The Shounen Club 3 September 2010 review

Well I did not get my laptop back like I should have last week. I am still super bummed about that, as it means I still do not have access to all my Shounen Club episodes plus other things. But at least I had an Osaka episode of SC to review this week to look forward to.

The episode begins with the main Kansai Juniors performing a Kanjuu song, UME Goin On! to start things off. It is easy to tell what the main groups are, B.A.D., BOYS, 7WEST and Veteran, from this performance, as they are the only ones to get their names on the screen.

After Yara Tomoyuki is introduced the three Hey! Say! JUMP members that are the usual show supporters, Arioka Daiki, Nakajima Yuto and Takaki Yuya, perform Hitomi no Screen before the guest of the episode comes out to close out the opening number.

The guest is Yokoyama Yu and he performs Wonder World!! with the Kanjuu. It feels nostalgic having him back on the program as he was one of the original hosts. Already I feel excited for this episode.

The theme of the episode is Kagayaki (Shining), which is a word that pops up in Japanese songs quite a bit. While Yoko is quiet through most of this talk at the end he brings out the laughs by commenting on Nakamaru Yuichi.

Like the recent Tokyo episodes there is more than one guest for the episode. The previously unannounced guest is of course Nakayama Yuma who performs a special medley. It is basically just NYC songs that he gets to sing with 7WEST instead of the members of that group or B.I. Shadow.

The following MC is with Yuma and 7WEST. It is nice to see the seven together as it was not that long ago they were officially in the same group from this episode. I kinda wish he never left the group as he seems quite relaxed with them unlike when he is with other Juniors or on his own.

The next performance is with the HSJ three performing Dash!!, but with Kanjuu covering some of the instruments for it as they only have Yuto on the drums. Takaki really stands out in this performance with how into it he is. He practically seems to be glowing joy and living up to the episode theme.

There is then the usual You no Otegami Yomitai Desu! segment and it is hosted by the members of BOYS and B.A.D. With these four there is plenty of talking and laughs, especially as they talk about other Kanjuu.

We finally get some attention given to the next generation of Kanjuu with Shadow West getting to perform a special medley. Of the members of the group Mukai Koji and Kaneuchi Toma should be familiar as they will go on to become the original line up of Kin Kan.

For the game segment they do a Gong Show Battle Royale. Basically they show off a talent and see if they get a pass or not for it. Yoko of course gets to be the special guest judge for this. If anything the Kanjuu hardly lack energy as they bring plenty to this segment. And at the end it devolves into the older Kanjuu picking on Yoko.

B.A.D. then get to perform a medley of their group songs. I am so happy these two got to debut together, it would seem to wrong to separate them. Plus with them being a duo you know their vocals have to be solid as they could not hide behind others' voices.

Afterwards it is the Junior ni Q segment, and of course it is with the Kanjuu. The topic this time is about the meanings behind their names. Or basically something that is hard to follow without a good grasp of Japanese. In any case Kamiyama Tomohiro is up first.

For Kotaki Nozomu I did catch that his older sister had a hand in naming him and got his name from a character in a shoujo manga.

Kiriyama Akito is up next, and all I got was that it was his mother that decided on his name. I was a bit distracted by his nail polish during this. It was so shiny.

Then Shigeoka Daiki got to come up. It is beginning to seem like this segment is perfect for any Johnny's West fan to hunt down. But I totally did not follow what his explanation was.

Fujii Ryusei is the final Kanjuu brought up and he explains that it is simply because his parents wanted him to be like a shooting star, which is what Ryusei literally translates to.

Yoko then gets an MC segment with the hosts. Talking about the theme he brings up that to him he links the theme with performing on stage. Which does not seem like a surprise considering how sparkly his outfit is.

He then performs Kicyu which is a song that fellow Kanjani8 member Yasuda Shota wrote the music to as Yoko wrote the lyrics for. It starts off slow but kicks up the tempo part way through and I think the faster pace suits Yoko's vocals more.

It is then time to have the final performance. The Kanjuu perform Osaka Romanesque and while it is a nice performance I cannot help but wish they had something more high energy to end on. I guess there is always the next episode for the month.


I am so glad to be on the Osaka episodes right now. They always provide a bit of a break when the Tokyo episodes start feeling too monotonous. If anything there is at least different faces to watch.

But this is a solid episode and one where you can start to see things shape up towards the current status of the Kanjuu. I think the Osaka episodes for the following year will have more to show for that. But it is still rather clear which Kanjuu get priority and start to see glimpses of the next generation of Kanjuu.