08 February 2013

Sexy Zone fans, Stay Calm

I know I have said I will not really follow Sexy Zone but I do like to keep my ear to the ground about information about all Johnny's groups so I still do get some news about them and their fandom. I just found the news about fans worried that Matsushima So and Yo Marius are getting taken out of the group to be with Sexy Boyz and felt like I was taken back to Hey! Say! JUMP fandom years ago when rumors that when you really think about it, made little sense.


This rumor came about from the fan club flyer that was sent out for the Spring Concert tour for the group. (pictured above) The older three members have their messages in circles with lines connecting them to the box with the group's name. So and Marius are in the bottom section above the messages from the Junior members of Sexy Boyz but if you look the logo for SB is overlaying SZ's, which should be an indication that these groups are connected, not that they are to be separated.

But think about it for a moment, does it make much sense for a new group that is still trying to establish a fanbase to take members out? Especially when Johnny's has never done this in the past? And why would they take Marius out of the group when he is the most distinctive member, as well as the one that has had the most acting work post debut? SZ are hardly selling well enough that it would make sense to take him and So out to make SB a new unit. And as I mentioned already, the SB logo is not standing out on its own but rather is shown connected to SZ which is the usual way to show that something is connected to something else, not separate from it.

I know some fans cite the fact that the younger two tend to disappear near the end of SC and have different outfits than the older three. The first is honestly just a legal issue with children working so close to their time limit and if you look all Juniors their age are also missing, which tends to include Morimoto Shintaro from Bakaleya6 as he is So's age. The costume thing is also a none issue as it is no worse than Kis-My-Ft2's difference in costumes from the front three and the back four. It is just something that happens with some groups. And honestly when you have members that are still growing, especially at the rate Marius is, I would not want to invest too much into outfits that will not fit anymore in a year's time if you are lucky.

So any SZ fan worried about this split please do not bother. If So and Marius start getting dropped from photo shoots with SZ in favor of SB or start not getting shown on covers with the other three then I would worry, but that is not happening. It makes little sense for Johnny's to do that and I would not expect it.

The only change worth noting from the flyer is that Iwahashi Genki seems to have been added to the SB roster again and Kuramoto Kaoru dropped. Though SB has never had all that steady of a roster so I cannot say I am all that surprised. Though I guess for Kaoru fans it is disappointing.

As someone that was a fan of HSJ from the beginning I know these groups with younger fanbases can be prone to rumors that do not make much sense when you really think about what it would mean if it happened. So I urge SZ fans to really think about a rumor when it comes out and see if it has ever happened before with a Johnny's group or if it would make sense if it actually happened. If the answer is no to both of those then it is a rumor with no basis and should be dropped not spread any further.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What HSJ rumors are you talking about about? I'm late in the HSJ fandom, so I'm just curious.

Thennary Nak said...

Most of them were about CD releases that tended to just be something a fan made up. Though I do remember in the very early years there was one fan that swore that they personally knew Morimoto Ryutaro.

Then of course there was a lot of panic when NYC boys/NYC happened.

Anonymous said...

I definitely hope these are just rumors...I love Sexy Zone,but I don't know if I would keep following them so closely if it wasn't for So and Marius...but like you said, I wouldn't worry too much at this point