KAT-TUN 2 Me

Feel like I’ve been neglecting KAT-TUN recently. Well, the full Rescue PV just came out, and I’ll get to that, but right now, I’d like to focus on Rescue’s B-sides. I love them both very much for very very different reasons.

First, have you heard “On Your Mind” yet? It’s the companion to “On My Mind” which was a B-side from One Drop. Well, you should listen, because it’s absolutely fucking beautiful!

kat-tun-on-your-mind-please-come-back-to-me

The softer side of KAT-TUN! We all know that their songs tend to be rockish and shouty, so it’s great to see them proving that they can pull off this kind of thing too. Every single one of those boys can sing, and sing well. Their voices sound lovely, the song itself is heartbreaking, and if you dare to say it’s too slow or (God forbid) boring, then I’ll break your knees, and since you’ll be needing to see a doctor anyway, you can get your ears checked while you’re there.

Now as for “Rescue”s other B-side, “7 Days Battle”, the theme of their 7 day Tokyo Dome concert, I’m not as crazy about the song, but the lyrics are HILARIOUS. They’re all in Engrish and… well, just take a look. (Credit HERE)

7 DAYS BATTLE　/　KAT-TUN
作詞：Sean-D　Rap詞：JOKER
作曲・編曲：Fredrik Hult / Sebastian Thott / Didrik Thott

Let me know when ur body getting sexy
Let me know when ur get ready shorty
I show u’d never see what u really want to

Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to rock?

So many sorrows on planet
So much mess on internet
I know u’d miss sweet mind
I’ll take u back

Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to rock?

Grown up on this street
Like on the other side
Keep ur spotlight on this endless war

I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
7 days I show u that I’ll be dead or alive Yeah
I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
Whoever come on Coz u’re not alone

Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to rock?

(rap)

(One time) It’s not game like
(Two times) Not a kind of joke
(Three times) I don’t trick u I promise u

Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to rock?

My faith on this stage
No faked and no faded
Believe the way six soldiers going on

I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
7 days I show u that I’ll be dead or alive Yeah
I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
Whoever come on Coz u’re not alone

Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to rock?

(rap)

Grown up on this street
Like on the other side
Keep ur spotlight on this endless war

I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
7 days I show u that I’ll be dead or alive Yeah
I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
Whoever come on Coz u’re not alone

I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
7 days I show u that I’ll be dead or alive Yeah
I’m in battle (battle) battle (battle)
Whoever come on Coz u’re not alone

Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to knock?
Are u ready to rock?

ROFL. Are they trying to be cool by writing all their “you”s as “u”? There are so many great lines in this. I think the best are “So much mess on internet” (hmm. rumor websites maybe?) and  “Are you ready to knock??” (oh hell yeah! I as so fricking ready to knock! You just show me a door and I will knock the crap out of it!).

And finally, something that has nothing to do with B-sides, but I thought was really cute. Quick, what do knitters, kittens, and KAT-TUN all have in common (besides starting with a ‘K’)?

Answer: Their love of yarn! (apparently). Let’s play, guess what some of the guys are thinking!

Jin: Hmmm… should I go with the pink yarn ball or the slightly bigger pink yarn ball? Decisions are so hard!

Maru: I’ll wait until it’s not looking, then I strike!

Koki: Hahaha. Okay, you win this time.

Junno: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Are you ready to knock?

~Celestia~

OMG OMG OMG! Take a look at the sales numbers for the first day of Arashi’s “Believe”.

214,618 COPIES IN THE FIRST DAY!!!

The first day! I mean, I knew this song would have good sales. It comes at a time when Arashi is extremely popular, more so than they’ve ever been, and the song is damn good. It’s been getting a huge positive response from both inside and outside the fan community, but posting those kind of numbers on the first day is unheard of. I mean, KAT-TUN set a record when DUES had a first day index number of 104,864 about (180,000 copies) and this 30,000 more than that!

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict right now that this single will sell over a million copies before its chart run is over.

As long as I’m on the subject of Arashi, I had an interesting conversation about them today with my 5th graders. I swear, I didn’t start it! One of the girls, a Johnny’s fan, brought it up. So, our Arashi focus group today consists of 6 elementary school 5th graders (11 year olds), two boys and four girls, and occurred over lunch. Conveniently, ten interesting points emerged.

1: Every single kid there knew the names of all members of Arashi, dramas/movies they had appeared in, and had an opinion as to who they liked and who they didn’t, including the boys.

2: Ohno Satoshi was surprisingly popular. In fact, two of the girls and one of the boys cited him as their favorite, and another girls said he was her 2nd favorite. That kind of surprised me, but it seems to mostly be attributed to his recent dramas. “Uta no Oniisan” was a favorite with the girls, and the boy thought “Maou” was really cool.

3: On a similar tangent, dramas/movies the guys have been in were a major factor in how much the kids liked each individual guy.  One girl, a Nino fan, had a Ryuusei no Kizuna planner. I think with kids, most of Arashi’s variety shows are on too late at night for them to watch, so they probably get to know who’s who on an individual level more based on the dramas. The songs seemed to be the biggest factor in how much they liked them as a group though.

4: Sho was also very popular with the kids, probably second after Ohno overall, and appealing to both the boys and the girls.

5: Nino would probably have ranked in 3rd.

6: Two of the girls and one of the boys really disliked Aiba. They said he was weird…the other boy said he was his favorite though

7: One of the girls also had a rather intense hatred of Matsujun. She said he was “kimoi” (disgusting). None of the other kids shared that feeling though, so I’ll consider her an outlier.

8: The kids actually got into it enough that they were passionately arguing about who in Arashi was the best. The poor Aiba-loving kid was helplessly outnumbered by the Ohno fans, but he fought hard!

9: When asked about which songs they liked (they asked me first!), a lot of the most recent songs came up, unsurprisingly considering the kids age. I mean, they can’t have been interested in music for that long. A couple of them mentioned A.Ra.Shi though, which did surprise me. I mean, they were about 1 year old when that song came out!

10: As far as other groups, discussed briefly, one girl liked KAT-TUN, two liked Hey!Say!Jump (again, not surprising considering their age), and one girl and the boys didn’t really have an interest in any other Johnny’s groups.

I hope we’ve all learned something here. I feel like I ought to take some surveys or something. Form more accidental focus groups. Make some graphs!!

~Celestia~

This blog won an International Wota award in the “other” genre specific (not h!p or AKB48) category! Yayay! Thanks to anyone who voted for me!

~Celestia~

My QOP DVD(s) are safely watched and in my possession, so I feel like I can finally write about it. Before I get to my favorite performances, a couple of general observations.

-I would unhesitatingly call this KAT-TUN’s best concert tour yet!

-I like that there was actually a little bit of a plot to the concert. Pirates (KAT-TUN), arrive on an island inhabited by hostile tengu, run around and fight with them, steal magic pocketwatch things, sail away. Okay, it’s a simple plot, but more of one than most concerts have!

-There’s something about the way they walk… I have a new theory, that to be a popular member of a Johnny’s group, you have to master the strut. Case in point, out of all of Arashi, only Matsujun really knows how to strut, and look who’s the most popular? Out of KAT-TUN, Ueda glides or skips, Maru’s all elbows and knees, Koki stalks, Taguchi strides and bounds, but only Jin and Kame really know how to strut and swagger. Coincidence?

-Have you ever noticed how elaborate KAT-TUN’s concert costumes are? I mean, you’ve got shredding, braid, buttons, ruffles, glitter, fur, feathers, sequins, and rhinestones galore…and all of that is on any single given jacket. It’s like they were attacked by the contents of a large craft cupboard, but somehow it all works out. Oh, and Ueda is definitely wearing a skirt again for the first costume.

-Jin’s performing is just so damn good when he’s actually trying. During this concert (and the one I watched), he vocally embellishes just about every single one of his lines, adds lots of harmonies where there were none, and he looks excited and happy to be there too. Compare this to most music shows where he looks dead bored and like he’d much rather be home sleeping off his hangover. Sigh.

-I’m pleased with how much more I can notice from watching my own DVD as compared to the low quality footage online. I’d really recommend buying it if you like what you see.

Okay, now my two favorite performances, one from the beginning, and one from the end.

Keep the Faith

Watch Keep the Faith- Queen of Pirates in Entertainment Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
I was really looking forward to seeing this concert performed, and it did not disappoint. High energy, and sexy all over the place. Jin’s hair is beautiful, Ueda is definitely wearing a skirt, Junno’s got another “final fantasy” cape, and you work that pimp cane, Kame! Oh, and Jin really really likes that bell, which I’ll probably demonstrate more in the screencap post.

Crazy Love

The last song before the encore started. It’s so beautiful, and it seems so fitting too! I’m proud of how well all the guys sang. Needless to say, Jin’s big solo line in the middle is amazing, but everyone else did a very good job too, especially Nakamaru on his first solo line.

Next time, probably soon, it will be lots of screen caps, with (hopefully) witty commentary, so look forward to that.

Blissfully,

~Celestia~

OMG the Queen of Pirates concert DVD is out and I can’t buy it because I’m not in Japan right now!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve had to settle for watching what I can find on youtube instead. *sobs*  My early opinions go something like this, “Damn they’re hot” followed by lots of drooling. Anyway, I want to do a nice review, but not until I can rip some high quality video, screencaps, and .gifs to accompany it. I’ll be back in Japan on January 3rd, and I plan to buy the DVD asap after that. I hope you don’t mind the tardiness of my upcoming QOP post.

In the meantime, I’m working on a Best of 2008 post since I can do that from home. Look forward to that, and for those of you who already have the QOP DVD in your posession….I hate you.

~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~

KAT-TUN, will you PLEASE release another single already. I’m getting damn impatient waiting for an announcement. NewS and HSJ are on their 3rd singles of the year. Arashi is on their 4th, and KAT-TUN is still stuck at 2. Their singles consistently sell more than NewS or HSJ, so what gives Johnny’s????

Here’s  hoping this post prompts the announcement of a new single tomorrow.

~Celestia~

So,  I’ve decided to create an information section for this blog, for any new fans or ’soon to be’ fans who find their way here. I’m thinking profiles for my favorite groups and their members as well as some short profiles on the rest of what Johnny’s has to offer. I’ll probably be including various pictures and downloads for sampling purposes.

Anyway, I’m going to be a busy little bee working on that for a while.
Oh, and Elyse, that was no doubt the longest comment I’ve ever recieved. LOL. Here’s the download you requested.

KAT-TUN: You

Catch ya later,

~Celestia~

My site statistics tell me that today someone visited this blog from Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the Sultanate of Brunei. Brunei??? Look it up. That’s like one of the tiniest countries out there, only a little bit bigger than Rhode Island, but located near Malaysia. How did someone from Brunei come across my website?

Whoever you are, mysterious Bruneian visitor, you should leave a comment and explain this mystery to me.

Hoorah! The full faculties of my computer have been restored to me. I come bringing a few little goodies of celebration!

Beautiful Jin. *swoons*

BAKANISHI Jin. *ROFL* This is probably the dumbest possible way he could have reacted to a microphone malfunction. This .GIF is only a few seconds. He kept dodging around that microphone for the entire last chorus of the song.

Oh Riida. I don’t even know what to say.

In the news, Anan’s “Top Male Idol” poll results are in. This is a very far-reaching poll, drawing from the opinions of everyone from teenage girls to their middle aged mothers. Results can be seen HERE

JinJin is up 5 places to number 3! Awesome! Takuya Kimura takes 1st for the 15th year in a row *shakes head*. He couldn’t be more assured of victory in this poll if the question was “Who is the Kimutaku-est member of SMAP?”. Also on the list are Matsujun (4th), Kame (11th), Sho-kun (14th), and Nino (16th). By my count, 18 of these 30 are from Johnny’s.

In other news, Arashi shall have a new single, “Beautiful Days” to be used as the theme for Nino’s new drama. Four singles in a year! Wow. That’s pretty unheard of for Johnny’s. Arashi already has two of their singles currently sitting pretty in the number 1 and number 2 spots on the yearly oricon chart for 2008. Are they going for third place too?

Speaking of which, shouldn’t KAT-TUN be having a new single before the end of the year? Maybe November or early December or something?

Until we meet again,

~Celestia~