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Johnny's Under 100: Jesse

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Jesse
Group: none
Birthdate: June 11, 1996

I have always liked Jesse, though mainly at first just because I thought he looked like a cute kid. I was happy when he finally got a group with Hip Hop Jump, though his membership in the group seemed to be constantly changing.

Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou was probably the best thing to happen for him. He finally got the chance to be taken out of the back rows to be put front and center, thanks to the fact he has solid vocals. Not sure if I care much for his acting but I am still a fan.

The Shounen Club 7 September 2008 review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Shinryochu ~In the Room~ mid-seasons impressions

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And I continue on with this drama that I hope to finish off by next week.

At this point I can say that I am completely this series just for the sake of completing it and because I like some of the members of the cast. So basically the same reasoning I made it through Sprout. Though I would place Shinryochu above Sprout as it at least has some interesting characters and does not drag nearly as much.

What hinders me from enjoying this drama is that I have no clue with what it is trying to do. It comes off as a drama that should be trying to bring some meaningful message to it but I am not seeing one, or at least not consistently. That and it seems to amp up the drama for the sake of drama, making it hard to believe. I think if perhaps Tenma Ryo (Inagaki Goro) was without all the personal family drama he would make for a good point of view character for the series because without that there really is none for the audience to be able to place themselves in their position.

If I was a drinker I would have made a drinking game around this expression.
And I have a hard time believing that Tenma is supposed to be a seasoned professional with how often he looks at his patients shocked. Are we meant to believe that this is the first time he has had troubled patients like this and that they are all coming to him at the same time for counseling? And I doubt having a therapist look at you like you have grown a second head would give you a sense of confidence in them.

At this point in the drama there is quite the cast of characters to try to keep track of. This is probably another reason why it would have been better to skip Tenma having personal drama to deal with and just focus on the kids and their issues.

At this point the only ones I care about are Kitahara Ren (Senga Kento) and Ito Nana (Yoshikura Aoi), as they are the easiest to follow and understand where they are coming from. And Katayama Hikaru (Tanaka Juri), as while his issue is rather out there it is easier to figure out where it probably will go from the cues given in the one session we have seen with him so far.

The rest either come off as outlandish with how overly dramatic things get with them or the characters give so little about themselves to make you want to care about them. Aikawa Sakuya (Sanada Yuma) is both completely over the top he just comes off as simply psychopathic and there is nothing revealed about him that brings out any sympathy.

A drama like this should be built around the characters and have stories naturally come from them but it feels like the opposite is going on. It is hard to believe that characters who have worked themselves up to becoming emotional and irrational can suddenly shift to calm and rational the next. The reverse can be believed as people can hide those things or sometimes such behavior can be triggered by something but I know I have never heard of the reverse happening. So I can only think that this happens in this drama because the script calls for it.

I will muddle through the rest of this and hope that perhaps closer to the end there will be some clarity given in some of the story lines. But I have given up hoping that this drama knows what it is trying to do.

The Shounen Club 14 September 2008 review

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And we hit the second episode of the month, with next month set to bring us some changes.

We start off with a basic introduction of having group names or individual names for the Juniors not in groups called out and then some dancing. Nakayama Yuma gets included this time around unlike the previous episode.

As Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi do the usual theme introduction Yabu Kota shows up with a fan letter in hand. He reads it as it requests for the show to do a certain theme, Koi (love).

This then leads into the theme medley and it is mostly the ungrouped Juniors with some of the grouped Juniors coming in to perform a song or two. Kikuchi Fuma gets his first close up shot and he seems like a complete natural in front of the camera already.

The first MC segment is given to a trio of little Juniors, Anderson Casey, Morimoto Shintaro and Jesse. They are to talk about what they want to do for their first date. Anderson talks about sky diving from a helicopter and ending up on a deserted island. Shintaro aims for Hawaii while Jesse simply wants to go to the beach.

After this the guests of the episode, Hey! Say! BEST perform their unit song Spicy. I do appreciate that even though most of the song is them as mic stands that they make sure to break away from them to move around as an upbeat song like this seems wasted on having the group stand in place.

The unit then gets to have their MC segment where they get to talk about what they think about the theme. And all five get a turn to talk and they all looked to have fun.

TOP3 then have a group performance of a song called INTO MIND. This should be the last time we get to see the grouping perform together as I am sure next month we will have A.B.C-Z. I remember that being a shock partly because the three were given a group name, TOP3, shortly before that and of course they fact that they had performances where they were to sole performers like this.

It is then time for the game segment and Nakamaru is the judge who gets to decide if the Juniors attempt at performing a prompt is good enough to earn points or not. The first prompt is a gourmet food reporter. This gets some rare participation from Tamamori Yuta who ends up being thoroughly embarrassed by his try.

There is also confessing to your first love then comforting someone who did not make the cut in an audition after you did. And really the members of A.B.C. really shine in this game segment  overall when it comes to being entertaining.

Up next is an MC with Butokan which starts out with Yara Tomoyuki comforting Senga Kento, as the former had messed up with his attempt in the game segment and was rather upset about it. But they move on and Senga is able to collect himself so they can even joke about him doing the imitation of a turtle laying eggs in the Osaka episodes.

The group perform their song, Now and Forever, and there is not much to say as the group is as on point as always. Though own thing I keep forgetting to mention is that I am surprised to note that Hamanaka Bunichi has a strong voice. I guess mainly this is because this is the only chance he has really gotten to show it off.

For the Heisei Post segment we have HSB with Nakamaru. They read letters and answer them, the first being about presents so they talk about gifts they have given. The second one is a question about the unit with which one is the strongest of them all. So they do an impromptu arm wrestling tournament.

Question? then perform their song Beautiful Mind. It is another performance that it is hard to say something about as they have performed this song a few times already and each time the performance has been solid.

It goes straight into the next performance, Kis-My-Ft2 performing Kaizoku for the first time. I love this song and I am so glad it finally was released on CD with Kis-My-Zero3. Of course watching the performance one cannot help but notice that someone stands out a bit, as Senga's jacket does not really match with the pink on it when everyone else's does not have that color on them anywhere. Not sure if this was a costuming mistake or not as it is this way at the start of the episode as well.

It is then time to wrap up the episode with the ending song, which this time is HSB performing Your Seed and Bouken Rider. Still don't care much for Your Seed being performed without most of the group but since it is only a part of the song it works out. And Inoo Kei actually gets a solo line to sing.

For Bouken Rider the Juniors come out to join in performing it with HSB. And surprisingly we get Yamashita Shoon next to Yaotome Hikaru. I guess at this point Johnny's felt confident that the backlash about breaking up Ya-Ya-Yah had cooled down that it would no longer be an issue. But it will still be at least over a year before uchiwa are again allowed in the program.


A nice solid Junior focused episode that give no hints of the changes that are about to come. Of course this was filmed around the time SUMMARY would have begun and the changes did not happen until near the end of that.

I feel sad all over with TOP3 hitting their end, I really thought they worked well as a unit and wanted to see them go far but Johnny's had other ideas.

And I do have B.I.Shadow to look forward to as they should be showing up soon.

Johnny's Under 100: Hashimoto Ryosuke

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Hashimoto Ryosuke
Group: A.B.C-Z
Birthdate: July 15, 1993

I only took notice of Hasshi after Hey! Say! JUMP debuted and he was made center of a trio of Juniors. I was surprised to learn that he was the same age as most of the younger members of HSJ as he looked at least two years older.

I was unsure of having him join A.B.C. to become A.B.C-Z. He certainly had a good enough voice and could dance but acrobatics was not something I would think he could do. But it turned out well for him as he has learned a lot from the other members.

Bye Bye Sexy Zone Bye

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Sexy Zone is set to release another single this year, the release date is October 9 and the single will be a double A-side. The song that currently has a titled announced is Bye Bye Du Bye -See you again-, and the other A-side is still untitled.

The single will come with three limited editions, K, F and S, and a regular edition. There is also a a fifth version that can only be purchased for those with a Japanese address.

Limited version K has a solo for Nakajima Kento on it, Candy ~Can U be my BABY~, in addition to the two title tracks. It also has the DVD with the PV on it. It will also have front and back jacket image with Nakaken on it, with the front jacket coming in three different versions, and the first press bonus is a solo poster for Nakaken.


Limited version F has a solo for Kikuchi Fuma on it, FaKe, in addition to the two title tracks.  It also has the DVD with the making of the jacket photo shoot and PV on it. It will also have front and back jacket image with Fuma on it, with the front jacket coming in three different versions, and the first press bonus is a solo poster for Fuma.


Limited version S has a solo for Sato Shori on it, Onaji Sora no Shitain addition to the two title tracks.  There is also a fourth track, Bye Bye Du Bye -See you again- (Friendship version) on it. It also has the DVD with a dance lesson for a song, Friendship that is somehow connected to the title track, on it. (I will assume this is the Friendship version that is on the CD for this.) It will also have front and back jacket image with Shori on it, with the front jacket coming in three different versions, and the first press bonus is a solo poster for Shori.


Then there is the regular version of the single that has four tracks as well as karaoke tracks for all four songs. It will be the two title tracks, their latest volleyball support song, Young & Beautiful! and the movie remix of BAD BOYS. It will come with one out of five trading cards and a poster of the group.



It has taken me a good while to figure out the title of the single. Of course until the boys explain it this is just a guess on my part but to me it seems the most reasonable. I believe the "du" is actually German, as it is one of the words used for "you" with the meaning that you are talking to someone who is dear to you. Considering the English in the title is "see you again" it would imply that the song is probably having to deal with parting from someone close but hoping to see them again someday. Plus this would not be the first time SZ has used German in a song. Because otherwise all I can come up with is Dubai, and having the name of a Middle Eastern city-state in a song title of a Japanese boy band makes little sense.

If I am right about it being German than I have some hope that Yo Marius and Matsushima So may be a bit more prominent in this single, as Marius is the excuse for using German in their releases in the first place. So I hope I am right, I would actually pick up a copy of the single if I am. (RE only though as I would hope to be able to send some kind of signal I want the group to be about all five members and not just the older three.)

That said I did find a clip of Young & Beautiful! to listen to (and if I listened hard enough I could hear Marius and So) and my first impression was that it sounded like a Kis-My-Ft2 song. But something a bit more like their Junior songs, not so much their current style. I am not totally against this, as I liked Kisumai's Junior songs, but it is a bit weird to hear coming from SZ.

The Shounen Club 5 October 2008 review

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This episode not only gives us the Shounen Club first appearance of A.B.C-Z but also of Nakajima Kento.

The kicks off with an introduction/group number of the main Juniors singing Arashi's Kotoba yori Taisetsu na mono. One thing to note is that Tanaka Juri has been added to the Morimoto Shintaro grouping of little Juniors. So we should be seeing more of him from now on.

Like with the previous episode as Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi go to announce the theme of the episode they have someone cut in. This time it is Fujigaya Taisuke with a postcard from a fan who has requested Taisetsu (important, worthy of care) as a theme.

The theme medley kicks off with an A.B.C-Z performance so there is no waiting around to see what the group looks like with the new member. I am not sure if my feelings for the group at the time are still clouding my judgement a bit, but there does seem to be something off. maybe its just a difference in energy level as A.B.C. usually perform with tons of it and Hashimoto Ryosuke had been going for something a bit more subdued.

The highlight of the medley though is when the Takada Sho group has a Junior added to it who proves to be a spotlight stealer from the get go. This is of course Nakajima Kento who looks like a natural on stage with that bright smile of his. I was a fan of his from this moment on. Also to note is that the three original members of B.I.Shadow are all in white jackets/shirts for this to set them apart from the others, so it looks like the group is already on its way to be officially formed.

At the end of the medley the guests of the episode, Yabu Kota and Yaotome Hikaru, come out and perform Your Seed. They just stand on boxes on stage with a horde of Juniors dancing around them until they close out the song by joining the Juniors.

They do a quick MC segment with only Yabu talking about the theme as Hikaru is up to perform a solo song right after it.

The solo is Akogare no Egoist and it starts with Hikaru showing off his juggling skills, which was one of his things he did in SUMMARY to get highlighted and he still pulls it out from time to time at concerts. The song itself has a jazzy sound to it and uses more of his lower register than usual which is nice because his voice has less of a whiny sound to it when he is singing lower.

Heisei Post this time around is just Nakamaru reading a fan letter from a fan of Butokan. He then instructed the audience to call out the group's name and after that they appeared on stage to talk about a few things brought up in the letter.

The group then performs Grateful World, which like all their songs is a good pop song and has a part for them to really show off their dance skills. But it does give Senga Kento and Hamanaka Bunichi solo lines, which is nice as I prefer their voices over Yara Tomoyuki's.

It is then time for the game segment, which uses Yara as judge. It is another competition where the guys have to act out prompts. The first is a dog and it pits Hashimoto Ryosuke against Morimoto Shintaro. It is not often that such a young Junior gets to be in the game segment so it is surprising to see Shintaro there.

The next is to say an embarrassing love line then they have Hikaru come on stage to help demonstrate the next prompt which is to make a suspicious/weird face,which he is good at. What is best about it is that the guys up to compete are Senga and Fujigaya Taisuke. And it is more for the latter as Fujigaya usually gets the prompts that deal with love confessions and such so it is nice to see him try something that takes him out of his comfort zone.

Then the final prompt is between Goseki Koichi and Kawai Fumito where they have to act as newlyweds celebrating the birthday of their spouse. Both do great in their own styles but I actually remember Kawai's from back when I watched the episode first back in 2008.

Next up is another MC segment with Yabu and Hikaru, but this time it is Hikaru's turn to talk about the theme of the episode as he did not get to do so earlier.

Yabu then performs a medley of two of his solo songs, My Everything and Angel Come to Me. For the first he has Kyomoto Taiga doing a dance for it. And I am reminded why Yabu does not have one of my favorite voices in Johnny's.

We gave Junior ni Q next and it is a food topic. Shintaro gets some more screen time as he is the first called over. He talks about uncooked ham, which I wish I could understand more what was being said as that sounds like a dangerous thing to eat.

We get to see Nakaken again as he is up next and the answer he wrote down is fish flakes. It is odd to see him looking awkward for this when he looked so comfortable performing on stage.

Kawashima Noeru is after him and a good amount of the time is spent talking about his hair. Or more specifically the way it flips up at the bottom. And I think he's the only Johnny's I have seen with braces on.

The Junior ni Q segment continues with Morita Myuto, making it one of the rare ones so far that have had Johnny's that are all still with the agency in it. Morita wrote down parsley, which I have to question as well, as I did not think you were ever really supposed to eat that.

To finish it up the trio that have formed their own natto association, Kitayama Hiromitsu, Totsuka Shota and Kawai Fumito, are brought over. And they try to explain why it is so great by saying things like it gave them perfect bodies.

There is then an MC segment with Kis-My-Ft2 where they bring up that they will be having their first concert that year. This is actually a joint concert with A.B.C-Z that they had at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, which is actually just across the street from NHK Hall.

They then get to perform Smile for the first time on Shounen Club. It is around this time that Kisumai do get a few new songs and I am certain it is mainly because they have hit the stage that they are doing their own concerts as after the joint concert they then get to do solo concerts. But this is the era that I pretty much love all the songs they get. Smile is nice as it spreads out the spotlight a bit more to the none Fujigaya and Kitayama members and Yokoo Wataru gets to show off guitar skills so he has something that comes off looking unique to him in the group.

We also get to see some interesting camera work as they use only one to get everything so you have to follow the movement of the camera on stage as it goes to get various different angles for the first half of the song. I do not think I would care too much for this if it became a common thing, but it it nice to have a break from the usual camera work from time to time.

It is then time to end the episode with the final song which is a cover of Arashi's One Love. Since it is the first episode of the month we do get all the Juniors, older and younger to join in singing this.


With Nakaken now on the program the creation of B.I.Shadow should be just around the corner as the group was created of the three Juniors that had roles in Scrap Teacher which aired in I believe the fall drama season of 2008. So I would not be surprised to see the group in next month's episodes. It will be a few years before we see any more members of Sexy Zone show up though.

We are also in the time period where most of the little/younger Juniors are now currently the older Juniors on the program. So I expect that there will be more and more to talk about as more familiar faces are seen.

JWeb is now international

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The official Johnny's phone app, J-Web, has followed suit after Johnny's net went multi-lingual and supports English, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and Korean for their paid J-Web services. You have to muddle through the Japanese version to get to where you can sign up to subscribe to the service, but when you make it there it will prompt you to pick a language and you can sign up. (With a valid credit card and provided that you have a smart phone in the first place of course.) The fee is 315 yen per month but you not only get access to the mobile app in your language of choice but the blogs, which are one of J-Web's exclusives, are translated.


It is nice to see Johnny's continue to branch out internationally as an international fan. I went ahead and subscribed to the service and I am still exploring it. I have already checked out some of the blog entries and while they did not go back and translate everything I think they did well with how far back they did go and it is not like the Japanese version has all of them either.

I know there has been some complaints from parts of fandom about people deciding to no longer translate and share the J-Web blog entries. Personally I think it is better to no longer share them as fan translations to me are to help spread the fandom by sharing something that is not officially available in the language it is being translated into. So if there are groups translating it into languages such as French, Spanish, Thai, etc, then I see no problem with those. But the English translations should stop as it is available. Of course not everyone can afford it, I can understand that, but Johnny's is known to be very protective and I want to see them expand more overseas so we can better things, like concerts (no harm in dreaming, right?), but that will not happen unless ventures like this prove profitable. Besides blog translations are hardly the only way to enjoy the fandom if money is an issue.

Of course I am still hoping that Johnny's may make the leap and create an official Youtube channel. Even if all they put up are the short versions of PVs it would at least be a source of video streams that can be shared. I know I would not have been able to get into Johnny's if it were not for all the videos that used to be on Youtube and I think it would help get more people into the groups if they had such access.

The Shounen Club 12 October 2008 review

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And we have an episode that Yabu Kota is not one of the guests in.

Did not mention it with the last episode but Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki still are treated as prominent Juniors and get individual introductions. Eventually they will be put in a group, which is made of a few of the Juniors from the Jr. Boys group that gets introduced in this episode, but until then they just float as a duo.

At the end of the introductions the guest of the episode comes on stage, Taguchi Junnosuke. He performs a snippet of his solo song, Samurai Love Attack, to end the starting segment.

After that Nakamaru Yuichi reads a fan postcard asking for the theme of Himitsu (secret) and is a Yamashita Shoon fan. They have Shoon come over to say a few words before the theme medley is kicked off.

The medley takes a bit of a break from the usual pattern it has had in the past few months and has the more prominent Junior groups', Kis-My-Ft2 and A.B.C-Z, members lead the songs in the medley with the other Juniors backing them up or singing with them.

After that the first MC segment has Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru talking to some of the little Juniors. Out of the three that had turns talking Kyomoto Taiga and Morimoto Shintaro are of course still with Johnny's. They had to tell a secret and Kyomoto talked about something related to sleeping while Shintaro claimed to be a genius a coin games, which is a kind of arcade game.

Of course whenever there are little Juniors in black suits it usually means that there will be a performance of Secret Agent Man, and for this episode it holds true.

The little ones are not the only ones performing the song as about half way through they are joined by four other Juniors, Takada Sho, Nakajima Kento, Kikuchi Fuma and Takahata Misaki, the last one being the only one not with Johnny's anymore. But all four are involved in dramas in 2008, which is why I am assuming they were placed to perform in this song.

Next is an MC segment with Junno. When asked about a secret he just says something goofy, which is nothing new for him. He then talks about playing an internet game and teases about the name he uses to play it.

He performs his solo song Natsu no Basho, which is a nice summer pop song. Listening to it I am amazed at how much he has improved his vocals over the years as he sounds so much better in his latest solo, FLASH. But what Junno lacks in vocal skills he always tried to make up with energy and he has a dance break in the middle of the song where he shows off his dance moves as well as acrobatics.

The game segment portion of the show comes after that and this time there is quite a change up to it. Though it is more going back to some of their old games. This one has each team captain, Fujigaya Taisuke for Dream Bombers and Kawai Fumito for Jonetsu Rainbows, call out a Junior to showcase a talent. Junno then as judge has to pick which one did better. What is great with this is that they make sure to use some of the Fresh Juniors, which includes Nakaken, who does an impersonation. 

Another Fresh Junior showcased is Tanaka Juri, who with Nakamaru revive the TaNaka comedy duo that Nakamaru used to do with Juri's older brother, Tanaka Koki. They even make it a point to point out Juri and Koki are brothers in one of their routines.

Next performance is Kis-My-Ft2 performing Smile again. There is not much different from their previous performance of the song but it is still miles better than what comes after it...

This episode has what to my knowledge is the first and only foreign guest act on the program. It is a boy band from Europe called US 5 and I was not impressed watching them perform back in 2008 and less so watching them in 2013. I have no clue why they were on the program but I am not sad that we never see or hear from them again.

Thankfully there is Kansai Junior ni Q next to bring us back to what the show is really about. The theme seems to be exposing others' secrets. While the first Kanjuu up, Muro Tatsuki, is no longer with Johnny's his brothers, which include Muro Ryuta, are and as Tatsuki's secret includes his brother Ryuta gets called over.

A familiar face camera bombs them though and focus shifts to the culprit, Mukai Koji, for a bit before moving back to the brothers.

Nakayama Yuma is called up next, as there was indeed a time he was with the other Kansai Juniors, and his secret is about Fujii Ryusei. So when they have Fujii up there they talk about his answer which involves Yuma and another Kanjuu.

Then it is Shigeoka Daiki up next and he talks about Fugal Shawn Goku and how he listed something wrong in his profile. And the final Kanjuu they bring up is about those not with the agency anymore.

There is then an MC with A.B.C-Z and they talk about a secret and Kawai brings up Hashimoto Ryosuke as the topic bringing up that even though Hasshi looks like the cool type his personality does not match up at all. They also help correct Koyama's pronunciation of their group name at the end as 'z' tends to be pronounced as 'zed' in Japan instead of the American variation of 'zee'. 

They perform their first group song as this unit, Ashita no Tame ni Boku ga Iru. The song is a ballad, which at this point for the group is probably the best thing as Hasshi really has no acrobatic experience that I can recall at this point so he would stick out quite a bit if the group do their usual song types.

And we get a rare performance of the season's ending song, OH! MY DREAM. I think by now it is safe to say having assigned ending songs for the show is on its way out. Which is a bit of a pity as they have been ensuring that Juniors are a part of the final performance and tend to give us cute moments like this.


A Shounen Club episode with Junno as a guest will always be a joy for me. The biggest downside to the episode is the US 5 appearance, as there seems to be little point to having them there as they are not Johnny's and do not really interact with the Juniors, just do their performance and leave. If I take that oddness out though I easily rate this episode rather highly as it has a good mix of everything I like from the program.

Johnny's Under 100: Ueda Tatsuya

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Ueda Tatsuya
Group: KAT-TUN
Birthdate: October 4, 1983

There is a brightness to Ueda that does not get to shine a lot with the image he portrays as a member of KAT-TUN. Being the “cool” group being full of smiles is not the way to go with the group, which is a pity as Ueda has a great one.

I have always admired his hobby of boxing. It comes off as such an unusual one to have for an idol, which is probably why I like him for it. But his songwriting seems to be a better fit. Wish we could get a Mousepeace album from him.

The Shounen Club 2 November 2008 review

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And with this episode we sorta have B.I.Shadow now.

From the introduction at the start of the program the three original members of B.I.Shadow have definitely been grouped together as a trio but they are introduced with their individual names instead of a group name like Kis-My-Ft2 and A.B.C-Z were before them.

In the introduction we get to see the guests of the episodes, Kansai Juniors Nakata Daichi (ex-Johnny's) and Hamada Takahiro, who form the now duo of BOYS.

Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi then properly introduce the two as the guests of the episode and talk about who they get a lot of fan letters letters asking for more Kanjuu on the program. The theme is then announced, DANCE.

We get the usual medley to follow that and it is a mix of the Juniors in groups and grouped Juniors performing the songs. And of course when they do a KAT-TUN song they have Tanaka Juri do the rap for it as he gets consistently pushed as a mini-version of his older brother, Tanaka Koki.

And even though they are still not being called B.I.Shadow I will be calling the Nakajima Kento, Kikuchi Fuma and Takahata Misaki trio that, as that is what they should become shortly. But BIS perform Mayonaka no Shadow Boy in this medley, beating Hey! Say! JUMP to perform the song themselves on the program first. Though they do have Yabu Kota show up as he seems to have nothing to do but be a guest on the show at this point.

The following MC segment has the four, Yabu and BIS, talking to the program's hosts. Yabu gets to talk first and is asked about dancing and then we get some basic introduction information from BIS, which is what sempai they admire. Nakaken of course says Yamada Ryosuke and Fuma gets to spare Yabu's feelings by telling him that he is his admired sempai.

The four of them then perform School Kakumei, which is a song Yabu wrote the lyrics to. It seems like BIS is being used as a replacement HSJ for this episode, but at least there is a new group of Juniors to focus on post-HSJ debut.

Up next is an MC segment with BOYS. They talk about dancing for their sempai as well as songs they like the dance of.

They then perform first for a divided performance. They perform the song Battle, which I hope is still being used by the Kanjuu as I like it. Perhaps not so much as a CD track but more for a performance song.

The second part has three of the five members of Butokan perform Grateful world before joining BOYS in performing Battle.

It is then the game segment of the episode and it is a dance quiz. These are fun as it is easy to follow along even if you do not know much Japanese and it is interesting to see who knows which songs. Though the best is when they have them do something really challenging with it, like do the dance with dumbbells.

And the final round where they have to sum up a dance with a single dance move is pretty fun to watch, especially since Kawai Fumito is up for his team.

Following this is a special stage with a Kis-My-Ft2 vs A.B.C-Z performance. This is basically each group performing one of their group songs in a mash-up, Kisumai with Kaizoku and Ebi with CRUSH. At the end they are performing both at the same time and while it actually works when they are switching off it does not seem to be so seamless with both songs being sung at the same time.

There is then Junior ni Q with the topic being something you want to boast about. First up is Nakaken who does not look as nervous as the last time he was on the segment, and he shows off being able to sound like a window being wiped.

Then it is Morimoto Shintaro, unfortunately I could not really follow what he was talking about outside that it had something to do with his father.

Kyomoto Taiga gets called over and he shows off some of his impersonation skills, starting with Totsuka Shota.

They then go to end the segment but Miyata Toshiya rushes over to stop them so he can get a turn. He tells a story about the door at a convenience store near his house, I could not get exactly what he was saying about it though.

Hamada and Nakata get to do a letter exchange segment, and as expected from Kanjuu they get the audience laughing. I was able to catch Hamada talking about the fact that they have known each other since they went to the same audition and Nakata brought up that it has been six years since they have known each other.

The duo then perform a song, Give Me. It sounds familiar enough that I want to say that it still gets performed by the Kanjuu. Either that or I just remember it well from this performance, as I do like the song even though it does sound a bit dated by today's standards.

It is then time to wrap up the episode with an ending theme. This time the song performed is REAL DX, which starts with just Kisumai and Ebi but eventually BOYS come back on stage to perform the song with them.


If I had to pinpoint the turning point for when the Kansai Juniors began to have their rise I would pick 2008 to be the year. Back then I was not really into them back as a current fan I am finding it interesting to see how they really start to build a presence on Shounen Club with this year with not only being guests on the show for the Tokyo episodes but also having the Kansai Junior ni Q segment. It is hard to believe a couple of years ago the Kansai side of things was mainly just Kanjani8 with little focus on the Kanjuu. They have come a long way and I really hope it all builds up for a debut for the older ones soon.

The Shounen Club 9 November 2008 review

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I cannot believe I am almost through all the 2008 episodes. I feel like I am actually catching up to the newer episodes now.

This episode actually starts with the theme, Arigato (thank you), announced by Fujigaya Taisuke and Hashimoto Ryosuke before they join their respective groups in the singing of the opening number, SMAP's Arigato.

The program's hosts, Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi, then do the usual opening talk, again announcing the theme of the episode. They have Fujigaya talk and he brings up that in December Kis-My-Ft2 and A.B.C-Z will be having their first concerts so they are thankful for that. Hasshi gets asked to say what he is grateful for and he says the other four members of A.B.C-Z.

The episode then moves on to do the theme medley. I am starting to recognize some of the little Juniors back dancing as those that will be in the Snow Prince Gasshodan group, but I never did learn all their names and I cannot remember which ones are still with Johnny's or not. Other than that the medley gives a good mix of the Juniors in it and there are some good moments for seeing Juniors together that normally would not be mixed as they are.

For the first MC segment it is Kyomoto Taiga and Uekusa Yuta, who will be paired up with Taiga quite a bit before he leaves the agency. They are asked what they are thankful for and Taiga says going to karaoke with Uekusa.

The two sing Tegomass' Kiss ~Kaeri michi no Love Song~. As I already mentioned these two will be paired up quite a bit and mostly to sing Tegomass songs. They actually work well as a duo as they seem to be two of the stronger singers for the younger Juniors. Though Taiga's voice has yet to really crack so it is still a good ways away from what it currently sounds like.

Part way through the performance Tegomass come on stage to join the two. Knowing what a Tegoshi Yuya fan Taiga is I can imagine that this is one of his favorite performances.

Tegomass then of course are the focus of the next MC segment. They talk about what they are thankful for and then Nakamaru gets prodded to talk about the theme as well.

Tegomass go on stage again to perform Ai Ai Gasa then have Koyama join them on stage to perform Happy Birthday. The former is the typical early Tegomass song, a ballad like song that lets the two show off their vocals. Happy Birthday is a fun NEWS song that helps bring some energy to the stage.

There is the game segment next and it for physical challenges this time around starting with chin ups. I rather love how they all get to sit and watch this one. This is followed by a limbo challenge where the guys have to go under the pole in pairs of two.

The final challenge is to have the entire team to skip rope together. Had to feel sorry for Dream Bombers as they had to do this a couple of times as the rope hit the side of the stage and messed them up.

A.B.C-Z is then up to perform a new unit song, Vanilla, which looking back really does not seem to be quite appropriate for a sixteen year old Hasshi to be singing. But being age appropriate has never been Johnny's strongest suits.

There is then a Kansai Junior ni Q segment. The topic for them is their lucky color. Fugal Shawn Goku is up first with his answer being yellow and blue.

Then it is Nakayama Yuma who answered with orange, and even has a T-shirt with the color on. He says its his favorite color because he is a Giants (a baseball team) fan.

Following him is future Veteran member Kikuoka Masahiro who answered with rainbow. He gets a hard time with the fact that he is not wearing anything with rainbow colors on it.

Then it wraps up with Hamanaka Bunichi who put down pink. He is obviously embarrassed about it as he does what he usually does when he is completely embarrassed, tries to hide as much as his face as he can with his hands.

Question? then performs a song completely written by their lead vocalist, Yonemura Daijiro, My Way. It seems rather bitter sweet watching this now as Yonemura is the first of the group/agency to leave and will be doing so sometime in 2009.

For the Heisei Post segment Nakamaru has Kisumai with him to read and answer letters. The first requests Senga Kento to do his impression of a turtle laying eggs. Then the second is a question about who spends the most time fixing their hair and the answer is given is Tamamori Yuta.

Kisumai then have a special stage that they kick off with a dance with light rods. The actual song that they perform is Fire Beat. I venture to say that it is really with this upcoming concert that the colors assigned to each member gets cemented. Especially with the outfits they have been wearing throughout most of the episode. I do not think the colors were really used as much beforehand.

With that it is time to wrap up the episode and the older Juniors all sing Arigato no Uta. They have a section where they all in twos or threes say "arigato" to the camera and at the end it is revealed that Tegomass has joined them on stage. With them and the Juniors on stage they finish off the song and end the episode.


Now with the KisuEbi concert around the corner the two groups are on their way to debut. The next couple of years or so of Shounen Club episodes will have the two groups rise in prominence, especially Kisumai as they have a few tours before they debut.

Shori 49

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The next late night NTV drama to replace Kamen Teacher has been announced. It is titled 49 and will star Sato Shori for his debut in a leading role. The drama will begin on October 5.

The Juniors that will be in the drama are, Jinguji Yuta, Yasui Kentaro, Teranishi Takuto, Morita Myuto, Shimakake Ryuya, Takahashi Fu, Abe Aran, and Haniuda Amu.

NTV 49 OHP (Japanese only)


Not sure about the plot of the drama outside of the fact that Shori will play a first year high school student and there is something about his father involved. Honestly I am just happy that it seems to be a drama not based around delinquents. I may like those types of dramas but not season after season.

I am curious to see how Shori as a lead actor works out. I knew eventually he would get a chance like this and I was pretty sure it would be for one of these late night dramas. Of course it may take me a while to get to watch this as I am still working on my back log, but with any luck I will be much closer to catching up by the time this starts.

I would not be surprised to find that the theme song for this drama will be the untitled A-side on Sexy Zone's upcoming single. In fact with the single being released in October it is timed just right to have a drama tie-in like this. And if it is indeed the theme song for this drama then having it by only Shori, Nakajima Kento and Kikuchi Fuma like BAD BOYS was would make sense in the fact it would not be the first time they have done it.

Johnny's Under 100: Matsushima So

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Matsushima So
Group: Sexy Zone/Sexy Boyz
Birthdate: November 27, 1995

The most overlooked member of Sexy Zone, though he shows a lot of potential. He is also growing up rather fast now and it is looking strange to not have him with the older three as he is starting to look older than Sato Shori.

I love that he is a big Chinen Yuri fan as it is amusing to see Chinen, who has been known as a massive Ohno Satoshi fan would have a massive fan himself.

I do hope that the main thing holding So back is school so when he graduates he can become more active.

Junior News Round-Up 005

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There are a couple of drama casting news bits as the full casts of the upcoming dramas for the fall season are being announced.

First up is Jesse having a supporting role in Kimura Takuya's drama Ando Lloyd ~A.I. knows LOVE?~. The character he will play is named Edokawa Tomu and works in the university research department that one of Kimutaku's characters in this drama does.

TBS OHP (Japanese only)


I would probably be more excited for this if Jesse has not had a history of getting small supporting roles where he is barely seen in the drama before. I fear this will be the same for him and wonder if getting small roles in dramas that are meant to be hits actually help him out. I think it would be better for him to get bigger parts in lower rated dramas or even get to star in one of the late night NTV dramas, even though his acting has failed to impress me. But he would hardly be the only Johnny's that did not have impressive acting skills get pushed into a lead role.

~*


In other drama news 7WEST member Fujii Ryusei will be a regular in an upcoming drama, Miss Pilot, which stars Horikita Maki. They do not have any hiragana to show how his character's name is to be read but I believe it should be Yamada Kazuo, the Yamada of course being the obvious reading and Kazuo is what my search came up with for names for the given name.

Fuji TV OHP (Japanese only)


I am really happy for Fujii as this is a national drama on a major station which is a pretty big thing for a Kanjuu. Of course I have no idea if he is a good actor or if the part will give him any decent screen time, but he would at least make for some nice eye candy or fill an ikemen role nicely.

And of course there is always a part of me hoping for a Kanjuu debut and tying in all these little things into that being possible. And I do think getting the Kanjuu out there in national dramas and not just regional ones is a big step in that direction. And if Fujii proves to be popular he could easily fill the actor role in a group.

The Shounen Club 7 December 2008 review

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This month's episodes seem to be ones for new groups as we get to see two of them with this episode, but only get the name of one of them.

The episode opens up with the usual introduction segment as the Juniors perform Yuki ga Futtekita. B.I.Shadow are still getting introduced by their individual names but we have Jr. Boys getting introductions and the dance unit MADE is on the program, but it is probably just because some members of the group are a part of one of the new units that will be seen in this episode.

The theme of the episode is Fuyu (winter) and the show goes into the theme medley rather quickly. Probably one of the most standout things about this medley to me is that Jr. Boys actually get to sing a song in it, though they have to share with the other new group of the episode, Hip Hop Jump. HHJ though is only seen in the episode without any mention of their group name though it looks rather obvious they are meant to be a group. I assume they get a more proper introduction in the next episode.

The first MC segment is with the members of B.I.Shadow who answer the question about what they think of when it comes to winter. Nakajima Kento answers with wearing layers of clothes and Kikuchi Fuma's answer is a kind of udon.

Then there is a medley of songs with no real theme but they feature the Juniors not in groups (which the BIS members still technically are). After having Takahata Misaki as the center of the trio's performances in this we see Nakaken get into that position for at least some of the performances in the medley. I have the feeling Takahata was center at first mainly because he was a Junior the longest but it became really clear rather quickly that Nakaken was the one that was catching attention.

In the next MC segment Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi start off talking about who the guest is, going so far to say that he is an "ikemen" (a good looking guy) from Kanjani8. Of course this means that the guest ends up being Maruyama Ryuhei. Because it is K8 and they love to troll.

While I appreciate Maruyama's comedic ability and the fact he seems to always bring a good deal of energy to K8, I do not care for his singing ability. He is on the low scale of things and I tend to skip his solos when listening to K8 albums. This song, Aitte, is no different and he even seems to lack energy while performing it.

After that it is time for the game segment and it is one of the prompt games where a member from each team needs to act out a prompt and the judge, this time Maruyama, decides who did it better. The first prompt is about crying, I think it is about comforting someone who is crying but not completely sure. Then there is a prompt that they have to be someone doing something, such as Kawai Fumito doing Matsumoto Jun as a  convenience store clerk. And those two prompts end up being all there is for this game segment, but they do two rounds of the second one.

The following MC just has Koyama and Nakamaru talking about SMAP, Arashi as well as A.B.C-Z and Kis-My-Ft2. This is to lead into the next set of performances where we get to see the name of one of the new groups finally.

It starts off with They Budo making their Shounen Club debut performing C=Normal. This is the group that Yamamoto Ryota ends up in and the three other members are Takahashi Ryo, Hayashi Shota and Eda Tsuyoshi. The group is still around but mainly as a dance unit.

EbiKisu then take the stage to perform Wish, so there is plenty of Kawai impersonating Matsujun in this episode for anyone who does not tire of watching that.

There is then a Junior ni Q segment up next and the topic is about food that is made in a pot. First up is Kyomoto Taiga who answered with Kyomoto nabe, which of course is a special dish made in his family.

Up next is Morimoto Shintaro who talks about tako shabu, which I believe he says he had in Hokkaido or that the region has its own version of the dish that he has had before.

Fujigaya Taisuke is called over next to talk about a kimchi pot that I believe he wrote down that his father makes starting at midnight so it is ready by the morning.

Kawashima Noeru talks next but I could not get more than that the dish he talked about had something to do with oden.

Then to finish up the segment it is Morita Myuto who talks about how various things from other dishes get added to a pot dish to somehow turn it into curry rice.

After that segment there is a Heisei Post segment featuring the trio of Juniors that make up the natto appreciation group who answer a question about eating natto.

The following performance is made up of two solo performances, one for Fujigaya who sings a song that Yamashita Tomohisa wrote the lyrics for, Let me, then Kitayama Hiromitsu performs a solo version of the SMAP song It Can't Be, with lyrics written by Katori Shingo. I really did not care for the first performance and the second was better though. I would have rather had the two sing their own original solo songs instead, as I like both of those.

The episode ends with a performance of Mafuyu no Nagareboshi by the main Juniors. And we get to have the little Juniors up on one of the balconies. I love it when they use these spaces from time to time and it does feel like it has been too long since it was last used.


It feels a bit frustrating to have BIS without having BIS, as I am remembering that it did take a while before the group became an official group.

Other than that it is nice to see some more Junior groups on the program again, though They Budo are not to become regulars on the program but Hip Hop Jump should be around to be featured. Though not as much as I would like as the members keep changing after a while.

Kanjuu Might Debut!

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It was announced at one of the performances of the stage show Another that Johnny Kitagawa is thinking of debuting a new unit with its members being all Kansai Juniors. His plans would be to debut a seven to eight member unit that will debut early next year.

From the newspaper article it sounds more like Johnny gave his okay to these plans but like with all announcements like this it will probably have to wait before we see it either start to happen or just be forgotten. Though I do think this is will be the same as the A.B.C-Z debut announcement, where things started off vague and questionable but it happened anyway. In fact that debut was also first announced at a stage show, IIRC.

My recent thoughts about the chances of a Kanjuu group debuting have been high and I figured if it were to happen than next year would not be a bad time frame. I can only assume the group will be mainly the older Kanjuu and they are at a point that if they do not start debuting soon they might as well leave the agency. It has almost been ten years since the last group of Kanjuu debuted and debuting Nakayama Yuma multiple times does not make up for that. And while next year is Kanjani8's 10th anniversary for their debut it would seem weird for them to celebrate it after going all out for their 8th anniversary just last year. Plus I think they would gladly step aside to let their juniors debut, as if any group understands how hard it is for a Kanjuu to get to the point where they will be debuted it is them.

With the group being seven or eight members I would assume that it would at least be the usual seven Kanjuu that get the most promotion, B.A.D. (Kiriyama Akito and Nakama Junta), 7WEST (Shigeoka Daiki, Fujii Ryusei, Kotaki Nozomu and Kamiyama Tomohiro) and Hamada Takahiro. If they decide on an eighth member I can see them either choosing Hamanaka Bunichi, as he is one of the better known older Juniors, or even Mukai Koji, as he is not far off in age from the members of 7WEST and has built popularity with Kin Kan. Though personally I would rather have Bunichi debut over Mukai for now as this would probably be Bunichi's final shot at it and I like Mukai with Kin Kan and want him to debut years later in a group with KK and Naniwa Oji. Or he could end up in Twenty Twenty if that group goes through. (The vote for the 2020 Olympics host city is on September 7th, so we could be getting some major news about that too.)

In the end all I know is that I have been wanting a debut to happen for the Kanjuu for years and I will be crushed if it does not happen. So Johnny better not forget about this.

Yuma is no longer a university student

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Apparently Nakayama Yuma quit university and has instead been focusing on his career. He has expressed interest in going to a school to learn English but not returning to university.

JE Fandom (English)
Oricon Style (Japanese only)


I can understand his reasoning, after all with Johnny's you are set for a career once you debut and Yuma has done that enough times that he should not be worried. Of course it is disappointing that he was not able to complete university after he worked so hard to get in, but at the end of the day it his choice. And it is not like university is the only way to gain education.

I do find it interesting that he wants to learn English. I wonder if this is suggested by Johnny's so that he can be more international or if he just really wants to learn the language.

Chinen Yuri back in high school, kinda

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It has been announced that Chinen Yuri will be part of the cast of Nishikido Ryo's upcoming drama on Fuji TV, Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyona e Yokoso. He will play the role of a first year high school student, Sawazaki Shunta. The drama is set to start airing on October 8th.

Fuji TV official announcement (Japanese only)


I do confess that I am very amused at the idea that Chinen has a role for a character much younger than his actual age. Though I guess it is not much worse than Arioka Daiki constantly getting cast in roles for characters that are many years his junior as well.

I am also glad to see another Hey! Say! JUMP member get a drama role this year, and this sounds like it will be a good sized one with it being in the same announcement as the lead female role of the drama. One of the bigger things working against it though is that Ryo has not proven to bring in ratings as a drama lead and his last drama tanked. So there may not be too many tuning in to watch. But work is work and being in a drama can get people to notice an idol they would not otherwise.

That all said I almost feel like I can start feeling hopeful for HSJ again. Who knows when they will release another single but at least some members are getting the kind of work that can help expand the group's fanbase. And it is not just one member of the group getting that work.

The Shounen Club 14 December 2008 review

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And we have the final regular episode of 2008, but there is still a Christmas special for the year.

In the introductions we get the name for the group of younger Juniors that Tanaka Juri is fronting, Hip Hop Jump. But that is about all we get from that group when it comes to new information. The line-up for the group is Juri, Hagiya Keigo, Morita Myuto, Jesse, and Camu Cade, with the last member the only one not with Johnny's any longer. And they do get attached to Morimoto Shintaro a bit, IIRC, though he is never a part of the group.

The theme for the episode is 2008, which is fitting with it being the last regular episode of the year. Instead of a theme medley though we get a hit medley, so there are the popular songs from Johnny's in 2008 mixed in with some of the classic Johnny's songs. Like A.B.C-Z kick off the medley with covering Arashi songs from 2008.

And then we also have Kis-My-Ft2 donning their roller skates to cover Hikaru Genji's STAR LIGHT.

This is followed up with a Heisei Post segment with Nakamaru Yuichi and A.B.C-Z. And we see Hashimoto Ryosuke looking like a giant compared to the other group members despite him being the youngest of them all. The fan letter talks about seeing the group at the EbiKisu concert and being impressed with Goseki Koichi's dance and talks about their Star Seeker performance.

This of course leads to Ebi performing Star Seeker on the program. This is of course is one of the original songs A.B.C. had that they have had to change up a bit to fit Hasshi into it. And I am happy to see him doing some acrobatics for the performance, even though he is understandably not at the same level as the rest of the group.

The episode guest gets brought out for Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru to talk to and it is the same guest from last episode Maruyama Ryuhei. He talks about the things his group, Kanjani8, has done in the past year before talking about a special performance for the three to do next.

The three all perform songs from the groups that they are members of from 2008 in a medley. It starts off though with Nakamaru beat boxing while Maruyama plays the bass.

The medley is not just the trio though as members of Ebi and Kisumai also sing with them. With the final number of the medley, White X'Mas, has the trio performing it together.

The game segment is next and it is one I have been waiting a long time to get to. It is dancing musical chairs, so it is the basic musical chairs rules, there are less chairs than participants so whoever is not sitting down when the music stops is out. The dancing part of it is for the Juniors to try to do dance moves to songs from the debuted groups, which is used as the music for this.

This is a really fun game to watch as it has the guys moving around and there is almost no language skills needed to follow along. It also leads to some funny moments as the guys get pretty competitive going for the chairs.

It is really worth watching and if I had to choose a game to bring back to the program it would be this one.

Koyama and Nakamaru then talk a bit about Question? before the group performs Mezamero! Yasei, which they released as a one shot CD with daisempai Kondo Masahiko earlier in the year.

This is Senga Kento's Michael Jackson impersonation.
There is a new VTR segment that has the Juniors competing with each other as one or two will do an act, so there are quite a few impersonations done.

There are also some comedy duos and this gives us Morita Myuto with Juri to doing a routine. Thankfully Juri gets to drop this part of trying to be a mini Tanaka Koki as he does not seem to be any better at it than his brother.

Kisumai get to sit down and talk about 2008 and of course they highlight their concerts with Ebi as the main event of the year for the group.

The group then performs Inori which at this point has become one of their standards with Firebeat. I am glad that even after debut they still have Senga keep his solo lines in the song as well as the other pre-debut songs. He and Nikaido Takashi are actually good singers so I feel they are painfully underused in the group post-debut.

The end song is Days, performed by the older Juniors on the program as they are all dressed in white so the groups blend in with each other, minus Sanada Yuma and Nozawa Yuki who are in blue instead. And halfway through they get back dancers even though the song is a ballad. But I guess they needed to use MADE for something in the episode after their introduction at the start of the program.


It is nice to see more Junior groups finally emerge. I rather miss having actual groups instead of groupings when it comes to the Juniors. I just find it easier to learn about the Juniors when they are in a group instead of floating around from grouping to grouping like they are now. Though I guess if Twenty Twenty happens there will be that mega group to try to follow until they debut in 2020.
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