for a new album but I am not sure if I should even still expect one from them any time soon and not just another single. But I do hope they release something before the close of the year, and album would be great but I would settle for another single if I must.

Well they finally released the long overdue album and it was great and they even did a concert tour. So it was a good year for TOKIO fans. So I am counting this as a win in my corner for being correct.

NEWS have their best of album already slated to release and still have the single and concerts already announced. I think that will be the summer for them, most likely sometime in July as August looks like it will likely be full of AKS releases and NEWS does have a number 1 streak to protect. I hope they can start releasing singles at a steady pace once this comeback single comes out. I would be happy if they at least release one more single before the end of the year.

It would be nice if one of the members gets some kind of drama role during the second half of the year as well. It would be nice to see that kind of push for the group after the recent member change. Though I guess at least Tegoshi Yuya, Kato Shigeaki and Koyama Keiichiro have regular programs they are a part of to help with TV exposure.

Well I got my wish here that they released one more single before the end of the year so score another one for me. And they even got to keep their number one streak for singles, which is the main one people care about.

Shige and Massu both got drama roles and Koyama is going to be in the Lucky Seven SP so on that front they did well. Even though I doubt they will ever get a big break just continuing as they are should help them in the long run for being able to prove worth keeping as a group.

Kanjani8 will continue to release singles at a steady pace until it is time to release a new album for their annual winter concert tour. Though I expect there being something special being done for their next album as they are making this year their big anniversary year being their 8th year since debut. I know they just announced the special thank you concerts for their 8th anniversary but I still think they will stick to their usual schedule as well, as someone has to be at the Kyocera Dome for Johnny’s Count Down and I really cannot see anyone but K8 doing that.

They seem to be having a packed year with work and I doubt it will change. Already two members have been announced as leads for summer dramas and I am sure the fall season will continue with Kanjani8 members in dramas. Then of course there is their movie, even though they are done filming for it their will still be plenty of promotion they will be doing.

Looks like I ended up being off with K8. Their album was just the usual best album, though the limited editions did have some nice DVD extras. Also performing on Kouhaku means no Kyocera Dome for JCD.

I was right on the drama front as they do continue to have at least one member in a drama every season and I do not see that changing anytime soon.

Hey! Say! JUMP should have at least a couple more singles to be released this year. I think one in the fall and another in winter would be good. It will be interesting to see if the tour in the winter this year or become a group that only tours when they have a new album like the older Johnny’s groups. Summary has already moved on to newer groups (Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z) so I can see them slowing down with touring as well to complete the transition from being the younger/newer group to one of the more seasoned ones.

I think Johnny’s needs to keep HSJ members in dramas, and now that Yamada Ryosuke is older he can do more roles and I would like to see him starring in something else before the end of the year. It is an interesting move to have Chinen Yuri star in a drama, but I guess this will prove if he can be a lead drama actor like Yamada, something I am sure Johnny's would love.

I think they will try to do something for their fifth anniversary this year. It may not be anything really major but I am sure they would want to do something. It is a landmark that is worth recognizing in some way. But maybe with K8 taking up so much of the year with their anniversary HSJ is waiting for their actual anniversary date to begin doing something for it.

Another group I was off with as we only got one single from the group all year. But we did get a new album and have the single concert to go with it so that is a sorta right guess about that.

While there are not many other members in dramas this year it does look like things are improving on that front a bit with at least other members other than Yamada are getting roles on a more regular basis in the past. Hopefully these roles will eventually lead to something.

Unfortunately HSJ did nothing of note for their anniversary. I find that disappointing as I think there should have been some kind of celebration for them reaching that land mark. Especially when you have newer groups making a big deal of their first anniversary.

Kis-My-Ft2 should release two more singles before the year is up. They are one of Avex’ best selling acts so I am sure they will want them releasing as much as possible. I can actually see them being one of the few groups to release a single in August as they are one of the better selling Johnny’s groups and I think they could easily beat the AKS group releasing a single on August 1st, NO NAME. And since they will most likely be doing the theme song for Fujigaya Taisuke’s summer drama I think that would be a good release date for their next single.

I do not think a drama season will go by without a member having a role in a drama, even if the chances of that member not being Fujigaya Taisuke or Tamamori Yuta is slim. But I think Fujigaya moving into the leading man slot is a big thing, and hopefully his drama, Beginners, does well so he continue as the lead in dramas. I do hope though one of the other members get a chance for at least a supporting role in a drama before the end of the year. It will be nice to see them get these small pushes that will hopefully lead to bigger things with them.

Pretty much spot on for Kisumai. Of course it helps that they fit the usual mold for Avex artists that do well so they are going to have a rather steady release schedule from them. I am quite happy that I was spot on with them releasing in August even though it was a week later then I thought it would be.

Not surprised that I was right about the members of the group being frequently in dramas. They are getting solid pushes that I do not see stopping as long as they continue to do well.

~*

I am going to skip Sexy Zone as I am not following them much anymore. And in any case they did surprise me with releasing a single so late in the year then following up with an album.

For the Juniors I can see them slowly getting back to being a larger focus on Shounen Club. Kis-My-Ft2 has already moved on to being just guests and were not in May or June’s episodes so that should free up some time that can be given to Juniors. I think this would be a perfect time to push the Bakaleya6 as a group.

Also with the recent drama roles those Juniors should be getting some kind of push on the program. I would not be surprised to see more drama roles given to Juniors later in the year either. With the recent debuts now is a good time for Johnny’s to push some of the remaining Juniors to find the next big hits among them. This can be seen with the recent announcements of Juniors getting drama roles in the upcoming drama season.

The rest of the year should be interesting for Junior fans as things continue to shift for them as Johnny's searches for their next big hits and sets them up for possible future debuts.

I think there is a slow change to getting the Juniors just a little more screen time on SC. Unfortunately HSJ, SZ and A-Z make up a large portion of the program still, but with Bakaleya6 being full of rising Juniors they have had more presence on the program and I can see that growing as they continue to grow in popularity.

Overall it still looks like Johnny's is taking their time to figure out who they want to push in the Juniors. I think it is safe to say that they have their eyes on certain members and it will be mainly just time for Johnny's to decide what they want to do with them.

Speculating for the Juniors is always the hardest thing as there are just so many of them and it is not easy to tell what management is thinking in regards to them as you have no idea how they are really managed.

And I expect the Kansai Juniors to continue to keep gong strong. I think it is a good sign that they are being brought to Tokyo more and more for work and I expect it to eventually lead to something for them.

Well the Kanjuu are indeed continuing on and getting more and more breaks. Their Tokyo concerts are something exciting to look forward to as well as the upcoming movie for them. Still hope this all means something is being prepared for them, like a debut, in the near future.

NMB48 are most likely going to release two more singles this year, the next one has even already been confirmed for an August 8th release date. We will probably also get auditions for their fourth gen KKS announced but wait until after New Year’s to have their next team, Team BII, formed.

It will be interesting to see if the AKB48 sister groups also add extra groups to them, like AKB48’s Team 4, but that will be years down the line I would suppose and SKE48 will be the group that does it next.

I do wonder if NMB48 will get an album release. The AKS groups do not release CDs like most artists, with that they mainly just release singles. AKB48's first non-stage album was a single collection after all. But then they did release a studio album so it will be interesting to see if NMB48 will just continue with singles or will have a studio album of their own this year. Of course we could just get a stage album whenever they finally get around to doing their original stage.

I would not be surprised if there is another graduation this year, as sad as it would be. But when you have a group as big as NMB48 I think having a high turnover rate is to be expected, from health issues, like the girls that have graduated after making it into a team or for other reasons like the KKS graduations.

Well at least I can say I am right about the single releases for this group. Also there is a 4th generation of KKS but we got the formation of Team BII earlier than I expected.

With the recent group shuffles it is safe to say that there will be no Team 4 for NMB48. If anything they may just expand their teams eventually, though with the current rate of graduations it may not be much of an issue.

I no longer have to wonder about an album release as the group is expected to have their debut album in February. It will be interesting to see how that shapes up as we get more information about the release the closer we get to the release date.

And it seems like I was aiming low with only predicting one more graduation. Should have realized that with the next team forming it would mean a few KKS would graduate around that time. It is a bit worrying to have so many graduations but then again you look at the fact that they just had a group of girls join that will not be set to have a new team formed for so I doubt things are going to get better because it looks like they have no issues with finding fresh faces to join up in hopes of getting a spot on a team.


So in the end a mix bag of what I managed to guess right and things I was off on. Not a bad run and now I have to see about predicting the next six months for these groups.

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