Never Ending Music Power

As I visit with family this weekend here's the next Shounen Club episode review.

For this introduction Totsuka Shota calls out the names of the main Juniors of the episode. And I will call this Junior grouping the MassuRyo quartet, as Masuda Ryo is the only Junior I know that is still with the agency out of the four of them.

The theme of the episode is Friends and unlike last episode the theme medley follows the theme introduction. There are some changes to the way the medley has been divided up among the Juniors, with the MassuRyo quartet being the only Junior grouping to perform. Then it is solo performances for the four KisuEbi members present with the MassuRyo quartet with a few other Juniors finishing the medley.

The following MC has a few of the younger Juniors talk about their friends, who are all fellow Juniors. Kyomoto Taiga and Morita Myuto both have each other as friends. Kawashima Noeru put down Anderson Casey and Takada Sho put down Nakayama Yuma.

TOP3 then perform the song Genkai Meter, which will follow Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki to Mis Snow Man. I really loved this group and thought it worked well as Hashimoto Ryosuke had the voice to be lead vocals and Sanada and Nozawa's voices are better as supporting vocals than with solos lines.

The next MC segment features Sanada, Nozawa and Camu Cade. They all talk about each other with the highlight being Sanada talking about Nozawa getting scared about ghosts.

The next performance is with parts of Question?, Goto Hiromi and the two Juniors that are getting pushed for now but one definitely left the agency and I would not be surprised if the other did as well. They perform Julia, which is an old TOKIO song and I am certain they slowed it down for this performance. But Goto gets to show off his violin skills with it.

Then it is time for the game segment. To go with the theme of the episode both teams need to give the same answer to earn a point. So if two people have the same answer they earn a point and each answer that is the same after that is another point. The questions do not have definite answers so being correct is not an issue. The issues asked are what color do they think Koyama's image color should be, what animal does Nakamaru resemble and who is the most admirable in KAT-TUN.

Then they move to a charades game for the second part of the segment. This is always a fun game to watch with how creative the guys can get as well as for the joy of seeing them just doing silly things.

There is then a Kansai Junior ni Q, hosted by the members of BOYS, Nakata Daichi and Hamada Takahiro. The theme of the corner is charm points and there are quite a few Kanjuu highlighted that are still with the agency. First up is Muro Ryuta who is currently a member of Veteran. He put down something about the shape of his ear.

Next Kanjuu still with Johnny's is Backes Kento who put down his eyes. So of course we get a good look at them.

Then is Shigeoka Daiki who wrote about his dimples. This is a rather easy segment to watch with little Japanese knowledge with how they showcase each charm point.

That said I did not quite get what Fujii Ryusei wrote but in the end it came down to his height as he is only thirteen here.

Then to finish the segment is Mukai Koji who wrote about his ears as they are rather large for the size of his head. They bring over his older brother, who quit Johnny's a couple yeas back IIRC, to compare. And that finishes off the segment.

The following MC is just between Koyama and Nakamaru as they discuss the friends they have, which is Kato Shigeaki for Koyama and Masuda Takahisa for Nakamaru.

The next performance is announced as a Hey! Say! 7 medley but it is just Yamada Ryosuke singing a solo with the group coming out to sing one unit song, Wonderland Train. At this point it is clear to see that Yamada has been moved to being one of the more heavily promoted members of the group, especially of HS7.

We get the return of Heisei Post, which looks to have Nakamaru as the host to replace the members of Hey! Say! JUMP when they are not on the program. HS7 though are featured in the corner and read some letters from fans. When discussing e-mail Okamoto Keito speaks up about Nakajima Yuto's use of emoji and cute way of signing off, which leads to Yuto becoming embarrassed.

Another letter asks about which members can to back flips and of course Chinen Yuri says he can do that. He is even asked to give a demonstration, which he of course does.

Then there is a performance of A Ha Ha with the same group of little Juniors as last time, so basically Morimoto Shintaro and his group of four other Juniors. It is a bit strange to hear Kyomoto Taiga being shouty with his singing but this was probably before he began his vocal training.

This then leads us to the final song of the program, BEST FRIEND. Honestly I do not care too much for this song. It sounds like it belongs in another decade, like maybe a rejected Hikaru Genji song. But it is nice to have an ending theme that both the older and younger Juniors can perform in.

Honestly the only thing I feel that is missing from this episode are the rest of the group members of Kisumai and Ebi. This is pretty much what I would consider to be a standard episode and what I wish to see more of with the newer episodes, that is a much greater focus on the Juniors and less on the debuted acts. I do not mind having debuted Johnny's hosting the program but I expect the Juniors to be the focus and get the lion's share of the performance time. They are supposed to be the up and coming Johnny's that have the greatest potential to debut and it would make whatever group they debut in be stronger if they get a sizable fanbase built for them when they are still Juniors.

Masuda Takahisa

Groups: NEWS, Tegomass

Birthdate: July 4, 1986

My second favorite member of NEWS. I am just in complete love with his smile and enjoy his easy going nature and he seems like the kind of person you can just relax around. And he has one of the more interesting fashion senses in Johnny’s.

He has never seemed to have a lot of confidence though, but I hope now with NEWS being a smaller group he will gain some as there is no anyone to get stuck behind now. And while his voice is not the most powerful he does have good control and a unique tone.

Between the already announced Johnny's World concert DVD/BD and this Sexy Zone Japan Tour 2013 DVD/BD release SZ fans are going to have some light wallets by the end of summer. This DVD/BD will be released August 28th and will have a limited and regular edition with both being the same for each format.

The regular edition will just have footage from the May 6 concert at Yokohama Arena.

Sexy Zone Japan Tour 2013 [Regular Edition] / Sexy Zone (DVD)

Sexy Zone Japan Tour 2013 [Regular Edition] / Sexy Zone (BD)

The limited edition will have the same concert but it will also have a second disc that will have footage from another concert at the venue as well as a documentary for the tour.It will also have a special photo book at a set of trading cards that will feature each member in a solo shot.

Sexy Zone Japan Tour 2013 [Limited Edition] / Sexy Zone (DVD)

Sexy Zone Japan Tour 2013 [Limited Edition] / Sexy Zone (BD)

All the versions will come with a bonus poster as a first press bonus.

I have to admit as a Hey! Say! JUMP fan I am quite jealous of a release like this for SZ. If HSJ had their concert DVD releases like this I think it would have helped make up for the lack of CD releases a bit, especially if it meant having some footage of all the concerts they did that did not get DVD releases. Not to mention that with BD the whole region coding is not as much an issue as the regions are much larger and North America and Japan share the same one, so for me there would be no issues with having the right player to watch them.

Concerts are an important part of following Johnny's, as they are one of the big ways the groups set themselves apart with how theatrical they are. And they give group members that may not get a lot of attention in other activities a time to shine, so they are great for fans of those members. In fact if I had the money for it I might actually pick this up for Matsushima So and Marius Yo, as I am sure I would see more of them than what I have been able to see of them on Shounen Club.

And we have the Juniors that were missing from the month before back for this episode.

The episode starts off with a song for all the main Juniors to sing, which is Anniversary. And the Takada quintet (which is the MasuRyo quartet with Takada Sho) is now a part of the usual introductions for the program.

The theme of the episode is Toki (time) and like usual the theme medley is up first. There is a mix of the grouped Juniors and members from the Junior groups this time around. Like Tamamori Yuta and Miyata Toshiya joining Yamashita Shoon for a song. And all of A.B.C. with parts of Question? also perform in the medley.

And finally the Junior Boys get on screen name tags when they perform their song for the medley. And I think this was about the time I began to notice them though did not do much to actually follow them as I was pretty focused on Kis-My-Ft2 and TOP3 at the time.

Near the end the guest, Yasuda Shota, for the episode joins the Juniors to sing a Kanjani8 song. And we get the usual ending with everyone singing.

This is followed by an MC segment with TOP3. Each has a board that has a pie chart dividing what they do in an average day. I can only assume that it has to be for a day off as none have school listed. Sanada Yuma seems to spend a lot of his time sleeping and Hashimoto Ryosuke has a rather large block of time dedicated to playing with friends.

TOP3 then perform the Junior song Hanasanai de Ai. The song starts off with just Hasshi singing then the other two come in later with solo lines and even back then it was easy to tell that Sanada and Nozawa Yuki were not strong singers. But with Hasshi with them it all balanced out as he was the lead vocals of the trio.

We get the first Heisei Post segment without any Hey! Say! JUMP members and Nakamaru Yuichi has taken it over. Though it shows signs of what this segment will turn into when Nakamaru brings out Yasuda to help answer the fan postcard asking about what to do about fighting with a friend.

This then directly leads into the MC segment with Yasuda as Koyama Keiichiro comes out to join them. They talk about the song Yasuda will perform as he wrote both the music and lyrics for it and performs it acoustic with him playing a guitar.

The song is called Sorezore no Kimi to. I rather like this song because it has a really nice calming sound to it. And it is nice that the audience is quiet for the song so it feels like you are getting the full impact of it.

The game segment is next and we get Kanjani8 Mania for this episode. Each member of each team get a board to write down their answers to the questions about K8 and Yasuda of course judges. Judging in this case though is just talking about the answers as there are definite answers. They are all in the "Who is the most __?" format with the first being good a cooking, the next about who is moved to tears the easiest, then the final one about who is the best sempai.

Nakamaru gets to have revenge on Koyama for showing his photo from when he joined the agency by pulling out a photo for Koyama from when he joined the agency.

After that there is a Kis-My-Ft2 medley. For the second song of the medley, Ready?, it is the group without Fujigaya Taisuke and Kitayama Hiromitsu, as they have gone offstage to put on their roller skates, and it is interesting to see the two mainly featured in the song are Senga Kento and Nikaido Takashi. It makes me realize that I do not remember when things changed and Tamamori starts to get pushed but I have the feeling it is probably in 2009 or 2010.

The VTR segment is up next and it is a Junior ni Q segment. The theme is about when in time you would go if you had a time machine. And all the Juniors shown are still with the agency. Nikaido is up and he wants to go back a few months to when Takizawa Hideaki was guesting and the judge of the game segment because he says he did not read the atmosphere right and wanted to apologize. I guess he must be talking about when he was answering his questions with Imai Tsubasa's name and I can only assume Tackey gave him a hard time about it.

Then it is Morita Myuto who wants to go to the future when there will be flying cars. He figures that it would be forty years in the future, but I do not share his optimism for that.

Masuda Ryo is brought over next and he wants to go into the future as well. He put down he wanted to go ten years into the future to see his twenty-five year old self. He also mentions Nakamaru but I did not get how that tied in.

Up last is Kitayama who wants to go back to when he was a Fresh Junior to give himself advice. They get to talking about some of the dances they had to do as Fresh Juniors and Koyama brings up that for one concert he had to do a dance without a shirt and we get "dance" moves with it.

Butokan is up next, starting out with an MC segment. Of course we have all five members back again for this month after being down to three in the past month. Yara Tomoyuki gets to show how he spends his days and unsurprisingly it is full of dancing, from lessons to even street dancing.

The group then performs Now and Forever. At this point there does not seem to be a lot to be said about the group performing the song as they are consistent with it. I think I would have liked to have seen the group perform something else as the song is rather generic and it is really the performance that makes it stand out.

And then we are at the end of the show and the song used to close out with is KAT-TUN's PRECIOUS ONE. While it is mainly the older Juniors performing the younger Juniors are around to mainly back dance. That is until near the end when they have some "alas that work surprisingly well in the song.

While K8 is always great to have as a guest individual members do not have as much of an impact if this episode is to go by. It makes sense as K8 shines best with group and member interactions, which you are not going to get when there is only one. And Yasuda seems to be a bit on the quiet side compared to some other members of the group.

But even with that taken into account this was another solid episode of the program. I think at this point it is easy to see that the members of TOP3 are bound to go far though in the end it is not all together. In fact it should only be a couple months or so before Hasshi is added to A.B.C. to make that group A.B.C-Z.

I think I am finally realizing that to follow Matsushima So and Yo Marius I am going to have to follow a bit of the group they belong to. So I have some more Sexy Zone news to share.

The group will be supporters for Women's Volleyball again this year and will have a new song for it, Young and Beautiful!. There is no word of a single being released for the song.

Sanspo article (Japanese only, 3rd page has song title)

I have two hopes for this song, one is that it is good first off and the second is that So and Marius get treated like they are a part of SZ and not just the leads for the Junior back dancers. I think the chances of the first hope being met is high as volleyball support songs tend to be songs I like. It is really the second hope that I feel has the greater chance of not being met post-Bad Boys.

If anything at least the group will have something new to perform on Shounen Club and will most likely get another single out before the end of the year. I can only assume that the lack of a single being mentioned means they may be going for another double A-side and we have to wait to learn what the other song/tie-in is.

It has been announced that NEWS will have a special anniversary event in the Tokyo Dome in September this year to celebrate the group's tenth anniversary.

Oricon Style (Japanese)

Honestly it is always in question when NEWS officially debuted. Even though their first single was released in November of 2003 it was a release that was only sold in 7-11s so there are no sales figures for it. Their first major debut is with the single Kibou ~Yell~, which was released in May of 2004. But it looks like the group is side stepping that issue by instead by using the month the group was formed instead.

I am just glad the group is celebrating an anniversary as this will be the first time they will have done so. Though I would say the tenth anniversary is probably more important than the fifth anyway.

And while I would normally be worried about the group being able to fill up the Tokyo Dome since this is an event and not a concert I think Johnny's must have some idea to make sure there are not going to be a lot of empty seats for it.

This episode opens up with a song for all the Juniors to sing, this time being the rock version of Naniwa Iroha Bushi. The guest for the month, Yasuda Shota, comes out near the end to sing with them.

With Yasuda on stage the theme of the episode is revealed, ROCK (as in rock 'n roll music), and he with the hosts of the program, Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi, talk a bit about the topic.

The theme medley has a mix of the grouped Juniors and members from Junior groups. And we can see the ever changing Morimoto Shintaro grouping. Of course the usuals are there, Kyomoto Taiga, Anderson Casey, Morita Myuto and Kawashima Noeru but it seems like Uekusa Yuta and Camu Cade are sorta in the group, as they are at least wearing the same outfits as the other five.

This episode has a letter exchange segment with Hamanaka Bunichi and Senga Kento. It is a fun one to watch with the reactions they each get from each other and one that I really wish I had subtitles for.

Of course with Butokan members doing the letter exchange it means that Butokan is up next to perform. The group performs a new song, Sweet Butterfly, which has a bit of a rockish sound to it. But like with all of Butokan's songs it is really the dance that stands out the most for it.

Yasuda then gets his MC segment where he talks about rock 'n roll. They talk about his clothes a bit which leads to talking about what a "rock image" is.

He then performs Kanjani8's Mystical as a solo, with the four younger members of Kis-My-Ft2 providing some back up vocals. The song does not sound quite right without Shibutani Subaru's vocals to me.

There is then the game segment which Yasuda has some use as a judge as this time the game is to act out prompts and Yasuda has to choose which was the better one.

The first prompt is a dog that wants to be fed and it has Nozawa Yuki and Sanada Yuma competing against each other. Both are memorable but for different reasons.

Then it is Miyata Toshiya and Tamamori Yuta up next having to say something lovey-dovey. This is more interesting for me to watch now after watching Kis-My-Busaiku to see how much these two have gotten more comfortable with this kind of thing.

Fujigaya Taisuke and Senga then have to try to do Yamashita Tomohisa's dance for Daite Senorita.

Then finally is is Goseki Koichi and Kawai Fumito to act out coming home. This is prompt that probably needs subtitles to get as the rest are pretty easy to follow along without them.

Up next is a performance by Question? who do a cover of the Otokogumi song Mihari. Mihari is my favorite Otokogumi song but it is thanks to this performance by Question? that I even knew it existed. This is why I enjoy the fact that the Juniors will cover these older songs as I do not see how else I would be able to hear some of them with how hard it is to track down releases from the older Johnny's groups.

We have the Kansai Junior ni Q VTR segment for this episode and the theme is about dreams. The first Kansai Junior up that I know is still with the agency is Fugal Shawn Goku. He talks about studying and the fact that even though his father is from America Fugal only understands English and does not really speak it.

Hamanaka Bunichi is called over in this one and he wrote down training but he does not seem to want to talk. And that is it for this segment.

A.B.C. then have an MC segment and they are asked about who their favorite rock act is. Goseki answers with The Rolling Stones, then Tsukada Ryuichi answers with Aerosmith and Totsuka Shota with The Blue Hearts' front man Komoto Hiroto. When it is Kawai's turn he gets up and has music start so he can do his Matsumoto Jun impersonation. He then answers the question with Okamoto Kenichi.

The group then perform the song Shelter though Nakamaru at first tries to go on stage with them but is called back by Koyama. But he does actually join A.B.C. for the song about halfway through to do his beat boxing.

It is then time to end the episode and the song for that is OH! MY DREAM. As the song seems to be for the older Juniors to perform it is really worth sticking through to see the little cute moments that pop up in the performance.

I kinda feel bad not having a lot to say about the episode, because it is not a bad episode at all, but this is just the era where things just felt solid. There was a good balance between Juniors and debuted Johnny's when it cam to focus and for now not much is changing from month to month. Of course that is bound to change in the second half of the year if memory serves me right though.

In any case the next two episodes are the Osaka episodes for the year and there should be plenty to mention about them.

And finally I have made it to the end of this drama. I really should have finished up months ago as I did enjoy it.

Once the recapping of the last episode is done we are given a flashback scene with Nishida Remi (Arai Moe) and Origuchi Haruka (Mizuno Erina). Remi tells Haruka that she hates herself for everything and Haruka tells her that maybe it would be better to forget everything. Remi follows her advice and asks like Haruka's still a stranger to her. In the present day after confessing all of that she breaks into tears, feeling regret for pretending that Haruka meant nothing to her when she was actually a dependable friend in the hardest part of her life.

Suga Mizuho (Honda Tsubasa) then comforts her friend, finally knowing the painful things she went through without ever letting anyone know. After some time passes Narumi Hikaru (Nakayama Yuma) and Maruo (Sakuma Daisuke) show up at Narumi Hiro's (also played by Nakayama Yuma) place.

Hikaru gives his brother the letter from Origuchi to read, finally keeping his promise to her.

There is a flashback to when Hikaru visited Origuchi in the hospital before she died. Origuchi believed that the two bothers were actually closely connected which is why she thought she could trust Hikaru in giving the letter to Hiro.

In the letter Origuchi tells Hiro that she loves him and thanks him for having known him in her life.

In the morning everyone is still around. Mizuho and Remi talk about the guy who got Remi pregnant and Remi feels like she should find him so she can at least end things properly.

Maruo has come to peace over what happened with him and Hiro those years ago and goes so far to tell Hiro that it would be okay for him to visit him.

Hikaru talks to Yanai Takashi (Matsumura Hokuto) and seems to just want to rile the other guy up. He fails though as Yanai has reacted differently to learning the truth than what Hikaru was probably expecting. Mizuho then shows up and Yanai leaves the two to talk.

Mizuho confronts Hikaru about knowing about Origuchi but doing nothing and for waiting so long to give Hiro the letter. Hikaru just acts in his usual aloof manner. As Hikaru walks off Mizuho finally tells him that she does not regret the relationship they had and she is willing to accept him for who he is without getting into his past because she believes in him and the fact that she will see him again. She hugs him then they part to go their separate ways.

I think the only part of the end that I did not care so much about is Mizuho and Hikaru. Probably because Hikaru does not seem to have changed throughout everything. But I guess that is to be expected as it really was Mizuho's journey but Hikaru's future seems rather bleak as he still has no direction and has not really done anything to change himself. But who knows, perhaps it is Mizuho's change that will make him want to do the same now or something. And I am glad they did not end up together immediately for the "perfect" happy ending as again, I don't think Hikaru is at a place at the end that he could give Mizuho the kind of relationship she wants from him.

Overall though I enjoyed this drama and it renewed my faith in this drama block after the lackluster Sprout.

Nikaido Takashi

Group: Kis-My-Ft2

Birthdate: August 6, 1990

When I was first learning about the members of Kis-My-Ft2Nikaido’s bratty side was emphasized and ever since I have associated the world “brat” with him. Though I think it is safe to say that he has outgrown some of that brattiness he still seems to have a bit left. Or at least that is the only reason why I can think he seems so clueless when dealing with the situations on Kis-My-Busaiku.

So I am most interested in seeing how he will grow as a person over time, or at least I hope he will.

Playing some catch up with some things I missed while getting adjusted to my move. Figured I would start with the covers that have been revealed for Kis-My-Ft2's upcoming single, Kimi tono Kiseki.

From seeing the previews for the PV for the title track I know that the covers for the LEs and RE are from the set of that. I think when coming up with ways to make a cost efficient CD cover this is a great way to do it, as saving a trip to a photo studio by just using a PV set should save some money. And if anything Johnny's is cheap whenever they can be.

And even though the split is quite evident I do like that they at least look like they are in the same group a bit more with both KiFt and s-My-2 having white as a main color in both their outfits. And from the PV preview s-My-2 are not doing so bad when it comes to screen time compared to PVs like We never give up! and My Resistance ~Tashikanamono~. Which is impressive with all the Juniors the PV will have in it.

The Kisumai Shop version (which can only be purchased by those with a Japanese address) though is lazy photoshop at its worst. Seriously the thing is hideous and I can only hope that the goods that come with it will look much better than that mess.

This month is the episodes filmed at NHK Hall Osaka, so it gives us the chance to see what has changed with the Kansai Juniors after about a year.

The episode opens up with the main Kansai Juniors singing Sunrise Nippon. One noticeable group missing is B.A.D. who I can only assume where busy with Gokusen 3 promotions at the time as both were in that drama. But BOYS, OSSaN, ungrouped Kanjuu that will become Veteran later are there.

Then we have a new group, Hey! Say! 7 WEST, which is a four member unit at this time with the members being Nakayama Yuma, Kamiyama Tomohiro, Fujii Ryusei and Takemoto Shinpei. The group will be a seven member unit for a while until Yuma gets his solo push. It will also undergo a name change to become 7WEST and go down to four members again when Shinpei and Shingaki Yuto quit Johnny's later. So out of the four original group members only two remain, Kamiyama and Fujii.

The theme of the episode is SUMMER and we get the usual theme medley to follow its announcement. The medley not only features the Kanjuu groups but also has Nakamaru Yuichi performing with Butokan (minus Yara Tomoyuki). Then Koyama Keiichiro performs to introduce the guests of the episode, Tegomass, to end the medley.

Tegomass then have their MC with the hosts, and you can tell that Koyama and Nakamaru are happy to have them there. Koyama because they are NEWS members and Nakamaru because he is friends with Masuda Takahisa.

The duo then perform their song, Aiaigasa. And the show is still in love with using the fog machine to cover the stage for ballads. And like always I love how close the audience is to the main stage here in Osaka compared to Tokyo. It gives the performances more of a concert feel to me.

HS7WEST get an MC segment then. The four members get to talk about things they think of when it comes to summer. Yuma answers with baseball, Kamiyama goes with the beach, Takemoto wrote down ice cream and Fujii put down first concert.

There is a Nakayama Yuma medley that starts out with Yuma performing solo but then is joined by the rest of HS7WEST. You can see Shigeoka Daiki back dancing in this, which seems so strange considering he is the ace for 7WEST.

Following this it is the game segment. Like with the past game segment we get to see a lot of Kanjuu that are mainly back dancers, which is nice except I do not recognize any of them and can only assume they are no longer with the agency. There are a few of the older Kanjuu participating as well so there are some that I know and are still with Johnny's. Like Hamada Takahiro and Hamanaka Bunichi.

Tegomass are the judges and the two teams compete in different things and they have to decide which side did it better. Massu though gets to join in when one of the challenges involved arm wrestling.

Butokan are then called out to do an MC segment and they are with Yara this time. Of course Bunichi gets some focus, as he is a Kanjuu.

The true highlight of this MC though is Senga Kento though as he is prompted to talk about a documentary he watched about turtles laying eggs. He is then goaded into doing an impression of this that is well worth hunting this episode down to see.

The group then performs C=Normal for the first time with all five group members. I rather like the canes used as props for this performance. It helps make it stand out from their others rather easily and they are actually used to do more then give their hands something to do.

Koyama then performs a solo, Private Hearts, which was a K.K.Kity song that became a NEWS song to become a solo for Koyama. Or more like Koyama liked the song so much he made it into a solo for him.

There is a letter exchange segment and it is actually between two Kanjuu that are still with Johnny's as they are both a part of Veteran now, Muro Ryuta and Yamasaki Kunta. At this point though the two are members of BOYS though I am pretty certain that does not last too much longer as BOYS eventually becomes a duo and both Ryuta and Kunta are dropped from the line up to do so.

BOYS then perform their group song, Battle. It is a nice energetic song and I wish I could remember if it has been given to another Kanjuu group or not since BOYS disbanded. I hope it has or will as I rather like it, though perhaps more as a performance song than anything else.

This then takes us to the end of the episode and all the main Kanjuu since Kanjani8's Osaka Romanesque. It is a rather slow song to end the episode on but being the final song of the episode it can work like that.

This is the episode that I recall watching and taking notice of Nakayama Yuma. Back then I was not really a Kanjuu fan, I just knew Bunichi because of Butokan and B.A.D. because of Gokusen 3, and mainly kept my attention on the Tokyo Juniors. Yuma was a big part in getting me to take notice of the Kanjuu, and I am a bit sad that he now falls under the Tokyo Juniors instead. But thanks to him I ended loving B.A.D., 7WEST and sticking with the Kanjuu to be a fan of Kin Kan and Naniwa Oji. And a part of me will always wish that he could debut with a new Kansai group.

Of course now that I am more of a Kanjuu fan I wish we got to see more of them. There are just so many I am not familiar with, partly because Shounen Club is a big part of how I keep track of Juniors. So I am glad that they now have a regular feature on the program and hopefully we will get to see some not so familiar faces on it.

Well the covers for Sexy Zone's upcoming concert DVD/BD release are out and they are just about as disappointing as the ones for the group's past single Real Sexy/BAD BOYS.

The only plus is that it is only the five members on the covers so Matsushima So and Yo Marius are not getting blended in with the Juniors. But they are barely there on the regular edition and it is not much better with the limited edition.

I get that Nakajima Kento, Kikuchi Fuma and Sato Shori are the more popular members of the group but I do not get why So and Marius have to be shoved into little corners for the group's covers, if even that. Even with the split with Kis-My-Ft2 the other four are not shoved into the smallest spaces possible for the group's covers for the most part so there is no doubt that they are meant to be with the group, it's just with their PVs that the split and live performances really becomes an issue. And I don't want to see the same happen with SZ on top of this issue with covers.

So is growing up quick now and looks to have plenty of talent that is just getting wasted by putting him in the back. And Marius has been getting better with being more confident on stage and definitely attracts attention. Not to mention is actually one of the busier members when it comes to having work. In fact he was the first member of the group that starred in a drama. So I do not get why they are trying to be hidden.

I can only hope that like with Kisumai the split will get better over time and both So and Marius will get some breaks. But I feel like it will be a long wait if this is just the beginning of this.

Starting on the 1st of August Johnny's net, the official website for Johnny's & Associates, has become multilingual. It has added an English, Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) and Korean versions of the website. I have checked out the English version, as that is my native language.

Not everything is translated, titles, for songs, concerts and such are simply put in romanji instead of being translated. Of course videos are still in Japanese but there are subtitles for the newer ones. But they are translating the Japanese subtitles on the original videos, not what is actually said, and some are missing this. Like A.B.C-Z choreography video still has the Japanese text for the subtitles and then with NEWS' video about their album as the only subtitles are just listing the release date in the Japanese video that is all there is in English for the English site.

Also not everything is updated completely at the same time. Like with the new release page if you click on something to get more information instead of having a new window with that information pop up like in the Japanese version of the website you are instead redirected to the discography page for the artist. So if you were trying to find out what the songs are on Kis-My-Ft2's upcoming single, Kimi tono Kiseki, you will need to go to the Japanese version of the website to find it as it has yet to be added to the discography page in the English version. And the videos look to be on delay, as the update for a new Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z videos is listed as an update but if you check the video page they are no where to be seen.

And there are some announcements that the Japanese site has that the other languages don't, but they seem to really only to pertain to those who are living in Japan so international fans are probably not missing anything by missing them.

Despite that though I love that I have this resource in mostly English. While I know enough Japanese to be able to get around the site it is just easier to have everything in my native language. And the English subtitles for the videos will definitely give me more reason to check them out when they come out. Not to mention the fact that they went the extra mile to make the site be as much like the Japanese version instead of a simplified version of it gets props from me.

I am also glad that it looks like Johnny's is getting serious about being more international. This is definitely a good step towards that though. If I have learned anything from being an international fan in various fandoms that the first step to attracting a larger group of fans is getting things out in other languages.

Now if only they can open an official youtube channel with at least the short versions of the PVs and I would think they have the first foothold towards going worldwide.

And now for the second Osaka episode of Shounen Club for 2008.

Like with the previous episode it opens up with the main Kansai Juniors performing an Arashi song, this time it is Kitto Daijobu. We do get something new as Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi show up and introduce the main groups then the theme of the episode, Smile.

And while they did not get announced with the other Kanjuu groups the medley does have the Muay Thai Mukai Brothers, which has little Mukai Koji and his older brother. Last episode they only back danced so it is nice to see them actually perform something for this episode.

Again like last episode Tegomass are brought out early to do their MC and performance for the episode. As they were talking about smiling Masuda Takahisa gets some focus as he is known for smiling a lot. Koyama manages to bring up Kato Shigeaki when the conversation turned to stories about concerts. Then Nakamaru is asked about KAT-TUN and he brings up Taguchi Junnosuke.

The following performance is a Tegomass/NEWS medley, with Tegomass starting by singing Ai Ai Gasa. Then Koyama joins them to perform weeeek. The weeeek performance is fun to watch, but honestly weeeek always is. And I love how with the Osaka NHK Hall when they go to stand on the small platforms instead of just being in front of the stage as in Tokyo they are in between the audience.

With the Heisei Post segment Hey! Say! 7 WEST is brought out to help with the letter answering but Nakamaru remains the host of the corner. The first letter asks about pitching so they have Nakayama Yuma show off the pitching skills from his drama, Battery. Kamiyama Tomohiro is asked to be the catcher for him but I cannot say that it is because of any skill he has with the position. but this is easily the highlight of the segment.

This is followed by a Butokan special stage. The performance starts out with an accent dance, which is basically a dance segment to show off the skill as well as the individual members of a group. They then perform Sweet Butterfly.

This game segment focuses more on the Kanjuu groups as well as the older Kanjuu so there are more familiar faces, and much more of them are still with Johnny's compared to the game segment in the previous episode. Nakamaru is the judge for this game segment which is where they are given a theme to give examples of. The first prompt being summer school, followed by summer beach and summer in Osaka. Subtitles would help with this one but the guys are rather lively which is still fun to watch.

It is then an MC with a few various Juniors, though Backes Kento is really the only one still with Johnny's. the topic is about what made them smile recently and he put down at a concert.

The next performance is Nakamaru with his solo song, SMACK. I am a bit indifferent to the song, as it is not bad but nothing that makes it stand out enough for me to want to listen to it too much. I do appreciate that he has BOYS as his back dancers for the number and that they get some moments to shine with that.

Following this is the Kansai Junior ni Q segment. The topic this time is the person you admire, so we get to hear a lot about what sempai are admired. And we get a Junior ni Q where only one of the Juniors brought up to talk about their answer are still with Johnny's. That is Hamanaka Bunichi who was put down as an answer for one of the younger Kanjuu so he gets called over and is then asks about his answer, which was Yara Tomoyuki.

There is then a Kansai Junior Rock Medley. It has the usual theme medley run down with groups first getting songs to cover with the final number having them all, plus a few more Juniors added, to finish off the medley.

The final number of the program is Next 100 Years, which is a cover of the J-Friends version of the Jon Bon Jovi song. During the performance Tegomass, then Koyama and Nakamaru join in to finish the song.

After Kanjani8 debuted there seemed to be a huge void left when it came to the Kanjuu. But by now I would say that the Kanjuu are well on their way to having a bigger presence again, and most importantly not just one group of them so if there is a Kanjuu debut there would still be some around to carry on without being dependent on that group.

I am sad that this is the most we see of the Kanjuu during this SC era. And again I am so very happy that with the latest season we get to see more of them. I always feel like I am missing something with the Kanjuu with these episodes as they were only once a year and so much can happen in that time. Though at least with this season the Kansai Junior ni Q segment exists so there are glimpses of the Kanjuu throughout the year with that.

Like Piece this is something I have been meaning to review some time ago but kept putting it off. But now that I want to get through my backlog it is time to finally write this up.

So the basic plot is that the students of Bakaleya must go to the main Cattleya school while their school is worked on to be put up to standard for earthquake safety. The guys have to make sure they stay out of trouble or face being expelled. Which is made complicated with Jimbo Makoto (Kochi Yugo) and Satonaka Yuki (Jesse) still at odds with Sakuragi Tatsuya (Morimoto Shintaro) and his group and the head of a rival school, Majima Kaito (Iwamoto Hikaru), out to prove himself as the strongest of all the schools by taking Tatsuya down.

The girls have to deal with the fact that the current class president for the 1st branch of Cattleya, Kunesono Yuka (Kato Rena), is unhappy with their return and is intent on proving herself to be superior. Shingyoji Fumie (Shimazaki Haruka) meanwhile has to decide if she will go study abroad or not.

The movie pretty much picks up where the TV series left off. This works out as there is a lot being crammed into it so having to deal with major character changes would have made it too bulky. Not that it is completely free of that with the glut of new characters thrown in. This also means some roles end up rather small, like for Noguchi Satoshi (Tanaka Juri), Terakawa Maya (Kyomoto Taiga) and Tokumune Sayuri (Mitsumune Kaoru), compared to the TV series.

As much as I love Tatsunami Shohei (Takaki Yuya) and I am glad to see Koba Junichi (Miyata Toshiya) actually do something, their love-triangle subplot went absolutely nowhere. In the end it really just added some comic relief, which might have been necessary as the TV comic relief duo, Makoto and Yuki had their roles switched. But the subplot still did not avoid feeling like fluff.

Makoto and Yuki benefited from the movie in the fact that they finally got a bit of focus which they lacked in the TV series. And it helped that their plot was not wrapped up at the start but closer to the end. Though it was also one of those things in the movie that would have had more impact if more time was spent developing it.

I was honestly expecting Majima Kenji (Tamamori Yuta) to play a larger role, yet I did not mind what I got with him. Though it was rather cheesy near the end even by my standards with his connection with Sakuragi Ren (Uchi Hiroki). And he does broody well, which was 90% of the role right there.

But it was good for Kaito to have an older brother as it gave us some parallels between him and Tatsuya. And that was rather useful as there was not a lot time to spend on the new characters the movie introduced. But on the same token it is hard to feel much of anything for Kaito because he does not stand well as a character in his own right.

And I was quite happy to find out what happened with Tatsuya's brother, Ren. While it was not something I was expecting it fits with the character type of delinquents with hearts of gold that the main male characters of this drama fall into.

To be honest I was mostly bored with the girls' plot. They basically retreaded what was already done with the first group of girls in the TV series, or at least the first couple of episodes worth as they did not spend much time on these characters outside of Fumie and Yuka. Though Kyoka Saya (Oba Mina) at least got to do something with being the one with the actual rivalry with Yuka.

Fumie's plot line about deciding to go study abroad though was good though. Especially since it reflects on how she has grown as a character with her decision tying into her choice being one that she could only choose now after her experiences with the boys from Bakada.

I think they found a good way to end things for the series by keeping things open. They are only second year students so one would assume that they would continue on as they have been until graduation. And by having Fumie leave so the love triangle will remain unsolved actually works rather well. But mainly because romantic angst and this series does not feel like a good mix and again there was more than enough going on in the movie any more would have probably just weakened it more.

I am not sure if the series warranted a movie but I am glad to have it though I think it would have done well as a SP instead. I am quite glad to have an answer about Tatsuya's brother's death and I do not mind having the romance plot be left completely open ended.

It is a bit of a mess with all the plot lines that are going on in it but it keeps it from dragging on the other hand. I also would not recommend watching this unless you have watched the TV series first. I think a viewer new to the series would easily become lost.

Yabu Kota

Group: Hey! Say! JUMP

Birthdate: January 31, 1990

Watching through the years of Shounen Club episodes I can say I have seen Yabu grow up. From the cute little thing he was back when Ya-Ya-Yah was just formed to the young man he is today.

I feel he is wasted being in Hey! Say! JUMP, as if there any members that should have no issue with having work on a regular basis he should be among them because of the popularity he had with Yax3. I guess he still does better than most of the group with that but I would like to see him doing more.

Catching up with some tidbits of news.

The first is that Senga Kento will be making his big screen debut in a horror film called Bilocation. The movie stars Mizukawa Asami and will also have Johnny's Junior Takada Sho in it.

It will be released in theaters in Japan in January, 2014.

Sanspo article (Japanese)

Then for a more recent announcement, Fujigaya Taisuke will have the lead role in a drama SP, Hontou ni Atta Kowai Hanashi Natsu no Tokubetsuhen 2013. This is an annual SP that has five episodes in total but each episode tells a completely different story not connected to the rest. They will begin airing on August 17.

Oricon Style article (Japanese)

I am quite happy for Senga to get another acting role. I know that even though he will not get the same amount of pushing as KiFt he and Miyata Toshiya seem to have been set to get at least some pushing which makes the split look more like 3/2/2 than the 3/4. And that is a bit refreshing though it would be nice to see it be a bit more evened out, but at least it seems like a step in the right direction.

No surprise that Fujigaya is getting another lead role. It looks like he and Tamamori Yuta and set to be the members of the group that will be the drama leads. This is not a bad thing as it means that it is always a high chance that whatever drama they star in Kis-My-Ft2 will do the theme song for and we will get another single from them. It will be interesting to see if Kitayama Hiromitsu will be able to break out of the supporting role and become drama lead material as well.

And at this point I cannot help but wonder if Takada Sho will follow the path of Ikuta Toma and Kazama Shunsuke and become a Johnny's actor. He seems to be doing much more with acting than performing these days and it is not a bad path to take as those two have done well for themselves.

We are back to Tokyo again for this month's episodes but not back to all the usual Juniors.

In the introduction we have a couple added faces in Kato Shigeaki taking Nakamaru Yuichi's place as host with Koyama Keiichiro and Imai Tsubasa joining in on the song as the guest of the episode. There is also the dance group M.A.D. present. What is missing though is all of Kis-My-Ft2 and A.B.C. as well as some of the other regular Juniors, like the five that include Takada Sho and Masuda Ryo. I cannot remember exactly what they were busy with at the time but they should be back next month if my memory serves me right.

In the starting MC they talk about why Shige is there with Shige reading a letter from a fan that brings up the NEWS o abake that Shige said that he could what Koyama could. IIRC, KAT-TUN was touring at the time so Nakamaru was busy with that and I will have to assume that is where EbiKisu and the rest are for this as well.

The theme medley is mixed with a NEWS medley. It starts off mainly as a medley for the theme of the episode, Vacation, and has Tsubasa with the mixed Juniors perform the first song of the medley. So we get to see a little bit of little Jesse performing.

As the medley goes on it becomes more of a NEWS medley with Koyama and Shige leading the songs. TOP3 are the most prominent Juniors for the medley being in a few songs and getting a good amount of time in front of the camera. Of course when they need even numbers they bring in Yamashita Shoon, who remains group and grouping-less.

Heisei Post is the next segment with Shige as the host this time. And Tsubasa is not the only guest for the episode as he calls out some Hey! Say! JUMP members, Yamada Ryosuke, Nakajima Yuto, Chinen Yuri and Arioka Daiki. This Shounen Club episode was recorded between when the Sensei wa Erai drama SP and the Scrap Teacher TV drama series aired, that they all starred in, which is most likely why we are getting these four of the group as guests on the program.

They read a couple of fan letters, one asking Arioka to give a wake up message. The other asks Yamada about doing an impersonation and he tries to do Yamashita Tomohisa then Yuto shows off his Kamenashi Kazuya impersonation.

The four then perform Your Seed and while I love the song and usually love the performances for it this one was just a bit weird. But it is mainly because the choreography is really meant for a large group so trying to have the four members do it did not quite work. They even had to have TOP3 come out and help them do some of the moves so they had enough numbers for them.

After the performance it is an MC segment with two members of Question?, and sadly neither of them are with Johnny's anymore. But they both talk about vacations they have gone on in the past.

The group then performs Parallel World, which I will never tire of listening to. I think if anything I would like to see them do something a bit different for their performances though. I know they are rather restricted with having to play instruments but there had to be something they could have done to make them feel a bit fresh from time to time.

The game segment is next and it is the game where the guys have to act out prompts and a judge, this time Tsubasa, decides which team did it better. It starts off with cat impersonations, cat ears included, between Nozawa Yuki and Sanada Yuma. The next is for performing the dance moves for Ho! Summer which is fun to watch as two Question? members are made to do it, and as band members they do not do all the dancing that other Juniors do. Then there is play acting about pretending to be a friend of Tsubasa's that is showing up late to meet him.

The final round is the true highlight of the segment and makes be sad that neither Shoon or Igo Akun are with Johnny's anymore. They have to pretend to be gyarus talking on a cell phone, which includes having them wear a wig.

Tsubasa then has his MC segment and talks about his trip to Spain, which will become one of many. He shows off some pictures, including a couple from the dance lessons he took when he was there.

He then goes and performs his solo song DO ME CRAZY. As expected from one of his performances the dancing is strong as well as the vocals. That is one thing about duos as that there is no one to hide behind so you need to be a solid performer.

With this Junior ni Q segment there is only one Junior brought over that is with the agency still, and that is Jesse. The topic is a vacation they want to take and Jesse answered with Las Vegas, as that is where his father was born.

Up next is an MC segment with Yamada. They talk about SUMMARY with him and he mentions that it was his first time flying (as in with the cables from the roof). They then switch topics to about the summer and Yamada talks about liking to go to the beach.

He then performs one of his solos, Asia no Yoru. I am already used to the CD version of this song so it sounds a bit off with him singing it in his younger voice. And I did not remember the performance being as dance heavy as it is.

We get something a bit different with the ending song as Koyama and Shige lead it. They sing Nami, which is song that was usually performed by members of the Four Tops, so it is a treat to have it performed again. And the rest of the Juniors, and finally the members of HSJ present, come in to perform it with them as well.

This is definitely an abnormal episode of SC with the most prominent Juniors busy doing something else. But this is not the first time it has happened nor the first time the issue was solved by pulling in a higher guest ratio than usual. It tends to work out in the end as the remaining Juniors usually get some spotlight they normally would not if the other Juniors were there.

Moving on to the next NTV late night drama I am up to last winter's drama, Shinryochu ~In the Room~.

This drama is a dramatic change from the the dramas that have come before it in the same time slot. It revolves around the conversations between a psychiatrist and his patients, all high school students. So far it all has taken place within a single room, and considering the name of the drama I am sure that the rest of the series will mainly take place in there.

The lead character is school counselor Tenma Ryo (Inagaki Goro) who seems to have some of the most disturbed students at the school he works at. He comes off as a bit distant, which is not always a good quality in a psychiatrist but he does seem to have a genuine desire in helping these troubled youths out.

We also get that he is having family trouble with his daughter and wife, and at the end of the episode calls up another psychiatrist. I am no expert in this field but I think this would be the point that a professional would ask for a break to take care of themselves as they are not going to be the greatest help to others if they are not able to help themselves.

The episode shows us two of the students he is seeing, sort of maybe in the first case. It seems a bit frustrating that everyone seems to be beating around the bush with what they are saying so it is a bit hard to grasp what the issue is. But I guess that is to help put the viewers in Tenma's place, as he only has what the students tell him to figure out how to help them. In Kaihara Minami's (Suda Anna) case though it seems that she is not the one we actually see this episode but her twin sister Miu, pretending to be her.

While Minami's session was more weird than anything the one with Tanaka Shun (Takada Sho) is more on the disturbing side as he recounts beating up his friend. And I'm not sure if the word association that Tenma does with him is actually a way to figure out if he is gay or not. Or even if the session was helpful at all. But I think that would fall more on Shun's shoulders as he comes off just looking for straight answers to some complicated issues he is having with himself and his friend.

After watching this first episode all I can say about this drama is that it is dark and a bit weird. I do not know what to feel about it or for the characters. It is the kind of series I prefer to try to marathon my way through so I am glad it is complete so I can do that. It also means there should not be a long wait until I am done with it. But I have the feeling this may end up being another miss for me unless the characters become likeable.

And we are on the second episode of the month where we have no shortage of guests.

The introduction this time around is rather short with the few Juniors that the four members of Hey! Say! JUMP from the previous episode are all introduced by name. Except for M.A.D., who just get their group name, most likely because they are the only official full group on the stage.

The HSJ four remain on stage for when the theme of the episode is announced. This is because the theme is Bouken (Adventure) and HSJ have the perfect song for that, Bouken Rider.

So instead of the usual theme medley it is Yamada Ryosuke, Chinen Yuri, Arioka Daiki and Nakajima Yuto performing Bouken Rider for the performance to directly tie-in to the theme of the episode.

Hashimoto Ryosuke helps answer questions sent in by fans for the Heisai Post corner with Kato Shigeaki. The first is about what gift to get a friend as a surprise gift. The second letter seems to be more like a fan letter for Hasshi.

The medley that the Juniors get to do is a KAT-TUN medley. It plays out like the usual theme medleys do, with various Juniors doing each song until the final song where they all join in to perform it.

Next up is an MC with Chinen and Yamada, that is after Shige and Koyama Keiichiro have some fun with the audience. The two HSJ members are then asked about adventures they have had.

The following performance mainly features Nakajima Yuto with the other members of HSJ there joining him in parts as well as TOP3. Most of the songs are covers of old Johnny's songs with a show tune sound to them. Like they do the Namida-kun Sayonara/Mack the Knife mash up that the Juniors did a few months ago in this medley.

The game segment is next and it is the one where something is placed in a box and the guys have to feel it with their hands to figure out what it is. This is always entertaining to watch as most of the guys appear to completely freak out when doing this.

Like with the past episode the Igo Akun vs Yamashita Shoon pair are the highlight of the segment, as they have some trouble even finding what they are supposed to be touching seeing, as it is a living thing and moves all around the box.

A special guest for the guest is introduced, Yabu Kota, and he performs a song that he wrote the lyrics for, Chikai no Sora. He has Kosaka Masato, who is no longer in Johnny's, sing it with him as it is a duet.

It is then Imai Tsubasa's turn for an MC segment. He talks about the theme of the episode and ties it to doing a stage play/musical he was a part of.

He then performs Yumemonogatari as a solo. The performance features Question? backing him up as the song is given a hint of a rock flare for this.

This is one of the better Kansai Junior ni Q segments when it comes to those still with the agency. The first they talk to is Kamiyama Tomohiro who wrote down "ookini", which is a Kansai-dialect word that means "thanks a lot". Though when asked about using it he confesses that he does not use it.

Yamasaki Kunta is called up and his word is "ai", which of course means "love" and mostly of the romantic kind.

Then to finish the segment up Hamanaka Bunichi is called up. He wrote "junsui no arigato" which pretty much translates to "genuine thanks". When he comes up though he has a piece of paper on the front of his shirt that give a completely different answer to what is on the board. When asked which one is true he says it is the one on the board.

It is now Arioka Daiki's turn to be the spotlight of a performance (Chinen is the odd man out this time around) and performs Seishun Amigo. At first alone as a solo but is soon joined by Nozawa Yuki, Sanada Yuma and M.A.D.

It is then time for the final song of the program and since it is the second ending song only the older Juniors can participate, which means Nozawa, Sanada, Shoon, M.A.D. and Question? Instead of just letting them perform a song on their own Tsubasa leads the final song, Koiuta, and Koyama, Shige, Arioka and Yabu even join him to perform it.

I am certain the next month has the usual Juniors on again as A.B.C-Z was announced near the end of SUMMARY and before that happens we have a Yamashita Shoon with A.B.C. formation on the show, so next month has to be the month for that.

We should also be quickly closing in to Nakajima Kento and Kikuchi Fuma showing up on the program and the creation of B.I. Shadow.

The Shounen Club 11 May 2008 review

Johnny's Under 100: Masuda Takahisa

Sexy Zone's summer of concert releases

The Shounen Club 1 June 2008 review

Young and Beautiful! Sexy Zone

NEWS celebrate an anniversary!

The Shounen Club 8 June 2008 review

Piece Ep. 13 first impressions

Johnny's Under 100: Nikaido Takashi

Kisumai's Kiseki covered

The Shounen Club 6 July 2008 review

If you squint Sexy Zone has five members

Johnny's net become multilingual

The Shounen Club 13 July 2008 review

Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou movie review

Johnny's Under 100: Yabu Kota

The horrors for Fujigaya and Senga

The Shounen Club 3 August 2008 review

Shinryochu ~In the Room~ first impressions

The Shounen Club 10 August 2008 review