Never Ending Music Power

Kis-My-money good-bye.

2012-02-01T09:42:00.000-08:00

Well Kis-My-Ft2's announced upcoming single and album have been announced and my wallet is weeping over the loss it will face when they come out at the end of March.

The first to be released will be the group's third single, titled She! Her! Her! on March 21st. Unlike previous singles this will only have two versions, an LE with only the title track and the DVD with the usual PV with making of. The RE will have a bonus track not on the LE or the album and the first press edition of it will come with a 16 page booklet & a mini poster (one of seven randomly selected).

Then the following week the real money drainer comes out, their first album, Kis-My-1st. This is going to come in three editions. That's right, the album will have more editions than the single. The type A LE will have the DVD which not only has interviews for each member but two PVs for the songs Firebeat and Inori. The type B LE comes with a bonus CD that is titled Kis-My-Zero and will feature seven songs from their Junior days. The songs that have been announced for this are: Firebeat, Inori, Good-bye Thank you, Endless Road & 3D Girl.

The single copies will come with a special ticket A and the copies of the album come with a special ticket B which I am sure you will need to have both for whatever Johnny's has planned to be the special promotion for the releases. But of course they have yet to announce what that will be.

I feel that my decision to not bother with buying DVD versions of Kisumai's releases helped save me quite a bit of grief. Unfortunately I still like having all the CD released tracks so I still ended up getting two versions of the album, but at least only one of the single. But I am quite glad to have some of their Junior songs in CD quality and I hope we get more down the line as well as there are definitely more than seven songs that I love of their's from their Junior days. That is of course not even getting into the solos.

The State of Junior Groups?

2012-01-29T20:29:00.000-08:00

Over the past week I set about updating the Master Johnny's Birthday List with the birthday information that is up at TakiCHANnel. Looking through all the profiles I noticed a few things.

First was that it would be quite nice if it only listed Juniors, as it would help a lot in figuring out the debuts of Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z. But seeing as Kis-My-Ft2 is still up and there is no doubt whether or not they debuted that is just wishful thinking. Though I would think Kisumai would be removed sometime soon, as again, they are undoubtedly debuted.

For the Junior groups listed though there are very few of them. The only ones (minus the iffy SZ and Ebi) that are listed are FiVe, Question?, 7WEST, B.A.D., and Veteran. Of course these days FiVe is a bit of a unknown factor but the other four are definitely around and active. Of course that does leave the Tokyo Juniors with one Junior group and the Kansai Juniors with three.

Of course there is Noon Boyz, Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki, as an unofficial/official group and Shadow West is supposed to still be around as a duo. But it seems difficult to find more than one official resource that is willing to agree which groups exist and which do not.

I really wish I could fast forward things to the end of the year for the Juniors, as I am sure by then we will finally have a couple of new groups at least. But until then I will have to be stuck in some frustration, hoping that the Juniors I like will not disappear as things get shuffled around as they figure out new groups.

Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy

2012-01-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Yamashita Tomohisa joined Johnny's & Associates in 1996 at the age of 11. He was paired early on with Ikuta Toma and eventually the two of them with Juniors Kazama Shunsuke and Hasegawa Jun formed the popular Junior group 4Tops. As a Junior Yamashita, known widely as Yamapi, was frequently promoted and was able to act in dramas and was one of the original hosts and frequent performers of The Shounen Club, a program that stars Juniors.

It was believed that he would debut and with the other members of 4Tops. When NEWS was formed in 2003 he even believed it was only going to be a temporary group and was surprised to learn that it was not and would continue on after their first single, NEWS Nippon. He was the front man of the group and considered to be the group's leader as well.

In 2005 with KAT-TUN's Kamenashi Kazuya the temporary duo, Shuuji to Akira was created to promote the drama they starred in, Nobuta wo Produce, and they released the single, Seishun Amigo, which went on to sell over a million copies.

In 2006 when the group had been placed on hiatus because of underage drinking scandals by two of its members, Yamapi began releasing more non-NEWS singles. This included a one-off release with Thai brother duo Golf & Mike as GYM and then his first solo single, Daite Senorita.

When NEWS returned as a group in 2007 he continued solo releases, at first when there was down time for the group when Nishikido Ryo was busy with his other group Kanjani8, but after a couple of years he began to do more solo work and even had his first solo tour in 2009. In 2011 he released his first solo album, Super Good, Super Bad, and went on tour, going overseas to Asia.

Later in 2011 he announced that he would be leaving the group to pursue a solo career and would be joining Akanishi Jin on the Warner Music Japan label to do this. Since the announcement he has had a lead role in a drama and has a single coming out, Ai, Texas, in the end of February 2012, which will be his first single since the start of his post-NEWS solo career.

TRIVIA: His nickname, Yamapi, was given to him by Takizawa Hideaki since he noticed Yamapi tended to wear outfits with pink on them for performances so he put "Yamashita" and "pink" together to make Yamapi.

Next Entry > ??? (Link to be added when entry is posted.)

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

Otokogumi, Rocking It Old School
The Living Legend of SMAP
TOKIO, From Spaceships to the Over 30s World
Victory, Volleyball, Vegetable, Vicylce? V6
KinKi Kids, It's Not What You Think
Arashi, Storming to the Top
The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa
North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS
Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞
Cartoon? KAT-TUN!
Jumping to Their Dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP
Johnny's Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin
How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
???(Link to be added when entry is posted.)

The winds of change blow softly and slowly.

2012-01-26T21:50:00.000-08:00

First off, thank you to everyone who voted on the poll and especially those who left comments. It has helped me figure out what I want to do and how I want to go about it.

For the short term the only change is that I will be adding ex-Johnny's (which pretty much will be the Yamashita brothers, Shoon and Leon, as they're the only ones I follow) to the list of who I will be blogging about. I will start with an introductory for them for those unfamiliar with the two and their past with Johnny's before I move on to following them like I do the Johnny's I follow. I am hoping to have that done in the next week or so.

The long term goal is to make this a general idol blog but it probably will not happen in the near future. I would like to do a project to introduce non-Johnny's related idols to the blog but that will have to wait until I am done with my current project, History of Johnny's, and the project I plan on doing after that, the PV reviews of the PVs I have on the Johnny's releases I own that have them on bonus DVDs. As it stands there are at least three more weeks for History of Johnny's, unless Sexy Zone and/or A.B.C-Z get their own section(s) on Johnny's net. And the PV reviews will most likely take up about half a year if I keep the same schedule of one every Saturday. So it will be some time before I get to that project and until I do an introduction post I won't follow a group with this blog so there is a good half a year before I start bringing in non-Johnny's related idols to the blog.

And the main reasons I am going with this is partly because with me cutting back on the Johnny's I will try to actively follow I will not have as much to post about and I want to keep this blog as active as possible. The other is that I feel it will be easier to have the one blog for idols as I have come to follow them in general more than before and I feel having it all in one place just makes sense for me.

So I'm sorry for those who did not want to see a change, but there just was no way things could stay the same. And I hope you still keep reading the blog, no matter what it will remain Johnny's-centric and I have no issue if people skip reading posts. I honestly do not expect everyone to read everything even as a Johnny's only blog. And as I explained it will be a while before the big changes will be made anyway and I will try to ease into things as much as possible.

Again thank you to everyone who voted and left comments. It was very helpful to me and I really appreciate it.

Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!

2012-01-21T17:42:00.000-08:00

Members: Kitayama Hirosuke, Senga Kento, Miyata Toshiya, Yokoo Wataru, Fujigaya Taisuke, Tamamori Yuta & Nikaido Takashi

(L to R) Nikaido Takashi, Tamamori Yuta, Senga Kento, Fujigaya Taisuke,
Yokoo Wataru, Kitayama Hiromitsu & Miyata Toshiya

Their name is pronounced Kiss-my-foot-two and just like KAT-TUN the letters of the name correspond with the first letter(s) the last names of the members, the 2 comes from the ‘Ni’ in Nikaido being the same kanji as the number 2.

The group was formed in 2005 with two Junior groups, Kis-My-Ft and A.B.C. Jr. being merged to create Kis-My-Ft2 as an eight member unit. They kept the image of Kis-My-Ft by having roller skating during their performances being a main feature, akin to Hikaru Genji. Also like Hikaru Genji they had an age split with the four oldest members and the four youngest. They lost their ‘I’ not long after being formed, and one of the older members, and have been a seven member group since.

They were one of the main Junior groups for a while but it was not until 2008 did their popularity really begin to take off. They held a joint concert with A.B.C-Z that year and in 2009 followed up with a solo national tour. Since then they have had a national tour every year. In 2010 they had a digital single debut with their two signature songs, Firebeat and Inori.

In February of 2011 at one of their concerts they received the news that they would be debuting in the spring of that year during an MC break during the concert. That date ended up being pushed back though as the next month the March 11th earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and it would have been ill-fitting to debut while the country dealt with the initial aftermath of the disaster.

Finally in August Kis-My-Ft2 released their debut single, Everybody Go. The song was the theme song of the J-drama Ikemen Desu Ne, which starred Tamamori Yuta and Fujigaya Taisuke. The single was the third highest debut for a Johnny’s group behind KAT-TUN and Kinki Kids.Since their debut they have released their second single and will be releasing a third single and their debut album in the spring of 2012.

Kitayama Hirosuke is the oldest member of the group and his group color is red. He is also one of the two lead vocalists of the group. He is known for being able to fall asleep anywhere at any time, but is terrible at waking up. Even though the group does not have a leader Kitayama tends to act like an older brother for the other memebers. While he was a Junior he attended Asia University and graduated in 2008.

Senga Kento is the youngest member of the group with blue being his group color. Before joining Johnny’s he was active in national dance competitions and is the strongest dancer of the group, even choreographing dances for the group. He tends to get lovely picked on by others because he does not always read the atmosphere and can be airheaded.

Miyata Toshiya is the biggest dork of the group and is known for being the goofy one. He is actually very kind which the other member recognize and appreciate. He is a fan of manga and anime and has a bit of a reputation of being a geek from that. He attended and graduated Kokushikan University. His group color is purple.

Yokoo Wataru is one of the older members of the group and is known for being tidy, so much that he will even clean up after his group mates. He is also known for being one of the most mature and reliable members of the group. He can play the guitar and does so whenever the group performs their song Smile. His group color is orange.

Fujigaya Taisuke is one of the lead vocals of the group and his group color is pink. He has been in J&A the longest having joined in 1998. He admires Tanaka Koki from KAT-TUN because of his rapping and like Koki writes and performs his own raps. He is one of the more active members when it comes to acting and is one of the more popular members of the group for this.

Tamamori Yuta is one of the members being pushed with acting roles. He made his acting debut in 2009 in the Gokusen 3 SP and in 2011 he starred in his first drama, Ikemen Desu Ne. He sees himself as a shy person and the other members have mentioned that he was the last member of the group to warm up to everyone. His group color is yellow.

Nikaido Takashi is known to be the brat of the group and enjoys playing pranks. He is known for being direct with his thoughts and words, even when it comes to sempai. He is also known for doing imitations that his fellow group members praise him for. He is a scaredy-cat despite being known as a troublemaker. His group color is green.

TRIVIA: While they debuted after KAT-TUN, Kis-My-Ft2 was the first of the two that covered the departure of one of their members by having the ‘Ki’ in Kitayama’s name be the ‘Ki’ in Kis-My-Ft2 back when Junior Iida left, much like how Kamenashi’s ‘Ka’ became the ‘KA’ in KAT-TUN when Akanishi Jin left.

It was reported that they had another song lined up for their debut song but after March 11th it was decided they would change it to a song more appropriate with an uplifting message.

Kitayama went to the same high school as Yamashita Tomohisa.

Next Entry > Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

Kis-My-Ft2 Bringing In the Green This Spring

2012-01-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

It has been announced that this spring Kis-My-Ft2 will not only be releasing their 3rd single but also their 1st album. Also they will be having a concert tour to promote the album that begins in early April and goes through to early June.

Avex official announcement. (Japanese)

I honestly thought I read things wrong when I saw this announcement. I had been hoping for a new single for the spring from Kisumai but never would have I dreamed of their debut album being released so soon. And from the concert tour dates it looks like the releases will either be in March or April. March, because it would make sense to release the album before the tour as it is to support the release after all, but April could be possible as well as they concert dates for April are only for the first half of the month so there would be time to do promotions for a new release between those dates and the next set of concert dates in May.

In any case I feel like I've gone back about a year and have found out about Kisumai debuting. While they have been debuted for a while now and even have their own section on the official Johnny's websites the fact they will have an album finally just really cements everything. That and albums typically are more "fair" when it comes to groups, even though I'm sure KiFt will still get more of a focus on the album I have faith that s-My-2 will get some chances to finally shine. Though if they have some of their Junior songs on this album then it would be perfect for me, but I guess we will still have to wait a month or so before that kind of information will come out.

It'll be pretty draining to have both album and single to buy in the next few months, and I'm curious if they will release them both on the same day or not. But overall I am just so happy that Kisumai is going to be able to hit this milestone in their careers so soon.

Super Delicate updates & some speculation

2012-01-20T11:22:00.000-08:00

Checked Johnny's net today and found that information about the B-side that had been originally listed as "untitled" for Hey! Say! JUMP's single, Super Delicate, is up. The new song will be called succeed, so we have three new HSJ songs, and a concert only song finally getting a CD release for both HS7 and HSB.

Also with each edition of the CD there will be a code that can be entered in a drawing for a special DVD, another JUMP Party DVD. Of course you need to have a Japanese address to be able to enter for it.

I am really excited for this single. From having some classic concert songs finally getting released on CD to just having a good A-side I'm rather pumped for it. Also as this marks the fourth single since their debut album there is a good chance the next CD release could be their sophomore album. And honestly I think it would be perfect for them to release an album next. Most of the time when the older groups tour it is because they have just released an album and I think it is about time for HSJ to start doing the same. Their upcoming tour will be in April so it would be a good timing to release an album about that time. Even if there is not a long break between this single and that potential release I think it would still be fine. Johnny's acts tend to do better with singles over albums so they probably do not need to worry about scheduling things as much as a single. So I really hope this happens. HSJ still needs to catch up from all that time they spent not releasing CDs in 2009 and this would be a great way to do it.

And on a side note, thank you to everyone who has voted so far. I would like to be able to read some comments about the subject though so I have a understanding about why people are making the selections they are. I would really appreciate it but do not feel forced to write anything if you really do not want to.

The Possibilities of the Future for Never Ending Music Power.

2012-01-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

So there has been a snow storm coming through the are of the U.S. that I live and as it is not an area used to getting much snow I am stuck having to stay home as the roads just are not safe for me to drive on yet. This of course has given me time to think about the future of this blog.

In 2007 when I began blogging about Johnny's never would I have imagined that I would ever be so active about it and cover so much of it. I mainly just bumbled along trying to find things to blog about to keep posting on a semi-regular schedule so I would not abandon this blog. One thing I decided to do to meet that goal was to start reporting about news about any of the Johnny's groups and such, which did indeed help. But since then there has been the emergence of NYC and the debut of Kis-My-Ft2, Sexy Zone and soon to be A.B.C-Z as well as Akanishi Jin and Yamashita Tomohisa leaving their groups to go solo, while all the other groups are still going strong with little sign of stopping. So there is a lot of cover and as I mentioned in my previous post I no longer have the time to really keep up with it all.

Even though I hate to do it, I just cannot see myself being able to keep up with all of Johnny's anymore. I am sure some readers have noticed the lack of posts about new releases for some groups recently which is pretty much of this issue of time. So I have decided to just blog about the groups I do follow the most. The main groups (sub-units included) will be NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP, Kis-My-Ft2, NYC, TOKIO and the Juniors. I am still on the fence about Sexy Zone, it will really depend on future releases from them and I am interested in how Akanishi Jin does in the U.S. so I will follow that part of his solo career. From time to time I will probably still blog about some other groups like, Kanjani8, SMAP, A.B.C-Z and possibly KAT-TUN. The rest of the groups I won't follow so much anymore, if I run across a news item of interest I will probably blog about it but nothing outside of that.

I feel bad that I will not be following Johnny's as I did before but there is just so much to follow these days, especially as new groups are being added to the growing list of debuted groups while none of the older groups are disbanding or showing any plans to disband. And then there is always the fact that new Juniors are always being added and there is always the chance that Johnny's will debut a new group at whatever time they feel they should. So I guess in a way it can be seen as a burden of success.

And as this change to the blog has been thought about it I could not help but wonder if I should not make some more changes as well. And the change I was mostly thinking of is to make this blog for all the idols/idol groups that I follow. There really is not much outside of Johnny's that I follow, mainly NMB48, with some DiVA (mostly Akimoto Sayaka), ZONE, Buono! and of course the Yamashita brothers (and ex-Johnny's) Shoon (Sean) and Reon (Leon). There may be a smattering of other idols, like the small handful of K-pop groups I like, but I do not really follow them outside of music releases so they probably will not get mentioned much at all.

Of course before I go ahead with trying a change like that I would like to hear some feedback about what readers would thing first. I know I have my other blog where I have been making posts about some of those groups already but I feel I would prefer to have all the idol stuff on one blog instead of divided between two so I can have the other blog for non-idol things. But you can either leave a comment on this post about your thoughts about it or I will have a poll up that you can vote on to give me an idea of what people think about this.

I would like to blog about Yamashita Shoon and Reon on this blog as they have the Johnny's connection so I would assume that there would still be some fans that might be interested in what was going on with their post-Johnny's careers. And the reason I even got into NMB48 was because Nakayama Yuma's older sister, going by the stage name Yamada Nana, is a member of the group. And the rest I came to like from just going out and trying something new and I would love to share these groups that I like with others.

In any case this blog will remain mostly about Johnny's as they are the ones I follow the most actively. Though as I mentioned it will probably be less general because I do not have the time I used to for keeping up with all of Johnny's as there is just so much to try to track, especially with all the other interests I have.

Brief quasi-Hiatus

2012-01-18T22:22:00.000-08:00

As followers of this blog may have noticed there has been a drop in posts in the past week or so. This is mainly because my job has switched schedules dramatically so I'm still just trying to adjust to that and figuring out when to find time to do blogging. It's also gotten me to start thinking about what exactly I want to do with this blog, as in what direction I want to go with it. I will most likely make another post about that once I have a better idea as I am only in brainstorming mode for now.

Until I get things sorted I'll be on a quasi-hiatus. The History of Johnny's posts will still get posted every Saturday as I have planned and I will probably still cover happenings for my top groups, like NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP and Kis-My-Ft2. But outside of that posts will probably be sparse until I return.

Hopefully I can figure things out soon and get back to posting on a regular schedule again but with my time being more constrained because of work I do need to figure out a way to keep up with everything I want to keep up with. As while Johnny's is a major fandom I am a part of it is not the only one so it will mainly be finding a way to balance it all. And I may be putting a poll up soon to get some feed back about some ideas I'm just pondering for now on how to do that.

Johnny's Best Selling Artist of All Time 2011

2012-01-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

With Music Station's return they aired the lists of the best selling artists of all time from the sales up to the end of the previous year, 2011. It probably is no surprise to see Johnny's doing well in the group category and even getting on the male solo list.

Group
01. SMAP - 32,730,000
02. KinKi Kids - 25,210,000
04. Arashi - 21,590,000
10. Hikaru GENJI - 12,220,000
11. V6 - 12,210,000
16. KAT-TUN - 8,450,000

Male Solo
17. Masahiko Kondo - 12,670,000

I don't think it's surprising to see SMAP at the top of the list if just for the fact that their career has lasted so long and they were around during the peak of CD sales. It looks like in a few years Arashi could possibly be able to surpass Kinki Kids, though they will still have a long way to go to beat SMAP.

It is rather interesting to see that Matchy is the only soloist on the list. I cannot help but wonder if any of the recently debuted soloists will ever be able to make this list.

How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma

2012-01-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

Ikuta Toma is a true rarity amongst J&A. He is the only debuted talent that has never had a music debut. Instead when Johnny’s updated their official websites around the time Akanishi Jin officially went solo they just gave Toma his own solo section while they were at it and have dropped labeling him as a Junior in news coverage. Thus making him the first and only Junior to debut strictly as an actor.

He joined the agency in 1996. When he was a Junior he was one of the most popular, about on par with Yamashita Tomohisa, back in what is known as the Golden Age of Juniors because of the huge amount of popularity the Juniors had at the time. He was shuffled in a couple of Junior groups before forming 4Tops with Yamapi and two other Juniors, Kazama Shunsuke and Hasegawa Jun.

Many believed that 4Tops were on their way to debut even when NEWS was first formed as not everyone believed that this would end up being a permanent group, which included some of the members of NEWS. But when NEWS announced their second single that debate was ended as well as the 4Tops group as Yamapi left the group for the debut. It came as a surprise to many fans and the boys themselves as only one of the four debuted even though they were all rather popular.

Toma with Jun and Shunsuke remained on Shounen Club for about a year and then they stopped being on the program. They all moved to do acting and musicals as they all remained with Johnny’s. It was with this shift that Toma decided to dedicate himself to acting and give up on a career based on dancing and singing.

In 2007 Toma got his big break with being cast as Nakatsu Shuichi in the drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. The drama was a hit and he won several Best Supporting Actor awards for it. From there he began getting more and more roles and has even made the jump to films. He has gained a great deal of acclaim from his acting skills and is now one of the more popular actors in Japan.

In 2010 he finally was promoted out of Junior status by getting his one solo page on the official Johnny’s websites and has stopped being referred to as a Junior in official media coverage about him.

TRIVIA: He stars in TOKIO’s PV for their single Na Na Na.

He is still close friends with Yamashita Tomohisa.

Next Entry > Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

A Super Delicate Wonderland Train Thrill!

2012-01-12T04:22:00.000-08:00

Before I knew that I would have the NYC/Nakayama Yuma single to review yesterday for a blog post I had been thinking of making a post about what I would want to see from the new Hey! Say! JUMP single. On the top of the list would be that the B-sides have at least one of HSJ's older concert songs on them, because they just have so many and the past couple of singles have had them on them so I felt there would be a good chance so would this single. My top choices of course being the one song I have wanted on a CD for about four years, Hey! Say! BEST's Su Ri Ru and to match the age of that song Hey! Say! 7's Wonderland Train, though I would have been just as happy with Brave Story for them.

This morning I woke up then did my usual first thing in the morning rituals that help wake me up, which includes checking e-mail, and found the CDJapan notification that Super Delicate was up for pre-order. First happy surprise that that it was coming out on February 22nd, which means less time to wait for it to come out, the second was that the HSB and HS7 songs (one on each of the two LE editions) on this release would be Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train. Then seeing the DVD for the second LE will have video clips for Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train. And of course while it may not be as surprising the fact that the regular edition comes with two B-sides not on the limited editions, one track being titled JUMP Around the World!!! and the other still untitled. I can see JUMP Around the World!!! being the theme song for their upcoming Asia concert tour and while having older songs finally released on CD it is nice to have new songs to look forward to as well.

Honestly looking at all that I immediately made my pre-order so now all I have to do is wait for the release. But I honestly doubt this single is going to disappoint if just because of Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train, as I have wanting them on CD since I heard them with HSJ's debut concert DVD. And I think I need to keep silently hoping for an album to be released for the upcoming concert tour and maybe that will come true as well.

NYC/Nakayama Yuma - Wonderful Cupid/Garasu no Mahou CD review

2012-01-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

My copy of the NYC/Nakayama Yuma single came in today so I figured I might as well give it a quick review, as I already have listened to the tracks so I have opinions to share on them.

I got the regular version of the single, as it came with the B-side track which is not on the limited edition. I admit I was excited about the single having two covers so it was a disappointment that the back cover featuring Nakayama Yuma is actually just a wrap around obi. Because this is the first press edition I have the two photos that the single comes with and I like them even though there is not anything special going on in either but the boys look good.

If you read my PV review for Wonderful Cupid you already know that I do not like this song. At all. And it is not because it is a cutesy song, because I typically like cutesy songs, I liked Magic Power and Aiing -Aishiteru- and other songs like them. Nor is it because it sounds like a children's song, because I like some children's songs, like Utada Hikaru's Boku no Kuma and some tracks off of Barenaked Ladies' children's album, Snacktime. But Wonderful Cupid until those tracks is ultra simple and sounds like the kind of children's song that people play for them because they do not think kids can appreciate music that is more complex or they do not think they are mature enough for the music adults like.

The main saving grace of this single is Nakayama Yuma's solo song and the other A-side to the single, Garasu no Mahou. It was a solo song that came from 2011's PLAYZONE musical and this is actually the third time it has been released, the first being on the soundtrack for PLAYZONE '11 and then as a digital single. The song really is a good fit for Yuma's voice and I love how he brings a nice tenderness to one of the lines at the beginning. He is no way a power house vocalist but using his voice like that shows he has skill and really brings emotion across in his singing. I like the beat of the song and while it sounds like the kind of song that is typical of a Johnny's musical it is one that really can stand as a single track and I am glad has been given the treatment it has. I really hope we keep getting tracks like this from Yuma with future releases and he is able to eventually go solo as that really seems to be where Johnny's is pushing him towards.

I am really glad to have gotten the regular edition as Jungle Life is a return to the fun cute songs that I like from NYC. It's fun and energetic and has a sound of it that reminds me of pop songs from the early-mid 90s. I think it's the woahs in the chorus. I would much rather have had this as the A-side for NYC, random animal sounds and all. Though to be completely honest I am glad it is not an A-side as it is definitely B-side material but it is still much better than Wonderful Cupid.

So even though I sincerely believe this is NYC's worst single, Nakayama Yuma really shines with his solo song and the B-side is a good reminder of what the group is usually about, cute fun.

A quick look at Tanaka Juri

2012-01-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

Over on the LJ community Jr_W0rld, there has been a dedicated translator, juniority, that has been translating quite a few of the Junior articles and I am really grateful for that. Since I had to cut back severely on the amount of magazines I buy because of my budget I feel like it has become a bit harder to follow the Juniors as their main activities tend to be magazine shoots, back dancing at concerts and performing on Shounen Club. Right now I can really only follow them through Shounen Club so that makes it hard to actually get to know them, especially with so many new faces getting pushed to the front of late. And of course it is always nice to learn more about the older faces as well, especially with them getting greater opportunities with the recent debuts.

From this I think I found a new reason to like Tanaka Juri, as he is probably the first Junior I have seen that has mentioned that he does not care about a girl's appearance when it comes to the common "What type of girl you like." question in these magazines. The full quote using juniority's translation is:

A girl who won’t be too careful when we’re together. It’d be nice if she was a girl who had the same attitude as me, and who could read the atmosphere. I think a girl who laughs a lot at jokes it good. I have zero preferences about her appearance. It’s totally ok if she’s taller than me.

I find it refreshing as most of the time it's always something about a kind girl, a girl that can cook well, or what length of hair they prefer for a girl to have. While I can agree with the kindness being a good trait the other stuff just seems like it would be strange to be considered a deal breaker as it sometimes comes off with some of the boys' answers. Though I guess it can be chalked up that there is probably a chunk of them that are either not paying that much attention to girls in the first place because of their age and are just answering as they have seen others do or have little experience with girls and just go with appearance because it is easy. Though I feel the stress on appearance is not something I care for at all and after a while it seems like the boys are just stealing ideas from each other as they rarely say anything different about the matter. Which is why Juri's response stands out to me as it seems more genuine then most as it is not the kind of answer that you typically find for this question.

I have had high hopes for Juri for a while but he never seemed to be able to get that extra push other Juniors were getting even though he had his own group with Hip Hop Jump, so it makes me happy to see that is changing. I think he is definitely a Junior to watch as he is sure to go somewhere, as I'm sure Johnny's would love to have the first brothers to have debuted with him and his older brother Tanaka Koki eventually. But even beyond that I think he sounds like he is someone I can find to be rather like-able and am willing to say that I am a fan of.

NYC - Wonderful Cupid PV review

2012-01-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

I finally got my hands on a video of the PV for this song to do a review of. Though the more I look at it the more I realize there is actually very little to review.

And for some reason the yellow becomes green for this PV.

I think the worst thing about Wonderful Cupid, for both the song itself and the PV, is that it is just too simple. I mean Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star sounds like a more complex tune than Wonderful Cupid and is only beat in the fact that WC (a perfect abbreviation for such a flushable tune) runs on for 2 1/2 minutes longer than it should. Honestly they just needed to do something with the song's melody to change it up a bit more and it would have been so much better. The monotonous feeling of this song just makes it feel like it's dragging on and trying to bore you into a stupor instead of sing you to sleep.

The PV is okay. It fits the song, for better or worse, but does not seem to try to much else.

Let's see what Yamada did on his summer vacation.

While I do not mind these scenes it feels like we get too many of them as nothing much is happening. I do rather like the outfits the boys are in.

Yamada wishing he was in any other book than this.

I do actually like how you have the song lyrics as the book's text. Though the fact that all the kanji has furigana is a rather big indication on the ages this release is most likely aimed for, pre-teens.

I really do not care for how light Nakayama Yuma's hair color is. But part of it could be more from how light the PV in general is and it might look better if set against something that would contrast with it.

Random white girl walking fake dog.

I do think it is interesting that they actually have a real girl in a PV. I get the feeling though it is not a Japanese girl to try to make her "safe" for NYC fans. Like they do not have to worry so much that there is a girl with the boys because there is a good chance she is foreign and will never see them again after this unlike a Japanese girl who could end up working with them again. Of course I do not agree with that line of thinking but I have seen enough reactions from younger fans when there are dating rumors to understand the logic behind something like that.

Yamada showing the others his ingenious plan to get out of the PV, walk out.

This was a cute moment and the PV would probably would have been much better if it had more of these.

And this is pretty much the climax of the entire PV...

The "walking" in these book scenes is hilariously bad. I do not think they are fooling anyone when they are walking in place in front of a green screen. I think the reason this single does not have a version with the PV and making of is because of how boring the making of would be.

Yuma, where did you get your animals for your pet store? That hamster is bigger than the cat.

You know it is sad when swaying pretty much ends up being the "dance" for a song.

Even though he's smiling I can't help but feel his eyes are screaming "Save me!"

And I really have nothing to say at this point as my brain kept thinking of anything else than this song and PV so it could keep itself awake. Though I do wonder how the boys felt about this song and PV. I mean they must be getting to the point where they would want to do something else with NYC than sing songs like this.

And now let us never speak of this again.

And we thankfully get the end. And honestly I tend to like NYC songs but this has to easily be the worst song they're released and that is including B-sides. If not for the fact Yuma has his solo song on this single I would have been tempted not to buy a copy. And I really wish Yuma had a PV for his song as it probably would have been better than this.

Johnny’s Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin

2012-01-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

Akanishi Jin technically failed his audition to join Johnny’s but as he tried to give his number tag back to one of the men at the audition he was told to stay as the man happened to be Johnny Kitagawa. During his early time as a Junior he was a part of Junior groups M.A.D., J2000 and B.A.D. In 2001 he was selected with five other Juniors to create a new Junior group, KAT-TUN, to be back dancers to Domoto Koichi on a program he was a regular on. KAT-TUN became popular and became one of the most popular Junior groups at the time. This eventually lead to a group debut in March 2006.

In October of 2006, much to the surprise of the fans and media, Jin announced that he was leaving the country to study English abroad. He went to the United States and remained there until April of 2007. Upon his return he also was returned to KAT-TUN.

In 2009 he began to start doing solo work, such as not only starring in the movie Bandage but releasing a single and album for the fictional rock band in the movie, LANDS. He followed this by having his own solo concerts in early 2010 in Japan. Then in 2010 made his U.S. concert debut in March, performing in Los Angeles, California. As his Japanese solo concerts wrapped up he announced that he was going on tour in the U.S. and then in July he announced that he was leaving KAT-TUN.

Unlike the first time he left the group his departure this time was announced as final as Jin committed himself to pursuing a career in the United States. Since then he has gone back and forth between Japan and the United States. He has released two Japanese singles and one U.S. single with the next U.S. single scheduled to be released on January 24th. His debut U.S. album, Japanicana, is set to come out on March 6th and will be followed by a North American concert tour.

TRIVIA: He has a younger brother who also works in the entertainment industry but uses a stage name.

His debut EP, Test Drive, reached number 10 on the U.S. iTunes album charts the day it was released.

Next Entry > How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

Because nothing says funeral parlor drama like Texas Love

2012-01-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

It has been announced that Yamashita Tomohisa will be starting his post-NEWS solo career by singing the theme song for his upcoming drama, Saiko no Jinsei no Owarikata ~Ending Planner~. The title of the song will be Ai Texas and will be released by his new music label, Warner Music Japan.

Oricon Style article (Japanese)

Honestly when I skimmed the news I thought the song would be for the program he has that has him doing a road trip in the U.S., so it surprised me to see it was instead for his drama. I really do not get how a song with a title like that makes any sense for a drama series like that, but I guess it would not be the first time a drama had an odd choice in theme songs.

Since there is no release date yet it's anyone's guess when the single with it will be released. It is interesting that Yamapi switched labels, and to the same one as Akanishi Jin to boot. There had been a rumor about Yamapi being seen in the company of the president of Warner Music to discuss a possible U.S. debut before the announcement of him leaving NEWS, but honestly I think it was probably more just to discuss about the label switch as I see Yamapi being much better off staying in Asia than trying to break in to the U.S. when Jin has made so little progress with that.

Though in the end I just hope NEWS fans are not made to wait much longer to get news about a new release or group activities from them seeing how Yamapi has so quickly moved on to be a solo artist.

Jin set to release second U.S. single

2012-01-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

If you've signed up for the official Johnny's International e-mail then you've probably seen this announcement, but for those who haven't Akanishi Jin will be releasing a second single for the U.S. The single will be released digitally on January 26th and is titled Sun Burns Down.

The announcement also states that the music video for the single will be released the same day on his official youtube account and that for the single there will be a special contest for fans. For more information you have to check his official home page, but I did not see anything up yet for it when I checked.

I'm kinda glad he's releasing another single but only if he actually pushes to promote it unlike Test Drive.

Arashi to host this year's NTV 24 Hour Television

2012-01-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

It has already been announced that the main personalities for this year's NTV 24 Hour Television charity event will be Arashi. This will be the third time the group has hosted the television event.

The hosts for the program usually are not announced until later in the year but it was decided to announce so early this year because the event is scheduled to begin its projects for the program earlier in the year. The theme of course will center around the recovery of the Tohoku region of Japan that still faces a long road to recover after the devastation that the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami brought to the region.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Hey! Say! JUMP concert announcements

2012-01-02T04:27:00.000-08:00

There were a few announcements at Hey! Say! JUMP's concerts today which included tours and a new single. First off they will be having their first Asia tour starting this spring. They plan on touring Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand. They will have concerts in Japan as well, at the Yokohama Arena for a straight week with 27 concerts in total currently scheduled for the Asia tour.

Also they confirmed that the song Super Delicate, the theme song for Yamada Ryosuke's drama Risou no Musuko, will be released as a single in February. No exact date was announced but I'm going to assume it will be either the 22nd or 29th which are the last two weeks of February.

Also Yabu Kota announced that he will be going to Waseda University this Spring as he passed the entrance exam. So congrats to him.

~~This is coming from fans and not official confirmation yet, but I will assume in the next day or so we'll have all the news articles to validate it.~~

Okay, the news articles are out and it all is verified. Fuji TV News 24 article. (Japanese)

I Just realized though with this single it could mean they can release an album before their tour as they will have enough single for one. I really hope they do as a Johnny's group they are woefully behind on how many albums they should have coming up on five years since their debut.

Also I broke down and found a concert rip of the new song, Super Delicate, and those worrying that they are going back to a cutesy image after Magic Power can relax. Super Delicate sounds more in line with their "cool" songs from what I could hear, but I think it'll be easier to tell once the drama starts airing and there is a much better quality version to listen to.

Never Ending Music Power in 2012

2012-01-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make sure the first post for the year would be fitting and so I'll be talking about blog stuff a bit, which will include some plans I have for the blog for the year.

First off I am really happy to see that 2011 has been the second most active year for the blog, only topped by 2009 when I was in Japan and had a lot to blog about when there. I do hope to finally hit 300 posts for 2012 though, and with the way I have been posting in the past few months it looks like it will be quite possible.

To update about History of Johnny's, as you can tell I missed yesterday's post. I thought about doing it for today but instead have decided to actually just "take the week off" instead. This is mainly because I have decided that the groups/artists that I will be covering will be those who have official pages on Johnny's net and I want to give more time to see if Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z will be getting their own pages before I finish up this project.

Right now since I will be adding Ikuta Toma to the list of artist to cover, as he does have his own Johnny's net page and is no longer considered a Junior, the individual pages for groups/artists end the weekend before A.B.C-Z release their debut DVD. So if they get their own page with the debut I will give them a page, if not they will be placed in the final post I will make for the series as they will land into the oddities category with NYC and Sexy Zone (if SZ still doesn't have their own Johnny's net page by then).

When I am done I will go back to update anything that needs to be updated in the posts for it, as if the past few months have shown things do not always remain constant with Johnny's.

Once I do finish with the History of Johnny's I do have another project that I'll want to start. Since I have enjoyed doing the couple of PV reviews I have done so far I have been thinking of going through the PVs I have for the various releases I have purchased, so mostly Hey! Say! JUMP with other groups mixed in, if mainly because Johnny's for some reason almost never has PVs released with NEWS' CDs.

But even with that as a project I will still do PV reviews for new releases whenever I can find a version I can download to make screen caps from or when I actually get the CD/DVD with it.

And for now that is about all I have planned for the blog for the year. If anything this should cover the first half of the year and I am sure by mid-year I will have figured out what to do for my next project.

Thank you all for following me in 2011 and I hope you stick around for 2012.

Some Johnny's Countdown 2011-2012 thoughts

2011-12-31T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well I woke up around 3AM-ish to watch Kohaku and then of course Johnny's Countdown 2011-2012 earlier today. It's strange to think it's been 2012 somewhere in the world for about 12 hours now when there is still quite a bit of time before the clock strikes midnight where I am. But I find watching these programs are a great way to start the last day of the year.

Focusing on JCD this year seemed so much more energetic and fun than last year. The whole atmosphere to me really felt the guys were having just as much fun as the audience for the short concert. And it seems like Yamada Ryosuke and Chinen Yuri were taken over to Tokyo Dome sometime during Kohaku so they did not have the late entrance that TOKIO did, and of course were no where to be seen near the end of Kohaku either.

I'm just going to briefly touch upon some things that I liked about the concert or stood out to me.

First off, we have another indication that Sexy Zone is indeed here to stay as they had a VTR performance of their debut song played early on, something that Hey! Say! JUMP also had the year they debuted. And I was really happy to see HSJ in the seats SZ had to watch the show. I think it's rather perfect for one FIVB group to be there for another.

The Juniors! And not just the Tokyo Juniors but Kansai Juniors as well at the Tokyo Dome and getting more attention than I've ever seen for Juniors at any JCD. It seems like Noon Boyz might actually be a group for Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki seeing as that's what they were introduced as. Also what was interesting was that Uchi Hiroki seemed to be introduced just as a member of Question? more than a Junior on his own. And it seemed so amazing that B.A.D., Hamada Takahiro, Shigeoka Daiki and Veteran were there at the Tokyo Dome and even got some spotlight as well. Of course the Gokusen fangirl in me was ecstatic to see B.A.D. next to Takaki Yuya for at least one song during the shuffle group portion. And it was nice to finally see all five members of A.B.C-Z being able to perform with Tackey & Tsubasa this year.

It was also nice to see all of HSJ on stage, even though the only reason it was possible for them to do so was because they lost their youngest member who would have sat with SZ if he was still with the group. But I loved that we had more HSJ this year and that there seemed to be more interaction between them and their senpai groups. One of the personally highlights with HSJ, besides the one already mentioned as Masuoka Masahiro making Inoo Kei sing along when TOKIO was supposed to be covering a song.

Speaking of TOKIO while I was at first disappointed that they were not around for the actual countdown to midnight when they did enter I was perfectly fine with it. I mean it's hard to beat an entrance in faux-blimps. Though I do wonder who got fur crazy when making Yamaguchi Tatsuya's costume for this.

And of course bringing up costumes immediately brings Kanjani8 to mind. It's going to take a while to get the image of Nishikido Ryo dressed as a girl out of my mind. And I loved Yokoyama Yu as the mixer/blender for the vegetables, aka the other group members. I think I've gotten used to the split for the groups as I didn't mind it too much this year.

I loved seeing Kis-My-Ft2 being able to be on stage finally as debuted artists. Especially as they had a member from Hikaru Genji, the original roller skating Johnny's group, Sato Atsuhiro, to join them for a song. And by pure luck of being 24 in this coming year Miyata Toshiya got a moment to shine and show everyone the wonderful dork he is.

Of course I was really excited about all the daisenpai at this year's JCD. I think it's definitely because 2012 will be Johnny's 50th anniversary and I thought it was great for them to have their older acts makes appearances. It did seem like Okamoto Keito was used a bit as a stand in for his father as he got to play guitar for when they covered an Otokogumi song. I won't complain as it meant more Keito, who the cameraman seemed to love. And nothing beats being able to see Shounentai perform together, or almost together with Nishikiori Kazukiyo being at the theater Tackey & Tsubasa were at.

Of course the greatest highlight for the concert for me was seeing the new NEWS perform together. I'm rather glad both Ryo and Yamashita Tomohisa were not at the Tokyo Dome as it really helped solidify that the four remaining members are the group now to me. And I love that they made sure to find NEWS fans in the audience to pan to, as to help signify that this was truly a special moment for the group as they perform as four for the first time in front of a crowd. And I was so happy that Koyama Keiichiro said one of the group's goals for the new year was to of course have concerts. Even if I can't make any just knowing that they are performing as NEWS will make me so happy.

So in the end this JCD was great for me. Everyone seemed to be in great spirits and I got to see so many of my favorites and there was fun interactions. Even though the amount of live feeds can sometimes feel like it isn't as unified as it once was I think they are finally figuring out how to balance it better.

Next year should be interesting with A.B.C-Z being a debuted group then, Nakajima Kento being old enough to participate as well as Nakayama Yuma. And of course any surprises Johnny's wants to throw in there. I'll definitely make sure I can catch a lives stream of it next year.

1st half of year predictions for 2012 Sexy Zone-Johnny’s Juniors

2011-12-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

Even with a bit of a rocky start I think things look good for Sexy Zone. While they needed to pull a lot of stunts to ensure getting the number 1 spot for their debut week their debut single has been selling well in the weeks after. While most groups just drop and rather quick after their first couple of weeks SZ’s single has been remaining on the charts and has been benefitting quite a bit from the end of year programs as well. I think now that people are getting to know the boys in the group they are attracting new fans. And with Sato Shori in a supporting role for a winter drama it will be a good step in moving him and his group into the spotlight and hopefully will continue getting the attention of new potential fans. Having their own concerts in February is a good sign that at least Johnny’s has faith that they can headline a concert and I can see them doing more concerts throughout the year to help build experience much like with Hey! Say! JUMP when they started out. I do believe in April we will get the next single from this group and hopefully by then they won’t need help from another group to get their number 1 for that.

A.B.C-Z of course is set to have an exciting year with 2012 with not only a debut in February but they follow that up with their stage show which in turn will be followed by even more live performances across the country from March until early May. Since they do not seem to be following the typical release pattern of debuted groups I will expect to be surprised by whatever they release next. But I can see them being a performance heavy group and see them being busy throughout the year with projects of all sorts, together or separate.

For the Tokyo Juniors I think it’s easy to predict we will be seeing the creation of a new group or so. Either that or use of groups that have been rather underused so far. Of course it may be a bit of a slow start for that at the beginning of the year as I think EbiKisuZone need to have less of a presence on Shounen Club for that to happen but I don’t see that happening until after A.B.C-Z debut and it would be more Kis-My-Ft2 lessening their time on the program because of their concerts. The few months after a debut, especially a FIVB debut, are always strange when it comes to the Juniors as Johnny’s figures out what to do with those remaining. So I would expect them to try various formations before eventually putting groups together for a while. Though from what I’ve noticed a couple of Juniors that look like Johnny’s is prepping to be in the spotlight a bit are Kyomoto Taiga and Tanaka Juri. So it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

Kansai Juniors had a good year overall in 2011, even though the departures were saddening. But for the top Kansai Juniors, like Nakayama Yuma, 7 WEST, B.A.D. and Hamada Takahiro they seem to be in a good place with being able to remain active throughout the year. Other groups like Veteran and Shadow West seem to be doing well, even with the recent roster change with Shadow West. But for those top Kanjuu I can see 2012 being another good year for them. In fact Nakayama Yuma already has something to really be proud of with his solo song being an A-side on the NYC single that comes out in a few days. He is already scheduled for Takazawa Kakumei again this year and I would not be surprised in the slightest to see him in PLAYZONE again. I would like to see the return of Shounentachi again this year, especially if Kanjuu get to be a part of the Tokyo version of the production again.

1st half of year predictions for 2012 NEWS-Kis-My-Ft2

2011-12-29T16:02:00.000-08:00

NEWS is probably not going to be able to do too much for the first couple of months in 2012 if just because Johnny’s has to shift gears a bit with them now that they don’t have to take breaks for Kanjani8 to do something. I see that March will probably be the most likely month for their comeback single, which would be actually rather fitting seeing that the comeback single after the 2006 hiatus came out in March as well. I would love to see February but I think that month will be too full with other releases wit this winter drama season having so many Johnny’s in starring roles and having a good chance of their respective groups to do the theme songs for them. Other than that I think things are looking up for the group in general now that the remaining four can fully commit themselves to the group and there won’t be any need for them to take long breaks to do something else. I do hope around the middle of the year we’ll get another single at least.

I can see Kanjani8 having a similar year in 2012 to 2011. They are in a good spot for them, they may not be as mega popular as Arashi but they have risen in popularity enough that none of the members should have to worry about not having enough work. This year though is their 8th anniversary, and as they didn’t really do anything for their 5th like most groups do I’m sure they are planning something special for this year. I do think they will keep their release pattern to make sure they have a winter concert tour as they do need the Kyocera Dome in Osaka for Johnny’s Countdown as it seems to get more and more crowded every year at the Tokyo Dome.

KAT-TUN looks to be set to have a much better year with 2012 than with 2011. While their annual tour had to be cancelled they were able to at least keep releasing singles on a regular basis for the most part and with their next album, CHAIN, coming out in January they are set to begin touring again shortly after. Kamenashi Kazuya hit it big with his recent drama, Ningen Bemu, and it’s the kind of drama I can see getting a SP for it at some point after its run. But I think this should him and the group rise again after the fall they experienced with Akanishi Jin left when it comes to sales. They will probably keep the same release pattern for the most part so I don’t think KAT-TUN fans will be left wanting this year.

With a NYC single out of the way so quickly in the year it could mean Hey! Say! JUMP could actually have a rather normal year when it comes to releases. I think for the first half of the year we will definitely see a single release and I would think an album is a possibility. If we don’t get an album in the first half of the year it will come in the second half as with the next single they will have four singles that are not on an album and that is usually about the amount before an album gets released for Japanese artists. But certainly with the group doing the theme song for Yamada Ryosuke’s winter drama we should a single out of it and I would guess a February release date. And I would expect something for the group to celebrate their 5th anniversary in 2012, but it will most likely be something around the end of the year, closer to their debut date.

Akanishi Jin should be back in the U.S. for the start of 2012 as he gears up for his U.S. debut album. I would not be surprised if he released another Japanese single for the first half of the year, because even if his goal is America his largest fan base is in Japan. So I see for him that the first half of 2012 will be him trying to balance out releasing an album in the U.S. while keeping some interest in him in Japan.

Yamashita Tomohisa looks to be already set to go for the upcoming year, most likely helped by the fact that the things he’s set to do now were probably planned for him before the decision of him leaving NEWS was finalized. I’m sure we will be getting a new single or two from him during the first half of the year.

Kis-My-Ft2 will be kept busy next year with the tours they’ve announced. The overseas tour and the national tour should keep them touring almost all throughout the year. Being signed on with Avex should help them with releasing singles in a regular schedule so even if they will be busy with touring they can still release something new. I will assume they should have a single for each season so their next one will be in Spring followed by another in Summer and hopefully an album after that.

COUNTDOWN TO NEWS: Tegoshi Yuya

2011-12-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

Tegoshi Yuya (手越祐也)

Birthdate: 11 November 1987

Junior History: Even though he joined Johnny’s & Associates in December of 2002 Tegoshi remained relatively unknown for his timeas a Junior. He participated in the basic Junior activities for his elevenmonths as a Junior and got his big break right before being selected for NEWSwhen he sang a duet with Masuda Takahisa on the Shounen Club episode beforeNEWS was announced.

Group History: In the early years Tegoshi was paired off with Masuda and even though he lacked the experience the other members of the group had because of his singing talent had prominent singing roles in the groups’ songs.

Right before the scandals and hiatus of the group Tegoshi began to get acting roles. And during the hiatus period formed a duo with Masuda, Tegomass, as well as continued getting drama roles. When the group came back Tegoshi kept on with getting acting roles and releasing and performing as Tegomass, the latter mainly when NEWS was not doing anything.

Tegoshi probably is one of the more active members when it comes to acting and even co-stared in a production of DREAM BOYS, one of Johnny's annual musicals.

He attends Waseda University and majors in psychology.

Random Facts: He loves soccer and plays in his free time.

He has cross dressed for not only NEWS concerts but also for one of the calendars for NEWS.

He is terrible at drawing. In fact he probably gives all other Johnny’s that are bad artists a run for their money with the levels of badness he is at with his drawing skills. But his drawings do tend to be used on the Tegomass goods.

Personal Opinion: Tegoshi to me is a brat with a heart. He may be the worst when it comes to taking advantage of his fellow members but I get the impression the only reason he does is because of how close he feels to them as you really don’t hear about him acting that way to anyone he doesn’t seem close to.

I think like other NEWS fans I really appreciated that he made sure to mention the fans in his message about Yamapi and Ryo leaving the group. Even though there are those who write him off as selfish I think he really does care about the fans. No matter what is said about his personal life when he is on stage he is always playing to the crowd and it’s probably no surprise he’s probably the member that pulls the most fanservice.

I do understand how his personality can be off-putting to some but I think at heart he's a good guy. Though I do wish he would stop trying so hard with being sexy, it doesn't work as well as he thinks, IMHO. But I do think he has come a long way since his debut and can see him pushing so hard to break away from being the "cute" one he was when NEWS debuted and he looked more like ten than fourteen.

1st half of year predictions for 2012 SMAP-Tackey & Tsubasa

2011-12-27T18:46:00.000-08:00

Since it's the end of year I've decided to see about trying to at least make some predictions for the upcoming year. Most of the focus will be on the first half of the year as it's near impossible to predict beyond that from what I've noticed with Johnny's. There will be three posts for this if just because there are so many groups/soloists to look at and I want to include the juniors of course.

SMAP is one of those groups that seems to go at their own pace when it comes to releases. They don’t release many singles before an album so I can see them either releasing one more single before an album or just release an album. I think it will depend if they feel that they need to have the singles that were on their recent best of album on a studio album. Of course with them if they release an album then it means they will go on tour, which I can see them scheduling around the summer if they do, as long as the domes are free for it. Of course they could decide to do this all over a course of a year as their 20th anniversary is over so they can take it as easy as they please if they really want to. Otherwise it will be most likely more of the same with variety shows and dramas. As popular as they are SMAP really does not have to worry much about not having enough to do at least.

TOKIO already has a single set to be released in February, which at least means they’ll have something released in 2012. I keep predicting that they will finally release a new album as one is well overdue for the group but since it has not happened in the past couple of years I’m going to just keep that as a wish. They should have at least one or two more single released in 2012 if they keep the 2011 schedule but I really hope this will be the year we finally get that album. I think it would work out well for them to release an album and tour this year, and I think sometime in the first half or around mid-year would be a good time for that to happen. And after the DVD tour release being so very well worth the wait I hope the album will be the same if it happens.

V6 like TOKIO, already has at least some plans announced for 2012 already in the form of a new single. It will drop mid-February and will at least give the group a new single for the year. Though it does not stop there for the group, as two members of the group have drama roles for the winter drama season. I can see the group releasing a bit more this year than last as they need a couple more singles before they can get their next album out. Since I don’t follow the group much I concede that I probably won’t do well predicting for them but I can see the first half of the year being quieter in the sense they probably won’t do more than their regular programs and release a single or two and of course their concert DVD in January, but they probably won’t do anything extra for promotion for that.

Kinki Kids seem to have a yearly schedule down, where when Koichi is busy with SHOCK Tsuyoshi does his solo work and then when both are available put something out together. It works for them and I think we can see that continue for next year. They have a single to start the year off before they part to do their solo activities and will probably at least get another single out this year if not two so they get an album in time for their annual winter concerts. Though there is a chance of them changing things up a bit as 2012 is their 15th anniversary but SHOCK is already scheduled for most of the first half of 2012 so if they do something for it then it will have to be in the second half of the year, which would be more appropriate anyway since their debut single was released in July so it would be closer to that date.

In 2011 Arashi took another approach with their releases from 2010 and did not release as much. I think 2012 will continue on from 2011 for the most part for them as they seem to be plateauing right now, which is not a bad thing as it does mean their popularity is stabilizing and they are set to be some of the best known faces in Japan for some time to come if things continue on. There will probably be a single in early 2012, especially with the group singing the theme song for Matsumoto Jun’s winter drama series, and I can see them release another single before the end of the first half of the year. I think it will really depend on when Johnny’s plans to have them release a new album though as they tend to release about four singles before a new album tour and they only have one released since their last album came out.

It seems like Tackey & Tsubasa has found a good schedule for them to juggle their respective musicals with their music releases. Even though they are not big sellers when it comes to their releases Johnny’s is not the kind of agency that just dumps an act if they don’t sell. They seem to have gotten back on track from when they weren’t releasing anything together and I expect them to release something in the first half of the year between the musicals and concerts they already have scheduled for 2012.

A.B.C-Z debut DVD ready to pre-order

2011-12-26T19:06:00.000-08:00

Even though there are still details unknown about this DVD release it is up for pre-order at the usual places, like CDJapan. So there is a bit more information out about the release from that, and from the looks of things this is a release any A.B.C-Z fan would be happy with.

First off there will be only one version of the release. But it will have a run time around 50 minutes and about 2000Yen, which for a Japanese DVD release is rather unheard of. There are 30 minute DVDs that sell for around 3500-4000Yen so this is a deal that would be hard to pass up on. And from the description the DVD will have video of music videos, digest footage of past lives, private footage and interviews. Plus if you get the first press version of the DVD you will get a bonus poster. So I really can't see a fan of A.B.C-Z being able to easily pass this up. I think if there is any downside it will be for fans not residing in Japan as the DVD is region 2 coded and you will need a player that can play region 2 DVDs to view it.

What's rather interesting about CDJapan's listing is that it has Pony Canyon as the label/distributor. It makes me wonder if they are the music label A.B.C-Z will be releasing with like Sexy Zone or if they will be like the in house label groups and only have Pony Canyon as a distributor will being signed under either Johnny's Entertainment or J-Storm. Though seeing as those signed under the in house labels are distributed by Sony Music Entertainment I'm more inclined to think that they must also be under Pony Canyon like SZ. And the bonus extra of a poster fits in with the kind of bonuses PC does going off of SZ's CD release.

Sexy Zone's debut concerts announced

2011-12-25T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well debut concerts have been announced for Sexy Zone, they will have them in Tokyo and in Osaka. The concerts will be in mid-February, so at least they confirm the group being around for yet another month. I'm personally hoping that at these concerts they announce a second single and maybe around that time get their own section on Johnny's net so they are 100% officially confirmed as a debuted group.

The venue they will perform at in Tokyo, the Tokyo International Forum Hall A is actually familiar to me as that was the venue used for the Junior concerts I went to while I was in Japan in 2009. I would say that it's a bit bigger than NHK Hall if my memory serves me right. But I find it oddly poetic that Nakajima Kento and Kikuchi Fuma are having their debut concerts there as that's also the venue they performed for the first time as Nakayama Yuma w/B.I.Shadow and NYC boys at.

I think starting them small like this is a good idea and I think it will make the milestones of moving up to larger venues mean more to the group. I truly expect that in a couple of years they will finally be able to have arena tours as there is a lot of talent with this group and I'm sure over time more and more people will recognize this.

And on a side note I hope everyone who celebrates it is having a merry Christmas. And for those who celebrate other winter holidays I hope you're enjoying those this year.

Jumping to their dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP

2011-12-24T16:48:00.000-08:00

Members: Yabu Kota, Yaotome Hikaru, Inoo Kei, Takaki Yuya, Arioka Daiki, Nakajima Yuto, Yamada Ryosuke, Chinen Yuri & Okamoto Keito

Back 5 (l to r): Yabu Kota, Inoo Kei, Arioka Daiki, Takaki Yuya & Yaotome Hikaru
Front 5 (l to r): Chinen Yuri, Yamada Ryosuke, Nakajima Yuto, Okamoto Keito & Morimoto Ryutaro

2007 marked a year for a new FIVB group debut and for it came the formation of Johnny’s largest group to debut at then ten members, Hey! Say! JUMP. The group was formed of many popular Juniors of the time who were all born during the current Heisei era. The JUMP in the name is meant to stand for Johnny’s Ultra Music Power and the group has two sub-units, based off of age, Hey! Say! 7 (originally the 5 youngest members, currently 4 with Okamoto, Nakajima, Yamada & Chinen) and Hey! Say! BEST (the five oldest members, Yabu, Takaki, Inoo, Yaotome & Arioka). Hey! Say! 7’s name came from the Junior group of the same name, but a five group line-up with only Nakajima, Yamada, Chinen, Takaki and Arioka as members, that released a single a few months before HSJ was announced and the 7 comes from the year it was formed, 2001. The BEST in Hey! Say! BEST is meant to stand for Boys Excellent Select Team.

HSJ pretty much did the basic things for any FIVB debut group, supported volleyball tournaments and released cute sounding songs. They did have their debut concert at the Tokyo Dome, a first for any Japanese group or soloist.

For reasons unknown to the fans in 2009 the group released only a concert DVD for the whole year and only did concert tours. It then caused fans to worry then when in the second half of the year NYC boys was announced as the group was to have Yamada and Chinen as members of it. But in 2010 HSJ released a new single and have had releases more regularly since then. Though their releases are still sporadic as while NYC boys did not last after the one single it was reformed to become NYC with the three members, Nakayama Yuma (a Kansai Junior), Yamada and Chinen, and still release singles from time to time.

A couple of years of being together they created their own kind of sub-unit, unofficially called JUMP Band. As they had many members that could play instruments they began to perform at concerts with Yuto on the drums, Keito and Yabu on guitar, Hikaru on bass, Inoo on keyboard, and usually Takaki on vocals. They have switched things up from time to time with the vocals to get the other members involved and in 2011 they were able to play as a band for their single Magic Power, with all the non-instrument playing members just dancing and singing.

In June of 2011 member Morimoto Ryutaro was caught in an underage smoking scandal which lead to his immediate indefinite suspension of activities. It was later announced that he would be starting from the beginning again but what that meant was not made clear. If the fate of Uchi Hiroki and Kusano Hironori have shown us anything it most likely means that he will no longer be a part of the group, especially when in November of 2011 he was taken off the profile pages for Hey! Say! JUMP on the official web pages.

Since then the group has gone on to release a single and look to be continuing on as they would otherwise. Next year, 2012, will mark their 5th anniversary as a group.

Yabu Kota is the oldest member of the group and has been in Johnny’s the longest of all the members. He was a member of the popular Junior group Ya-Ya-Yah where he was the leader of the group and he is the unofficial leader of Hey! Say! JUMP as well. He loves soccer and plays as a hobby. He plays the guitar in JUMP Band and has composed lyrics to some of the group’s songs.

Takaki Yuya may look the most mature but in heart he is still a kid. It is often joked that he fits in better with the members of HS7 than HSB because he is more on their level mentally. He loves to go wake boarding. He is close to his family and is really happy about the fact he is now an uncle. He tends to be the vocalist of JUMP Band if he isn’t sharing the position with other non-instrument playing members of the group.

Inoo Kei is the only member so far to go to university and is a currently enrolled at Meiji University. He is known for saying random things just for the hell of it, much to the annoyance of the other group members. He is the group’s biggest scaredy-cat, which even the younger members of the group have teased him about. He can play the piano so he plays the keyboard for JUMP Band.

Yaotome Hikaru tends to act like the group’s clown and goofs off a lot which has earned him the title of the group’s mood maker. His jokes tend to be bad but that does not stop him from making them. He also can juggle, which he tends to do mostly for concerts. He can play the guitar but for JUMP Band plays the bass.

Arioka Daiki is the youngest member of Hey! Say! BEST as well as the shortest. He has tried many things to get himself to grow taller over the years but seems like he has to settle with the fact that at least he is not the shortest member of HSJ. He was with another agency originally but was recruited by Johnny’s. He gets placed with Yamada and Chinen often, probably because they are all about the same height.

Okamoto Keito is one of the quieter members of the group. He is known for living in England for several years, and being able to speak English well, as well as being the son of Otokogumi’s Okamoto Kenichi. He and his father make the first father-son pair to have debuted as Johnny’s. Keito can play the guitar and is one of the usual members of JUMP Band.

Nakajima Yuto used to be a small and cute Junior but now is easily the tallest member of HSJ. When he was a Junior he was promoted a lot by the agency and had supporting roles in a couple of popular dramas. He is a doting older brother to his younger brother. He has been good friends with Yamada since their Junior days. He plays the drums for JUMP Band.

Yamada Ryosuke is the most popular member and the one that gets the most drama roles. Even though he has the “cool” look down he likes to try to do impersonations and other goofy things. He admires Domoto Koichi greatly, who was the inspiration for him to join Johnny’s as his mother is a big Koichi fan. He likes eating and the other members tend to tease him about it.

Chinen Yuri is the acrobat of the group and probably the member best at physical activities. Before his voice broke he used to sing all the high parts of HSJ songs, so they sound quite different now that his voice has changed. While he looks cute he is rather snarky. He is well known for his admiration of Ohno Satoshi, which he is quite vocal about.

top row (l to r): Yabu Kota, Nakajima Yuto, Yaotome Hikaru & Takaki Yuya
bottom row (l to r): Inoo Kei, Chinen Yuri, Yamada Ryosuke, Arioka Daiki & Okamoto Keito

TRIVIA: Chinen’s father is a bronze medal Olympic gymnast.

Takaki is the only member to have a solo released on a CD, as he sung the insert song, Oretachi no Seishun, for the Gokusen 3 drama which he was in.

Hey! Say! 7 is the only sub-unit of the group to have had a concert tour of their own.

Next Entry > Johnny's Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin (Link to be added when entry is posted.)

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

Q&A Month: Question 14

2011-12-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season so far. I just finished my last working day for the year and I'm going to make sure I enjoy my one week of being able to sleep in.

I answered the one non-Johnny's question left for me by an anonymous reader over on my non-Johnny's blog. It was about how to enjoy Japan on a budget, so I hope the tips I gave will be useful.

And for the Johnny's question I answered for today, this one is a long one from Markl02: This question has to do with your interesting study of the history of Johnny's Entertainment. Do you wish you had been a fan of Johnny's during a different time of his idols? When do you think would be the most exciting time to be a Johnny's fan? Maybe it's right now...I think with all the current debuts, shows, and idols, they're doing pretty well in 2011. But is there another time when you wish you were there to see it?

I think I’m happy with becoming a fan when I did. Sure there are times I feel like I missed out on things but I can’t help but feel like I entered into the fandom at a good time to be there when there was still so much excitement of having NEWS back and of course for Hey! Say! JUMP’s debut.

If anything I would like to meet more fans that have been Johnny’s fans for longer than I have. I think they would have interesting perspectives about things that have happened and are currently happening with groups. I guess it’s my analytical side of me that would like to learn more about not only Johnny’s but fandom as well as I would like to know more about the history of English language Johnny’s fans as I think there isn’t a lot of knowledge by the newer members of the fandom that know about the ones that came before them. And for me I think it would be good to know as I’m sure there are a lot of things we take for granted that were possibly difficult to find or do in the past.

COUNTDOWN TO NEWS: Kato Shigeaki

2011-12-21T20:46:00.000-08:00

Kato Shigeaki (加藤シゲアキ)

Birthdate: 11 July 1987

Junior History: He joined Johnny’s & Associates in 1999 and was shuffled through several Junior groups, such as B.B.B., B.B.A., B.B.D. & B.A.D., until he was one of the selected Juniors in J-Support which was later renamed K.K.Kity, the K in his last name, Kato, being one of the three Ks. As one of the three Ks he got more of the screen time with the other two Ks, Koyama Keiichiro and Kusano Hironori, when they performed. Then in 2003 he was selected with those other two to be a part of NEWS.

Group History: With a large group unless you can find something to stand out with you tend to get shuffled into the back, which was where Shige was stuck for much of the early years with NEWS. He once confessed in an interview that as the least popular member of the group (they know how much of their concert sell so it’s one of the basis for figuring out popularity) he had thought of quitting during those years. But then the scandals happened, and while he got very little work during that time it did make him want to be a part of the group even more.

Around the time the group reunited he began getting drama roles a bit more frequently and as the years have gone on he’s been one of the members that have had the most acting roles and was the first member of the group, outside of Yamashita Tomohisa, to star in a drama series. And next year he will be the first Johnny’s to publish a novel when his debut novel, Pink to Grey, comes out.

He is known for being the weakest singer and dancer, so he tends to do the “raps” or have the solo lines that have auto-tune distortion. He does know how to play the guitar and has composed his own songs.

Random Facts: He is left handed.

His dog, Nana, was given to him by his ex-K.K.Kity group mate Yokoo Wataru (current Kis-My-Ft2 member).

He is originally from Osaka and even went to the same pre-school as Kansai Junior Hamanaka Bunichi.

He is allergic to cats but has an imaginary one, Wagahai, that he uses to write his J-Web blog posts from the view point of. Wagahai has also had play dates with Koyama’s cat, Nyanta. (Don’t ask.)

Personal Opinion: What can I say, Shige is my favorite member of this group, has been for years really. I will admit he was probably the last member that I was able to remember the face of but the moment I started reading J-Webs of the members Shige quickly became my favorite. Even though he wrote about everyday matters the way he wrote about them made them sound like anything but everyday.

Another thing that appeals to me about him is that he is rather un-idol-like. He is not good a dancing or singing, which he is willing to admit, nor does he have the typical Japanese idol look to him. But I think his willingness to admit his weaknesses and still work hard at overcoming them is endearing. Not to mention inspirational, because it is so easy to just give up on the things you are not good at. And who ever heard of an idol for being popular from his writing?

And yet all of that is Shige and I really admire him for it.

I also love that as much as he complains about them he really loves the other members of the group, especially his long term best friend Koyama. Koyashige needs to official exist and hopefully with NEWS down to four they can get it to go along with Tegomass.

Q&A Month: Question 13

2011-12-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

Don't know about all of you but I'm in denial about Christmas being so close. I'm glad it is though because I have next week off and I'll probably using that time to spam away with my blogs, especially as I have end of year and beginning of year posts I want to do.

Today's question comes from Ani2: when the earthquake happened, it was said that there is going to be a charity single as well, but we haven´t heard anything of it anymore sadly. Do you think the charity single idea has been cancelled now ?

I think Johnny’s may have mentioned that they would think about the option of doing a charity single but never committed to one. I think the idea they would do one came more from people remembering J-Friends that was created for the last big earthquake Japan had. But I think in the end Johnny’s has decided instead on doing their Marching J project. In a way it makes sense to do it like this if just because trying to do something like J-Friends again would be near impossible as there are about twice as many groups around than there were in 1995 so scheduling would be near impossible.

And even then the J-Friends project began well after the earthquake and if Johnny’s wants to do another charity like that there is still plenty of time as it will take years before the affected areas are finished with reconstruction. Since J-Friends was only to help with funding the education of the children affected by the quake while in contrast Marching J is funding the reconstruction of the affected areas in a more general way in comparison.

Of course that doesn’t mean there won’t be some kind of charity CD at some point, but I think Johnny’s will probably be more likely to continue on doing what they have been for Marching J.

Interesting Times in Junior Land

2011-12-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

For anyone keeping an eye on the Juniors it's pretty clear things are changing up for them, especially the Tokyo Juniors. It was pretty much assumed that A.B.C-Z would fill the gap Kis-My-Ft2 left when they debuted but now with them debuting as well there really isn't a group to do so anymore. The only group that could really do so would be B.I.Shadow but of course with Sexy Zone's debut that group no longer exists. And going from the recent reports for the January Shounen Club taping as well as the latest magazines the other group that might have filled that slot, Hip Hop Jump, is no longer a group. Of course there is still Mis Snow Man, but Johnny's seems rather insistent on keeping them as back dancers and Question?, who seem to be around to either be a support band or perform with Uchi Hiroki.

This of course makes for a perfect set up for new groups to be formed. But until the newly debuted groups stop dominating Shounen Club, which probably won't be for a few months yet, we probably won't see too many getting formed for now. Perhaps we'll get a group to be the back dancers for Hey! Say! JUMP's upcoming winter concerts but I don't see much else being done and just a lot of shuffling of Juniors around as Johnny's let the debuted groups stay in that spotlight as they continue to promote the units that have releases to sell. I think though we'll finally start seeing Kisumai show up less on SC when their concerts start up as it would just be too hard for them to do such an extensive national tour and an overseas tour. Of course it'll be interesting to see if they'll have a new Junior unit for back dancers for at least the larger venues or will just use the older back dancer units like M.A.D., M.A.D.E. or even Mis Snow Man. Of course they could also have a group of group-less Juniors but we shall wait and see about that. And who knows how long it'll take for SZ and A.B.C-Z to stop being regulars on SC.

I think it's clear that Juniors like Kyomoto Taiga and Tanaka Juri are benefiting quite a bit from the recent changes. These two have been getting quite a bit of screen time and are probably likely candidates for a possible new group, especially with Juri considering Hip Hop Jump was probably put together in the first place for him. But I think with a new group he should go further. I think Juniors like Matsumura Hokuto and Morimoto Shintaro will probably do well to be in a new group, seeing as their futures seem a bit uncertain at the moment but seeing as they are getting placed with Kyomoto and Juri for performances and photo shoots I think they're not in too much trouble yet when it comes to be eventually shoved into the back ground. Plus they have their ages on their side unlike older Juniors who probably have less of a chance unless they manage to get the lucky breaks Kisumai and A.B.C-Z managed to get, but that will mean being in a group.

Two Juniors I think that people should be keeping an eye on would be Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki. While they are probably two of the "older" Juniors with how they've been pushed recently, with being regulars on a national TV program and the fact they are more often seen without their group, Mis Snow Man, than with them I think shows clear signs that Johnny's has plans for them. I would not be surprised at all if they are put with another group eventually and Mis Snow Man is left as a five member group. Which rather sucks for Mis Snow Man as they don't seem like they're gotten much of a chance to really showcase themselves as a group, but at least the movie they did, Hot Snow, is getting a DVD/BD release so fans will have something to hold onto and show their support for the group with.

I have the feeling Inoue Mizuki might end up being the chibi Junior that will become the next golden boy now that Morimoto Shintaro has grown too old for the role. I do admit I'm mainly basing this off the fact he had a role in Kimura Takuya's current drama as it makes me think of Nakajima Yuto in Kimutaku's drama, Engine, when he was just a chibi Junior himself. But considering the star power of SMAP and the fact he's also a part of the Junior segment of SMAPxSMAP, he's in the right spot to begin getting that kind of pushing from the agency as people outside of Junior fandom have more of a chance of knowing him than any of the other young Juniors. Of course it's probably still rather up in the air about this but I think the upcoming year we'll see one of the chibi Juniors get noticeably more attention than the rest and right now my bet is on Mizuki.

Of course it's not just the Tokyo Juniors getting a shake up. With the recent Christmas concerts for the Kansai Juniors comes reports that the non-headlining groups for the shows have had roster changes, probably the most noticeable being that Shadow WEST is now a duo with the current members being Mukai Koji and Kaneuchi Toma. There's a good run down over at the Kanjuu live journal community for those interested in that, as well as confirming some departures.

2012 is shaping up to be an interesting year for Juniors and their fans. It will probably be just as frustrating as it will be exciting as Johnny's shuffles groupings around trying to find good matches to go with whatever they have planned. But what is Junior fandom without some heartbreak?

Q&A Month: Question 12

2011-12-19T17:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, so quick semi-personal update. My internet connection at home is iffy right now but hopefully it'll be sorted out soon. I had actually caught with replying to comments early yesterday so if you left a comment sometime before about noon yesterday I should have reply for you.

And today's question comes from Natalie - SOme people argue that NYC ad B.I.Shadow are fully debuted but they don't have a section on the Johhny's site. What is your opinion?

I tend to follow what the official sites say. NYC and B.I.Shadow still appear under the Junior sections so it’s hard to say they are fully debuted, as in a unit that is meant to stay around for the long term, and until Sexy Zone gets their own section I’m a bit iffy on them though I think they will eventually get one. And since B.I. Shadow is currently no more it’s difficult to try to say they are a debuted group.

NYC is a strange one because it has two members who aren’t Juniors anymore and they have released more than one single. I personally see them more as the group that’s supposed to be the vehicle to lead to Nakayama Yuma’s eventual debut that will actually take him out of Junior status. Something that seems to be what Johnny’s is thinking as well with the new NYC release also being promoted as a double A-side with a Yuma solo song.

Honestly since we are just fans it’s hard to tell what management at Johnny’s & Associates are thinking and how they count their groups but I think within the next few months some of these things will be cleared up, except for NYC as that group just seems intent on being the odd one out until they figure out what to do with Yuma.

Cartoon? KAT-TUN!

2011-12-17T12:56:00.000-08:00

Members: Kamanashi Kazuya, Tanaka Koki, Taguchi Junnosuke, Ueda Tatsuya & Nakamaru Yuichi

Front row (left to right) Akanishi Jin & Kamenashi Kazuya
Back row (left to right) Tanaka Koki, Taguchi Junnosuke, Ueda Tatsuya & Nakamaru Yuichi

KAT-TUN started out as a six member Junior group with the current members and Akanishi Jin. They were put together as a group by Domoto Koichi of Kinki Kids in 2001 when he wanted a group of Juniors to be his back dancers for a program he was on at the time. Their group name comes from the first letter of their last names Kamenashi, Akanishi, Taguchi, Tanaka, Ueda and Nakamaru. Once the group was formed they also began to appear on the Shounen Club as regulars.

From the start the main leads of the group were Kamenashi Kazuya and Jin. As they tended to get featured a lot during their Junior days they became popular, especially once NEWS debuted and they were one of the few remaining Junior groups. They were able to hold their own solo concerts, which were even released on DVD, as a Junior group.The greatest factors in their rise though were two hit drama series, Nobuta no Produce which Kamenashi starred in and Gokusen 2 which starred both Kame and Jin. From these dramas the popularity of the Kame and Jin rose and in turn raised the popularity of the group.

Finally in March 2006 they got to debut. KAT-TUN debuted with not only a single but also an album and a DVD all released on the same day and debuting at number 1 across all three sales charts. They are the second artist able to dominate all three charts in release week. They were also given their own record label, J-One Records which is a sub-label of J-Storm, for their releases.

In October of that same year though Jin announced that he was going to go to the United States for study, marking his first departure from the group. Nothing was announced for him to leave the group which was left as uncertain at the time. The other five continued on during his absence until he came back after about six months and they decided to let him rejoin the group.

In early 2010 The group embarked on their first tour around Asia but it was announced that Jin would not be a part of them as he would be performing the U.S. during that time. After the tour and Jin’s U.S. concerts what fans had been fearing happened. Akanishi Jin announced he was officially leaving the group for good to go solo. With this the A of the group’s name was no longer to stand for Akanishi and instead the KA from then on were to stand for KAmenashi.

While the departure did hurt the group’s popularity, as Jin was one of the most popular members, they still remained one of the better selling groups for Johnny’s. And seem to be climbing back up in popularity as group members continue to get drama roles. 2011 overall has not been a good year for the group in general as while it marks their 5th anniversary since debut in the wake of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami almost all plans for the year for them to celebrate it have been put on hold or cancelled.

Kamenashi Kazuya is the youngest member of the group and is considered the leader. He is the lead vocalist of the group, which he shared with Jin when he was with the group. He is the member that is most active with dramas and tends to get the lead roles. He is one of the handful of Johnny’s that is a part of news broadcasts with him being a presenter for the sports news program, Going! Sports & News. He loves baseball and even played the sport until he had to give it up as his activities as a Junior took up too much time.

Taguchi Junnosuke is easy to spot in the group as he is easily the tallest member. He seems a rather odd fit for the group as he is naturally a goofy kind of person so he does not really have the same cool image the other member shave. He is the most acrobatic of the group though he rarely gets chances to show this off. He loves billiards and will even play in tournaments.

Tanaka Koki is the rapper of the group and like Sakurai Sho before him writes his own raps, which he does under the penname Joker. While he looks like a tough-guy he’s really a softie, enjoys to cook and knows how to sew. Or in other words completely fails to have any “cred” as a rapper in the Western sense of the word.

Looks are deceiving when it comes to Ueda Tatsuya. He may look the most effeminate but with hobby of boxing he is probably the last member you would want to mess with. He has been writing his own songs for his solo songs for years. He has had a solo concert under the name MOUSE PEACE that he still uses for his solo musical activities outside of KAT-TUN.

Nakamaru Yuichi is known for being the group’s beat boxer as well as being a big scaredy-cat. He gets teased a lot for being overlooked and of course for being scared of almost everything, the later leading him to be the one asked to do the more frightening things in the group, like bungee jumping at one of their concerts. He is also the group’s main MC from his talkative nature and is the one leading the talks at the group’s concerts.

(from left to right) Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Kamenashi Kazuya,
Ueda Tatsuya & Nakamaru Yuichi

TRIVIA: Kame’s first CD release was not with KAT-TUN but with Yamashita Tomohisa with the temporary duo Shuuji to Akira for the Nobuta no Produce drama that had the hit single Seishun no Amigo.

B’z guitarist, and Grammy Winner, Matsumoto Takahiro wrote the music for REAL FACE, the group’s debut song.

Koki’s younger brother Tanaka Juri is currently a Johnny’s Junior.

Next Entry > Jumping to Their Dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

Pink and Gray and Shige

2011-12-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

I've honestly been meaning to write this entry since the news first came out but kept putting it off. But this is definitely one news piece I want to discuss as it combines two of my favorite things, books and Kato Shigeaki.

The news has been out for a while, but Kato Shigeaki is going to have his first novel published next year and it is titled Pink to Gray. It is about two friends who both enter the entertainment industry, with one finding great success and the other very little.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I've always been an avid reader since I learned how and for those who check out my other journal, My-kei, know that I've tried by hand at writing novels by participating in National Novel Writing Month. Of course even though I've written enough for a novel I have yet to be happy enough with what I wrote to begin the rewriting stage for them, which they of course need. So I do admit about being a bit jealous of the fact that Shige was able to write his first novel and have it considered good enough to publish. Of course I'm sure he's done rewrites and everything else that comes with novel writing but still it's pretty amazing that he could get out the story he wanted to first time out instead of the trail and error other authors have faced.

I do feel like I get what kind of dedication it must have taken to write the novel in such little time. With Nanowrimo the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in only 30 days so the fact that he wrote his in about two months and had to spend up to twelve hours in front of a computer to do so is something I can relate to. And I know that it really shows how little he had to do during that time, especially if he did rewrites.

I am really interested in the story. Even though Shige has commented that it is not autobiographical one of the main rules of thumb for authors is to write what you know so I'm sure the novel is still colored by his experiences in the entertainment industry. And the title is rather telling seeing as the colors for the main leads of idol groups tend to be either red or pink and of course gray is the kind of color you would only expect something like an unknown back dancer to wear.

Of course while I will be buying the novel I won't be able to actually read it. Of course it's my goal to one day be good enough with Japanese to be able to read something like this, but for right now it's just not happening. But I still want to support him and wish him well with this endeavor.

Oricon 2011 charts (Johnny's only)

2011-12-15T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well Oricon wrapped up the 2011 sales year at the end of last week and some numbers are out for the CD single and album charts. So like previous years I'll be sharing the list of the Johnny's CDs on them.

SINGLES

*6 *,625,935 Lotus / 嵐 11/02/23
*7 *,614,131 迷宮ラブソング / 嵐 11/11/02
10 *,441,680 Everybody Go / Kis-My-Ft2 11/08/10
15 *,297,781 OVER / Hey! Say! JUMP / 11/06/29
19 *,257,932 T.W.L/イエローパンジーストリート / 関ジャニ∞ 11/04/20
21 *,254,171 Magic Power / Hey! Say! JUMP / 11/09/21
23 *,241,630 Eternal / 赤西仁 11/03/02
30 *,211,908 Sexy Zone / Sexy Zone 11/11/16
31 *,210,749 ULTIMATE WHEELS / KAT-TUN 11/02/02
32 *,209,871 BIRTH / KAT-TUN 11/11/30
36 *,190,942 マイホーム / 関ジャニ∞ 11/05/11
38 *,188,555 ｢ありがとう｣～世界のどこにいても～ / Hey! Say! JUMP 10/12/15
39 *,186,571 ツブサニコイ / 関ジャニ∞ 11/08/17
40 *,185,395 365日家族 / 関ジャニ∞ 11/06/08
43 *,179,296 RUN FOR YOU / KAT-TUN 11/08/03
45 *,174,332 WHITE / KAT-TUN 11/05/18
47 *,171,068 Time / KinKi Kids 11/06/15
48 *,151,056 ユメタマゴ / NYC 11/03/09
68 *,111,523 縁を結いて / 堂本剛 11/04/06
70 *,108,282 青いベンチ / テゴマス 11/02/16
83 *,*89,498 はだかんぼー / 山下智久 11/01/19
86 *,*88,964 Nijiの詩 / 堂本剛 11/09/07
94 *,*82,792 Sexy. Honey. Bunny！/タカラノイシ / V6 11/08/24

ALBUMS

*1 *,907,589 Beautiful World / 嵐 11/07/06
*9 *,413,943 SMAP AID / SMAP 11/08/17
21 *,286,537 FIGHT / 関ジャニ∞ 11/11/16
32 *,206,915 A.N.JELL WITH TBS系連続ドラマ｢美男ですね｣MUSIC COLLECTION / A.N.JELL 11/10/05
38 *,175,759 K album / KinKi Kids 11/11/09
47 *,135,404 SUPERGOOD, SUPERBAD / 山下智久 11/01/26
55 *,108,602 TEST DRIVE featuring JASON DERULO / JIN AKANISHI 11/12/07
83 *,*75,697 テゴマスのまほう / テゴマス 11/10/19
94 *,*70,909 僕の見ている風景 / 嵐 10/08/04

Q&A Month: Question 11

2011-12-15T16:59:00.000-08:00

Have to say I'm feeling pretty proud that I'm already on the double digits now with answering these questions.

I actually want to write a post that goes more in depth about the topic it touches on, but until then here's pretty much the start of it thanks to question Missnowz? had: I want to ask your opinion on the current status of Matsumura Hokuto. I have heard that B.I.Shadow is still a junior group however that was only from one source. So, if B.I.Shadow is no longer together, where do you think Matsumura Hokuto fits in within the juniors?

I think right now he will be one of the floaters, like Kyomoto Taiga or Casey Anderson, so he’ll perform regularly but not with a group for at least a while. But I think from the fact that he is still a regular on Shounen Club and one that actually sings in performances are positive signs for him. Just with the debuts a lot of attention are going to the newly debuted groups and not so much on Juniors.

It usually takes a while for Johnny’s to start putting together new Junior groups, but with A.B.C-Z’s upcoming debut I’m sure once that happens we’ll be seeing new groups formed around that time or perhaps even sooner as Hip Hop Jump seems to be gone now as they are no longer introduced as a group on Shounen Club and the latest magazines don't have the members together as a group. With that the only Tokyo groups left would be Question? and Mis Snow Man but from how Johnny's has treated those groups I think it's clear they're going to be creating new groups instead of having them in the spotlight.

COUNTDOWN TO NEWS: Masuda Takahisa

2011-12-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

Masuda Takahisa (増田貴久)

Birthdate: 4 July 1986

Junior History: He joined the agency in 1998 and was mostly a back dancer and appeared in the usual magazines with other Juniors. He got his first break when he got a role in the 3-nen 3-gumi Kinpachi-sensei series with fellow Junior Kato Shigeaki in 2001. He had another drama role in 2003 and finally sang on Shounen Club that year, a duet with fellow Junior Tegoshi Yuya, instead of just being a back dancer as he had been before.

Group History: Shortly after NEWS debuted Johnny’s created a new Junior group Kis-My-Ft and needed a Junior who had a last name beginning with M and could roller skate. Not being able to find one they had Massu join the group, even though he had debuted. This did not last long though as NEWS became too active and Kis-My-Ft eventually went through a member change to become Kis-My-Ft2.

As he and Tegoshi were the only members not in a group when NEWS debuted the two were often paired together. When the group was on suspension during 2006 the two were made into a duo called Tegomass and debuted not only in Japan but in Sweden as well. Since then he has done activities as both a member of NEWS and Tegomass as the duo lasted post-hiatus.

He is one of the members that does not do a lot of acting but he easily makes up for it with being one of the stronger singers of the group.

Random Facts: Massu is good friends with KAT-TUN’s Nakamaru Yuichi.

He was a member of TU→YU, a fictional boy band that had the lead actor of the Kinpachi-sensei series as well as some of the Johnny’s who had all been in the drama over the years, for a series of commercials and even released a digital song with the group.

Personal Opinion: I simply love Massu. There’s just something about him that always makes me want to smile, which perhaps is just the easy going smile he usually has. And I personally love that you don’t expect someone who looks so cute as he does to be so talented, or so buff. I think the fact that he has some nice muscles has to be one of the greatest secrets about him, even though you can see him working out in backstage clips with his baby face it’s rather misleading.

His fashion sense is definitely something that stands out and I love how he really doesn’t seem to care if others may think it is strange. Of course coupling that with the fact that he seems rather insistent of having his hair styled a certain way and not deviating from it, except once when he had to for a drama role but even then grew it back to be styled in the same way as before, really gives him the impression that he’s more about looking like he likes than trying to fit somebody else’s standards. I cannot help but admire that about him.

And while it has taken a bit to get used to his singing voice I’ve come to love it. I’m really glad that he got a chance to really shine with Tegomass and with NEWS done to four members I’m sure he’ll be able to shine even more as a singer.

Q&A Month: Question 10

2011-12-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, it looks like I'm pretty much on track for keeping up on blog posts, minus replying to comments, for now. Tomorrow will be Massu's turn for the Countdown to NEWS project I'm doing and I'll be making sure to get another question answered. Also I know my Kis-My-Ft2 single is on the way, so whenever that comes in I'll do a review post for it and sometime soon I want to do a Shounen Club post as there seems to be some interesting things going on with the Juniors.

Today is the final question from Chris: - you blog about Johnnys in general but do you have a topfavourite group or JE singer?

I’m one of those people who rarely have a single favorite but I do have a few groups and members that are at the top of my love pile. For groups; NEWS and Hey! Say! JUMP are there with TOKIO and Kis-My-Ft2 not far behind.

Then for favorite individuals I think the list more or less goes like this: Kato Shigeaki, Nagase Tomoya (the only Johnny’s I legitimately have a crush on), Takaki Yuya, Okamoto Keito, Nakayama Yuma and Senga Kento. Of course there are plenty of others that I could list but these are the ones that I know I favor a bit more than them.

Q&A Month: Question 9

2011-12-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

As promised here is another answer for one of the many questions left over from last month. I do want to thank everyone who left one, I really appreciate it and I hope to do this again next November, though hopefully I'll be able to answer more of them in that month.

Also I am slowly getting around to responding to people. Hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to catch up again.

Today's question comes from Natalie: - Since sexy Zone and Kisumai debuted so closely do you think that Sexy Zone promotions will effect who well Kisumai does?

Well as could be seen Kis-My-Ft2 ended up having to help Sexy Zone out so I don’t think that should have been the worry a lot of Kisumai fans had. Kisumai have proven to easily be the more popular of the two and I almost feel like Kisumai’s delayed debut actually hurt SZ’s debut a bit.

I have the feeling if someone had a poll in Japan about the recent Johnny’s debut they would answer about Kisumai’s debut and not SZ’s. I mean Kisumai had a large fan base ready and waiting for them, coupled with a drama that was at least popular for the audience it was targeting to tie-in to and quite a bit put into their debut promotion because Johnny’s knew they would sell well. SZ on the other hand was a group of mostly unknown Juniors with the FIVB tournament for a tie-in and while they had a god deal of promotion it wasn’t on the same level as Kisumai because Johnny’s couldn’t tell how well they would sell. And with the two so close with their debuts it’s easy for Kisumai to outshine SZ as they are debuting after achieving so much beforehand while SZ is having to start from near scratch.

Then there’s the fact that the range of fans each group is aiming for is a bit different. Kisumai is older and attract and older audience than SZ that is set up to attract a younger audience. There may be some cross over but probably not enough to create any issues with someone having to pick one over the other kind of thing.

A.B.C-Z to debut , thoughts & speculation

2011-12-11T19:04:00.001-08:00

Of course one of the topics I've been hoping to get the chance to write about is the announcement of A.B.C-Z's debut next year. At the recent press conference for their upcoming stage show they made the announcement and mentioned that instead of debuting with a CD they will debut with a DVD. They cited that they feel that it was important for people to see them perform and they got the okay from Johnny Kitagawa. They will be the first Johnny's group to debut with a DVD and the release is scheduled for February 4th, 2012.

Yahoo! Japan News article. (Japanese)

Honestly I've been of the mind that there was no way A.B.C-Z would not debut once the announcement was made months ago. So while I'm not surprised at the announcement I am surprised that it will be so soon. Yet seeing as they aren't doing the traditional debut I think it'll work out fine for them. If anything they shouldn't have to worry as much about competition as the groups that have CD debuts.

One thing I'm glad to see is that at least Johnny forgot about the whole adding members thing. From the kind of group they seem to be set up to be keeping the group as it is should be just fine.

I can only assume this DVD though will be something like a DVD single, which is basically a DVD with a PV, sometimes some live performance footage, that gets released by some artists from time to time. The big draw of course being that the DVD is not much more expensive than a CD single. Or I guess you can think of it as buying the bonus DVD on a limited edition of a CD single but without the CD. But I can't see them releasing something like a full concert or musical on DVD for this as I'm sure Johnny's still wants strong sales from it and those are expensive.

I can't help but think that this debut is a way for Johnny's to get back to their roots in a way. The first Johnny's group began with musicals after all and it was one of the big mainstays of the early Johnny's were their strong ties to musicals. In fact even with the current Johnny's groups you can see the musical influence with how theatrical their concerts can be, and of course the fact that you can find group members being on stage as well as on screens easily. But it's been sometime there has been a group directly tied to musicals, I think Shounentai were probably the last and even now they've cut back on musical work when they let PLAYZONE pass on to other groups.

I think A.B.C-Z and musicals are a perfect fit. It's where their strengths lie and while I still find it hard to imagine them as recording artists I have no trouble with seeing them as being stars of stage productions. And I really have it stuck in my head that they will be the next Shounentai, it just seems really fitting to me. Not to mention that it would be great if they were just as successful.

It'll be interesting to see how this debut will go as it's rather unprecedented but with the release date in less than two months I'm sure we'll be getting a lot of news about it in the next few weeks.

Q&A Month: Question 8

2011-12-11T14:32:00.001-08:00

First off I'm sorry for falling behind again with responses. I've just begun a new job so I'm trying to get used to the schedule but I made sure to set things up with at least the rest of these Q&A questions that I should have one to post every day until they are done to avoid any days without a post. Of course there are plenty of things I want to write about in recent news, and some becoming not so recent, and I'm hoping to find time for those real soon so I can catch up. But for those waiting for answers still they should be up in the next couple of weeks, I have at least made sure to begin to answer every question but of course some will need longer answers than others.

Now for today's question, from Hasshi-Z about A.B.C-Z: do you really believe they´ll get a CD debut next year?

I feel really bad about not answering this sooner with the recent news for the group. But well I guess even if a DVD debut has been confirmed that is different than a CD debut. I think it will depend on when in 2012 they plan on debuting the group. If it’s sometime in the first half I am sure that they will get a CD debut, if it is late in 2012 they may not, but either way they are well on their way for a CD debut with the recent announcement for a major debut.

Either way things are getting more and more definite for A.B.C-Z and I think they’re proving to be a group that Johnny’s can have faith in to be able to sell. Of course how well is up to the fans and the promotion they will get, but I feel that they won’t have to worry about handshake events, especially if their DVD debut is with a DVD single which should be cheap enough for people to afford multiple copies of. But for that kind of information we are once again stuck having to wait and see.

Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞

2011-12-10T16:42:00.001-08:00

Members: Shibutani Subaru, Yokoyama Yu, Maruyama Ryuhei, Yasuda Shota, Murakami Shingo, Nishikido Ryo & Ohkura Tadayoshi

Top four (L to R): Yokoyama Yu, Nishikido Ryo, Shibutani Subaru & Yasuda Shota
Bottom four (L to R): Ohkura Tadayoshi, Uchi Hiroki, Maruyama Ryuhei, Murakami Shingo

Kanjani∞ (the ∞ is pronounced 'eito' as it's supposed to stand for 8 and since ∞ is hard to type the 8 can be used in place of it) is known for their Osaka roots, which means comedy as the most popular Japanese comedians come out of Osaka for the most part. All members were Kansai Juniors and their debut single was originally only released in the Kansai (Western Japan where the city of Osaka is located) area. And while Kinki Kids was the first group to debut with only Kansai members Kanjani8 is known as THE Kansai group for Johnny's.

The name of the group comes from two parts. The first, Kanjani, is actually a short version of Kansai Johnny‘s while the 8 comes from the Kansai TV station the group had a variety program on before their debut. Originally they were a seven member group but seeing as they had the 8 in their name they added another member to give them eight to complete the group.

The group was put together with the 3 Ossans and the Junior group V. West as well as popular Kansai Junior Nishikido Ryo. The group was not seen as official until they performed the play Another, which was a hit, and it was then Kanjani8 was considered to have truly become a group even though Ohkura Tadayoshi was added soon after.

They held their first concert in December of 2002, where they began their infamous Kanjani Sentai Eight Ranger skits. In 2003 Ryo and Uchi Hiroki joined the group NEWS for that group’s debut but they still remained active with Kanjani8. In August of 2004 the two debuted for the second time when Kanjani8 had their debut with the song Naniwa Iroha Bushi, which was released only in the Kansai region. The song was considered pop-enka and debuted on the enka chart at number one and when it was later released nationwide debuted at number one on both the enka and general charts.They did not get the usual national exposure though other Johnny’s groups got though.

Even with a good debut single the group suffered from that lack of national exposure and then in 2005 they were hit with a scandal when Uchi Hiroki was caught by police being drunk under aged. Because of his scandal Uchi was taken out of the group but as no other member of this group was caught in a scandal they did not have the hiatus that NEWS had when they had another member caught in an underage drinking scandal soon after.

As they shared two members with NEWS the group had to wait for when Ryo and Uchi were not busy with NEWS to do things with K8. Though because NEWS would perform with only six members they could work around this for the most part at first and then when NEWS had their year long suspension it was not an issue as Ryo was still able to be active with K8. When NEWS came back as a six member group they no longer had the leeway for Ryo to balance out the two groups that left whichever group he was not active with inactive.Near the end of 2011 Ryo announced he would be leaving NEWS because he felt being a member of two groups was becoming too much of a problem for both groups. Since then he is now only a member of Kanjani8 and the issue of scheduling for the two groups has been solved.

But during that year that NEWS was suspended K8 was able to pick up some steam that continued once NEWS came back and they had to go back to sharing Ryo with them. But as things stand now K8 is one of the most popular current Johnny’s groups and have several programs they are regulars on, as either a group or individual members, and more members have had the chance to get roles in dramas.

A couple of things that also set Kanjani8 apart from other Johnny’s groups are their popular skits at concerts, especially the Kanjani Ranger skits, as well as the fact that they also have their members double as a band, with each member, except Yokoyama, having an assigned instrument to play for their band songs.

While the group’s sound at first was pop-enka it has changed over the years to a pop-rock sound, especially once the group began to play as a band. This change was helped by the group switching from Teichiku Records main label to their sub-label Imperal Records as the main label is for enka artists while the Imperal Records sub-label is open to other genres.

Shibutani Subaru is one of the oldest members of the group and tends to have the lead vocals in their songs. He’s known as having the strongest vocals of the group and plays the guitar for when the group does a band song. He also writes a lot of lyrics, something he has done since his Junior days. He does projects with sub-units from time to time and even has a band with Junior band FiVe called Five Flat Flowers he performs concerts with from time to time. His ranger color is red, which for sentai series indicates that he is the leader.

Yokoyama Yu is the oldest member of the group and he’s one of the rare Johnny’s that has a stage name, as he was told that his real name was too difficult to read. In 2010 his mother passed away during a run of solo concerts he was performing at the time. He was rather close to her and when he went to her funeral all the other members of the group went with him. His instrument for their band songs are the bongos, most likely because even he will admit he's not good with instruments, he’s not much of a vocalist either which he also freely admits to. His ranger color is black.

Murakami Shingo, who is known by his nickname Hina, is the third older member of the group that make up the 3 Ossans. He gets his nickname for the fact that when he first joined as a Junior the other Juniors thought he looked like an actress named Hina. He tends to be the MC for the group.In the past couple of years he has been more and more drama roles. His ranger color is purple.

Yasuda Shota is considered the creative one and the one that can do anything. He has written a few songs for the group and stands out from the group with his fashion sense, or lack thereof depending on how you want to look at it. He typically colors his hair blond so he is easy to spot in the group. He is one of the guitarists in the K8 band songs. His ranger color is blue.

Maruyama Ryuhei ended up auditioning twice to join the agency as while he passed his first audition, and even had a magazine shot that day, his paperwork was misplaced so his parents had him audition again, where Johnny Kitagawa recognized him and the error made with his paperwork was discovered. He usually does the “rap” parts in K8 songs. He is the bassist of the group for band songs and his ranger color is orange.

Famous for his poison-tongue Nishikido Ryo for a time was a member of not only Kanjani8 but also of the group NEWS. Because he was in the two groups he has had a lot of exposure and is one of the most popular members of K8. He also has been in dramas, mostly as a co-star, and has gained popularity from that as well. He plays guitar and his ranger color is yellow.

Ohkura Tadayoshi was the last member to join the group and is the youngest. He was originally meant to be in V. West but did not want to join the group because he wanted to keep dancing. He did end up joining V. West anyway when it lost two of its members and he had to fill in as the drummer of the group. He is also the drummer for Kanjani8 for their band songs. He is one of the popular members from his drama roles and has even starred in. His ranger color is green.

From left to right: Murakami Shingo, Ohkura Tadayoshi, Nishikido Ryo,
Maruyama Ryuhei, Shibutani Subaru, Yasuda Shota & Yokoyama Yu

TRIVIA: V. West stood for FiVe West, as they were supposed to be the Kansai version of the Tokyo Junior group, FiVe.

Kanjani8 was the first pop group to perform in all 47 prefectures of Japan.

Kanjani8 have their own manga series which is currently called Ookiini Kanjani8.

Next Entry > Cartoon? KAT-TUN!

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

COUNTDOWN TO NEWS: Koyama Keiichiro

2011-12-07T18:10:00.001-08:00

Koyama Keiichiro (小山慶一郎)

Birthdate: 1 May 1984

Junior History: He joined the agency in January of 2001 and was originally in the Junior group B.A.D. before it became a Kansai Junior group. He was then but in a Junior group called B.B.D. before being selected to join J-Support near the end of 2001.

Eventually the name of J-Support was changed to K.K.Kity, with the first letter of the last names of all the members used in the name with Koyama being one of the Ks. This was the Junior group he was in until he was selected to debut with fellow K.K.Kity members, Kato Shigeaki and Kusano Hironori in NEWS in 2003.

Group History: In the early years of the group he was almost always paired off with his fellow K.K.Kity members, Shige and Kusano. After the group went down to six members he still was mainly paired off with Shige and they even created an unofficial unit together, Koyashige.

As he was naturally a talkative person and most of the rest of the group was on the quiet side he quickly became the main MC of the group at concerts for when they had their MC breaks. And it was from this skill that he gained a good deal of his recognition with the group.

His MC skills were used outside of group activities as he was host of the Junior programs, Ya-Ya-Yah and The Shounen Club (from 2006 to 2010), the latter he did with KAT-TUN’s Nakamaru Yuichi. He has a weekly radio program that he hosts called Kchan NEWS that is still airing. He also currently is a news reporter for the program news every and covers special interest pieces on the show.

After Yamashita Tomohisa left the group and his title of group leader, Koyama has become the new leader of NEWS.

Random Facts: He has a pet cat called Nyanta and has set up play dates with Shige’s imaginary cat, Wagahai. (Don’t ask.)

In 2007 he graduated from Meiji University with a degree in Asian History.

His family runs a ramen restaurant which is popular for NEWS fans to go to in Tokyo.

Personal Opinion: I feel Koyama is one of the most overlooked members of NEWS. He may not have much that stands out but I feel he really is one of the main forces keeping the group together. And his fan nickname, Koyamama, is a pretty good fit for him.

There’s no doubt that he loves the group and it’s no surprise that he’s the one the term member-ai comes from. If there is a member bending over backwards for the group it is Koyama and he happily does so. He also comes off as the one who has the most faith in the group which makes him a perfect fit to be the group’s leader.

I find it rather endearing that his family always seems so close, as he is quite the doting uncle for his nephew. He seems to have a good relationship with his family and when he talks about any of them you can just feel the love he has for them.

I find it just so hard not to like him. He really seems to be a genuinely good guy. He may not have the looks or voice but he has enough heart to easily fill the void of all the members the group has lost. And he’s the one member I feel nothing but confidence in for being the one taking care of the group, even if the other groups members tend to walk all over him. But I’m sure there would be nobody else they would be able to view as leader than him now.

Dwango yearly charts

2011-12-06T20:10:00.001-08:00

As the year nears its end the sales charts in Japan come to a close. Among them is dwango, one of the digital stores that sells music and video for cell phones. Here are the categories that Johnny's placed in for their charts:

<dwango.jp (Uta)> Chaku-uta 2011 Yearly Ranking

01. “Lotus” – Arashi
02. “Everybody Go” – Kis-My-Ft2
03. “Meikyu Love Song” – Arashi
04. “Aoi Bench” – Tegomass
07. “Promise” – A.N.JELL
08. “Miss You” – A.N.JELL
10. “Mada Minu Sekai e” – Arashi

<dwango.jp (Full)> Chaku-uta Full 2011 Yearly Ranking

01. “Everybody Go” – Kiss-My-Ft2

<dwango.jp (Full)> Artist 2011 Yearly Ranking

06. NEWS
08. Kis-My-Ft2

<dwango Movie / TV / KPOP> Chaku-uta Full 2011 Yearly Ranking

01. “Aikawarazu” – A.N.JELL
02. “Yakusoku” – A.N.JELL

Tokyohive article. (English)

Just o point out that most Johnny's do not release songs digitally, or at least not full songs. It looks like Kisumai may be the exception to the rule but even if they are they seem to be sticking as dwango only.

I can only assume that NEWS charted because Johnny's released some of their older songs on dwango and that's what gave them a boost and why the placed in a full category.

Mabo teaches about future careers

2011-12-06T14:49:00.001-08:00

The winter drama Johnny's domination continues as it has been announced that Masuoka Masahiro will be starring in a drama on TV Asahi that will start in January. The name of the drama is 13-sai no Hello Work which is based off a children's book that introduces careers to children. Mabo will play a police officer that ends up going back in time to meet his 13 year old self. He then gets his younger self try out other careers.

Yokoyama Yu will be in the drama as well as a Tokyo University graduate that looks up to Mabo's character.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I'm actually rather excited about this drama. One of my favorite J-dramas is Yasuko to Kenji which also had a Mabo and K∞ combo and also was about as light hearted as this one will be so I have the feeling unless they make it boring I'll probably like it. Especially since I like Yokoyama Yu and of course Mabo.

I do hope we get a new TOKIO single at least. Though I would much prefer a new TOKIO album, I'll take what I get.

Q&A Month: Question 7

2011-12-05T19:29:00.001-08:00

As I promised I will be answering questions from last's months Q&A month this month until I have them all answered. And I'm aiming to have everything answered by the end of the month so hopefully those who left me questions will not have to wait much longer for their answers.

Today's question comes from Kess: 1. What is status of FiVe? As far as I know, they're not debuted, but they rarely seem to do back-up anymore. Yet, they are also doing their own shows overseas...

Honestly I don't know too much about FiVe, other that they are a Junior band and with Question? do back up for concerts. I don't follow them enough to tell if they really have dropped the amount of back up that they do. A part just might be that people overlook them when giving concert reports and fail to say if any members were there or not. That and because the share a member with Question? they're not always completely together. I remember one concert I went to only the drummer was present as the live back up for it.

As for the solo concerts, well if you look at the venues they play at they're usually some of the smaller ones. And I think for them and Question? there's a history with Juniors that are back up playing in venues, it's said the first Johnny's Juniors played in cafes so these shows that the groups do could be a part of that legacy. And of course the most important thing is that the shows do well enough to turn a profit or Johnny's wouldn't do them in the first place.

And perhaps another thing to keep in mind is that while Johnny's & Associates is a talent agency it is also a Japanese company and goes by some of the same standards and norms of any Japanese company. One of the big things for most Japanese companies is the hierarchy by seniority in a company, based not on age but rather when someone joins the company. FiVe have all been a part of Johnny's for a long time, I don't think there's a member of the group that hasn't been in the agency for 10+ years, so they're going to be treated well as reward for being around for so long and as a band it makes sense that the reward would be something like that. In contrast if you look at Juniors that have been with the agency a long time, such as Kazama Shunsuke, he still gets a decent amount of acting roles for a Junior and a part of that is because even though he has not debuted he's stuck with the agency so the agency will make sure they find work for him from time to time.

I'm not sure if any of that helped actually answer the question but that would be my guess. That the concerts are more or less the group's reward for being with the agency for so long and since they are profitable Johnny's has no problem with continuing with them as they don't always need a backing band for concerts.

Yamada Ryosuke gets historical

2011-12-04T23:13:00.001-08:00

It has been announced that Yamada Ryosuke will be starring in a New Year's historical drama special that will air on TBS on January 2nd. The special is called Shinshun Rekishi Special Shirarezaru no Bakumatsu no Shishi Yamada Akiyoshi Monogatari and stars Yamada as a young soldier for the Meiji government who fought in the Bakumatsu clashes during the period of Japanese history where the Shogunate rule ended as the Meiji period began. Kiriyama Akito of B.A.D. also has a role in the special.

Filming was done back in October.

Yamada Akiyoshi Monogatari OHP (Japanese)

It looks like Johnny's is going to make use of the fact that Yamada is 18 now and can be scheduled for more work. I can see him doing much more when he graduates from high school in March and have the feeling that this SP and the weekly drama he's been announced for may not be the last we see of him in dramas for 2012.

I'm also really happy to see Akito get another drama role for something outside of the Kansai area. He seems to be the "acting" Kansai Junior so it's nice to see him get a break like this.

And I admit I'm kinda interested in this one. I don't know too much about the Bakumatsu period outside of mentions of it in the Rurouni Kenshin manga as it's set in the early years of Meiji. I did watch the historical drama Byakkotai, which starred Yamashita Tomohisa and Tanaka Koki but I watched it for the small role Fujigaya Taisuke had, and liked it so I'll probably try to give this a shot if I can find it.

Sexy Zone to be 2012 Harukou Volleyball Supporters

2011-12-04T18:52:00.001-08:00

While things seem to be quieting down for Sexy Zone for those wondering about the future of the group they are now at least assured to be around in 2012. It has been announced the group will be the special supporters for the Harukou (Spring high school) volleyball tournament, like the FIVB debut group before them Hey! Say! JUMP. Unlike HSJ though they will not be getting a new song for the event and will be using the B-side to their debut single, With You, as their support song for it.

Daily Sports article. (Japanese)

SZ is becoming an odd group for Johnny's in the fact they seem like they should be a debuted group yet there are some signs, like not having their own section on Johnny's net or even getting photos released when their single debuted, that they are still be considered as Juniors. But if they aren't a debut group then the members themselves don't seem to know as in the articles for this announcement Sato Shori is quoted saying he wants the group to do concerts and continue to do so for the next couple of years and newly created Junior groups usually talk about having concerts in newspapers.

It also seems a bit weird for them not to get a new song for Harukou but I'm actually not too worried about that. Even though HSJ got one, Chance to Change, it only ended up as a B-side for their second single, Dreams Come True which was only on the regular edition of that single. So having a B-side as a support song technically isn't new. But I think I preferred having something new as it helps build anticipation for an upcoming single, but maybe Johnny's wants to bring up the overall sales numbers for SZ's debut single instead.

Probably the most frustrating thing is that if SZ will get a second single it won't be until May, maybe April, until the do if they follow the same release schedule Arashi, NEWS and HSJ had. I believe there is another volleyball tournament around that time as I know the A-sides are all volleyball support songs as well but I can't remember which one it is. But that seems to be a long time to get something like this settled so hopefully Johnny's finishes promoting the group to debuted status soon on their official sites if that's what they're supposed to be.

NEWS on the brain.

2011-12-03T14:58:00.001-08:00

So I was thinking of just putting these things on a Q&A answer post but figured it would be better to make a separate post instead.

First off, I've finally got around to catching up with replying to comments, so if you've been waiting for a reply it is there now. Unless you've left one recently in one of the older posts in my journal as Blogger doesn't inform me of those, so if you're still waiting for one for that just give me a poke.

And as the title of this post tells you I'm in a very NEWS state of mind. I guess because it's less than a month away from Johnny's Countdown and what will most likely be the first chance for me to see the new NEWS together performing. And in a way it makes perfect sense that will be the concert and venue for it seeing as the last time NEWS came back from a hiatus it was at a JCD.

There's also a rumor going around that NEWS will be releasing their first single in this new formation mid-January. And on Koyama Keiichiro's radio program, Kchan NEWS, he announced there would be a big announcement made on it next week. It's pure speculation that the two are connected but I want to believe so badly it will be a new CD announcement. Since then they can perform their first song as a four member group at JCD, truly setting them up for a brand new start in 2012.

But as I'm more certain about them performing on JCD I've decided to do a special project for the month of December in anticipation of the group's return. Every Wednesday this month I will post an entry focusing on each member of the group, which will include basic information as well as my personal opinion about them. And of course in the spirit of Johnny's I picked Wednesday because it's the only day of the week you can spell NEWS with. Because really, without odd themes and naming conventions what is Johnny's? I'm calling the project Countdown to NEWS and this Wednesday I'll be kicking things off with newly appointed leader Koyama Keiichiro.

North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS

2011-12-03T10:29:00.001-08:00

Members: Tegoshi Yuya, Masuda Takahisa, Koyama Keiichiro & Kato Shigeaki

From left to right: Moriuchi Takahiro, Kusano Hironori, Kato Shigeaki,
Koyama Keiichiro, Yamashita Tomohisa, Uchi Hiroki, Nishikido Ryo,
Masuda Takahisa & Tegoshi Yuya

NEWS is the next in line for the FIVB unit debuts and have had the worst luck with keeping members. Their debut single though is contested as the group members were originally told the unit would be temporary and their first single (released in 2003), NEWS Nippon, was only sold at 7-11 stores for a limited time. So their second single, Kibou ~Yell~ (released in 2004) is often considered their debut single as not only was it released in CD stores but also between the two singles one of the original group members, Moriuchi Takahiro, left the agency which gave them an eight member line-up instead of the original nine members.

Johnny’s seemed to be trying out a few new things with this group, as even though the group was eight members many times only six of the eight would perform concerts in the early years, especially once Kanjani8 debuted near the end of 2004, as the two groups shared two members between them, Nishikido Ryo and Uchi Hiroki. NEWS was also the largest group they had ever debuted only to have one other Johnny's group, Hey! Say! JUMP, be larger since.

In 2005 Uchi ended up being pulled out of the group when a scandal for underage drinking, as well as disorderly conduct for allegedly peeing on a car in his drunken state, broke out. For a brief time the group was only seven members before a new scandal broke out about Kusano underage drinking. Kusano was taken out of the group and Johnny’s decided that the whole group should be punished this time as well and placed them under hiatus.

During the hiatus Yamashita Tomohisa released a solo single and Tegoshi Yuya and Masuda Takahisa got to form a duo, Tegomass, and release what would be their first single, debuting not only in Japan but Sweden as well. Since then both Yamapi and Tegomass have continued activities during times the group was not active. Ryo just continued on with his other group Kanjani8 while Koyama Keiichiro and Kato Shigeaki did very little during that time.

But after about a year the hiatus was finally ended and NEWS returned as a six member group at the 2006-2007 Johnny’s Countdown concert. Since then they went back and forth from being active and being inactive as Ryo continued to be active with the group and K8.

After a couple of years of little to none group activities or releases, around 2010-2011, the group finally announced that Yamapi and Ryo were leaving the group and NEWS would continue on as a four member unit. Koyama has taken up the position of leader for the group that Yamapi had and it is expected that the four member line-up will begin activities and putting out releases together in 2012.

Koyama Keiichiro is the oldest member of NEWS, even back when it had nine members. He is the most talkative of the group and naturally leads the MCs for the group. He graduated from university with a degree in history. He and Shige were in the same Junior group together, J-Support which was later renamed K.K.Kity, and have been friends since. After Yamapi left he was elected to be leader, if mainly because the others realized that it meant he would have to treat them to meals when they went out together as a group. He is also a newscaster, doing personal pieces, and hosts a weekly radio program.

Masuda Takahisa is more commonly known by his nickname, Massu. Even though he has a baby face he is really into working out, which might be because he’s also into eating. He almost always has a smile on his face and is generally a positive person. He’s known as one of the better dancers and singers of the group. He is also the one that has the most "interesting" choices in his sense of fashion.

Kato Shigeaki is known as being the smart one of the group as he has a degree in law. He is the weakest dancer and singer of the group, he’s usually the one given any “rap” lines a song has. His main hobby is photography, which he even has his own dark room in his place for, and some of his photos can be seen in the idol magazines that feature short essays he writes for them. He has been getting more and more acting roles of late. He is the first Johnny's to release a novel as his debut novel Pink to Grey will be published in January, 2012.

Tegoshi Yuya was a fresh Junior that almost no one knew when the group debuted. In fact he had one duet with Massu on Shounen Club the month before NEWS' formation was announced. He is one of the stronger singers of the group. His drawing skills are quite horrendous and can be found on much of the Tegomass concert goods. He loves soccer, especially playing it, which he does when he has the free time. He is a student at Waseda University and is majoring in psychology.

From left to right: Koyama Keiichiro, Tegoshi Yuya, Masuda Takahisa & Kato Shigeaki

TRIVIA: A couple of months before the debut of NEWS members of K.K.Kity with some of the younger Juniors were singing variations of NEWS' debut song and what would later be a B-side on NEWS' Kibou ~Yell~ single, Stand Up!

The song Private Hearts that was a B-side on their NEWS Nippon single was a K.K.Kity song that had been written for them by Kinki Kids member Domoto Koichi who played a part in forming the group.

After NEWS debuted Massu was asked to be a part of a Junior group, Kis-My-Ft, to be the ‘M’ of the group and also more importantly because he already knew how to roller skate.

After quitting Johnny’s Moriuchi Takahiro formed the rock band One OK Rock, where he’s the lead vocalist and has been rising in popularity in recent years.

Next Entry > Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞

Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest

It's movie time!

2011-12-02T07:54:00.001-08:00

First off I'd like to apologize for falling so behind on leaving replies of late. I will do so, please be patient. Also expect for me to be making multiple entries in a day for the next few days as I play catch up with news and of course answer more questions, as there ended up being quite a bit left over from last month's Q&A month. Now onto some recent news.

Katori Shingo will star in a movie that will be released next year in June. It is called LOVE: Masao-kun ga Iku!. The film is based off a true life story of a comedian and his unlikely friendship with the dog he had to work with for a variety program.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Kokubun Tachi will also be starring in a movie but it won't be released until 2013. It is based off a semi-autobiographical novel that was written by author Hirotada Ototake. It covers an account of a man who was born without arms and legs and his time as a teacher at an elementary school. Kokubun will play the role of his friend that helps him become a teacher and the film will be be from his perspective. Ototake will be making his acting debut with this film. The title of the film will be Daijoubu 3 Gumi, after the name of the novel.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Kis-My-Ft2 - We never give up! PV review

2011-11-29T12:25:00.001-08:00

Was thinking of waiting to do this near the end of the week but my rage will not wait that long.

I was okay with the 3/4 break down of the group for their debut single as I figured as a newly debuted group they needed to make sure people could at least recognize one member of the group and with the Ikemen Desu ka tie-in it made a lot of sense to have Fujigaya Taisuke and Tamamori Yuta as centers, and of course Kitayama Hirosuke has always been one of the lead vocalists with Fujigaya so he had to be in front as well. I wasn't too happy about how much the other four blended in the the back dancers when they had them but decided to just suck it up as this was just the start. Now that we're on the second single I would still would be okay with things at the Everybody Go level of things but if this PV is any indication of what it will be like then my tolerance of this is at its end.

It seems someone in management or perhaps just the director for the PV thinks that the group is Ki-Ft featuring s-My2 and not Kis-My-Ft2. Senga Kento, Miyata Toshiya, Yokoo Wataru and Nikaido Takashi all don't have a single close up shot in the entire PV which is 5 minutes and 34 seconds long. I mean heaven forbid they use four of those seconds to give these members a head shot when they could of course be giving Ki-Ft a minute long scene of just about nothing but that.

I still don't mind Ki-Ft being the centers of the group. Kisumai is one of those groups that I can honestly say that I like all the members just about equally. And I can't blame them for doing what management or a director has asked them to as that's pretty much part of their job but I'm a fan of a group called Kis-My-Ft2 not this Ki-Ft featuring s-My2 that they're pushing too hard for. And it's even more frustrating for me personally because I've been a fan of big groups with favorites that aren't the popular members and when I can watch any of the early Hey! Say! JUMP PVs and still get the feeling Okamoto Keito is a member of the group and then turn around and question if s-My2 are supposed to be a part of their group then I find that beyond depressing.

I ended up skipping on pre-ordering anything more than the RE version of this single because of budget reasons but I'm glad I did as I just might have cancelled my order to re-do it without that LE version. I don't want to own this PV on DVD. And until Kisumai starts getting PVs that don't treat s-My2 as glorified back dancers I refuse to buy anything but the RE versions of their releases, as with Avex that tends to be the only version with bonus B-sides anyway. I mean if I wanted a group where only a few members sing and the rest back dance I would be an EXILE fan, and hell even there the back dancers get solo shots and they have fourteen members. SMFH.

That all aside there are a few things I liked about the PV and I'll touch upon those with the screen caps.

Somebody took a wrong turn somewhere.

So PV begins in a someplace in the snow. One wonders by the buildings are meant to be Greek, but the landscape looks more Arctic and then you have the building the group is in that doesn't really fit the image all that much. I guess if anything the PV starts as confused as people might be about how many members Kisumai has from watching it.

Bowties are cool.

Kitayama kicks the song off with his solo lines and we see the group in a grey building/set, wearing grey. Subtle, is it not? And hello s-My2, I see they don't even bother to ever have in focus during this.

Even Tama doesn't look happy being in this PV.

And honestly I find Tamamori's scene here a little creepy. Since he does not have a strong singing voice, I believe the only solo line he has in the song is with his voice distorted, he's singing with Fujigaya and Kitayama but he's the sole focus for those lines so it looks really off, as if all the voices are meant to be coming from him or something.

Let the sunshine in!

And finally we get some color. And the color they picked for s-My2 to be wearing is kinda ugly. Except somehow Yokoo got away with a purple shirt instead of maroon and it's not as bad. Of course why they could be at least looking like they're wearing street clothes as well as Ki-Ft baffles me as it wouldn't have taken much and the divide wouldn't seem so jarring as it does.

Shh, he's thinking.

Then we're dragged back to grey, snow and more Ki-Ft featuring s-My2. I do like Fujigaya's hair like this and hope he keeps it for a bit more, just hope he doesn't keep this style as long as he did his old one. I also hope he stops trying so hard to be sexy. It comes off more comical to me than anything else and he's definitely one of those guys that don't need to try that hard.

I don't know why you keep getting shafted either.

While we don't get s-My2 solo shots we do get some group shots of them. I wonder if they thought that since they had these scenes they didn't need solo shots of them. I guess they forgot to run this past anyone who's a fan of the group, because really they don't.

Trying to balance the weight of his head with his hair like that.

And Kitayama just can't pull off sexy to me. I blame the nose as when I see guys with noses like that I just think cute as it makes them look much younger than they are. Which I guess why in his mid-twenties he's still playing high school student characters. But this scene of trying to look fierce and sexy made me laugh as he looked neither to me.

If it were the next finger over they would expressing my feelings
about this Ki-Ft featuring s-My2 formation.

The choreography for the song does stick out to me as it really seems like they made sure to match the moves with the lyrics which leads to some interesting looking hand gestures, and pointing. Lots of pointing.

Fujigaya has the perfect expression for this PV here.

And then we have about a minute of Ki-Ft walking in the snow without any of s-My2 anywhere in the scenes. As you can see with this screen cap they do a split screen and seeing how they do it even when the others have lines to sing they could have easily added the other four into it and finally given them close up shots at least.

How many people walk in snow with their sleeves rolled up?

See, instead of a solo shot we could be seeing Fujigaya in the center with two of the other members looking serious on either side. It's such a simply thing but would have made me like this PV so much more with it.

Burn this PV! Burn it with FIRE!

Okay, and one of the things I do like about the PV are the transitions using the flare. It's a little thing but it gives the viewer a good idea that there's going to be a scene change and with the eventually melting of the snow it even works if you see it as a ray of sun that Kisumai bring with their song and dance.

These are our war faces.

And this scene I like as it's one of the few that makes me feel like they are one group. Even though Ki-Ft are still in the front s-My2 still manage to look like they are with them and not just there to solely support them.

Johnny's chiropractors.

This is one of the more interesting dance moves I've seen in a while. I do like how its another thing that shows that they are one group by having Fujigaya be the odd man out. And I'm interested to see if they do this on any of the lives they do for the song.

Somehow I'm not surprised we don't see them land...

And we get the roller skates, because it can't be a Kisumai PV without them. I don't mind the roller skates personally as I've had about four years to get used to them and I find that the moves they can do in them usually has them changing up the formation to let those in the back get more chances to move up if just for a short while before moving to the back.

Senga looking cool for the second you can really see him.

And this is my great highlight of the PV as Senga actually gets a somewhat decent shot as he isn't behind anyone. There needed to be more of this in the PV as well and again it would have been a quick and simple to do so.

Kis-My-Ft2, bringers of Spring.

And with the roller skates comes color, sunshine and flowers. Because this is a Johnny's PV and it needs something corny like that.

Who needs global warming when you have Kisumai?

The CG looks to be rather cheap, which is probably a really good thing that it isn't used much. Of course one still has no idea where in the world they are supposed to be as we still get random Roman ruins but oh well. I long gave up on Johnny's PVs making sense.

It's honestly an okay PV if I look at it without my fan rage. But with my fan rage I find it hard to watch even with the few things I like about it. If Johnny's and Avex want more of my money they need to fix the Ki-Ft featuring s-My2 thing. I don't mind the 3/4 split but they need to just lessen the gap between them or I'm not going to be a happy Kis-My-Ft2 fan.

Q&A Month: Question 6

2011-11-28T09:12:00.001-08:00

Well it definitely looks like I'll be answering these questions well into next month. I don't think I expected to write so much about Sexy Zone or for there to be so many announcements this month. I'm thinking of trying to get through a few of them in the next couple of days because it has been a while since I answered the last, but we'll just see how that goes. If you want to get a question in there is still time as I will stop taking them once December begins, just leave them in this post.

Today's question come from Ani2, and it's a bit of long one but honestly one I've been wondering about myself as well: I heard that next year in May , JE will have their 50th anniversary.
I wonder if there will be some big event or party to celebrate it?
I don´t know if there was something like that for the 40th anniversary, but since 50 years is quite a number , I wonder if JE is planning something? Maybe concerts or so??

I can't say I know for sure but I would be surprised if Johnny's does nothing. If anything this year's Countdown concert will most likely have a special medley to celebrate it, because fifty is a big number to hit. Whether or not they do anything more than that, outside of maybe special medleys for the Juniors to perform on Shounen Club, I have no clue.

That's one of those things that I'm sure only Johnny's management knows but I have the feeling that if A.B.C-Z debut this year as planned it may get played up with their debut announcement for being the group debuting fifty years after Johnny's first group or something.

Sato Shori begins his conquest of Japan

2011-11-27T16:33:00.001-08:00

It has been announced that Sato Shori will be making his drama debut this winter season by having a supporting role in the drama Hungry! This drama has Japanese actor Mukai Osamu and has SMAP member Inagaki Goro also in a supporting role.

If I'm reading the information right in the article he will have the role of the younger brother of the heroine of the drama.

Sanspo article. (Japanese)

Can't say I'm surprised at the news as I'm sure Johnny's has been planning this for some time so they can make the rest of Japan see what a star in the making he is. This should also be helpful for Sexy Zone in general as his popularity grows, especially considering Johnny's is insisting he's the center of the group. Of course this probably won't make a huge impact but it's a start and if the drama is a popular one it could be a really good start for him. So I wish the kid luck and if I have the time I may check this drama out myself as it sounds like it'll be a fun one.

The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa

2011-11-26T11:45:00.001-08:00

Members: Takizawa Hideaki & Imai Tsubasa

(left to right) Imai Tsubasa & Takizawa Hideaki

To understand how Tackey & Tsubasa came about it helps to understand their place in Junior history. They were a part of what is known as the Golden Age of Juniors and Takizawa Hideaki was considered the leader of the Juniors, a title that pretty ended with his debut as no other Junior had the kind of unifying presence he did. Tackey and Tsubasa as well as the members of Arashi and the older members of Kanjani8 were a part of this era. And a lot of what Junior fans take for granted, like Junior concerts, were started during this time.

Both Tackey and Imai Tsubasa joined the agency at the same audition in 1995 but while Tsubasa went off to do the usual Junior activities of the time Tackey got a drama role which helped lead to his early popularity. The two were often placed together for performances though and while they initially did not get along well eventually they became friends.

After noting their popularity, especially after it rose after Arashi debuted, Johnny Kitagawa commented that he wanted them to debut when they turned twenty, but it was not clear if he meant together as a duo or as two soloists. They were actually originally meant to debut as two solo artists but Tackey was able to get permission to ask their fans to organize a letter campaign to ask Johnny’s to let the two debut as a duo instead. This was the only time such a campaign has worked and considering how the two have such a poor sales record it will most likely be the last. But in any case it stands as testament at just how popular Tackey was as a Junior.

Instead of debuting with a single the duo had an album debut, titled Hatachi (the Japanese word for 20 years old) in 2002. They have had a spotty record when it comes to producing hit singles and tend to be one of Johnny’s lowest selling artists but now and then produce a hit like their popular song, Venus. Around 2009 each released solo material, which lead to fans fearing they would break up, but after about a year or so of that came back to releasing music as a duo again.

Tackey & Tsubasa are one of the rare Johnny’s groups that do not have their own variety show to host as a group. But they are both very active with musicals. Tackey nowadays has two musicals that he does, usually with many of the Juniors, one for the New Year in January Takizawa Kakumei and usually then another one he does later in the year Takizawa Kabuki. In the past couple of years Tsubasa has taken over being the lead in the annual PLAYZONE musical which runs during the summer.

Hideaki Takizawa is usually known by his nickname, Tackey. Because of his drama work when he was a Junior he quickly became popular but it was more his natural charisma that earned him his title of leader of the Juniors. Unfortunately the popularity did not seem to cross over after his debut though he still stars in dramas from time to time. He does still remain active with the Juniors, his recent project with them being TakiCHANnel, an online website that updates new videos of the Juniors weekly and sometimes also feature Tackey with them. He also dabbles in directing from time to time for mainly music videos.

Imai Tsubasa may not have the same star quality as Tackey but still manages to shine with what he loves, dancing. He is considered to be one of the Dancing Kings of Johnny’s. He also loves Spain and even hosts a program about learning Spanish and takes trips to visit the country when he has the time, saying that he goes to study dance there. He used to co-star in Domoto Koichi’s annual musical SHOCK but in recent has moved on to star in his own musicals, the most recent of course being PLAYZONE.

(from left to right) Takizawa Hideaki & Imai Tsubasa

TRIVIA: Yamashita Tomohisa used to call the two mom and dad.

During his time as a Junior he and Kanjani8’s Shibutani Subaru were considered rivals and were nicknamed Tackey of the East and Subaru of the West.

Tackey was actually very active with the Shounen Club program when it first began in 1999, and even directed an introduction clip that was aired with it for a couple of years.

Next Entry > North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS

Yamada stars in a new drama with a mother-complex

2011-11-24T15:41:00.001-08:00

I guess I made my post for the day too early as I missed being able to include this news in it.

The rumored drama that Yamada Ryosuke has been attached to has now been confirmed. He will be in a drama on NTV called Risou no Musuko. His co-star Suzuki Kyoka will play the mother of his character who is a single mother that has raised him, Yamada's character, Daichi, has a bit of a mother-complex and keeps rejecting any potential suitors for her and when she gets a job at a all boys-school, with a reputation for having troublemakers, transfers to that school to protect her.

Fujigaya Taisuke and Nakajima Yuto will also be in the drama as students at the school.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I'm so excited for this drama. I like all the Johnny's in it and being a high school comedy series it sounds like the kind of drama that I will enjoy. And this means almost half of HSJ will now have a drama role in the winter season, and that's assuming that the rest of the dramas that haven't been announced or had their casts fully announced won't have a member in it.

What also has me excited is that with that kind of cast I think there's a good chance for HSJ to be doing the theme song for it. Though with the NYC single releasing in the first week of January it will probably be released last week of January or sometime in February but I think that's perfectly okay as long as it exists. But as Nakayama Yuma seems to be carrying most of the promotion for the new NYC single and HSJ have such a short winter concert tour I don't think it would be too hard to fit in a new HSJ single so soon. And now I can't help but wonder if they will if it will be announced at the winter concerts.

I'm also glad to see a Kis-My-Ft2 member get a drama role this season as well. I've been wondering how much longer after Ikemen Desu Ne a member would get a new drama role and this answers that question. And while it's not a lead role it will hopefully be prominent for Fujigaya and perhaps he can eventually soon move on to be the lead in a drama series.

Two Johnny's, Two Dramas & Two Supporting Roles

2011-11-24T13:18:00.001-08:00

As we get closer to the start of the new drama season there have been some new announcements for the supporting cast of a couple of dramas that have already had their official announcement to confirm them.

First off SMAP's Inagaki Goro will be joining the cast of the drama Hungry!, a drama starring popular Japanese actor Mukai Osamu that will be airing on Fuji TV. He will be playing a villain character named Tokio, who owns a restaurant.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Then Hey! Say! JUMP's Chinen Yuri will be joining the supporting cast of Yamashita Tomohisa's upcoming drama in the role of the younger brother of Yamapi's character. The drama will air on TBS starting on January 12th and is called Saikou no Jinsei no Owarikata ~Ending Planner~.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I have to confess I'm excited about Chinen getting a drama role. Honestly his acting has never impressed me, but I am glad to see that HSJ seems to be more active in general than they usually are with both him and Daiki in dramas this winter season. Hopefully this is a sign that members will be getting pushed when it comes to dramas from now on as I think the group is finally really hitting their stride and getting drama roles that get them out in the public eye will help them make the most of that.

Kanjuu rising?

2011-11-23T09:32:00.001-08:00

Two new pieces of news for the Kansai Juniors, first off they will be having New Year's concerts in Osaka as well as the Christmas ones. The concerts are scheduled for January 2nd and 3rd at Osaka-Jo Hall. No mention of which Kanjuu will be participating but I'm sure it'll be a general Kanjuu concert so it should be the usual groups.

Next up, and probably the more interesting bit of news, is that for the second round of the FIVB tournament the current special supporters, Sato Shori, Nakajima Kento and Kikuchi Fuma will be joined by some Kanjuu. The ones listed to be there as special supporters are Kiriyama Akito, Nakama Junta, Shigeoka Daiki & Kamiyama Tomohiro. They will join the members of Sexy Zone on November 25th.

I'm personally really happy about both bits of news. I've been noticing that recently Kanjuu have been more and more active, especially in regards to coming to Tokyo for activities or at least leaving Osaka. The only reason I can think of is that Johnny's just might be preparing for a new Kansai group debut, though that is my speculation. But without a doubt in the past year alone there has been more of of a Kanjuu presence outside of Osaka and the Kansai region.

You can see this starting with the Tozai Uta Gassen concerts/TV special from last year where members of B.A.D. and 7WEST were brought to Tokyo to be a part of it. Then in the spring they had a semi-national tour that took them to cities such as, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Nagoya, among others. Then instead of having Kansai and Tokyo Juniors do their own productions of Shounentachi like last year some of the Kansai Juniors were brought to Tokyo for that run of the musical to star alongside A.B.C-Z. Also they had a Shounen Club special request episode this year, something only the recently debuted Kis-My-Ft2 also had. And now there are going to be Kanjuu on national TV with members of SZ. This is a big step for Kanjuu, especially the ones a part of this, though if you look at it they are also mainly the usual Kanjuu that have been a part of all these activities outside of Osaka. Which is another reason I think this could be Johnny's preparing for a Kansai group debut.

Another reason is simply because Kanjani8 will be leaving the idol magazines very soon. The older members have hit 30 this year which signals this should be the last year they will be featured as a group in these magazines in keeping with the usual tradition. And when they go there will no longer be a Kansai based group, outside of the Kanjuu, in the magazines. I think this is significant because if you remember last year Arashi stopped being featured in the magazines and now we have a new debuted group with the same amount of members and getting a lot of comparisons to them with SZ. So I would not be surprised that in about a year, I would guess sometime in 2013 if Johnny's will be debuting A.B.C-Z in 2012, we get a new Kansai group to be fashioned in the same way as K8 as their current success has proven that it's a good formula and Johnny's may want to see if they can get it to work again. Especially if this time around they won't have the issue of shared members like K8 did.

Plus it would probably help keep Kanjuu from quitting if they believe there is a chance to actually debut as outside of Nakayama Yuma there hasn't been a lot of hope as Tokyo Junior group after Tokyo Junior group has debuted, and even then despite his debuts Yuma is still considered a Junior.

I can only hope I'm right, because if the Kanjuu being promoted now will be the ones debuting I know that it will be a group that I will support 100%.

Nakayama Yuma and the other two release a new single

2011-11-22T08:34:00.001-08:00

If there's any doubt that NYC is anything but a vehicle to promote Nakayama Yuma than this new single just announced can help dispell that. The single is a double A-side, the first A-side being a new NYC song, Wonderful Cupid, and the second being a solo song for Nakayama Yuma, Garasu no Mahou. For Yuma fans the song should be familiar as it's his solo song from PLAYZONE'11 and was even released digitally prior to this. The song though is getting a new arrangement for this single release though.

Like the previous NYC releases there will be two versions of the release, an LE that will come with a CD jacket sized calendar and an RE that will come with a bonus track, an NYC song titled Jungle Life. Both versions come with a ticket for a handshake event. They are also up for pre-order at the usual places and more information can be found at Johnny's net, though in Japanese only.

I think this release tips things in NYC's favor for having another Kohaku performance this year as anyone familiar with the release pattern of releases over the New Year holidays knows that CDs usually get put out for sale much earlier than their street date so it will be great promotion for the single for them to perform the song on the program. Especially with Hey! Say! JUMP having concerts starting from January 2nd so they wouldn't really have time to do the usual TV promotions for the single.

As a Yuma fan I'm really happy that he's getting promoted like this. I think it's a sign that Johnny's has not given up on him yet and we can expect him to eventually go somewhere in the future, whether it's to yet another group debut or perhaps even as a soloist. I would personally would love it if he got to debut with 7WEST as he gets along with the group so well and there needs to be more Kansai Juniors debuting.

I also find it interesting that Johnny's plans to do more handshake events. I guess it may be because the week they're releasing tends to have sales combined from the previous week as Oricon takes a break for the holidays so they want to make sure NYC still does well as they don't sell as high other Johnny's groups, though I'm not sure if they expect them to do well enough to compete with Akanishi Jin's second solo single being released in that previous week but we shall see.

I do hope that now that the NYC single will be done for 2012 so early on it means we can get a late winter/early spring release from HSJ. They will be hitting their 5th anniversary in 2012 so it would be nice for the to release steadily in the coming year.

EDIT:

Thanks to a comment left by tam, I have discovered that Nakayama Yuma has his own page on the Johnny's Entertainment website. This I find quite interesting as I can't really think of a case where a Junior gets something like that. Of course I don't think it changes his status as a Junior though as the NYC single is still listed as a Junior release and he would be the only reason for it to be there. But I think Yuma still has an interesting future ahead of him and I can't wait to see where he goes next.

Let's Speculate ... SZ's rocky start

2011-11-21T16:54:00.001-08:00

Even though the numbers are out for the week, the Oricon chart starts on Mondays and ends on Sundays so most new releases only have six days of sales, and Sexy Zone has managed to debut with about 173K copies of their self titled debut single sold it was still a narrow victory. Their main competition, AKB48 sub-unit Not Yet, is reported to have sold about 172K with their single so it was still a close call between the two. And while I am happy that the single was #1 I think it's more a victory for Johnny's & Associates and their marketing department than for Sexy Zone.

It's hard to argue that the only reason SZ got their #1 was largely in part because of the handshake events on Saturday and Sunday which several Juniors, and for Sunday's members of the recently debuted Kis-My-Ft2, participated in. Without them backing the group up I don't think they would have gotten the numbers that they needed to beat Not Yet.

I am glad they got the #1 as it would be miserable for the boys to be the first Johnny's group in about a decade not to debut with a #1 single. But at the same time they did not get the #1 because they were able to attract new fans of their group, but instead had to rely on the fans of other groups, some not even debuted, to get it. So while this battle is over and won for them they still have a long way to go until they can stand on their own as a group.

I know there have been a lot of people worried about SZ's debut getting in the way of Kisumai's promotion or building popularity but in my opinion Kisumai's debut was one of the factors to why SZ's debut was rather weak. The two debuts are only a few months apart and Kisumai was a debut that grabbed a lot of attention as the group was already popular from their Junior activities and they had dramas to help them attract new fans. With all the fanfare and attention given to them and the fact that they did not slow things down much after their debut with getting added to variety programs and already lined up for another single with two tie-ins there's little doubt that they will be able to continue on with their success. How this affects SZ is that simply people probably weren't ready to switch attention to another new Johnny's group so soon. I think if Kisumai debuted when they were supposed to it may not have been such an issue but while the delay was understandable without being able to delay the SZ debut hurt the group gain attention, IMHO.

But as I said the debut timings is only one factor. Another is which Juniors were selected. I personally have nothing against any of the SZ members that debuted and think they work well together as a group so far but there are some things that they can't help that probably contributed to their debut being a bit rough. I think the older two though make a lot of sense for debuting and were good choices as they are two of the more popular Juniors coming from one of the most popular Junior groups. The younger three though have the weakness that they just weren't well known at all. Even though Sato Shori has been around for about a year he really didn't start standing out and grabbing attention until a few months ago. And the other two are both newer than him, even though Yo Marius joined about a year ago but until four months ago was in Germany from what he said in an interview, so they didn't have much time to attract much attention before the debut announcement. The reason groups like Kisumai do so well with sales and can have big debuts like they did was because they are Juniors that have been around a long time and have had time and opportunities to gain fans that of course are more than willing to support them when they debut. SZ's younger members lacked that so while there are plenty of people gaining interest in them now it may not be enough to support them by buying their CD yet.

I do think the fact they have not had an announcement for a debut concert yet is also a sign that Johnny's knows SZ isn't doing so well. I can't help but shake the feeling that the New Year concerts for Hey! Say! JUMP very well could have originally been planned to be SZ's debut concerts but Johnny's decided to give them to HSJ instead in case SZ would not be able to sell out the venues. Of course that's just complete speculation on my part but the complete lack of debut concerts makes me more nervous for this group than anything else as concerts are a big thing for any music artist and it really shows if a group has attained a certain level of popularity by what kind of venues they are given to perform in. It's part of why dome concerts are such big deals because you can't get much larger than that. It will be interesting to see where the debut concerts will be for SZ, though because all members are in school they will have to be planned around the school holidays much like HSJ's have been.

Of course I do have faith that eventually this group will begin to turn things around. The talent is there, it's just they need to get the right chances to show it off. Unfortunately wit how young the members are it will probably be some years for most of those opportunities to come to them for most of them. Having Nakajima Kento being part of the group can be a big plus if they make sure he keeps getting roles. While they may be pushing Sato Shori to be the center for the group Nakaken is more likely to be the more popular member as he's the one more likely to get drama roles, which are usually big factors on what members are more popular with the general public. At least they have a couple of variety programs to get them seen more and hopefully keep building the fan base that has been growing since their debut announcement.

I have also been of the opinion that not starting at the top isn't a terrible thing. Some of Johnny's top groups had rough starts but over time and with hard work were able to climb to the top, with SMAP and Arashi being two such groups. So hopefully SZ like them will fill driven to work hard and do their best with what they are given as they go and hopefully success will find them eventually.

But I can see that Johnny's may very well be quite serious about A.B.C-Z's debut next year. With the success of their solo concerts and the fact that Junior groups that debut do tend to be rather successful as they already have a good sized fan base prior to debut it would make sense they would want another safe bet like Kisumai to debut next. Though personally I'd rather have a Kansai Junior debut, like 7WEST, but unfortunately I'm not running Johnny's & Associates.

Jin makes a pit stop in Japan

2011-11-21T10:12:00.001-08:00

After being away for so long Akanishi Jin is making a return to Japan to release a new Japanese single and host a fan event. The single is called Seasons and will be released on December 28th. It will come in two versions, a RE that comes with a photo book and a LE that comes with a DVD with the PV and making of as well as four different covers, each one for each season.

With the single release he will be hosting a fan event for his Japanese fans at Yokohama Arena on January 7th. The fan event will include a listen to some of the tracks off his upcoming U.S. album, Q&A, live performance and a special surprise from Jin. There are plans to broadcast the event live in L.A.

Tokyohive article. (English)

I think this is a pretty good idea for Jin to do. He's been gone for long in Japan this will help make his Japanese fans not feel forgotten. Especially with a proper Japanese single attached to it. Of course it would be more helpful to his U.S. career to stay and promote his single before the album release but seeing as he's still much more popular in Japan than the U.S. this return also makes a lot of sense as well.

Arashi, Storming to the Top

2011-11-19T15:07:00.001-08:00

Members: Ohno Satoshi, Ninomiya Kazunari, Sakurai Sho, Aiba Misaki & Matsumoto Jun

Top row (left to right) Sakurai Sho & Ohno Satoshi
Bottom row (left to right) Ninomiya Kazunari, Matsumoto Jun & Aiba Misaki

Arashi was the second group to debut with the FIVB tournament and are easily the most successful as of now. Their name is simply the Japanese word for 'storm'. They debuted in 1999 and set the standard of being surprised with a debut announcement. The five were sent to Hawaii together and while there on a boat cruise told they were debuting as a group together and then had to hold a press conference about it.

Their debut single A. Ra. Shi debuted at number 1 and had good sales but following sales lacked in comparison for years, as they don't have an unbroken string of #1 singles since debut. In the years right before their tenth anniversary this began to change until they reached their peak during their tenth anniversary. Even though they have most likely peaked they still retain much of the popularity and good sales from their tenth anniversary year and are likely to keep that for years to come.

Since 2007 they have been breaking sales records with their singles and albums and in 2009 had the top selling single, album and DVD on the Oricon chart for the year. They still remain the top selling Johnny's group and one of the highest selling Japanese artists in Japan.

They have three variety programs all of them host together, VS Arashi, Himitsu no Arashi-chan and Arashi ni Shiyagare.

Ohno Satoshi is the oldest member of the group and gained the position of leader after a game of janken with the other group members for it. Of the group he is known for being the best vocalist and is usually the lead singer for their songs. He loves to fish and drawing, painting and sculpting and even held his own exhibition for his artwork.

Sakurai Sho is the only member to have gone and completed university and it was at the prestigious Keio University with a degree in Economics. His graduation has spurred other Johnny’s to also go to university so with most of the newer groups there’s at least one university student/graduate. He also does and writes all the raps in Arashi songs. While other groups have incorporated rap and raps into their songs Sho really popularized it and is often given as an inspiration for his kouhai to trying rap themselves. But while he excels with his brains his weakness is the physical and fails a lot on variety programs that have physical challenges or involve drawing. He is also the first Johnny’s to become a newscaster.

Aiba Masaki is the one in the group that almost always has a smile on his face. He is known for one of the variety programs he’s on, Tensai! Shimura Dobutsen, where he interacts with various animals. In 2002 he had to be hospitalized because of a collapsed lung but fully recovered though in 2011 he had a relapse and was hospitalized again but only for a short time as it was not as bad as the first time.

Ninomiya Kazunari is known for having been in a Hollywood film directed by famous actor/director Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima. He’s known for being stingy and playing video games in any free time that he has. He also likes to play pranks on people, especially his fellow group members.

Matsumoto Jun is one of the few Johnny’s that did not have to be called in to audition to be accepted into the agency, he was selected from his application alone. He starred in the Hana Yori Dango drama series and is probably best known for his role as Domyoji for it. He’s not a strong singer or dancer but he is in charge of planning the group’s concerts.

(from left to right) Matsumoto Jun, Ohno Satoshi, Aiba Misaki,
Ninomiya Kazunari & Sakurai Sho

TRIVIA: They were originally signed on the Pony Canyon music label but in 2001 were moved over to the agency owned music label J-Storm, which was created for them.

Next Entry > The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa

Some quick updates & some thoughts

2011-11-18T16:42:00.001-08:00

First off a couple of December releases have been announced. SMAP will be releasing a new single on December 21st, titled Boku no Hanbun. It will come in two editions with the LE coming with a DVD. The next is the first release for Yamashita Tomohisa since going solo, the concert DVD/BD for his Super Good, Super Bad tour. The DVDs will have two versions an LE with a bonus booklet and an RE. Like Johnny's other BD releases the BD will have everything the RE DVD has. This will also be released on December 21st.

Then the B-sides for Kis-My-Ft2's 2nd single have been announced. The first is Kis-My-Venus (Knowing how the word 'Venus' sounds in Japanese, as they have no 'v' and instead use a 'b' or 'p' sound, this song will bring a lot of unintentional humor. Just say the title out loud and replace the 'v' with a 'p' to see what I mean.) which will be used as the theme song for the variety program Moshimo Tours. The other B-side that is only on the RE version of the single is titled Love is you.

My hunch was right about Sexy Zone having another hand shake event this week, as one has been announced for this Saturday in Tokyo.

And it looks like I'm going to be wrong about my predictions for the first week sales numbers for SZ's debut single. It looks like it'll be more around the 150K mark but now they are only about 10K away from being able to surpass Not Yet for the number one, which they can do as Not Yet has been having larger sales drops and SZ should get a boost from the MSte performance this week and the hand shake event on Saturday. Hopefully that will be enough for them to get that #1 if just barely as then there are the numbers added on at the end of the week from the stores Oricon counts but only send their sales information in once a week instead of daily.

One thing that's crossed my mind about this debut is how it seems like it's a bit like the Junior Hey! Say! 7's one shot debut. While they are releasing a single with completely different tie-ins and SZ is set up to continue after this single unlike that version of HS7 I can't help but see some similarities between the two. One obvious one is the size, as both are five member groups. The other is that they both have two older members and three younger and both broke the record for youngest Johnny's group, though of course HS7 was for any group and SZ seems to be more for permanent groups.

Both groups had a member that was a chance the general public might recognize from drama work, Nakajima Yuto (HS7) and Nakajima Kento (SZ), as well as members only recently being pushed, Yamada Ryosuke and Chinen Yuri (HS7) and Sato Shori, Matsushima Sou and Yo Marius (SZ). With the other members being Juniors that were around for a while and were at least popular with Junior fans, Takaki Yuya and Arioka Daiki (HS7) and Kikuchi Fuma (SZ).

Another interesting this to note that the two releases have in common is that both ended up being against strong competition on the week of release. SZ has Not Yet while the original HS7 had Tohoshinki who were just finally hitting it off in Japan. HS7 was able to beat Tohoshinki in the end, in part because of hand shake events they did so I hope SZ will manage to do the same.

Seeing how the members of Junior HS7 have done in the past four years gives me a lot of hope for SZ. Let's just hope they don't run into the same troubles Hey! Say! JUMP did and release on a regular schedule without a thirteen month gap between singles and of course to remain major scandal free.

Speaking of HSJ, it looks like I was wrong about them not having a winter concert. Though considering they are doing so few shows and only performing in Tokyo and Osaka during the first week of January I think it can be taken as a sign that they won't be doing so much touring from now on. And this really just stems from the fact that there are only so many venues that they can perform at and those venues need to be used by other artists and in some cases sports teams so if SZ is to start touring it only makes sense to cut back a bit with HSJ to free those venues for them.

Though since there hasn't been a concert announcement made for SZ yet I'm thinking Johnny's wants to make sure the group can fill venues before setting them out to tour. So they'll either be performing in halls or only a couple of arena concerts first when they do and Johnny's is probably already hard at work lining up promotions and chances to get drama roles to work on expanding their fan base so they can move up to do bigger tours.

Sexy Zone - Sexy Zone PV review

2011-11-17T10:51:00.001-08:00

I guess taking up reading blogs for other idol groups has rubbed off on me as I've decided I'll give doing a PV review myself. And since Sexy Zone just happens to be the first group I actively follow to release one they get to be the first as I do a quick review of their PV. Of course I've already covered my thoughts about the song itself in several other posts about the group so I'll be skipping that and just focusing on the visuals.

So here goes my first PV review with Sexy Zone's debut PV for their debut song, Sexy Zone.

He's here for your soul.

Johnny's really is making no attempt to hide who they will be promoting most with this group.

Shori watch out! The pedos are coming for you!

This scene just creeps me out. I know it's probably just Sato Shori's hand/arm superimposed over his close up shot and is supposed to show them reaching for the sky and all that but it just comes off as creepy to me. Maybe because they did this so cheaply.

Screen Shot from Final Fantasy ∞

So we've gone from outer space (NEWS), to the futuristic cities with glass elevators (Hey! Say! JUMP) to random floating crystal island with giant disco ball in the sky now with Sexy Zone. I think the 2015 group should totally be riding dragons or have wings or something for their PV.

How epic would it be if the roses were the fire flowers from the Mario games?

One thing that needs to be dropped fast for this group, but probably won't, is singing into the roses as if they were mics. It just looks so awkward and the roses tend to cover the boys' faces, which is probably the bigger crime as they are pretty adorable.

Sitting on a cheap set like a boss.

And it's Nakajima Kento, my favorite of the group as it stands right now. I do like he has lead vocals between the older two as his tone is pleasant to me.

Mighty Morphin' Time!

And the costume change, which looks more like they decided to throw colored jackets over what they were wearing before. Heaven forbid Johnny's actually give a decent budget for any of these debut PVs. Though they seem to have messed up the colors for all the members outside of Shori and Kikuchi Fuma going from what colors they had associated with them from their debut performance costumes.

Roses, as tasty you would think.

As silly as the flower holding was the rose in the mouth does manage to top that. And this scene shows another thing I don't like about this PV, the white on white, or off-white. Everything just blends together and is a pain to look at. Color contrast is your friend.

Shori wants you! To buy this CD.

There's this glass room they are also in for the PV. I really have no idea what's going on with that. But I do kinda like this scene with it when they are all pointing in different directions, even though it's yet another way to show that Shori is the group's center as he's the one pointing straight at the viewer.

Yo Marius and Matsushima Sou, cuter than you.

I did find this part pretty cute with the two youngest getting their moment with their spoken line in the song.

A star on the rise.

And another Nakaken screenshot just because.

So glad he dropped trying to look "sexy" in this.

And Fuma, who may not get as much attention as leader Nakaken or center Shori but still manages to stand out if for the fact he's the only other member that sounds like he's gone through puberty. And it helps that his and Nakaken's voices sound pretty good together, which is probably partly because of singing together as the lead members of B.I. Shadow.

I wonder if they will have to give his lines to someone
else when his voice is breaking.

One of the nice things about this PV was that I was finally able to figure out which of the younger members had the solo lines and I was surprised to see that it was Matsushima Sou. I know that it was mentioned somewhere his skill was his voice but since I hadn't been able to tell he had those lines I wasn't sure how accurate it was. But it does look like the kid can sing and it'll be interesting to see if puberty will be kind to him and he'll sound as good after his voice drops.

Is it just me or does he kinda look like a mix of Matsumoto Jun and Imai Tsubasa?

Of course the real star of the PV is Shori. I would like to see more from him in the future but he just has the kind of appeal that makes you notice him even if he isn't shoved in your face like he is with this PV.

Marius, pedobait for many years to come.

I rather like these close up shots they all have at this part of the video. Though it doesn't save it from being rather boring as it mainly just switches back from close ups, dance shot and the glass cage, which is mainly dance shots.

Seriously, what were they thinking with the head spinning here?

The interlude is where we can see some of the back dancing Juniors bust out some moves but I really feel it should be SZ showing off their dance skills instead. And the break dancing/head spinning kid seems so out of place and he ends up blocking the view of SZ.

Yay for Nakaken/Fuma double center!

As my bias is towards the older two in this group I really liked it when they go to this group formation. Would like to see more of this in the future, though it will be interesting to see how the formation changes as they all grow as by the look of things Marius may end up being the tallest of the group seeing as he's about Sou's height even though he's two years younger.

So how are they supposed to get down from there? In fact
how did they all get up there in the first place?

And the final shot is really nothing great. It's just a better view of the floating island. I think I would have preferred it if they did another standard end shot of a group close up but honestly with how lackluster the video is I don't think it would matter too much.

To sum up, it's not the kind of video I want to watch a lot. Even though there are some things I like they aren't enough to counter the things I don't like or how boring it is. Perhaps I've gotten used to PVs with some plot that these kinds of PVs that are just scenes slapped together don't do much for me. But I don't think it's much worse than the other Volleyball debut PVs I'm familiar with, NEWS and HSJ's that have a lot of the same issues as this one does. If anything this should make their next PV easy to be a step above this so I'll be looking forward to that.

Then in some news for the group today the got the #1 spot on the Oricon charts if by a few hundred copies. But that does bode well for them. Also they will be doing two hand shaking events now in December, the original Christmas day one in Tokyo and now one on December 23rd in Osaka.

A surprise in the mail.

2011-11-16T16:09:00.001-08:00

Well it looks like I was wrong about how long it would take my CDJapan order to reach me as it came in today. So I can say I got my order on the day of release. I took a couple quick pictures with my phone, so they aren't the best quality but everything should be clear enough.

Sexy Zone poster, CDs (LE D & RE) and Kanjani8 Fight album RE

I only took a closer photo of the RE version of the single as it was easy to get most of it in one photo. I got the special tickets for the handshake event in December in both CDs, but alas, I won't be able to go as I just can't afford to travel to Japan right now. And I got the card for Yo Marius, which I scanned for the Marius fans out there.

Sexy Zone - Sexy Zone RE 1st press goodies

Yo Marius card front

Here's a quick run down about my impressions of the tracks:
Sexy Zone - Still not a fan of the song, it's okay but I really wish they had something more fun sounding for their debut track.
With You - I liked the song since they began performing it on Shounen Club months ago and still enjoy it. I love the beat that drives it and the change ups in the track.
I see the light ~Bokutachi no Suteejii~ - A nice slow song with a gospel choir singing back up in parts. It sounds pleasant overall and the English sung sounds like English and not Engrish. It has a winter ballad feel to it and a bit of a retro sound like NYC's ballads.
Knock! Knock!! Knock!!! - This is my favorite song of the whole single. It's really fun and catchy. I'm really curious who has the English speaking bits in this song as it's very good English. In fact outside of the group's name the pronunciation of English in this song is good.

Yo Marius card back

Overall I think the singles are worth it for the B-sides, they are all songs I'll be listening to for a good while to come. And even though the first day sales are a bit lower than expected I still believe it possible for the single to at least do about 200K for the first week as there is still a lot of week left for promotions so it's going to depend on the sales numbers for the rest of the week if they'll manage to get that #1 single with their debut. I think it'll really depend on how much Johnny's wants them to get that #1.

And even if they miss it personally I would not feel too bad. The current most popular groups, SMAP, Arashi and Kanjani8 all went through a period of lackluster sales before they hit it off and I think it's partly because not always being on top really made them feel like they needed to work harder which allowed them to approve and eventually get that hard work noticed and rewarded.

And then the other part of my order, Kanjani8's new album FIGHT, which I got the RE for because it comes with more songs than the LEs. I love the pack of "baseball" trading cards included. As someone who used to collect trading cards when I was younger it was rather nostalgic opening the pack up. I do have to wonder what the person was thinking when they chose clothes for them for the booklet photos as it looks like they're all dressed like Yasuda Shota dresses like normally.

Kanjani8 - FIGHT album RE w/baseball cards

A quick run down for the tracks for this:
Monjyai Beat - Such a fun and energetic opening track. It's the kind of song that makes you forget that this group is made up of men from 30-26 as it could easily be a song given to any of the much younger Johnny's groups.
Uchuu ni Itta Lion - From the moment the song started I just knew I was going to love this track and I did. One of the stand out tracks for me on the album.
Fight for the Eight - Another fun track and I will say that I just love the current rockish sound this group has moved to. And I love how it sounds a bit like a surfer rock song right before it kicks off a more big band sound.
T.W.L. - Okay I admit I didn't really bother to listen to the singles for this album but honestly I'm kinda glad I didn't as this song fits so well with the rest
Fly High - Love how it starts off with an electronic beat before joining then giving way to the instruments in this song. And then the kick back to that beat is a nice switch back to make the song sound really fun and fresh. I think I kinda wanna marry this song.
365 Nichi Kazoku - And we get the first ballad of the album, which seems oddly placed after Fly High. But honestly I don't care, I love this song and how after bouncy around to the songs before it it's nice to relax to.
Dye D? - They change things up with this song and go more pop and it's dance-ish but with a nice driving beat. Like how they distort some of the lines, it really helps give the creepy feeling it has going with it. The instrumental break is very much horror ride inspired. I think it's interesting that they go for this kind of thriller sound for a song with lyrics like "I just can not tell how to love you. /But I know that I need you now. So trust me." Looking at the booklet Yasuda Shota wrote the song and I think I now understand why my K8 fan friend was so excited for this song, it's good.
Water Drop - This sounds like a song any Johnny's group could do, especially KAT-TUN or NEWS, so I'm not so impressed with it. It's not a bad song but pretty forgettable and doesn't really have the kind of sound I would associate with K8.
Tsubasa ni Koi - Another slower song but not as slow as 365 Nichi Kazoku. I love the chorus and the build up to it. I'm really glad to have it here on the album as it raises my hopes for the rest of it after the lackluster Water Drop.
Yellow Pansy Street - I love big band music so the start of this song is wonderful to me. I also love the slight jazzy-ness of the song as well. It's a good mid-tempo song.
Freedom Riron - Another mid-tempo song and is a good solid pop song. Doesn't have as much as a signature K8 sound but isn't too different than songs they've done in the past so I don't feel disappointed with it like I did with Water Drop.
Kagayakeru Butai e - Now we get another faster paced song and I'm in complete love again. It's fun and bouncy and I'm love the 'woah, woah's at the end.
My Home - Another slow song but like the other two very enjoyable to listen to and has a good build up like Tsubasa ni Koi. And it has a guitar solo, one of my great loves, especially when nicely done like in this song, though I do kinda wish it was a bit longer.
wander - Another song the moment it began I fell completely in love with. A slower song which has a drum beat going through it that I am so in love with. It just makes it sound so epic to me. I'm in love and it just comes off as so emotional which just might be more me than the song but I don't care.
Scarecrow (Nishikido Ryo solo) - From listening to his solos on both K8 and NEWS albums this song is very in line with what he's done before. I do like the violins used and the pace changes in it. It's nice, but not very stand out, especially if you're familiar with his other solo songs.
Yona Yona Yo NIGHT (Murakami Shingo, Yasuda Shota & Ohkura Tadayoshi unit song) - The moment it started with the wedding march tune I knew I was in for something special. It's a good return to the crack!song that I instantly connect with K8. It has some interesting switch ups but it sounds like the guys had a blast recording it and it's a fun song to be goofy to.
Pan Panda (Yokoyama You & Maruyama Ryuhei unit song) - So cute. So very, very cute. It's the kind of song you expect to hear on a children's program and I really want to see this performed to see if it will as cute visually as it is audibly.
A (Shibutani Subaru solo) - When I saw the title of this song my mind went directly to Superfly's song Aa, which was released earlier this year and I simply adore even though it has no lyrics. I was worried that this song would just completely pale in comparison. Thankfully the songs sound different so I was able to push Aa out of mind. It's a "thank you" song so it sounds like something that will be great to see live so you can have audience participation. It also has a reggae-ish beat going on with it which I enjoyed as it helps make the track memorable.

So in short this album is already my favorite K8 album and one of my favorite Johnny's albums. It's fun and energetic with some really nice ballads mixed in. The only stinker on the album for me is Water Drop, and like I mentioned it's not that it's a bad song just nothing special and nothing about it really makes me think of K8. The album really makes me wish I was in Japan as I would love to go to the concerts for this album as I can imagine some of these songs being a blast live. Perhaps if I hear the concerts meet my expectations I may finally purchase my first K8 concert DVD.

Overall I'm in a great mood because of these releases and hope others are enjoying them as much as I am.

Sexy Zone debut single thoughts

2011-11-15T12:28:00.001-08:00

As promised this entry will just go over some of the thoughts and speculations I have for Sexy Zone's debut single and some various other thoughts about the group.

First off I think I've come to be okay with the name. I still think it's silly but this a boy band we're talking about and groups like these do tend to have all kinds of silly names, you just have to look at the other Johnny's groups to see that. But I figure the 'sexy' is something that the boys will eventually get to, though I think Nakajima Kento and Kikuchi Fuma are already there and Sato Shori is getting there. Shori has the right look when it comes to the face but he just looks too scrawny otherwise so he still needs a year or two, IMHO. The other two it'll be a few years still but I'm sure they'll eventually get there, but for now I just want to see them as the adorable kids that they are.

I know there have been several people worrying about this single not being success and then there are those who just aren't fans and would rather have someone who is releasing this week get more sales than them, but I've always been confidant that they'll debut with a #1 single just like many of their senpai groups. It's become one of Johnny's signature trademarks when it comes to debuts, that it's with a #1. Their only real competition is with one of AKB48's sub-units, Not Yet. And even tough this is one of the stronger selling sub-units they still don't sell nearly as much as any of the main 48 groups with most of their first week sales numbers being around 150K. Personally I've been predicting a 200k~250K sales for the first week of SZ's single with the five versions and now the two announced events connected to it. So I don't think they're in too much trouble. And if they are then Johnny's can always but together another promotional event for the end of the week to boost numbers.

Speaking of the promotional events today is the first one. If you are familiar with the sales date for Japanese media releases, such as CDs and DVDs, then it's common knowledge that technically they go on sale in stores the day before the release date. So having an event today means they are probably trying to make sure they are #1 in sales for the first day, as that's typically the biggest day for sales in Japan. I think this is because with the 48 groups and sub-groups they typically have massive first day sales then drop dramatically, even more-so than the usual sales drops for artists, after that. So I think this event is to make sure SZ gets a higher first day sales number than Not Yet.

So hopefully Johnny's strategy works as I would like to see these boys succeed as I can't help but see a lot of promise with this group, especially when the members get older.

That said, I'm really not a fan of their debut song, Sexy Zone, even though I've warmed up to it a bit. But I doubt it'll ever be a song I'll listen to much down the line unlike Hey! Say! JUMP's Ultra Music Power or NEWS' NEWS Nippon or Kibou ~Yell~. One thing I've finally narrowed down to why the song doesn't do much for me was that it sounds a bit Eurobeat to me and it's a type of music I'm not a big fan of. Sure some of V6's earlier music is fun to listen to and much more Eurobeat than this song but I still don't like them nearly as much as other J-pop songs that aren't Eurobeat influenced.

It's rather interesting that they are going to the Eurobeat for this single, since the heyday for this sound in J-pop was back when V6 debuted, the mid-90s, so the song sounds a bit like their debut song Music For The People to me. But I did always think HSJ and NEWS can similar sounding debut songs (UMP and NEWS Nippon), which makes sense as they had the same person composing the songs so maybe this just means the 2015 volleyball unit will have something that sounds like A.Ra.Shi. XD

But even though I don't care too much for the title track I do like the two B-sides that have had previews floating around. I'm still quite happy that I was right about With You being a B-side and Knock! Knock!! Knock!!! is such a fun song. I can't wait to get my copies of the single in, they shipped on Sunday so it'll either be late this week or early next week, so I can listen to the other B-side. I have high hopes it'll be as good as the other two and I hope I won't be disappointed.

I do find it interesting that a debut concert hasn't been announced for the group. I guess Johnny's knows they can't push for another Tokyo Dome debut concert so soon with them as they probably don't have the fan base to attempt to fill it and they already had that record broken earlier this year with Kis-My-Ft2. So I think instead the debut concerts won't be set to really break records. I mean they are a bit tied with what they can do because of Yo Marius' age and that he's not even out of grade school yet. So I expect for concerts they'll be placed around the school holidays much like HSJ's usually are. Though since they would be using the same venues I can see HSJ cutting back on the amount of concerts that they do a year and moving towards the usual pattern for tours that their senpai groups have where they only tour if they have a new album coming out. Which wouldn't be so bad as that should help insure they get a more regular release schedule for their singles that would make me happy as a HSJ fan.

I'm glad to have this debut to look forward to honestly. After the blow from the HSJ turn of events yesterday it's nice to have something to distract myself with. I can't wait to see what the rest of this week brings, as I can't see it being worse than yesterday.

Ohno in a drama SP & some other tidbits

2011-11-15T08:51:00.001-08:00

It has been announced that Ohno Satoshi will be starring in a drama SP that will air sometime during the 2012 New Year's period on Fuji TV. The SP is called Mou Yuukai Nante Shinnai and is based off a novel. The filming for the SP will begin near the end of the month.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

The reports for the recordings of December's Shounen Club episodes are out and some kinda good news for B.I. Shadow fans is that Matsumura Hokuto is reported being back already. From the bits I gathered he's been shuffled with Hip Hop Jump but it isn't too clear so we'll have to probably wait until the episodes air to see what that is about. Still no sign of Koichi Yugo though.

Then on a more related thing I had planned on doing a bit of a round-up post about Sexy Zone's debut yesterday but lost the drive to do so when I saw that update for Hey! Say! JUMP. But I'm still going to try to write that entry today, as it's something I want to get out before we get their sales numbers.

Hey! Say! JUMP officially down to nine

2011-11-14T09:54:00.001-08:00

Well it's happened, Johnny's net has updated the profile page for Hey! Say! JUMP. The new group picture is only of the current nine members and Morimoto Ryutaro is no where to be seen as they have taken down his profile information. He has also been removed from the J-Web site. I think it's now clear that officially Ryutaro is out of the group and there are no current plans for a return.

From what I've heard from Johnny's fans that were around when NEWS lost Uchi Hiroki and Kusano Hironori it took quite some time before they were removed from the profile pages of their respective groups so this comes to no surprise to me. Whether people like it or not I think it's time to really start to accept that Morimoto Ryutaro is not going to return to HSJ. His scandal was just not something an idol, especially a young idol, can just be forgotten and forgiven in the industry. Especially not when the image of the group is clean and wholesome. It may be unfair but with the entertainment business very little is.

For his fans the best to hop for is that he decides to continue on with Johnny's and returns as a Junior again eventually, much like Uchi Hiroki. Of course it'll be his decision in the end to make and hopefully what he decides will make him happy as that'll be the most important thing for him, IMHO.

There might be a slim chance I could be wrong but it's more than likely that I'm not. As I've mentioned before on this topic Uchi and Kusano are the two cases most similar to Ryutaro's and as we can see from them an easy return won't happen. So even if it is possible for him to come back some day in the future it won't be just handed to him, he will have to do something to prove his dedication at least, much think those two had to go through being trainees before regaining Junior status again. After that it'll be in the agency's hands what they want to do with him and unfortunately no fan can really say what they'll decide to do when the time comes. But I just wouldn't keep your hopes up as Johnny's doesn't seem big on giving second chances, unless it's for their most popular talents, which unfortunately Ryutaro wasn't.

Personally even though I know this day has been coming it still feels like a blow to have it finally happen. I've been following HSJ since their debut and I honestly love each member as they each brought something different to the group despite its size. I honestly thought after enough time members that were shuffled in the back would each get a chance to shine a bit and it saddens me that Ryutaro never got that time or now ever will.

Not only that but just like the concert footage on the second limited edition DVD for Magic Power all video with him will be trimmed to cut him out as much as possible like with other groups that had members leave. And to me that hurts the most because I don't like it when it looks like Johnny's is trying to erase the past like that. Ryutaro's time with HSJ meant something to me, to his fans, to the group's fans and of course to the group members. But I don't see Johnny's changing their policy for this and I will treasure the DVDs I have of their concerts and PVs with all ten members as it'll be the only way to see those videos from now on without excessive edits.

This is a depressing way to start a week, especially since today is the 4th anniversary of HSJ's CD debut to top it all off. I guess they must have figured that it would be a good date to confirm as much as they will ever confirm that Ryutaro is gone and it will be the current nine that make up the group from now on. And while I understand the reasoning behind it I can't help but disagree with it, as the thought just makes me even more miserable about it all.

Whatever the outcome I just wish Ryutaro well with whatever path in life he chooses to take. And I hope others learn from his mistake so history doesn't repeat itself again.

Q&A Month: Question 5

2011-11-13T21:55:00.001-08:00

As promised here's the second Q&A entry for today to make up for the day I missed a couple of days ago.

This time I'll be answering the second question Kismy left for me: And do you think there´s a chance that they´ll (Kis-My-Ft2) be in Kohaku this year?

Honestly Kouhaku performer lists is something I avoid doing as I don't have too much of an idea of how they make their selections. Though I do think the Johnny's that will be safe bets to be on the program this year are Arashi (as they already have been confirmed), SMAP and TOKIO, as the latter two have been regulars on the program for years. I would put NYC in the maybe pile because even if they haven't done much since early in the year they fill a purpose at Kouhaku for being youth oriented as the program is meant to be enjoyed by young and old.

If NYC doesn't perform this year though then I'm sure they'll be replaced by another Johnny's group, though I'm not sure if Kis-My-Ft2 would be considered a suitable replacement if they want another youth oriented group. I could be wrong, but that's just my impression.

Of course if the rumors about a shake up in who gets invites this year because of the crack down on artists with yakuza connections I can see Johnny's wanting to add another one of their groups to the line up. If so then I think Kis-My-Ft2 has a good shot. They're newly debuted, scandal free, will have two upbeat encouragement songs that they can choose from to perform and if they really do have one of SMAP's managers as their own then also the connections.

Though personally the rumors I've been hearing have Kanjani8 being on the list of Kouhaku performers this year. I'm not sure how they would work that unless NHK is willing to have them appear via satellite seeing as they have their New Year's concert in Osaka and would have to cancel it to perform at NHK Hall, which I don't see happening at all.

In any case the official list should be coming out next week and then we'll know who'll be there, outside of Arashi of course.

And as a reminder just in case you've missed the earlier posts for this if you have a question you want to ask this month please ask it in the comments of this post. I will make sure to answer them all even if I have to go past this month to do so.

Q&A Month: Question 4

2011-11-13T17:05:00.001-08:00

Well I still managed to miss a day so to make up for it I'll try to answer two questions today, one right now and if I have the time for it the other a bit later.

For this question I'm going back to answer the next question Chris left for me: - have you ever been to Japan and watched a Johnnys concert?

The quick answer is yes.

The long answer is that from April 2009 to the first week of February 2010 I was in Japan as an exchange student at one of the universities in Tokyo. During this time I made the most of being in Japan after dreaming about going since junior high school and made sure to go to as many concerts/events as I could afford. And thanks to being in the Tokyo area there was a lot I could go to as long as I had the money for it.

Since this blog was up and running during that time I wrote concert reports, some more thorough than others. Here's the quick list of my reports in chronological order:

KAT-TUN Tokyo Dome May 16th, 2009
KAT-TUN Tokyo Dome May 22nd, 2009
Johnny's Jr. New Unit concert June, 7th, 2009
Hey! Say! JUMP Summer Concert '09 July 26th, 2009
Tegomass 1st Live: Tegomass no Uta August 5th, 2009
Natsuyasumi Johnny's Jr. August 18th, 2009
TOKIO LIVE TOUR OVER 30's WORLD September 22nd, 2009
Tomohisa Yamashita SHORT BUT SWEET November 21st, 2009
Hey! Say! JUMP Winter Concert 2009-2010 January 6th, 2010

Of course most of these reports were written as quickly as I could, which meant either about an hour or two hour train ride back to where I was living after the concert ended, so there are some errors in them as I didn't do a lot of proof reading. It's kinda embarrassing reading them because of those errors, especially the Tegomass one as that's the one that was recorded for the DVD release (I can see myself in the crowd in it, but I am tiny as it's from a distance.) so I can re-watch that one.

I also went to a Kis-My-Ft2 concert, Kis-My-Ft ni Kaeru de Show on December 19th, 2009 but for some reason didn't write up a concert report for it. I'm thinking it might have been because there was already a couple of big Kisumai fans writing reports about the concerts and most of the concerts I did reports on I knew there wasn't a big chance of having an English speaking fan to write reports for.

I've been honestly dying to see another concert for a Johnny's artist because if there's anything I've picked up from going to all of those is that Johnny's knows how to put on great concerts no matter how big or small the venue. In fact I'm kinda hoping Akanishi Jin will be touring in a city near me as even though I'm not really a big fan, though I do like some of his songs, I really want to see another Johnny's in concert because I know no matter what it'll be a blast. And of course I still hope to one day go back to Japan, for either a job or for a vacation, and see something then.