let's talk juniors
Mary has absolutely no vision when it comes to idol groups.
My main JE interests of course lie in J-Friends but lately I've become interested in seeing who's going to debut next after the fiasco that was n/kt. NEWS lasted three years, yes, but we all know Uchi's scandal was the beginning of the end and that happened in 2005. If Moriuchi would have waited just another half a year before leaving that would have killed the group too. And I'm not gonna lie and say Kattun didn't start out hot because they did, but now look at them. One of the most prominent members is gone, Kame has been saying unsavory things to the press ever since, and after this next single drops and bombs they'll be as good as gone too, lasting less than a year.
The problem with every group post-Arashi is that there isn't a solid foundation for them to stand on. Moriuchi was an exception because he left too early but what if he had stayed longer, gotten popular, then left? And what is Kattun really without Jin? I'm gonna be real and say that Akame as a pairing, duo, w/e was a big PR point for kt, and with Jin gone the remaining members can't hold their own. I guess the new "it" pairing is Koki and Nakamaru but their appeal is that (imo) they're the two Kat-tun members on the fringe, like at the polar opposite of Kame and Jin, and the other two are just in between somewhere. Now that Jin is gone Koki and Nakamaru really can't lead the group as a "duo" because they're not what Kat-tun is all about.
So I've been catching up on all the curent Juniors and I'm really surprised to see that there's a good bunch of kids, but no Junior unit is popular enough or has enough buzz to debut yet. In order of debut probability:
First we have Ya-Ya-yah who has really been leaning on KKKity and then NEWS after the merge their whole careers. They've been around as long as KAT-TUN with only a fraction of the popularity. They have their own TV show, but there's not a bunch of "ya-ya-yah fans" so to speak. The dynamic is also weak. They have one junior that I hate already as their leader, one sort of comic relief person and the other two are just kind of there. Their performances are by far the weakest yet they're the most popular, of course. The problem is if you're not into the juniors already there's nothing that will make you like them.
Then we have this unit group called Kitty, who was a part of KittyGYM with Yamapi before those guys went back to Thailand, and they were supposed to be a temporary unit a la T/H and S/A but apparently they're not anymore. They're on Youtachi with Koki and Nakamaru, and that's really their only gig right now but the buzz is high for them. They may actually be able to stay in the oricon 100 their second week on the charts if they release something. I guess the only "problem" is that the members are a sort of best-of of the current juniors, so there's one from each junior group, meaning if they were to become a thing every lineup would lose one of their best members. It's not a problem for me because all those other lineups are bullshit anyway.
Then there's the rollerskating group Kis-my-ft2. They have the dumbest name on God's earth, yes, and they are always reminding me of KAT-TUN. There is a leading duo, one is ugly and one is "hot" in that brooding way, there's a lot of filler members, and their fans are the worst. Sounds familiar? It's so obvious they used the KAT-TUN template on this unit, so it'll be intersting to see what happens there.
JJExpress has that one kid who was in Nobuta and is now on Youtachi, Yuuto, and the rest is w/e. This group is probably as good as dead since Yuuto holds his own now. If JE ever decides to venture into the solo debut again this kid is the best candidate, although I think that him doing anything real is doubtful considering his age.
ABC is my favorite of the junior groups, but I've always liked them. They back dance for 90% of all Johhny's concerts, they do SHOCK and Playzone and as a result they're down with all the sempais. But because they're the best dancers they're dead last when it comes to who's gonna be next. Think MA for this group, not KAT-TUN. It is a shame though because IMHO the most talented juniors are in this group. They've been more or less established since 2001, and they have 1/100th of the popularity KAT-TUN has yet have probably done 100 times more stuff.
I do have a Junior dream team, but since it'll probably not happen I'm just gonna say that in reality, Kitty is the best choice for the next CD group. They have the most solid members, and the most buzz. Also they have pretty much no fans right now and groups that start out with no fans often become the most popular. This is where Mary is completely blind. That whole KAT-TUN expiriment was ridiculous because by the time KAT-TUN debuted they were already at their popularity peak and now they've been around less than a year and it's stale, stale, stale. Johnny knew that if you put the most talented performers in a group and debut them right away the short term disappointments are far outweighed by the long term benefits and you'll have a group talented enough to stay contemporary and fresh and new enough to gain more fans than they lose. Somehow that's all changed thanks to poor management and the changing music industry leaving old-fashioned idols behind. But honestly, you can't survive long if you wait for idols to reach their peak before harvesting money. A normal band doesn't get famous before releasing any material. JE needs to get with the times or else this next debut is going to be another embarrassing failure.
Wow that was tl;dr but w/e the whole situation right now is very interesting imo.
My main JE interests of course lie in J-Friends but lately I've become interested in seeing who's going to debut next after the fiasco that was n/kt. NEWS lasted three years, yes, but we all know Uchi's scandal was the beginning of the end and that happened in 2005. If Moriuchi would have waited just another half a year before leaving that would have killed the group too. And I'm not gonna lie and say Kattun didn't start out hot because they did, but now look at them. One of the most prominent members is gone, Kame has been saying unsavory things to the press ever since, and after this next single drops and bombs they'll be as good as gone too, lasting less than a year.
The problem with every group post-Arashi is that there isn't a solid foundation for them to stand on. Moriuchi was an exception because he left too early but what if he had stayed longer, gotten popular, then left? And what is Kattun really without Jin? I'm gonna be real and say that Akame as a pairing, duo, w/e was a big PR point for kt, and with Jin gone the remaining members can't hold their own. I guess the new "it" pairing is Koki and Nakamaru but their appeal is that (imo) they're the two Kat-tun members on the fringe, like at the polar opposite of Kame and Jin, and the other two are just in between somewhere. Now that Jin is gone Koki and Nakamaru really can't lead the group as a "duo" because they're not what Kat-tun is all about.
So I've been catching up on all the curent Juniors and I'm really surprised to see that there's a good bunch of kids, but no Junior unit is popular enough or has enough buzz to debut yet. In order of debut probability:
First we have Ya-Ya-yah who has really been leaning on KKKity and then NEWS after the merge their whole careers. They've been around as long as KAT-TUN with only a fraction of the popularity. They have their own TV show, but there's not a bunch of "ya-ya-yah fans" so to speak. The dynamic is also weak. They have one junior that I hate already as their leader, one sort of comic relief person and the other two are just kind of there. Their performances are by far the weakest yet they're the most popular, of course. The problem is if you're not into the juniors already there's nothing that will make you like them.
Then we have this unit group called Kitty, who was a part of KittyGYM with Yamapi before those guys went back to Thailand, and they were supposed to be a temporary unit a la T/H and S/A but apparently they're not anymore. They're on Youtachi with Koki and Nakamaru, and that's really their only gig right now but the buzz is high for them. They may actually be able to stay in the oricon 100 their second week on the charts if they release something. I guess the only "problem" is that the members are a sort of best-of of the current juniors, so there's one from each junior group, meaning if they were to become a thing every lineup would lose one of their best members. It's not a problem for me because all those other lineups are bullshit anyway.
Then there's the rollerskating group Kis-my-ft2. They have the dumbest name on God's earth, yes, and they are always reminding me of KAT-TUN. There is a leading duo, one is ugly and one is "hot" in that brooding way, there's a lot of filler members, and their fans are the worst. Sounds familiar? It's so obvious they used the KAT-TUN template on this unit, so it'll be intersting to see what happens there.
JJExpress has that one kid who was in Nobuta and is now on Youtachi, Yuuto, and the rest is w/e. This group is probably as good as dead since Yuuto holds his own now. If JE ever decides to venture into the solo debut again this kid is the best candidate, although I think that him doing anything real is doubtful considering his age.
ABC is my favorite of the junior groups, but I've always liked them. They back dance for 90% of all Johhny's concerts, they do SHOCK and Playzone and as a result they're down with all the sempais. But because they're the best dancers they're dead last when it comes to who's gonna be next. Think MA for this group, not KAT-TUN. It is a shame though because IMHO the most talented juniors are in this group. They've been more or less established since 2001, and they have 1/100th of the popularity KAT-TUN has yet have probably done 100 times more stuff.
I do have a Junior dream team, but since it'll probably not happen I'm just gonna say that in reality, Kitty is the best choice for the next CD group. They have the most solid members, and the most buzz. Also they have pretty much no fans right now and groups that start out with no fans often become the most popular. This is where Mary is completely blind. That whole KAT-TUN expiriment was ridiculous because by the time KAT-TUN debuted they were already at their popularity peak and now they've been around less than a year and it's stale, stale, stale. Johnny knew that if you put the most talented performers in a group and debut them right away the short term disappointments are far outweighed by the long term benefits and you'll have a group talented enough to stay contemporary and fresh and new enough to gain more fans than they lose. Somehow that's all changed thanks to poor management and the changing music industry leaving old-fashioned idols behind. But honestly, you can't survive long if you wait for idols to reach their peak before harvesting money. A normal band doesn't get famous before releasing any material. JE needs to get with the times or else this next debut is going to be another embarrassing failure.
Wow that was tl;dr but w/e the whole situation right now is very interesting imo.