Got by age-traps.

This isn't the post I thought I would be making tonight, but since the topic came up with me and one of my friend's I've gotten rather curious about what other people thought about it. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask the question here, as it's Johnny's related.

I have a friend who recently looking through one of the usual Johnny's magazines and found the Mis Snow Man pages in it. She's normally just a fan of debut groups and doesn't really know the Juniors very well but she thought a few of the members were kinda cute so she decided to look up more information about them. She ended up getting rather shocked when she found out the ones she liked were the ones that were only 15, as to her none of them looked that old and she thought they were around 18.

So I was wondering if anyone else has fallen for the age-traps (the ones that look much older than they are) in Johnny's before?

Personally after finding out Hashimoto Ryosuke's age when he began looking like he was 16-17 at 14 I've become a bit wary about guessing ages for the boys and always make sure to check ages. 'Cause being over 20 it just seems too creepy about thinking guys in their mid-teens are sexy, IMHO, but then you have boys that do not look their age and while it's still creepy in my mind it becomes harder to tell which ones are safe or not until you've checked their ages.

I mean I have no problem thinking they're cute at that age but because of my age I have it hard to wrap my head around the idea young boys are sexy. Probably because when I fangirl the younger boys it's because I want to adopt them as my younger brothers or nephews, and there's no way I would ever want to think of family as sexy, you know?

But that's my thoughts on the matter. I would love to hear what others have to say on the topic, so feel free to share. I promise I don't bite. ^__^

12th Poll Results

Ok, still trying to get back into things. It's weird how doing the finals crunch just seems to throw everything off. I keep thinking I have school work or have to go into to class even though I don't have to worry about that until September now. Oh well.

Just going to do this real quick and will probably see about making another quick catch up post later today. So with out any further ado here are the results for Should Kis-My-Ft2 Debut Next?

Of course! - 49

No way! - 16

No opinion. - 19

I am really happy to see quite a few people agree with me about wanting to see Kis-My-Ft2 debut next. Hopefully Johnny's will agree as well, though I have the feeling it may depend quite a bit on how the PLAYZONE album does when it comes out. So hopefully everyone who can will make sure to buy a copy.

Since the summer drama season is pretty much in full swing now I figured it would be a good time to make a poll for that. So this time it's Which summer drama(s) are you following? And of course you can choose more than one answerr this time around.

Hey! Say! JUMP Tokyo Dome concert

Finals are finally done so I should be getting back to daily posting and promptly responding to comments soon. Sorry for the wait. To start getting back into things again I'm writing this entry.

On Johnny's net it has the information up for Hey! Say! JUMP's just announced Tokyo Dome concert in the fall. Rather excited about this, as I finally got around to joining the Junior fan club so there's a good chance I'll be able to ballot for this is I get my membership information back in time. If not I guess I'll have to go the route I have been going so far with getting tickets.

I just hope that Hey! Say! JUMP will at least have a new single or perhaps an album to sing songs from for the concert. In fact I think an album would be perfect as they could use the concert as one big promotion for it. So I guess I'll be crossing my fingers to hear an announcement for that soon.

Hey! Say! JUMP Summer Concert 2009 Tengoku 26 July 12PM concert report

Okay, I just got back home from the concert. I was kinda nodding off on the train, which is why I stopped doing tweets on my twitter a while ago though. But know that I'm home I'll start writing up the con report. I decided to do this as a work in progress as I do have things I need to work on for finals now as well. But hopefully I'll manage to get it all done tonight so I can get some sleep before my test tomorrow.

Because the staff were out in force at the venue I didn't even try to sneak a picture of the stage. While I didn't get a photo of the stage I did take a picture of the big sign inside the venue for the concert. It had congratulatory notes all over it from the various magazines and shows the boys were in.


For the stage though, it was the kind of stage that encompasses the entire ground floor area in a circle and has a walkway across the center. There were multiple moving stages, a main one that went from the main stage to across the circle to the other end, the section I was sitting in. I ended up with a seat near the back of the 1st floor of stadium seating, which turned out fine as I could see everyone well when they were at that end of the stage and Yokohama Arena isn't that big, or at least not compared to the Tokyo Dome. But back to the moving stages. That main moving stage could split in two as well. There was a smaller stage that lifted higher and had straps for the boys to hook on to as well as hand rails for them because of the height. I consider this the 'flying stage'. And then they had the small stage ramps that the stage crew pushed around for them. A couple in the ground area and even some up on the second floor of the stadium seats for one song.

The main stage was made to look like a castle or fortress a bit. At the very top there were a bunch of arches like an ancient coliseum. Then the next level down had a screen that went the full length of the level. It also had four wide staircases for the boys to get up and down it. The next level down is the main stage area. In the middle there is a mock castle, with arched portals on the main floor level.

The concert begins with a video clip, it shows a lot of famous places from all around the world, with the focus on the more ancient, like the Pyramids. Then on the top two levels there are Juniors in between the arches (for the second floor I believe the arches are from the screen). Then from the inside the mock castle Hey! Say! JUMP arises to kick off the concert with Born in The Earth.

They keep it going with the songs and Juniors line up around the outer stage to dance. Most of the time whenever this happened and HSJ where on the main stage the members of B.I.Shadow that were there, Kikuchi Fuma, Matsumura Hokuto and Kouchi Yugo and Morimoto Shintarou would be at the other end, the area my seat was. So I got to see Yugo completely fail during one of the first songs, completely forget dance moves and having to keep looking over to the rest of BIS to figure out what he was supposed to be doing. Which earned him some silently teasing from them, as they laughed at him.

But yes, the songs they sing before they take a break are, Ultra Music Power, Jounetsu JUMP, To The Top (one of the few songs that had its title shown) and Endless Dream.

I noticed rather quickly how short Keito's hair was. For some reason I just didn't notice this until seeing him in person, even though it's been rather short for a while going by the magazine photos I double checked. Inoo's hair has gotten rather long, as like with Keito I just found it much more noticable seeing him in person. Hikaru had his bangs tied up for I believe the entire concert. And that's it for what I noticed about hair.

When it came time to do the introductions, Yabu took up MC duties. I believe he mentioned something about the theme for the concerts was about the various things ten people could do. He introduces Yamada Ryosuke first, who comes out with a bo staff, like the one he had from Summary. I can't exactly remember the order from there but the rest are, Arioka Daiki with twin blades, Yaotome Hikaru with a sword, Takaki Yuya with a metal claw on one of his hands, Chinen Yuri with a whip, Morimoto Ryutarou with a sword (a different type than Hikaru's though), Nakajima Yuto with a giant metal hammer/mallet, Okamoto Keito with a futuristic sword and Yabu Kota with a giant axe.

Then their 'enemies' appear (Mis Snow Man and I believe members from Junior Boys but they could be M.A.D.E., I'm not sure). Sanada Yuma leads the groups and throws down the challenge, which the HSJ boys take up and a 'battle' begins. Each boy gets to show off their moves. Chinen even has acrobatics worked into to his, but he's also the one that lands into to trouble. But Ryutarou shows up and helps him out so he can run off stage. As Ryutarou is left to fight Shintarou shows up with a mace. He proceeds to help out his older brother by beating the 'enemy' though he just ends up using his fists instead of his weapon. Ryutarou scolds him about it and then they leave the stage as their battle is over.

Then Yamada emerges on stage, surrounded by 'enemies' and he begins his solo, Yoru no Asia. There is an interlude worked in early on in the song so he can 'fight' but shortly after that he no longer has his weapon and the 'enemies' are replaced with back dancers. Near the end of the song he opens up his shirt part of the way at first and then later when he can the full way. And of course the crowd goes wild at this.

After his song is done Yamada yells out to Hikaru who appears on the flying stage. After a short exchange Yamada leaves the stage as Hikaru begins his solo. There's quite a bit of Engrish in the song lyrics and I couldn't figure out what the title would be. Though he brings up 'light' enough I wouldn't be surprised if the title ends up being amoung those lines and be hikari or something. But by the end of the song he's on the center walkway.

The rest of the group appears then, being lead by Inoo, who is wearing a yukata while the rest are dressed in their traditional Japanese style costumes. After some banter Inoo leads them in a matsuri-style song that takes them to the far end of the stage. There they play a game where they have to name things that are hot. They get to Inoo who messes up and repeats an answer and loses the game. He then has to do a batsu game for losing. I'm not exactly sure what he was doing for it though, as he was doing something with his arm and saying something I didn't quite understand.

During this though, Keito had left the group and appeared on stage again, using the flying stage to take him back to the main stage. He's wearing something akin to a ring master costume, or maybe I'm making that association as he then begins off his solo with 'Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen'. But he has a brimmed black hat and black jacket over a white shirt. He does his introduction and when he's at the mainstage his solo begins. The music is pretty loud and drowns out his voice from time to time but it's a fun rockish song and he has other members from the group be his back up vocals. Babylon is a good guess for the song name considering that it's the word that every line of the chorus ends with.

At the end of the song he enters a cage with plants attached to it. The smoke machines blow smoke into it so you can't see inside well. Then when they stop and the smoke clears Keito has been replaced by Takaki, which signals his turn for a solo.

Before he begins his song though Takaki introduces the members that will be his band, Yuto on drums, Inoo on keyboard, Hikaru on bass, Yabu on guitar and Keito (who has come back on stage minus the jacket and hat but with a guitar) on guitar.

Takaki's solo is another rock song. I personally think his voice fits this genre well. There's not a lot of English in the lyrics but I think I figured out the line in the song that would most likely be the song's name but I can't remember the full thing, though it is in Japanese. Either way I hope the concert reports come out soon so the new songs can get definite titles. But yea, this performance ends up using a lot of fire.

Then the rest of Hey! Say! 7 take the stage as the members of Hey! Say! BEST depart it. They sing a new song, which seems to be called Brain Dance. It's a pretty cute song. Near the end of the song all the members of 7 go to the spots on the stage that have the hoops with cloth hanging from them that they can raise and hide themselves with. They use these to switch places with the Hey! Say! BEST members. BEST then sings School Days.

For Chance to Change, 7 reappear up on the top floor of the arena on individual platforms that are moved among the audience up there. From my spot I'm actually able to get a good view of whoever is in the area above me.

But they disappear from that floor near the end of the song so they can appear again with the rest of the group for the next song, Yuuki 100%.

After this song the music stops and the boys ask everyone to sit down for the MC. They start off talking about their concert goods, as they all have a tumbler to drink out of. Yabu has some trouble finding his, and Chinen ends up finding it for him. Yabu then brings out the uchiwa and makes sure to mainly display BEST's.

It seems today's the day to pick on Inoo as he quickly becomes the next topic of the MC. Though he does impress the other members by being able to remember the birthdays of Daiki and Takaki. They eventually move on to talk about Yamada, Daiki and then Keito. BEST are the most talkative of the group by far.

Though when they were not part of the conversation Inoo and Takaki began doing something else that resulted in Takaki beginning to play kick at Inoo. Later they're both play kicking at each other until Yuto decides to get between them to make them stop.

A little before that though they have everyone talk about their recent projects. For Hikaru and Yabu it's the dramas they are in. Takaki talks about Gokusen the Movie and then Yamada talks about the drama SP he will be in next month. They then call some Juniors on stage. It's first Shintarou who gets to talk about his upcoming movie, Snow Prince. They then have Sanada talk a bit about Hyakushiki-Ou before changing topics to the upcoming Junior concert. They also have Masuda Ryo up there on stage to talk about the concert and bring up his solo. They also bring up Mis Snow Man with Sanada, so he does confirm they will be there at the concert, but I think that was a given.

They then depart the stage as Hikaru and Yabu make it to the main stage where it's been set up for them to sit down to sing Smile & Tears. They introduce the Junior playing violin for them. I didn't catch his full name but his given name is Kazuki.

After they finish NYC boys, with Shintarou, come out to perform. They confirm that Nakayama Yuma and Nakajima Kento are busy filming for the drama and so couldn't make it to the concert. They then proceed to sing Akuma na Koi then NYC.

They then leave the stage and Daiki with Ryutarou appear on it, at the top of the mock castle that now has a sailing wheel, as Daiki is dressed up as a sailor. Ryutarou is holding a spear, for resons that are still unclear to me as he doesn't really use it for anything. But anyway, Daiki's solo is cute. It uses the main screen on the stage to show a wheel with four sections. The first section that lights up has a big fish on it and then Yabu appears on stage carrying a stuffed animal version of the fish. The next is an octopus that Takaki shows up with and puts on his head. Then it's a shark for Hikaru and a kappa for Inoo. They get rid of the stuffed animals once they are on the main stage and join Daiki on the main moving platform, which slowly makes its way across the arena.

As Daiki's solo ends Ryutarou's dance solo begins and BEST become his back dancers. Eventually BEST pick up buckets to dance with and at the end of Ryutarou's dance dump confetti 'water' on him.

Then Chinen and Yuto call to the group from the main stage and they have a short exchange before Chinen and Yuto's duet begins. There's a lot of dancing for this song, with Yuto doing his usual tap dancing, and Chinen just dancing. It's then I realized that the main moving stage was split in two as Chinen had made his way to the half to the far end of the stage, as Yuto was on the piece still on the main stage. They two pieces are brought together in the center, above the center walkway so they can dance together. There's a move that has Chinen jumping into Yuto's arms before jumping out again, which just looks adorable.

It's then time for the next fight scene. Again everyone gets to show off, but Yuto ends up needing saving, which Takaki does. Then Chinen gets in trouble. He's on the second floor so Keito uses his sword, and the LED screen to send a 'beam' from his sword to save him. Then everyone but Yabu and Inoo gather on the center stage, as it's revealed that Yabu has been captured on the main stage. So to save him they blast something off in the direction he's in and from the screens they manage to burn everything to the ground. So I don't think I'm going to be asking HSJ to save me anytime soon. (laugh)

But they rush up to the main stage and Inoo reappears, having done a costume change, with his keyboard. Yabu shows up, apparently he had to save a flower from the destruction on his way out of the 'enemies' hands. With that established he starts his solo song, My Everything. Yamada shows up during the song and does a dance, which ends up showing just how shiny their gold costumes are.

Then it's everyone on stage to sing Mayonaka no Shadow Boy. They then end as they began with one song after another, Dreams Come True, Fly, Born in The Earth and Our Future. It's then Bouken Rider followed by School Kakumei, and I believe that's were it ended after thanking all the Juniors that were back dancing for them. And to note, Mis Snow Man got the loudest cheers at this part. And Yabu messed up Takada Sho's name when he was intoducing him to be thanked. My memory is a bit hazy for this part. But they shortly come out again for the first encore which I believe was Your Seed.

Then after that they go off stage again before coming out for a second encore, this time singing Ultra Music Power. They all gather on the center stage in a circle, with everyone facing out towards the audience. They ask everyone to quiet down and then when everyone does they shout together 'Minna daisuke!' (We love you!). Then at the end of this encore Yabu announces that they will be having a fall concert tour as well. And everyone says their final goodbyes to the audience.

And that is the end of the concert, as it was made quite clear it was time for everyone to leave as they had to get ready for the next show of the day.

DUET August 2009 Page 76 translations

Since I have papers to write I am feeling productive at everything but writing the papers I need to. (laugh) So I figured if I needed a distraction I should at least make it productive and decided to do some translations. So I'll be updating this page after each boy I finish translating their related paragraphs for. And depending on how long it takes me to finish my papers I may do more than this one page.

I decided on this one page for now, as these are Juniors that rarely get their articles translated for them, they only have a couple of paragraphs each to translate, and because Masuda Ryo looks to be a Junior on the rise. I say this because he had a solo at the last Junior concert and on a recent episode of one of Hey! Say! JUMP's programs he was given a mic to join in singing with Morimoto Shintarou. He also has a nice singing voice, so hopefully Johnny's will continue promoting him and get him a group soon.


DUET August 2009 Page 76


Masuda Ryo 増田良

Speaking of summer, when I was in elementary school in the flowing pool calmly playing and eating soda flavored ice* was my daily routine. Last year’s summer I was at concerts so I mostly didn’t rest, this year if I have time I will earnestly challenge myself with the guitar. Because I own an electric guitar, now I’m in the middle of studying by self-teaching. Because until high school I have not done club activities, I joined light music**, and playing various musical instruments seems like fun.

Recently at school I’ve been immersed in body training. The training room has a running machine and various other machines, so I can train by whole body. Currently sit-ups are exceedingly painful for my muscles (laugh). My goal is to have a body like Akanishi Jin’s. Because of the shoulder width I also have. I want to thicken my chest, to be solidly built. This summer I will do my best at weight training.


Notes:

*I believe he’s talking about a popular and cheap popsicle that can be found at all the convenience stores here in Japan, as their common flavor is soda. But as he doesn’t mention the brand name I can’t say I’m completely right about it.

**I’m assuming this might be a type of club as it’s the only thing that seems to fit with the rest of what he’s saying here.

Honestly I’m a bit iffy about the second half of the second paragraph as the grammar isn’t something I recognize. But I’m sure I got the gist of it, even though I know it reads rather clunky and unnatural in English.





Kishi Takayoshi　岸孝良



Okawa Keigo　大川慶吾



Nakada Hiroki　仲田拡輝


Takada Sho　高田翔

Kimura Takuya to star in Space Battleship Yamato, and PLAYZONE 2009 pre-order link

It was announced over the weekend that the popular anime series, Space Battleship Yamato, will be made into a live action movie. The cast was also announced with SMAP's Kimura Takuya playing the lead role for the film. There is not much more information about the movie yet.

Tokyograph article. (English)

Also, I was curious to why I hadn't seen a link for the upcoming PLAYZONE cd from cdjapan, and apparently it's because you have to search for it. -__-;; But for those who would like to pre-order the album here's the link.

"Play Zone 2009 Taiyo kara no Tegami" Original Soundtrack / Original Soundtrack
And just to make this post a little longer. Johnny's net has the goods for Hey! Say! JUMP's summer tour up. Surprisingly there isn't much this time around. No photo sets, only two types of uchiwas, one type of clearfile, poster and sticker. I guess I will take the Gokusen uchiwa with me after all, as I really wanted a Takaki uchiwa but will have to settle for Hey! Say! BEST. Though on the bright side I can save some money this way, as the pamphlet and the uchiwa are the only goods I'm really interested in.

Gokusen the Movie thoughts

I know I'm about a week late for this, but I did go see the movie on opening day. And as you can see I picked up some goods as well. The movie pamphlet (which is really nice), an uchiwa (one side is the school uniform the reverse is Yankumi's red blazer) and a Hello Kitty Yankumi phone strap.


I'm not sure how well someone who has not watched the drama series would like the film. It definitely relies on the fact that you are familiar with the drama and the characters, especially with the cameo roles. But those who are fans, like me, will enjoy it as that does seem to be its target audience.

The movie is more or less split into two main story arcs, the first could just be another TV episode with Yankumi finally winning over the rest of the new 3-D class in the usual way. Then it's a storyline that centers on the just graduated 3-D class that breaks away a bit from the usual plot line. Though like any Gokusen plot line you can usually guess what happens next in any scene, but for me that's just fine as it's the execution of it that I enjoy. But honestly if you've seen the series then the movie is really easy to follow.

There is one side plot that runs throughout the movie, which is an Odagiri Ryu's centered plot line. So Kamenashi ended up getting a rather large role in the film. In the end I didn't mind it, even though I'm not a big Kamenashi fan, but I liked the plot line and I think he did a good job in this movie. Plus the rest of the main boys in the film got a good amount of screen time, which I was afraid they wouldn't if Kame's role was too big. But in the end I think there was a good balance.

And for those interested in the cameos, the second season boys are worked into the movie storylines while the first season boys all show up near the end.

And since I want to avoid putting out major spoilers that is all I have to say about the film. Other than I think I may want to see it one more time, as the oppurtunity of being able to watch a movie like this on the big screen is probably something that I'm going to get a lot of. And it's hard to say no to the pretty boys. XD

11th Poll Results

I figured I should see about posting a bit over the weekend at least before my life is completely taken over by finals. So first off I'll get the poll results out of the way.

If PLAYZONE 2009 had an album release...

Of course I'd buy it. - 26
I would not care. - 20
I wouldn't be able to afford it. - 15
Buy multiple copies. - 2

I'm happy to see that good number of people said they would pick up a copy, especially since this album is indeed scheduled to come out now. Hopefully there will be a DVD later for people like me who couldn't go see a show. If not, at least this will be the next best thing.

And I'm going to follow it up with another Kis-My-Ft2 themed poll, as I'm still incredibly happy about the album announcement. But to make it a little different than the polls I've already done the question will be, Should Kis-My-Ft2 debut next?

Oh Kami-sama!!!!!

I will warn you all now I'm on super happy squeely fangirl mode and I don't think it's going to change for a while.

But I just checked Johnny's net and on the front page it had a link to a new Johnny's Jr. release. And I almost cried out in joy when I followed the link to find out that it will be a CD for PLAYZONE 2009 Taiyou kara no Tegami! I had given up on getting tickets to see the play, in the end it's just too expensive, so this is great news for me, as well as all the Kis-My-Ft2 fans. It's going to be released on August 26th and Johnny's net already has the tracklisting up for it.

CD tracklisting:

01 予感

02 Tell Me Why

03 ケータイ天国

04 若者よ何処へ行く

05 僕に出来ること

06 大人になったら

07 幕を開けろ！

08 僕を夢とともに

09 オ・シャ・レ

10 声を合わせたら

11 すべての夜が

12 希望の海へ(inst)

【ボーナストラック】
13 ベール・キュント(inst)
　［屋良/They武道コーナー］

14 3ピース
　［内/Question?コーナー］

15 Hair
　［Kis-My-Ft2コーナー］


I'm so happy that this is coming out, and I'm so going to buy it to show my support. I hope everyone else who can afford it to do the same, as the easiest way to the message to Johnny's that the fans want these boys to debut will be through sales.

Yuma w/B.I.Shadow 1st PV & member made cms

I rarely ever do this, mainly because I tend to have bad luck with having accounts banned from the video streaming sites I've used before, but I decided to try my luck once more. Mainly I'm doing this because it looks like Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow are being rather over looked for Yamada and Chinen, as while almost all the video files for NYC boys are floating about there is nothing for Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow. Which doesn't seem right to me, especially if this is their debut single. Plus after watching their videos I find it a shame that more people aren't watching them as the boys are much more relaxed and entertaining with their own group than with Yamada and Chinen. Probably because they're not so nervous about being around senpai.

Though I'm thinking about getting all the video files out to share the only DVD ripper I have that will work with my computer will only rip files as VOB files. So I'll have to find someway to convert them, or maybe find someone who can. But I do have a couple of things up for viewing.

The first video is the full PV for Akuma na Koishite. Not the most exciting of PVs, but I rather like the fact it's low key.

The next is from the PV making of. The boys decide to make their own commercials for the single. You get to hear Yuma, Nakaken, Fuma and Hokuto all sing solo a capella and Yuugo gets to prove he is dorky enough for Johnny's. XD

And I'll see about getting the rest out to be shared, but I won't be putting the links in this blog so keep your eyes on the related LJ communities instead for that.


NOTE 12/07/18: As one would expect the videos no longer are up. So please enjoy the sparse commentary about them instead?

Upcoming Johnny's Jr. concerts

Well it seems like Johnny's isn't done making the most of the break the younger Juniors will be getting from school over the summer and both the Kansai and Kantou Juniors have events lined up for August.

The Kansai Juniors have what looks to me a butai (Yokoyama Yu has credits for the first half being his original work). The second half is listed as showtime so I think it's probably going to be something like PLAYZONE, where the first half is play/musical and the second is just a mini-concert. The butai will begin on August 2nd and run to August 27th and of course it will all be in Osaka.

The Kansai Juniors that are listing as participating in order from the Johnny's net listing are, B.A.D., Boys, Veteran, Hey! Say! 7 WEST and Kansai Juniors. With the lack of Nakayama Yuma being listed I'm assuming he's either going to be too busy with drama shooting, B.I. Shadow is indeed his new official coupled with group, or he's officially been adopted as a Kantou Junior now. That is assuming that the Yuma w/ B.I. Shadow isn't an officially debuted group, which it's still a bit hard to tell for me with all the contradicting information out there.

And now for the more recent concert announcement, the Kantou Juniors will be taking over the International Forum again on August 18th for another day of four concerts. It doesn't list yet which Juniors will be there, though it is titled ジャニーズJr. 夏休み全員集合 1日4公演!! (Johnny's Jr. Summer Vacation All Members Gathering 1 Day 4 Performances!!), so it should just be about everyone, especially since PLAYZONE has a break at the time between the end of the Tokyo shows and start of the Osaka ones.

If I go this time I'll go to a later show, though show up earlier to make sure I can get the goods I want before they sell out.

And as a side note, outside NHK Hall there is a schedule board and it's listing that on July 29th there will be filming for Shounen Club. It has to be for the September episodes, as August was the annual Kansai Junior episode. It's a bit of an odd date so I checked the PLAYZONE dates and it is one of the days that doesn't have a show. So I think there's a good chance that Kis-My-Ft2 will be at that filming and explains why they're filming so early, as August is rather full of debuted groups touring that the Juniors will need to back dance for, especially if Kis-My-Ft2 is asked to back dance for a part of KAT-TUN's concert tour.

Kis-My-Ft2 PLAYZONE photos

Since it was opening day for PLAYZONE 2009 Taiyou kara no Tegami I went by the theater to see about picking up some of the goods. In the end I only purchased the photo sets for Kis-My-Ft2, as the rest of the goods didn't catch my attention. Though the pamphlet is something I want to eventually buy, but I want to be able to buy it when I go to a show.

Though the chances of making it to one of the shows is beginning to look slim to me. I really want to go, but I'm finding it hard to actually afford going with the prices being what they are, the worst seats are in the 20000 (about 200USD) price range at all the resale places and are getting hard to find. But I haven't given up all hope yet. Even if I have a terrible seat as long as I have one for one show I'll be happy, so hopefully I can eventually find a ticket I can afford before the show ends its run.

Since I did get the photo sets I took pictures for those who want to know what the photos look like without having to hunt Yahoo!Japan auctions to find pictures of them.

Kitayama Hiromitsu

Senga Kento

Miyata Toshiya

Yokoo Wataru

Fujigaya Taisuke

Tamamori Yuta

Nikaido Takeshi

10th Poll Results

10Like I mentioned before it's finals time for me now so there's going to be a slow down until they're over. Today though I'm making a free day, as I will be seeing Gokusen the Movie in a few hours. And then I'm going to see about heading over to the PLAYZONE theater to see about picking up a few of the goods at least, as today's opening day for that. So if that all works out there will be a couple of posts to look forward to in the immediate future.

But now on to the topic of this post, the poll results.

Favorite Hey! Say! 7 Member:

Chinen Yuri: 49
Yamada Ryosuke: 43
Nakajima Yuto: 38
Morimoto Ryutarou: 22
Okamoto Keito: 19

I was actually rather surprised since I was sure Yamada would get the most votes, with Chinen just behind him. Yuto ended where I thought he would be and I wasn't sure how Okamoto and Ryutarou would do, other than be in the last two places.

I think I need to just get used to the fact my favorites aren't the normal favorites for most people, as Okamoto is my favorite 7 member, closely followed by Yamada.

Decided to do a bit of a different topic for this next poll in celebration of PLAYZONE starting today. Since PLAYZONEs in the past have had albums released for them I'm curious what people would think about this one getting one, especially as it would be Kis-My-Ft2's first cd release if it happened.

Some thoughts about Koishite Akuma episode 1

Well I got to watch this tonight so I figured I should write about it. Not going to do an official first impressions entry until I can watch the episode subbed so I can watch it and understand everything going on, not just have a general idea. But I think I want to stick with this drama because it is rather unintentionally funny. Especially if you keep in mind certain things about vampire lore (like how much of is metaphors for sex).

Putting that aside, there's another point towards that Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow is actually debuting as Nakajima Kento is listed with (B.I.Shadow), like other officially debuted Johnny's are, not Johnny's Jr., like Kiriyama Akito, Nakama Junta and Tamamori Yuta are in all the Gokusen credits even though they have established Junior groups. Nakayama Yuma doesn't have such a tag with his name. I guess this means he's getting quasi-solo treatment in that regard. Though Morimoto Shintarou is listed as (Johnny's Jr.) in the credits.

If you don't want to be spoiled about the episode, I suggest you quit reading here as I'm going to talk about things in the episode now.


*SPOILERS*








And it's a bit weird which parts of the vampire lore they decided to keep or not. I mean they can walk around in the daytime, though sunlight irrates them, or at least Ruka. And they have reflections, but Ruka got nauseous around garlic. Kinda curious what else has been kept or changed.

Nakayama Yuma really doesn't have to do much but look pissed off for most of the episode. I'd kinda be pissed off too if I had a flock of school girls following me everywhere like he does. Though it looks like he'll get to eventually emote different things know that his teacher crush has kicked in at the very end of the episode.

Kondo Masuhiko's character, Kaito, falls inline quite well with more of the traditional vampire archtype. Has a dangerous aura around him and exudes sex. Seriously, in the episode he has a naked woman in his bed that he bites twice and tries to get Ruka to bite. He even has a random male vampire that he strokes the face of in the episode too. Not to mention he can't seem to keep his hands off of Ruka either.

Nakajima Kento's character isn't in the episode a lot, but I think he shines whenever he is. His character is really likable is seems to be the anti-Ruka in that sense. Though I really have to wonder why he went to the bathroom with a pair of headsets on.

And Morimoto Shintarou's character is adorable, but that's to be expected isn't it? (laugh) But he's really energetic and cheerful, like the parents.

Not really feeling the 'romance' between Ruka and the teacher. Though I am greatly amused by the fact that Ruka's fangs popped out finally at the end because of her. But I think that's just my dirty mind at work there. But really they're both soaking wet from falling into the water and she's being cute and laughing at the whole thing and his fangs pop out, as he looks quite distressed about it.

It'll be interesting to see how things progress. I just hope it can keep itself interesting for it's entire run.

*SPOILERS END*

Some TV watching and miscellaneous rambling

You know I just realized I didn't post anything yesterday. Sorry about that, finals are coming up so I'm having to focus on school more than usual.

That being said, tonight I took a nice break and watched some TV, Nakai Masahiro’s Super Drama Festival 2009 - The Pressure SP, to be exact. So I got to watch Nakai Masahiro, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, Yamashita Tomohisa, Yabu Kota and Nakayama Yuma play games with their co-stars for about two hours. Though Yuma was only there for about the first hour before having to leave the stage with the lead female classmate from his drama, because of Japanese child labor laws. For the rest of the show they had cardboard cutouts of them both standing in the group's area. Which was a pity as he seemed to be one of the stronger members of the group when it came to the games.

I had to laugh at the fact that the Buzzer Beat cast totally failed at the free throw game. Yamapi got out with his first attempt, even though the hoop was really close to where he had to stand. At least he was good at the archery, though he failed massively with bowling and his team ended up second overall because of that.

Yabu was rather cute to watch, though there wasn't much of him to see. He at least got his first basket in though, even though he missed the second time. Overall he seemed to be enjoying himself and looked like he got along with his co-stars well.

In other news I've seen the short versions of the PVs for NYC and Akuma na Koi, and have to say I'm glad I'm getting all three versions of this single. Though I'm going to be so broke when they come out because I know I'm going to want a lot of the photos from the Johnny's Store that should be released the same day, as all PV off shoot photo sets are.

And I still need to save up for PLAYZONE (which is incredibly expensive as the cheapest resale tickets are in teh 200USD range), and see about going to one of the Hey! Say! JUMP concerts at the end of the month at Yokohama Arena. I don't think my wallet is going to have much money in it all month. -__-;;

Engine final impressions

I know I started this many months ago but I finally got around to watching the final episode this past week. And I'm glad I did.


Even though it had been some time since I watched the rest of the series it didn't take long to get right back into the story. I could still remember who everyone was and what was going on, which to me is one of the proofs of a good drama, that it's memorable.


The final episode really brought everything together nicely and showed how each character had changed through the course of the series. And I love how they worked in a cameo for Masahiko Kondo.

I really enjoyed this drama and it makes me want to see other Kimura Takuya dramas. Though I have heard that one of his detractors is that he plays all his roles the same way, so if this is true than I probably will only them sporadically. The other members of the cast were great to watch, and it seems so strange to see Arioka Daiki and Nakajima Yuto so young. And it makes me want to see them in more dramas.


It didn't exactly end the way I imagined it would, and I like that. Especially as it was still a rather satisfying ending to this series. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is another episode, as long epilogue, but there's no helping that.

But if you're like me and want to try out a KimuTaku drama, as he's such a big name for dramas, then I definitely would recommend trying out Engine. Especially if you're a Hey! Say! JUMP fan as you get to see two of the group's members in their younger days.

Tokio new single

Looks like the rumors about Tokio doing the theme song for Nagase Tomoya's new drama have proven themselves true as cdjapan just sent out the pre-order information for a new single. It looks like it will be another double A-side like their last single was, as the release looks a lot like it with two LEs each with a DVD with a PV and making of segment for two different songs, the untitled song that will be Karei Naru Spy's theme song and a song titled Subekikoto.


I guess it won't be surprising to get an announcement soon that Takizawa Hideaki will be releasing his third solo single to the theme song for Orthros no Inu, as the Tokio theme song rumor panned out.

And now with this release, Hey! Say! JUMP is the only active Johnny's group (because who knows what's going on with Tackey & Tsubasa) to not have released a cd this year. As August seems rather full with Johnny's singles now though I'm hoping if we'll get a single it'll be in September, and it better be something pretty awesome to make waiting 11 months for it worth it. Though it would be pretty awesome for Johnny's to release their debut album, which they could do sometime in August as that shouldn't clash with the other Johnny's releases. But I think I'm just hoping for too much for that.

Nakayama Street & more

I've decided to wait another day before I put up the photos from TV Guide. Pretty much because the little 'cheer me up' trip to Harajuku ended up with the discovery that Koishite Akuma has taken over the famous Takeshita Street. For those not familiar with the area, Takashita Street is the main road that is pedestrian only and always full of people during business hours. It has a lot of unofficial idol shops, as well as the resale ticket store I've mainly been using to get my tickets.

But normally the street has small banners that caution people like pictured below.


I have yet to figure out what exactly touting is but at least it's clear no littering, shoplifting and smorking is allowed in the area. But that aside, they've all been replaced now with banners for the Koishite Akuma drama. There are two types, one with Nakayama Yuma on it and another with Matchy (showing off his uber fake fangs) and Kato Rosa. You can see the Nakayama one in the picture of the Takeshita Street enterance and this is the other.


And speaking of the enterance there are three of those banners that's hanging over it on the street. Two at the ends of the street and one about mid-way, which is the picture below.


I guess Johnny's and Fuji TV are really trying to make sure this drama is a hit. A smart move as singles can get a good amount of chart life if attached to a drama, as everytime it airs the single with the theme song does well in sales the next day. And since the single will be released shortly after the drama begins to air then it will have months of chart time just from that.

And when I visited the Johnny's Store today there was a notice above the KAT-TUN section announcing that the Tokyo Dome photos will be released on July 15th. This reminded me that we should be getting Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow and NYC boys photo sets released that day from the PV offshoot, as the day the cd is released is the day those photos are released. So it looks like the 15th is going to make me very poor.

In other news, cdjapan has updated with SMAP's new single as well as a new concert DVD for Imai Tsubasa's last solo tour. It's nice to see Tsubasa releasing something himself, and both versions of the DVD some with a CD with four songs so he's not getting completely left behind with releasing his own songs either.


And that's all I have for now. I will get those magazines up tomorrow, as I have nothing planned to do after class so I'll just be heading straight home.

The Television Weekly 2009 No. 27 photos

Okay, this is the first of the TV magazines I picked up. This is also the one famous for having the people on the cover holding a lemon, which for this issue get to be the four main cast members of Koishite Akuma.


First page of interest is the one with shots from Nagase Tomoya's upcoming drama, Karei Naru Spy. I love how it just exudes the same kind of vibes Get Smart does, and the disguises look like they will not disappoint in the amusement factor.

Then it's a show of a couple different dramas. The top being from Yamashita Tomohisa's Buzzer Beat. There's a picture on the left of the class of Koishite Akuma. And then the bottom to pictures are from Orthros no Inu.


Koishite Akuma gets a two page spread. And this one shows very well that no matter your age that perm hairstyle does not look good on anyone. And yes, I'm looking at you Matchy.


This page is taken over by quick profiles of everyone in Ruka's class. Each has a little blurb, either saying who they are, or connecting them to others. Nakajima Kento's character is said to be Ruka's rival, which makes me happy as it means he should get a decent amount of screen time. Or at least more than what he had in Scrap Teacher.


Then it's a Ninkyo Helper page. This is where Yabu Kota's character's name has furigana with it, so people know how to read it.



Buzzer Beat is given two pages. I guess it's easy to tell which dramas are getting the heaviest promotion. And as you can see there seems to be a shower scene, which should make the fangirls happy.


And speaking of fangirls, I figured I should take a close up of that corner at the bottom of the second page for the Yamapi fangirls. And it's kinda hard to complain about shirtless Yamapi. XD


And then to add to the amount of Yamapi in the magazine on the following page there is a crosstalk between Yamapi and one of his co-stars from the drama.


Really only took this to remind myself that Kamenashi Kazuya will not be the only Johnny's promoting the Gokusen movie. And I'm so happy that Takaki Yuya is doing something. Hopefully he'll get more chances in the upcoming week or so to be on TV for Gokusen promotions.


And the last thing I took a photo of was the Shounen Club snippet, so people can see the yukata that Tegomass were wearing. I can't wait to see everything that got taped over again, and see what they kept and what they didn't.

I think I may just wait until morning to put up the photos of the last magazine. It's late and I still have some homework to do tonight.

Cinema Square vol. 25 & Only Star 7/6 photos

I figured there aren't too many photos from these two magazines, as I skipped Kamenashi Kazuya's pages in Cinema Square as they've been scanned already, and Only Star really for the most part just has the Junior Concert article for it's Johnny's related content.

Since I've only been seeing scans of Kame for the Gokusen movie related articles from magazines I began to think that he was the only Johnny's of the cast getting photo shoots for it. I was thankfully proven wrong today when I noticed on the covers of the magazines the other boys in the cast were listed. While they don't get as many pages as Kame they are all there. I picked Cinema Square as I thought it had the nicest photo shoots for everyone.





The Only Star photos are of the short article about Yamada Ryosuke, focusing on him being in the 24 Hour drama with Nishikido Ryo.


And then it's all photos from the Junior concert last month. Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow, NYC Boys and the special guests, Yabu Kota and Tanaka Koki take up most of the pages but the other Juniors at least get a page to themselves.









The next two magazines I picked up, TV Guide and The Television will each get their own posts as I took quite a few pictures of their pages as there are a lot of Johnny's dramas this summer.

SMAP new single Sotto Kyutto, Tokio's 2009 tour and other ramblings

Well today I decided to go in and pick up the new Arashi single, as it won't be included in the upcoming best of album. When I got to the store I bought my copy for I was surprised to see at the new single stand an announcement for a new SMAP single to be released on August 26.

When I came back home I found some more information on SMAP's official website that does announce the single release. It's titled Sotto Kyutto and will be the theme song for Kusanagi Tsuyoshi's drama Ninkyo Helper. Since the drama begins next Thrusday that's probably when it'll be heard for the first time.

SMAP's official page with the announcement. (Japanese only)

Also today's Johnny's net update is to announce that Tokio will be having a 2009 tour in late September and early October. They're only sceduled for three cities, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. I think I just might try to go to a Tokyo show, as Tokio has my Johnny's crushes in it, Masuoka Masahiro and Nagase Tomoya. ♥ ♥

I'd also like to take the time to note that I found a magazine with the furigana for Yabu Kota's character in Ninkyo Helper. This is great as I couldn't figure out how it should be read, and apparently was using a different reading for the last name than that being used. So for those interested, Yabu's character is named Takayama Mikiya.

And talking about theme songs, the D-Addicts wiki has it down that Takizawa Hideaki will be doing the theme song for Orthos no Inu and Tokio will be doing the theme song for Nagase Tomoya's drama, Karei Naru Spy. There is no source to back the information up, but at the same time it seems rather likely. And with Tokio having a theme song, and unless Johnny's just wants to be weird, a new single, it will leave Hey! Say! JUMP as the only active Johnny's group that has yet to release a cd this year. I hope Johnny's is trying to figure out a way to fix this, as the members of the group are getting more exposure with drama roles. And there's just my two cents on this issue again.

Also I picked up four magazines today, two TV related ones (for the summer drama previews), Only Star (it has pictures from the Junior concert) and one movie magazine (for the Gokusen articles). I really wish I had a scanner to share the Johnny's related pages, but I've decided to do the next best thing and took photos, as they're finally putting out photos of the cast members as their characters. I'll make making posts later today with the photos.