Nika and Yokoo remain Galactic Heroes

Nikaido Takashi and Yokoo Wataru will be the leads in the next installment of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes play that they had parts in the most recent show. For this play though they will be starring in their roles instead of being a part of the supporting cast.

The play will run for seven shows from November 15th to the 18th. The title of this installment will be Kagayaku Hoshi Yami wo Saite.

OHP of the plays. (Japanese)


Also the show they were in Gekitsuioh will be getting a DVD release. It will be released on November 2nd and is up for pre-order.

Ginga Eiyu Densetsu (Legend of the Galactic Heroes) Gekitsuioh (Theatrical Play) / Theatrical Play

I am pretty happy to see these members get something. Sure it is not as high profile as something that would air of TV but it gives them work and a chance to practice acting skills at least. Hopefully these roles will help them out in the long run in finding their niche for the group.

AKS Master Post 001

Okay, I figure since I don't follow the non-Johnny's idols as much I would instead of doing the usual update posts I do for Johnny's I would just wait until I have a few different bits of news for the groups and do a master post for them. If anything this will make skipping non-Johnny's posts a bit easier for the Johnny's only fans and it will make things easier for me.

I will start off with rounding up the latest news for the AKS group I do bother to actually follow, NMB48. They have already announced their next single that will be released on November 7th. Like usual for their single announcements there is no other information about the single out.

Ameblo article. (Japanese)

NMB48 will also be releasing a DVD of Team N's second stage, Seishun Girls. The DVD will be released on September 25th and is already up for pre-order.

  NMB48 Team N 2nd Stage "Seishun Girls" / NMB48

They also will have their first photo book released on September 16th, title Kyun to Doki. It will feature NMB48 members; Mayu Ogasawara, Haruna Kinoshita, Riho Kotani, Rina Kondo, Kei Jonishi, Miru Shiroma, Aina Fukumoto, Yuki Yamaguchi, Nana Yamada, Sayaka Yamamoto, Akari Yoshida, Miyuki Watanabe, Eriko Jo, Airi Tanigawa, Ayame Hikawa, Ayaka Murakami, Sae Murase, Fuko Yagura, Keira Yogi, and Shu Yabushita.

NMB48 First Shashinshu (Photo Book) "Kyun to Doki" / NMB48

And now for the massive news that is currently shaking up the AKS fandom is that AKB48 is having a member shuffle. What this means is that the group has been returned to be only three teams, A, K & B, with Team 4 now disbanded but the sixteen member limit of the teams has been changed. No word if there is a new limit of members for a team but two of the current teams are now 23 members big and the other has 22.

Here is the full list of the changes (taken from the aramatheydidnt post):

→AKB General Manager: Takahashi Minami

→Team A:
Captain: Shinoda Mariko
Takahashi Minami (ex Captain of Team A)
Kasai Tomomi (ex Team B)
Sato Sumire (ex Team B)
Sato Natsuki (ex Team B)
Watanabe Mayu (ex Team B)
Kikuchi Ayaka (ex Team K)
Nito Moeno (ex Team K)
Nakatsuka Tomomi (ex Team K)
Matsui Sakiko (ex Team K)
Yokoyama Yui (ex Team K) [Also a member of NMB48]
Iriyama Anna (ex Team 4)
Iwata Karen (ex Team 4)
Kawaei Rina (ex Team 4)
Nakamata Shiori (ex Team 4)
Takahashi Juri (ex Team 4)
Tano Yuka (ex Team 4)
Izuta Rina (Formerly w/o team)
Kobayashi Marina (Formerly w/o team)
Morikawa Ayaka (Formerly w/o team)
Oshima Ryouka (Promoted)
Kotani Riho [Also a member of NMB48]

 →Team K:
Captain: Oshima Yuko
Akimoto Sayaka (ex Captain of Team K)
Itano Tomomi (No change)
Uchida Mayumi (No change)
Matsui Jurina (No change) [Also a member of SKE48]
Kuramochi Asuka (ex Team A)
Maeda Ami (ex Team A)
Matsubara Natsumi (ex Team A)
Nakata Chisato (ex Team A)
Nakaya Sayaka (ex Team A)
Chikano Rina (ex Team B)
Kitahara Rie (ex Team B) [Also a member of SKE48]
Kobayashi Kana (ex Team B)
Masuda Yuka (ex Team B)
Miyazaki Miho (ex Team B)
Sato Amina (ex Team B)
Suzuki Shihori (ex Team B)
Abe Maria (ex Team 4)
Nagao Mariya (ex Team 4)
Shimada Haruka (ex Team 4)
Fujita Nana (Formerly w/o team)
Mitsumune Kaoru (Promoted)
Muto Tomu (Promoted) 

→Team B:
Captain: Umeda Ayaka (ex Team K)
Kashiwagi Yuki (ex Captain of Team B)
Ishida Haruka (No change)
Komori Mika (No change)
Oya Shizuka (No change)
Watanabe Miyuki (No change) [Also a member of NMB48]
Iwasa Misaki (ex Team A)
Katayama Haruka (ex Team A)
Kojima Haruna (ex Team A)
Fujie Reina (ex Team K)
Minegishi Minami (ex Team K)
Nonaka Misato (ex Team K)
Tanabe Miku (ex Team K)
Ichikawa Miori (ex Team 4)
Kato Rena (ex Team 4)
Nakamura Mariko (ex Team 4)
Oba Mina (ex Captain of Team 4)
Shimazaki Haruka (ex Team 4)
Takeuchi Miyu (ex Team 4)
Yamauchi Suzuran (ex Team 4)
Kojima Natsuki (Formerly w/o team)
Natori Wakana (Formerly w/o team)
Ishida Anna [Also a member of SKE48]

 →SKE48: Kitahara Rie [Also a member of AKB48]

 →NMB48: Yokoyama Yui [Also a member of AKB48]

 →HKT48: Ota Aika (ex Team A)

 →SNH48: Miyazawa Sae (ex Team K) & Suzuki Mariya (ex Team B)
 →JKT48: Takajo Aki (ex Team A) & Nakagawa Haruka (ex Team A)


Of course not really being an AKB48 fan I do not feel too affected by the changes outside of the two NMB48 members now in the group and an AKB48 member joining NMB48. As well as the two AKB48 members that I do like, Akimoto Sayaka and Mitsumune Kaoru.

For Sayaka a part of me is not surprised at her losing the position of captain for Team K. Not because of anything she has done as she seems to be very good at the position but I feel like her time with the group should be coming to an end as I feel she could do just as well as a solo talent than being a part of this group. Especially as she seems to be rather neglected with the group and I just think it is time for her to move on. So I would not be surprised if being removed from that position is in preparation for a graduation later on in the near future.

I am really happy that Kaoru has finally been promoted out of KKS status and is a part of one of the teams. Team K is a good fit as it is the group known to have a more mature image which I think she fits well with. Hopefully this will just be the start for her and she continues to get solid drama roles as I think being a part of AKB48 will do her well to get her acting career established. Not to mention she is a part of the younger generations of girls that will have to step up and get noticed to keep the group popular.

And now onto thoughts about the NMB48 changes. Since Watanabe Miyuki actually has not had a change in her membership with either group there is not much to say about it. Kotani Riho being given the same kind of dual membership as her though is a bit surprising. Milky has always been a popular member of NMB48 while Ripopo has been mainly middle-tier. In fact her sub-unit Namaba Teppoutai was all about the fact that the girls in it were not the most well known but were trying to reach the level of the five members that placed in the general elections. But I guess management believes she is worth pushing and so will be bound to get some strong pushes now that she is also a member of Team A.

Since I do not really follow AKB48 I am not too familiar with Yokoyama Yui. I looked up her profile and it says she is from Kyoto so it does make sense for her to be placed with the Kansai group as it is in the same region.

I actually do not mind her being placed with NMB48 as one of the biggest issues I have had with NMB48 recently is the fact that they do stray from promoting the same girls all the time. With having an AKB member in the group than that will at least break that up a bit, in fact I am certain Yui will probably end up near the center position of the line up for the single they recently announced. And if Yui ends up in Team BII then it could help break the near monopoly of Team N when it comes to interest and attention. So I do see this as a positive thing for now at least.

Because I am not an AKB48 fan I do not think I can join in the fanwankage over this and actually look forward to what there changes are going to bring. Of course if this is the news AKS brings out for the first of the three days of the Tokyo Dome concerts I do not even want to guess what the next two days are going to bring.

The Shounen Club 3 August 2003 review

I really was thinking that there could not be enough new footage in this recap episode to make it worth doing alone and thought about doing two episode reviews today, except whoever produced this episode must have realized how little footage they had to recap. So there is actually quite a bit of new footage mixed in to make this worth reviewing after all.

We begin the episode by meeting the hosts for it, Four Tops. They pretty just sit there and comment on the various clips that are shown in between them. Which makes watching the recap clips a bit boring if you have already seen them as there is no difference to them.

Someone putting this episode together thankfully realized that they should have some kind of original content for it. The first of this is a segment about various things that go into a taping of the show. Murakami Shingo it the main host of this segment, and he starts off by interviewing some of the fans waiting in line outside of NHK Hall before they open the doors.

Unlike concerts the postcard you get that allows you to watch a taping of Shounen Club is not assigned to a seat so if you want a good seat you have to show up early, usually at least a few hours. Hence the line here.

We also get to see various Juniors come in and I broke into a big smile seeing Masuda Takahisa and Taguchi Junnosuke together. And Massu even gets to say something. Honestly if you are a big Massu fan this is actually a pretty good episode to watch for him during his back dancer period.

We then get to learn a bit about the rehearsals. I believe it is saying that in one day (which I am assuming is the taping day) that the Juniors typically have to perform about 20 songs. And this sounds right if you count the songs in medleys as individual songs. Also at this point for SC there are performances that get cut but more on that a bit later.

The camera rehearsals interest me as it means that the boys should be aware of where and when they are. I bring this up as not too many Juniors play up to the camera, and those who do seem to stand out quite a bit.

We then get to have various Juniors interviewed backstage before they go on to begin the filming.

One of the amazing things about SC is that it is filmed in one go so there are no do-overs. So it actually is not too different than live filming though there is editing usually just to keep the episodes the right length for broadcast.

The next segment with new footage is not actually related to SC. It is footage from that year's PLAYZONE musical as Four Tops, minus Yamashita Tomohisa, were in it. So we get to see some clips of them and Shounentai.

We get a recap segment dedicated to the episodes filmed in Osaka. While most of it is from those episodes there is a clip at the start that was cut but being shown for this episode. It was Yokoyama Yu's birthday on that day of filming so they had the audience all sing Happy Birthday to him. It is cute to see him so embarrassed about it and you could tell that he really was touched by it.

We then get an omake (extra) segment. These are clips of performances that had to be cut from the program because of time constraints. It is kinda surprising that they would have to cut performances as they program moves from performance to performance rather quickly. I think it does show which groups/Juniors get favored as most of these omake clips have K.K.Kity in them.

Probably the best part of the medley is A.B.C. singing a Japanese version of I Will Survive, that is titled Koi no Survival.

The omake is Tanaka practicing their routine. They try out various skits and various reactions and even have to explain the joke for one of them.

We get another medley that was cut and it is a K.K.Kity medley. I cannot say that I am surprised that this is one of the medleys cut as the group just does not get the same kind of pushing as some of the others, but I am glad they decided to air it at least. And they do it by doing a mix of rehearsal footage with the live performance.

It is with this episode that I finally notice that the light pink portion of this outfit is actually see through. Could not get a good screen cap to show this but watching it move as they move it is noticeable.

Masuda Takahisa

The roller skate boys really get a good chance to shine as they get featured with the group. At this point I would almost consider them unofficial members of the group.

With this medley it is really easy to see the split in this group, which is probably one of the early signs that the three Ks are being considered for debut. But as the three Ks wear the pink outfits, ity is in outfits that let them blend in with the other roller skate boys, which probably is not surprising that they will late be the members of Kis-My-Ft later.

Kitayama Hiromitsu

Near the end of the song the roller skate boys get highlighted so if you want to see some of them clearly this is a perfect chance for that.

I was surprised to see a Yamapi lead performance of Stompin'. I always think Ya-Ya-Yah for this song so I did not realize it had been performed as an all Junior song. Though it still sounds like a Yax3 song as the mikes were either turned really low for just about everyone but sometimes Yamapi with Yax3 still being the loudest voices or they used a backing track that did not have the vocals for the older Juniors on it, minus the "stompin'" line as that has been sung by older Juniors in previous performances.

We end the episode close to how we start it, with the Four Tops as they introduce the final recap footage of one of the end song performances.


I was dreading this episode because it was a recap episode but seeing how much new footage that they worked in made it much better than I expected. I was still bored by the recap footage as there was not much to recap and because of the rate I have been going through episodes it feels like I just watched those episodes and do not need to be reminded of what happened in them.

As a NEWS fan this episode was great, as my favorite NEWS members are the current four and while Tegoshi Yuya still has yet to make an appearance it is still great to see the other three. And this episode gives those three quite a bit of screen time compared to the other episodes. Especially Massu, he actually had a noticeable presence for once.

With this being the lone August episode it leaves two months worth of episodes before the big Junior shake up as NEWS is formed.

Jesse Lewis takes on The Quiz

Some exciting news has just come out, Junior Lewis Jesse will be starring in an upcoming drama SP that will air on NTV on September 1st. The title of the drama is The Quiz and it is based off a horror mystery novel where the top ten players have to face each other in a qualification round that for every answer someone dies. Two other Juniors will also be in the drama, Hagiya Keigo and Iwamoto Hikaru.

Cinema Today article (Japanese)


This is great news for Jesse as it looks like Johnny's plans on pushing him now between this and his role in Sprout. Also the movie posters for the Bakaleya movie have him up with Morimoto Shintaro and Matsumura Hokuto so there is further proof that they are set to make sure people know him like they know the other two.

Of course this is just a special so it will be a one time thing and it airs after midnight, but I think it is a first step before moving Jesse to bigger projects like the other two Bakaleya6 members have done.

Plus as Jesse is set to be one of the lead vocals of the group it makes sense for him to get pushed as Johnny's tries to have the members in the lead vocals positions also be the most popular. Of course I would expect Kyomoto Taiga to begin getting more work and a stronger push then as well as he is the other lead vocalist but we shall see what Johnny's has in store for this grouping.

And it is nice to see Hagiya and Iwamoto get drama roles. Iwamoto also has the Bakaleya movie but for Hagiya this will be his first time in a drama so it will be interesting to see how he does.

Bakaleya6 get an added concert

One of the exciting things once the time for ticket balloting is over is to see if shows have been added or not. And in the case of the SUMMARY concert shows that the Bakaleya6 are head lining they have an additional show. This of course means that there was enough demand at just the fan club level for Johnny's to believe it would be worth having them do another concert. 

So now on September 9th they will do two shows, the first at 10AM and the second at 4PM. The later concert for Uchi Hiroki w/ Question? had to be moved back to 7PM instead of the 6PM time slot it originally had for that day.

This of course is great news for the Bakaleya6 as it proves that they are popular. It is no surprise though with Bakaleya doing as well as it did and then having four of the six members get drama roles in the current drama season, with one of them in one of the highest rating dramas of the season. I really hope they get an official group name soon, as Johnny's would be foolish to separate the boys as they can easily become the next mega popular Junior group if things keep going the way they are.

In other news Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z have switched their venues for SUMMARY, so SZ is in Tokyo and Ebi in Nagoya. I am hoping that with SZ in Tokyo there will be some special announcements as it will probably have the news shows doing reports for it, but we will see.

Sexy Zone's snow in summer in autumn

Sexy Zone will be releasing their third single on October 3rd. The A-side will be a new theme song the show Real Scope Z, Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu. It will also feature the new sub unit for the group, Sexy Boyz.

Like the second single there are the same three versions of the single, with two being limited editions with a DVD and one regular edition.

The first limited edition will have three tracks, the title theme, the Kimi no Tame Boku ga Iru song that was used as the Olympics volleyball theme song and the Sexy Boyz song Ame Datte. It also comes with a DVD that will have the PV for the title track and a sticker.

Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type A] / Sexy Zone

The second LE has the same track listing as the first for the CD and also comes with a DVD and a sticker, but a different version. This DVD has the making of footage for the PV.

Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type B] / Sexy Zone

Then the regular edition will comes with all three tracks and another track, Bay Side Elegy, and the karaoke tracks for all four songs. As well as a trading card like the previous releases each CD will have one of five of a set.

Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu [Regular Edition] / Sexy Zone

The first press bonus for the singles is another poster like all previous releases but this one will be double sided with one side being Sexy Zone and the other Sexy Boyz.

There is also a version that people attending SUMMARY from October 3rd on can buy that has all the songs of the RE (minus the karaoke tracks) and will come with a sticker sheet. (EDIT: I completely forgot that SUMMARY ends in September, so I think this is probably more a pre-order thing where people can pre-order the single at SUMMARY and on the release date it will be sent to them.)


Honestly I have been less than impressed with the title track, as they have performed it a couple of times so you can hunt it down to listen to it, and it seems like an odd fit for the date they are releasing the single. October is well into the fall/autumn season so it seems strange to have a song with summer in the name released then. But the covers for the single are all winter themed which makes it seem like it is coming out a bit too early.

But I do like Kimi no Tame Boku ga Iru so I am glad it is getting a CD release. And we will be hearing the Sexy Boyz Ame Datte song with the September Shounen Club episodes so we will be able to get a preview of that before the release date. Either way I do tend to like the B-sides over the title tracks so I will assume it will remain the same with this release.

Sexy Boyz has had a member change with this release. It is still lead by Yo Marius and Matsushima So but there are only six Juniors instead of the original nine and two of the six are Kansai Juniors. So the current line up for the group is now; Matsushima So, Yo Marius, Jinguji Yuta, Kuramoto Kaoru, Haniuda Amu, Nakamura Reia, Nishihata Daigo (Naniwa Oji) & Nagase Ren (Naniwa Oji).

I am actually rather happy with the changes as it is nice to see the Kansai Juniors be given something and being on a CD is not bad, especially for newer Kanjuu like Daigo and Ren. Though I doubt they will ever perform with the rest of the group unless maybe if they do a filming for Shounen Club in Osaka and even then it could just be Marius and So because Johnny's seems to be cheap with bringing Juniors over to Osaka or Tokyo. But still, they are bound to have their pictures with the rest of the group and be on the poster that comes with first press orders of the single.

The Shounen Club 13 July 2003 review

Another Saturday and another SC review. With the rate I have been going I should be hitting the episodes with NEWS' debut either early or mid next month depending on if I keep doing one or two episodes a week.

There is no introduction to speak of for this episode. They still do one at the end but skip the one at the start for this episode. Instead we have Akiyama Jun and Jimmy Mackey talking to start off and bringing up that Imai Tsubasa is the guest for the day. Then it leads into the first medley that centers around a grade school theme.

From this theme we get some interesting looking chair dances.

We also get Professor Kazama Shunsuke.

The three Ks of K.K.Kity get some screen time as well as a trio introduced as Junior boys that includes Inoo Kei and Nikaido Takashi.

Overall it is a goofy yet fun performance and does give some Juniors time to shine that they have not gotten before.

We get another Club News segment this episode. Hasegawa Jun gets to rattle off all the Junior activities of the summer. He sounds a bit strange saying English words, like 'concert', but I think it is him just trying to pronounce the words as they would be said in English.

The Ya-Ya-Yah musical is worth pointing out as it is one of the events that signal the change for the group from five members to four members as only the four that are a part of the final line up for the group have roles in it.

They call the Junior groups that are doing something over the summer over to talk to them a bit before sending them back to continue with practice.

We get another Toma Scoop segment but for this episode he is with Arashi. When asked about their scoop they give Ikuta Toma this (pictured above) at first. But after some goofiness Toma gets them to talk about the recent news for the group, like a new album and such.

Back to NHK Hall K.K.Kity perform Sennen no Love Song. Not a lot of difference from before outside of a different stage.

Between performances we have Jun talking to Akanishi Jin and Kamenashi Kazuya. They pretty much are just the bridge between performances as they are the topics talked about.

Imai Tsubasa does not have much of a presence this episode compared to the first one of the month. He only does the one medley and with it the focus is on dance as he only sings for one of the songs.

So I think I figured out what this new segment is. Akanishi Jin did it last episode and it seems to be the boys going over kanji/word meanings by giving stories that tie into the word they have been given.

Yamapi gets to sing a solo song that he wrote both music and lyrics for. NEWS fans should recognize it as it was made into a group song for them and put on their debut album, Touch. The song is of course Love Song.

After that Toma gets to do his Detective Tomas segment this time featuring Koyama Keiichiro, Kusano Hironori and Kato Shigeaki. We learn that Koyama is currently in university as he is asked about it during the segment.

Near the end of the segment the three are asked about what animal they think they resemble. For Shige he first answers with rabbit but that is questioned even though he does an impersonation of one. He then does a monkey impersonation which gets a better response.

KAT-TUN then performs Original Blue, which is one of those songs that do not seem to fit the image of KAT-TUN most have from their post-debut career. It is poppy and goofy with the guys dressed up as various occupations and doing gags in the middle of it. We do get to see Kamenashi Kazuya use an outdated cellphone for it.

And it does give us Taguchi Junnosuke in a suit with his ridiculous hair of this era doing his usual bad jokes so I cannot hate it.

We get the second Toma Scoop segment. This time he reads postcards from Juniors to the members of Arashi. Koyama's status as a university student gets to be brought up again as his postcard is to Sakurai Sho asking for any advice about going to university and working. Sho is the best to ask about this as he is the first Johnny's to go to university while working and after some joking around he does give some serious words of wisdom about the subject.

We get another medley but they change things up a bit by mixing the Juniors a bit so we get something like this, a duet with Yabu Kota and Toma.

Yamapi gets his talk segment again but this time he spends a good portion of it talking about how to send in postcards to the show to be read.

Maybe because it is because they are one of the most popular Junior groups but KAT-TUN gets regularly featured to perform quite a lot since the switch to NHK Hall. It does not seem as bad as with the old format as there is still plenty of time to let other Juniors perform and get screen time but it is still noticeable that this group is getting pushed more than the rest.

I did find it perfect timing to watch this episode though as KAT-TUN performs Hoshi Kuzu no Spangle which is a song that gets pulled out from time to time for mainly Juniors to perform. Sexy Zone did a cover of the song for one of their first concerts and since I got that BD in finally today I am looking forward to being able to compare the two performances of this song.

The end song is missing quite a few Juniors for unknown reasons but beyond that it is the usual ending. Though you can catch I believe it is Tsukada Ryoichi from A.B.C., slip on stage but thankfully catch himself so he stays on his feet.

And I think I will just do a review this Wednesday as after doing a quick check of the next episode it is a recap episode so it will not take long to review it. Especially as all the recapped footage is from this current season of SC. Also it seems that until 2007 August was a month of recap episodes for the program and for the first year they only had one episode for it, and I think one of the years I have no August episodes but according to sources that was just the way it was. So that will help with catching up with the new SC episodes a little.

And if anyone is wondering this month's new SC episodes were delayed because of the Olympics. They will be aired these last two weeks of August so the first episode should air on the 22nd and the second on the 29th.