The Shounen Club 13 May 2007 review

A new special segment gets debuted this episode.

This episode kicks off with the main Juniors singing the song Prima Bella ~Shakunetsu no Megami~ as they get introduced either individually or as a group.

The theme for the episode is Tabi (journey, travel) so we get some starting talk with the usual three supporters about the topic.

We have the usual theme medley and I rather like how they worked in some of the transitions from song to song. Like the first song was with Hey! Say! 7 and it had Nakajima Yuto "accidently" bump into Totsuka Shota from A.B.C. to move into the next song. So the change in music is not the only thing that indicates the change in song for the medley.

The medley is followed by a letter exchange between Nakajima and Takaki Yuya. Nakajima found a way to bring his love of beetles into it, and even has pictures to help him out.

This is followed by a solo song for Nakajima who covers Ai no Hitotsu, a Kondo Masahiko song. He does have the rest of Little Six back dancing for him during the performance.

We then get to see a VTR introducing the special project that Takizawa Hideaki had mentioned having in the 2006 Christmas Special episode. He has the Juniors gathered up to talk to them about it and mentions that it will involve all the Juniors. The members of A.B.C. and Kis-My-Ft2 are the ones asking him questions and having some fun with it too. We do not get much else as the series is supposed to last until the next Christmas Special, IIRC.

This episode only has one guest this time, Kamenashi Kazuya again. When the topic is brought up Kame brings up the trip he was made to take with Akanishi Jin to Okinawa back in 2000 for the program.

We get a solo song being debuted on the show for Kame, I'll be with you, which is another solo for him that is on no CD. This one is a straight ballad.

Like with the previous episode Kame gets to stay around for the game segment. The segment has one member of each team do some kind of skit for Kame to judge. Yaotome Hikaru did a silent skit about getting people to line up properly at a bus stop that brought in a bunch of the other Juniors.

Kawai Fumito is up for the Jonetsu Rainbows. He does imitations of other Johnny's, which of course include his infamous Matsumoto Jun one. But I think his Nakamaru Yuichi doing a MC segment and Masuda Takahisa performing were just as hilarious.

The following MC features Ya-Ya-Yah. They get to talk about various trips and travel they have done. For some reason I did not notice exactly how tall Ayukawa Taiyo is. I cannot help but think that this is how Marius Yo is going to look with Sexy Zone eventually.

The group gets to do a new song for SC, Ima Susumou, which has lyrics written by Hikaru. It also has all four members of the group playing instruments as a four-piece band.

Again we get the Shiroyagi, Kuroyagi corner and again I find myself not caring for it at all. I want to believe that this thing is only around for this season of the show because even having Nakamaru in it does not save it from being one of the most boring corners introduced to the program that I have seen.

Thankfully the next performance is a medley of A.B.C. and Question? group songs with the two groups alternating songs and backing each other up during their performances. A.B.C. of course is full of their usual energy and you can tell that they are having fun.

It is time for the show to end then and Va Ni La ~Burn it up!~ is the end song. Thankfully it is another energetic song so it continues to make up for the drag that is the Shiroyagi, Kuroyagi corner.


I know that there is a good chance that people may know what the Takizawa Hideaki Special Project is about, seeing as it happened years ago I still feel like I should try to be spoiler light about it. Partly because I never have watched all the segments for it so this will be my first time viewing most of them. I am sure I will enjoy them, as with Tackey and SC it is not so much about him but the Juniors so it is always a good fit on the program.