So, about those sparkly dancing boys.
Allow me to introduce you to craziness, highly attractive young men, insane costumes, rampant slashiness, pop music with a side of synchronized acrobatics and superheroes, no-holds-barred general wackiness, and sheer cracky fun: in other words, the Japanese boybands KAT-TUN, Kanjani8 and NEWS.
Before I inflict my most recent fannish creations on my unsuspecting friendslist, it's only fair that I issue some advance warning in the form of an explanation of who these people are. *g* This will also enable you to flee betimes, should you so desire.
Please note that this is not a balanced presentation in any way. I have a very definite focus. :-)
Warning: Picspam behind the cut(s)!
Junno
Taguchi Junnosuke, aka Junno, is a member of the successful Japanese boyband KAT-TUN. Very briefly, he is: energetic, enthusiastic, acrobatic, dorky, sweet, and both shy and shameless.
He can be hot, classy, pretty...
...and he can be just plain cute.
He has slinky hips.
He likes to wear interesting stage costumes (this being fairly far over at the "plain and unadorned" side of the scale).
He can be cool.
And he can be dorky. Can he ever. In fact, his huge dorky grin is his trademark - as are his happily dorky ways and his truly horrible puns, which are widely feared.
Junno has acted in several TV dramas; he seems to be a pretty good actor, though the nature of his roles makes it hard to be sure. I really wish he would act more.
For his role in the TV drama "Yukan Club", Junno dyed his hair buttercup yellow and wore blue contacts in order to better portray the son of the Swedish ambassador to Japan. solo____ suggests using Junno's yellow hair as an indicator of fannish drift: Should the initial horror fade and you find that hey, in *this* particular picture it doesn't look half bad, it's time to: A, admit that you have found a new fandom, or B, seek professional help. *g*
The guy hanging on blond!Junno here is Maru, and is in his band (more about him later). All of the sparkly dancing guys are constantly all over each other - it's part of the fanservice. This is very, very mild.
In the same drama, Junno went undercover as a bride (don't ask), and was surprisingly pretty.
As for what kind of a person he is... well. That's complicated. :-) I won't go into my Grand Unified Field Theory of Junno here - that's more fun to explore in the field of fiction, anyway. Suffice it to say that he's a lot more complex and interesting than the unrelentingly cheerful facade he likes to put forward would lead you to suspect.
KAT-TUN
From left to right: Akanishi Jin, Nakamaru Yuichi, Ueda Tatsuya, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki and Kamenashi Kazuya.
The group is named for the first letters of the members' last names.
K - Kamenashi Kazuya ("Kame")
Kame is one of the two most popular members. He appears in numerous fashion magazines, interviews, commercials and the like; he also acts in a lot of TV dramas, and does a very good job of it. Plus, he's been playing the lead in the JE musical "Dream Boys" for several years now, which shows true perseverance and willingness to put up with near-lethal levels of silliness.
A - Akanishi Jin ("Jin")
Jin is not in the band anymore; he's now working on a solo career. However, he used to be one of KAT-TUN's main vocalists, and the other most popular member. He is famed for his sexy dancing style, and does not attempt to hide when he's uninterested in something - such as a talk show he's presently in. Shortly after the band debuted in 2006, he spontaneously went off to the US to study languages, only to return 6 months later. In July 2010, he left the band for good, hoping to launch a solo career with a string of concerts in the US. He and Kame were the most common slash pairing in KAT-TUN fandom.
T - Taguchi Junnosuke ("Junno")
Junno's the best acrobat in the band. Most of the guys have some acrobatic skills and do backflips and/or breakdancing; Junno takes it one step further. He also plays the drums, tap-dances, juggles, and does impressions of drunk spiders. Give him half a chance and he will do several of those things at once. In concerts, Junno's incredibly focussed and energetic and throws himself whole-heartedly into getting the audience to have fun. He's sometimes too nice a guy. And he should be slashed more. And be in more TV dramas. And get more screen time. Erm.
T - Tanaka Koki ("Koki")
Despite being a sparkly dancing boy, Koki is a rapper at heart. He adds an element of rap to many KAT-TUN songs; he also wears a lot of necklaces, does odd things to his hair and occasionally makes an effort to grow hair on his chin, presumably in the attempt to look gangsta. His cool image does not prevent him from being in a comedy duo with Maru.
U - Ueda Tatsuya ("Ueda")
Ueda does his own thing - often, he seems to be in a world of his own. He can be both mysteriously aloof and endearingly goofy. Several years ago, he bleached his hair, wore spiky necklaces and blue contact lenses to emulate superstar Gackt, and claimed to see fairies; he has since said that the latter was merely an attempt to make himself interesting. Ueda writes music and has recently given a well-received string of solo concerts entitled "Mouse Peace". In his free time, he boxes.
N - Nakamaru Yuichi ("Maru")
Nakamaru beatboxes - and does it very well -, performs comedy skits with Koki, and is enrolled at university for environmental studies. Sometimes he seems like a civil servant who got lost on his lunch break and wandered in among the sparkly boys by mistake. He has an incurable fondness for conservative sweater vests with an argyle pattern. Sometimes he covers them with glitter and wears them on stage.
KAT-TUN's music
For me, the music isn't the attraction. But for a general impression of the kind of music they make, and (more interestingly IMO!) for a glimpse of the guys in action, check out these links:
"Real Face" official music video (the group's debut song, seen here with Junno attractively hanging out in a giant concrete pipe):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udbiIdQ0Uc0
"White Xmas" official music video (their latest release, in which Junno looks very nice and there is a creepy golden hobo Santa):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Kb5oWe3Vg
"She said" live version (also worth a look because of the interesting stage costumes *g*):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ssnkCVDI7g
"Don't U Ever Stop" official music video (which has a plot!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcZZpue5-9c
Ryo, Kanjani8 and NEWS
Nishikido Ryo
Ryo is in two boybands: Kanjani8, arguably the craziest boyband in all of Japan, and NEWS, a more regularly crazy group. In addition to a double dose of the usual boybandish activities, Ryo appears in a steady string of TV series - he's a very good actor. He also plays the guitar and composes some of his own songs. In short, he is a very busy guy.
Ryo likes to cultivate a cool and serious, tough, darkly sexy image, but this is not even skin-deep. It's hard to hide your inner dork when you're in a group like K8. He also frequently fails to hide his sweet side, and can be crushingly shy and self-conscious. That said, he's also impulsive and abrasive, short-tempered, and quick with cutting remarks - which has earned him the nickname "poison tongue" and a reputation for being a mean bastard.
Until he was about 15, Ryo was incredibly tiny and childishly cute - he looked all of 10 (in the pic below, he's the tiny one in the middle, and no, he is not younger than the others). He's grown up very nicely since, but has retained not only a slight chip on his shoulder, but also the diminutive pet name "Ryo-chan".
Kanjani8
The members of Kanjani8 are from Kansai, the region around Kyoto and Osaka, which has a very strong regional identity. K8 are basically a bunch of talented, friendly and enthusiastically zany nutjobs. Also: They fight crime! Part of their normal stage routine involves dressing up as the "Eito Rangers", color-coded superheroes who impart moral messages to the audience. K8 is also known for how close the members are; unusually for a JE group, they're all friends. Ryo fits in very well. When he has group security, he has no problems with being a humongous dork.
If you want a glimpse of the insanity, here's the Eito Rangers' theme song (Ryo is the Yellow Ranger):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P22_GoHJyWY
An excerpt from a sketch, featuring the fabled Ranger weapon "Rainbow Flash" (visualized by odd sounds and jumpsuited juniors dashing by in the role of beams of power):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxDBEpLKag8
NEWS
This group features the more usual kind of sparkly dancing boy insanity, such as an unholy love of polka dots and songs about the joy of turning into peas, or possibly pirates (or piratical peas). NEWS is also notable for including not just Ryo, but also the very cool Yamapi (seen above in the middle to Ryo's right, the one with lighter hair).
Junno and Ryo
Just because. :-)
The natural environment of the sparkly dancing boy
Some background info!
Johnny's Entertainment (JE)
The guys in Japanese boybands aren't merely singers - they're "idols". That means they're omnipresent in the world of entertainment: in magazines, on talk shows, in game shows, in TV series, on the radio, you name it. Idols are created, managed and maintained by talent agencies like "Johnny's Entertainment" (JE). Any boy from the age of 8 or so on up can apply to JE, if he wants to be an idol. With a bit of luck, he'll be invited to an audition and chosen as a Johnny's Junior. He'll then appear in JE magazines, on JE music shows and so on. Juniors who distinguish themselves and gain a fan following have a chance of someday debuting, either as a solo artist or - more commonly - as part of a boyband.
Fanservice vs. reality
JE guys cuddle, grope, kiss and smolder at each other. Often they take off their clothes first. They declare their love for each other, reflect which member of the band they'd date or marry, play out dating scenarios with each other, and so forth. It's a slasher's dream. It's pure fanservice; the fans love it, and so JE sees that they get it. However, this does not mean that it'd be fine for any of these guys to actually be openly gay. Hell no! Marketing ploy and reality are two very different things.
I will spare you the account of how I got into this - yeah, I've written that out too, but I think this is more than enough for one day. :-)
Before I inflict my most recent fannish creations on my unsuspecting friendslist, it's only fair that I issue some advance warning in the form of an explanation of who these people are. *g* This will also enable you to flee betimes, should you so desire.
Please note that this is not a balanced presentation in any way. I have a very definite focus. :-)
Warning: Picspam behind the cut(s)!
Junno
Taguchi Junnosuke, aka Junno, is a member of the successful Japanese boyband KAT-TUN. Very briefly, he is: energetic, enthusiastic, acrobatic, dorky, sweet, and both shy and shameless.
He can be hot, classy, pretty...
...and he can be just plain cute.
He has slinky hips.
He likes to wear interesting stage costumes (this being fairly far over at the "plain and unadorned" side of the scale).
He can be cool.
And he can be dorky. Can he ever. In fact, his huge dorky grin is his trademark - as are his happily dorky ways and his truly horrible puns, which are widely feared.
Junno has acted in several TV dramas; he seems to be a pretty good actor, though the nature of his roles makes it hard to be sure. I really wish he would act more.
For his role in the TV drama "Yukan Club", Junno dyed his hair buttercup yellow and wore blue contacts in order to better portray the son of the Swedish ambassador to Japan. solo____ suggests using Junno's yellow hair as an indicator of fannish drift: Should the initial horror fade and you find that hey, in *this* particular picture it doesn't look half bad, it's time to: A, admit that you have found a new fandom, or B, seek professional help. *g*
The guy hanging on blond!Junno here is Maru, and is in his band (more about him later). All of the sparkly dancing guys are constantly all over each other - it's part of the fanservice. This is very, very mild.
In the same drama, Junno went undercover as a bride (don't ask), and was surprisingly pretty.
As for what kind of a person he is... well. That's complicated. :-) I won't go into my Grand Unified Field Theory of Junno here - that's more fun to explore in the field of fiction, anyway. Suffice it to say that he's a lot more complex and interesting than the unrelentingly cheerful facade he likes to put forward would lead you to suspect.
KAT-TUN
From left to right: Akanishi Jin, Nakamaru Yuichi, Ueda Tatsuya, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki and Kamenashi Kazuya.
The group is named for the first letters of the members' last names.
K - Kamenashi Kazuya ("Kame")
Kame is one of the two most popular members. He appears in numerous fashion magazines, interviews, commercials and the like; he also acts in a lot of TV dramas, and does a very good job of it. Plus, he's been playing the lead in the JE musical "Dream Boys" for several years now, which shows true perseverance and willingness to put up with near-lethal levels of silliness.
A - Akanishi Jin ("Jin")
Jin is not in the band anymore; he's now working on a solo career. However, he used to be one of KAT-TUN's main vocalists, and the other most popular member. He is famed for his sexy dancing style, and does not attempt to hide when he's uninterested in something - such as a talk show he's presently in. Shortly after the band debuted in 2006, he spontaneously went off to the US to study languages, only to return 6 months later. In July 2010, he left the band for good, hoping to launch a solo career with a string of concerts in the US. He and Kame were the most common slash pairing in KAT-TUN fandom.
T - Taguchi Junnosuke ("Junno")
Junno's the best acrobat in the band. Most of the guys have some acrobatic skills and do backflips and/or breakdancing; Junno takes it one step further. He also plays the drums, tap-dances, juggles, and does impressions of drunk spiders. Give him half a chance and he will do several of those things at once. In concerts, Junno's incredibly focussed and energetic and throws himself whole-heartedly into getting the audience to have fun. He's sometimes too nice a guy. And he should be slashed more. And be in more TV dramas. And get more screen time. Erm.
T - Tanaka Koki ("Koki")
Despite being a sparkly dancing boy, Koki is a rapper at heart. He adds an element of rap to many KAT-TUN songs; he also wears a lot of necklaces, does odd things to his hair and occasionally makes an effort to grow hair on his chin, presumably in the attempt to look gangsta. His cool image does not prevent him from being in a comedy duo with Maru.
U - Ueda Tatsuya ("Ueda")
Ueda does his own thing - often, he seems to be in a world of his own. He can be both mysteriously aloof and endearingly goofy. Several years ago, he bleached his hair, wore spiky necklaces and blue contact lenses to emulate superstar Gackt, and claimed to see fairies; he has since said that the latter was merely an attempt to make himself interesting. Ueda writes music and has recently given a well-received string of solo concerts entitled "Mouse Peace". In his free time, he boxes.
N - Nakamaru Yuichi ("Maru")
Nakamaru beatboxes - and does it very well -, performs comedy skits with Koki, and is enrolled at university for environmental studies. Sometimes he seems like a civil servant who got lost on his lunch break and wandered in among the sparkly boys by mistake. He has an incurable fondness for conservative sweater vests with an argyle pattern. Sometimes he covers them with glitter and wears them on stage.
KAT-TUN's music
For me, the music isn't the attraction. But for a general impression of the kind of music they make, and (more interestingly IMO!) for a glimpse of the guys in action, check out these links:
"Real Face" official music video (the group's debut song, seen here with Junno attractively hanging out in a giant concrete pipe):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udbiIdQ0Uc0
"White Xmas" official music video (their latest release, in which Junno looks very nice and there is a creepy golden hobo Santa):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Kb5oWe3Vg
"She said" live version (also worth a look because of the interesting stage costumes *g*):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ssnkCVDI7g
"Don't U Ever Stop" official music video (which has a plot!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcZZpue5-9c
Ryo, Kanjani8 and NEWS
Nishikido Ryo
Ryo is in two boybands: Kanjani8, arguably the craziest boyband in all of Japan, and NEWS, a more regularly crazy group. In addition to a double dose of the usual boybandish activities, Ryo appears in a steady string of TV series - he's a very good actor. He also plays the guitar and composes some of his own songs. In short, he is a very busy guy.
Ryo likes to cultivate a cool and serious, tough, darkly sexy image, but this is not even skin-deep. It's hard to hide your inner dork when you're in a group like K8. He also frequently fails to hide his sweet side, and can be crushingly shy and self-conscious. That said, he's also impulsive and abrasive, short-tempered, and quick with cutting remarks - which has earned him the nickname "poison tongue" and a reputation for being a mean bastard.
Until he was about 15, Ryo was incredibly tiny and childishly cute - he looked all of 10 (in the pic below, he's the tiny one in the middle, and no, he is not younger than the others). He's grown up very nicely since, but has retained not only a slight chip on his shoulder, but also the diminutive pet name "Ryo-chan".
Kanjani8
The members of Kanjani8 are from Kansai, the region around Kyoto and Osaka, which has a very strong regional identity. K8 are basically a bunch of talented, friendly and enthusiastically zany nutjobs. Also: They fight crime! Part of their normal stage routine involves dressing up as the "Eito Rangers", color-coded superheroes who impart moral messages to the audience. K8 is also known for how close the members are; unusually for a JE group, they're all friends. Ryo fits in very well. When he has group security, he has no problems with being a humongous dork.
If you want a glimpse of the insanity, here's the Eito Rangers' theme song (Ryo is the Yellow Ranger):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P22_GoHJyWY
An excerpt from a sketch, featuring the fabled Ranger weapon "Rainbow Flash" (visualized by odd sounds and jumpsuited juniors dashing by in the role of beams of power):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxDBEpLKag8
NEWS
This group features the more usual kind of sparkly dancing boy insanity, such as an unholy love of polka dots and songs about the joy of turning into peas, or possibly pirates (or piratical peas). NEWS is also notable for including not just Ryo, but also the very cool Yamapi (seen above in the middle to Ryo's right, the one with lighter hair).
Junno and Ryo
Just because. :-)
The natural environment of the sparkly dancing boy
Some background info!
Johnny's Entertainment (JE)
The guys in Japanese boybands aren't merely singers - they're "idols". That means they're omnipresent in the world of entertainment: in magazines, on talk shows, in game shows, in TV series, on the radio, you name it. Idols are created, managed and maintained by talent agencies like "Johnny's Entertainment" (JE). Any boy from the age of 8 or so on up can apply to JE, if he wants to be an idol. With a bit of luck, he'll be invited to an audition and chosen as a Johnny's Junior. He'll then appear in JE magazines, on JE music shows and so on. Juniors who distinguish themselves and gain a fan following have a chance of someday debuting, either as a solo artist or - more commonly - as part of a boyband.
Fanservice vs. reality
JE guys cuddle, grope, kiss and smolder at each other. Often they take off their clothes first. They declare their love for each other, reflect which member of the band they'd date or marry, play out dating scenarios with each other, and so forth. It's a slasher's dream. It's pure fanservice; the fans love it, and so JE sees that they get it. However, this does not mean that it'd be fine for any of these guys to actually be openly gay. Hell no! Marketing ploy and reality are two very different things.
I will spare you the account of how I got into this - yeah, I've written that out too, but I think this is more than enough for one day. :-)