KAT-TUN 2 Me

My internet at my apartment is STILL not working, and I`m about ready to throw my computer across the room, but I can`t stand to stay away from my blogs for this long, so I`m here updating from the internet cafe again.

First, I just want to say that since going to the KAT-TUN concert, the only thing that`s been on my mind is how I can get myself to another one. After seeing them so close and in person, it`s hard to content myself with just looking at their pictures and videos. I must go to another concert!!!

And now some Johnny`s notes from Japan that I haven`t shared yet.

-I mentioned in my Japan journal that I helped at an English language retreat for high schoolers. Well, we played a game at the beginning where we (the English teachers) shared fun facts about ourselves, and one of mine was that I`m a fan of KAT-TUN and Arashi. This instantly made me very popular among the girls. They were all coming up to me and asking me about my favorite songs, favorite guys, etc. One girl had even gone to one of the concerts in Ishikawa the day after the one that I went to! 

-Arashi is absolutely everywhere here. I can hardly turn on my TV without seeing a commercial or show with one or all of them in it, their AU advertisements are in most of the trains, and Matsujun is on just about every other vending machine. Japan is like Arashi paradise for a fangirl like me!

-On a similar note, I was walking by a cell phone store, and I happened to notice that Arashi was on the cover of the AU catalogs. I asked the salesperson if they were free (they were), and she kindly offered me the English language version of the catalog (which didn`t feature Arashi). Of course, I politely declined and ran off with my pretty Japanese language catalog.

-I am really enjoying being able to watch Johnny`s TV shows right in my own apartment on my own TV. Yesterday, I watched Cartoon KAT-TUN. By `watched` I mostly mean `squealed over each and every one of Jin`s adorable facial expressions`. Lol. They played this Russian Roulette-type game that involved punching holes in cards. They could choose to punch 1-3 holes each turn. Of course, Jin chose to do 3 every time. Kame was next after him, so he always had to choose 3 to or risk looking less brave than Jin. Once, towards the end, he started to do only 2, and Jin teased him, so he ended up doing 3. So cute!

-Today I watched Arashi on Utaban. Their performance of Truth was awesome!

Owari,

~Celestia~

Really. I leave for two minutes and a major scandal breaks out? What’s up with that? Well…it looks like the Jimusho has essentially gone to war with that publisher, so I take that as a sign that no one is getting fired or anything, so there’s no need to panic. I just hope there won’t be any long term consequences for Arashi as a whole.

It’s interesting, all the politics of this. The timing for one thing, and you can’t help but wonder how much that magazine paid those girls for that story. I imagine that the editors of that magazine sat down and carefully calculated how much money they would lose by pissing off the jimusho and decided that the revenue for the magazine sales would put them in the positive column. I can’t imagine they anticipated that Johnny’s would official shun then entire parent publishing company though. It seems that Johnny’s is choosing to make an example of them by reacting this way. It’s a message to all the other publishing companies, that message being “Don’t you dare fuck with us”. Sometimes I think the management is a little scary. *shrugs*. Oh well. Nothing to stop me from loving the individual boys, groups, and their music.

This is why I can never go on vacation. I swear, they just wait for me to leave to publish this stuff.

July 20^th, 2008. I may have just had the best experience of my young life. My secret fear about going to the KAT-TUN concert was that I would discover that they weren’t really as great as I thought they were. Rest assured any of you who might have that same fear. In person, if anything, they’re even better, and certainly more handsome. All of them. Kame is the cutest thing ever. Seriously. I never fully realized how adorable he is. Once in his solo he did a kiss at the audience and this cute little embarrassed shrug that was just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I just wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home. Jin is absolutely beautiful. I always knew this, but it’s good to have it confirmed. Also, they are all really good dancers. Again, I knew this, but it’s good to have it confirmed.

I’ll go back to the beginning. The concert venue in Ishikawa is kind of in the middle of nowhere, so almost everyone going to the concert came through Kanazawa station, some 15 minutes away by bus. There was an entire fleet of buses taking people to the concert, all of which had “Emergency Bus” on the display, something that I found to be quite amusing. Oh no! It’s a KAT-TUN emergency!!

We got there about an hour and a half before the doors opened which was good because the line for concert goods was very short, but bad because it was rather hot and we had to sit out and wait for a while. We passed the time by painting our nails, freaking out over the fact that KAT-TUN was somewhere in that building right next to us, and trying to identify who’s hand was who’s in one of the pictures in my pamphlet. Did I mention that I bought a “pamphlet”? And by pamphlet I mean a hard cover book full of lots of thick, high quality, wonderful KAT-TUN photos. Definitely a purchase that I will not regret. I also bought one of the awesome sword-shaped pen lights, which really came in handy during the concert.

After we were finally herded inside, we found our seats. They weren’t the best seats in the world, but certainly not the worst, and since Ishikawa was a pretty small venue (about 7,000), there really weren’t any bad seats. All of them were on ground level anyway, no balconies. The rest of this will be in bullet points in what might approximately be chronological order. I apologize, but it’s such a blur right now that that’s the best I can do.

-Jin introduced the concert. It started so suddenly, with very little warning. Suddenly BAM! Jin is standing a matter of feet from me. Nearly had a heart attack.

-Kame had this giant piece of grass or something in his mouth during some of taboo (like a farmer). So random

-Kame planted a kiss on the cheek of one of the ABC boys

-During one song (gah! I can’t remember which one!!), Jin spent a lot of the time pretending his microphone was a flute. Ueda, meanwhile, jammed on the air guitar.

-During the introductions Koki, kept bowing for an absurd amount of time. It was funny.

-Nakamaru started doing belly dancer style belly roll things with his shirt pulled up a couple of times. LoL.

-The tengu skit was waaay funny. Kame’s “tengu” voice is great

-During “Lips” the microphones sprayed smoke (like in the PV). Jin attacked Junno with his, but then they both ended up ganging up on Koki who just closed his eyes and basked in it.

-Jin talked a lot during the MC. Probably more than anyone else except Maru. Yay! The best part was when he was talking about how some of the parents in the audience grab their little kid’s arms and wave them around and, and he did an impression of a kid being shaken like crazy by his mom.

-Jin and Kame sang a little bit together during the MC, both on the verge of cracking up the whole time. There were some REALLY intense fangirls sitting behind us, and a couple of them were so excited by this that they were actually crying. Like, tears were rolling down their cheeks as they hugged each other and squealed. Whoa.

-During “Mother Father”, Ueda was kind of crying…awww

-Also during “Mother Father” Koki put the ship’s bell on his head

-There was a section where they individually appeared on stage, supposedly running from the Tengu. Jin ran across the stage screaming and then “fell” off. Kame advertised some crunky, taking a bite with an ecstatic look on his face, Junno read one of his love letters, Ueda shot Junno off stage with increasingly large weaponry ending with a bazooka, all with an extremely devilish look on his face, and Koki and Maru did a bit of their Tanaka skit.

-At one point Nakamaru and Koki were pretending to cry, but Maru kept making this really funny face by opening one eye while he was doing it. As a side note, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up laughing during the concert. Some parts were super funny.

-During Junno’s solo, he went over and talked to a girl with a Junno uchiwa who was so excited she looked like she was about to faint. He asked her where she was from and she responded “Oosaka desu!” in the squeakiest voice I’ve ever heard, followed by, “Taguchi-kun DAISUKI!!!!”

-Jin sang the acapella beginning to “Bokura no Machi de” mostly without a microphone. It was soooo beautiful. As a side note, all of his singing sounded incredible, and he added his own vocal embellishments to just about every song.

-Kame, Jin, and Koki came by our section (at different times) on those little cart things they use. Jin actually came by twice, once on each side. I didn’t make eye contact with Kame, but he was so cute and sexy, and really close to where I was sitting, so I didn’t care. I made eye contact with Koki very briefly, and when Jin was coming by our section the second time, toward the end of the concert, I made eye contact with him! For reals! All I could do was grin like a fool and give a really awkward wave. This earned me a half-smile/half-smirk. I can now die happy.

-During the end of Jin’s solo, he danced down the center walkway under strobe lighting. It was fricking awesome.

-Nakamaru did this thing during his beat boxing segment were he hummed a tune while still keeping up the percussion part. I’ve never heard him do that before. It was impressive!

-Ueda sang really well during his solo. As someone who’s not usually a fan of his solo singing, I quite enjoyed it.

-During the encore “Real Face” Jin made Nakamaru sing part of his line at the beginning, and Nakamaru did the “ooh” thing at the end in such a sexual way.

-Junno did Koki’s rap at the end of Real Face “ore wa Junno!” with Jin, Ueda, and one more of them…maybe Kame?…standing right behind him and staring at him incredulously. I think he did a rather good job!

-My favorite performance was probably “Six Senses”, because it was fun to do the clapping and counting with them, and the dancing was great!

Three hours later, and I simply cannot believe that it’s all over. It flew by SO fast! I want to see another one! Like tomorrow! Overall, it was a surreal and wonderful experience. I might think of more things I’m forgetting later, but for now, I think I’ll call it an entry. As a final bit of advice. If there’s any way you can go to a KAT-TUN concert, DO IT.

*contented sigh*

~Celestia~

I tried to stay away from blogging. I really did. That lasted all of a day. Turns out that the town I’m staying in is known for its second hand stores. I can buy used CDs for about a dollar!!! How much more would that cost in America (with shipping)?? Of course, the selection is pretty limited, but this is what I bought.

• Best of KAT-TUN Album
• Seishun Amigo CD
• Kimi no Tame ni Boku ga Iru CD
• Real Face Film DVD
• 2 Magazines full of pretty Johnny’s boys (August 2008 Myojo and Wink Up)

The magazines were the most expensive part since they can’t be bought used. The sum total for all that stuff was a little over $20. In short, my first full day in Japan was awesome!

Jealous?

~Celestia~

If you weren’t aware, I recently created a J-pop survey (posted in my other blog HERE), and I’ve decided to fill it out twice because I’m a cheater. Here are my Johnny’s answers. If you aren’t here from Intl. Wota, feel free to blog your own answers or leave them in the comments section!

1. You have found a magical J-pop genie who will grant you one J-pop related wish (so no wishing for a million dollars or world peace or anything like that). It can be virtually anything as long as it’s directly related to J-pop, and don’t worry, because this is the nice sort of genie, not the kind who will try to find a loop-hole and screw up your wish. So, what do you wish for??? The ovbious answer would be to marry my JE crush of choice or something but…. realistically, that’s not what I really want. I don’t think I could really marry someone who doesn’t speak fluent English, who has such a crazy busy life, and who constantly has other girls falling all over them, not to mention my picture showing up in the tabloids and thousands of fans judging me and how I’m “not good enough for him”. SO…I’d wish to be friends with them. I’d like to be able to talk to my favorites, hang out with them, and generally bask in their presence without any serious strings attached. I think I’d end up being much happier with that sort of arrangement, and plus, that way I could pick more than one.

2. Is there any J-pop artist or group who seriously pisses you off? If yes, who, and why? Smap annoys me with their lack of talent. I just don’t get them and their popularity. I guess it’s more that they confuse me than that they piss me off though.

3. Who do you think is the sexiest japanese singer out there? Jin. Duh.

4. How about the cutest? Maybe that Chinen brat from HSJ. I hate him for trying to steal Ohno away, but I’ve got to admit that he’s damn cute.

5. Best personality? Nino! Another easy choice.

6. If given the opportunity, would you rather date person 3, person 4, or person 5? Chinen’s too young, so he’s out. Between Jin and Nino is a hard choice. Nino and I would probably get along better and have more to talk about. I mean, Jin’s not that smart…but Jin’s so hot.Let’s go with Jin. It’d never work out, but who really cares?

7. You work for a Japanese music magazine, and you have the opportunity to interview your favorite artist or group. What are a couple of the questions you want to ask them? First I’d make Ohmiya tell me what the hell they’re thinking (even though it’d never get published), I’d ask both Arashi and KAT-TUN how they’d feel about possibly expanding outside the Asian market (maybe to America) and if they were aware of just how many devoted fans they have abroad, and I’d ask them who’s in charge of designing their costumes and if they have any say in that because seriously, have you seen some of the things they make them wear?

8. What’s the best (J-pop) song to listen to when you are really sad? “Hitoribocchi no Haburashi” 

9. When you’re really happy? “Will Be All Right” and “Happiness”

The answers to 10-12 are the same for both places, so I’m not going to retype them here.

Farewell,

~Celestia~ 

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve assembled various clip of Arashi’s members singing in order to look more closely at their individual voices. Arashi presented some different challenges than I had with KAT-TUN (THIS POST). For one thing, I’m afraid that Arashi lip-syncs more often. Also, a surprisingly high percentage of Arashi’s songs either don’t even have solo sections, or they have only one and it goes to Ohno. Finally, KAT-TUN are, on average, much better singers than Arashi. Ohno is better than most, if not all of KAT-TUN, but most of KAT-TUN is better than the rest of Arashi. Anyway, that’s my objective opinion after critically reviewing lots and lots of footage to put together both of these posts. Read both posts, and you can decide if you agree with me or not. Don’t worry about Arashi though. If this were a personality contest, they’d win by a mile. Of course, if this were a sexiness/looks contest I’d have to go back to KAT-TUN, but for dancing it’d probably be Arashi, and I’m getting way off topic here, so I’d better end this train of thought right now.

We’ll go with AMNOS order.

Aiba has the most distinct voice in Arashi. It’s soft, breathy, and somewhat feminine. Personally, I’ve come to really love his voice, but I can recognize that listening to Aiba sing could take some getting used to. However, his voice is very sweet and fits him well, and he’s more often in tune than some of the others. You know how if you get really emotional about something (be it happy or sad) you get choked up and it’s hard to sing and especially hard to sing loudly? I think Aiba’s voice kind of sounds like that all the time. As sensitive as he is, that could very well be what is actually going on. In an interview about his last solo he even said, “While I was recording it I just couldn’t stop smiling, and I think you can hear that in my voice”.
Online Videos by Veoh.com

Matsujun. Sigh. Do you know the pain I went through to make this video? I was looking so hard for clips of him singing that didn’t make me either giggle or cringe. I was only somewhat successful. I’m sorry, but this is the best I can do. I don’t want to be too hard on him, but his nasal tone is just horrible, and he sings off key more often than not. It’s just a good thing he’s so pretty and charming. I will admit that his singing has improved somewhat. Sometimes he sounds like he’s really singing instead of just whining into the microphone. The other reason I can tolerate watching him sing is that he just looks so HAPPY when doing so. He sounds bad, but I can almost forgive him because he’s so darn cute.

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Nino is the second best singer in Arashi, after Ohno. I’d also say he’s the most improved. He can harmonize well with the other members, probably because he has a lot of knowledge of music, being accomplished at both guitar and piano as well as doing a lot of song writing. He has good range and his voice is relatively strong, for Arashi anyway. I’ll subtract points, because when he’s off key (not too often) he’s way off key, and because occasionally he gets into an irritating nasal sound, particularly on upbeat songs, though never near as bad as Matsujun, thank God. I really love him when he sings ballads, because he knows how to put a lot of emotion into his singing. That first clip completely breaks my heart. Oh, and I think it’s important to note that he sang that part in “Rock You” (last clip) immediately after making a mad dash all the way across Tokyo Dome with Ohno in hot pursuit.

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Ohno is a very good singer, indisputably the best in Arashi. Nice smooth tone, good stregnth and range, and to top it all off, he’s amazingly consistent. He can be throwing crazy dance moves all over the place, but you’d hardly know he’s even out of breath when he opens his mouth to sing. With Ohno, it’s honestly really hard to tell whether or not he’s lipsyncing sometimes. Lipsyncing or live, he almost sounds the same. Naturally, he has a lot of exposed, sometimes almost a’cappella, solo sections in Arashi songs. Can I think of a real weakness? Maybe that his sound is a little safe, meaning there isn’t much of an edge to his voice, but that’s just nitpicking really.

Online Videos by Veoh.com
As the rapper of the group, I neither expect nor require Sho to be able to sing very well. He’s not too bad, but he’s not too good either. His voice pretty much stays in the lower range, and he gets to sounding strained quickly if the song takes him out of that zone. Also, he always seems to sound hoarse when he sings, even when he’s not. Weird. Anyway, sometimes he does melodic raps, like in Pikanchi Double (2nd clip), and his voice is just perfect for that, but I think I’m more comfortable with him staying away from straight up singing.

Online Videos by Veoh.com
And that’s the most work I’ve ever put into an entry for this blog. Weeeeee! Oh, and BTW, I’m totally in love with the new single’s B-side “How to Fly”. Here’s the download. You really should give it a listen, ne? How to Fly- DOWNLOAD

~Celestia~

So, Nikki has kindly pointed out certain…happenings at the Fukoka Arashi concerts on the 18th and 19th. So as not to screw this up, I’m copying directly from a concert report (LINK). Believe what you want to, but multiple concert reports confirm…  Please note that this happened during an Ohmiya SK skit, so Yuuji=Nino and Taka=Ohno

Yuuji: … alright. Well. For those of you in the parent-child seats, please make sure your child is looking at your uchiwa right now. Nothing but your uchiwa.
Taka: I want to be seme’d today~~~ (He said this. I’m not kidding. Kyou wa semeraretai~~. GOD.)
Yuuji: Okay, okay. [lifts microphone away from mouth]
Taka: [does the same]
Audience: SCREAM.
Yuuji: … [shifts Taka's microphone a little higher]
Audience: SCREAAM.
Taka: [raises face up]
Yuuji: Taka. [grabs Taka's face in his hands and lowers it] I’m not that tall. My face is here.
Audience: SCREAAAM.

(AND THEN THEY KISSED. No, it’s not even an ambiguous, hmmm, maybe they faked it, ’cause all we see is Nino’s back and Ohno flailing and we can’t see lips touching from that angle Time concert kiss, the camera was taking them from the side profile, with nothing blocking their faces, no hidden angles, nothing. Their lips met for a second, and then they broke apart. Ohmiya. KISSED. In Fukuoka Dome, with witnesses. Everywhere. Screaming.)

Jun: [looking absolutely DISGUSTED. XDDD Oh Hime, you just want to join in the fun.]
Sho: Are the parent-child seats alright? Did you really make sure they looked at the uchiwas?
Aiba: What was that Finale Love??
Sho: They kissed, didn’t they? Was everyone okay with that?
Audience: YEEESSSSSS a;lskjd;lf.
Sho: Oh, good.
Aiba: You know, I could hear Leader say to himself, “We did it!”
Jun: Man, our group is so disgusting!!

And during the ending concert MC

 Nino: Yes. So, having turned 25-years-old, my first kiss is with Ohno.
Audience: SCREAAAAM.
Ohno: [frowning]
Sho: Leader, go, say something. [pushes Ohno to Nino]
Ohno: … well. [arm round Nino] We’re going out, so. Look at us with grentle eyes.
Nino: LOL.
Ohno: Gentle. Look at us with gre– gentle eyes. (Only Ohno can slip on his words during a confession. Only Ohno. T^Tb)
Nino: [looks at the camera and does a shy, eheh, hand behind his head.]
Audience: SCREAAAAAM.
Jun: And?
Ohno: And?
Jun: Your drama.
Ohno: Oh. Ah. I’ll be playing the lead role in a drama series, Maou [insert drama promotion].
Sho: And who’s appearing in the first episode?
Ohno: … [embarrassed laugh]
Audience: SQUEEEEEE.
Ohno: [goes up to Nino and puts an arm around again] Nino is.

They just…they just keep upping the ante, don’t they? I mean, it is Ohmiya, so everything must be taken with a large grain of salt, but STILL! That is some amazing fan service right there. I’d write more, but I’m really just left incoherent.

~Celestia~

Arashi has announced that they will be having another “Around Asia” tour this fall with stops in Korea, Shanghai, and Taiwan ending with a couple open-air stadium concerts in Japan. Maybe I could go to one of them in Japan, but…open-air…I dunno. I love Arashi, but say it’s torrential rain that day. I’m glad they get to do some more concerts though. Being in high-capacity domes, this tour didn’t have that many shows, and they were complaining about that a bit. Those boys really do love their concerts. See?

Interviewer: Please tell us what you’d like to do in 2008
Aiba: If we could do a lot of concerts in 2008, I’d like to do concerts continuously if space could be provided.

Nino: I’d be happiest to do fun concerts more than last year. The people who come and watch us play the leading role, but we also really enjoy doing it.

Well, the rest of them have all said similar things at one time or another, but it’s pretty much the same, so we’ll move on.

Tomorrow is my favorite member of Arashi’s 25th birthday! Happy Birthday Nino-kins!!!

As long as we’re on the topic of Nino, he announced at one of their concerts that he will be making an appearance in Ohno’s new drama! Isn’t that cute? Ohno had an appearance in Nino’s last drama, and now it’s the other way around.

And now that we’re on the Ohmiya topic that’s so near and dear to my heart, I’d like to show you something kind of interesting I noticed. We all know that they sometimes engage in very deliberate fan-service, such as all the rampant nipple tweaking that’s apparently occurring during the Ohmiya SK section of their latest concert tour, but I find the more subtle Ohmiya stuff to almost be more suspicious. For example, their body language during the Arashi no Shukudai-kun episodes. The interview portions are done on three couches with Nino and Oh-chan sharing one, Sho with the guest on the middle couch, and Jun and Aiba on the 3rd. The couches are large enough to comfortably seat three people, but Ohno and Nino always sit really close together, usually with their knees or shoulders touching. It’s interesting to me, because I highly doubt they’re thinking, “we should sit closer together than we have to every week because the fans might notice!”. It’s just something that they do unconsciously. Aiba and Jun, who share the same sort of couch, space them selves out, but Ohmiya huddle together. Here’s some screen captured evidence taken from the first 3 Shukudai-kun episodes I came across. I swear that I didn’t have to sift to find good examples of this, because that’s how they sit in just about every single episode.

knees touching

This week’s episode. Sho was moved to their couch because there were 2 guests. Notice how close Ohno is to Sho vs how close he is to Nino, and by all accounts, Sho and Ohno get along very well.

JunAiba pics from the same episodes for comparison. Same type of couch, but very different seating arrangement.

Note that they have their own personal space bubbles.

One more because it’s kinda cute.

So… I don’t want to read too much into this. It’s just an interesting observation, and in all likelihood they prefer sitting like that just because they’re sort of touchy people and they’re good friends. Still, it’s just one more thing to consider, and like I said, the fact that they probably don’t even know they’re doing it raises my eyebrow another notch or two.

Do ya think?…nah…but..maybe? No? Couldn’t be…right?

Celestia

My latest little project, which turned out to take far more time and effort than I expected, is a series of short videos I’ve created to showcase each KAT-TUN members’ singing voice. I’ve put together between 3 and 5 clips of what I consider to be some of their best singing out of my video collection. Jin and Kame have 5 because they have many more longer solo sections to work with. Ueda has 3 because his was already as long as Kame’s with only 3 clips. The rest have 4. I am not a professional singer nor am I a vocal expert. However, neither are the majority of KAT-TUN’s listeners, and I know what sounds good and what doesn’t, so I think my opinions are valid. Let’s look at them in KAT-TUN order, shall we?

Kame is very good at tricking you into believing that he sings better than he does. It’s all in that excellent showmanship of his. That’s not to say that he has a bad voice. He’s a much better singer than your average guy, but for being one of the lead singers in a very popular group, he doesn’t have that great of a voice either. He’s learned to work well with what he’s got, and I commend him for that. Also, his singing has improved a lot since his early junior days, so I’ll commend him for that too. His vocal range is a bit narrow and he sounds strained sometimes, but the overall tone and sound of his voice is quite pleasant, which counts for a lot in my book. I think I like him best singing ballads. He has a very sweet voice for them.

Online Videos by Veoh.com
A couple notes on Jin’s: there’s none of that crazy high singing in this, and if you aren’t familiar with the song, he’s the one doing all of the harmonizations in the Harukana Yakusoku clip (the one where they’re in the cage things suspended from the ceiling). I think I’ve raved enough about Akanishi’s voice and how I want to make love to it, so I’ll just let the video speak for itself. If I have to pick a weakness, I’d say lack of consistency.

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Next up is Taguchi. Junno’s voice is a bit… problematic sometimes. He’s got plenty of power behind it, and he can hold notes well, but a lot of the time there’s just something off about his singing. He’s really good when he’s good, and almost unlistenable when he’s bad. Of course, there’s only good singing examples in here, so don’t be afraid to listen.
Online Videos by Veoh.com

Koki was the most challenging part of this project because most of his solos are rapping. Thankfully, I managed to scrounge up a few examples of him singing. I think Koki is actually a good singer, but unfortunately, his singing voice is kind of annoying. He just tends to overdo it. I think the clip of him singing Arashi acapella might be the best I’ve heard him sing because he’s not trying to “perform” so much, resulting in a much sweeter sound.
Online Videos by Veoh.com

Ueda, Uepi, Tat-chan, Princess, Uebo, Ueda-hime. He is not only distinguished by having the most cutesy nicknames in the group, but also by having the most distinct voice. I think with Ueda either you love his singing or you hate it. His voice is so very very breathy when he sings quietly, and borderline shouty on the rare occasions when he sings loudly. It’s really more suited to rock than pop. That said, he definitely has his moments of brilliance, he can hold notes well, and his voice blends very well with any of the other members. Also, he sang a lot of Jin’s lines when he was on hiatus in America, and that says something.
Online Videos by Veoh.com

Last as usual, but certainly not least, Nakamaru. Maru has a lot going for him. He has great range, a pleasing and non-offensive tone, and good control. Unfortunately, Kame’s biggest strength (showmanship), is Maru’s biggest weakness. Somehow, when I’m watching, he manages to convince me that he sings worse than he does. It’s because he usually looks so unsure of himself and awkward. Also, I get the sense that he’s hesitating sometimes, like I know he could sing better if he’d just let loose, but he’s holding back. Watch this video of some of his good singing, and I bet you’ll be impressed and maybe, if you are new to Kat-tun, surprised.
Online Videos by Veoh.com

I’m considering doing this for Arashi but the prospect of intentionally listening to lots of Jun solos in search of material is daunting, so I’ll get back to you on that one.

Do Re Mi,

~Celestia~

This entry is for a couple random odds and ends that I’ve been meaning to post. But first…

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve figured out a way to acquire KAT-TUN tickets for one of the Ishikawa performances (7/20 or 7/21). The catch is that it’s spendy. What I want to know is if any English-speaking fan close to my own age (22) would want to accompany me. I’ll warn you, it’ll cost you at least $200, probably more. I have never paid that much for concert tickets before, and I swear that never will again, but this may well be my only chance to see KAT-TUN live, and if that’s the price that I have to pay, so be it. The problem is that I have to buy the tickets in a pair, and it’s just too expensive for me to justify paying for two and then dragging along a friend who isn’t even a fan. If you are willing to pay that and you are SURE you will be able to be in Ishikawa, Japan on the designated day, leave me a comment. I’m very serious about this offer, and I’m looking for a commitment here.

Next-

So, have you seen Cartoon KAT-TUN lately? There seems to have been a major format change. No word as to whether or not it’s permanent, but it looks like they’ve built a fairly elaborate set, so it might be. So far we have Ueda working out shirtlessly, Koki looking at weird pictures with some guy, Jin being shocked and scandalized by girls who tell him that they date 3 guys at one time (Jin: I don’t date a girl unless I think I could marry her some day… Girl: Hahahaha! You’re so young. *Jin looks worried and confused*), Junno reading love letters and then writing one…to himself, Kame wandering around asking random people “What is love?” (Baby don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me. No more), and, the best part, Maru being horribly horribly embarrassed by the lady he’s interviewing about “adult love”. It’s so fun to watch him squirm. The boys are all separated now though, so I kind of miss them interacting with each other. Here’s a picture about the show.

Finally-

I feel like I’ve been neglecting Arashi lately. Here are some very cute and love-filled pictures to make up for that.Thumbnails, so click for bigger.

Rabu rabu rabu rabu!

Leave it to group whore Satoshi to make a sly grab for Sho’s crotch.

You know how in middle school girls sometimes write, say, “Ashley x Jason= <3″ all over their binders. They left out the =<3 on these shots, but given the theme, I think it’s implied. Also, it really weirds me out when they call Nino “Kazunari”. It’s almost as bad as when they call Aiba “Masaki”.

Damn it Aiba, raise your hand! Someone has to volunteer to be the girl tonight.

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!!

Wow. This entry was all over the place, wasn’t it. I’m working on a sort of project right now, so I promise that the next entry will be more coherent.

Later,

~Celestia~