The Shounen Club 20 February 2005 review

Finally on the last taped episode of this season of Shounen Club. Will do the recap episode that is the actually final episode on Monday as planned so I can get to the next season soon. Of course I am banking on the fact that usually there are some change ups with each season and with KAT-TUN nearing their debut date, only about a year to go now, the issues I am having with the current season will not all carry over.

There is no introduction this episode and it instead begins with KAT-TUN performing a song while spread out in the audience.

After the performance we get to the usual opening talk. The theme of the episode is mirai (future) so we get the discussion about that. The KAT-TUN talk is actually kinda fun to hear this time around, if just for Tanaka Koki saying that in the future he sees himself as a freeter (someone who doesn't have a steady job).

Arioka Daiki and Nakajima Yuto get the chance to talk about the theme. Kitayama Hiromitsu decides to make use of the fact that he is just there on stage by blowing on Yuto's hair when he is talking. But we get a reminder that Yuto is only eleven here and I really cannot believe it has already been about seven years since this was filmed.

While the Mirai medley is another KAT-TUN heavy one there are some cute moments in it. Like Akanishi Jin not leaving Yuto alone who tries his best to continue dancing like he should.

We also get a blink and you will miss it shot of some of the back dancing Juniors and Yamada Ryosuke happens to be the Junior in the front for it. I keep forgetting how baby faced he was when he was little.

There is one short part of the medley that is KAT-TUN free and that is when Toshin Yoshikazu sings with Kis-My-Ft. I guess they must have figured is A.B.C. was not going to be there they would use their other four member Junior group of about the same age to perform with him.

Ueda Tatsuya has his letter reading segment that he has Kamenashi Kazuya guest in. He reads a letter and Kame gives advice about what to do when anxious. Still find this segment unneeded and rather dull. I hope it gets the ax moving into the next season.

Guess I was wrong in predicting that J.J.Express would be performing this episode as we have Ya-Ya-Yah doing a medley instead. They cover a lot of their senpai songs in it and all the members get a good amount of spotlight as members Yamashita Shoon and Ayukawa Taiyo get to be leads for a couple of the songs.

Afterwards there is a letter reading segment between Shoon and Toshin. While not as fun as the more recent ones it is still nice to see the relationships of Juniors in other groups get highlighted.

KAT-TUN perform GOLD as a ballad and I never want to hear it ever again. What makes GOLD a good song is that it is more a rock song than pop and slowing it down by taking some of the rock elements away is not right. Not to mention how boring it becomes. Thankfully it goes back to its usual tempo near the end but it remains a song that does not work at a slower tempo.

Question? is back to perform their song Holy Heaven. While I like them and the song I really have little to say between the fact that the performance does not really stand out to their previous ones of the song.

When NEWS is brought out to do a talk before their performance of the episode we get to see one of my least favorite outfits of theirs. I think it is mainly because they remind me of something you would expect a little old lady would wear than anything else.

They perform a B-side song off their single TEPPEN, Yume no Kazu dake Ai ga Umareru. One things I will give NEWS is that for a group that centers around Yamapi a lot they do a rather good job distributing lines in songs so every member usually gets a solo line in them. I wish a couple other of Johnny's larger groups would do the same more often at least.

We get a game of Sakenpon between NEWS and Sankyodai. While fun you could tell Sankyodai really were not trying and instead were playing up their characters which took out some of that fun.

Kamenashi Kazuya sings Kizuna, which is his solo song that is used as the insert song for the Gokusen 2 drama series he and Jin are in. Once I remembered about the two being in that drama at this time I have been waiting for Kame to perform this song. I have always liked it and while not a big Kame fan still found myself enjoying the performance, though I wish he did something more than just stand in place during the instrumental breaks.

We do get a VTR segment for the show. We have Inoo Kei again, but without Ikuta Toma. I would guess that Toma is still around as the set has not changed from the last episode's VTR segment and you can hear someone laughing off camera that sounds like Toma's. In any case it is up to Takizawa Hideaki to help a still very nervous Inoo conduct the interview. Of course there is Yoshitsune promotion, in fact until that drama is done airing I think that will probably be the default topic when Tackey shows up on the program.

We finally get a break from the usual end song and instead have KAT-TUN with NEWS and Sankyodai singing the Tackey & Tsubasa song Sotsugyo. Now this really feels like an ending and it is nice to see more than one group singing in it.


Overall not a bad episode. There is a good mix of the groups and Juniors and finally we get an ending that is interesting to watch if just for the fact it is a different song with not just the usual performers in it.

Either way I am glad to see this season ending. It is hard to say that the next episode is really the final episode of the season being a recap episode. It really feels more like a place holder. But in any case I am excited at the prospect of change coming up in the show's format as I know the show is starting to reach the episodes I was able to find the full versions of when I first began watching (mainly 2006/2007 episodes) and they are different than what I have been watching.