Tozai Uta Gassen & Johnny's Countdown 2010-2011 thoughts

Okay, I found a way to watch this year's Countdown concert after Keyhole decided not to work. Which ended up being a good thing as where I found the streaming for it had good video quality so I could see what was happening. But since I didn't want to stop watching to blog I decided to wait for it to end and then write thoughts up for it. And since my Tozai post was just pretty much saying what was happening and not a lot what I thought about the program I'll write those thoughts here to.

Since Tozai aired first I'll write about it first.

I was rather surprised that something for the Juniors ended up focusing quite a bit on the guests who were all debuted Johnny's. Not many of the Juniors got a good deal of screen time outside of Yuma, and he only managed that by being a part of NYC. Though JaPAnese Hi! probably got some decent time on screen, but they kinda needed it as no one knows who they are yet.

I really wonder what's going to happen with this new group as from the January Shounen Club filming reports they weren't there and it can't be easy to fit 52 Juniors on one stage and have people remember who they are. I wonder if they'll end up with their own program or something, as that seems the best way IMHO for people to get to know the members of this massive group.

But other than that I just hope there is more of a Junior focus if they do it next year.


Now on to Countdown.

This really gave me even more hope that Kis-My-Ft2 will be debuting soon. I assumed they would be at Countdown since they weren't a part of Tozai or Tackey's butai and I didn't think they would be left out of the end of year activities completely. But I did not expect to see so much of them at Countdown. In fact they probably got more time on screen than Hey! Say! JUMP. And when they did the highlight of the Johnny's turning 24 in 2011 they had Fujigaya with Tegoshi and Shigeaki. (Their bunny ears were adorable and I love how Shige actually went 'pyon pyon' during his little speech. XD) They seemed to be given as much to do as other debuted groups so I now have a 99.9% feeling they will be debuting.

I know there are people complaining about Arashi not really being there, they did do a performance via satellite for the concert, but honestly after Kouhaku I think that's fine. If you wanted to see them than you have hours of this year's Kouhaku to go through as they were there in abundance. And as they've hosted Countdown for two years in a row I appreciate having someone else host this year, Kinki Kids.

My disappointment was that Hey! Say! JUMP really didn't do much this year. NYC and HSJ got to do quick performances before midnight but Hey! Say! BEST only hung around for about one song after midnight then joined the rest of the group in the stands for the rest of the concert. The only thing that keeps me from being too bummed about that is the fact for the next Countdown only Ryutarou will be under 18 so I'm sure Johnny's will have HSJ perform after midnight if they can do so with Yamada and Chinen with them. Plus Yuma will be under 18 as well so he'll have to be in the stands again next year once more so it will be HSJ and not a NYC/HSJ split for one year at least.

The highlights for me was just Tokio in general, like usual, Kis-My-Ft2 and NEWS (even if they were without Ryo as he was in Osaka with Kanjani8). Of course Kanjani8 with their sushi cosplay was pretty awesome, especially Yoko as the sauce bottle. I kinda wish they were still in cosplay when they covered KAT-TUN's Keep the Faith. XD

And was it just me of did Massu's hair look red-ish to anyone else? And talking to hair it looks like Ryutarou got his cut, and I think it looks nice as it's no longer shaggy looking.

Overall I was glad to have found a way to see it streamed. And that since it was around midnight it wasn't in the middle of the night for me to view it. I already can't wait for the next Countdown.

Nenmatsu Young Tozai Uta Gassen viewing

Earlier today I finally got around to installing the Keyhole program on my computer so I could watch the year end programs streamed off of Japanese TV. I figured since I'm watching them I might as well blog while I watch. Though honestly the picture quality is quite iffy and I while the audio for the most part is fine I can't really see much so far.

But I'm still going to stick through trying to watch Nenmatsu Young Tozai Uta Gassen, which is currently airing so watch this space for updates as the program airs.

For those looking forward to seeing the concert that was filmed be prepared to be disappointed as they're only showing a digest of it. They have about an hour left of programing time right now but have yet to show a single full performance.

They did announce JaPAnese Hi! and I did see footage of them showing the members holding signs with their names on them. Hopefully someone is recording this to share later so we can get a decent look at them.

Currently they are having young Juniors viewing debuts of past Johnny's giving their opinions of them. So far it's been Kondo Masahiko, Tackey & Tsubasa, SMAP, (one of the older groups, couldn't recognize the song and couldn't see any of the video), Kanjani8, NEWS (they Kibou ~Yell~ for their debut song), Shounentai, NYC (with Yuuki 100% as their debut song) and V6.

They've now decided to show some of the concert footage. They are showing the medley they did for Shounentai, if I'm not mistaken. Never mind it's a general daisempai medley so there's groups like Hikaru Genji and Otokogumi in there too. And now it's SMAP followed by Arashi and I can finally see the screen and it says it's a Johnny's big hit medley. So I guess each group should get a song or something like that. Except I am wrong and after covering a Kinki Kids song it's back to the Juniors looking at debut performances.

Oddly enough they are using Dreams Come True and not Ultra Music Power for Hey! Say! JUMP. And then we move to Kinki Kids, followed by TOKIO. And then we have Arashi with KAT-TUN finishing the segment.

We then have an MC from the concert lead by the guests and more digest footage. It looks like now they will complete the Johnny's big hit medley for the other groups not in the first part. And from the incredibly laggy footage I see that Ueda Tatsuya was singing for the Sorafune cover and I now I really hope somebody is recording this with much higher quality video as I want to see that.

And we return to the program after a commercial break with a Yuuki 100% performance that leads into Ultra Music Power. Then it's weeeek, with Yamapi, who's a guest, followed by Daite Senorita. Yamapi and Kame, who's also there with the rest of KAT-TUN, sing Seishun Amigo but you can tell it's been ages since they've last sung it. Yamapi sounded like he mumbled his solo lines.

And then we get a commercial break again. But there's a Kimutaku commercial for Nikon cameras.

They're showing backstage footage from the concert with Tackey & Tsubasa MCing about it. More digest information at they bring up some more info for JaPAnese HI!, such as there are 52 members before cutting to training footage of the group as they get ready for the concert. We get to see practice on stage for them as they are in one of those 'wall of cages' that Johnny's uses when they have a ton of Juniors they want to be back dancing on stage. They are then shown back dancing for NYC as they sing Yoku Asobi, Yoku Manabe.

It looks like it's back to digest concert footage as it's Tackey & Tsubasa performing their latest single with Mis Snow Man back dancing for them. Then it's KAT-TUN with Change Ur World. And Yamapi sings One in a million and I need a better view of his costume as I swear it looks like it has seams that light up, though they could just be extra shiny. And HSJ perform Arigatou.

And more commercials, but there's only about 10 minutes left for the program.

And they come back to a performance of V6's Can do! Can go!. It looks like we'll have the full performance of this. But we're back to commercials right after.

And the program closes on back stage footage of everyone leaving the stage.

More Kohaku information and another yearly chart

The order of performances for Kohaku has been announced now. Unsurprisingly NYC will be performing near the beginning of the show, as the members are still under 18 so they are only allowed to work until a certain hour at night. The rest of the Johnny's are down to perform in the later half of the program with SMAP being the final act of the night. Because they are going last Nakai Masaharu will be missing the start of the program he is set to host right after, CDTV Special! Toshikoshi Premier Live.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Of course there is still no word whether Arashi will be heading over to the Tokyo Dome after Kohaku to attend the annual Johnny's Countdown concert but I'm personally going to assume that if they are they will be late like Tokio is every year they attend both.


In other news Oricon has come out with another yearly chart for 2010. This one is based off a poll of its user base for 'Face of the year'. Arashi ranks in fourth this year, which was the same position they had last year, and are the only Johnny's on the list. Though when broken down by gender Arashi is number 2 with women and 7 with men.

Oricon article. (Japanese)

KAT-TUN's Ultimate Wheels

KAT-TUN has their first single for 2011 lined up already as CDJapan just sent out the e-mail for pre-order of the CD. It will come out on February 2nd and is titled Ultimate Wheels.

The single comes in three editions, one LE with DVD and two RE editions, one being a first press edition and they both have a different B-side track.

Ultimate Wheels [Regular Edition] / KAT-TUN

Ultimate Wheels [Regular Edition (First Press)] / KAT-TUN

Ultimate Wheels [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / KAT-TUN

Sad news, Happy news & a rumor

Looks like I need to catch up for what I missed by not posting yesterday.

First off is some sad news about Shounentai's Uekusa Katsuhide. It has been announced that he is divorcing his wife of 16 years. From an interview the divorce is from the growing differences between them. Uekusa is also the father of Uekusa Yuta, who joined Johnny's as a Junior but has been missing since earlier in the year.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

It's sad to see a relationship end, especially as they had known each other since high school. But I guess this would explain why Yuta disappeared.


In some positive news the song list for Kohaku has been announced. The songs that the Johnny's artists are performing are:

Arashi - 2010 Kouhaku Original Medley
NYC - Yoku Asobi Yoku Manabe, Yuuki 100%, NYC
SMAP - This is love '10 SP Medley
TOKIO - advance


And then there's a rumor that on February 9th NYC will be releasing their next single. Of course until there is either pre-order information up or one of the official Johnny's websites say so I wouldn't treat it as fact.

Kanjani8 does theme songs for Crayon Shin-chan

At their concerts Kanjani8 announced that they will not only be doing the opening theme for the long running Crayon Shin-chan TV anime series but also the theme song for its upcoming movie.

A release date has not been announced or if these songs will be on the same single or two different ones. But the TV series will begin using the new theme song in February and the movie comes out mid-April.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Yearly Top 50 singles and albums Oricon chart 2010

Oricon has come out with its official yearly charts for CD sales. While Arashi missed out on the number 1 single of the year they still managed to dominate that chart with being one of the two artists (AKB48 being the other) to have singles in the top 10. They did snag the top spot for the album chart again making this the second year they've had the yearly number 1 album.

Singles list (Johnny's only)

3. “Troublemaker” - Arashi : (698,542)
4. “Monster” – Arashi : (696,022)
6. “Hatenai Sora” – Arashi : (656,343)
7. “Løve Rainbow” – Arashi : (620,057)
9. “Dear Snow” – Arashi : (591,207)
10. “To be free” – Arashi : (516,142)
11. “Love yourself~Kimi ga Kirai na Kimi ga Suki~” – KAT-TUN : (439,736)
13. “This is Love” – SMAP : (350,322)
15. “LIFE~Me no mae no Mukou e~” – Kanjani 8 : (305,478)
17. “Going!” – KAT-TUN : (282,901)
18. “Wonderful World!!” – Kanjani 8 : (275,891)
20. “CHANGE UR WORLD” – KAT-TUN : (254,150)
21. “Hitomi no Screen” – Hey!Say! JUMP : (250,206)
25. “Sakura Girl” – NEWS : (232,752)
29. “One in a million” – Yamashita Tomohisa : (204,561)
30. “Yukai Tsu-kai Kaibutsu-kun” – Kaibutsu-kun (Kaibutsu Taro) : (196,258)
31. “Family~Hitotsu ni naru koto~” – KinKi Kids : (179,927)
32. “Fighting Man” – NEWS : (173,206)
43. “GIFT~Midori~(Yuki wo Kudasai/One day in winter/Snow White)” (Limited Edition) – Kanjani 8 : (136,508)
44. “GIFT~Shiro~(Fuyukoi/Kimi no Uta wo Utau)” (Limited Edition) – Kanjani 8 : (136,003)
46. “GIFT~Aka~(I wish/Minus 100 do no Koi)” (Limited Edition) – Kanjani 8 : (133,978)


Album list (Johnny's only)

1. “Boku no Miteiru Fukei” – Arashi : (1,053,064)
19. “All the BEST! 1999-2009″ – Arashi : (342,743)
25. “We are SMAP!” – SMAP : (267,946)
27. “8UPPERS” – Kanjani 8 : (265,439)
33. “JUMP NO.1″ – Hey!Say! JUMP : (187,621)
34. “LIVE” – NEWS : (185,204)
35. “NO MORE PAIN” - KAT-TUN : (182,563)