Kanjani8 - ER PV review

I figured I should do something for August 8th for Kanjani8 as this is one of the major dates that they are doing things for this year as a part of their 8th anniversary.

This review is for the super mix version of the PV which combines the other two versions, the catalog and the lip-sync versions.

The catalog version is basically just these kinds of information shots with the song in the background. So on its own it is not the most interesting of PVs but mixed in with the other scenes that come from the lip-synch version they work rather well.

While the lip-synch scenes are sorta what you would expect with focus on the members singing it also covers all the action shots as well so it makes the main bulk of the PV.

I love these data screens of the guys. It reminds me a lot of video games with the stats. I also love how Murakami Shingo is not the Purple Ranger but the Nasu (eggplant) Ranger even though everyone is simply their outfit color (ie Red Ranger, Yellow Ranger, Black Ranger, etc...).

Overall the PV is good at making sure every member gets a good amount of screen time but even then Shibutani Subaru and Nishikido Ryo seem to get a bit more, mainly because they seem to be the main vocals of the song. Which is absolutely nothing new when it comes to Subaru as one of his main features as a member of the group is being the voice as the guy can certainly sing.

Between the singing shots and the catalog scenes we get these action shots of the guys running through what looks like some kind of virtual simulator.

Of course keeping it to those scenes alone would not be enough for this PV, which quickly jumps from screen to screen, so we have the rangers standing with water getting thrown on them mixed in as well.

The catalog footage also features various special moves with some of them looking quite special indeed.

They also bust out some moves in the simulation scenes with varying effectiveness in helping them out.

I love these shots of the guys in uniform in front of a screen with their "civilian" identities. They actually manage to look cool.

I do not know what is up with this dance move but it looks like so much fun. In fact the whole dance routine that we get to see is like that and is worth hunting down their lives of it.

And of course we get follow up of the water shots as each member gets to be soaked.

The special moves that we see with the catalog footage are a lot of fun and really play into the characters that the guys created with the Eight Rangers.

And of course we get clips of the guys from behind as one of the features of the outfits is the infinity symbol being placed where it is.

No real reason for this screen cap other than Ohkura Tadayoshi looking cute as he is want to do.

And then we have Subaru upside down because really, why not? It is hardly the oddest thing about this PV anyway.

As we hit the end of the PV we get the water splash scenes in reverse and all seven members are highlighted.

And how can you finish anything sentai related without busting out the sentai group pose? You cannot, which is exactly why the PV makes sure to end it with it.


I rather love this PV as it really captures the maniac energy of the song itself. And with so much going on it makes you want to watch it again to try to catch everything you missed from earlier views. There is a lot of flashing lights going on during parts so be warned about that if you do not do well with that kind of thing.

I think it is great that Kanjani8 were able to take what began as a concert skit and bring it so far that it is not only featured for a single but became a movie. The Eight Rangers is something that the guys can be certainly proud of as they have made it into a staple of their image.

It is something that draws me to the group more and more as I love super heroes of both the Western and Eastern variety. I cannot wait to see the movie, though as an overseas fan it means having to wait for the home video release of it.

Upcoming releases

A couple of upcoming releases I figure I would mention.

First up is the next Kanjani8 single for this year, Aoppana. The single will be released on September 5th and will only have two versions, a limited edition and a regular edition.

The limited edition comes with the standard DVD with the PV and making of clip on it. The CD of this version will have the title track as well as a B-side.

Aoppana [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / KANJANI8
The regular edition is just a CD but will come with two extra B-sides that the LE does not as well as the karaoke tracks of the songs.

Aoppana [Regular Edition] / KANJANI8
Then ZONE are releasing a concert DVD of their live at Tokyo Zepp Diver City on June 16th. The release will not only be on DVD but also BD, though the format is the only difference between the two when it comes to what will be on them. And this release is scheduled for October 10th.

Zone Tour "Futari ni Narimashitakedo. . . Nanika?" (Title subject to change) / ZONE
Zone Tour "Futari ni Narimashitakedo. . . Nanika?" (Title subject to change) [Blu-ray] / ZONE
Also A.B.C-Z will be releasing a new DVD single. This time for their song Zutto Love. It is not up for pre-order at CDJapan yet but Johnny's net has the listing for it with the full track listing as well as the covers. The DVD will come out on September 12th so I am sure pre-orders will open for it soon.

More Kansai Junior changes

A couple of updates for the Kansai Juniors that have recently come out.

First is that from a scan of the pamphlet from Shounentachi in Osaka it does indeed look like Takemoto Shinpei and Shingaki Yuto have left the agency as their names are no where to be found. The group fans were speculating that they could have been moved to only has one member, Senzaki Ryota, which of course now leaves people wondering what that is about.

Kansai Junior LJ community post. (English)

And so it is confirmed that 7WEST has gone from seven to six and now four members for the group.

Over on Johnny's net, as well as J-Web, the Kansai Juniors have their own section instead of being lumped in with the other Juniors.


What this could mean is beyond me at the moment. In a way it is nice as it makes following them a bit easier as you do not have to weed them out of the other Junior activities and such. But on the other hand it does seem like they are being put in their own little corner which could make them easier to avoid.

I still have hope for the Kansai Juniors though. Kanjani8 is currently one of the best selling groups in Johnny's so Johnny's should know that there is a chance they could strike gold again with Kansai Juniors. But as a fan I cannot help but worry about them with how many of the more well known Kanjuu are leaving. I only hope that I am right and that we will be getting a Kanjuu debut next, and most likely for next year after Kanjani8's anniversary celebrations have ended so not to have one or the other overshadow each other.

The Shounen Club 18 May 2003 review

I just realized that already I am close to hitting the halfway point for the 2003 episodes of Shounen Club. That of course has me excited as it means in couple of months I should be at NEWS' debut and then in probably a couple more Kanjani8's as IIRC they debut early on in 2004. I would like to get to their debut episodes this year with this being their 8th anniversary, and I should, especially if I do a few weeks of two episodes per week as I plan to now.

The episode starts with introductions with Jimmy Mackey saying everything in English so we get Japanese subtitles for it. Other than that there is nothing much to say about the introductions as they are the same as the last episode seeing as both episodes are taped on the same day.

Akiyama Jun and Yamashita Tomohisa seem to be locked into the regular host positions for this season so far. Though most of the time it is Akiyama talking with Yamapi adding only a little bit of conversation every once in a while.

The first medley features KAT-TUN singing their own songs. They end up doing a costume change in the middle of it so we get to see some glimpses of that. This interests me as I think it gives some reasoning to why some costumes are the way they are when you see that they have to be worn over something else and can be so easily ripped off so they can do a quick change and have so many outfits to wear during a concert.

There is a short talk segment with Yabu Kota that leads into the next performance. I want to say it is becoming noticeable that Yabu is growing, he still looks tiny but I do not think he is as tiny as he used to be. But I would not be surprised if he is one of those Juniors that seems to go through puberty overnight.

The song performed next is Ya-Ya-Yah's Sekai ga Hitotsu ni Naru Made, but a remixed version so at least it is a little different.

Most interesting thing about this performance for me though is spotting Juniors that will eventually debut and this is actually a good performance for that. Behind Yabu here to the right is Masuda Takahisa jamming away and on the top left is Inoo Kei again. I think Arioka Daiki should be the next Hey! Say! JUMP member to start appearing, though I am not sure if Nakajima Yuto shows up around the same time or not.

And we have a Miyata Toshiya spotting this time around too, with him being the one at the top here. I know Fujigaya Taisuke can also be seen with another group of Juniors but I have already highlighted him last review and he is not as prominent.

The first guest this episode is Hideaki Takizawa. In fact technically the guest this episode is the same as last, Tackey & Tsubasa but the duo are treated as individual guests this episode with neither of them being on stage at the same time.

But we get to see him and his abs. Well there was more to the performance than that but really Tackey's abs are something worth writing about at some point as he has such a nice six pack going on. Not to mention it is a bit hard to focus with those and shirtless KAT-TUN in front of you.

Tackey does two medleys the second being more focused on the Junior performances in Thailand at the Pattaya Music Festival. We even get to see some clips from that during the performance.

There is a medley of Shounen Club original songs. Yamapi proves to be a bad senpai to his fellow Juniors as he dances in front of members of K.K.Kity when it is their turn to perform a song.

Then it is Imai Tsubasa's turn of having a solo medley. He sadly does not seem to share the love of showing off his body that Tackey does though.

Yamapi get a medley but is later joined in it by the rest of Four Tops.

And I will go ahead and talk about some thoughts about Yamapi right now. I think this change for this season is definitely setting things up to set up a division with the Four Tops with it being Yamapi and his back dancers for the most part. While all four had a good amount of focus in the previous incarnation of the show since the new season began the focus has shifted mainly in Yamapi's favor. Ikuta Toma is still fairing alright but the others, Kazama Shunsuke and Hasegawa Jun definitely seem to be slipping into the background more and more. Perhaps this will change in the next few episodes but even if it does it is not fated to last long with NEWS' debut coming up.

We get the return of Pchan no Hitorigoto this episode. Yamapi tells the story of where his nickname Yamapi came from. For those who do not know basically Yamapi was usually given pink outfits to wear so eventually Tackey began calling Yamapi as a shortened version of 'Yamashita pink'.

Making use of the fact that they have V.West over for the month there is a VS segment with them, starting with performances by V.West and Jimmy Mackey & FiVe. I personally think both groups would be better without their lead vocalists.

We then get a battle of comedy of Yamada (Maruyama Ryohei and Yasuda Shota) vs. Tanaka (Tanaka Koki and Nakamaru Yuichi). The winner was decided by the audience which is probably why Tanaka actually won as even though I am not fluent in Japanese I was able to follow each gag and the Yamada one (which was a play on words that sounded similar to 'hanami') was more interesting than Tanaka's (which was just Koki getting mad at something silly Nakamaru said), IMHO. But I could also be a bit biased but on the other hand I know Tanaka can be better than they were this time which is also part of my disappointment.

Afterwards though everyone in the VS battles sings JUMBO together. I think I liked the performance solely based on the fact it got Ohkura Tadayoshi out from behind a drum set.

The end song is a new song for Shounen Club, Non STOP, Don't STOP. It's performed by the usual suspects and we get another group round up at the end.


I did not find much that was stand out this episode though it does help seem to cement some of the formula for the show since the start of the new season. I am pretty certain that future episodes will be more in line with these May episodes than of the April ones from previous watches of old SC episodes.

I think the big change that has really stood out to me is the change in hosts. I guess I got so used to the Four Tops with Jimmy Mackey combo having it switch to Akiyama, Yamapi with Jimmy Mackey is taking some getting used to. Especially since I find none of them all that interesting, especially since Yamapi usually does not add much to the talks that they do for the most part. But I guess by the end of the year the host will have to switch again and I will be interested to see what combination is next.

Nintama Johnny's

The anime series Nintama Rantaro is celebrating its 20th anniversary and one of the ways it is doing so is having an album release of the OP and ED themes from it. And as Johnny's has had its groups do those theme songs for it the album is full of songs from their various groups. The album comes out on September 19th and only has one version.

Nintama Rantaro 20th Anniversary Album Opening & Ending Shu (Title subject to change) / V.A.

Starting off the track listing is of course Hikaru GENJI and Yuuki 100%. I do not think they could really release something like this without this track as in a way it was the one that begun it all.

1. 勇気100% (光GENJI) /Yuuki 100% (Hikaru GENJI)

The next two tracks come from Hikaru GENJI SUPER5 which was the next phase of Hikaru GENJI once they began to loose members. They do not have their version of Yuuki 100% though just the two end themes they did.

2. DON'T MIND涙 (光GENJI SUPER5) /DON'T MIND Namida (Hikaru GENJI SUPER5)
3. SHAKING NIGHT (光GENJI SUPER5) /SHAKING NIGHT (Hikaru GENJI SUPER5)

Had to research the next group Junichi & JJr and thankfully I was able to find some information on the Japanese Wikipedia. The Junichi is Hikagen's Yamamoto Junichi and of course JJr are Johnny's Junior. From the Juniors listed as being a part of this unit only two are familiar names that I know are still with Johnny's, Ohno Satoshi and Ikuta Toma. They get the most songs on this CD with three.

4. 0点チャンピオン (Junichi & JJr) /0 ten Champion (Junichi & JJr)
5. 終わらない SCHOOL DAYS (Junichi & JJr) /Owaranai SCHOOL DAYS (Junichi & JJr)
6. こうしちゃいられない (Junichi & JJr) /Koushichairarenai (Junichi & JJr)

Next up is also connected to Hikaru GENJI as it is a group made when there were only four members of the group left, SAY・S. This song is with a group called Nintama Family which I am assuming is the main voice actors of the series.

7. にんにん忍たま音頭 (SAY・S & 忍たまファミリー) /Nin Nin Nintama Ondo (SAY・S & Nintama Family)

Then we have the end theme that Ya-Ya-Yah did for the series. This was when Yax3 was still a rather new group and five members so it is before Yaotome Hikaru joined the group which means only one member from it is still with Johnny's, Yabu Kota. Though current Junior fans will probably recognize the song as it seems to be a favorite for Johnny's to have their young Juniors learn to perform.

8. 世界がひとつになるまで (Ya-Ya-Yah) /Sekai ga Hitotsu ni Naru Made (Ya-Ya-Yah)

Kanjani8 are the next group and the first to still be an active group. Oh! Enka is one their early singles so K8 fans are more than familiar with it. Ai ni Mukatte though was not an A-side so initially I thought it may not have been released on CD but after realizing that there was a good chance it was released later than Oh! Enka found it as a B-side on their single Zukkoke Otokomichi, which is the only CD it has been released on before this.

9. 桜援歌(Oh!ENKA) (関ジャニ∞) /Oh!ENKA (Kanjani∞)
10. 愛に向かって (関ジャニ∞) /Ai ni Mukatte (Kanjani∞)

Up next is the song I am most excited to see on this CD, Hey! Say! JUMP's end song for the series, Yumeiro. I have only heard the TV version of the song and loved it even though it was pretty short and kept hoping it would make it onto a CD release someday. I just hope they have a full version of the song so this will not be the same length as the TV version.

11. 夢色 (Hey! Say! JUMP) /Yumeiro (Hey! Say! JUMP)

Then of course we have NYC following that up with their end theme for the series.

12. ゆめのタネ (NYC) /Yume no Tane (NYC)

Then end of the current OP and ED themes by Sexy Zone. Of course it probably is worth mentioning that the record company releasing this album is Pony Canyon, the record company of both Hikaru GENJI and Sexy Zone.

13. 風をきって (Sexy Zone)/ Kaze wo Kitte (Sexy Zone)
14. 勇気100% (Sexy Zone)/Yuuki 100% (Sexy Zone)


I think the only thing I wish the album had was HSJ's cover of Yuuki 100% but I can understand why it was skipped. In fact I am sure if they had all the covers of Yuuki 100% the CD would have almost every other track be it.

I will be picking this album up because I have been wanting Hikagen's version of Yuuki 100% for some time but it has been hard to find the single/album it is on to buy. Also there is no way I will pass on finally having Yumeiro and I don't think I will be getting K8's past singles so Ai ni Mukatte would not be something I would purchase twice. And since the price tag is actually quite reasonable at 2100 yen for the album I feel it is a release worth getting even though I already own some of the songs from various single releases.

A couple of tidbits.

A couple of little tidbits of news that I don't think are enough to create separate posts for them.

First off Koyama Keiichiro will be starring in a play called Hello, Goodbye. The play will run from November 25th and 30th at the Tokyo Globe Theater then have a second run at Piloti Hall Mironomiya from November 30th to December 3rd.

Official website. (Japanese)

Also NMB48 have announced that they will be holding auditions for their fourth generation kenkyousei (or trainees).

NMB48 official website. (Japanese)

With this new round of auditions I am sure that around the end of the year/start of the new year we will be getting Team BII. Then it will be interesting to see if they continue to add new members or not with most of the girls remaining with the group and not graduating.

The Shounen Club 11 May 2003 review

Since I missed my day for doing the last Shounen Club review I decided to do two this week. Depending on what my work schedule is though I may just start doing two a week again off and on as I really would like to finish this project before I hit the tenth anniversary of this blog in about five years.

With the introductions it looks like A.B.C. is actually still in flux a bit as Toshin Yoshikazu is listed as being a part of the group as Kawai Fumito is missing for some reason. It is a bit odd as last month's episodes had the group minus Toshin for the most part. So I guess he is still a part of the group even though I do not think he is really a core member like the other four.

After the introductions we get the first sign that this will not the performance heavy episode of the past episode when a group of the Juniors go to the side of the stage to do a bit of a talk.

The first medley for the show is of the Junior songs that they did as end songs in previous seasons. And I go into back dancing Junior spotting mode. With Masuda Takahisa being an easy one as he has been lucky enough to be one of the main back dancers and thus always near the front of that group.

I will forever marvel at how ageless Kato Shigeaki seems. Sure it meant that he looked much older than he was when he was young (I think he's only 13 here) but he really does not look older nowadays.

Fujigaya Taisuke and Kitayama Hiromitsu get a good shot for Juniors that only dance for this medley. They seem to be in the same back dancer grouping as Massu, as they were part of the four that were roller skating earlier in the episode. Of course the fact they are in the roller skating group also is set up for them being a part of the original Kis-My-Ft line up with Massu as well.

After the performance we get introduced to the guests, Tackey & Tsubasa with behind the scenes looks at their recent concerts. As someone who has always loved to see behind the scenes of how shows work I enjoyed these clips.

After the clips T&T do a medley of their songs. I am pretty impressed that they worked a costume change in it.

Yamashita Tomohisa gets a solo song. He gets many of the little Juniors to be a part of his performance, which includes a little Inoo Kei, who is the one sitting there.

We get a Junior highlight with the Moriuchi brothers. It is mainly just Moriuchi Takahiro, who is better known these days as TAKA, the vocalists of Japanese rock group ONE OK ROCK. His younger brother, Moriuchi Hiroki, mainly is just there to be cute. (And apparently Hiroki has followed his brother's example and is in a rock band himself nowadays.)

I am a bit sad that Moriuchi left as you can tell even from this performance that he is a talented singer. His voice has not even broken yet but it is noticeable that he is definitely one of the Juniors that has probably actually taken vocal lessons to sound as good as he does. But I cannot help but feel that he is probably happier with his band than if he remained an idol.

After the performance the Moriuchi brothers and Yabu Kota get to do a talk. They bring up Moriuchi's father who is an enka singer.

I was surprised to see that they have Kansai Juniors still around, this time it is just V. West, one of the Kansai Junior groups that made up Kanjani8.

V. West is probably a good reason why K8 ended up with the rock influence that it has, even though it also helps quite a bit that it seems like that is a genre all the members enjoy. And I am pretty impressed with Ohkura Tadayoshi as he was only given a month to learn how to play the drums so for a beginner he seems to be doing fine.

We get a carryover from the previous SC seasons during KAT-TUN's talk segment. They have cards with messages on the back for each letter.

Each member gets something read off about them, which gives us a nice view of each one. Of course I want to share Taguchi Junnosuke's spotlight, as while I would not really consider myself a KAT-TUN fan I am a fan of him.

The highlight is actually when Akiyama Jun screws up Akanishi Jin's name and calls him Akamaru.

The group then performs Harukana Yakusoku when the talk is done. I honestly did not care for the song after hearing it on their debut album but after seeing them perform it live it made me greatly warm up to it.

And I think now that we are seeing more of the groups perform in a show it is beginning to see how a group like KAT-TUN stands out. I do not think there is really a group that charges up the sex appeal like KAT-TUN. But it probably helps that the members just look rather mature so they do not have to be tied to a youthful image.

During the interview with T&T, Ikuta Toma shows up to do his Meitantei Tomas segment. Tackey teases Toma about the segment being old, as it is from the previous season of SC, but Toma still charges on to do it. He goes into the audience and gets various people to ask T&T questions.

T&T then perform Yumemonotagari, one of their more popular singles, with some fabulous looking costumes. It is seriously costumes like these that I think of when I think of Johnny's and I rather love them for it.

We get another end performance with all the Junior groups. Strangely each one gets an introduction during it, but I guess at least it gives some of the groups that did not have a big presence in the episode a chance to be spotlighted.


I think one of the major differences with the change to this venue and format is that the host group of the Four Tops and Jimmy Mackey do not dominate the program nearly as much as before. Instead the other Juniors get more of a chance to be featured, which is a big thing especially for the less pushed groups as they actually get to be seen in a much more regular fashion.

Also the format is quickly becoming more in line to how the show has run for years. I think it is safe to say that some of the segments from the earlier seasons that had variations in later seasons will probably be making reappearances eventually. In fact I would say that Toma's Meitantei Tomas segment showing up again in this episode is just the start of this.