KAT-TUN 2 Me

Here are three shortish things of interest.

#1, a friend drew my attention to this.

Apparently it’s from some hentai manga involving demons, and the girl over there has decided not to destroy humanity because there are too many pretty guys in the world. Johnny’s save the day yet again! She has good taste, doesn’t she, though I wonder if the Jimusho knows about this. I’ve almost worked out who is who in the pictures. I’m thinking that Arashi is Top-sho, middle left- nino, middle right-ohno, bottom left-Jun, and bottom right- aiba, but I’m not entirely sure. For KAT-TUN, I’m thinking it’s top-kame, middle left-junno, middle right- maru, bottom left- koki, bottom middle- jin, and bottom right- Ueda. I’m fairly sure about those actually.

#2 involves NewS again. I was looking at Oricon on Tuesday night, and was shocked to see that NewS’ “Summer Time” was no where to be found on the rankings. I was sure that NewS was releasing a single the week before KAT-TUN, so I didn’t understand how this could happen. NewS released a single and it didn’t even make the top 20 on its first day?!? Did one of them have some kind of major scandal or something? Was it revealed that Yamapi’s favorite hobby is kicking puppies? Did Ryo finally snap under the stress of being in two active Johnny’s groups at the same time and go on a fan-girl killing spree? Turns out they just released the single on Thursday. Don’t ask me why. Singles release on Wednesdays. Everyone knows this.

#3 Features one of Jin’s bestest friends, D-boys member Shirota Yuu. He’s only loosely related to KAT-TUN, so, to make up for that, here’s a recent picture of Jin with Yuu and his brother vacationing in Hawaii. Unofficial photo so, no one report me to the Jimusho, k?

The point of this blurb is that Shirota Yuu played Tuxedo Mask in the Sailor Moon musicals for a couple of years (rofl), and I happened to come upon a really amusing clip of him. I know that the text says, “I’m the Prince. I’m the Prince. I’m a prince of the Earth” but every time I listen to it I hear, “I’m a prince of the ass!”. Not to make fun of Japanese accents or anything, but that shit’s just too funny.

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Tsuki ni kawatte!

~Celestia~

Yessssssssss!!! Giving up on the PV being released worked! Like how a watched pot never boils, right? It’s only the 4 minute PV, so I’ve just gone ahead and included the soundless fan-cam version of the beginning. This is EPIC. I hate to use that word, but for a Japanese PV, it really is. Wait. Watch it before I talk about it anymore.

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And the full, 8 minute, version via fan-cam, just so you can see the beginning and the end.

It has been deemed mandatory that any discussion of this PV begins with freaking out about Jin’s hair. I’m serious. In all the Japanese music shows’ reporting about the PV, the headline has something to do with Jin’s hairstyle. So… Jin’shairJin’shairomfgjin’shairhelookslikealotrelfjin’shairhotjinextensionsjin’shair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now that that’s finished, I can move on to the rest of the PV. I’m sure they will explain the plot eventually, (WHAT?? An idol PV with a plot??? YES! A plot!!), but as far as I can tell, KAT-TUN are some kind of mercenaries or perhaps just vigilantes in a futuristic and possibly post-apocalyptic city and they go to a mysterious club which might also be a cult to free the people from the influence of some evil glowing crystals. Their methods involve smashing the crystals, dancing, and wandering around while looking really really hot. Also, time freezes on occasion, the people may or may not be holograms, and strangest of all, they show Jin playing chess, so he is apparently smart in this alternate reality. Weird! The boys are victorious in the end, the happy clubbers dance on, not a glowy glass ball in sight, and KAT-TUN kick open the door and stride out of the club looking as bad-ass as possible. All in a days work, Miss. All in a day’s work. Okay, so that all sounds really stupid when I write it out, but it’s actually very cool. I could probably spend a long time analyzing this and trying to figure out the symbolism, because I’m pretty sure a deeper meaning is intended (if the text after Jin walks into the club didn’t make that clear) but I think I’d rather enjoy it for what it is than try and think about it too much.

So, I know where 90% of Johnny’s PV budget is going…. Like two dozen separate scenes! Special effects out the wazoo! Extras (and lots of them)! Johnny’s PVs have extras how often? Like once in a blue never? The other Johnny’s groups must be jealous. I know I would be if I were them. Heck, NewS is considering selling themselves to raise money for future PVs. SEE!* Arashi just twirled and jumped around in slow motion for their last PV. And then, KAT-TUN gets some kind of mini-feature film.

I can’t wait to see the making of… which is coming out with the album in like a month instead of with the single next week (aaaaaaaaarg!!). I wonder if they’ll show them talking to the extras, the girls in particular, or if they will keep some kind of fence between the females and KT. I hope they don’t mention the name of that girly Kame was dancing with, or she might start appearing on the fan girl’s hit lists.

I don’t know where else to put this observation, but Koki looks like such a school-yard bully when he starts grabbing people’s crystals and smashing them. Like, “nyaaaa! broke your toy!” and then the club-goer starts crying and runs home to his mom or something.

*Okay, so that’s just another crack-sub (by the same person who did the last one), and even though I’m not a fan of NewS, I had to post it. It’s really funny, and I’m amazed at how well the subs match the PV.

I am so frustrated. DUES is due (lol pun) to be released in less than a week, and a high quality version of the PV still hasn’t been aired yet. We’ve got commercials, previews, and even a fan cam version of the whole thing (because they’re playing it inside the Johnny’s stores now), but they have yet to show it on TV. It’s 8 minutes, 8 minutes! long and looks to be all kinds of awesome, but I don’t want to really write about the thing until I can show you a decent version, so I’m stuck. I tend to get rather impatient where KAT-TUN is concerned, don’t I? Well, I finally gave up on the waiting and found something new to amuse myself. I’ve made another OPV. This time it’s all about Jin’s baka-ness, because there are plenty of OPVs of Jin being sexy, but I don’t feel there are quite enough of him being stupid. Some of the clips I used are kind of bad quality… my apologies. I couldn’t find better versions. Hope you can enjoy it anyway. Clips used range from early Junior days to just a few days ago.

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Oh, and since Youtube viciously deleted anything and everything Arashi related, I’ve reposted my previous two OPVs on Veoh. Links!
Nino Harassing People

Silly Arashi Dances

Warm wishes,

~Celestia~

Last week Arashi was on V6’s show which featured cute boys dressed up as girls harassing them. They had absolutely no idea, so the prank was successful. This week, just Nino is back to evaluate some of the “girls” which combines two of my very favorite things in the world: Ninomiya Kazunari and cute boys in drag. If they had managed to throw ice cream in there somehow I would be in heaven. Does anyone else find it ironic that out of all the guys in the world they decided that Nino should be the one to judge how cute these boys are? Because, you know, if they can get Ninomiya, clearly the straightest member of the least gay group ever to grace the Japanese music scene, to fall for them, they must really be girly, right??

Embedding is disabled, so just links.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

I just love that Japan is totally okay with this. No, they even encourage this kind of thing. The show gives make-up tips, presumably to be used by the viewers at home to make their own pretty boy look like a girl. Look at all the school girls in the audience, beside themselves with glee. Why is it okay for men to openly admit that lesbian stuff turns them on, but girls are supposed to be disgusted by male homosexuality? Japan has it right. It works both ways, though many American girls are too ashamed to admit it.

Nino’s cuter than all those “girls” put together though.

Shine on,

~Celestia~

I’ve taken the liberty of uploading a much clearer version of KT’s Music Station performance than what’s been floating around youtube.

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That means it’s time to comment on the costumes and dance! They’ve gone with a black and white with shiny silver accents this time. KAT-TUN really isn’t a fan of bright colors, are they? They almost always wear primarily black and white, sometimes with color accents.

Jin’s costume mysteriously seems to lack the shininess. Also, whatever is going on around his neckline confuses me. You know what though, who cares? We can see a fair amount of his chest, and he’s not hiding most of his face with a hat, so I’m happy. Is it just me or is he looking a lot like he did back when “Real Face” was released? His hair is almost the same now as it was then. Not that I’m complaining. It’s a good look for him. Much better than blond hair, or his permed hair before that. Here’s hoping he doesn’t decide to change it to something stupid and unflattering again any time soon. The costume is similar to one of the from the “Real Face” PV too. Kame has a purple hat this time. It seems like an odd choice since the official accent color is silver, but I’m not going to question it. As expected of KT, the costumes all look like they got in a fight with an angry paper shredder. Kame’s twirl looks pretty cool with all the various strips of fabric attached to him fanning out. See?

Ueda is in white again, which I approve of. The “Fallen Angel” motif works well for him. Koki in something hooded and Maru in a blazer are also no big surprise. Junno’s jacket is very very shiny, and his haircut still makes him look about 5 years younger. In conclusion, these costumes don’t break into any new or creative territory for KAT-TUN, but they are certainly smexy and easy on the eye, and no one looks like a janitor this time so I’m going to give them a thumbs-up…..WAIT A MINUTE!!! Is Kame wearing fluffy, white, schoolgirlish socks/ankle warmers?? ROFL! He totally is!

The dance is really nice, and they look more synchronized than KAT-TUN usually does. My one complaint is that I wish that the moves had been just a bit bigger. I guess I should just be grateful that there is a proper dance this time. It’s been far too long since they actually made them, you know, move. KT was originally hand picked from the juniors to be a dancing unit, and they’re all good at it, so it seems like a waste to release danceless singles.

As predicted, the single is pretty much the Akame show. The stars are in their own little line in front for most of the song while the rest dance behind them. It wasn’t Kame’s best singing, but Jin was great. I don’t think anyone else got any solo lines either, though I do like the Maruda duet lines in there. I feel a bit bad for T-TUN, but my sympathetic pangs are quickly pushed aside when I see Akame doing sexy hip rolls side by side.

Oh, and they’re on Music Station again next week, so look forward to that. Hopefully they’ll perform in front of a live audience again like they did with their second “Lips” appearance.

TTFN,

~Celestia~

I was reading a recent entry in “Fly to High” and it got me thinking about a few things. I think my last “response” post went pretty well, so, a few thoughts on one particular paragraph. The actual post is about NewS’ new single, but the part I want to talk about is the comment on other Johnny’s groups at the end. To quote:

Every Johnny’s group has a gimmick: KAT-TUN markets their sexiness, Kanjani8 uses their Kansai roots to emphasize their funniness, Arashi sells the happy and gay. NEWS has always been the good boys you’d bring home to your mother group, but they’re getting more personality as a group lately. I think they’re somewhat a mix of the other group’s gimmicks - they play and laugh around while still looking hot and sexy, and love each other with their “member ai” - but not to the extent of Arashi - and add in a large dose of cute, having the members that can actually pull off making faces and peace-signing without looking too forced. Some could see this as being bland, I see it as having the most natural and multifaceted image - because really, who can be just sexy or fun or gay all the time?

          I kind of object to claims that KAT-TUN is just sexy or Arashi is happy and gay all  the time, and hence these groups are single-faceted. If you watch either of those groups enough, it becomes abundantly clear that that’s not the case. Junno is really dorky, and he makes no attempt to hide that. Maru is always being made fun of for his looks and general lack of sexiness. Koki does really bad impressions (not sexy) and Ueda is really shy. Kame is certainly sexy, but he works at it, and his insecurity shines through a lot of the time when he’s not performing. Jin is blessed with God-given sexiness and more self-confidence than any person has a right to have, but he’s only one out of the six of them. As for Arashi, they’re not always “gay and happy” either. Matsujun can be prissy and spiteful. Sho’s natural personality is more serious than when he’s with Arashi, they just bring out his dorky side. Nino is often critical, sharp-tongued, and withdrawn. Ohno… isn’t even that bouncy and happy when they’re performing. You just don’t notice because he’s dancing and singing so damn well and the rest of them have enough enthusiasm to make up for it. Aiba, well, I have yet to see or hear anything to make me think he’s not really that ditzy and hyper, so he might be this group’s exception. Still, being such a sensitive person, I’d imagine he gets upset pretty easily.

      My point here isn’t to entirely debunk these group’s images. They certainly weren’t arbitrarily assigned to them. Group images develop out of recognizing prominent and marketable aspects member’s collective personalities and using those. KAT-TUN as a whole does tend to have more attitude and sexiness than some of the other groups, so the company uses that in the kind of music they do and the sort of image they promote. Similarly, Arashi really are very close with each other, and they all have a lot of natural goofiness, so the company promotes that. The things that are pointed out about NewS are exactly what I personally don’t like about them. In my opinion, trying to seem sexy and cute and playful and hot all at the same time translates to a real lack of group identity. It’s not that the groups I like don’t have other sides to their personalities. Individually, they all have different personalities, but they also have a personality as a group. By emphasizing some things over others, they create a cohesive image for themselves, and I think that’s something NewS is sorely lacking. Without some sort of image, they’re just a random bunch of pretty boys, and I find it hard to find a reason to care about them as a group.

      I guess that’s my two cents on the matter. I hope the proprietors of Fly to High don’t take offense.

Best,

~Celestia~

I just can’t wait to do a proper write-up on “Don’t You Ever Stop”, so I’ll probably be talking more about dance, PV, costumes, etc later. Right now, I’m just going to comment on the song itself.

As I said in my last entry, I really really love this song. About halfway through the first listen I had a goofy grin plastered across my face and was feeling the urge to dance along with the chorus. Those are both very good signs. Some KT singles, “Lips” for example, took a while to grow on me. Others like “Signal” and “Bokura no Machi de” I never really came to like. This is one, like “Real Face”, was love right from the outset. I can attribute my dislike of “Bokura” to severe Jin deficiency. As for “Signal”, I don’t think light sorts of songs like that suit them very well, so I was a bit concerned when I heard the genre for “Don’t You Ever Stop” would be less “rock” and more “pop”, but those concerns were unfounded. It’s certainly more pop than their last few singles, but still very KAT-TUN, with lots of guitar, intensity, and general loudness. The sound is kind of similar to pre-debut KAT-TUN stuff like “Fight all Night” maybe, but I’m also reminded of Arashi’s “Jidai” and some American BSB or N*Sync, but it’s stronger than those songs. Also, I’m surprised to see they’ve taken some of Morning Musume’s favorite tricks, namely opening the song with a monologue and inserting little sighs throughout. Interesting.

Jin’s just got to have his little “moment” in the middle of the song, doesn’t he? Where the music kind of stops and he says/does something sexy that makes the fan girls scream even more than they already were. The wink/tsking in Real Face, the “Sweety” line in Keep the Faith, now “hell yeah!” in the middle of this.

Speaking of Akanishi, I almost can’t even hear anyone else singing during the chorus (I’m sure the others are singing, I just can’t really hear them), and he has lots of solo lines in the verses as well. Not a bad thing, in my opinion lol. There are definitely some Kame solo lines in the verses and Koki has his little rap section, but I can’t say with 100% certainty that the rest of them are even there. That’s the thing with KAT-TUN. There’s such a huge discrepancy in popularity between KA and TTUN. I read an account where someone was in Japan and they asked a shopkeeper for KAT-TUN stuff to buy for their friend back home, and the shop keeper said, “Okay. Do you want Kame stuff or Jin stuff?” This large popularity gap is, understandably, reflected in the line distribution in their singles as well as focus in their PVs. Now, I love to see lots of Kame and Jin, but having the group be so very…unbalanced worries me a bit. It just seems like kind of an unstable existence, doesn’t it?

Oh, but I’m off on a tangent. Back to the song! Shall I make sales predictions? What the song has going against it is that it doesn’t have any drama tie-in, and that could hurt exposure a bit. On the other hand, they’re KAT-TUN. They will not be wanting for exposure. Also, I’m not sure how much Japan still has their collective panties in a knot over the whole Kame/woman more than old enough to be his mother thing. I’m inclined to think that the worst of that is over, since it has been confirmed that they definitely are not seeing each other anymore. Still, could have an impact. One main thing the song has going for it is that it’s hella catchy. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: Catchiness sells. I think we’ve all seen “good” songs be far outsold by songs with very little musical merit other than a refrain with the ability to lodge itself in your brain for days at a time. Fortunately, I think this song is both good and catchy, a lethal combination when taking in to consideration that it’s coming from KAT-TUN who already have a sizable army of fangirls who will buy the single no matter what. In testament to that, pre-sales were already through the roof when all we knew about the single was the title. Another plus is that there are 4 editions, and if you want all of the solo tracks, which some people undoubtedly do, you will have to buy 3 of them. Also, the highly positive reaction to the radio rip is not limited to my blog. All over the fan communities, people are singing its enthusiastic praise. Based on my observations, the song is getting a warmer initial reception than anything they’ve done since “Real Face”. I can hardly find a word of criticism against it at this point. Honestly, the fan communities are kind of going crazy right now. Anyway, this all adds up to some very promising sales potential. I’d make a conservative estimate of at least 400,000 in the first week, but I really expect them to do even better than that.

This song will be just perfect for a concert, won’t it? I can see it easily working the crowd into a frenzy. Oh how I hope to be a part of that frenzied crowd…

Hell Yeah,

~Celestia~

I posted an entry in Bikkuri project which relates specifically to neither Johnny’s no h!p but addresses more general issues relating to the idol/fan relationship. If you’re interested, link is HERE

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~

This is a direct follow-up to the post about scandals, because my final conclusion ended things on a rather sad note, didn’t it?

Fortunately, even though homosexual relationships are generally much more taboo than heterosexual, implied groupcest is very much accepted by Johnny’s Jimsho. Which brings me to my favorite “couple” in Johnny’s. You should probably know who I’m talking about by now. I still say that there’s nothing sexual happening between them, but I say it with a much lower confidence rating than I have on some of the other Johnny’s “couples”. Jin and Kame have never dated. Neither have Yamapi and Ryo. I’m 99% sure about those ones. When it comes to Ohmiya though… I’d say I’m only about 65-70% sure nothing is really going on there. More than half, but considerably less than 100%. In fact, I’d set the odds slightly in favor for whether or not some kind of “accidental” very drunken kissing had ever occurred between them. Anyway, here are a lot of pictures showcasing Nino and Ohno’s adorable, if somewhat suspicious, friendship. They’re sure to cheer me right up.

They sit next to each other on “Arashi no Shukudai-kun” Nino’s definition of “sit” is rather broad sometimes.

Ohno still manages a peace sign, despite having his arms full of Nino.

There’s an Ohno back there somewhere.

“Grrr. Stay away from my Nino”

“I mean it you!!!”

Why does this strike me as one of the gayest pictures out of all of them?

Judging by the unusually innocent expression on Nino’s face and the grimace on Ohno’s, I have a pretty good guess as to where Nino’s left hand is right now.

Look how snuggly they are when they’re eating. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was a couple and Nino was a girl with short hair.

And the award for dorkiest Johnny’s goes to…

A personal favorite.

Remember those bits of Ohmiyaness in their most recent concert MC’s that I posted a few days ago? It certainly seems like they’re getting bolder and bolder with the kind of things they’ll reveal to the audience, doesn’t it? Some of those stories really should have never seen the light of day (still can’t get the naked together in the shower washing each other’s asses with our bare hands incident out of my head), which makes me wonder, where could this be going next? Should we expect an mc like the following at the dream A live tour?

Sho: So you know how these guys always do weird things? *gestures to Ohmiya who grin sheepishly*

Aiba: *jumping up and down like an excited puppy* hai hai hai! They do! They do!

Sho: Well, during Jun-kun’s solo in yesterday’s concert I came into our dressing room and they were making out on the couch with their hands down each other’s pants.

Matsujun: Ehhhhh???

Nino: *laughing * we.. we…we were just feeling really bored so…

Aiba: You do that because you’re bored? *incredulous* Really Riida??

Ohno: *is momentarily stunned out of his reverie*… well… yeah *absent sort of smile*

Matsujun: *exasperated* You need to stop doing that or people will get the wrong idea!

Nino: *smirks*

Ohno: *has resumed his usual blank-faced stare*

Matsujun: Oi! Say something you!

Aiba: Guys! Guys! Guess what I ate for breakfast today!!! It was sooooo delicious!!!

Matsujun: *gives up and goes to sulk in the corner*

Doesn’t sound that unrealistic really, does it? And then, maybe in a year or two…

Sho:I went to try to steal my shampoo back from these guys *gestures to Ohmiya who grin sheepishly* and they were totally having sex in the shower!

Nino: So we were feeling really, really, really bored and….

Aiba: Ne ne ne ne ne! Aren’t tigers like the coolest animal ever!?!?!

And so it goes…

~Celestia~