Over the past week I set about updating the Master Johnny's Birthday List with the birthday information that is up at TakiCHANnel. Looking through all the profiles I noticed a few things.
First was that it would be quite nice if it only listed Juniors, as it would help a lot in figuring out the debuts of Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z. But seeing as Kis-My-Ft2 is still up and there is no doubt whether or not they debuted that is just wishful thinking. Though I would think Kisumai would be removed sometime soon, as again, they are undoubtedly debuted.
For the Junior groups listed though there are very few of them. The only ones (minus the iffy SZ and Ebi) that are listed are FiVe, Question?, 7WEST, B.A.D., and Veteran. Of course these days FiVe is a bit of a unknown factor but the other four are definitely around and active. Of course that does leave the Tokyo Juniors with one Junior group and the Kansai Juniors with three.
Of course there is Noon Boyz, Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki, as an unofficial/official group and Shadow West is supposed to still be around as a duo. But it seems difficult to find more than one official resource that is willing to agree which groups exist and which do not.
I really wish I could fast forward things to the end of the year for the Juniors, as I am sure by then we will finally have a couple of new groups at least. But until then I will have to be stuck in some frustration, hoping that the Juniors I like will not disappear as things get shuffled around as they figure out new groups.
29 January 2012
28 January 2012
Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Yamashita Tomohisa joined Johnny's & Associates in 1996 at the age of 11. He was paired early on with Ikuta Toma and eventually the two of them with Juniors Kazama Shunsuke and Hasegawa Jun formed the popular Junior group 4Tops. As a Junior Yamashita, known widely as Yamapi, was frequently promoted and was able to act in dramas and was one of the original hosts and frequent performers of The Shounen Club, a program that stars Juniors.
It was believed that he would debut and with the other members of 4Tops. When NEWS was formed in 2003 he even believed it was only going to be a temporary group and was surprised to learn that it was not and would continue on after their first single, NEWS Nippon. He was the front man of the group and considered to be the group's leader as well.
In 2005 with KAT-TUN's Kamenashi Kazuya the temporary duo, Shuuji to Akira was created to promote the drama they starred in, Nobuta wo Produce, and they released the single, Seishun Amigo, which went on to sell over a million copies.
In 2006 when the group had been placed on hiatus because of underage drinking scandals by two of its members, Yamapi began releasing more non-NEWS singles. This included a one-off release with Thai brother duo Golf & Mike as GYM and then his first solo single, Daite Senorita.
When NEWS returned as a group in 2007 he continued solo releases, at first when there was down time for the group when Nishikido Ryo was busy with his other group Kanjani8, but after a couple of years he began to do more solo work and even had his first solo tour in 2009. In 2011 he released his first solo album, Super Good, Super Bad, and went on tour, going overseas to Asia.
Later in 2011 he announced that he would be leaving the group to pursue a solo career and would be joining Akanishi Jin on the Warner Music Japan label to do this. Since the announcement he has had a lead role in a drama and has a single coming out, Ai, Texas, in the end of February 2012, which will be his first single since the start of his post-NEWS solo career.
TRIVIA: His nickname, Yamapi, was given to him by Takizawa Hideaki since he noticed Yamapi tended to wear outfits with pink on them for performances so he put "Yamashita" and "pink" together to make Yamapi.
Next Entry > Entering the Sexy Zone
Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest
The Living Legend of SMAP
TOKIO, From Spaceships to the Over 30s World
Victory, Volleyball, Vegetable, Vicylce? V6
KinKi Kids, It's Not What You Think
Arashi, Storming to the Top
The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa
North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS
Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞
Cartoon? KAT-TUN!
Jumping to Their Dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP
Johnny's Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin
How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Entering the Sexy Zone
The 5Stars A.B.C-Z
International Ventures
Johnny's and Charity
Odds & Ends
27 January 2012
The winds of change blow softly and slowly.
First off, thank you to everyone who voted on the poll and especially those who left comments. It has helped me figure out what I want to do and how I want to go about it.
For the short term the only change is that I will be adding ex-Johnny's (which pretty much will be the Yamashita brothers, Shoon and Leon, as they're the only ones I follow) to the list of who I will be blogging about. I will start with an introductory for them for those unfamiliar with the two and their past with Johnny's before I move on to following them like I do the Johnny's I follow. I am hoping to have that done in the next week or so.
The long term goal is to make this a general idol blog but it probably will not happen in the near future. I would like to do a project to introduce non-Johnny's related idols to the blog but that will have to wait until I am done with my current project, History of Johnny's, and the project I plan on doing after that, the PV reviews of the PVs I have on the Johnny's releases I own that have them on bonus DVDs. As it stands there are at least three more weeks for History of Johnny's, unless Sexy Zone and/or A.B.C-Z get their own section(s) on Johnny's net. And the PV reviews will most likely take up about half a year if I keep the same schedule of one every Saturday. So it will be some time before I get to that project and until I do an introduction post I won't follow a group with this blog so there is a good half a year before I start bringing in non-Johnny's related idols to the blog.
And the main reasons I am going with this is partly because with me cutting back on the Johnny's I will try to actively follow I will not have as much to post about and I want to keep this blog as active as possible. The other is that I feel it will be easier to have the one blog for idols as I have come to follow them in general more than before and I feel having it all in one place just makes sense for me.
So I'm sorry for those who did not want to see a change, but there just was no way things could stay the same. And I hope you still keep reading the blog, no matter what it will remain Johnny's-centric and I have no issue if people skip reading posts. I honestly do not expect everyone to read everything even as a Johnny's only blog. And as I explained it will be a while before the big changes will be made anyway and I will try to ease into things as much as possible.
Again thank you to everyone who voted and left comments. It was very helpful to me and I really appreciate it.
For the short term the only change is that I will be adding ex-Johnny's (which pretty much will be the Yamashita brothers, Shoon and Leon, as they're the only ones I follow) to the list of who I will be blogging about. I will start with an introductory for them for those unfamiliar with the two and their past with Johnny's before I move on to following them like I do the Johnny's I follow. I am hoping to have that done in the next week or so.
The long term goal is to make this a general idol blog but it probably will not happen in the near future. I would like to do a project to introduce non-Johnny's related idols to the blog but that will have to wait until I am done with my current project, History of Johnny's, and the project I plan on doing after that, the PV reviews of the PVs I have on the Johnny's releases I own that have them on bonus DVDs. As it stands there are at least three more weeks for History of Johnny's, unless Sexy Zone and/or A.B.C-Z get their own section(s) on Johnny's net. And the PV reviews will most likely take up about half a year if I keep the same schedule of one every Saturday. So it will be some time before I get to that project and until I do an introduction post I won't follow a group with this blog so there is a good half a year before I start bringing in non-Johnny's related idols to the blog.
And the main reasons I am going with this is partly because with me cutting back on the Johnny's I will try to actively follow I will not have as much to post about and I want to keep this blog as active as possible. The other is that I feel it will be easier to have the one blog for idols as I have come to follow them in general more than before and I feel having it all in one place just makes sense for me.
So I'm sorry for those who did not want to see a change, but there just was no way things could stay the same. And I hope you still keep reading the blog, no matter what it will remain Johnny's-centric and I have no issue if people skip reading posts. I honestly do not expect everyone to read everything even as a Johnny's only blog. And as I explained it will be a while before the big changes will be made anyway and I will try to ease into things as much as possible.
Again thank you to everyone who voted and left comments. It was very helpful to me and I really appreciate it.
21 January 2012
Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Members: Kitayama Hiromitsu, Senga Kento, Miyata Toshiya, Yokoo Wataru, Fujigaya Taisuke, Tamamori Yuta & Nikaido Takashi
Their name is pronounced Kiss-my-foot-two and just like KAT-TUN the letters of the name correspond with the first letter(s) the last names of the members, the 2 comes from the ‘Ni’ in Nikaido being the same kanji as the number 2.
The group was formed in 2005 with two Junior groups, Kis-My-Ft and A.B.C. Jr. being merged to create Kis-My-Ft2 as an eight member unit. They kept the image of Kis-My-Ft by having roller skating during their performances being a main feature, akin to Hikaru Genji. Also like Hikaru Genji they had an age split with the four oldest members and the four youngest. They lost their ‘I’ not long after being formed, and one of the older members, and have been a seven member group since.
They were one of the main Junior groups for a while but it was not until 2008 did their popularity really begin to take off. They held a joint concert with A.B.C-Z that year and in 2009 followed up with a solo national tour. Since then they have had a national tour every year. In 2010 they had a digital single debut with their two signature songs, Firebeat and Inori.
In February of 2011 at one of their concerts they received the news that they would be debuting in the spring of that year during an MC break during the concert. That date ended up being pushed back though as the next month the March 11th earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and it would have been ill-fitting to debut while the country dealt with the initial aftermath of the disaster.
Finally in August Kis-My-Ft2 released their debut single, Everybody Go. The song was the theme song of the J-drama Ikemen Desu Ne, which starred Tamamori Yuta and Fujigaya Taisuke. The single was the third highest debut for a Johnny’s group behind KAT-TUN and Kinki Kids. Since their debut they have released their second single and will be releasing a third single and their debut album in the spring of 2012.
Kitayama Hirosuke is the oldest member of the group and his group color is red. He is also one of the two lead vocalists of the group. He is known for being able to fall asleep anywhere at any time, but is terrible at waking up. Even though the group does not have a leader Kitayama tends to act like an older brother for the other memebers. While he was a Junior he attended Asia University and graduated in 2008.
Senga Kento is the youngest member of the group with blue being his group color. Before joining Johnny’s he was active in national dance competitions and is the strongest dancer of the group, even choreographing dances for the group. He tends to get lovely picked on by others because he does not always read the atmosphere and can be airheaded.
Miyata Toshiya is the biggest dork of the group and is known for being the goofy one. He is actually very kind which the other member recognize and appreciate. He is a fan of manga and anime and has a bit of a reputation of being a geek from that. He attended and graduated Kokushikan University. His group color is purple.
Yokoo Wataru is one of the older members of the group and is known for being tidy, so much that he will even clean up after his group mates. He is also known for being one of the most mature and reliable members of the group. He can play the guitar and does so whenever the group performs their song Smile. His group color is orange.
Fujigaya Taisuke is one of the lead vocals of the group and his group color is pink. He has been in J&A the longest having joined in 1998. He admires Tanaka Koki from KAT-TUN because of his rapping and like Koki writes and performs his own raps. He is one of the more active members when it comes to acting and is one of the more popular members of the group for this.
Tamamori Yuta is one of the members being pushed with acting roles. He made his acting debut in 2009 in the Gokusen 3 SP and in 2011 he starred in his first drama, Ikemen Desu Ne. He sees himself as a shy person and the other members have mentioned that he was the last member of the group to warm up to everyone. His group color is yellow.
Nikaido Takashi is known to be the brat of the group and enjoys playing pranks. He is known for being direct with his thoughts and words, even when it comes to sempai. He is also known for doing imitations that his fellow group members praise him for. He is a scaredy-cat despite being known as a troublemaker. His group color is green.
TRIVIA: While they debuted after KAT-TUN, Kis-My-Ft2 was the first of the two that covered the departure of one of their members by having the ‘Ki’ in Kitayama’s name be the ‘Ki’ in Kis-My-Ft2 back when Junior Iida left, much like how Kamenashi’s ‘Ka’ became the ‘KA’ in KAT-TUN when Akanishi Jin left.
It was reported that they had another song lined up for their debut song but after March 11th it was decided they would change it to a song more appropriate with an uplifting message.
Kitayama went to the same high school as Yamashita Tomohisa.
Next Entry > Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest
The Living Legend of SMAP
TOKIO, From Spaceships to the Over 30s World
Victory, Volleyball, Vegetable, Vicylce? V6
KinKi Kids, It's Not What You Think
Arashi, Storming to the Top
The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa
North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS
Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞
Cartoon? KAT-TUN!
Jumping to Their Dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP
Johnny's Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin
How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Entering the Sexy Zone
The 5Stars A.B.C-Z
International Ventures
Johnny's and Charity
Odds & Ends
 |
| (L to R) Nikaido Takashi, Tamamori Yuta, Senga Kento, Fujigaya Taisuke, Yokoo Wataru, Kitayama Hiromitsu & Miyata Toshiya |
The group was formed in 2005 with two Junior groups, Kis-My-Ft and A.B.C. Jr. being merged to create Kis-My-Ft2 as an eight member unit. They kept the image of Kis-My-Ft by having roller skating during their performances being a main feature, akin to Hikaru Genji. Also like Hikaru Genji they had an age split with the four oldest members and the four youngest. They lost their ‘I’ not long after being formed, and one of the older members, and have been a seven member group since.
They were one of the main Junior groups for a while but it was not until 2008 did their popularity really begin to take off. They held a joint concert with A.B.C-Z that year and in 2009 followed up with a solo national tour. Since then they have had a national tour every year. In 2010 they had a digital single debut with their two signature songs, Firebeat and Inori.
In February of 2011 at one of their concerts they received the news that they would be debuting in the spring of that year during an MC break during the concert. That date ended up being pushed back though as the next month the March 11th earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and it would have been ill-fitting to debut while the country dealt with the initial aftermath of the disaster.
Finally in August Kis-My-Ft2 released their debut single, Everybody Go. The song was the theme song of the J-drama Ikemen Desu Ne, which starred Tamamori Yuta and Fujigaya Taisuke. The single was the third highest debut for a Johnny’s group behind KAT-TUN and Kinki Kids. Since their debut they have released their second single and will be releasing a third single and their debut album in the spring of 2012.
Kitayama Hirosuke is the oldest member of the group and his group color is red. He is also one of the two lead vocalists of the group. He is known for being able to fall asleep anywhere at any time, but is terrible at waking up. Even though the group does not have a leader Kitayama tends to act like an older brother for the other memebers. While he was a Junior he attended Asia University and graduated in 2008.
Senga Kento is the youngest member of the group with blue being his group color. Before joining Johnny’s he was active in national dance competitions and is the strongest dancer of the group, even choreographing dances for the group. He tends to get lovely picked on by others because he does not always read the atmosphere and can be airheaded.
Miyata Toshiya is the biggest dork of the group and is known for being the goofy one. He is actually very kind which the other member recognize and appreciate. He is a fan of manga and anime and has a bit of a reputation of being a geek from that. He attended and graduated Kokushikan University. His group color is purple.
Yokoo Wataru is one of the older members of the group and is known for being tidy, so much that he will even clean up after his group mates. He is also known for being one of the most mature and reliable members of the group. He can play the guitar and does so whenever the group performs their song Smile. His group color is orange.
Fujigaya Taisuke is one of the lead vocals of the group and his group color is pink. He has been in J&A the longest having joined in 1998. He admires Tanaka Koki from KAT-TUN because of his rapping and like Koki writes and performs his own raps. He is one of the more active members when it comes to acting and is one of the more popular members of the group for this.
Tamamori Yuta is one of the members being pushed with acting roles. He made his acting debut in 2009 in the Gokusen 3 SP and in 2011 he starred in his first drama, Ikemen Desu Ne. He sees himself as a shy person and the other members have mentioned that he was the last member of the group to warm up to everyone. His group color is yellow.
Nikaido Takashi is known to be the brat of the group and enjoys playing pranks. He is known for being direct with his thoughts and words, even when it comes to sempai. He is also known for doing imitations that his fellow group members praise him for. He is a scaredy-cat despite being known as a troublemaker. His group color is green.
TRIVIA: While they debuted after KAT-TUN, Kis-My-Ft2 was the first of the two that covered the departure of one of their members by having the ‘Ki’ in Kitayama’s name be the ‘Ki’ in Kis-My-Ft2 back when Junior Iida left, much like how Kamenashi’s ‘Ka’ became the ‘KA’ in KAT-TUN when Akanishi Jin left.
It was reported that they had another song lined up for their debut song but after March 11th it was decided they would change it to a song more appropriate with an uplifting message.
Kitayama went to the same high school as Yamashita Tomohisa.
Next Entry > Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest
The Living Legend of SMAP
TOKIO, From Spaceships to the Over 30s World
Victory, Volleyball, Vegetable, Vicylce? V6
KinKi Kids, It's Not What You Think
Arashi, Storming to the Top
The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa
North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS
Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞
Cartoon? KAT-TUN!
Jumping to Their Dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP
Johnny's Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin
How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Entering the Sexy Zone
The 5Stars A.B.C-Z
International Ventures
Johnny's and Charity
Odds & Ends
Kis-My-Ft2 Bringing In the Green This Spring
It has been announced that this spring Kis-My-Ft2 will not only be releasing their 3rd single but also their 1st album. Also they will be having a concert tour to promote the album that begins in early April and goes through to early June.
Avex official announcement. (Japanese)
I honestly thought I read things wrong when I saw this announcement. I had been hoping for a new single for the spring from Kisumai but never would have I dreamed of their debut album being released so soon. And from the concert tour dates it looks like the releases will either be in March or April. March, because it would make sense to release the album before the tour as it is to support the release after all, but April could be possible as well as they concert dates for April are only for the first half of the month so there would be time to do promotions for a new release between those dates and the next set of concert dates in May.
In any case I feel like I've gone back about a year and have found out about Kisumai debuting. While they have been debuted for a while now and even have their own section on the official Johnny's websites the fact they will have an album finally just really cements everything. That and albums typically are more "fair" when it comes to groups, even though I'm sure KiFt will still get more of a focus on the album I have faith that s-My-2 will get some chances to finally shine. Though if they have some of their Junior songs on this album then it would be perfect for me, but I guess we will still have to wait a month or so before that kind of information will come out.
It'll be pretty draining to have both album and single to buy in the next few months, and I'm curious if they will release them both on the same day or not. But overall I am just so happy that Kisumai is going to be able to hit this milestone in their careers so soon.
Avex official announcement. (Japanese)
I honestly thought I read things wrong when I saw this announcement. I had been hoping for a new single for the spring from Kisumai but never would have I dreamed of their debut album being released so soon. And from the concert tour dates it looks like the releases will either be in March or April. March, because it would make sense to release the album before the tour as it is to support the release after all, but April could be possible as well as they concert dates for April are only for the first half of the month so there would be time to do promotions for a new release between those dates and the next set of concert dates in May.
In any case I feel like I've gone back about a year and have found out about Kisumai debuting. While they have been debuted for a while now and even have their own section on the official Johnny's websites the fact they will have an album finally just really cements everything. That and albums typically are more "fair" when it comes to groups, even though I'm sure KiFt will still get more of a focus on the album I have faith that s-My-2 will get some chances to finally shine. Though if they have some of their Junior songs on this album then it would be perfect for me, but I guess we will still have to wait a month or so before that kind of information will come out.
It'll be pretty draining to have both album and single to buy in the next few months, and I'm curious if they will release them both on the same day or not. But overall I am just so happy that Kisumai is going to be able to hit this milestone in their careers so soon.
20 January 2012
Super Delicate updates & some speculation
Checked Johnny's net today and found that information about the B-side that had been originally listed as "untitled" for Hey! Say! JUMP's single, Super Delicate, is up. The new song will be called succeed, so we have three new HSJ songs, and a concert only song finally getting a CD release for both HS7 and HSB.
Also with each edition of the CD there will be a code that can be entered in a drawing for a special DVD, another JUMP Party DVD. Of course you need to have a Japanese address to be able to enter for it.
I am really excited for this single. From having some classic concert songs finally getting released on CD to just having a good A-side I'm rather pumped for it. Also as this marks the fourth single since their debut album there is a good chance the next CD release could be their sophomore album. And honestly I think it would be perfect for them to release an album next. Most of the time when the older groups tour it is because they have just released an album and I think it is about time for HSJ to start doing the same. Their upcoming tour will be in April so it would be a good timing to release an album about that time. Even if there is not a long break between this single and that potential release I think it would still be fine. Johnny's acts tend to do better with singles over albums so they probably do not need to worry about scheduling things as much as a single. So I really hope this happens. HSJ still needs to catch up from all that time they spent not releasing CDs in 2009 and this would be a great way to do it.
And on a side note, thank you to everyone who has voted so far. I would like to be able to read some comments about the subject though so I have a understanding about why people are making the selections they are. I would really appreciate it but do not feel forced to write anything if you really do not want to.
Also with each edition of the CD there will be a code that can be entered in a drawing for a special DVD, another JUMP Party DVD. Of course you need to have a Japanese address to be able to enter for it.
I am really excited for this single. From having some classic concert songs finally getting released on CD to just having a good A-side I'm rather pumped for it. Also as this marks the fourth single since their debut album there is a good chance the next CD release could be their sophomore album. And honestly I think it would be perfect for them to release an album next. Most of the time when the older groups tour it is because they have just released an album and I think it is about time for HSJ to start doing the same. Their upcoming tour will be in April so it would be a good timing to release an album about that time. Even if there is not a long break between this single and that potential release I think it would still be fine. Johnny's acts tend to do better with singles over albums so they probably do not need to worry about scheduling things as much as a single. So I really hope this happens. HSJ still needs to catch up from all that time they spent not releasing CDs in 2009 and this would be a great way to do it.
And on a side note, thank you to everyone who has voted so far. I would like to be able to read some comments about the subject though so I have a understanding about why people are making the selections they are. I would really appreciate it but do not feel forced to write anything if you really do not want to.
19 January 2012
The Possibilities of the Future for Never Ending Music Power.
So there has been a snow storm coming through the are of the U.S. that I live and as it is not an area used to getting much snow I am stuck having to stay home as the roads just are not safe for me to drive on yet. This of course has given me time to think about the future of this blog.
In 2007 when I began blogging about Johnny's never would I have imagined that I would ever be so active about it and cover so much of it. I mainly just bumbled along trying to find things to blog about to keep posting on a semi-regular schedule so I would not abandon this blog. One thing I decided to do to meet that goal was to start reporting about news about any of the Johnny's groups and such, which did indeed help. But since then there has been the emergence of NYC and the debut of Kis-My-Ft2, Sexy Zone and soon to be A.B.C-Z as well as Akanishi Jin and Yamashita Tomohisa leaving their groups to go solo, while all the other groups are still going strong with little sign of stopping. So there is a lot of cover and as I mentioned in my previous post I no longer have the time to really keep up with it all.
Even though I hate to do it, I just cannot see myself being able to keep up with all of Johnny's anymore. I am sure some readers have noticed the lack of posts about new releases for some groups recently which is pretty much of this issue of time. So I have decided to just blog about the groups I do follow the most. The main groups (sub-units included) will be NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP, Kis-My-Ft2, NYC, TOKIO and the Juniors. I am still on the fence about Sexy Zone, it will really depend on future releases from them and I am interested in how Akanishi Jin does in the U.S. so I will follow that part of his solo career. From time to time I will probably still blog about some other groups like, Kanjani8, SMAP, A.B.C-Z and possibly KAT-TUN. The rest of the groups I won't follow so much anymore, if I run across a news item of interest I will probably blog about it but nothing outside of that.
I feel bad that I will not be following Johnny's as I did before but there is just so much to follow these days, especially as new groups are being added to the growing list of debuted groups while none of the older groups are disbanding or showing any plans to disband. And then there is always the fact that new Juniors are always being added and there is always the chance that Johnny's will debut a new group at whatever time they feel they should. So I guess in a way it can be seen as a burden of success.
And as this change to the blog has been thought about it I could not help but wonder if I should not make some more changes as well. And the change I was mostly thinking of is to make this blog for all the idols/idol groups that I follow. There really is not much outside of Johnny's that I follow, mainly NMB48, with some DiVA (mostly Akimoto Sayaka), ZONE, Buono! and of course the Yamashita brothers (and ex-Johnny's) Shoon (Sean) and Reon (Leon). There may be a smattering of other idols, like the small handful of K-pop groups I like, but I do not really follow them outside of music releases so they probably will not get mentioned much at all.
Of course before I go ahead with trying a change like that I would like to hear some feedback about what readers would thing first. I know I have my other blog where I have been making posts about some of those groups already but I feel I would prefer to have all the idol stuff on one blog instead of divided between two so I can have the other blog for non-idol things. But you can either leave a comment on this post about your thoughts about it or I will have a poll up that you can vote on to give me an idea of what people think about this.
I would like to blog about Yamashita Shoon and Reon on this blog as they have the Johnny's connection so I would assume that there would still be some fans that might be interested in what was going on with their post-Johnny's careers. And the reason I even got into NMB48 was because Nakayama Yuma's older sister, going by the stage name Yamada Nana, is a member of the group. And the rest I came to like from just going out and trying something new and I would love to share these groups that I like with others.
In any case this blog will remain mostly about Johnny's as they are the ones I follow the most actively. Though as I mentioned it will probably be less general because I do not have the time I used to for keeping up with all of Johnny's as there is just so much to try to track, especially with all the other interests I have.
In 2007 when I began blogging about Johnny's never would I have imagined that I would ever be so active about it and cover so much of it. I mainly just bumbled along trying to find things to blog about to keep posting on a semi-regular schedule so I would not abandon this blog. One thing I decided to do to meet that goal was to start reporting about news about any of the Johnny's groups and such, which did indeed help. But since then there has been the emergence of NYC and the debut of Kis-My-Ft2, Sexy Zone and soon to be A.B.C-Z as well as Akanishi Jin and Yamashita Tomohisa leaving their groups to go solo, while all the other groups are still going strong with little sign of stopping. So there is a lot of cover and as I mentioned in my previous post I no longer have the time to really keep up with it all.
Even though I hate to do it, I just cannot see myself being able to keep up with all of Johnny's anymore. I am sure some readers have noticed the lack of posts about new releases for some groups recently which is pretty much of this issue of time. So I have decided to just blog about the groups I do follow the most. The main groups (sub-units included) will be NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP, Kis-My-Ft2, NYC, TOKIO and the Juniors. I am still on the fence about Sexy Zone, it will really depend on future releases from them and I am interested in how Akanishi Jin does in the U.S. so I will follow that part of his solo career. From time to time I will probably still blog about some other groups like, Kanjani8, SMAP, A.B.C-Z and possibly KAT-TUN. The rest of the groups I won't follow so much anymore, if I run across a news item of interest I will probably blog about it but nothing outside of that.
I feel bad that I will not be following Johnny's as I did before but there is just so much to follow these days, especially as new groups are being added to the growing list of debuted groups while none of the older groups are disbanding or showing any plans to disband. And then there is always the fact that new Juniors are always being added and there is always the chance that Johnny's will debut a new group at whatever time they feel they should. So I guess in a way it can be seen as a burden of success.
And as this change to the blog has been thought about it I could not help but wonder if I should not make some more changes as well. And the change I was mostly thinking of is to make this blog for all the idols/idol groups that I follow. There really is not much outside of Johnny's that I follow, mainly NMB48, with some DiVA (mostly Akimoto Sayaka), ZONE, Buono! and of course the Yamashita brothers (and ex-Johnny's) Shoon (Sean) and Reon (Leon). There may be a smattering of other idols, like the small handful of K-pop groups I like, but I do not really follow them outside of music releases so they probably will not get mentioned much at all.
Of course before I go ahead with trying a change like that I would like to hear some feedback about what readers would thing first. I know I have my other blog where I have been making posts about some of those groups already but I feel I would prefer to have all the idol stuff on one blog instead of divided between two so I can have the other blog for non-idol things. But you can either leave a comment on this post about your thoughts about it or I will have a poll up that you can vote on to give me an idea of what people think about this.
I would like to blog about Yamashita Shoon and Reon on this blog as they have the Johnny's connection so I would assume that there would still be some fans that might be interested in what was going on with their post-Johnny's careers. And the reason I even got into NMB48 was because Nakayama Yuma's older sister, going by the stage name Yamada Nana, is a member of the group. And the rest I came to like from just going out and trying something new and I would love to share these groups that I like with others.
In any case this blog will remain mostly about Johnny's as they are the ones I follow the most actively. Though as I mentioned it will probably be less general because I do not have the time I used to for keeping up with all of Johnny's as there is just so much to try to track, especially with all the other interests I have.
Brief quasi-Hiatus
As followers of this blog may have noticed there has been a drop in posts in the past week or so. This is mainly because my job has switched schedules dramatically so I'm still just trying to adjust to that and figuring out when to find time to do blogging. It's also gotten me to start thinking about what exactly I want to do with this blog, as in what direction I want to go with it. I will most likely make another post about that once I have a better idea as I am only in brainstorming mode for now.
Until I get things sorted I'll be on a quasi-hiatus. The History of Johnny's posts will still get posted every Saturday as I have planned and I will probably still cover happenings for my top groups, like NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP and Kis-My-Ft2. But outside of that posts will probably be sparse until I return.
Hopefully I can figure things out soon and get back to posting on a regular schedule again but with my time being more constrained because of work I do need to figure out a way to keep up with everything I want to keep up with. As while Johnny's is a major fandom I am a part of it is not the only one so it will mainly be finding a way to balance it all. And I may be putting a poll up soon to get some feed back about some ideas I'm just pondering for now on how to do that.
Until I get things sorted I'll be on a quasi-hiatus. The History of Johnny's posts will still get posted every Saturday as I have planned and I will probably still cover happenings for my top groups, like NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP and Kis-My-Ft2. But outside of that posts will probably be sparse until I return.
Hopefully I can figure things out soon and get back to posting on a regular schedule again but with my time being more constrained because of work I do need to figure out a way to keep up with everything I want to keep up with. As while Johnny's is a major fandom I am a part of it is not the only one so it will mainly be finding a way to balance it all. And I may be putting a poll up soon to get some feed back about some ideas I'm just pondering for now on how to do that.
15 January 2012
Johnny's Best Selling Artist of All Time 2011
With Music Station's return they aired the lists of the best selling artists of all time from the sales up to the end of the previous year, 2011. It probably is no surprise to see Johnny's doing well in the group category and even getting on the male solo list.
Group
01. SMAP - 32,730,000
02. KinKi Kids - 25,210,000
04. Arashi - 21,590,000
10. Hikaru GENJI - 12,220,000
11. V6 - 12,210,000
16. KAT-TUN - 8,450,000
Male Solo
17. Masahiko Kondo - 12,670,000
I don't think it's surprising to see SMAP at the top of the list if just for the fact that their career has lasted so long and they were around during the peak of CD sales. It looks like in a few years Arashi could possibly be able to surpass Kinki Kids, though they will still have a long way to go to beat SMAP.
It is rather interesting to see that Matchy is the only soloist on the list. I cannot help but wonder if any of the recently debuted soloists will ever be able to make this list.
Group
01. SMAP - 32,730,000
02. KinKi Kids - 25,210,000
04. Arashi - 21,590,000
10. Hikaru GENJI - 12,220,000
11. V6 - 12,210,000
16. KAT-TUN - 8,450,000
Male Solo
17. Masahiko Kondo - 12,670,000
I don't think it's surprising to see SMAP at the top of the list if just for the fact that their career has lasted so long and they were around during the peak of CD sales. It looks like in a few years Arashi could possibly be able to surpass Kinki Kids, though they will still have a long way to go to beat SMAP.
It is rather interesting to see that Matchy is the only soloist on the list. I cannot help but wonder if any of the recently debuted soloists will ever be able to make this list.
14 January 2012
How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Ikuta Toma is a true rarity amongst J&A. He is the only debuted talent that has never had a music debut. Instead when Johnny’s updated their official websites around the time Akanishi Jin officially went solo they just gave Toma his own solo section while they were at it and have dropped labeling him as a Junior in news coverage. Thus making him the first and only Junior to debut strictly as an actor.
He joined the agency in 1996. When he was a Junior he was one of the most popular, about on par with Yamashita Tomohisa, back in what is known as the Golden Age of Juniors because of the huge amount of popularity the Juniors had at the time. He was shuffled in a couple of Junior groups before forming 4Tops with Yamapi and two other Juniors, Kazama Shunsuke and Hasegawa Jun.
Many believed that 4Tops were on their way to debut even when NEWS was first formed as not everyone believed that this would end up being a permanent group, which included some of the members of NEWS. But when NEWS announced their second single that debate was ended as well as the 4Tops group as Yamapi left the group for the debut. It came as a surprise to many fans and the boys themselves as only one of the four debuted even though they were all rather popular.
Toma with Jun and Shunsuke remained on Shounen Club for about a year and then they stopped being on the program. They all moved to do acting and musicals as they all remained with Johnny’s. It was with this shift that Toma decided to dedicate himself to acting and give up on a career based on dancing and singing.
In 2007 Toma got his big break with being cast as Nakatsu Shuichi in the drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. The drama was a hit and he won several Best Supporting Actor awards for it. From there he began getting more and more roles and has even made the jump to films. He has gained a great deal of acclaim from his acting skills and is now one of the more popular actors in Japan.
In 2010 he finally was promoted out of Junior status by getting his one solo page on the official Johnny’s websites and has stopped being referred to as a Junior in official media coverage about him.
TRIVIA: He stars in TOKIO’s PV for their single Na Na Na.
He is still close friends with Yamashita Tomohisa.
Next Entry > Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest
The Living Legend of SMAP
TOKIO, From Spaceships to the Over 30s World
Victory, Volleyball, Vegetable, Vicylce? V6
KinKi Kids, It's Not What You Think
Arashi, Storming to the Top
The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa
North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS
Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞
Cartoon? KAT-TUN!
Jumping to Their Dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP
Johnny's Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin
How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Entering the Sexy Zone
The 5Stars A.B.C-Z
International Ventures
Johnny's and Charity
Odds & Ends
12 January 2012
A Super Delicate Wonderland Train Thrill!
Before I knew that I would have the NYC/Nakayama Yuma single to review yesterday for a blog post I had been thinking of making a post about what I would want to see from the new Hey! Say! JUMP single. On the top of the list would be that the B-sides have at least one of HSJ's older concert songs on them, because they just have so many and the past couple of singles have had them on them so I felt there would be a good chance so would this single. My top choices of course being the one song I have wanted on a CD for about four years, Hey! Say! BEST's Su Ri Ru and to match the age of that song Hey! Say! 7's Wonderland Train, though I would have been just as happy with Brave Story for them.
This morning I woke up then did my usual first thing in the morning rituals that help wake me up, which includes checking e-mail, and found the CDJapan notification that Super Delicate was up for pre-order. First happy surprise that that it was coming out on February 22nd, which means less time to wait for it to come out, the second was that the HSB and HS7 songs (one on each of the two LE editions) on this release would be Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train. Then seeing the DVD for the second LE will have video clips for Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train. And of course while it may not be as surprising the fact that the regular edition comes with two B-sides not on the limited editions, one track being titled JUMP Around the World!!! and the other still untitled. I can see JUMP Around the World!!! being the theme song for their upcoming Asia concert tour and while having older songs finally released on CD it is nice to have new songs to look forward to as well.
Honestly looking at all that I immediately made my pre-order so now all I have to do is wait for the release. But I honestly doubt this single is going to disappoint if just because of Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train, as I have wanting them on CD since I heard them with HSJ's debut concert DVD. And I think I need to keep silently hoping for an album to be released for the upcoming concert tour and maybe that will come true as well.
This morning I woke up then did my usual first thing in the morning rituals that help wake me up, which includes checking e-mail, and found the CDJapan notification that Super Delicate was up for pre-order. First happy surprise that that it was coming out on February 22nd, which means less time to wait for it to come out, the second was that the HSB and HS7 songs (one on each of the two LE editions) on this release would be Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train. Then seeing the DVD for the second LE will have video clips for Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train. And of course while it may not be as surprising the fact that the regular edition comes with two B-sides not on the limited editions, one track being titled JUMP Around the World!!! and the other still untitled. I can see JUMP Around the World!!! being the theme song for their upcoming Asia concert tour and while having older songs finally released on CD it is nice to have new songs to look forward to as well.
Honestly looking at all that I immediately made my pre-order so now all I have to do is wait for the release. But I honestly doubt this single is going to disappoint if just because of Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train, as I have wanting them on CD since I heard them with HSJ's debut concert DVD. And I think I need to keep silently hoping for an album to be released for the upcoming concert tour and maybe that will come true as well.
11 January 2012
NYC/Nakayama Yuma - Wonderful Cupid/Garasu no Mahou CD review
My copy of the NYC/Nakayama Yuma single came in today so I figured I might as well give it a quick review, as I already have listened to the tracks so I have opinions to share on them.
I got the regular version of the single, as it came with the B-side track which is not on the limited edition. I admit I was excited about the single having two covers so it was a disappointment that the back cover featuring Nakayama Yuma is actually just a wrap around obi. Because this is the first press edition I have the two photos that the single comes with and I like them even though there is not anything special going on in either but the boys look good.
If you read my PV review for Wonderful Cupid you already know that I do not like this song. At all. And it is not because it is a cutesy song, because I typically like cutesy songs, I liked Magic Power and Aiing -Aishiteru- and other songs like them. Nor is it because it sounds like a children's song, because I like some children's songs, like Utada Hikaru's Boku no Kuma and some tracks off of Barenaked Ladies' children's album, Snacktime. But Wonderful Cupid until those tracks is ultra simple and sounds like the kind of children's song that people play for them because they do not think kids can appreciate music that is more complex or they do not think they are mature enough for the music adults like.
The main saving grace of this single is Nakayama Yuma's solo song and the other A-side to the single, Garasu no Mahou. It was a solo song that came from 2011's PLAYZONE musical and this is actually the third time it has been released, the first being on the soundtrack for PLAYZONE '11 and then as a digital single. The song really is a good fit for Yuma's voice and I love how he brings a nice tenderness to one of the lines at the beginning. He is no way a power house vocalist but using his voice like that shows he has skill and really brings emotion across in his singing. I like the beat of the song and while it sounds like the kind of song that is typical of a Johnny's musical it is one that really can stand as a single track and I am glad has been given the treatment it has. I really hope we keep getting tracks like this from Yuma with future releases and he is able to eventually go solo as that really seems to be where Johnny's is pushing him towards.
I am really glad to have gotten the regular edition as Jungle Life is a return to the fun cute songs that I like from NYC. It's fun and energetic and has a sound of it that reminds me of pop songs from the early-mid 90s. I think it's the woahs in the chorus. I would much rather have had this as the A-side for NYC, random animal sounds and all. Though to be completely honest I am glad it is not an A-side as it is definitely B-side material but it is still much better than Wonderful Cupid.
So even though I sincerely believe this is NYC's worst single, Nakayama Yuma really shines with his solo song and the B-side is a good reminder of what the group is usually about, cute fun.
I got the regular version of the single, as it came with the B-side track which is not on the limited edition. I admit I was excited about the single having two covers so it was a disappointment that the back cover featuring Nakayama Yuma is actually just a wrap around obi. Because this is the first press edition I have the two photos that the single comes with and I like them even though there is not anything special going on in either but the boys look good.
If you read my PV review for Wonderful Cupid you already know that I do not like this song. At all. And it is not because it is a cutesy song, because I typically like cutesy songs, I liked Magic Power and Aiing -Aishiteru- and other songs like them. Nor is it because it sounds like a children's song, because I like some children's songs, like Utada Hikaru's Boku no Kuma and some tracks off of Barenaked Ladies' children's album, Snacktime. But Wonderful Cupid until those tracks is ultra simple and sounds like the kind of children's song that people play for them because they do not think kids can appreciate music that is more complex or they do not think they are mature enough for the music adults like.
The main saving grace of this single is Nakayama Yuma's solo song and the other A-side to the single, Garasu no Mahou. It was a solo song that came from 2011's PLAYZONE musical and this is actually the third time it has been released, the first being on the soundtrack for PLAYZONE '11 and then as a digital single. The song really is a good fit for Yuma's voice and I love how he brings a nice tenderness to one of the lines at the beginning. He is no way a power house vocalist but using his voice like that shows he has skill and really brings emotion across in his singing. I like the beat of the song and while it sounds like the kind of song that is typical of a Johnny's musical it is one that really can stand as a single track and I am glad has been given the treatment it has. I really hope we keep getting tracks like this from Yuma with future releases and he is able to eventually go solo as that really seems to be where Johnny's is pushing him towards.
I am really glad to have gotten the regular edition as Jungle Life is a return to the fun cute songs that I like from NYC. It's fun and energetic and has a sound of it that reminds me of pop songs from the early-mid 90s. I think it's the woahs in the chorus. I would much rather have had this as the A-side for NYC, random animal sounds and all. Though to be completely honest I am glad it is not an A-side as it is definitely B-side material but it is still much better than Wonderful Cupid.
So even though I sincerely believe this is NYC's worst single, Nakayama Yuma really shines with his solo song and the B-side is a good reminder of what the group is usually about, cute fun.
10 January 2012
A quick look at Tanaka Juri
Over on the LJ community Jr_W0rld, there has been a dedicated translator, juniority, that has been translating quite a few of the Junior articles and I am really grateful for that. Since I had to cut back severely on the amount of magazines I buy because of my budget I feel like it has become a bit harder to follow the Juniors as their main activities tend to be magazine shoots, back dancing at concerts and performing on Shounen Club. Right now I can really only follow them through Shounen Club so that makes it hard to actually get to know them, especially with so many new faces getting pushed to the front of late. And of course it is always nice to learn more about the older faces as well, especially with them getting greater opportunities with the recent debuts.
From this I think I found a new reason to like Tanaka Juri, as he is probably the first Junior I have seen that has mentioned that he does not care about a girl's appearance when it comes to the common "What type of girl you like." question in these magazines. The full quote using juniority's translation is:
I find it refreshing as most of the time it's always something about a kind girl, a girl that can cook well, or what length of hair they prefer for a girl to have. While I can agree with the kindness being a good trait the other stuff just seems like it would be strange to be considered a deal breaker as it sometimes comes off with some of the boys' answers. Though I guess it can be chalked up that there is probably a chunk of them that are either not paying that much attention to girls in the first place because of their age and are just answering as they have seen others do or have little experience with girls and just go with appearance because it is easy. Though I feel the stress on appearance is not something I care for at all and after a while it seems like the boys are just stealing ideas from each other as they rarely say anything different about the matter. Which is why Juri's response stands out to me as it seems more genuine then most as it is not the kind of answer that you typically find for this question.
I have had high hopes for Juri for a while but he never seemed to be able to get that extra push other Juniors were getting even though he had his own group with Hip Hop Jump, so it makes me happy to see that is changing. I think he is definitely a Junior to watch as he is sure to go somewhere, as I'm sure Johnny's would love to have the first brothers to have debuted with him and his older brother Tanaka Koki eventually. But even beyond that I think he sounds like he is someone I can find to be rather like-able and am willing to say that I am a fan of.
From this I think I found a new reason to like Tanaka Juri, as he is probably the first Junior I have seen that has mentioned that he does not care about a girl's appearance when it comes to the common "What type of girl you like." question in these magazines. The full quote using juniority's translation is:
A girl who won’t be too careful when we’re together. It’d be nice if she was a girl who had the same attitude as me, and who could read the atmosphere. I think a girl who laughs a lot at jokes it good. I have zero preferences about her appearance. It’s totally ok if she’s taller than me.
I find it refreshing as most of the time it's always something about a kind girl, a girl that can cook well, or what length of hair they prefer for a girl to have. While I can agree with the kindness being a good trait the other stuff just seems like it would be strange to be considered a deal breaker as it sometimes comes off with some of the boys' answers. Though I guess it can be chalked up that there is probably a chunk of them that are either not paying that much attention to girls in the first place because of their age and are just answering as they have seen others do or have little experience with girls and just go with appearance because it is easy. Though I feel the stress on appearance is not something I care for at all and after a while it seems like the boys are just stealing ideas from each other as they rarely say anything different about the matter. Which is why Juri's response stands out to me as it seems more genuine then most as it is not the kind of answer that you typically find for this question.
I have had high hopes for Juri for a while but he never seemed to be able to get that extra push other Juniors were getting even though he had his own group with Hip Hop Jump, so it makes me happy to see that is changing. I think he is definitely a Junior to watch as he is sure to go somewhere, as I'm sure Johnny's would love to have the first brothers to have debuted with him and his older brother Tanaka Koki eventually. But even beyond that I think he sounds like he is someone I can find to be rather like-able and am willing to say that I am a fan of.
08 January 2012
NYC - Wonderful Cupid PV review
I finally got my hands on a video of the PV for this song to do a review of. Though the more I look at it the more I realize there is actually very little to review.
I think the worst thing about Wonderful Cupid, for both the song itself and the PV, is that it is just too simple. I mean Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star sounds like a more complex tune than Wonderful Cupid and is only beat in the fact that WC (a perfect abbreviation for such a flushable tune) runs on for 2 1/2 minutes longer than it should. Honestly they just needed to do something with the song's melody to change it up a bit more and it would have been so much better. The monotonous feeling of this song just makes it feel like it's dragging on and trying to bore you into a stupor instead of sing you to sleep.
The PV is okay. It fits the song, for better or worse, but does not seem to try to much else.
While I do not mind these scenes it feels like we get too many of them as nothing much is happening. I do rather like the outfits the boys are in.
I really do not care for how light Nakayama Yuma's hair color is. But part of it could be more from how light the PV in general is and it might look better if set against something that would contrast with it.
I do think it is interesting that they actually have a real girl in a PV. I get the feeling though it is not a Japanese girl to try to make her "safe" for NYC fans. Like they do not have to worry so much that there is a girl with the boys because there is a good chance she is foreign and will never see them again after this unlike a Japanese girl who could end up working with them again. Of course I do not agree with that line of thinking but I have seen enough reactions from younger fans when there are dating rumors to understand the logic behind something like that.
This was a cute moment and the PV would probably would have been much better if it had more of these.
The "walking" in these book scenes is hilariously bad. I do not think they are fooling anyone when they are walking in place in front of a green screen. I think the reason this single does not have a version with the PV and making of is because of how boring the making of would be.
You know it is sad when swaying pretty much ends up being the "dance" for a song.
And we thankfully get the end. And honestly I tend to like NYC songs but this has to easily be the worst song they're released and that is including B-sides. If not for the fact Yuma has his solo song on this single I would have been tempted not to buy a copy. And I really wish Yuma had a PV for his song as it probably would have been better than this.
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| And for some reason the yellow becomes green for this PV. |
I think the worst thing about Wonderful Cupid, for both the song itself and the PV, is that it is just too simple. I mean Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star sounds like a more complex tune than Wonderful Cupid and is only beat in the fact that WC (a perfect abbreviation for such a flushable tune) runs on for 2 1/2 minutes longer than it should. Honestly they just needed to do something with the song's melody to change it up a bit more and it would have been so much better. The monotonous feeling of this song just makes it feel like it's dragging on and trying to bore you into a stupor instead of sing you to sleep.
The PV is okay. It fits the song, for better or worse, but does not seem to try to much else.
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| Let's see what Yamada did on his summer vacation. |
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| Yamada wishing he was in any other book than this. |
I do actually like how you have the song lyrics as the book's text. Though the fact that all the kanji has furigana is a rather big indication on the ages this release is most likely aimed for, pre-teens.
I really do not care for how light Nakayama Yuma's hair color is. But part of it could be more from how light the PV in general is and it might look better if set against something that would contrast with it.
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| Random white girl walking fake dog. |
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| Yamada showing the others his ingenious plan to get out of the PV, walk out. |
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| And this is pretty much the climax of the entire PV... |
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| Yuma, where did you get your animals for your pet store? That hamster is bigger than the cat. |
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| Even though he's smiling I can't help but feel his eyes are screaming "Save me!" |
And I really have nothing to say at this point as my brain kept thinking of anything else than this song and PV so it could keep itself awake. Though I do wonder how the boys felt about this song and PV. I mean they must be getting to the point where they would want to do something else with NYC than sing songs like this.
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| And now let us never speak of this again. |
07 January 2012
Johnny’s Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin
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In October of 2006, much to the surprise of the fans and media, Jin announced that he was leaving the country to study English abroad. He went to the United States and remained there until April of 2007. Upon his return he also was returned to KAT-TUN.
In 2009 he began to start doing solo work, such as not only starring in the movie Bandage but releasing a single and album for the fictional rock band in the movie, LANDS. He followed this by having his own solo concerts in early 2010 in Japan. Then in 2010 made his U.S. concert debut in March, performing in Los Angeles, California. As his Japanese solo concerts wrapped up he announced that he was going on tour in the U.S. and then in July he announced that he was leaving KAT-TUN.
Unlike the first time he left the group his departure this time was announced as final as Jin committed himself to pursuing a career in the United States. Since then he has gone back and forth between Japan and the United States. He has released two Japanese singles and one U.S. single with the next U.S. single scheduled to be released on January 24th. His debut U.S. album, Japanicana, is set to come out on March 6th and will be followed by a North American concert tour.
He surprised everyone in February 2012 by announcing that he had married actress & singer Kuroki Meisa earlier in the month. It is rumored that she is already two months pregnant but that has yet to be confirmed.
TRIVIA: He has a younger brother who also works in the entertainment industry but uses a stage name.
His debut EP, Test Drive, reached number 10 on the U.S. iTunes album charts the day it was released.
Next Entry > How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Directory >
Introduction
Johnny’s Juniors, full of rising stars and heartbreak
The Early and Rocky Path to Fame
Kondo Masahiko: Singer, Dancer, Actor, Professional Race Car Driver
Giving a New Meaning to Playzone, Shounentai
Hikaru Genji, Shining the Brightest and Crashing the Hardest
The Living Legend of SMAP
TOKIO, From Spaceships to the Over 30s World
Victory, Volleyball, Vegetable, Vicylce? V6
KinKi Kids, It's Not What You Think
Arashi, Storming to the Top
The Inseparable Duo, Tackey & Tsubasa
North, East, West, South ... It's big NEWS
Kansai Underdogs, Kanjani∞
Cartoon? KAT-TUN!
Jumping to Their Dreams, Hey! Say! JUMP
Johnny's Black Sheep, Akanishi Jin
How to Debut Without Even Trying, Ikuta Toma
Kis-My-Ft2, Everybody Go (Roller Skating)!
Yamashita Tomohisa, Johnny’s Golden Boy
Entering the Sexy Zone
The 5Stars A.B.C-Z
International Ventures
Johnny's and Charity
Odds & Ends
06 January 2012
Because nothing says funeral parlor drama like Texas Love
It has been announced that Yamashita Tomohisa will be starting his post-NEWS solo career by singing the theme song for his upcoming drama, Saiko no Jinsei no Owarikata ~Ending Planner~. The title of the song will be Ai Texas and will be released by his new music label, Warner Music Japan.
Oricon Style article (Japanese)
Honestly when I skimmed the news I thought the song would be for the program he has that has him doing a road trip in the U.S., so it surprised me to see it was instead for his drama. I really do not get how a song with a title like that makes any sense for a drama series like that, but I guess it would not be the first time a drama had an odd choice in theme songs.
Since there is no release date yet it's anyone's guess when the single with it will be released. It is interesting that Yamapi switched labels, and to the same one as Akanishi Jin to boot. There had been a rumor about Yamapi being seen in the company of the president of Warner Music to discuss a possible U.S. debut before the announcement of him leaving NEWS, but honestly I think it was probably more just to discuss about the label switch as I see Yamapi being much better off staying in Asia than trying to break in to the U.S. when Jin has made so little progress with that.
Though in the end I just hope NEWS fans are not made to wait much longer to get news about a new release or group activities from them seeing how Yamapi has so quickly moved on to be a solo artist.
Oricon Style article (Japanese)
Honestly when I skimmed the news I thought the song would be for the program he has that has him doing a road trip in the U.S., so it surprised me to see it was instead for his drama. I really do not get how a song with a title like that makes any sense for a drama series like that, but I guess it would not be the first time a drama had an odd choice in theme songs.
Since there is no release date yet it's anyone's guess when the single with it will be released. It is interesting that Yamapi switched labels, and to the same one as Akanishi Jin to boot. There had been a rumor about Yamapi being seen in the company of the president of Warner Music to discuss a possible U.S. debut before the announcement of him leaving NEWS, but honestly I think it was probably more just to discuss about the label switch as I see Yamapi being much better off staying in Asia than trying to break in to the U.S. when Jin has made so little progress with that.
Though in the end I just hope NEWS fans are not made to wait much longer to get news about a new release or group activities from them seeing how Yamapi has so quickly moved on to be a solo artist.
04 January 2012
Jin set to release second U.S. single
If you've signed up for the official Johnny's International e-mail then you've probably seen this announcement, but for those who haven't Akanishi Jin will be releasing a second single for the U.S. The single will be released digitally on January 26th and is titled Sun Burns Down.
The announcement also states that the music video for the single will be released the same day on his official youtube account and that for the single there will be a special contest for fans. For more information you have to check his official home page, but I did not see anything up yet for it when I checked.
I'm kinda glad he's releasing another single but only if he actually pushes to promote it unlike Test Drive.
The announcement also states that the music video for the single will be released the same day on his official youtube account and that for the single there will be a special contest for fans. For more information you have to check his official home page, but I did not see anything up yet for it when I checked.
I'm kinda glad he's releasing another single but only if he actually pushes to promote it unlike Test Drive.
03 January 2012
Arashi to host this year's NTV 24 Hour Television
It has already been announced that the main personalities for this year's NTV 24 Hour Television charity event will be Arashi. This will be the third time the group has hosted the television event.
The hosts for the program usually are not announced until later in the year but it was decided to announce so early this year because the event is scheduled to begin its projects for the program earlier in the year. The theme of course will center around the recovery of the Tohoku region of Japan that still faces a long road to recover after the devastation that the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami brought to the region.
Tokyo Graph article. (English)
The hosts for the program usually are not announced until later in the year but it was decided to announce so early this year because the event is scheduled to begin its projects for the program earlier in the year. The theme of course will center around the recovery of the Tohoku region of Japan that still faces a long road to recover after the devastation that the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami brought to the region.
Tokyo Graph article. (English)
02 January 2012
Hey! Say! JUMP concert announcements
There were a few announcements at Hey! Say! JUMP's concerts today which included tours and a new single. First off they will be having their first Asia tour starting this spring. They plan on touring Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand. They will have concerts in Japan as well, at the Yokohama Arena for a straight week with 27 concerts in total currently scheduled for the Asia tour.
Also they confirmed that the song Super Delicate, the theme song for Yamada Ryosuke's drama Risou no Musuko, will be released as a single in February. No exact date was announced but I'm going to assume it will be either the 22nd or 29th which are the last two weeks of February.
Also Yabu Kota announced that he will be going to Waseda University this Spring as he passed the entrance exam. So congrats to him.
This is coming from fans and not official confirmation yet, but I will assume in the next day or so we'll have all the news articles to validate it.
Okay, the news articles are out and it all is verified. Fuji TV News 24 article. (Japanese)
I Just realized though with this single it could mean they can release an album before their tour as they will have enough single for one. I really hope they do as a Johnny's group they are woefully behind on how many albums they should have coming up on five years since their debut.
Also I broke down and found a concert rip of the new song, Super Delicate, and those worrying that they are going back to a cutesy image after Magic Power can relax. Super Delicate sounds more in line with their "cool" songs from what I could hear, but I think it'll be easier to tell once the drama starts airing and there is a much better quality version to listen to.
Also they confirmed that the song Super Delicate, the theme song for Yamada Ryosuke's drama Risou no Musuko, will be released as a single in February. No exact date was announced but I'm going to assume it will be either the 22nd or 29th which are the last two weeks of February.
Also Yabu Kota announced that he will be going to Waseda University this Spring as he passed the entrance exam. So congrats to him.
Okay, the news articles are out and it all is verified. Fuji TV News 24 article. (Japanese)
I Just realized though with this single it could mean they can release an album before their tour as they will have enough single for one. I really hope they do as a Johnny's group they are woefully behind on how many albums they should have coming up on five years since their debut.
Also I broke down and found a concert rip of the new song, Super Delicate, and those worrying that they are going back to a cutesy image after Magic Power can relax. Super Delicate sounds more in line with their "cool" songs from what I could hear, but I think it'll be easier to tell once the drama starts airing and there is a much better quality version to listen to.
01 January 2012
Never Ending Music Power in 2012
I wanted to make sure the first post for the year would be fitting and so I'll be talking about blog stuff a bit, which will include some plans I have for the blog for the year.
First off I am really happy to see that 2011 has been the second most active year for the blog, only topped by 2009 when I was in Japan and had a lot to blog about when there. I do hope to finally hit 300 posts for 2012 though, and with the way I have been posting in the past few months it looks like it will be quite possible.
To update about History of Johnny's, as you can tell I missed yesterday's post. I thought about doing it for today but instead have decided to actually just "take the week off" instead. This is mainly because I have decided that the groups/artists that I will be covering will be those who have official pages on Johnny's net and I want to give more time to see if Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z will be getting their own pages before I finish up this project.
Right now since I will be adding Ikuta Toma to the list of artist to cover, as he does have his own Johnny's net page and is no longer considered a Junior, the individual pages for groups/artists end the weekend before A.B.C-Z release their debut DVD. So if they get their own page with the debut I will give them a page, if not they will be placed in the final post I will make for the series as they will land into the oddities category with NYC and Sexy Zone (if SZ still doesn't have their own Johnny's net page by then).
When I am done I will go back to update anything that needs to be updated in the posts for it, as if the past few months have shown things do not always remain constant with Johnny's.
Once I do finish with the History of Johnny's I do have another project that I'll want to start. Since I have enjoyed doing the couple of PV reviews I have done so far I have been thinking of going through the PVs I have for the various releases I have purchased, so mostly Hey! Say! JUMP with other groups mixed in, if mainly because Johnny's for some reason almost never has PVs released with NEWS' CDs.
But even with that as a project I will still do PV reviews for new releases whenever I can find a version I can download to make screen caps from or when I actually get the CD/DVD with it.
And for now that is about all I have planned for the blog for the year. If anything this should cover the first half of the year and I am sure by mid-year I will have figured out what to do for my next project.
Thank you all for following me in 2011 and I hope you stick around for 2012.
First off I am really happy to see that 2011 has been the second most active year for the blog, only topped by 2009 when I was in Japan and had a lot to blog about when there. I do hope to finally hit 300 posts for 2012 though, and with the way I have been posting in the past few months it looks like it will be quite possible.
To update about History of Johnny's, as you can tell I missed yesterday's post. I thought about doing it for today but instead have decided to actually just "take the week off" instead. This is mainly because I have decided that the groups/artists that I will be covering will be those who have official pages on Johnny's net and I want to give more time to see if Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z will be getting their own pages before I finish up this project.
Right now since I will be adding Ikuta Toma to the list of artist to cover, as he does have his own Johnny's net page and is no longer considered a Junior, the individual pages for groups/artists end the weekend before A.B.C-Z release their debut DVD. So if they get their own page with the debut I will give them a page, if not they will be placed in the final post I will make for the series as they will land into the oddities category with NYC and Sexy Zone (if SZ still doesn't have their own Johnny's net page by then).
When I am done I will go back to update anything that needs to be updated in the posts for it, as if the past few months have shown things do not always remain constant with Johnny's.
Once I do finish with the History of Johnny's I do have another project that I'll want to start. Since I have enjoyed doing the couple of PV reviews I have done so far I have been thinking of going through the PVs I have for the various releases I have purchased, so mostly Hey! Say! JUMP with other groups mixed in, if mainly because Johnny's for some reason almost never has PVs released with NEWS' CDs.
But even with that as a project I will still do PV reviews for new releases whenever I can find a version I can download to make screen caps from or when I actually get the CD/DVD with it.
And for now that is about all I have planned for the blog for the year. If anything this should cover the first half of the year and I am sure by mid-year I will have figured out what to do for my next project.
Thank you all for following me in 2011 and I hope you stick around for 2012.
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