The Shounen Club 11 December 2005 review

We have the first episode for the last month of 2005 and it looks like I can safely stop grinding my axe for KAT-TUN on the program as NEWS is hosting again. Of course there is still the chance they may do the show takeover newly debuted groups do, but as long as it does not go on for too long I think I will be fine with it.

A couple of missing Juniors to note, one being Miyata Toshiya from Kis-My-Ft2. The other is Yamashita Shoon from Ya-Ya-Yah.

The producer for this episode is Kato Shigeaki and his theme for the episode is Arigato "Thank you".

In the Arigato medley we see that the older four are being listed as Kis-My-Ft2 now, so the Kis-My-Ft. from last episode was probably before they decided that this was indeed a permanent change for the group.

One of the songs performed in the medley is Arigato Ima, from their first single, which I was interested in seeing as it was a song that was almost a Moriuchi Takahiro solo. They turned it into a Tegomass duet, which makes sense as they were the supporting vocals for the song, and I kinda prefer this version.

There is a letter exchange segment after the medley that featured Yaotome Hikaru and Nakajima Yuto. Watching it now is interesting in the sense that back then it was just the usual exchange between members of different groups but now it has the added meaning of an exchange between future group mates, even if they did not realize it at the time.

This leads into Yax3 performing 2 of Us. At this time period Yax3 just keeps getting great songs. This one has a Motown vibe to it and has Fujigaya Taisuke and Kitayama Hiromitsu helping out with the backing vocals for the chorus.

Shige talks to Yax3 after the performance to talk to them about who they want to say thank you to. Yabu Kota answers the staff for the past SUMMARY concert while Ayukawa Taiyo says his friends that helped him with school work when he was busy with drama work.

Shige has to then excuse himself so he can go on standby for the next performance and the trio are left to continue the MC on their own. Yabu asks Hikaru about what his theme would be for when he gets the chance to produce an episode and he answers with Ramen. And we finally get to see the dorky Hikaru that is probably more familiar to current fans.

NEWS perform a song called Ashita e and I cannot help but wonder if the new songs they performed in these episodes of late would have ended up as B-sides or album tracks down the road if not for the group getting suspended when the next scandal hits them. Ashita e is a fun and energetic song that I wold love to have a full version of on a CD.

While I have no real hopes for Ashita e the next song in the medley they are performing is titled Just do it! and Shige is credited for writing the music and lyrics for it. It is another fun and energetic song, so it would be perfect for current NEWS, plus with Shige being the songwriter for it there should not be an issue of bringing it back outside of someone remembering that it exists.

Masuda Takahisa gets a solo MC segment where he talks about someone he wants to thank, TOKIO's Yamaguchi Tatsuya, who wished him good luck when he debuted.

The game segment is the return of Nisemono wa Dare da?! with A.B.C. being the members that the contestants have to guess which one is lying. This time it is a skill that a member says that they have, from cooking, ballroom dancing, karate and being a Romance of Three Kingdoms buff.

Like last time each members gets the chance to try to prove that they have the skill they claim. They overall seem a bit more serious about showing what they can do, but there are still some fun moments of goofiness still.

Shige then performs a solo song called Survival. This is a Shige solo I would be more than happy to forget about. Honestly Shige is not the kind of idol that is a natural at the typical idol talents of singing and dancing, even though he has improved over the years, but paired up with a terrible song like this the performance is not what I would call good, Shige fan or not.

Tegoshi Yuya gets his own solo MC as well and he talks about wanting to thank his friends, for pretty much being their for him.

It is a pity that Miyata is missing this episode as Kis-My-Ft2 finally get to perform a song where they are all on roller skates and even all have matching outfits. They cover the Hikaru Genji song Sayonara Jounetsu. This performance just makes me feel like the group is actually a group now.

Shige reads an essay and I really wish I knew more Japanese as he goes into the kanji that the word "arigato" came from. I love learning about things like that so it is frustrating that I cannot follow along to pick up a new factoid like that.

Tego, Massu and Kusano Hironori then perform Arigato no Uta. It is rather nice to see these three together as they are the stronger voices of the group. I feel bad that soon Kusano is going to be lost as he looked like he had quite a bit of potential in the group if he stayed. Near the end the rest of the group shows up to join in singing the song.

We get some VTR of Takizawa Hideaki who has to do the Shounen Club Box by himself. So he answers the questions on the back of the cards, or doesn't as no one is there to hold him accountable really. Either way he shows why he was on the track on becoming a soloist as he carries the segment solo effortlessly.

When we go back to the recording it is already time to do the wrap up MC, as well as plug the usual information about sending in letters/postcards with suggestions to the show.

Wonderful World is really only good for the little moments of fun that the group performing inject into it. Otherwise still a boring song and I am glad we are almost done with it.


A good episode with some nice segments and change ups so it will be one of the episodes I feel like I will be able to remember it months from now. Of course part of that will be because of the bad solo but there was plenty of good, like Yax3's performance and the game segment was pretty fun too.

This all said I am really looking forward for the next season. While it has been nice to have KAT-TUN replaced by NEWS I think the program still needs a greater shake up, or pretty much become the show I am more familiar with. I have the feeling the next season will be that season but we shall see.

The Shounen Club 20 February 2005 review

Finally on the last taped episode of this season of Shounen Club. Will do the recap episode that is the actually final episode on Monday as planned so I can get to the next season soon. Of course I am banking on the fact that usually there are some change ups with each season and with KAT-TUN nearing their debut date, only about a year to go now, the issues I am having with the current season will not all carry over.

There is no introduction this episode and it instead begins with KAT-TUN performing a song while spread out in the audience.

After the performance we get to the usual opening talk. The theme of the episode is mirai (future) so we get the discussion about that. The KAT-TUN talk is actually kinda fun to hear this time around, if just for Tanaka Koki saying that in the future he sees himself as a freeter (someone who doesn't have a steady job).

Arioka Daiki and Nakajima Yuto get the chance to talk about the theme. Kitayama Hiromitsu decides to make use of the fact that he is just there on stage by blowing on Yuto's hair when he is talking. But we get a reminder that Yuto is only eleven here and I really cannot believe it has already been about seven years since this was filmed.

While the Mirai medley is another KAT-TUN heavy one there are some cute moments in it. Like Akanishi Jin not leaving Yuto alone who tries his best to continue dancing like he should.

We also get a blink and you will miss it shot of some of the back dancing Juniors and Yamada Ryosuke happens to be the Junior in the front for it. I keep forgetting how baby faced he was when he was little.

There is one short part of the medley that is KAT-TUN free and that is when Toshin Yoshikazu sings with Kis-My-Ft. I guess they must have figured is A.B.C. was not going to be there they would use their other four member Junior group of about the same age to perform with him.

Ueda Tatsuya has his letter reading segment that he has Kamenashi Kazuya guest in. He reads a letter and Kame gives advice about what to do when anxious. Still find this segment unneeded and rather dull. I hope it gets the ax moving into the next season.

Guess I was wrong in predicting that J.J.Express would be performing this episode as we have Ya-Ya-Yah doing a medley instead. They cover a lot of their senpai songs in it and all the members get a good amount of spotlight as members Yamashita Shoon and Ayukawa Taiyo get to be leads for a couple of the songs.

Afterwards there is a letter reading segment between Shoon and Toshin. While not as fun as the more recent ones it is still nice to see the relationships of Juniors in other groups get highlighted.

KAT-TUN perform GOLD as a ballad and I never want to hear it ever again. What makes GOLD a good song is that it is more a rock song than pop and slowing it down by taking some of the rock elements away is not right. Not to mention how boring it becomes. Thankfully it goes back to its usual tempo near the end but it remains a song that does not work at a slower tempo.

Question? is back to perform their song Holy Heaven. While I like them and the song I really have little to say between the fact that the performance does not really stand out to their previous ones of the song.

When NEWS is brought out to do a talk before their performance of the episode we get to see one of my least favorite outfits of theirs. I think it is mainly because they remind me of something you would expect a little old lady would wear than anything else.

They perform a B-side song off their single TEPPEN, Yume no Kazu dake Ai ga Umareru. One things I will give NEWS is that for a group that centers around Yamapi a lot they do a rather good job distributing lines in songs so every member usually gets a solo line in them. I wish a couple other of Johnny's larger groups would do the same more often at least.

We get a game of Sakenpon between NEWS and Sankyodai. While fun you could tell Sankyodai really were not trying and instead were playing up their characters which took out some of that fun.

Kamenashi Kazuya sings Kizuna, which is his solo song that is used as the insert song for the Gokusen 2 drama series he and Jin are in. Once I remembered about the two being in that drama at this time I have been waiting for Kame to perform this song. I have always liked it and while not a big Kame fan still found myself enjoying the performance, though I wish he did something more than just stand in place during the instrumental breaks.

We do get a VTR segment for the show. We have Inoo Kei again, but without Ikuta Toma. I would guess that Toma is still around as the set has not changed from the last episode's VTR segment and you can hear someone laughing off camera that sounds like Toma's. In any case it is up to Takizawa Hideaki to help a still very nervous Inoo conduct the interview. Of course there is Yoshitsune promotion, in fact until that drama is done airing I think that will probably be the default topic when Tackey shows up on the program.

We finally get a break from the usual end song and instead have KAT-TUN with NEWS and Sankyodai singing the Tackey & Tsubasa song Sotsugyo. Now this really feels like an ending and it is nice to see more than one group singing in it.


Overall not a bad episode. There is a good mix of the groups and Juniors and finally we get an ending that is interesting to watch if just for the fact it is a different song with not just the usual performers in it.

Either way I am glad to see this season ending. It is hard to say that the next episode is really the final episode of the season being a recap episode. It really feels more like a place holder. But in any case I am excited at the prospect of change coming up in the show's format as I know the show is starting to reach the episodes I was able to find the full versions of when I first began watching (mainly 2006/2007 episodes) and they are different than what I have been watching.

The Shounen Club 14 November 2004 review

I feel rather proud to get back to the twice weekly schedule again this week. There is hope yet that I will get through reviewing everything eventually. And it looks like this era of episodes are going to be interesting for me to watch as there are Hey! Say! JUMP members making their Junior debuts as well as getting pushes into the spotlight.

The introductions show that J.J.Express have already changed their membership roster as they are down to four again, but it is Tamamori Yuta out of the group which leaves Nakajima Yuto, Inoo Kei, Arioka Daiki and Asaka Kadoi as the current members of the group.

Tamamori though has not disappeared though as A.B.C. Jr finally gets a proper introduction and the four younger Kis-My-Ft2 members are all in the group.

The theme of this episode is "kodoku" which cane be translated to solitude/loneliness. Even though other Juniors remain on stage only KAT-TUN discuss the theme.

We get the usual medley of the song that has the other Junior groups performing with members of KAT-TUN songs that seem to be a mixed between songs about loneliness and getting over it.

Since I did not mention it with the introductions but Yamashita Shoon is back but Ayukawa Taiyo is missing so Ya-Ya-Yah remains at three members for another episode. I do wonder how their outfits were picked seeing as none of them really match and only kinda sorta have the same coloring.

We get the return of the Ueda no Heya corner, which I honestly forgot even existed. Honestly I fail to see the purpose of this corner as it is just the basic letter reading (This one asking about advice for studying.) and does not really show why this has to be tied to Ueda especially.

The next medley was actually KAT-TUN free. The first part focused on the newest member of J.J.Express, Kadoi and had a familiar face backing him up in the performance.

I do not think I can express how happy I was to finally see Takaki Yuya on the program. He has been my favorite HSJ member since the original HS7 and still remains my favorite of the group. For some reason I always thought he was not in the agency until the next year but I am glad to see that I was wrong. His appearance here is easily the highlight of the episode for me.

The other three from J.J.Express then get to sing a song. Arioka Daiki is so emotionless when he sings it is rather shocking. Probably because I am used to him being the opposite of this, but I guess I can look forward to see how he grows out of being so stiff with the mic to the more energetic performer he eventually becomes.

Kis-My-Ft. get to perform Midnight Shuffle in the medley. It is a bit weird for me to see as it has Kitayama Hiromitsu as the sole lead of the group and I am just so used to having him be double lead with Fujigaya Taisuke.

The VTR of the episode has NEWS using the Shounen Club box to answer questions about the theme of the episode as well as any news about the group. It is easy to see that the members are more at ease with each other and are getting used to being a group. At the end they announce that they will be having a winter concert tour, which seems to be the main reason for them in the segment.

After the VTR KAT-TUN perform their new song I LIKE IT. Still do not care much for the song and hope they get another new song to perform, or go back to one of their older songs.

They have a new game segment, Sagutte Pon, that they use to introduce the guest for this episode, Imai Tsubasa. The only contestants of this game are members of KAT-TUN and they have to agree or disagree with the story they are given about Imai from an anonymous informant (Takizawa Hideaki, who they do a rather poor job trying to hide who he is).

Imai actually is the highlight of the game segment as he reacts to the obvious lies Tackey tells about him. The stories are long though so this ended up taking up a lot of the time for the episode and it just looked like the members of KAT-TUN were in on the joke Tackey was probably playing on Imai with this which made their answers boring because you could tell they knew what their answer would be before the stories were even told.

Imai performs his solo queen of R with the older Juniors back dancing for him. While it is not a song I would listen to regularly it is pretty fun with some energetic dance moves which really helps make this performance an enjoyable one.

Nakamaru Yuichi and Ueda come out in their feudal Japan and fairy costumes to play a game that involves the audience. It is being called Yonde Pon in the episode, though I am not sure if it has kept the name as I know it has been played in latter episodes as well. But basically there is a three syllable word shown on the screen that the players cannot see but the audience can. With NHK Hall having three floors for seating each floor is to yell out one of the three syllables but at the same time as the other floors. The contestants then have to guess what the word is.

I am sure I would have enjoyed this more if not for the fact I was feeling pretty annoyed that there were two game segments in this episode that only had KAT-TUN members participating in.

Since we are hitting the end of the episode it means we get another KAT-TUN performance. This time they are singing a song titled solitude, which I cannot way that I am familiar with. Honestly it was a rather forgettable song.

And we get the end song sung by only KAT-TUN. At this point I was pretty bored but thankfully someone had the idea to having the younger Juniors "decide" to push over KAT-TUN to lead to a lot of play fighting for the rest of the song.


I cannot help but wonder if my feelings towards to KAT-TUN on the program now are like the way non-HSJ fans feel about watching SC these days. But I guess KAT-TUN at least have the excuse that they are still Juniors unlike HSJ.

That said I do not think it would be so bad if other Juniors got to play in the game segments. Because those were pretty KAT-TUN only it really made this feel more like a KAT-TUN program than an all Junior program. In fact the only time there was not even a member of KAT-TUN on the screen was the one medley that focused on the Juniors and the Imai performance. I think that is just way too much presence for any one group to have on a program that they are only supposed to be one part of.

I can only hope that things get better when the new season starts in the 2005 April episodes.