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
No comments:
Post a Comment