HSJ 3rd single update #3 & album speculation

Well Hey! Say! JUMP's J-Storm website has updated with cd information and covers for the new single. Out of the two covers I like the regular edition best, the green just looks nicer than the pink. I do like how they managed to get a panda on the cover as if they want make sure it connects to Kung-fu Panda but isn't seen as a Kung-fu Panda single, but a Hey! Say! JUMP single. But I honestly can't tell who is who at that size besides Takaki, his poses just stands out so much to me as well as the fact he's the only one without black hair. And I have a good guess which one is Chinen but can't as clearly make out the rest of the group though I think I could make a few guesses and be right. Hopefully we'll be getting a bigger preview of the covers soon.

Apparently it's been changed to a double A-side (which means that two songs are listed in the title) Your Seed/冒険ライダー(Bouken Rider) instead of the single A-side Your Seed with 冒険ライダー(Bouken Rider) as the B-side.

I'm rather disappointed that it has no B-side now. Mainly because A-sides always end up as album tracks, which means for me the RE is kinda worthless to get as I don't care for karaoke tracks. At least with the LE the DVD will have things that an album DVD LE wouldn't. Unfortunately at cdjapan the LE is 'out of print' for anyone who would want to pre-order it. But on the release date it will become available again, which is the usual order of things.

But one good thing about this being a double A-side single is that it ups the chances that the next cd release will be an album quite a bit. Johnny's usually releases three to four singles before an album, which also means there should be a new News album coming out sometime this year as they've released three singles already.

But going back to HSJ, with their first two singles plus this third one they have four A-sides that will be on the album track list, for some reason I feel Ultra Music Power will end up on it twice with a new version added. Or maybe that's more of a fear. XD;; I'm sure we'll get songs that will be exclusively for BEST and 7. As V6 albums tend to have songs from their subgroups on them. I'm personally hoping for cd versions of Su Ri Ru and Wonderland Train.

Of course there will need to be some kind of LE edition. I think the only thing that will prevent me from picking up the LE is if it's like News' last album LE and the only exclusive thing about it is the booklet. I'm a sucker for bonus tracks and for Johnny's DVDs, though I can't see what they would have on a DVD for an album as all the PVs have been released with their respective singles. I think I would love to have a bonus cd with the LE with solo songs, or duets and trios since HSJ is such a big group and they could fill up an entire with only solos for everyone and the A-sides.

I don't think we'll get the album until after Summary. Wouldn't be surprised if they announce the album's release at the event though or shortly after. And I think the release date will most likely be sometime in the mid to late fall.

Getting to know ... Kansai Juniors

Today pastdazed over at LJ put up a pimp post for the Kansai Juniors that I thought was worth pimping itself. With Johnny's actually using the Kansai Juniors for more than concerts in Osaka and having them star in dramas, Nakayama Yuma in Battery and B.A.D. in Gokusen 3, not to mention the July Shounen Clubs being the ones to let the Kansai Juniors get in the spotlight a bit, it could not come at a better time. So go read it:

Kansai Junior Pimp Post

For me my main interest in the Kansai Juniors is with Hamanaka Bunichi as he's a member of Butoukan. He won me over with the letter reading segment in the last Shounen Club and the more I learn about him the more I love him. He is so cute, both as an adult and as a kid. ♥

But yes, if you haven't already click the link and check out the lesser known Juniors of Johnny's.

Hyakushiki-Ou 17JUN2008 The Outdoors pt. 2

Ok, on the second episode of Hyakushiki-Ou about the outdoors. As hoped this is a more entertaining episode and I was happy to see more of the boys doing the outdoors segments than last time. In fact everyone but Shoon got to go out and do something. I'm thinking Shoon might have still been busy with his play Full House when they were taping this and that is why he was only in the classroom segments.


Of course the show starts off with trivia, this time about hiking so it can lead into the first on location segment with the boys. It's kinda interesting to see that Fujigaya is answering most of the time, though he's a bit off and on about being correct. The outdoor segments are cut into three different locations this time. With Fujigaya, Sanada and Takada exploring a cave in the mountains in the first segment. Fujigaya asks who will lead and Takada says he's afraid but Sanada steps up to be the point man of the group. The cave they finally reach after a hike and look around Mount Fuji takes them by surprise as it looks mostly like a giant hole in the ground. But they make it down, following their guide all the way. They stop at one point and realize that's it's gotten very cold and their guide shows them that it's 2 degrees Celsius (about 36 degrees Fahrenheit) where they are, while outside was 20C (about 68F). They go on a little farther to see some stalagmites and stalactites and then they leave the cave and head back down the mountain.


During the talk after the segment Inohara does a little showing off with some murky water and a bottle that pours it out clear and clean. The class' reaction is between awe and confusion and then we learn that the bottle Inohara used is a special one with a filter in it.


They then move on to outdoor sports. The trivia is actually a little interesting this time as they had a weird bit in it with someone in a mascot costume, called Gachapin, climbing a mountain. In the third segment Fujigaya and Keito go to an indoor climbing area. Keito easily outdoes his senpai and comes off as being much more adept at climbing than Fujigaya even though he had a bit of a hard time with it as well. Though maybe Fujigaya would have done better if Keito wasn't laughing at him the whole time, but it wasn't as if he was much better himself with that. They get to try climbing a wall slanted at a 120 degree angle and Keito manages to take Fujigaya down with him after he falls. Fujigaya ends up doing better but doesn't make it to the goal either.


The next episode is about signs, which could easily go either way for being boring or somewhat fun. But it has Fujigaya and Keito walking around and I do like them both so I will be watching. And this end clip features Takada again, this time I can't figure out what exactly is going on though.

Hyakushiki-Ou 10JUN2008 The Outdoors pt. 1

I was in the middle of writing this up last night when I decided to lie down for a rest and ended up actually falling asleep. -_-;; I've decided that since I'm covering Shounen Club I might as well cover Hyakushiki-Ou as well here as it is a program that I try to watch regularly. And since the latest two are a two parter it gives me a good excuse for missing yesterday by doing two posts today. This program features V6's Inohara Yoshihiko as an 'teacher' of a class of Juniors, which currently are Yamashita Shoon, Kis-My-Ft2's Fujigaya Taisuke, Hey! Say! JUMP's Okamoto Keito, Sanada Yuma and Takada Sho. Each episode has a topic that is discussed with some trivia given about it and the students, usually just two of the group, go off on location to do something related to the topic. And then sometimes there are little games to quiz the students knowledge on the subject. So all in all it's a fun little educational program with pretty JE boys.

I will admit that I have only a limited understanding of Japanese so I may be off about what they are talking about, especially since this program is very talk heavy. But I usually understand enough to get the gist of the conversation.

This episode is part of a two part series of episodes about the outdoors. This one focuses on camping and bar-b-que. Like usual the episode starts off with trivia for the 'students' to guess the answers to if they think they know it.

Fujigaya and Takada are the two that get to on location to learn about preparing a camping site and bar-b-que. They meet up with some people that help them out and show them how to set things up. They seem pretty impressed with the Multi-purpose tool and the knives the guy has with him, proving that they are very much guys. Though I'm not surprised to see that they aren't given a chance to try anything out with the knives. Though they are allowed to help with other parts of the food preparation.

When they get back to the classroom it's a discussion about bar-b-ques and Keito gets to talk about how they differ in England, there's lots of meat, which seems to impress everyone. It then returns to trivia about bar-b-ques. And then there's another break into discussion afterwards. Then it's a short segment talking about camping and bar-b-que in Japan, which definitely doesn't looks different than the kind I'm used to from living in the U.S. food-wise. Shoon and Fujigaya are the most talkative at the end. And we get a bit of a preview of the next episode which will be about outdoor sports, and will hopefully be a little more interesting.

At least the scene at the end watching Takada's expression while eating food is rather cute.

Hashimoto Trio - Genkai Meter

I think it's becoming rather clear that out of all the new Junior proto-groups the Hashimoto trio, made up currently of Hashimoto Ryosuke(middle), Sanada Yuma(right) and Nozawa Yuki(left), is my favorite. I'm still in denial that Hashimoto is young as he is. I can believe Sanada and Nozawa and both 15 turning 16 later this year but I still can't believe Hashimoto will only be turning 15 next month. I mean just look at picture and tell me that he looks 14 to you.

I think out of all the Juniors they probably benefited the most with Hey! Say! JUMP's debut as Johnny's seems to love them as much as I do. Even when they're back dancing they're given outfits that are different than the rest of the Juniors so they stand out even in the background. When Takaki and B.A.D. did the Gokusen song melody on Music Station they were the only other Juniors that had singing parts besides B.A.D., who were in Gokusen with Takaki. And even if they don't have a group name they already have their own group song, Genkai Meter, which they've performed on Shounen Club and at HSJ's Spring concerts. And I'm sure they'll have no small part in the upcoming Summary concert series in August.

It's not surprising to see Hashimoto get a lot of the spotlight as he seemed to be one of the more popular members of J.J. Express. I'm sure he was disappointed that he did not debut with his fellow J.J. Express members, Takaki, Inoo, Daiki and Yuto, Morimoto and Yamada were a part of the group before their last change in line up. But watching some of the 2007 Shounen Club I could spot both Nozawa and Sanada as back dancers, so the kind of attention they are getting now is a huge step up for them from a year ago. A chance that they probably wouldn't have with the members of JUMP still as Juniors.

Out of the group, Nozawa in particular has grabbed my attention and I think I'm really going to enjoy watching him grow. I kinda feel bad as I know the reason he was put in the trio is because Kamei Taku was suspended over dating. (I don't think I'll ever completely be able to accept how heavy handed agencies are about idols dating. It just seems so wrong to me even though I understand why they do it.) But I also can't help but be happy for Nozawa, as I really do think he's talented and I love his voice. Plus he's cute, and I have such a weakness for cute.

I haven't paid Sanada much attention so far. Since he is a regular on Hyakushiki-Ou, which I watch mostly for Shoon and Keito, I think I really should, as I do see much more of him than the other two. Though he seems to be the most outgoing from the Junior Leagues he's been in as he always seems better eager to participate in them, even though he doesn't do so well.

I don't have to look far to find things about Hashimoto as I can find them just looking for J.J. Express related things, and he seems to already have a dedicated fanbase. Also as the front man for the group he naturally gets the most attention. Though I still don't have an opinion on him yet. He does seem to be a really hard worker and dedicated which I do admire, but I think a lot of the Juniors that have made it as far as he has are like that.

I know they all probably have a long way to go before they reach a debut ready point. I'm thinking though by the next time JE should be debuting the next group attached to the Volleyball World Cup in 2011 (as they've debuting a group like this every four years since V6's debut) they will all be 18 about the time the group formation is announced with Sanada and Nozawa turning 19 in November and December of that year, which puts them in the right age group to be placed in such a group. And I can only hope JE does put all of them in that group and not just one or two of them. Or maybe they can debut another year as a unit together, but I think that will depend on popular they become in the upcoming years.

But here is the video streaming of their group song, Genkai Meter, as performed on the 11May2008 Shounen Club and a mp3 audio rip of the performance.



Genkai Meter - Hashimoto, Nozawa & Sanada mp3

Family Connections.

I love to analyze things. I also love knowing little things that most people don't notice. The latter probably comes back to the fact that I love being able to surprise people. Maybe it's because I like being pleasantly surprised myself.

One recent surprise was when I noticed while looking through a Myojo magazine is that one of the photographers for the magazine was Okamoto Kenichi, HSJ's Okamoto Keito's father. I know he had done a photo shoot for Hey! Say! JUMP's calendar but I did not realize that he was a professional photographer.

I guess I never bothered to question too much about what happens to those who quit JE. For the younger ones it's easy to guess that they continue on with school. I know when I was learning about the various JE groups that SMAP had a member leave to become a race car driver and that Shounentai was still active, though usually with just stage plays and musicals. For daisenpai groups like Otokogumi, which Okamoto Kenichi was a part of, and Hikaru Genji I just knew they weren't around anymore and that a few of the members were still with JE but like Shounentai just did plays and musicals.

But going back to the Okamotos, I couldn't help but think how it must be for Keito being able to go to work with his dad. He seems to smile more brightly in the photos that his father takes, which makes sense as he must feel much more relaxed with him than a stranger. And I'm sure his dad is happy to spend time with his son and be able to be there to be a part of his career. I'm sure he has a lot of advice to give to Keito and the other members of HSJ.

It does seem strange that JE already has a father & son that have both debuted with them and no brothers. Especially considering there are several siblings in JE like the Morimoto brothers (Ryutarou and Shintarou), the Yamashita brothers (Shoon and Reon) and recently Tanaka Koki's little brother Juri joined which gives JE another pair of brothers. Of course with the large amount of Juniors that are just back dancers that we learn nothing about there could be more.

I guess it will be only a matter of time before there will be brothers who have both debuted. I have the feeling it may be the Morimoto brothers that get that honor as Ryutarou has already debuted and Shintarou gets a lot of attention. Though I will find it rather funny if Shintarou's debut group is the next volleyball group. Especially if Uekusa Yuta gets picked for that group too as he was the other Junior with Keito that joined and had a father as a daisenpai, Uekusa Katsuhide of Shounentai.

Belated Birthday Wishes

I feel so completely horrible about forgetting to say anything about Inoo's birthday on the 22nd. Especially since it slipped my mind yesterday as well when I was making posts. So to make up for it I made a birthday graphic, which probably isn't much but it's more than just a well wish and mention that I usually give for birthdays.


I have to admit I get excited to see the members of BEST turn 18 this year. Because in Japan you have to be 18 and over to work past midnight in Japan which is why Hey! Say! JUMP didn't perform in the last Countdown concert with the rest of the Johnny's groups.

This year though only Daiki will be the only under 18 member of BEST so the rest will be able to perform for the Countdown concert. I'm looking forward to it as it's a blast to watch all the groups sing and goof off together. I want to see a Gokusen song melody with at least Kamenashi and Takaki singing it as they are the ones with the insert songs for the series. And with only four members of JUMP performing it will give them some time to shine, which I'll be happy for Inoo for as he tends to be stuck in the back whenever the whole group is together.

KAT-TUN - DON'T U EVER STOP review

I only bought the one version out of the four versions of DON'T U EVER STOP so it will be the only one I will be reviewing. Though after hearing samples of the other solo songs I am quite happy with just this LE version, which I admit to choosing because I like Junno and wanted his solo song. And yea, I'm one of those weird Junno fangirls and he's pretty much the only reason I'm interested in KAT-TUN, though I do admit I'm a bit partial to Kame and Koki. So the version I bought was the one with Kamenashi Kazuya and Taguchi Junnosuke's solo songs.

I like the title track and it sounds a lot like KAT-TUN's earlier songs back in their Junior days. Which is a very good thing, IMHO, after LIPS, which I felt was not a good song for them at all. The beginning of DUES is very reminiscent of Micheal Jackson's Thriller but once it hits the chorus the Thriller-esque sound stops. The song is the kind of song I like to listen to when I want to feel energetic. It has a nice beat and it's something that makes me want to move. Though I don't think anyone will be dancing to it outside of performing it.

w/o notice saddens me greatly. I was hoping that since it was Kamenashi's solo it would be a good solid song like his past solos, Kizuna and someday for somebody. Was I ever disappointed. Yes, Kame sounds good but the song made me immediately think that it was a character song for an anime series, as those sound just about as cheesy as w/o notice does.

As strange as it seems Junno's solo, Natsu no Basho, is one of the better songs out of solos for the LEs. It's a fun summer song that I had no trouble placing next to News' SUMMER TIME in my play list for summer songs. It's a likable pop song that reminds a little of the kind of song EXILE sings until the trumpets come in. But this is definitely Junno's best solo song and the better of the two solos on this version of the single.

Kindai Full House scans

I ended coming home later and being more tired than I thought I would be yesterday so I didn't get to right up the review I had planned on doing. I feel bad about skipping a day like that as I at least had planned something for Friday to make up for missing Saturday but I really do feel like I should do something to make up for yesterday. So I decided I'll just make two posts, the review post and this one with a couple of magazine scans.

Over the weekend I was over at the Kinokuniya in Seattle and of course checked out what idol magazines they had in. It seems to take a long time for the Seattle Kinokuniya to get magazines in as very few of the July issues were there. On a whim I picked up an issue of Kindai and I'm glad I did. I initally picked it up as it was covering the Hey! Say! JUMP TV programs, Showa X Heisei and Hi! Hey! Say! and it wasn't later, after I had bought it and gave it a better look at did I find that they also had an article about Yamashita Shoon's play Full House. Shoon is my favorite Junior so I was excited to see it, especially as it had photos from the play and he looks great in them all.

I figured these are well worth sharing, as Shoon in an apron is love, and that Kindai seems to be one of those magazines that doesn't get scanned and shared as much as other idol magazines like, Myojo, Potato, Duet and Poporo. Probably because it doesn't focus on the Johnny's boys as much as the others as the Hello Project girls are featured in Kindai as well. In any case my scanner is old so the scans are far from the best but I tried to keep them a good size for anyone who wants to read the article can. Feel free to take and use for graphics and I would appreciate credit if you share them elsewhere. Just click on the thumbnail to see the full image.

Rush!

I really shouldn't leave things to the last minute. I know this and understand it well but for some reason it doesn't stop me from doing it. So I'm sorry that I'm pushing it so close with this entry, time just slipped away from me and I can't stay long if I want to catch the midnight showing of Get Smart. But tomorrow's entry will sure to make up for this one as I will be gone over the weekend visiting friends so I have my first batch of mp3s to share, and from a 2005 Shounen Club. Expect that sometime in the morning and then I won't be posting on Saturday but I'll be back on Sunday and I think I'll do another single review then.

But enough about me. I've been able to get a good chunk of the older SC episodes, mainly 2005 and 2006, and I find it interesting and weird to watch at the same time. Interesting, because I only began following JE last year so this is stuff I missed out on, like seeing some of the older Juniors and HSJ members as chibis. Weird because watching groups or JE members that aren't around anymore kinda feels a little awkward. Like seeing News with more than six members or groups like Ya-Ya-Yah and JJ Express, whose members have now gone separate ways for various reasons. I wonder now if I will feel the same way watching back this year's SC episodes a couple years in the future after other groups have debuted.

Shounen Club 08JUN2008

I got a little screen cap happy with this Shounen Club as I enjoyed it more than the other June episode. I completely played favorites with the opening and closing songs as Shoon remains my favorite Junior, I'm liking Kawai more and more and Nozawa just won me over with this episode. The kid is so cute.

The theme this time is 'Rock' and in rock n' roll music. The opening starts off Question? and A.B.C. beginning the melody. They're shortly joined by Kis-My-Ft2 with Kitayama and Fujigaya take center stage. They're joined shortly by a couple Juniors that have their names flash and then fade back in with the rest of the group-less Juniors. Then it's the Orange Jumpsuits (yes that is what I've decided to call them from now on). Then it's Shoon, and I'm glad he's wearing one of his better outfits, even though it is quite shiny. Doesn't look like I can keep calling the Kyomoto-trio that as their group has been fluctuating with member numbers so I'll just call them Chibikos as that sums them up just as well. But yes, they come in after Shoon followed by the return of Shoon but this time with the Hashimoto-trio. Then to finish the melody, this month's guest Yasuda Shota comes on stage to join the Juniors.


Koyama, who thankfully ditched the glasses this time around, and Nakamaru come out to introduce Yasuda and the episode's theme and the next melody kicks off with the Chibikos. They go off stage to make way for Shoon, Question? and Yokoo, Miyata, Nikaido and Tamamori from Kis-My-Ft2. Shoon just steals my heart on this song. Then it's Kitayama and Fujigaya with the Orange Jumpsuits up next. And explaining why Kis-My-Ft2 has been split up for this melody Senga comes out with his other group, Butoukan, minus Yara. They are followed by the Hashimoto-trio, and I may be a bit biased as I really like the tone of Nozawa's voice, but I think they sound better singing LIPS than KAT-TUN does. But like I said, I'm probably biased on this. I'm also in complete denial that these guys are only 14-15 years old, more for Hashimoto than anyone else as he does not look or sound 14 at all.


I usually don't care for the letter reading segments on SC, if mainly because I don't understand enough Japanese to understand what's being said. I got lucky this time around and found this one subtitled in English and I highly recommend hunting it down as Bunichi and Senga are cute in this. Especially when Senga flakes out at the end of his letter and says Bunichi's name instead of his own at the sign off of his letter.


Butoukan then performs their newest song Sweet Butterfly. The more I see of this group the more I like them. I mean when they were first introduced on the Shounen Club 2007 Christmas Special I really didn't care for them. But since then I've come to enjoy them and I find myself hoping that they get the chance to debut, even though it may make the future of Kis-My-FtII and A.B.C. rather uncertain. I decided to try to show off each member in the screen caps this time around for them, so it's Senga, Yara, Tsukada, Yamamoto and Bunichi, in that order in the caps.


Koyama and Nakamaru talk to Yasuda about this episode's theme, Rock. He then does his solo song for this episode, a pop-rock dance song.


Then it's onto what I thought was one of the highlights of the episode, the Junior League. Was kinda dissappointed not to see Shoon there, but I guess with the guest judge they wanted to keep the participate number smaller than usual. But Kawai and Fujigaya did not disappoint and Nozawa had to be the cutest thing when he did his dog impersonation. I was very glad he won his turn against Sanada. I felt a bit bad about Fujigaya losing to Senga as he did do a better job impersonating Yamapi singing Daite Senorita but Senga's attempt was very amusing in its fail. And Kawai's 'nyan~nyan' at the end was adorkable. Goseki was great too, especially with his cute wiggling. This game ended in a draw in the end, and it's one I know I'll rewatch over and over again.


Question? then get to perform Mihari, which is an Otokogumi song. They sound great and make me want to see about hunting down more of Otokogumi's songs.


Next we get a Kansai Junior ni Q segment. I was able to find this subbed as well which I found interesting to watch. I have to wonder who names their son Fuugaru, but since I'm a bit of a language nerd I found his topic interesting in the fact that even though his father is American and speaks to him in English he can't actually speak the language just understand it when it's spoken to him. Bunichi is cute in this as he's so embarrassed about the fact he wasn't prepared at all to be called on. You can even see his ears go red.


Koyama and Nakamaru then talk to A.B.C. about rock musicians/groups that they admire. You get the usual Rolling Stones and Aerosmith and when it comes to Kawai he breaks out the Matsumoto Jun impersonation again before seriously answering that he admires Otokogumi's Okamoto Kenichi. As A.B.C. walks over the stage Nakamaru tries to walk off with them but Koyama pulls him back. Of course he just ends up showing up later to beat box and the then A.B.C. for the rest of the song.


It's then the end of the show and time for the end song, Oh My Dream. It's pretty much just the older Juniors singing this song, which seems to be the recent trend.


July will be the Kansai Juniors on Shounen Club, though Butoukan are suppose to be performing too. Unlike most months there hasn't been any report translations floating around, which is a bit sad. The Kansai Juniors really seem to be the red headed step children of JE even though there is undoubtedly quite a bit of talent there.

July 2008 Shounen Club Report

I guess I need to complain a bit more in my blogs. I complained about not knowing about the B-side to Hey! Say! JUMP's 3rd single and within a couple of days the information appeared. Yesterday I lamented about the lack of an English report of July's Shounen Club and today, somebody posted one. You can view the full report they translated from the Shounen Club homepage here.

The guests are Tegomass and only part of Butoukan, Tsukada, Senga and of course Bunichi, instead of the full group as assumed earlier will be there. The themes are Summer and Smile.

Tegomass of course sing their latest song, Ai Ai Gasa, for both episodes though it looks for the second one it may be a partial version as Koyama is listed as singing weeeek with them. Koyama also gets to sing Private Hearts solo in the first episode. Nakamaru get to sing his latest solo song, Smack, in the second episode.

It seems like C=Normal is the Butoukan song that they sing when they don't have the full group together as the only other time it was performed Tsukada and Senga were absent from that month's Shounen Club. They also perform their newest song, Sweet Butterfly.

I'm kinda surprised at the amount of solos and performances being given to none Kansai Juniors. Even though these SCs are meant to showcase them a sizable portion of of the episodes seem to be going to others. Though they are the first to cover a HSJ song on a SC episode as it's included in the Smile melody. And just as I thought I'm weirded out by the though of HSJ having their songs covered by Juniors. But it's only about three months away from their one year anniversary so I guess it was bound to happen sometime soon.

HSJ 3rd single update #2

I'm being lazy today and just making a quick post, but tomorrow I will put up my caps and thoughts about the June 8th, 2008 Shounen Club.

YesAsia has put up Hey! Say! JUMP's 3rd single, Your Seed, up for pre-order from them and they have the track listings. The B-side is 冒険ライダー (Bouken Rider) which translates out to Adventure Rider. It's both the B-side for the LE and RE, which means I get to save a little money for this release.

I still feel a little disappointed about not getting more new songs from them, mostly because I've overplayed the few songs they have released. But I guess an album can't be too far off now and I really hope a few of their concert songs make it on it whenever it does come out.

Hi! Hey! Say! 14JUN08 live stage Tegomass - Ai Ai Gasa

Ok, now that I've put up the rules and explanations of sharing for this blog I'm testing out video streaming. I'm going with veoh for video streaming because youtube is acting weird on me and keeps redirecting me to it's Japanese site.



I like Ai Ai Gasa. It's a cute song and Tegoshi and Masuda sound great singing it. They leave little doubt on who the strongest singers of News are. I think the only issue I have with this performance is Tegoshi's hair. He looks terrible blond and needs to either go back to black or let the color fade to a darker color, OMHO.

The single comes out 18JUN2008, and I have the RE pre-ordered but it's in with my July cdjapan pre-order so I won't be getting it until the beginning of next month. So I won't be able to do a review until I get it in. But I'm definitely looking forward to doing so.

Sharing is caring, but only so much.

I really don't have anything set up for a post today. I feel bad about it but it's a nice day today and I want to enjoy this sunshine as long as it lasts. So I decided that this post will be a short one to explain what media I plan on eventually sharing.

I am all for supporting the artists by buying their releases. So I will not share any cd or dvd rips. Those are easy enough to find at other places, though I really encourage you to buy the product afterwards if you do download.

What I will share are performances, audio rips and video clips, off of programs as those can only be viewed/heard on Japanese television, something that the rest of the world don't really have access to. It will never be the entire program but will have complete performances to view as I will put them up on a video streaming site. The rips will be mp3s and available for downloading as they can never match cd quality sound, especially with all the screaming fans in the background.

I may share some scans or pictures though. I won't share magazine scans much as there are other people that do a better job than I can that do that regularly already. Plus you should also see about buying the original magazines yourself as they can be found at import bookstores. I may share a scan here and there if I pick up a magazine that I haven't seen shared yet. I can't promise great quality as my scanner is old but I won't bother to watermark the images so they are free to be made into graphics.

Everything I share is free for whoever wants to grab it. I do appreciate credit but do not demand it. Comments are nice to receive to if you take something. Also please make sure you support your favorite Johnny's artists and buy their cds, DVDs, magazines and other assorted merchandise and watch out for pirated goods.

HSJ 3rd single update

JE didn't have us waiting too long for some more information about Hey! Say! JUMP's 3rd single Your Seed. This time new information comes in the form of online Japanese store, cdjapan, updating with pre-order information. Like their 2nd single Your Seed will come in two versions, a RE and LE. Both are listed as having two songs, one being the A-side Your Seed and there is no information about the B-side(s) other than the fact that it exists. The known difference between the RE and LE will be that the RE will have the karaoke tracks of the songs while the LE will have a DVD for the PV and making of feature. Each will have it's own unique jacket cover and the LE costs 1300円(yen)　and the RE 900円(yen). So if you bought both it would cost about 2200円(yen) which was how much you paid for the LE and RE of Dreams come true.

Even though I would love for each version to have a different B-side, I have to admit my bank account would be happy. Not because I would only be getting one version, I've already pre-ordered both versions, but because I'm collecting unopened RE versions of their singles. I started this with the original Hey! Say! 7's single Hey! Say! as I had so much trouble tracking down pre-hiatus News singles. I was lucky to get the LE version of Hey! Say! and knew I had no chance of getting another without having to pay quite a bit for it so I decided I would pick up a 2nd copy of the RE as it wasn't yet out of print just to collect. Then HSJ debuted and I figured I should continue the trend. I'm rather glad I'm sticking to the REs to get doubles of as they're easier to get. Right now I have Hey! Say! RE and Ultra Music Power 1st Press RE with Dreams come true RE in the mail. If Your Seed's RE has the same track listing at the LE than I won't need to get a copy of it as I can rip the tracks onto my iPod from the LE without having to open the RE. Hence the happier bank account though I'm sure it'll be back to weeping when the 1st album for HSJ is announced.

Let's Speculate! HSJ SUMMARY & next debut

I've been watching the 2004 SUMMARY concert with News & KAT-TUN and not long ago I won the 2005 SUMMARY concert pamphlet off of ebay (I'll be making an entry about that eventually), which has got me thinking about Hey! Say! JUMP's upcoming SUMMARY concert.

I can picture HSJ's SUMMARY to be similar to the 2004 SUMMARY, as just like then it's another Summer Olympic Games year and HSJ will have just released their 3rd single and about four years ago around the same time News had released their 3rd single. The only big difference I see is that there currently is no extremely popular Junior group like KAT-TUN for HSJ to share the SUMMARY with. But as HSJ is such a large group they don't need another group to help them with this kind of concert with the Juniors there with them as well. I will not be surprised to see a Junior unit be given the same kind of spotlight Ya-Ya-Yah had for that concert though. My bet will be on the Hashimoto-trio as they seem to be one of the more popular Junior groups and JE hasn't been shy with giving them screen time. Maybe then they'll get a group name.

Something I noticed between the release patterns of News' first year as a group is that HSJ's release schedule looks to be almost mirroring it. While there is a difference of 2-3 weeks for some of the releases they're still all rather close with everything but their 3rd single being released in the same month. And also like News, HSJ's SUMMARY concert is taking place around the same time their 3rd single is coming out.


News Nippon (07NOV2003)
Ultra Music Power (14NOV2007)

NEWS Nippon 0304 (07APR2004)
Hey! Say! JUMP Debut & First Concert Ikinari! in Tokyo Dome (30APR2008)

Kibou ~Yell~ (12MAY2004)
Dreams come true (21MAY2008)

Akaku Moyuru Taiyou (11AUG2004)
Your Seed (23JUL2008)

I'm really hoping that the wait between the 3rd and 4th HSJ single will not be as half as long as that for News as their 4th single didn't come out until March of 2005, though it was only a month wait after that for their first album. Also the break for News was probably because of Kanjani∞'s debut in August and they had to share members. HSJ doesn't have that problem so I think after this next single they'll most likely break away from the kind of release schedule News had.

Now on to guessing who gets to debut next of the Juniors. To help I made a list of JE acts from Tokio on and when they debuted. I've marked the groups that debuted in conjunction to the World Volleyball Tournament as I have the feeling JE will keeping it as a tradition to debut a group every 3-4 years going by past debuts.

Tokio (September 1994)
V6 (November 1995) VB
Kinki Kids (July 1997)
Arashi (November 1999) VB
Tackey & Tsubasa (September 2002)
News (November 2003) VB
Kanjani∞ (August 2004)
KAT-TUN (March 2006)
Hey! Say! JUMP (November 2007) VB

I honestly would not be surprised if there is no new group to debut this year. JE already has a full plate with it's current talent roster and from looking at the debut years of them it would be no surprise if they decided not to do another debut. Of course if there isn't a debut this year it looks like there's bound to be one in 2009.

For which group to debut I'm hoping it will be one of the Junior groups that have been around for a few years. I would not be surprised at a Question? debut. Even though JE has Tokio to be their rock group, Tokio has been around for over 10 years now and I'm sure JE will want another rock group to take over for them. Plus it will be a break from the pop groups they've been putting out in the recent years. Of course they could always surprise everyone and debut a duo or solo artist instead as it's been quite some time since they tried that. Though I'm not sure who they would debut except maybe B.A.D. as they've had quite a bit of exposure thanks to Gokusen 3.

It's also a bit out of personal desire as I'm really scared that the older Junior groups like Question?, A.B.C. and Kis-My-Ft2 are going to slowly be phased out. I really don't want to see that happen as I really like them and think that they deserve to debut. Though I have a feeling there is little chance that all of them will debut and that perhaps the only way for some of the members of these groups to debut is to be shuffled into new groups. That's kind a why I wouldn't mind it if Butoukan ends up debuting even though both A.B.C. and Kis-My-Ft2 will lose a member each if it happens.

The unnamed Junior groups probably still have some time before they can be seen as debut ready. HSJ took a lot of the more popular Juniors so the only really known Juniors left are those who picked up some kind of following from the groups that were disbanded like, Shoon, Hashimoto, Kyomoto and Shintarou, so the interest in the other Juniors needs to be built up. That and HSJ is holding the 'youth' spot, and will for some years to come with their ages, and JE doesn't like to compete with itself. So until the HSJ members grow up a bit more I don't think we'll be seeing another young group for a while, perhaps in 3-4 years when it would be about time for the next World Cup Volleyball debut group to be formed.

Of course JE is hardly the easiest agency to predict, I don't think anyone was really expecting Hey! Say! JUMP, so it's really mostly guess work. I guess I'll know how right or wrong I am when these things happen.

News - SUMMER TIME review

I will admit I don't do reviews well. I'm the kinda person that knows when I like something and finds it hard to explain just why. But I'll try my best though I don't think I'll do more than say 'this sounds good to me' or 'this makes me smile and feel happy when I listen to it' and other vague comments like that. XD;

My first review will be News' 05MAY2008 release, SUMMER TIME. First off I'll talk about the covers. They're probably a couple of the worst covers News has had, though in all honestly almost all the JE cds released around the same time had pretty lackluster covers. These just seem rather lazy and look it.

For the music itself, I can hardly say this is one of their better singles. But after the strong release that was weeeek it's probably hard to follow such a strong and likable song. But the title track SUMMER TIME does pull off the feeling of summer. There are songs that I listen to that just have that kind of 'ah, now this is summer' kind of feeling for me and SUMMER TIME is on that list.

The shared B-side track for both the Regular and Limited Editions is EASY COME, EASY GO. It's definitely easy to listen to, but is also on the forgettable side. If I choose to listen to this song it will be to relax as it seems to come off to me as calming.

Baby! Be My Baby! is the Regular Edition exclusive track. I like it and find it catchier than EASY COME, EASY GO. It's got a driving beat that gives it a summer-ish sound to it. It's fun to listen to though I know I tend to over look it for catchier songs instead.

Liar is the special B-side for the Limited Edition of the single. It's my favorite song of the B-sides, probably because it has a rock-ish sound to it. Of course the rock-ish sound makes it seem like it would fit a group like KAT-TUN better, but I still enjoy it being a News song. If anything it helps them have a bit more variety to their song library.

Hey! Say! JUMP's 3rd single 'Your Seed'

Looks like new Hey! Say! JUMP news came quicker than I expected it to. It was announced today that HSJ will be releasing their 3rd single on the 23rd of July. It is titled Your Seed and the title track will be the image song to Dreamwork's CGI film Kung-fu Panda, that will hit Japanese theaters on July 26th. Yamaguchi from JE's band group, TOKIO, is also attached to the movie as he will be the Japanese dub voice of the main character.

Someone has put up the news clip of the announcement on Youtube that you can view here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3QoWJC8Z-s&e

The clip also has the song playing in the background so you can hear a short sample of it. It's a bit hard for me to judge the song off of it but so far I like how it sounds, though I'll reserve final judgment until I hear the song in full.

None of the usual international cd stores have put up pre-orders for the single yet. I know I'll be pre-ordering from cdjapan like usual when they do. Of course JE's official site is lacking in details about the release too, so it is unknown how many additions the single will have or what the B-sides will be. Hopefully that information will come out shortly.

And just when I thought Ultra Music Power was overplayed.

While there hasn't been much in the way of new news for Hey! Say! JUMP they group has been actually rather busy with their volleyball support roles. Apparently at every match they perform Dreams Come True and have little segments with reporters to talk about how the matches are going and how Japan is doing. It's a bit strange to see Yamada and Takaki as the lead MCs for HSJ, but I guess as the two of the most popular members of the group it makes sense that JE wants to give them more exposure. And I'm not going to complain too much as they are my favorite HSJ members.

After watching two of the latest nights of HSJ's volleyball support it seems like there's been a couple of noticeable hairstyle changes. Takaki must be done with Gokusen filming as his hair is flat again instead of flipped up and it looks like he's letting the color fade as well. The one that surprised me the most is Keito though, as I didn't quite recognize him at first. (And yes that's him in the second screen cap below.) Now that his hair has a decent amount of length it looks like it's actually getting styled instead of just spiking it. I still miss his short hair. Of course there's also the fact that he's shot up like a weed over the past couple of months and is about Yuto's height so it just might be a battle between them on who the tallest of HSJ will be. Unless Ryutarou hits a similar growth spurt when he's their age. I kinda feel bad for Chinen and Daiki as it looks like they're stuck being the short ones, unless they have miraculous growth spurts before they stop growing.

The Dreams Come True performances aren't really anything to get too excited over as they don't seem to change at all. I kinda feel sorry for the people who are at all the volleyball matches as they have to be sick to death of the song. Yamada and Takaki get the spotlight in the performance footage but the rest of the group do get some solo shots too, so no one is completely ignored, which is nice to see.

I'm hoping with this volleyball tournament winding down we'll be getting more announcements for HSJ. Summary is still months away and hopefully we'll be getting a new single from HSJ just in time for it. Also the new dramas for the next season are still being announced so I'm hoping some of the HSJ members are able to snag a couple of roles in them.

Shounen Club 01JUN2008

Alright I'm back and this time I will make sure to keep this blog active. I'm going to try to talk about one JE related item each day, even if it's old news in the JE community. I think this will work as I'm a pretty 'my pace' kind of person so I think I'll do better if I don't try to be on the ball all the time.

Today's topic will be last week's Shounen Club, as I haven't been able to watch this week's yet.

I was really worried if I would be able to enjoy SC when Hey! Say! JUMP left it, as the only Juniors I would know and be a fan of would be Kis-My-Ft2 and Yamashita Shoon. Though the past couple months I find that my interest and like of other Juniors has risen. I'm beginning to like A.B.C. instead of just Kawaii. Butoukan and the Hashimoto-trio (Hashimoto, Nozawa, and Sanada) have recently grown on me. So I'm happy to say I'm finding SC just an enjoyable without HSJ as the hole they left when they debuted feels filled to me.

The 01JUN2008 SC theme is 'toki', which translates to 'time'. The show starts off with the Juniors covering Kinki Kids' Anniversary. I really don't get why JE just doesn't give the new Junior groups names, like the Hashimoto-trio, the Kyomoto-trio (Kyomoto, Morimoto S. and Anderson) and the fresh Junior groups, as they aren't really changing who sings with who and they even are getting group costumes. I mean it's not that uncommon for Junior groups to get shuffled and members switched around so I do not see any harm in giving these groups names even if they later get broken up or merged. But still, name or no name the only group so far that has caught my attention is the Hashimoto-trio. I kinda prefer Nozawa in the group over Kamei, I just couldn't warm up to him like I have been to Nozawa. But back to the performance. I enjoyed it especially as we get the full Kis-My-Ft2 and A.B.C. groups unlike last month when part of them were busy performing in musicals elsewhere.


As much as I love Koyama, I really can't agree with his fashion sense sometimes. I honestly have to wonder what he was thinking when he chose those glasses. They're pretty hideous and I don't think he looks good in any glasses.


But on to the melody, where one of the un-named Jr. groups starts things off. I really can't find myself getting interested in these Jrs, maybe in a year or two when they've grown up some but for now I can't help but feel 'meh' about them. They're followed by the Kyomoto-trio plus two of the other chibi Jrs. I think I'm more interested in them because of Shintarou being HSJ's Morimoto Ryutarou's younger brother and Anderson Casey because the International Juniors usually don't get as much attention as he has been getting with being a part of this trio. Following them is Shoon ♥ with Kis-My-Ft2's Tamamori and Miyata. Tamamori and Miyata leave for the next song which leaves Shoon with a bunch of freash Juniors. They're followed by another nameless Jr group, since they seem to be in the older age (mid-teens) range I'm a bit curious about them, especially since they somehow managed to get some decent group costumes. And then it's A.B.C. and Question?'s turn and like always they're fun to watch. Then it finishes off with this months' guest, Kanjani8's Yasuda Shota, singing with everyone.


First talk segment is with the Hashimoto-trio. They each have a board that has a pie chart of how they spend their typical day, I think. I really wish my Japanese wasn't so limited as I'm a bit curious to what they're saying exactly as I can only pick up a general gist of it. The trio then gets to sing a song, Hanasanai de Ai. I really like Nozawa's voice so I'm glad they all got solo lines. I can see this trio going far, especially since Hashimoto seems to be rather popular going by the kind of reaction he gets from the audience. I still can't get over the fact he's only turning 15 this year, he doesn't look that young at all to me. (>.<)
Hey! Say! Post is next. It's strange to see something that began for a segment for Hey! Say! JUMP to do become a segment for all SC guests. Then it's a quick talk with Yasuda before he sings his solo song Sorezore no Kimi to. I'm not a Kanjani8 fan but I think it's a rather nice song, but I do tend to have a soft spot for acoustic songs.


We get a Junior League, with Yasuda as a special guest judge and Kanjani8 as the topic for the questions. When it comes to the Junior Leagues I find myself being horribly biased on whether or not they're enjoyable by who participates in them. Shoon is a main factor in that so it's always a disappointment when he's not participating for me, but Kawaii and Fujigaya are Juniors I look forward to in these segments as well as they're pretty good at being entertaining. I got two out three for this SC so it wasn't too bad.


We then get another talk segment, this time between Koyama and Nakamaru where Koyama gets terribly embarrassed when Nakamaru pulls out an old photo of him back when he was a Junior.


Kis-My-Ft2 then does a melody of their songs and even work in getting on their roller skates for the end. I think the roller skates are one of the oddest gimmicks that JE ever came up with even looking back in the day when Hikaru Genji was popular.


Then it's Junior ni Q. I'm rather surprised they talked to more of the older Juniors as this segment usually spotlights all the younger ones. But I'm glad they did as you could easily tell Nikaido and Kitayama are much more comfortable than the two younger Juniors they talked to, which made them more enjoyable to watch, IMHO.


Then we get a talk and performance from Butoukan. This group has grown on me over time and I'm curious where it's going to go. I'm kinda rooting for them to be able to debut as all the members are definitely talented but the group only seems to exist on SC as they don't have any group photo shoots like every other Junior group have. But they have their own PV and Takizawa power behind them so it will be interesting at least to see where JE is willing to take them.


And then the show finishes up with the Juniors covering KAT-TUN's Precious One. And I do admit to a little bias on the screenshots for the end song. XD