The Shounen Club 3 December 2006 review

And we start with the episodes for the final month of 2006, plus get to see a Junior who will become a familiar face make his debut on the program.

Again Fujigaya Taisuke is missing, but now I know why, he would be busy with filming for the drama special Byakkotai that will air in January 2007. Or at least that would explain him missing from one filming date but maybe there was special promotion or something that kept him busy for both filming dates for Shounen Club.

The producer for this episode is Kis-My-Ft2 with their theme being Kosei (Individuality), which seems a bit odd having a group to chose, yet if you think about it their is sense to it as well.

They waste to time in getting to the theme medley for the episode. Each of the groups get to cover a song from a daisempai group then at the end they all perform a song together.

They focus on the little Juniors in the following MC segment with three of them given the chance to talk about something that makes them stand out. Morimoto Ryutaro gets to bring up that he is an older brother as his younger brother, Morimoto Shintaro has joined the agency. So we now have half of the Bakaleya6 Juniors on the show with the other half not joining the agency until after Hey! Say! JUMP debuts.

Back to the answers, Anderson Casey also gets highlighted and he gives his answer in English first, which I am guessing he was asked to do, and everyone tries to pretend that they understand. I think he sounds as one of the most natural English speakers of the Juniors, as his accent is no different from a first language speaker and his speech does not sound stilted. He of course talks about being at concerts speaking in English as Johnny's seems to like having a Junior announce things in English at concerts, which was a main role Casey has done for years.

The guests of the episode then get to start off by performing. Thus we get the first official Tegomass performance on the program as they sing Miso Soup, the title track to their debut single. To me the appeal to Miso Soup has always been with the English version of it and making up my own lyrics based on what the words sound like over what they actually are.

Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi have the duo come over to talk to them about what the song is about. Then about something that makes them stand out.

This is followed by Kis-My-Ft2 performing Kis-My-Me-Mine for the first time on the show. Kitayama Hiromitsu seems to just take over both his and Fujigaya's parts for the song mostly this time with Senga Kento covering the rest. I have always liked the song and I am glad that it was one of the ones that got on a CD release early on after they finally debuted.

The game segment is something new this time around. Tegomass are the judges like in past games where the guest gets to be the judge, but instead of just bringing Juniors out they get to pick a card from the screen and whoever has their talent, which in this case is to showcase their individuality, comes out to show off what it is.

We get to see three of them but I am going to skip covering Kawai Fumito's as his is simply folding his tongue. First up though is Kitayama to do a card trick, which is very similar to the one Senga did a few episodes back. Though Kitayama seems to be much more adept at doing it.

Then up last is Yaotome Hikaru so there is a lot of joking around. So much that I did not notice if Hikaru showed anything off what he was supposed to. But if he did it was talk based so it probably went over my head.

The following MC had a member of each of the Junior groups talk about what sets their group apart from the others. Inoo Kei gets an easy one as J.J.Express is the energetic and youthful group at the moment so he can rely on those. if I am following right Yamashita Shoon talks about how Ya-Ya-Yah all communicate well which prompts Koyama to say it is adult-like. Totsuka Shota in talking about A.B.C. uses a word I am not sure about, I think it is fuukin(organ, as in the musical instrument), though it seems weird to use, unless his explanation cleared it up and I just am not at the level to get that yet. And Yokoo Wataru thankfully goes much simpler with his choice and points out Kis-My-Ft2's roller skates.

A.B.C. then get to debut a new song for the group, Crazy Accel, which will be one of their main songs for the group. Of course like most of their songs the highlight of the performance is their acrobatics which they get plenty of chances to show off with this song.

With the following Junior ni Q we get to see Kyomoto Taiga spotlighted as he shows off a trait that sets him apart, which is a way of walking like he was walking on his toes but the toes are folded underneath. Koyama is rather shocked about it as he ends up repeating "Itai/Ow" a lot with the demonstration. The rest of the Juniors show I do not think are with the agency anymore.

Going back to the performances we have Koyama doing his solo song, Love Addiction. It is of course one of the songs that ended up on the LE bonus disc of NEWS' best album and I enjoy it. It is not a favorite but I still like to listen to it from time to time.

Then it is a MC with Kisumai. Senga, Kitayama and Yokoo get to talk about there individuality, though since Senga goes first right after back dancing for Koyama he gets a bit breathless while doing so.

And we get the return of a running joke that will continue with Nakamaru being one of the hosts of the program, with him going to stand by with whatever group they were talking with as he will be a part of it too. Of course it then ends up with Koyama calling him back over. I have a soft spot for the gag, especially since Nakamaru does not over do it so it remains enjoyable every time he pulls the gag out.

Kisumai get to perform again, starting with one of the few songs that have not been released on CD yet, Ready? Then it is followed up by Inori, which is a song I do not think I will ever get tired of listening to.

And we get the return of gooood for the end song. Even after a break from it I still dislike this song and it is the low point of the show. But even then it is not all bad as at least it gives us a chance to see interactions between members of the groups.


I was surprised with how many firsts where in this episode, from Shintaro being on the show and Tegomass performing as an official unit, then debuts of songs for Kisumai and A.B.C. that are main songs for the groups for a while. So overall another enjoyable episode to watch with little complaint from me.

At this point I feel like I am seeing a pattern form with how the episodes go now, with two performances set aside for none Junior acts, whether it be for the guest(s) or either Nakamaru or Koyama. Of course it will not be long before the next season starts and that could change.