The Shounen Club 13 November 2005 review

Well if there is any sure sign that this is the year KAT-TUN will be debuting the fact that they are missing from several tapings this season would be it. We enter another month with NEWS taking over in their stead as the hosts of the program.

We start off with the usual introduction of the Juniors with a familiar starting track in the back with the lyrics "to North, to East, go West, go South" in the background.

So there is not surprise that NEWS shows up to kick the show off with singing their debut song, NEWS Nippon.

Masuda Takahisa is the producer of the episode and his theme is Smile, which of course is incredibly fitting for him being the happy-go-lucky type.

We get the usual theme medley which has a good mix of NEWS members and Juniors. Like some of the groups getting to sing on their own, like Ya-Ya-Yah singing their song Stompin' as a part of it.

And Toshin Yoshikazu & A.B.C. and Kis-My-Ft2 get to join Yamashita Tomohisa in singing V6's Believe Your Smile.

Near the end of the medley Massu reads some letters quickly that mention him and his smile before starting the final song of Kimi wa Kimi da yo, a SMAP song, that he is joined by the rest of NEWS for part way through.

Ya-Ya-Yah get to be in the first MC talk where they talk about the various things that make them smile.

They then get to sing a new song, Himawari no Melody. It is a very Broadway sounding song that has this great build of momentum as the song goes on that makes it sound more and more energetic and dynamic than from how it starts.

Massu then talks to Inoo Kei and Nakajima Yuto about how joining the agency made them smile.

We then get the game segment of the show Mister X wa Dare da?! with a good mix of contestants. While we do get to see who Mister X is with the audience we do not get the small screen of him, which defeats the purpose of that IMHO.

Kamenashi Kazuya does a VTR for the game and the contestants have some fun with that.

They introduce something new by bringing Mister X out in a box that has holes that the contestants can put their hands through to touch who is inside. (I don't think Yuto was overly happy with that.) Yamapi must have thought the box had a front to it as he ends up looking in and of course is caught. He swore he saw nothing but even if he did he pretty much had to guess wrong or have everyone accuse him of having cheated.

Kato Shigeaki and Kusano Hironori do the next MC segment. Kusano reads a letter that brings up how Shige was called a smile genius, so he is prompted to give one of his smiles.

Yamapi then sings his solo song Colorful, which is the solo of his that ended up on the Seishun Amigo CD release that will be released the following month. I wonder if this means we will get a Seishun Amigo performance next month.

Next up is a Junior ni Q segment with Nakamaru Yuichi and Tanaka Koki hosting. I wonder when they actually filmed this one as it is the usual rehearsal room setting as the past ones. Again most of who is talked to have left the agency, but we do get the full Kis-My-Ft2 group called up.

They manage this by having several members write that their last special smile came from gags from other members of the group. And of course we get to see what those gags were. I think they are the type that you just needed to be there at the moment to appreciate them as I feel like there is an atmosphere or something else missing to make these gags actually funny.

We then get a MC that focuses on Massu, Kawai Fumito and Kitayama Hiromitsu, as all three love dancing. Oddly enough Kitayama is listed as being in Kis-My-Ft. instead of Kis-My-Ft2, so I can only assume this is just a transition thing.

The next performance is a medley and again there is Kis-My-Ft. being listed as the group the older four are in. But the younger four are nowhere to be seen so it probably was not a big issue, again most likely coming from the fact that the Kis-My-Ft2 formation is still pretty new.

After they and Toshin & A.B.C. have their performances Massu comes out to perform his solo It's BAD. I forgot he had this solo, but honestly it is not a very good song and is easily forgettable. The dance is the only thing that really saves it with all the hip swaying and thrusts.

Afterwards NEWS comes out and Massu plays up being winded from the performance so if you want to hear him breath heavily you can have it here.

NEWS then performs Fiesta. Not one of my favorite songs from them but still a fun song as it has good energy at least.

I honestly thought Fiesta was going to be used as the end song for the performance so I was surprised that it ended minutes shy of the end of the show. So there is to be no escape of Wonderful World this episode. But NEWS keeps up the spirit of silly antics for the song.

Double Yamashita!

And midway through Yabu Kota and Yamashita Shoon show up to join in singing with them for whatever reason.


Another good episode when it comes to balancing out the Juniors. I think I could deal with a couple of KAT-TUN heavy episodes without much issue after this. Because it was the month after month of KAT-TUN heavy episodes that got on my nerves more than just having episodes that focused heavily on KAT-TUN.

With Yax3 being included in more and getting a steady amount of screen time it is beginning to feel like they are being set up to take over from KAT-TUN when they leave. Of course it does seem a bit early to be saying that but still looking at the Junior groups as they were then Yax3 easily was the more popular group after KAT-TUN, especially as they did have their own variety program at the time as well. Plus it would be fitting in a way seeing as they will eventually meet the same fate as Four Tops, who KAT-TUN took over for.