Kis-My-Ft2 to debut!!!!!!!!

Johnny's has made the wishes of Kis-My-Ft2 and their fans come true by informing the boys today at their concert that they will be debuting. Of course they did this in typical Johnny's fashion by having them find out by giving them an envelope to open during the MC that told them about the CD debut with Avex.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I just woke up so I feel like I could still be dreaming about this. Seriously, even though I've been expecting news like this it still feels so unreal. I feel so happy and relieved that I no longer have to worry about something happening and the boys not being able to realize their dream of debut together as a group. And I will confess I am crying a bit over all this. I'm just so happy as I've felt they should be the next group to debut for over three years.

I can't wait to get more information about their debut single but I guess it'll still be about a month before that. But the moment it goes up for pre-order I'll be getting a copy, or two, depending what the differences between the versions are.

Two unusual releases from Johnny's

It's weirding me out honestly. First I get a notice from CDJapan about Johnny's putting Aiba Misaki's play Kimi to Miru Sen no Yume on DVD to sell and then when I did a quick check of Johnny's net I discover that TOKIO has a song available only by downloading via dwango. Both not the norm when it comes to releases by Johnny's acts.

Johnny's rarely release the plays that are performed so it's rather surprising that this is getting a release. I volunteer at a local stage theatre and know from that you first purchase the right to just perform the play and then if you want to do something more like make a video of it to sell its another set of rights you have to pay for (and this is a big part of why you are not supposed to take photos or record the play as a member of the audience), which is probably why most plays don't get DVD releases. So I can only assume this means that Johnny's thinks they will make enough profit from selling the DVD to cover the purchase of the rights to do so. Which is probably another example of just how popular Arashi is right now.

The song that TOKIO has on dwango, which of course means can only be purchased by those in Japan, is titled PLUS and was completely written by Joshima Shigeru. I wonder if this means that Johnny's has a deal with dwango and after Kis-My-Ft2 did well with it they have decided to now see how one of the older debut groups do.

I'm please to see Johnny's move towards the digital age finally but I just wish I could support them by being able to buy the songs. I guess I'll just have to hope the songs eventually get placed on a CD I can buy or Johnny's will finally make the full leap and have their artists have songs in all the digital stores so I can buy them off of iTunes.

Katori Shingo to star in Getsu 9 drama.

It's the time for drama announcements for the upcoming Spring drama season. The most recent one is for the Getsu 9 (Monday's at 9PM) drama slot on Fuji TV.

Katori Shingo is set to star in the drama for the coveted time slot in a drama that still has yet to be titled. The drama will start airing and the other two actors of the main cast, Kuroki Meisa and Fujiki Naohito, were also announced. Other than that there isn't much else that has been announced for the drama yet.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Nakaken in a drama?

So Johnny's net updated with new videos mostly for those who are in dramas this current season which had me surprised to see that B.I. Shadow was among then. It turns out that Nakajima Kento is in a drama this season, Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Oshietekureta, which stars Toda Erika and Miura Haruma.

From what I can glean from the cast list and what I know of the drama's plot he's probably playing a student for one of the main characters as they're both teachers, IIRC. I may be updating this a bit later once I've watched at least the first episode.

But either case I'm rather happy he's gotten another acting role as I think he's one of the more promising Juniors at the moment.


Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Oshietekureta OHP staff/cast page. (Japanese)

Okamoto Keito is a trouble student.

It has been announced that Okamoto Keito will be playing one of the main students. a troublemaker named Kageura, in the upcoming 3 Nen B Gumi Kinpachi Sensei SP, that will be the final installment of the series. This is not only Keito's acting debut but his father acted in one of the earlier SPs for the series which makes them the only father/son pair to have roles in this series.

This series has been known to have started the acting careers of notable Johnny's and fellow Hey! Say! JUMP members, Yabu Kota & Yaotome Hikaru acted in one season of it.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)


I'm really excited about this news. I've always been a fan of Keito so it's great to see him not be completely forgotten as Johnny's seems to do for anyone in HSJ that isn't Yamada or Chinen. Also because it's just been too long since anyone from HSJ has acted in a weekly drama or an SP. I hope Keito does well and that this will be the beginning of an acting career for him.

Imai Tsubasa loves Spain & movie critics love Ikuta Toma

Tsubasa is taking his recent love for Spain as he is set to star in a NHK program that helps teach the Spanish language. The name of the program will be TV de Spain-go and will have a university instructor as well as two native Spanish speakers as regulars on the program to serve as teachers.

Momoedgewood Blog. (English)


In other news Ikuta Toma has won the 53rd Blue Ribbon award for Best Newcomer for his work in the films, Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human) and Hanamizuki.

Toma is the first from the Johnny's agency to win a Blue Ribbon award, which is given by movie critics and writers.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Momoedgewood Blog. (English)

Kimutaku's upcoming fall 2011 drama

Kimura Takuya will be starring in a new drama series on TBS this upcoming fall season. This drama will be part of TBS' celebration of its 60th anniversary so it is rumored to be the biggest budget drama the station has put into production. Filming begins in February and is said to then go on for about half a year, hence the early announcement of the series and its cast.

The drama is based on a book about a Japanese research team that was working up in Antarctica but had to leave their station there when the weather turned for the worse. They also had to leave their Huskies, which they believed had little chance of survival yet when they returned about a year later they found two of the dogs still alive.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)