KAT-TUN 2 Me

Full PV! Full PV!

Let’s have a bit of a review.

First, the song.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I LOVE IT!! I don’t want to be so overly enthusiastic so soon… but it’s definitely in my top 5 Arashi singles right now. I’m going to wait a while and see how I feel about it in a few months or so before I decide exactly where it fits in on my top list though. The song has a great build up to the chorus, which is exciting, catchy, clever, and to pull out a cliche, really makes you want to dance. I especially like how everything gets all quiet and still after the bridge, only to launch you back into the energetic chorus with a key change. You can almost see the confetti/fireworks flying, were it a concert performance. Sure to be a crowd pleasing moment. Everyone’s has solo lines too, which is a nice bonus.

As for the PV, I can’t be quite as enthusiastic about it. Yes, the guys look good, but the whole feel of the PV seems a little too subdued to me. I wish there was more color, less formal clothes (Jun, I’m looking at you, and you look like a penguin), and just a brighter feel over all. I mean, the nature images with the water and the grass are nice with the “brand new world” theme, but I really don’t think the almost black and white color scheme fits. I do like the solo shots in the hallway with water running down the walls, that’s a nice effect. The dance looks pretty cool too, though I wish they had shown more of it.

Rating-

Song: A+!!!

PV: B-, I want more color, damn it!

Download Song (hq radio rip): HERE!

It’s a brand new world,

~Celestia~

I just wanted to say that I LOVE Arashi’s new single, “Believe”. I’m especially glad since I thought “Beautiful Days” was terribly boring. Like, I can’t remember the melody within minutes of listening to it.

Anyway, I’m really excited for this single now. I’m sure that in the current Arashi favorable climate, anything with their name on it would be a big seller, but this song is really great, so I’m predicting some huge oricon numbers.

You can download it HERE

It’ll sure be a challenge for karaoke fans though.

Yay!

~Celestia~

New singles have been announced for both Arashi and KAT-TUN, my two favoritest boybands in the world!

For KAT-TUN we have “Tactics” the theme for Maru’s new drama “Rescue”. Release date is unconfirmed, but the title is confirmed on Oricon, so I’m sure it’s legit. *EDIT* Oricon has now apparently changed their mind and is saying that the title is “Rescue” *EDIT* I’m surprised that they’re doing two singles for drama themes in the same season (the other being “One Drop” for Kame’s drama). The release dates probably will only be a month apart or so! I guess when it rains KAT-TUN it pours, or something.

As for Arashi, another double A-side: “Believe” the theme to Sho’s movie “Yatterman” and “Kumori Nochi, Kasei” which isn’t actually an Arashi single at all but rather an Ohno solo, the theme to his new drama “Uta no Onii-san”. Release date is March 4th.

I’m glad to see the guys getting so much acting work that they’re obligated to do double A-sides and really close together releases for the themes.

Oh, and speaking of “One Drop”, if you’re interested, here’s a download of the full radio rip of the single along with its two B-sides (DTS and On My Mind). I like all three songs, but I’ll refrain from commenting further until I see the PV.

LINK

As a final note, yesterday I was doing an English lesson about “favorites” with some elementary school 6th graders (about 11 years old). Quite a few of the girls Cited their favorite singers as “Hey!Say!Jump!”. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it was a really good move for Johnny’s to debut them when they did. Your average 11 year old might not be as likely to become a fan of a group of guys in their twenties (though some do, like the 6th grader with the Koki keychain on her backpack), but they’ll line up to become fans of a group of cute teenagers. With HSJ, Johnny’s is recruiting a whole new generation of fans. I can see it in action.

WAAAA!!! I almost forgot. I was surprised and pleased to find out that this blog is nominated for the 2nd Annual International Wota Blog awards in the “other” category. “Other” meaning not H!P, AKB48, or Jrock. I have a feeling that the IW crowd and the regular readers of this blog don’t coincide much, but it’d be cool if you’d vote for me. As a bonus, if you’re interested in checking out some other quality Jpop blogging, any of the other nominees would make a great place to start.

Nominees HERE

Vote HERE

Bye Bye,

~Celestia~

Here’s a whole slew of KAT-TUN downloads that were requested. Also, a friendly reminder that once these links die, I will not be fixing them. Songs will be reuploaded only by specific request, and not too many at once, please.

• Will be All Right
• Love
• Message for You
• Natsu no Basho
• Freeze
• Love or Like
• Fight All Night
• Heartbreak Club
• My Angel, You are Angel
• No Matter Matter
• Peacefuldays

It was also asked that I talk a bit about KAT-TUN’s inter-group relationship. Well, all I have to offer is my opinions based on what I’ve read and observed, but here’s my take on things. First of all, KAT-TUN is not Arashi. Arashi routinely describe each other as family. KAT-TUN routinely describe eachother as… coworkers, because mostly, that’s all they are. They freely admit that they used to fight a lot when the group was first formed, and while their inter-group relationship has certainly improved since then, they are not, nor will they ever be, “bestest friends”. Some members are closer and more likely to hang out together or chat outside of work than others, but it seems that in all cases the individual members’ close friends lie outside the group. One point of special interest and much speculation is the relationship between Kamenashi and Akanishi. What we know is that they were quite close during their Junior days but had some sort of falling out shortly before KAT-TUN debuted. Now, as far as I can tell, they have an off and on sort of friendship, oscillating between not being on speaking terms and casual friendship. There are some who believe that they are hiding a romantic relationship, but in my opinion, no offense intended, that’s utter bull shit. I’d like it to be true as much as the next fangirl, but wanting something to be true doesn’t make it so, and the evidence is overwhelmingly against it.

I guess the point is, I wouldn’t worry too much about KAT-TUN’s group dynamics. Arashi’s close friendship is one of their defining features, and that’s great for them. In KAT-TUN’s case, it’s not so important, and that’s fine too. There are a lot of other things to enjoy about KAT-TUN even if they don’t like to hold hands and have slumber parties.

Helpful?

~Celestia~

Already! Yayay!

CLICK

It’s lovely and sad! I’m glad though, because a sugary happy Christmas song just wouldn’t suit KAT-TUN. I like the piano part, and I’m looking forward to the PV. Expect to see the guys looking pretty and forlorn in the snow somewhere.

Dreaming,

~Celestia~

Some tracks from the Cartoon KAT-TUN II You Album have been requested, so here they are. Remember, comments are appreciated if you’re downloading.

3. Splash

4. Bokura no Machi de

6. Key of Life (Maru solo)

9. Samurai Love Attack (Junno Solo)

11. Someday for Somebody (Kame Solo)***

12. Movin’ On

13. Utai Tsuzukeru Toki

Cartoon KAT-TUN 2 You (disc 2)

2. Love or Like

Keep it Real,

~Celestia~ 

I should have known I’d give in and end up doing this… It’s the full album, for your listening pleasure. I would encourage you to buy the full album though, mostly to assuage my guilt for uploading this before it’s even released. Well, I ordered a copy anyway. Oh, and for the record, that is actually KAT-TUN on the cover, not just models of them. They intentionally put them in plastic wigs and special plasticy makeup to make them look like dolls action figures. Kinda weird, but more effort than Johnny’s usually puts into their covers.

There’s a new poll up asking for your opinion about the album. The price of downloading from here is voting in the poll.

KAT-TUN III: Queen of Pirates

Happy Listening,

~Celestia~

I’ve had a number of complaints that the downloads on the first entry in this blog no longer work. Links like that do tend to go down after a while, and I never intended to take the time and effort to regularly check and fix those links. From now on, I will provide downloads by specific request only, and not more than a handful of songs at a time per requester.

There’s been a request for the DUES solos, so here they are. Once you listen to them, might I suggest voting in the poll?

w/o Notice??

LoveJuice

Parasite

Natsu no Basho

Ai no Hana

Smack

I bid you good evening,

~Celestia~ 

http://www.savefile.com/files/1517425

Yayayayayay! Here is a radio rip (so not perfect quality, but still not bad) for your downloading pleasure. As for initial thoughts on the song, I think I’ll save those for after I see it performed, so excuse the fangirling, but I’ll leave it at “OMFG I love this song!!!” for now.

 Flails happily,

~Celestia~ 

This post is just a few things I wanted to share that weren’t long enough to be worthy of their own entry.

First, some fun KAT-TUN news. Apparently Jin went to see Dreamboys (musical staring Kame and Koki) and they dragged him up on stage during the KAT-TUN songs and made him sing. He was totally lost as to where he should stand and when he should sing, so I imagine it was quite funny. And oh isn’t it good to see Akame getting along again? Apparently, he’s the first other KAT-TUN member to attend. When he was told this he said, with surprise, “I thought Taguchi would have come by now. Actually, I thought he was in this…” (he’s not Bakanishi dear, he’s not). Here’s a link to the synopsis.
Link

As you may know, Arashi has two new shows, Himitsu no Arashi-chan being brand new, and VS Arashi thankfully replacing the dreadfully dull Golden Rush Arashi (not their fault. the show just had a terrible format). VS Arashi is off to a promising start, so I’ve linked to the first episode. Basically, they play a bunch of stupid games against their guests, and at the end they all vote for who is the most worthless Arashi member that day. Bright colors, a live studio audience, and lots of action makes it fun to watch, especially if you love Arashi but aren’t fluent in Japanese and are therefore lost when it comes to talk segments. Watch as Ohno stylishly catches poles, Nino nimbly scampers up a wall, and Matsujun…well, I’ll let you see for yourself what happens to Matsujun. Can Morning Musume please start doing this kind of thing on Haromoni? Please??
Link

I was thinking again about Johnny’s “scandals” and the more I think about it, the less it makes sense. There’s a key difference between a Johnny being photographed with a girl and a H!P idol being photographed with a guy. H!P idols don’t talk about their love lives on camera at all, and so maintain the illusion that they are pure and innocent. Johnny’s, however, talk openly about dating girls. They’re constantly answering interview questions like, “How do you ask a girl on a date?” or “What’s your worst dating experience?” and that sort of thing. Why in the world should fans be shocked and horrified if a chaste picture of one of them with a girl surfaces? You know that they date girls and you know that those girls are not you!! Why does having a specific face (or hairstyle maybe if the face is blurred) to attach to it make a difference?

Today I visited the only Japanese book store within driving distance of where I live. It doesn’t really carry the usual idol magazines, but it does have Non-no, which just so happened to feature 15 pages of Arashi this month. Want to guess what I bought?

And finally, I realized that when I did my mp3 carnival I didn’t include any live performances. I generally prefer studio versions of things, but there is an unfortunate preponderance of Johnny’s songs which are performed live but never get studio releases, particularly solos. It surprises me to see Johnny’s pass up a chance to make money by selling these songs. They should make a CD full of previously unreleased solos from all their groups. I bet it’d sell really well. Anyway, in case you were interested, links to the audio rips of the two solos I posted in my “performances that make me cry” entry as well as KAT-TUN’s Six Senses, an unreleased group song.

Care

Konseki

Six Senses

Toodoloo,

~Celestia~