The Shounen Club 7 September 2008 review

This episode gives two Shounen Club debuts, one for a member of Sexy Zone and the other for one of the Bakaleya6.

Everyone missing from last month's episodes are back on the show, so it should be back to being more focused on the Juniors again.

The introductions now are packed with Juniors as even though we do not have any new groups there are plenty of groupings. The grouping with Takada Sho and Masuda Ryo have gained a new Junior, one that should be very familiar to Sexy Zone fans, Kikuchi Fuma. So if anyone wants to hunt down all the SC episodes with SZ members this is the episode to start with.

The introduction performance also gives us two of the guests for this episode, the Kansai Junior group B.A.D.

When announcing the theme of the episode they have Nakama Junta do it as it is Nakama (colleague/friend), to make use of the pun that his last name and the word are said the same way though they both have different kanji.

With the theme medley we get to see the other guest of the episode, Takaki Yuya, who is there with B.A.D. as the three all are in the drama Gokusen 3 together. So the three were paired up for promotions for it and also the SP and movie that followed the original run of the drama series.

Nakayama Yuma also makes an appearance but like in earlier episodes for this year disappears for the rest of the episode. This is also the only time Fuma is on stage performing, minus the intro, but he gets very little screen time.

The following MC segment has Takaki and B.A.D. talking with Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi. Takaki and Kiriyama Akito do most of the talking, and that is probably mostly because Takaki is set as the center of the three and is expected to speak up. Otherwise it probably would be mostly just Akito talking, with him being the chatterbox he is. In fact Nakamaru has to prompt Junta to say something near the end so he has a turn to talk.

The trio then perform a mash up of Takaki's solo song Oretachi no Seishun and the song Jitabata Junjo. This is basically the same performance as they did on Music Station to promote the drama earlier in the year, but without Chinen Yuri and Yamada Ryosuke randomly being a part of it and minus the message from Akanishi Jin.

The next MC focuses more on the younger Juniors. Three of the four are still with the agency. They are asked who their friend is in the Juniors and Morimoto Shintaro put down Uekusa Yuta, who had put him down as well. Kyomoto Taiga put down Fujigaya Taisuke because he would send him e-mail. Then Takada Sho put down another Junior, Ookawa Daigo, who is one of those Juniors I am not sure is with Johnny's anymore, as I have not seen him in a long time.

There is a Shounentai medley to give some of the Junior groupings something to perform, mainly the younger ones. Of course this is also to tie-in the fact that Uekusa Katsuhide of the group has his son, Yuta, in the Junior ranks at the time.

Even though he does not get his name on the screen and was missing from the introductions at the beginning of the episode there is no mistake that this is Tanaka Juri showing up on the program for the first time. He is given a "rap" part of the medley to do as Johnny's has been trying to have him be a mini-version of his older brother, Tanaka Koki, from the start.

Next is the game segment which is a quiz but instead of raising hands or racing to a buzzer to answer the question the Juniors have to do a quick challenge. For example the first challenge is to do ten squats. All the questions revolve around the month of September or the fall.

After the squats the challenge is changed to sit ups then a wheelbarrow relay. The last one is the most entertaining to watch with it having to be done in pairs.

The MC after that is with Kawai Fumito, Totsuka Shota and Yamashita Shoon, as Shoon got briefly placed with A.B.C. as Yamashita Shoon and A.B.C., much like how Toshin Yoshikazu and A.B.C. was. IIRC, this group is only for this month as next month A.B.C-Z will have been formed.

That said they do perform one original song together, HIGHER! FLY! Shoon actually fits in rather well with the group as he was the member of Ya-Ya-Yah that was strong with acrobatics. It is a pity he had to be removed from the group when they decided to add in Hashimoto Ryosuke.

The Junior ni Q segment is another Kansai Junior one. This time the theme is about their mother's cooking. And there are a good amount of Kanjuu still with the agency brought over, starting with Yamasaki Kunta. His answer was to brag about how his mother's cooking is the best in the world.

Backes Kento is the next Kanjuu to get highlighted who is still in Johnny's. He put down a dish that he calls the Natto Special and goes over what is in it.

Then it is Fugal-Shawn Goku who talks about a takoyaki dish his mother makes that includes using cheese. And that wraps up the segment.

There is then a letter exchange segment between the members of B.A.D. Being in the same unit for a few years now they both make sure to poke some fun of each other. And this is probably one of those rare times that Junta talks as much as Akito.

This of course leads into a performance by the duo as they sing Aishiteru. At this point they come off as one of the most polished groups with the Kanjuu. Of course it probably helps that they have had the least amount of group shuffling and thanks to having roles in Gokusen 3 they have had many more chances to be in front of a camera.

And after that performance it is time to wrap up the show, first with Koyama and Nakamaru talking about the theme a bit. Then the final performance is Mugendai sung by most of the main Juniors in the episode as well as Takaki Yuya and Nakayama Yuma makes another appearance.


With Fuma now on the program Nakajima Kento cannot be far behind and then we will have the creation of B.I.Shadow shortly after. It will still be a while before the group adds Kochi Yugo and Matsumura Hokuto though, as that will happen in 2009 shortly before the Nakayama Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow group is announced.

And one thing I am really noticing now is how happy Takaki looks with B.A.D. A part of me has always wanted the three to do some kind of special release together because they did seem to have good chemistry and watching this episode makes me want that to happen even more. Though it is nothing more than a pipe dream.