The Shounen Club 9 August 2009 review

And we have the second Osaka episode for 2009.

The introduction is the basic dance introductions. One group I did not highlight with the review for last episode that has been in the introductions is Little Gangs. Honestly I do not know much about them other than some of the ones in this group were placed in a group called Gang Stars so I think Little Gangs is a bit like the Kansai Junior version of Junior Boys, a group that is more a grouping of Juniors until they can be sorted out in a group or fall back into the sea of other back dancers.

BOYS are the Juniors that get to introduce the theme of the episode, Natsu (Summer). Hamada Takahiro is the only one from this duo still with Johnny's. He seems to be the more awkward of the two when it comes to stage presence, or at least the more quiet of the two.

There is the usual theme medley and like with the previous episode there is a good mix of the Kanjuu performing in it. But what was the real highlight for me was the fact that for one of the songs the members of B.A.D. went to the second floor to sing from it. I love it when they break away from the stage from time to time.

We have four more Fresh Juniors introduced and again I do not recognize any of them. I was really hoping we would get Kaneuchi Toma introduced as a Fresh Junior in this episode after spotting him in the previous one. Then there would be at least one Kanjuu I know in one of these.

Butokan is here for the episode though they are missing a member, Hamanaka Bunichi, which is oddly the one Kanjuu member the group has. I can only assume he and the other older Juniors that are missing are busy with something else for the taping of these episodes. Butokan perform Sweet Butterfly and Bunichi's missing vocals are rather noticeable.

The group then get an MC talk with Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi. They talk about the theme and Tsukada Ryoichi brings up being a part of the KAT-TUN concerts that summer. He ends up mainly talking to Nakamaru about it before Yamamoto Ryota is given a turn to talk. His talk about the ocean prompts Senga Kento to pull out the impersonation of a sea turtle laying eggs but he is saved from doing the whole thing.

There is then a special performance of some of the older Juniors, mainly B.A.D. and BOYS as they do a band version of the song Blow out. I like this song because of the energy it has and it is a rock-ish sounding song so the band version is a perfect for it.

As Koyama is certain to take pictures of his fellow group members for the Gekkan KoyaMaru segment Nakamaru can be counted on taking pictures of random stuff and scenery. This month it is out of season Christmas trees and shoes.

It is then the game segment and it has the Kanjuu in pairs and having to do a series of challenges until one pair remains. Like always the Kanjuu bring a lot of fun to any game they play and Nakama Junta is probably the highlight of this game segment.

This is followed by a Takizawa Hideaki medley performed by the Kanjuu. It seems like a rather random performance for the episode but I will not complain if it means more Kanjuu.

There is then Junior ni Q with the theme "now I can say this..." The first up of the Kanjuu still with Johnny's is Kiriyama Akito to complain about something Hamada did. Hamada does not seem very apologetic about it though.

Then it is Fujii Ryusei with a story about performing in a unit corner at a concert and something Yamasaki Kunta (who I am still sad about recently leaving the agency) did during it.

There is then a letter exchange segment between Shigeoka Daiki and Nakayama Yuma. I do miss Yuma being with other Kanjuu, he always seemed more comfortable with them than with anyone else from Johnny's.

Yuma and 7WEST perform a medley of songs, which includes Dial Up. Dial Up was originally a unit song for them until it was made into one of the B-sides for the Nakayama Yuma w/B.I.Shadow and NYC Boys single.

This then brings us to the end of the program with the final song being Natsu no Ousama. I can only assume they performed the ending songs early in the recording as there are the younger Juniors in this one as well as with the previous episode. And Butokan join them for this performance.


I always feel bad that I do not know more about the Kanjuu than I do. Of course I have come to learn the current main Kanjuu recently and I do love them but it seems to hard to find information about the rest. Of course it does not help that only a handful of them really get promoted these days, but if we do get a Kanjuu debut soon I am sure that will change as they will need to start building up the next generation of Kanjuu.

That aside I am enjoying going back and watching these episodes as I know I was not much of a fan back when they originally came out. So I am getting so much more out of them this time around.