The Shounen Club 10 July 2005 review

July 2005 is an interesting month for Shounen Club as we get the one of the official lost episodes of the show that I know of. I will explain how this month ended up only having a single episode at the end.

First thing to note is the lack of KAT-TUN in the introduction. Not sure where they would be, I would assume concerts as A.B.C. is there (with Toshin Yoshikazu even) so I doubt it would be Dream Boys.

In KAT-TUN's place we have NEWS instead, and as an eight member group still but you can believe this will be the last time we see it. But they come on right after the intros to do a quick  performance with the Juniors to kick off the episode.

The producer for this episode is Koyama Keiichiro and the theme that he picked was Cherish.

As he tells everyone that he cherishes NEWS we begin the first medley which is a NEWS medley and I begin to feel really sad. I did not become a fan of the group until I discovered them after they had become a six member group so watching SC by air date, especially this episode, really puts what is about to happen in perspective as a NEWS fan.

Trying to find some positives to focus on during the NEWS medley for one of the songs we get what is now the current line up for the group performing together. Guess this is more bittersweet though in the end.

After the medley Nakajima Yuto and Inoo Kei beckon the group to join them on the side of the stage. They read a letter from a fan and the talk revolves around the episode theme.

We get Masuda Takahisa and Kato Shigeaki highlighted as members that have birthdays in July. Shige does most of the talking and mostly about receiving mail on his phone for his birthday from group members.

NEWS gets to sing another song then, Kirameki no Kanata e. I think I would complain about how much NEWS we get in this episode except coming into this episode knowing this is the last 8 member episode for the group I am feeling more lenient on that bugbear. That and the Juniors are worked into segments and performances in the episode which helps make it seem a bit more balanced.

After that performance Toshin & A.B.C. get a talk segment where they talk about what they cherish. And you better believe at least one member brings up acrobatics.

We have Koyama lead the Mister X wa Dare da! segment, which actually has a good mix of Juniors as the contestants. It feels like it has been too long since I last saw some of them in a game segment. We do get the screen of who Mister X is and I felt I would be very disappointed in Nishikido Ryo if he got it wrong.

Especially when we get the only KAT-TUN (there is footage of them on that TV screen there) appearance with it, as Akanishi Jin gets to give hints via VTR.

Massu and Shige lead a talk segment with Ya-Ya-Yah where they ask each member about what they cherish. Massu is surprisingly talkative and takes the lead for it.

As Yax3 go off to prepare to perform Massu says that he cherishes Shige then Shige trolls him by saying he cherishes Koyama. He then does say he cherishes Massu too after getting Massu's reaction and a good laugh out of it.

Ya-Ya-Yah then perform their song START, which is full of energy and even has the Juniors back dancing pick up pom poms in the second half of the song. I like the song because it is fun and energetic and in this episode it continues the energetic feel of it with most of NEWS' songs being of the same ilk.

There is a Junior ni Q segment this episode and it is a great one for Hey! Say! JUMP fans, as we get three members of that group in this one. We also get Hashimoto Ryosuke, who is still very much in his adorable Junior stage. It is hard to believe that he is the same age as the younger members of HSJ.

Yamada Ryosuke gets his "debut" on the program in the sense we get to see his name on the screen for the first time. There is also Morimoto Ryutaro brought over to talk about his answer but we should be seeing more of him in future episodes so he gets a pass with screen caps this time.

And to round it out we also get to see Takaki Yuya, who looks to be in his awkward teen years. It is so strange to see him with such short hair. Not to mention it not being dyed some variation of brown.

We get a game segment that includes all the members of NEWS. They have to take turns saying something good about a member of the group and the first to stutter has to do a batsu game. The batsu game is just to say something embarrassing about themselves. Of course this just seems like the kind of game Koyama would want to play as he is all about being positive.

Toshin Yoshikazu & A.B.C. get to perform. I feel like I am stuck wondering why Toshin is still in this group. He does not do the acrobatics and he really is not needed for vocals as there are members of the group that can do just as well. I guess this is a reason to why he was eventually taken out of the group.

We get a letter exchange between Koyama and Uchi and it is rather depressing to watch. I can imagine at the time of airing fans probably loved it as the two wrote heartfelt letters to each other but watching knowing what happens in the near future it is just sad.

After the letter reading the two start singing Tomadoi nagara as a duet. They are eventually joined by the rest of the group to finish the song.

We get the usual end talk with the group and again I cannot help but remember that this will be the final time fans will be able to see NEWS as an eight member unit.

We end this episode and an era for NEWS with a performance of Cherish.

So why did July 2005 only have the one episode? Especially when you look at the end of this one as see the next episode is set to air on July 17th? The simply answer is Uchi Hiroki's underage drinking scandal hit on July 13th. Which makes this July 10th episode the last we shall see of Uchi until his return in about a couple of years or so.

But because of his scandal and since it was a pretty major one a lot that involved him got pulled, which included a drama special he did with the rest of Kanjani8. So it is no surprise that they pulled the second episode of July for it as well, considering NEWS would still be hosting it and it probably was deemed to much trouble to edit it. And so the July 17th 2005 episode can be considered a lost episode as it was probably all ready to be aired but because of the scandal it did not.


As a NEWS fan this episode was probably one of the hardest to watch, knowing that the group was about to lose a member to a scandal. And to have the theme be Cherish and so much emphasis being on the group cherishing each other it is heartbreaking to watch. Especially anything with Uchi in it. I may not care for him much but he was still a part of the group and loved by the members and I do have some sympathy for him, even though he should have known better than to drink underage. But the adults around him at the time should have known better as well, especially just letting him leave them when he was drunk. I know Ryo has admitted to feeling guilty about the incident as he felt he should have been there to make sure Uchi made it home alright and while NEWS was dealt a blow by this so was Kanjani8. In fact it was felt harder by K8, as they had known him longer and their future was not as certain as NEWS at the time. Which is probably part of why they held on to the hope that Uchi would return to them.

I realize I am rambling now, I guess I have more feelings about this than I had thought at first. But even though this episode brings up those emotions there are also happier things to focus on in the episode, like the interactions by the remaining members of NEWS and of course seeing more of the younger Juniors that will eventually make up Hey! Say! JUMP. So while there is the sad their is joy to be found in this episode as well.