Shounen Club October Episodes Taping Report
I will try to be impartial as possible and give facts- what we (sourangel) saw, who we saw... but I'm sure this will still be biased. I can't help from making some comments and, well, hey, it's my journal.
The recording format seemed different this time. Usually things are filmed in bits and pieces, but it seems like this time they filmed one whole episode and then the next. Usually the fanclub girls are up on stage only for the first half, but they were there the whole time. Lots of things were strange. Big and little differences. Not sure what to think.
I'll talk about first show and second show, although I don't know what order they will actually be aired in.
First show was amazing, for the most part. The second destroyed my soul. That'll be where I start to be really biased.
Of course, since we wrote our notes after the show, some things may have gotten confused, so no guarantee of accuracy.
A.B.C-Z was there, of course. They're pimping hard for the concerts, so that was to be expected. What I didn't expect was for them to throw Shoon in with Sanada and Nozawa. One show he was with them, one show Shoon ended up solo. That's... back to normal, at least. I like TOP3 and Shoon doesn't belong there any more than Hasshi does with A.B.C.
A.B.C-Z have atrociously ugly new costumes with way too much fur. UGH. Their new song includes their name in it and it makes me want to cry. But the first show, they put up a valiant effort and seemed fairly energetic about it. None of them were quite up to the usual, but still, good show. No acrobatics, of course.
Hikaru and Yabu showed up to Your Seed. They both performed solos. Hikaru did his old Ya3 solo Egoist, and looked and sounded amazing. Yabu did My Everything and a faster song I didn't know, and... didn't sound as good on My Everything as I've heard him in the past, but the other song sounded great. He looked great, too. They've both come so far.
One of the medleys included Kitayama singing Wilds Of My Heart and Taipi doing Cherish. I'm always amazed that all the fans know all the dances. I mean, we do, too, but... most Japanese fans tend to be more exclusive in who they support than we do. Senga sang a T&T song, and I never remember most of the names of those, so I don't know which one it was.
Butoukan sang a new song called (Something) New World. I think. Clearly I didn't quite catch it. Anyway, it was amazing. They're all really good singers, they've become a lot more cohesive with the dancing... see, if they decided to pull them all from their groups and debut them, I'd be sad, but at least that would make sense. They're freakin' awesome. They could totally hold their own as a debuted group. Not that the age difference isn't weird there, but at least it's all sort of mixed. And they just... go together well.
Kis-My-Ft2 has a new song called Smile. Yokoo plays the acoustic guitar sitting down. There's another chair on stage and the guys kind of take turns sitting in it. It's slower, and pretty, and different from anything they've done before. There are a cappella bits, and parts where Kitayama sings backed by Tamamori and Miyata, and then Fujigaya sings backed by Nikaido and Senga. Call and response bits. "Oohs" underneath... really nice.
Now, if only Nikaido hadn't decided to roll up his pants legs... looked stupid. Ah, well. ♥
They sang the song twice, actually, which was one of the really strange parts. I've never seen that happen before. The first time was in their new sparkly black costumes. The second in the old white KAT-TUN costumes. And they only sang part of it the second time, and then fell into the background to backdance for... WHO? I have no idea who they were, and neither did anyone else. FOUR FOREIGN GUYS. Supposedly famous in America and Europe. Possibly called Superboy (Super Boy? Super Boiz?), or else that was the song title... really, I have no clue, and it was BEYOND WEIRD. There have never been any artists besides Johnnys on Shokura, not even other Japanese artists, right? Where the hell did these dudes come from? They sang and... vaguely danced... mostly in English... really, really, really ODD. WTF. UNHAPPY ABOUT THAT.
Moving on.
Game time.
First game was your regular type of vs. game. Yara judged.
Rainbows: Senga, Tama, Shintarou (?!), Kawai
Bombers: Hasshi, Miyata, Taipi, Goseki
Round One: Some dog thing. Of course Shintarou was way the hell cuter than Hasshi. Hasshi is ridiculously hot, but doesn't really manage cute all that well, to be honest. Scary for a just-turned-15-year-old. Anyway, Hasshi was disturbing and Shintarou was adorable. One for the Rainbows.
Round Two: Embarrassing Series. Phrase of the day: "I was born for the sake of making you happy." Something like that. Tama vs. Miyacchi. Miyata won. Idek.
Round Three: Impersonate one of Hikaru's funny faces. Hikaru comes out to demonstrate. Senga tries twice. Taipi gets distracted by people in the audience yelling something and fails. Senga wins. This whole thing was dumb, but lesson learned, ladies? Don't screech at inappropriate moments. Aka, when it is fairly quiet, that's not the time for you to decide to make yourself stand out. Taipi was annoyed. Do you really want your idols annoyed at you? No? Then shut the hell up.
Round Four: The Wife Series. Goseki vs. Kawai. This is always brilliant for Kawai's "why do I even bother" faces. It's just fun to torture him, ne, because everyone knows Goseki always wins. This was something to do with giving the husband a birthday present. Goseki was totally adorable like always, and they called him an angel. Then it was Kawai's turn and Kawai totally kicked his ass. He was super creative and funny and the audience loved it. He was shocked that he won, but really happy, going "YATTA!!!" and raising his fists. Yara looked unhappy to admit the win, but gave it to Kawai anyway, since he deserved it.
That was three for the Rainbows and one for the Bombers (sorry Tama). Then, Yara got up and told Goseki that he was still his favorite wife and kissed him on the cheek. Again. And Goseki got all cutesy. Ahahaha, I love those two.
Game Two. This was odd. It started with Koyama and Nakamaru and the team captains, Fujigaya and Kawai.
Round One. They were asked to call out a member to do an impression. And they called "fresh" juniors. These were guys who participated in the comedy section of Summary, for any of you who saw that. They pretty much suck. One kid impersonates a foreigner (it's a big thing at the moment), the other did some people. The only thing I liked was that last one (Watabe? Watanabe?) impersonating Nishioka, the dominatrix lady. Now THAT was amusing. He won.
Round Two. Call members to showcase talents? Kawai called out Kitayama who beatboxed really freakin' well. I was impressed. Fujigaya called on Yamamoto Ryuta, who I didn't even know was ON a team, LOL. He started to come out, but he was WAY early for his cue, snuck away again, then came out properly. AHAHAHA LAME. He did some thing with um... I have no idea what you call them. The wooden cup and ball thing. Ryutarou is playing with one in HSJ's Dreams Come True. Mostly it was boring, but he did one sort of cool trick. Kitayama rightfully won.
Round Three. Team work? Kawai called Miyata, who is on the other team. Duuuude, okay. They did their craptastic "bleh" thing from Summary and it wasn't any funnier than last time. D: Fujigaya said that if Kawai could steal his team member, than he was going to conscript Nakamaru. So Nakamaru paired with Jori Tanaka (Koki's baby bro) and they did some comedy thing that I didn't quite get, but then they made fun of Kawai and Miyata's "bleh" and THAT was hysterical. Way to go. They won.
End game, Rainbows triumph again. Fujigaya, your team is fail! XD Well, okay, I think that means that now the Rainbows are only behind by one point, actually. So maybe I take that back. *l*
Songs! Um, Shintarou's crew (Taiga, Anderson, Uekusa, and two more) did Secret Agent Man. Was this a non-Johnny's day or what? Uekusa can really sing. O_O
Taguchi showed up as the guest for a while. He did his new solo, but since there are no uchiwas allowed in NHK hall... well. We all did the dance with penlights. *l* He was backed by people I don't know. Possibly some M.A.D. in there? *shrugs* Junno's hair was super short and black and kind of spiky. He looks good.
Kisumai did a talk bit, but I was distracted from whatever they were saying because Yokoo and Miyata were talking in the back. Also, Taipi's watch is huge and sparkly. *coughs*
The last ending was Oh! My Dream, which... really, it's just such a crap song. *rolls eyes* I hate when they end with that.
A.B.C-Z's talk... well, they mention the GAP between Hasshi and the rest, in terms of skill. No shit?
But let's get to the ripping-my-heart-out bit, shall we? At Summary, A.B.C-Z performed a new song, but they all kind of stood in the aisle and just sang. They looked... idk. Bored mostly? Well, they just STOOD there. But they sang the same song again during the taping, and they still didn't really do much. But what really got me? They looked like they were struggling to keep their smiles on. They looked upset, Hasshi included. Tsuka-chan looked like he was in tears. His face... I was very, very close to crying myself, because he looked like he was utterly miserable and struggling valiantly to hold it together. They ran off after their song, and he came back a bit late for the ending, not looking all that much better. I wonder if he needed time to pull himself together? It was heartbreaking to watch. Now, I WAS looking through binoculars, so it COULD have been the light, or he could have just had a cold or... idk. I'll have to wait for the show to air with closeups, although if they really looked as awful as it seemed, they probably won't include many closeups anyway.
I'm sorry to end on such a down note, but that's how it was. When we walked out, me and sourangel both felt horribly shaken and unsettled. There were no definite answers here, and nothing entirely unexpected (well, except those foreign dudes), but seeing their faces and watching their reactions... that was kind of killer. We weren't ready to face that. As a Kisumai fan, I was thrilled to bits about their upcoming concerts, but now my worry over whatever is going to happen almost makes me feel sick when I think about it. I keep trying to wait and just... wait. Maybe I'm worrying for no reason at all. But everything has the same atmosphere as before HSJ debuted, and that is not a good sign, I don't think. I mean, I love HSJ, but obviously it didn't work out well for everyone. I just hope that if there's a big smashup again, everyone is still around when we emerge on the other side.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
ETA: From comments. The foreign group was US5. Here's the music video for the song they sang. The song is pretty catchy, and they weren't bad, just... it's Shokura!
The recording format seemed different this time. Usually things are filmed in bits and pieces, but it seems like this time they filmed one whole episode and then the next. Usually the fanclub girls are up on stage only for the first half, but they were there the whole time. Lots of things were strange. Big and little differences. Not sure what to think.
I'll talk about first show and second show, although I don't know what order they will actually be aired in.
First show was amazing, for the most part. The second destroyed my soul. That'll be where I start to be really biased.
Of course, since we wrote our notes after the show, some things may have gotten confused, so no guarantee of accuracy.
A.B.C-Z was there, of course. They're pimping hard for the concerts, so that was to be expected. What I didn't expect was for them to throw Shoon in with Sanada and Nozawa. One show he was with them, one show Shoon ended up solo. That's... back to normal, at least. I like TOP3 and Shoon doesn't belong there any more than Hasshi does with A.B.C.
A.B.C-Z have atrociously ugly new costumes with way too much fur. UGH. Their new song includes their name in it and it makes me want to cry. But the first show, they put up a valiant effort and seemed fairly energetic about it. None of them were quite up to the usual, but still, good show. No acrobatics, of course.
Hikaru and Yabu showed up to Your Seed. They both performed solos. Hikaru did his old Ya3 solo Egoist, and looked and sounded amazing. Yabu did My Everything and a faster song I didn't know, and... didn't sound as good on My Everything as I've heard him in the past, but the other song sounded great. He looked great, too. They've both come so far.
One of the medleys included Kitayama singing Wilds Of My Heart and Taipi doing Cherish. I'm always amazed that all the fans know all the dances. I mean, we do, too, but... most Japanese fans tend to be more exclusive in who they support than we do. Senga sang a T&T song, and I never remember most of the names of those, so I don't know which one it was.
Butoukan sang a new song called (Something) New World. I think. Clearly I didn't quite catch it. Anyway, it was amazing. They're all really good singers, they've become a lot more cohesive with the dancing... see, if they decided to pull them all from their groups and debut them, I'd be sad, but at least that would make sense. They're freakin' awesome. They could totally hold their own as a debuted group. Not that the age difference isn't weird there, but at least it's all sort of mixed. And they just... go together well.
Kis-My-Ft2 has a new song called Smile. Yokoo plays the acoustic guitar sitting down. There's another chair on stage and the guys kind of take turns sitting in it. It's slower, and pretty, and different from anything they've done before. There are a cappella bits, and parts where Kitayama sings backed by Tamamori and Miyata, and then Fujigaya sings backed by Nikaido and Senga. Call and response bits. "Oohs" underneath... really nice.
Now, if only Nikaido hadn't decided to roll up his pants legs... looked stupid. Ah, well. ♥
They sang the song twice, actually, which was one of the really strange parts. I've never seen that happen before. The first time was in their new sparkly black costumes. The second in the old white KAT-TUN costumes. And they only sang part of it the second time, and then fell into the background to backdance for... WHO? I have no idea who they were, and neither did anyone else. FOUR FOREIGN GUYS. Supposedly famous in America and Europe. Possibly called Superboy (Super Boy? Super Boiz?), or else that was the song title... really, I have no clue, and it was BEYOND WEIRD. There have never been any artists besides Johnnys on Shokura, not even other Japanese artists, right? Where the hell did these dudes come from? They sang and... vaguely danced... mostly in English... really, really, really ODD. WTF. UNHAPPY ABOUT THAT.
Moving on.
Game time.
First game was your regular type of vs. game. Yara judged.
Rainbows: Senga, Tama, Shintarou (?!), Kawai
Bombers: Hasshi, Miyata, Taipi, Goseki
Round One: Some dog thing. Of course Shintarou was way the hell cuter than Hasshi. Hasshi is ridiculously hot, but doesn't really manage cute all that well, to be honest. Scary for a just-turned-15-year-old. Anyway, Hasshi was disturbing and Shintarou was adorable. One for the Rainbows.
Round Two: Embarrassing Series. Phrase of the day: "I was born for the sake of making you happy." Something like that. Tama vs. Miyacchi. Miyata won. Idek.
Round Three: Impersonate one of Hikaru's funny faces. Hikaru comes out to demonstrate. Senga tries twice. Taipi gets distracted by people in the audience yelling something and fails. Senga wins. This whole thing was dumb, but lesson learned, ladies? Don't screech at inappropriate moments. Aka, when it is fairly quiet, that's not the time for you to decide to make yourself stand out. Taipi was annoyed. Do you really want your idols annoyed at you? No? Then shut the hell up.
Round Four: The Wife Series. Goseki vs. Kawai. This is always brilliant for Kawai's "why do I even bother" faces. It's just fun to torture him, ne, because everyone knows Goseki always wins. This was something to do with giving the husband a birthday present. Goseki was totally adorable like always, and they called him an angel. Then it was Kawai's turn and Kawai totally kicked his ass. He was super creative and funny and the audience loved it. He was shocked that he won, but really happy, going "YATTA!!!" and raising his fists. Yara looked unhappy to admit the win, but gave it to Kawai anyway, since he deserved it.
That was three for the Rainbows and one for the Bombers (sorry Tama). Then, Yara got up and told Goseki that he was still his favorite wife and kissed him on the cheek. Again. And Goseki got all cutesy. Ahahaha, I love those two.
Game Two. This was odd. It started with Koyama and Nakamaru and the team captains, Fujigaya and Kawai.
Round One. They were asked to call out a member to do an impression. And they called "fresh" juniors. These were guys who participated in the comedy section of Summary, for any of you who saw that. They pretty much suck. One kid impersonates a foreigner (it's a big thing at the moment), the other did some people. The only thing I liked was that last one (Watabe? Watanabe?) impersonating Nishioka, the dominatrix lady. Now THAT was amusing. He won.
Round Two. Call members to showcase talents? Kawai called out Kitayama who beatboxed really freakin' well. I was impressed. Fujigaya called on Yamamoto Ryuta, who I didn't even know was ON a team, LOL. He started to come out, but he was WAY early for his cue, snuck away again, then came out properly. AHAHAHA LAME. He did some thing with um... I have no idea what you call them. The wooden cup and ball thing. Ryutarou is playing with one in HSJ's Dreams Come True. Mostly it was boring, but he did one sort of cool trick. Kitayama rightfully won.
Round Three. Team work? Kawai called Miyata, who is on the other team. Duuuude, okay. They did their craptastic "bleh" thing from Summary and it wasn't any funnier than last time. D: Fujigaya said that if Kawai could steal his team member, than he was going to conscript Nakamaru. So Nakamaru paired with Jori Tanaka (Koki's baby bro) and they did some comedy thing that I didn't quite get, but then they made fun of Kawai and Miyata's "bleh" and THAT was hysterical. Way to go. They won.
End game, Rainbows triumph again. Fujigaya, your team is fail! XD Well, okay, I think that means that now the Rainbows are only behind by one point, actually. So maybe I take that back. *l*
Songs! Um, Shintarou's crew (Taiga, Anderson, Uekusa, and two more) did Secret Agent Man. Was this a non-Johnny's day or what? Uekusa can really sing. O_O
Taguchi showed up as the guest for a while. He did his new solo, but since there are no uchiwas allowed in NHK hall... well. We all did the dance with penlights. *l* He was backed by people I don't know. Possibly some M.A.D. in there? *shrugs* Junno's hair was super short and black and kind of spiky. He looks good.
Kisumai did a talk bit, but I was distracted from whatever they were saying because Yokoo and Miyata were talking in the back. Also, Taipi's watch is huge and sparkly. *coughs*
The last ending was Oh! My Dream, which... really, it's just such a crap song. *rolls eyes* I hate when they end with that.
A.B.C-Z's talk... well, they mention the GAP between Hasshi and the rest, in terms of skill. No shit?
But let's get to the ripping-my-heart-out bit, shall we? At Summary, A.B.C-Z performed a new song, but they all kind of stood in the aisle and just sang. They looked... idk. Bored mostly? Well, they just STOOD there. But they sang the same song again during the taping, and they still didn't really do much. But what really got me? They looked like they were struggling to keep their smiles on. They looked upset, Hasshi included. Tsuka-chan looked like he was in tears. His face... I was very, very close to crying myself, because he looked like he was utterly miserable and struggling valiantly to hold it together. They ran off after their song, and he came back a bit late for the ending, not looking all that much better. I wonder if he needed time to pull himself together? It was heartbreaking to watch. Now, I WAS looking through binoculars, so it COULD have been the light, or he could have just had a cold or... idk. I'll have to wait for the show to air with closeups, although if they really looked as awful as it seemed, they probably won't include many closeups anyway.
I'm sorry to end on such a down note, but that's how it was. When we walked out, me and sourangel both felt horribly shaken and unsettled. There were no definite answers here, and nothing entirely unexpected (well, except those foreign dudes), but seeing their faces and watching their reactions... that was kind of killer. We weren't ready to face that. As a Kisumai fan, I was thrilled to bits about their upcoming concerts, but now my worry over whatever is going to happen almost makes me feel sick when I think about it. I keep trying to wait and just... wait. Maybe I'm worrying for no reason at all. But everything has the same atmosphere as before HSJ debuted, and that is not a good sign, I don't think. I mean, I love HSJ, but obviously it didn't work out well for everyone. I just hope that if there's a big smashup again, everyone is still around when we emerge on the other side.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
ETA: From comments. The foreign group was US5. Here's the music video for the song they sang. The song is pretty catchy, and they weren't bad, just... it's Shokura!