JUMPing to my dream ~

As I mentioned in an earlier entry I've been feeling rather nostalgic, probably because this time of year several Johnny's groups have their debut anniversaries. And it was only a couple months when I passed the day I've marked anniversary date for getting into Johnny's, July 31st. I figured it wasn't worth a post this time around, I think the next time I make one for that will be in 2012 for my 5th anniversary.

But getting back on track to where I'm trying to head with this, as I came in during 2007 I got to be around for a Johnny's debut, Hey! Say! JUMP. As I was a big fan of the original Hey! Say! 7 group I had been so excited about this debut, as my favorite Junior group was debuting. Sure there were a lot of members in the new group I didn't really know, but I did know a couple were from J.J. Express, the group the Junior HS7 boys more or less all came from and while I really wasn't a fan of the group I knew of Yabu and Hikaru from Ya-Ya-Yah, as it was hard not to know of Yax3 if you were a Junior fan then. The only unknown was Okamoto Keito, who I took a quick liking too, as he seemed the greatest underdog of the group with how many just saw him as 'the Junior that only got to debut so quickly because his dad is in Johnny's'. Thinking about that makes me even happier to realize how far he's come since the group's debut, as he seems so comfortable in front of the camera now, most likely thanks to being a part of Hyakushiki, and has finally gotten his own solo song at a concert after about two years in the group. Famous dad or not, he couldn't have made such improvements without actually putting some effort into things himself.

Keito isn't the only one that has improved over the years, in fact they group as a whole has. Since I had brought my concert DVDs with me to Japan this time around I found the first performance Hey! Say! JUMP did as a group at Yokohama Arena on September 24th, 2007. Watching again reminded me of rewatching this clip endlessly when it first came out, as it was pretty much the only video clip of the group performing together for a bit. Watching it now I was struck by the fact that there really wasn't much in the way of cheorography for Ultra Music Power, or at least not much that showed group cohesion. Not like the dance for Your Seed where it feels every move had to be carefully planned out.

I think it's pretty easy to tell that the boys have done well in improving themselves over the years. They still have things that need to be worked on, but I think that's part of the fun of being able to follow a group from the start. Being able to watch them grow and become more skilled at what they do.