Arashi Semi-Pimp Post
Okay, so. I've been working on this for an insane amount of time, and it's hard because I haven't really known about Arashi for that long. So this is kind of a half-assed pimp post, as I still don't know that much about them, I haven't seen most of their shows, and I seem to have accumulated much more info about Nino, Aiba, and Jun than I have about Ohno and Sho. Sorry, Ohno and Sho.
Anyway. This is just a very bare-bones introduction to the group members, intended for certain members of my flist who have expressed interest in knowing a little more about them. ^_^ Not intended to be all-encompassing, etc.
Ohno Satoshi
大野智
Even though Ohno is the oldest member of Arashi (d.o.b. 11/26/1980), he looks like he's the youngest. This is particularly true in Arashi's first PV, where he has long floppy hair and gaps in his teeth that make him look about eight years old (he's the one in yellow, by the way). He's called "Leader," so I gather, because he and Sho (next in line in terms of age) played rock-paper-scissors for the position, and Ohno won. So, basically, Arashi is an anarchist collective. Especially since Sho acts like the real leader most of the time, anyway.
Even though Arashi are really good dancers in general, Ohno is by far the best.
At this point, I don't really know much about Ohno. Lots of people really adore him. He's the lead singer. He's pretty quiet in interviews and stuff and often adopts a confused lost puppy look. Also, it seems like he's often presented (both in fandom and in performances) as a man who, despite his confused lost puppiness, has certain intuitions and almost mystical knowledge that earns him a lot of respect. But that could just be my impression. ^_~
Sakurai Sho
櫻井翔
Sho is badass. That's why he's tangoing with Nino in the right-hand side of this picture. He's the group's resident rapper and hip-hop influence, and is also the most distinguished academically, having graduated from Keio University (very prestigious) with a degree in economics, or something like that. Evidently, his family is pretty well-off, so they really wanted him to get a college education despite his obvious success in Arashi.
Sho also tends to serve most frequently as Igor to Aiba's Dr. Frankenstein when Aiba does his A no Arashi experiments, such as this one, where they ask the paraphrased question, "If spinning around ten times makes you unable to walk straight, will you be able to walk straight if you also spin ten times in the other direction?"
In general, Sho acts like the leader of the group much more than Ohno does, often playing the role of emcee in their concerts and acting as the "main" host for several of their earlier TV shows (for example, "DEAD OR ALIBE!!!!" and playing teacher when Aiba steals Nino's food).
Aiba Masaki
相葉雅紀
Ahh, Aiba. In the early years, I guess he was actually sort of shy, and at least in the early concerts he always has this deer-in-headlights, crap-I-hope-I-don't-mess-up-my-dance look. But underneath it all, he has always been a spazz waiting to emerge. He sings along to all the songs during the concerts, even when it's not his turn. He's always thinking up bizarre "scientific" questions which are subsequently experimented on in several of the Arashi TV shows, such as, what happens when you blow bubbles in a -50 degree Celsius room (in Sho's words: "THIS IS AWESOME, MASAKI-KUN!!!"), and subsequently, can you make glasses with bubble solution? :P (in Sho's words: "YOU'RE SO CUTE!!" XD) If Arashi was an episode of the Golden Girls, Aiba would be Rose. ♥
He sleeps with a stuffed animal, reportedly walked out of the movie "I Am Sam" because it was too sad, and collapsed during a rehearsal about five years ago due to a disease called pneumothorax (?), which basically made his lung collapse. He was in the hospital for a number of days for an operation, and afterwards felt really bad and guilty that his bandmates had to cover for him, like he was dragging them down, etc.--he expressed these feelings in a letter, which he read publically at what I believe was a charity event.
He also does a show called "Tensai! Shimura Doubutsuen," where he goes around to a bunch of different zoos and helps out with the animals. Several clips from this have been compiled into the most awesome example of Japanese English ever. XD XD XD ("Do you like...BIRD???")
Before they became part of Arashi, Aiba, Nino, and Jun were in a group called M.A.I.N. (along with Ikuta Toma, who was Junpei in HYD2). Even though they must have known Sho and Ohno from Johnnies Jr., too, the three of them have worked very close together since they were twelve or thirteen. Here they are starring in a stage version of "Stand By Me," starring Aiba as Gordy, Nino as Chris, Jun as a very happy Teddy, and Toma as Vern.
Ninomiya Kazunari
二宮和也
I love Nino because he's a pissy little freak, and I mean that in the fondest possible way. ♥ Again, I've by no means seen everything he's been in or done, but he seems to always be the guy going "....." when the others are doing stupid things. He's not shy at all about pointing out this stupid behavior, berating overzealous fans who infringe upon the group members' private lives, etc. And then, apart from this somewhat wry side, he's also a total spazz.
He taught himself to play the guitar, and also composed this song, among others (including the birthday song for Matsumoto Jun they're practicing in the last clip).
He's got a nice voice, too, as seen in this song. I'm somehow intrigued by his mouth and the way he pronounces things. :P This is an old performance, but I enjoy it because of the group effort by Ohno, Sho, and Aiba on backup vocals, piano, and harmonica. (Don't laugh at Aiba. :P) I also enjoy that we get the introduction to this clip, i.e., the English narrator going, "Kazunari, you broke the rules, you're not supposed to mess with the people from the last performance art number that you guys just did," and Nino just being totally like "Whatever, you bore me and I rock."
Nino also likes to play pranks on his bandmates, which range from stupid (random blast of air coming from the ceiling...) to borderline mean (pretending to cough up blood). These segments of the Arashi program are called "Ni no Arashi," as it's a clever pun. :P The best part of these is just watching Nino inevitably crack up, even if the joke itself isn't that funny. Combined clips of Ni no Arashi can be found here, here, and here.
Maybe the most interesting thing about Nino is that he comes off as so cocky and self-assured, and yet, if you read his interviews, he's actually surprisingly down-to-earth and even classy. In a recent interview for "Letters from Iwo Jima" (I think), they asked him if he was the heroic type, and he replied something like a hero is what other people call you, but you're not really a hero if you think of yourself as one. I just thought that was cool. :D
Matsumoto Jun
松本潤
I get such a kick out of this guy. He tries to be so serious and sexy, but then there are the huge number of magazine pictures and unofficial photos where he's just like, ":DDDDDDD!!!" . And then, his dance moves often fall rather short of macho, but I find them quite endearing, in an "Oh my god, you're such a wonderful dork" kind of way.
MatsuJun likes Harry Potter. He cried at Lord of the Rings. He likes to read. He's a big old geek. Evidently, he really wanted to play Rui in Hana Yori Dango (the quiet, gentle, bookish one) instead of Doumyouji (the bratty but Tasuki-esque and loveable lead character), and for some reason, my fondness for him increased upon hearing that.
He's been with JE since he was thirteen, which means that there are lots of clips out there featuring him as a kid, like this one (also starring Chibi Sho), and this one, where he's in drag and tries to kiss Chibi Aiba. Yep.
Also, here is a video that cracks me up and involves a psychotic man trying to molest Jun in Arashi's early days. :P
He is also a morning person, as demonstrated in these clips, where Jun wakes up the other members in their Hawaii hotel rooms. Sho really looks like Araki here. >_>
I've seen people say that MatsuJun keeps to himself a lot and can be a little stand-offish, and I even read a couple things that said he doesn't like to touch people unless he initiates the contact, but that doesn't really seem to hold true for the Arashi members. And even if it was true at some point, he loves his group enough to write sappy song lyrics about them. Watch as he sings about how the group laughs, cries, and has fun together, how they will be friends forever, and how they helped MatsuJun find himself. :P
And then, because he's the youngest, his group members seem to like to torture him.
And he's not afraid to have eyebrows. :P I enjoy this aspect of him. Though in recent years he seems to have started trimming them.
And then, some of their music videos:
(I like this one because of Nino's silver pants. :P)
Anyway. This is just a very bare-bones introduction to the group members, intended for certain members of my flist who have expressed interest in knowing a little more about them. ^_^ Not intended to be all-encompassing, etc.
Ohno Satoshi
大野智
Even though Ohno is the oldest member of Arashi (d.o.b. 11/26/1980), he looks like he's the youngest. This is particularly true in Arashi's first PV, where he has long floppy hair and gaps in his teeth that make him look about eight years old (he's the one in yellow, by the way). He's called "Leader," so I gather, because he and Sho (next in line in terms of age) played rock-paper-scissors for the position, and Ohno won. So, basically, Arashi is an anarchist collective. Especially since Sho acts like the real leader most of the time, anyway.
Even though Arashi are really good dancers in general, Ohno is by far the best.
At this point, I don't really know much about Ohno. Lots of people really adore him. He's the lead singer. He's pretty quiet in interviews and stuff and often adopts a confused lost puppy look. Also, it seems like he's often presented (both in fandom and in performances) as a man who, despite his confused lost puppiness, has certain intuitions and almost mystical knowledge that earns him a lot of respect. But that could just be my impression. ^_~
Sakurai Sho
櫻井翔
Sho is badass. That's why he's tangoing with Nino in the right-hand side of this picture. He's the group's resident rapper and hip-hop influence, and is also the most distinguished academically, having graduated from Keio University (very prestigious) with a degree in economics, or something like that. Evidently, his family is pretty well-off, so they really wanted him to get a college education despite his obvious success in Arashi.
Sho also tends to serve most frequently as Igor to Aiba's Dr. Frankenstein when Aiba does his A no Arashi experiments, such as this one, where they ask the paraphrased question, "If spinning around ten times makes you unable to walk straight, will you be able to walk straight if you also spin ten times in the other direction?"
In general, Sho acts like the leader of the group much more than Ohno does, often playing the role of emcee in their concerts and acting as the "main" host for several of their earlier TV shows (for example, "DEAD OR ALIBE!!!!" and playing teacher when Aiba steals Nino's food).
Aiba Masaki
相葉雅紀
Ahh, Aiba. In the early years, I guess he was actually sort of shy, and at least in the early concerts he always has this deer-in-headlights, crap-I-hope-I-don't-mess-up-my-dance look. But underneath it all, he has always been a spazz waiting to emerge. He sings along to all the songs during the concerts, even when it's not his turn. He's always thinking up bizarre "scientific" questions which are subsequently experimented on in several of the Arashi TV shows, such as, what happens when you blow bubbles in a -50 degree Celsius room (in Sho's words: "THIS IS AWESOME, MASAKI-KUN!!!"), and subsequently, can you make glasses with bubble solution? :P (in Sho's words: "YOU'RE SO CUTE!!" XD) If Arashi was an episode of the Golden Girls, Aiba would be Rose. ♥
He sleeps with a stuffed animal, reportedly walked out of the movie "I Am Sam" because it was too sad, and collapsed during a rehearsal about five years ago due to a disease called pneumothorax (?), which basically made his lung collapse. He was in the hospital for a number of days for an operation, and afterwards felt really bad and guilty that his bandmates had to cover for him, like he was dragging them down, etc.--he expressed these feelings in a letter, which he read publically at what I believe was a charity event.
He also does a show called "Tensai! Shimura Doubutsuen," where he goes around to a bunch of different zoos and helps out with the animals. Several clips from this have been compiled into the most awesome example of Japanese English ever. XD XD XD ("Do you like...BIRD???")
Before they became part of Arashi, Aiba, Nino, and Jun were in a group called M.A.I.N. (along with Ikuta Toma, who was Junpei in HYD2). Even though they must have known Sho and Ohno from Johnnies Jr., too, the three of them have worked very close together since they were twelve or thirteen. Here they are starring in a stage version of "Stand By Me," starring Aiba as Gordy, Nino as Chris, Jun as a very happy Teddy, and Toma as Vern.
Ninomiya Kazunari
二宮和也
I love Nino because he's a pissy little freak, and I mean that in the fondest possible way. ♥ Again, I've by no means seen everything he's been in or done, but he seems to always be the guy going "....." when the others are doing stupid things. He's not shy at all about pointing out this stupid behavior, berating overzealous fans who infringe upon the group members' private lives, etc. And then, apart from this somewhat wry side, he's also a total spazz.
He taught himself to play the guitar, and also composed this song, among others (including the birthday song for Matsumoto Jun they're practicing in the last clip).
He's got a nice voice, too, as seen in this song. I'm somehow intrigued by his mouth and the way he pronounces things. :P This is an old performance, but I enjoy it because of the group effort by Ohno, Sho, and Aiba on backup vocals, piano, and harmonica. (Don't laugh at Aiba. :P) I also enjoy that we get the introduction to this clip, i.e., the English narrator going, "Kazunari, you broke the rules, you're not supposed to mess with the people from the last performance art number that you guys just did," and Nino just being totally like "Whatever, you bore me and I rock."
Nino also likes to play pranks on his bandmates, which range from stupid (random blast of air coming from the ceiling...) to borderline mean (pretending to cough up blood). These segments of the Arashi program are called "Ni no Arashi," as it's a clever pun. :P The best part of these is just watching Nino inevitably crack up, even if the joke itself isn't that funny. Combined clips of Ni no Arashi can be found here, here, and here.
Maybe the most interesting thing about Nino is that he comes off as so cocky and self-assured, and yet, if you read his interviews, he's actually surprisingly down-to-earth and even classy. In a recent interview for "Letters from Iwo Jima" (I think), they asked him if he was the heroic type, and he replied something like a hero is what other people call you, but you're not really a hero if you think of yourself as one. I just thought that was cool. :D
Matsumoto Jun
松本潤
I get such a kick out of this guy. He tries to be so serious and sexy, but then there are the huge number of magazine pictures and unofficial photos where he's just like, ":DDDDDDD!!!" . And then, his dance moves often fall rather short of macho, but I find them quite endearing, in an "Oh my god, you're such a wonderful dork" kind of way.
MatsuJun likes Harry Potter. He cried at Lord of the Rings. He likes to read. He's a big old geek. Evidently, he really wanted to play Rui in Hana Yori Dango (the quiet, gentle, bookish one) instead of Doumyouji (the bratty but Tasuki-esque and loveable lead character), and for some reason, my fondness for him increased upon hearing that.
He's been with JE since he was thirteen, which means that there are lots of clips out there featuring him as a kid, like this one (also starring Chibi Sho), and this one, where he's in drag and tries to kiss Chibi Aiba. Yep.
Also, here is a video that cracks me up and involves a psychotic man trying to molest Jun in Arashi's early days. :P
He is also a morning person, as demonstrated in these clips, where Jun wakes up the other members in their Hawaii hotel rooms. Sho really looks like Araki here. >_>
I've seen people say that MatsuJun keeps to himself a lot and can be a little stand-offish, and I even read a couple things that said he doesn't like to touch people unless he initiates the contact, but that doesn't really seem to hold true for the Arashi members. And even if it was true at some point, he loves his group enough to write sappy song lyrics about them. Watch as he sings about how the group laughs, cries, and has fun together, how they will be friends forever, and how they helped MatsuJun find himself. :P
And then, because he's the youngest, his group members seem to like to torture him.
And he's not afraid to have eyebrows. :P I enjoy this aspect of him. Though in recent years he seems to have started trimming them.
And then, some of their music videos:
Click to view
(I like this one because of Nino's silver pants. :P)