The Shounen Club 6 August 2010 review

And we get another guest heavy episode of the series.

The episode starts off with the Junior groups, B.I.Shadow and Hip Hop Jump with Juniors Morimoto Shintaro, Masuda Ryo and Sanada Yuma singing Ho! Summer.

At the end of the opening song the main guest of the episode is introduced, Takizawa Hideaki. And he takes over singing the song as the Juniors back dance for him.

It is then time for the opening talk with the show's hosts and supporters. The theme of the episode is of course Natsu (summer).

There is the usual theme medley afterwards but the hosts, Koyama Keiichiro and Nakamaru Yuichi perform in it as it covers songs from their groups. Though I am not sure what makes Keep the faith a "summer" song. And Kis-My-Ft2 and A.B.C-Z both get to perform group songs in the medley, which I believe is a first for the two groups.

BIS get the first MC segment with the hosts as they talk about something that they each think of when they think of summer.

The group then gets to perform and all four members are on stage from the start for a change. They perform FIGHT ALL NIGHT, and the rap is easily the weakest part of the performance as none of the members seem to have any talent for it.

Tackey then gets his MC with the hosts. He brings up that for him the summer means concerts. Koyama then brings up having stamina and the conversation turns to picking on Nakamaru a bit before Tackey brings up that he saw KAT-TUN practice for their concerts.

He then goes on to perform one of his solo songs, Kareha no Kage, which is an unreleased solo song that he performed at his Takizawa Kakumei stage shows.

This is followed by a You no Otegami Yomitai Desu! segment hosted by Kawai Fumito, Nakajima Kento and Kityama Hiromitsu. The first letter asks Nakaken about how to do a love confession and he says that it is best to be direct. The next letter is one that compares Yokoo Wataru to a mascot character as his look-a-like.

The following performance is basically a Junior medley that starts off with just Question? but other Juniors come on stage for the other songs after the first. It gives us a duet with Kyomoto Taiga and Yasui Kentaro. It feels like it has been forever since Kyomoto has done a duet and Yasui is a good partner for him for one.

Yamashita Tomohisa suddenly pops in for an MC segment. When asked about the theme he brings up going to the beach.

Yamapi then performs the title track for one of his solo singles, One in a million. This is around the time I began not to care too much about his solo tracks though I do like the single. I think his debut solo album was where he lost me with his music.

It is then time for the Junior ni Q segment. The topic is basically to let the Juniors talk about something that they think of when they think of summer. The first up is Kurita Kei, who is not seen much these days.

Up next is Tanimura Ryuichi who answered with watermelon. Honestly he does not leave much of an impression with me but I am certain I have seen his name before.

Sanada Yuma has his turn next and his answer was melon. He seems to take a long time with the hosts going over how he eats them.

Senga Kento has an interesting answer of mazuku, which when I looked it up meant clumsy, shoddy or unlucky. He explains that it began back when he was in middle school and he could not play with his friends during the summer. And that finishes the segment.

We are not done with guests yet as we have the return of Hey! Say! JUMP again. They get an MC segment where they mainly talk about their SUMMARY concerts for that year.

The group then performs Shinku, which is the song from their first album that had lyrics written by Yamada Ryosuke. It is also one of the stronger songs from the album, IMHO, so I am happy to see it performed by the group.

It is then the end of the program and we get Tackey performing Sha la la. I would have preferred something with the Juniors singing and not just back dancing for a closing number after so many guests honestly. Especially as it is just Ebikisu on stage back dancing until the end where the rest are shoehorned in.


I wish we could get a break from all the guests on the show for a few episodes at least. Even though there is a decent amount of Junior screen time it just seems like overkill having so many guests on the program for past few episodes.

If anything the episodes for next month should hopefully give that break as they will be the ones filmed in Osaka.