Kis-My-Ft2 debut thoughts.

As promised here's my more in depth post about Kis-My-Ft2's debut announcement.

Even days after I still get a smile on my face when I think about it and watching the videos Johnny's has put up on Johnny's net about the announcement still get me a bit teary-eyed. I realize that I'm really lucky that I ended up as a big than of Kis-My-Ft2. As I was around for the Hey! Say! JUMP debut I know that this kind of debut isn't something that being a popular Junior group will insure. They could have always been broken up with some members going to a new group to debut or be stuck as back dancers for the rest of their careers with Johnny's. But Johnny's thankfully saw the potential fans like me always believed they had and chose them to debut.

And not only will they be debuting but Johnny's has set them up to be working hard this year with what looks like non-stop activities all through spring and summer.

First up Kitayama Hirosuke and Fujigaya Taisuke will be heading overseas to attend the Pattaya International Music Festival on March 18th. I can only assume they received an invitation because of their roles in Misaki No.1, much like like how Takaki Yuya with B.A.D. were invited to Hong Kong because of their roles in Gokusen 3.

Next up is for the other five, Yokoo Wataru, Senga Kento, Tamamori Yuta and Nikaido Takashi, they will be in Takazawa Kabuki, which runs from April 8th to May 8th. As they do that Kitayama and Fujigaya will have joint concerts at Crea threater from May 7th to May 10th.

Then in the summer they will tour once more as a full group on what will be their fourth nation wide tour but their first as a debuted group. And that is the last known event they are signed up to do this year.

Overall it's a pretty exciting time to be a Kis-My-Ft2 fan, especially when they also begin promoting their debut single which should get them on many TV programs.

Though of course there are those that aren't happy with Kisumai's debut and I can't help but think many are unnecessarily bitter about the whole thing. I've seen many excuses why this debut is 'ridiculous' but I don't think they hold as much weight as those espousing them. Some though I think are understandable but there isn't much that can be done by us fans.

Those fans of other older Junior groups, such as A.B.C.-Z and Question?, and Kansai Juniors I can feel sympathetic with. All of them have probably worked just as hard as Kisumai but in the end Kisumai just had the luck to be able to be given the chances they had to help gain enough popularity to be selected for debut. And as much as I do like A.B.C.-Z and Question? I don't think they will be debuting, which does seem like a complete pity as they are talented enough. As for the Kansai Juniors, not only are there some really talented boys and it feels like they've been massively overlooked. With this debut it's three groups (if you don't count NYC as Nakayama Yuma is still considered a Junior) without a Kansai Junior as a member. I really hope that the next group that debuts will fix this and will have at least one Kansai Junior, though I would rather see about two debut. If not then I will happily join with the rage about having the Kansai Juniors snubbed once again.

The next excuse is that it isn't smart to have a KAT-TUN ver. 2 debut because KAT-TUN is still around. Honestly while Kis-My-Ft2 is similar to KAT-TUN with their sound and look I wouldn't say they are exactly the same and can only appeal to the same fans. I mean if Johnny's can debut a group every four years around the same image (the volleyball debut groups) then I can't see why after five years they can't debut a group with a similar image and sound.

And as I mentioned before just because two groups are similar doesn't mean they're going to have the same fans, especially when there is an age difference between the two groups. The three older members of Kisumai may be around the ages of KAT-TUN but the other four members have a good age gap and are around the Hey! Say! BEST members' ages and will be bound to attract a younger group of fans compared to KAT-TUN's. Also with Kitayama and Fujigaya in a school drama it's another sign that Johnny's knows that they way to make Kisumai work while having KAT-TUN is to go for a younger age group to gain fans instead of trying to rely on the same age group for fans.

Plus it makes no sense to believe that if you're a fan of one group you'll be a fan of the other. I'm not a big KAT-TUN fan, just really like two members of the group, but I completely love all of Kis-My-Ft2. I'm sure I'm not the only one that prefers one group over the other so thinking that Kisumai will fail because of the existence of KAT-TUN just seems like flimsy reasoning to me.

And now with that out of the way I want to address some of my own ideas about this debut. First off is that I find it actually rather exciting that they won't be under one of Johnny's in house music labels but rather with Avex Trax like fellow Johnny's groups, V6 and Tackey & Tsubasa. Avex is one of the largest music companies in Japan and Asia, and it's the label Johnny's goes through for releasing their music and DVDs in Asia. So having Kisumai on the label could make it easier for Kisumai to expand into the Asian markets which would fit in with Johnny's recent push to make their groups more international.

Also like many media companies Avex has a hand in just about everything media related so it could allow Kis-My-Ft2 to have more opportunities for things like tie-ins and promotions that they would not have if they were with a in house music label.

And I will confess that ever since they performed Kaizoku for the first time it's been a secret dream of mine that they would somehow be able to sing a theme song for the anime series One Piece. This series is one of the many that Avex helps produce so usually the TV theme songs are sung by Avex artists, which has included Tackey & Tsubasa. And One Piece is one of my all time favorite manga/anime series and from all the sales records the manga has been breaking recently it's Japan's too. So it's been making me a bit giddy at the idea that my dream is one step closer to becoming true, especially since it was such a whimsical one. But if it happens do expect me to spazz like a complete dork about it . XD

So I think having them with Avex Trax was a smart move by Johnny's. They can continue to strengthen their ties to Avex as well as give their newest group opportunities that only an artist on an Avex label can have.

I hope that since we've already gotten a release announcement for something coming out in May (Jin's concert DVD) that we won't have to wait much longer to get some more news about Kis-My-Ft2's debut single.