Nintama Johnny's

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12. ゆめのタネ (NYC) /Yume no Tane (NYC)

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

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


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

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