It has been announced that Akanishi Jin has left the Johnny's & Associates agency. His contract with them ended on February 28th and he simply opted not to renew it. From what information is out there the agency agreed with his choice and the live concert release of his club tour that is set to be released in April will go ahead as planned and will be his final release with the agency.
Yahoo News Japan (Japanese)
Honestly I cannot feel surprised at this news. It had become apparent that Johnny's and Jin wanted very different things from his career so parting ways honestly feels natural. It will be interesting to see what comes of his career without the backing of Johnny's, but at least his wife Kuroki Meisa can earn an income to support the family if it all comes to naught. But at least with leaving the agency like this I think he should be able to set up some kind of career for himself post-Johnny's without too much worry about being black listed.
In the end Jin has the freedom to go out and be the kind of artist he wants to be while Johnny's has lost one of their more scandal laden talents so it looks to be a win-win for both parties. I just hope the members of KAT-TUN are not hounded about their opinions about this matter, seeing as they really have had little to do with each other since Jin decided to leave the group.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
Kisumai Hits and Yuma High Fives
There are a couple of new releases that have been announced from Johnny's that I follow. First up is a single collection from Kis-My-Ft2 to be released on March 26th. The collection will have all their single A-sides from their debut single Everybody Go to their last single of 2013, SNOW DOME no Yakusoku/Luv Sick. This will give the album a total of 14 tracks and all editions come with stickers as a first press bonus. The title of the album will be HIT! HIT! HIT! ~ Kisumai Selection 2014.
The limited edition will come with a DVD that will have all the PVs for all the songs in the collection. It will also come with a second DVD exclusive to the edition that will have live concert digest footage of 13 of the tracks being performed. It will also come with a photo book the same size as the CD cover as well as a slipcase for the digipak it will come in.
The first regular edition will come with the DVD that will have the PVs for all the songs as well. The first press bonus for this edition will be a digipak (which is a special casing for those wondering).
The other regular edition is just the CD but it will come with a bonus track. The bonus track is one of the group's songs from their Junior era that has yet to be released, Kis-My-Calling.
HIT! HIT! HIT! - Kis-My Selection 2014 - (Title subject to change) [Regular Edition / Type B] / Kis-My-Ft2
Honestly as someone who has all the group's singles this release does not excite me much outside of the inclusion of Kis-My-Calling on the CD only version. If the song was on the other regular edition as well I would be more interested as this works well as a PV collection for the group as well with that and that is something I am interested in. But I guess for anyone coming in late to become a fan of the group or someone who has not been able to afford all the singles this is not a bad deal at all.
Of course since we are getting this single collection, which does include songs that have not been included on an album yet, it makes me wonder if management wants to change their release schedule a bit. Or at least for albums as Hikari no Signal would typically have ended up on the group's next studio album with the previous 2013 singles post- Good Ikuze! Now it will most likely count as the first single for a new album and we will get two or three singles more before then. This will probably also mean that the time of year the group will tour will change as they tend to mostly tour when there is a new album. If so I would not be surprised if they begin touring in the winter regularly instead of the summer like they have been.
And for a little change of pace the other new release announced is a new single for Nakayama Yuma. The single will be released April 2nd and is titled High Five. It will come in three different versions as well as a bundle version that collects all three versions together.
The limited edition type A is the usual limited edition with DVD that will have the title track on the CD and will include the song Ai made ga Knife, which was used as a theme song for a drama. It will also include the karaoke tracks for both songs. The DVD will be the PV of the title track as well as the making of feature. It also comes with a clearfile.
The limited edition type B will have the same CD contents but the DVD included will feature footage from the NAKAYAMA YUMA with KANSAI JOHNNY'S Jr. In ORIX THEATER. It is listed to run for about 37 minutes. The Kanjuu featured should be the ones that make up Johnny's WEST, B.A.D., 7WEST and Hamada Takahiro. It also comes with a clearfile.
The regular edition is just the CD but it will come with two bonus B-sides, so Crazy and BLOSSOM TREE. It also comes with a B2 sized poster.
The bundled collection of course includes all three versions of the singles as well as all the bonus items, the clearfiles and poster.
This release has me excited as I tend to like Yuma's songs. Not sure still about him being a solo artist but I think it will work out better than NYC did and I do at least enjoy the music.
I will definitely be pre-ordering at least the regular edition of the single but not until pre-orders open for Johnny's WEST's debut single. That should hopefully happen soon as they are still set to debut in April and I would not be surprised if we get more information at least about it on Friday when the final concert for the group happens. So depending on how many versions of the single that will have will determine which versions of Yuma's single I will be getting.
So overall April looks to be a month I get to catch up with Johnny's releases as I have myself down for JW's debut single, Yuma's single and Kisumai's single (Hikari no Signal). I just hope I get a bit of a break after that to save up for the next set of releases.
The limited edition will come with a DVD that will have all the PVs for all the songs in the collection. It will also come with a second DVD exclusive to the edition that will have live concert digest footage of 13 of the tracks being performed. It will also come with a photo book the same size as the CD cover as well as a slipcase for the digipak it will come in.
The first regular edition will come with the DVD that will have the PVs for all the songs as well. The first press bonus for this edition will be a digipak (which is a special casing for those wondering).
The other regular edition is just the CD but it will come with a bonus track. The bonus track is one of the group's songs from their Junior era that has yet to be released, Kis-My-Calling.
HIT! HIT! HIT! - Kis-My Selection 2014 - (Title subject to change) [Regular Edition / Type B] / Kis-My-Ft2
Honestly as someone who has all the group's singles this release does not excite me much outside of the inclusion of Kis-My-Calling on the CD only version. If the song was on the other regular edition as well I would be more interested as this works well as a PV collection for the group as well with that and that is something I am interested in. But I guess for anyone coming in late to become a fan of the group or someone who has not been able to afford all the singles this is not a bad deal at all.
Of course since we are getting this single collection, which does include songs that have not been included on an album yet, it makes me wonder if management wants to change their release schedule a bit. Or at least for albums as Hikari no Signal would typically have ended up on the group's next studio album with the previous 2013 singles post- Good Ikuze! Now it will most likely count as the first single for a new album and we will get two or three singles more before then. This will probably also mean that the time of year the group will tour will change as they tend to mostly tour when there is a new album. If so I would not be surprised if they begin touring in the winter regularly instead of the summer like they have been.
And for a little change of pace the other new release announced is a new single for Nakayama Yuma. The single will be released April 2nd and is titled High Five. It will come in three different versions as well as a bundle version that collects all three versions together.
The limited edition type A is the usual limited edition with DVD that will have the title track on the CD and will include the song Ai made ga Knife, which was used as a theme song for a drama. It will also include the karaoke tracks for both songs. The DVD will be the PV of the title track as well as the making of feature. It also comes with a clearfile.
The limited edition type B will have the same CD contents but the DVD included will feature footage from the NAKAYAMA YUMA with KANSAI JOHNNY'S Jr. In ORIX THEATER. It is listed to run for about 37 minutes. The Kanjuu featured should be the ones that make up Johnny's WEST, B.A.D., 7WEST and Hamada Takahiro. It also comes with a clearfile.
The regular edition is just the CD but it will come with two bonus B-sides, so Crazy and BLOSSOM TREE. It also comes with a B2 sized poster.
The bundled collection of course includes all three versions of the singles as well as all the bonus items, the clearfiles and poster.
This release has me excited as I tend to like Yuma's songs. Not sure still about him being a solo artist but I think it will work out better than NYC did and I do at least enjoy the music.
I will definitely be pre-ordering at least the regular edition of the single but not until pre-orders open for Johnny's WEST's debut single. That should hopefully happen soon as they are still set to debut in April and I would not be surprised if we get more information at least about it on Friday when the final concert for the group happens. So depending on how many versions of the single that will have will determine which versions of Yuma's single I will be getting.
So overall April looks to be a month I get to catch up with Johnny's releases as I have myself down for JW's debut single, Yuma's single and Kisumai's single (Hikari no Signal). I just hope I get a bit of a break after that to save up for the next set of releases.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
The Shounen Club 14 March 2010 review
And on to the final episode of the 2009-2010 season of Shounen Club. And one that focuses mostly on the Juniors.
The episode starts off with Arioka Daiki kicking things off as the opening song, Sakura Sake, starts to introduce the main Juniors.
The guest of the episode, Uchi Hiroki, is introduced afterwards though it seems a bit awkward to do so as Juniors Morimoto Shintaro and Kikuchi Fuma come on stage shortly after to take over the talk with Arioka for the theme introduction. The theme of the episode is Sotsugyou (graduation) and as Fuma points out Shintaro will be graduating from grade school, Fuma from junior high and Daiki from high school.
There is then a graduation medley with some of the various graduates given the chance to say a few words in between the songs. Like Yasui Kentaro gets to say something real quick about his graduation from high school.
The first MC is with Uchi as he gets to promote the drama he was in with fellow Johnny's Kamenashi Kazuya and Tegoshi Yuya. He also gets to promote a musical he was in, a production of Guys and Dolls.
There is the usual guest performance after this which is a special medley of various songs Uchi has sung in musicals and concerts. He gets help singing the songs from various Juniors though so his voice is easier to listen to as it is not on its own.
This is followed up by a Gekkan Koyamaru segment. It is Koyama Keiichiro's turn this time so there are of course other Johnny's to see in the photos. The first had Tanaka Koki and Arioka in it as well so Arioka is called on stage to talk a bit about the photo with them. The next was Koyama with Goseki Koichi, who is a frequent Junior to be included in Koyama's photos.
There is then a Johnny's Junior medley so we get to see a good variety of the Juniors perform starting with Shintaro and the taller members of Snow Prince Gasshoudan performing Kono Hoshi de Umarete. I think at this point Shintaro is beginning to outgrow his position as a little Junior though Johnny's seems to want to hide it the best they can.
Closing out the number is the trio grouping of Takada Sho, Masuda Ryo and Kishi Tadayoshi. Of course I guess I need to be calling Masuda Ryo Shani from now on as it looks like that is what he will be going by. Shani is his middle name and is Pakistani, I believe that is his father's nationality. There is no official explanation out there that I know of but I guess it does make it much easier to talk about him as you no longer need to worry about confusing his name with the other Masudas or Ryos in the agency.
It is then time for the game segment of the program. Uchi is out on stage again as he gets to be the judge as the Juniors participating get to act out prompts. There are mostly the usual Juniors participating from the usual groups. And Uchi did annoy me in this as he seemed to just drag out all his decisions without really explaining them.
Kitayama Hiromitsu gets to sit down and talk with the hosts on his own. He ends up talking quite a bit about Miyata Toshiya though.
Kis-My-Ft2 get their performance for the episode in as they perform Sayonara no Jounetsu. This song is of course a Hikaru Genji song and is very 90s J-pop with its sound. But it lets the guys skate around which is probably a big part of why it was picked for them to do.
There is learning VTR segment for this episode and Nakajima Kento, Tanaka Juri and Hagiya Keigo get to learn about beat boxing. Of course they do not need to go far to find their teacher for this, Nakamaru Yuichi. It was nice to see and the Juniors really seemed into learning about it and it reminded me that Nakaken did like to beat box. He sadly does not seem to get the chance to do any with Sexy Zone which is a pity.
They all get to have a short MC segment where they talk about the lesson and what they learned with Nakamaru present of course. They also get to show off the beat boxing that they learned as well again.
There is another segment after the MC, a letter exchange between Kochi Yugo and Matsumura Hokuto. It is nice to see the two get some screen time where they are front and center as with B.I. Shadow that tends to go to Nakaken and Fuma instead. And I love how they had each other laughing throughout their letters.
BIS then perform their group song Lalalila. Or Nakaken and Fuma perform most of the song by themselves and Yugo and Hokuto do not show up until around the final minute of the song. This is going to become something of a normal thing for this group if my memory serves me right. So no real surprise about who got to debut from this group really.
It is then time for the final performance of the episode and it is of Kibou ~Yell~. Koyama gets to lead it, I guess to even out the screen time between him and Nakamaru after the beat box segment. The rest of the main Juniors join him shortly.
Another good episode despite my lack of caring for anything to do with Uchi. Not sure what exactly bugs me about him but something does and he is the only Johnny's I feel this way about.
Otherwise there were plenty of highlights spread throughout to make the episode enjoyable. Especially if like me you are mainly watching the show for the Juniors. But with this another season is finished and time to see what changes the next one will bring to the program, and of course moving closer to the next debut.
Another good episode despite my lack of caring for anything to do with Uchi. Not sure what exactly bugs me about him but something does and he is the only Johnny's I feel this way about.
Otherwise there were plenty of highlights spread throughout to make the episode enjoyable. Especially if like me you are mainly watching the show for the Juniors. But with this another season is finished and time to see what changes the next one will bring to the program, and of course moving closer to the next debut.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
New Shounen Club Hosts
It has been announced that The Shounen Club will be getting new hosts when the program enters its new season in April. Replacing Hey! Say! JUMP will be Kawai Fumito and Kiriyama Akito.
I think for regular viewers of the program having HSJ being replaced as hosts should be no big surprise as they have had their presence minimized over the past year with Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z members stepping up to MC segments. It is a bit sad to see HSJ go, as who knows when or if they will be back on the program again as guests after this.
I am happy to see Akito as one of the hosts, as his talkative nature and the fact that he has been dealing with Juniors as leader of the Kansai Juniors should make him a great fit as a host for the program. Also with Johnny's WEST debuting in April it would be good for the group to have a member doing something on the national level to keep the group in people's minds.
I am surprised that we are only getting Kawai from Ebi and no SZ members as well. The two groups have been dominating the show in the past year or so which made me believe that they would just take over as hosts after HSJ. But I guess the producers may have wanted to go back and try the two main host thing again like they had with Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi. And Kawai should be a good fit with Akito as both have no trouble talking so neither should over shadow the other. Also Ebi is really only recently finding their ground in the entertainment world as SZ seems to be progressing without issue after a weak start so Ebi could probably use the extra support.
Of course how much for the program is really going to change will not be known until the first episode comes out in early April, but I know I am looking forward to that.
I think for regular viewers of the program having HSJ being replaced as hosts should be no big surprise as they have had their presence minimized over the past year with Sexy Zone and A.B.C-Z members stepping up to MC segments. It is a bit sad to see HSJ go, as who knows when or if they will be back on the program again as guests after this.
I am happy to see Akito as one of the hosts, as his talkative nature and the fact that he has been dealing with Juniors as leader of the Kansai Juniors should make him a great fit as a host for the program. Also with Johnny's WEST debuting in April it would be good for the group to have a member doing something on the national level to keep the group in people's minds.
I am surprised that we are only getting Kawai from Ebi and no SZ members as well. The two groups have been dominating the show in the past year or so which made me believe that they would just take over as hosts after HSJ. But I guess the producers may have wanted to go back and try the two main host thing again like they had with Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi. And Kawai should be a good fit with Akito as both have no trouble talking so neither should over shadow the other. Also Ebi is really only recently finding their ground in the entertainment world as SZ seems to be progressing without issue after a weak start so Ebi could probably use the extra support.
Of course how much for the program is really going to change will not be known until the first episode comes out in early April, but I know I am looking forward to that.
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