KAT-TUN 2 Me

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~ 

Oh glorious day! Queen of Pirates has been leaked onto the internet a few days before its official release!

I think what impresses me most about this album is the incredible diversity of styles. Sure, the majority of KAT-TUN’s singles fall into the same general sort of genre, but if you look at their B-sides and albums, this album in particular, you’ll find everything from angsty power ballads to sugary sweet love ballads, from big band style to boy band style, and from almost hard rock to almost techno. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, KAT-TUN’s versatility is one of their biggest advantages over some of the other Johnny’s groups. I cannot imagine Arashi or NewS successfully pulling off a song like Lips, but I have seen KAT-TUN successfully pull off songs similar to Arashi and NewS’ usual fare many a time. KAT-TUN’s other big advantages are named Jin and Kame, but we’re not going to be focusing on that one right now, because it’s time for a track by track review. I’ve also assigned ratings from 1-5 with 5 being the best, mostly just based on how much I like the song.

1. Taboo- The introduction to this song is awesome. It’s kind of a combination of ‘Le Ciel’ and ‘DUES’. The song has a mysterious and exotic feel to it. I couldn’t think of a better track to open this album with, or a concert for that matter. The musical section at the end is sweeping and builds tension for what is to come. My main complaint is that it ends a bit too suddenly, which is why I prefer it as an introduction to something rather than as standalone song. 4/5

2. Keep the Faith- A single. I’m not going to review the singles since I’ve already written about them, but suffice it to say that that it’s in my top 5 KAT-TUN songs. 5/5

3. Affection ~Mou Modorenai~ Hmm. I was expecting a ballad, but this is more of a relaxed mid-tempo song with an R&B feel. There are some interesting points, like the prominent female background vocals (very unusual for Johnny’s!). Overall though, I think this is set too high for most of them except for Jin (his lines at the bridge are great!). I think I would have liked it a lot better as a Jin solo actually, because of both the higher register and the Western feel of the song. It’s pleasant enough I guess, but not one of my favorites from this album. 2.5/5

4. Hell, No- First, can I say how amused I am that they released a song called “hell no” immediately after a single with a prominent “hell yeah” line? That aside, I quite like this song. It really really reminds me of earlier, pre-debut KAT-TUN stuff. It is one of my favorite new tracks from the album. What can I say, I’m a sucker for “catchy” and I love old-school KAT-TUN. 5/5

5. Distance- Powwwwwwwer ballad! And the opening lines go to…Junno? Really? You can probably count the number of KAT-TUN songs where either Jin or Kame don’t have the first solo lines on one hand. I’m glad to see them mixing things up a bit here. As for the actual song, I’ll have to admit, I kind of love power ballads, as uncool as that is. Emotional music will always win me over faster than clever lyrics or artistic composition. I suppose that makes me a very poor music critic in most people’s eyes, huh? Anyway, KAT-TUN has always been good at being loud and angsty, so I fully approve of this one. 5/5

6. Mother/Father- Aw, it’s a sweet and simple little ballad. This time Ueda gets the opening lines, again breaking away from the typical KAT-TUN “pattern”. Ueda has a good voice for soft ballads. Let’s see, the song is nice and touching, but it doesn’t particularly grab me, and the rap section at the end seems out of place. There are better KAT-TUN ballads out there. 3/5

7. Lips- Another single, and perhaps the most hard rock of anything KAT-TUN has produced. It grows on you. 3.5/5

8. Yorokobi no Uta- Two singles in a row? *shrugs*. A fun happy song (happy in the KAT-TUN sense, not the Arashi sense. There is a difference). I like to sing along to this one. 4/5

9. “Un-“ Don’t be confused. The dash is part of the song title. Yay for Japanese songs and their random punctuation! Where was I? Oh yeah. The song. It sounds like a boring filler track from an Arashi album to me. After listening to it I couldn’t even remember the chorus. It reminds me of “Rush of Light”. Unfortunately, I really don’t like “Rush of Light” Next. 1/5

10. Our Story ~Prologue~ Not to bring up the punctuation again, but this is the second title featuring unnecessary tildes. Not that I can talk *clears throat*. I don’t know why they put this song right after “Un-“. The feel is way too similar. “Our Story” is much less boring, but the chorus is just a bit too sappy for my tastes. I’m reminded of Disney music. That’s how sappy-sounding we’re talking here. The key change towards the end almost saves it for me though. Almost. 2.5/5

11. Nannen Tattemo- The last song of the regular edition album is a disco-flavored dance number. Again, they’re playing in a range that’s a bit too high for most of them. *sigh*. I wish they would stop doing that. There’s nothing too special or outstanding about this song for me. 1.5/5

12. Shot- We’re in limited edition territory now, and out of nowhere: big band sound! How cool is that? I’m especially impressed with all of their singing here. The song is catchy and unusual. A winner in my book! 4/5

13. 12 o’clock- Oooh. Once the music starts the introduction for this song is veeery sexy. The song itself utilizes vocal distortion for a techno sound though the instrumental isn’t pure techno at all. This is yet another creative and different sound for KAT-TUN, and the song makes me feel like dancing. I guess it could be a bit weird for some people’s tastes, but I like it a lot. It ends with a kiss, bringing back the sexy. I wish I knew who it’s from! 4.5/5

14. Ai no Command- With lots of heavy guitar and a dark feel, this is the most “rock” of the new album tracks. KAT-TUN’s playing to their strengths here, so it’s pretty good, though I find myself wanting something more from the chorus. I’m not sure what. Just… something more. 3/5

15. Six Senses- Why this song didn’t get a proper studio release before this is beyond me. Everybody loves it, don’t they? Then again, what better way to end an album than by giving fans something they’ve been wanting for quite a while? It makes me very happy to have a high quality version of this now. All I can say is that they had better perform it on their concert tour. 4.5/5

Excuse me for fangirling for a minute, but Jin’s voice might be the best thing about this album for me. He can be inconsistent in singing live on occasion, I know this, but in studio recordings there’s no one in KAT-TUN who can even come close to his vocal ability and his silky smooth tone. His solo lines are the stand-out point of almost every song almost every time. Even if Jin wasn’t half as hot as he is, I swear upwards, downwards, backwards and forwards that I would still be in love with his voice. The Cartoon KAT-TUN II U album really suffered from lackluster song composition, but the absence of Jin’s voice was the nail in the coffin for me. Needless to say, I much prefer this album to that one. I can’t rank it over KAT-TUN’s first album though. It represented the best of 6 years of collected songs, and I doubt they will ever be able to top that in a single album. So, Queen of Pirates is now my 2^nd favorite of the 3 KAT-TUN albums.

In summary, the album started off strong, loses steam towards the end of the regular edition, but finishes off with a bang with the excellent limited edition tracks. If you buy this album, do spring for the limited edition. Overall, it’s strong and varied with a little something for everybody and very few tracks that sound like filler. I was not disappointed, and I don’t think you will be either. Highly recommended listening!

Yarrr,

~Celestia~

PS. Do you need downloads? I’m sure you can find them if you look hard enough, but if people ask nicely I suppose I could upload it here.

I may have graduated from college, but I still enjoy playing with numbers. And what numbers could be more fun to someone like me than Oricon Sales Figures? Behold, graphs!

This first graph shows the average yearly single sales of all the currently active Johnny’s groups. Average meaning that if a group produced three singles in a given year, I added up the total for those singles, divided by three, and plotted the resulting number on the graph. I couldn’t find the numbers for many of V6’s early singles, unfortunately, so they are not included in the beginning portions of the graph. Also, no SMAP because I’m missing some of their early numbers too, and they threw the whole scale off with the Sekai ni Hitotsu song selling like 2 million some copies. Besides, they’re only barely members of Johnny’s now a days anyway.

I thought that graph looked a bit messy around the end, so I redid it with only 2002 on . There are a few interesting things to notice on these charts, like how Arashi’s overall line is kind of bowl shaped, with gradual decline in popularity followed by a gradual increase. KAT-TUN has a big drop at the beginning due to Real Face being such a smash hit, but they’ve leveled off above the other groups, and recent single sales have been on the increase for them. Oh, and I made these graphs before DUES, but I don’t think that would change things too much at this point. I’d say the Kinki Kids have had the harshest decline, retaining decent popularity, but falling A LOT from where they started. If I had the figures for V6 I suspect they’d show a similar pattern. Tokio has sort of scooted along the bottom, slowly and steadily for a long long time. NewS may have been surpassed by Arashi lately, but it’ll take a few more singles before I’m totally convinced of that. Kanjani seems to fall in the middle, with some gains in popularity in the last year or so. Finally, Tackey and Tsubasa tend to be on the lower side of things in terms of the Johnny’s, but they’re still consistently pulling in singles close to the 6 figure range which is quite good for any JPop artist.

Don’t let the downward sloping trend lines on either of these graphs fool you. Johnny’s is still very much on top of things as far as sales numbers go, and most of the lowered numbers that you see reflect the decline in CD sales in the Japanese market in general. The Jimusho is far from being in decline. In fact, if we just look at KAT-TUN for this year, there has been a grand total of 1 single released so far that currently has higher numbers than Lips and DUES (KAT-TUN’s singles for 2008 so far) that being ‘Soba ni Iru’ by Aoyama Thelma ft. Soul Ja, at 435,209 copies, and it’s certainly possible for DUES to end up pulling ahead since it’s only had two weeks of charting so far and 412,892 copies have already been sold. The next closest competition for the year is that Shuuchishin song at 362,406 copies, falling behind KAT-TUN but ahead of many of the other Johnny’s acts. Aside from those two singles, the only groups that have even come close to KAT-TUN’s numbers are other Johnny’s, such as Arashi. Here are all of the weekly winners of 2008, from lowest to highest, as reported by Oricon. In order, I’ve listed song title, artist, release date, and 1^st week sales. Those with a purple star belong to Johnny’s.

“Mirage”, AAA, 1/9, 25,333
“60’s 70’s 80’s”, Amuro Namie, 3/19, 38,162
*“Ore ja Nakya, Kimi ja Nakya”, V6 20^th Century, 3/26, 38,898
“Purple Line”, Tohoshinki, 1/16, 40,033
“Soba ni Iru”, Aoyama Thelma, 1/30, 47,409
“Beautiful You”, Tohoshinki , 4/23, 62,139
“Anata ga Koko ni Itara”, Porno Graffiti, 2/13, 63,529
“Order Made”, Radwimps, 1/23, 73,130
“Drink it Down”, La’Arc en Ciel, 4/2, 94,086
*“No More”, Maizu Tsukasa aka Domoto Koichi , 4/30, 110,538
* “Sono Mama”, SMAP, 3/5 115,100
“Burn Fumetsu no Face”, Bz’s, 4/16, 141,562
“Mirrorcle World”, Hamasaki Ayumi, 4/9, 145,576
*“Dreams Come True”, Hey!Say!Jump, 5/21, 181,064
* “Wahaha”, Kanjani, 3/12, 194,304
*“Summer Time”, NewS, 5/8, 201,266
* “Taiyou no Namida”, NewS, 2/27, 230,186
* “Step and Go”, Arashi, 2/20, 324,223
* “Lips”, KAT-TUN, 2/6, 351,294
*“Don’t U Ever Stop”, KAT-TUN, 5/14, 381,672

Notice who’s clustered at the top there? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I don’t think there are any weeks this year that a Johnny’s group released a single and it didn’t get 1st. However, I know that first week sales aren’t everything, so let’s look at total reported sales of those same singles, again, from lowest to highest. Keep in mind that most of the more recent releases are still charting, so these aren’t the final totals for some of them. I’ve also added in Shuuchishin, which is not a weekly winner, but a monthly winner, so I thought it ought to be included.

“Mirage”, AAA, 1/9, 32,234
“Purple Line”, Tohoshinki, 1/16, 47,303
*“Ore ja Nakya, Kimi ja Nakya”, V6 20^th Century, 3/26, 50,011
“Beautiful You”, Tohoshinki ,4/23, 79,897
“Anata ga Koko ni Itara”, Porno Graffiti, 2/13, 85,545
*“No More”, Maizu Tsukasa aka Domoto Koichi , 4/30, 110,538
“Order Made”, Radwimps, 1/23, 116,465
“Drink it Down”, La’Arc en Ciel, 4/2, 122,919
“Burn Fumetsu no Face”, Bz’s, 4/16, 125,335
* “Sono Mama”, SMAP, 3/5 158,837
*“Dreams Come True”, Hey!Say!Jump, 5/21, 181,064
“Mirrorcle World”, Hamasaki Ayumi, 4/9, 188,047
* “Wahaha”, Kanjani, 3/12, 228,463
*“Summer Time”, NewS, 5/8, 243,086
“60’s 70’s 80’s”, Amuro Namie, 3/19, 279,851
* “Taiyou no Namida”, NewS, 2/27, 291,447
“Shuuchishin”, Shuuchishin, 4/9, 362,406
* “Step and Go”, Arashi, 2/20, 374,449
*“Don’t U Ever Stop”, KAT-TUN, 5/14, 412,892
* “Lips”, KAT-TUN, 2/6, 421,902
“Soba ni Iru”, Aoyama Thelma, 1/30, 435,209

A few switch-ups, but still a very strong showing for the pretty boy factory.

May their Reign be Long and Prosperous,

~Celestia~

Disclaimer: Yes, I am using Oricon numbers, and yes I know they don’t count online sales and they don’t poll every single store and blah blah blah, so it might not be perfectly accurate, but it’s the best thing we’ve got, and I do believe that it gives a good picture of where one song stands relative to another, even if the overall numbers for both are lower than they should be. If you don’t trust Oricon or whatever, fine, but please don’t comment here to lecture me about that, k?

KAT-TUN’s new song is due to play on the radio in a couple of days with the first live TV performance (already??) a couple of days after that. In the meantime, I’ve been distracting myself with American Wota’s Johnny’s Singles Ranker, but since some of my favorite songs are album tracks or B-sides instead of singles, I just went ahead and made my own lists. I’ve already done KAT-TUN, but here are Arashi, Other (meaning not Arashi or KT), and an overall list. I’ve kept the explanations short so as not to bore you.

Others: I sort of regret that the entire discography of most of Johnny’s groups gets relegated to 5 “other” songs, but Kanjani is too crazy, SMAP can’t sing, I have an irrational dislike of NewS (i’ve got to hate at least one of the groups in the “20 somethings” catergory, right?), HeySayJump is too young, V6 bores me, Tokio isn’t cute enough, and I really prefer groups to soloists or duets. So now that I’ve effectively discredited the entire Johnny’s universe save two groups….

5. Weeeeeek, NewS- Is more of a chant than a song, but consistently gets stuck in my head, and that’s got to be worth something

4. Hakka Kandii, Kinki Kids- Beautiful song, but I like the KT/4 Tops version better than the original

3. Seishun Amigo, Kame/Yamapi- Let’s face it. This really only ranks so highly because Kame is in it.

2. Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana, SMAP- Sweet summer memories and unworldly catchyness

1. Hitoribotchi no Haburashi, Tokio- Such a touching and emotional song. LOVE it!

Now for Arashi! Generally, I like them a lot more than I like their music, but they’ve produced enough music over the years that it’s not difficult to pick out 10 songs that I really enjoy.

10.Rain (Ohno Solo)- I always find myself singing this. Ohno’s voice is awesome, as usual, but it mostly earns this place based on the “gets stuck in my head” factor

9. Pika*Nchi Double- Some of Sho’s best lyrical rapping, especially at the bridge with each member taking turns singing something behind it. That part totally makes the song.

8. Right Back to You- Kick-ass dance, and one of Arashi’s few songs that might almost be considered cool. At least it would if it was still the 90’s.

7. Kitto Daijoubu- Another relentlessly happy song that always puts me in a good mood. I like the section with the individual solo lines.

6. Love so Sweet- This song is so cute. Matsujun’s nasaly solo makes me laugh every time though, especially if he’s singing live. I know this particular single was for his drama, but I’m firmly of the opinion that Matsujun should dance in the front, look pretty, and never ever sing unless he’s being covered by Ohno or at least two of the other members.

5. Pika*Nchi- Very high energy. I like the guitar and how it breaks from the rockish sounding verses to the “dakishimete” chorus.It might rank higher if the star inserted in the middle of the title didn’t annoy me so much.

4. Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi- Cute! I like the triumphant “Arashiiii” part and Ohno’s introduction

3. Sakura Sake- I love to sing along to this one, especially the “Wa-oh!” parts. I listen to this in the morning to wake myself up sometimes.

2. Happiness- Is Arashi defined. Shamelessly happy, shamelessly fruity, and full of “yay!”. It also has my favorite Arashi PV by far.

1. A.RA.SHI- They love the song so very much, and I love them so very much, how could I not also love the song so very much? That, and the “WE. ARE. COOL.!!!” line makes this an easy choice for first.

Are you tired of lists yet? Too bad! Here’s the overall top 20 ranking out of all of Johnny’s (that I’ve bothered to listen to)

20. Love so Sweet- Arashi

19. Butterfly- KT (Jin/Ueda)

18. Yorokobi no Uta- KT

17. Pika*Nchi- Arashi

16. Hakka Kandii- KK

15. Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi- Arashi

14. Will Be All Right- KT

13. Seishun Amigo- Kame/Yamapi

12. Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana- SMAP

11. Sakura Sake- Arashi

10. Your Side- KT

9. Wilds of my Heart- KT

8. Gold- KT

7. Happiness- Arashi

6. Keep the Faith- KT

5. Precious One- KT

4. Hitoribotchi no Haburashi- Tokio

3. A.RA.SHI- Arashi

2. Harukana Yakusoku- KT

1. Real Face- KT

It’s mostly KAT-TUN by the time you get to the top 10, but that shouldn’t be too surprising. As my last order of business, to make this post more kattuny, a bit of Kame eyecandy. Oooh, sexy introspectiveness!

Over and Out,

~Celestia~

I’ve decided to allow myself the luxury of writing some posts that relate both to Johnny’s and Hello Project. I’m going to only put the actual post in one blog and a link in the other. This time, the post is about the most tear-inducing idol performances, so if you feel like crying, I suggest you click HERE

It’s time for another round of ranking KAT-TUN on something random. So far, Junno has won for best dancing, Kame for best eyebrows, and Ueda for best “Lips” costume. In the spirit of “I am going to the new KAT-TUN concert if it kills me” today’s contest is concert themed. Specifically, I’m going to be ranking the boys on who had the best intro sequence at the KAT-TUN II U concert, and if you think that sounds boring then you have obviously not seen those intros. Let’s remedy that, shall we?

Cool, right? But whose stunt is the coolest?

6. Koki- I just can’t think this is cool because I’m laughing at how much he looks like he’s about to rob a stagecoach. And what’s with the pose? THE CLAW!?!?!

5. Junno- Ranked so low because he doesn’t really do much other than just drop. I like his pose at the end though.

4. Nakamaru- Looks like he’s having fun, but why is he running in slow motion after the flipping? It would have been better if he had been yelling, “Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!” in a slow motion voice as well.

3. Ueda- He’s so cute when he smiles and waves at the crowd! It’s kind of cool how they make it look like something’s gone wrong, but the sign thing fell a bit too early and gave it away.

2. Kame- Love the beginning pose/facial expression. He another one who looks like he’s having fun with this, and his enterance is one of the most dramatic. However, not as dramatic as…

1. Jin- Oh come on, how could I not pick him? Look how incredibly sexy he looks when he glances up at the crowd and then how gracefully he swan dives! Also, he once said in an interview that doing that was pretty terrifying for him, and when he crosses himself he’s not just pretending, but actually praying. So he’s scared, but it certainly doesn’t show. Kakkoiiii~~~~

So for Jin…hmmm… how about a really short clip with him singing a bit of one of my favorite non-KAT-TUN songs, Tokio’s “Hitoriboshi no Haburashii”. It’s so short that even the laziest of you or those of you with the slowest of internets can watch it! He starts singing around 0:29, and oh how I love his voice. It has such a beautiful tone to it. There are lots of Japanese singers who are technically strong and good singers, but have a kind of annoying nasally quality to their voice. You get used to it, but it makes me appreciate the lovely tone of Jin’s voice even more in comparison. I’m not going to claim that he’s perfectly on pitch 100% of the time or anything like that, but the actual sound of his voice is always very pleasing unless he’s being bakanishi-ish and intentionally making it otherwise.

Just listen to the fangirls scream. Geez. I shouldn’t talk though, because I had to watch that Jin’s part of that clip about 10 times in a row before I could make myself move on with this entry

And since that clip was so short we’ll end with one unreasonably hot picture of him.

Sighs Dreamily,

~Celestia~

Here is the promised “fun thing” that I have been working on. I’ve made a video ranking what I consider to be Arashi’s funniest choreographed dance moves. Making this video has left me wondering what kind of magic Arashi has that allows them to perform this kind of thing all the time without getting laughed off stage. All too often while making this video, I found myself squinting cross-eyed at a particular dance section and saying, “well sure it’s ridiculous, but is it unusually ridiculous?” I’ve limited it to single choreography because if I included free-style stuff I’d probably have to include 50 clips of Matsujun alone. I did sneak a bit of unchoreographed shenanigans into the introduction though.

This video is kind of an experiment in combining media with commentary to make one neat video package. There are still a few kinks to work out. Some of the volume levels are weird, and I didn’t have high enough quality versions of some of the clips I wanted to use. Still, I’m pretty sure that the end result is amusing. If you are an Arashi fan you will probably grin appreciatively, if you hate them you can go ahead and laugh mockingly, and if you are indifferent, who knows, this might even change your mind. Anyway, be nice. I’m still figuring out this video editing thing.

I think I’ll end with a nice Arashi quote or two. It’s been a while since I posted any. Let’s call these,”Evidence that Arashi lives in their own little Arashi world”

MatsuJun: You know, the other day I thought out of the blue, wouldn’t it be interesting if we held the press conference announcing our marriages all together? (laughs)
Other four: Ahahahaha!
Sho: Just like when we made our debut, the five of us get together, show off our rings (laughs).
MatsuJun: In Hawaii, aboard a boat.
Nino: They’ll be like, “Leaving your brides alone…just how much do you guys like Arashi!?”

Ohno: This is happiness right now, when we’re saying these things.
Other four: You just said something good just now!
MatsuJun: The happiness when the five of us can be together

November 2006, TV Guide
Source

You know, you could solve the problem of abandoning your brides to hang out with your group-mates if you all marry each other. Just sayin’

Matsujun: No matter what, if it’s Party or GOKON, if someone puts “A.RA.SHI’ in Karaoke, we will just have fun just the 5 of us. All surroundings are left behind! (Laugh)
Aiba: I agree! (Laugh) After finishing the entire song, we may just leave.
Sho: “Thank you for today. Will do it again!” Like that? (Laugh)
Nino: Is that a concert or what? Though people who are in the place will be dumbfounded, we will really be satisfied!(Laugh)

May 2008, Popolo
Source

Oh man. Can’t you just imagine this happening? Someone puts A.ra.shi. on karaoke and they break into full song and dance routine, and then go frolic off somewhere together after the song ends, completely forgetting about their dates who are just sitting there going, “WTF? They’re coming back…right?”

Welcome to my happy place,

~Celestia~

First things first, HAPPY 1^st BIRTHDAY INTERNATIONAL WOTA!!! I’d bake you a cake if only I had an oven.

It’s time for another exciting round of ranking KAT-TUN on various traits! But before I get into the ranking that I’ve done, some proof that as hard as I may try to pick the randomest traits I can, the Japanese will always do random better. Behold, a magazine feature that ranks KAT-TUN members according to fist circumference. Yes, you read that right. Fist circumference. It’s clear that they’re all taking this very seriously, especially Kame. From smallest (6), to largest (1)…

6. Tanaka

5. Ueda

4. Nakamaru

3. Kamenashi

2. Akanishi

1. Taguchi

It makes you wonder if this is correlated to any other measurements, if you know what I mean.  Looking at the order, it almost makes sense to me…

Anyway, since it seems that I’ve pretty much given up all pretense of not being a fashion bitch, I’m going to go ahead and rank them by how much I like their costumes from the Lips PV. Since the PV is kind of dark, I’ve borrowed some screencaps (I don’t take credit for these) of their MS appearance as our reference pictures. Some of them have changed their hats, but the clothes are the same.

KA-TN

T-UN

All

6. Taguchi- Junno has not only crossed, but blown way past, the line between casual punk and Final Fantasy Land. I’m afraid that he’d look much more at home at a cosplay convention than in the Lips PV. He’s practically wearing a rhinestone studded cape, and that’s almost never cool.

5. Tanaka- Looks like a janitor, especially when he had his white baseball cap on. Stand him next to Junno, and the contrast is ridiculous.

4. Nakamaru- There’s nothing really wrong with what Maru’s wearing, but it’s just kind of boring. Once again, he’s the only one I wouldn’t glance at twice if I saw him walking down the street in these clothes.

3. Akanishi- His hat is supposed to be white, which I like much better, so just pretend he didn’t switch hats on us when you’re looking at the picture. I also really like his necklace. As for the clothes, Jin is certainly well-suited to the overly-long coat thing, but with the fur and all of the hanging black fabric, the look of this particular costume is too heavy.

2. Kamenashi- This is pretty cool. Kame always looks good in the fitted jacket/ tight pants motif, and his accessories are nice as well. The only thing that bothers me is the British flag stuff in his jacket. Everyone else has pink accents, so Kame’s red and blue accents don’t really match.

1. Ueda- That means that our winner is Ueda! The shredded drapeyness and all the white make him look like a little fallen angel. On anyone else, I might not like this top, but it suits Ueda perfectly. The design is unique and interesting, yet he still avoids looking like he’s about to join Taguchi on a quest for 10 mythrils and 2 phenix downs.

What to show for Uebo? I’m afraid that I’m not very fond of his solo performances since they tend to be ballads, and I find most ballads to be boring. Also, I really like Ueda’s voice when he’s paired with another member or two. He has the kind of voice that can sort of fill in the cracks in another person’s, so the combined sound is really nice. In fact, I’d say he’s the only member of KAT-TUN who sounds great when paired with any given other member. On his own though, his whispery style starts to grate on me. So, no solo performance this time. Instead, some cute stock photos from Keep the Faith. I really like his expression in the first one.

And that’s all she wrote,

~Celestia~

It’s time to semi-introduce a new feature. I say ‘semi’ because my dance post qualifies as part of this feature, but I didn’t know it was going to be a feature at the time. What I’d like to do is a series of posts ranking the KAT-TUN members, and maybe Arashi if I feel like it, on various traits. Because I love media-sharing, the winner gets a solo performance and/or picture. Junno was the winner of the dance ranking, and he did indeed get a solo video, so it all fits!

This time, I was looking at my lovely calendar photos, and I found myself noticing a lot of small details that are difficult to see in low-quality computer images. Specifically, for some odd reason, I started noticing their eyebrows, so today’s ranking topic is ‘Best Eyebrows’!! Silly, yes, but no sillier than the actual oricon ranking topics.

First, some images. These all come from the calendar scans. They’re not as clear as I’d like them to be, so you’ll just have to trust me that I’m looking at better quality versions of these pictures when making my judgments. Can you tell which set of eyes belongs to which member?

Highlight> Sorry to be boring. They’re just in KATTUN order. Pat yourself on the back if you got it right. Go study some pictures of all of them if you got it wrong. Actually, even if you got it right, feel free to go look at some pictures of them too.

‘Ze List

6. Koki. He tries to change his eyebrows too much, and they’re just a mess as a result. They’re plucked way too thin, uneven, starting to grow back in, and it appears that he’s missing the outer half or so of each eyebrow. Is this all just part of his style?

5. Nakamaru. On the other hand, Maru could use a good tweezing. His eyebrows look bushy and unkempt. Tss. You’re having close-up pictures taken. Make a little effort next time.

4. Taguchi. It has become more difficult to judge because the remaining four’s eyebrows are all meticulously shaped and groomed. Good to see that at least some of the group knows how to be proper idols. Taguchi gets the fourth spot because his eyebrows are very straight across, having barely any arch at all. They’d be nicer if they had a little shape to them.

3. Ueda. Ueda’s eyebrows are also very straight, but they’re angled inwards, which makes them a bit more flattering than Taguchi’s straight across eyebrows. Still, I think eyebrows should curve a bit, so he gets 3^rd.

2. Akanishi. It was a challenge to judge Jin’s eyebrows due to his tendency to have most of the upper part of his face covered by either a hat or his hair. From looking at a variety of pictures, I have concluded that they’re quite nicely shaped, not too thin with a nice subtle arch. They’re almost perfect, but somehow he’s still slightly edged out by…

1.Kamenashi. Kame gets first because he makes his eyebrows work for him. The guy has pretty narrow eyes, even for a Japanese person, but the way his eyebrows are shaped, with a strong arch in the outer third, does wonders to open up that area and give him the illusion of having wider eyes than he does. Also, his eyebrows are particularly well-groomed, and he’s quite an expert at the ‘cocking one brow suggestively’ look.

Congrats to Kame! I’m sure he’s thrilled. Here’s a video of his solo performance “Someday for Somebody” from the Cartoon KAT-TUN 2 U concert. It’s got a back-flip, a small army of Johnny’s Juniors (good lord, how many of them are there now? I count at least forty on-stage at one point), a very sweet Kame, and some nice special effects that will probably leave you thinking “how did they do that?”

Download

You stay classy San Diego,

~Celestia~

Sometimes, I don’t really feel qualified to write about the musical quality of my favorite JPop groups. My own experience with performing music is limited to a short stint playing clarinet in high school, and I’ve never taken any kind of singing lessons. That said, I do know a thing or two about dance. I’ve been taking lessons all my life, and I was one of the captains of my high school dance-team which placed 2^nd in the State three out of the four years I was there. The fact that we placed 2^nd rather than first is kind of a sore spot, so we won’t go into that, but my point is that naturally, I find myself very interested in the dancing skills of my favorite idol groups.

Fortunately, there is no lack of dancing skills in Johnny’s. If you look at my two favorite groups, KAT-TUN and Arashi, you’ll find that they’re all good dancers, every last one of them. I’ve made comparisons, and the Johnny’s boys are MUCH better dancers than their American counterparts (BSB, N*Sync, etc) I attribute this to the fact that Johnny’s Jr’s work primarily as back-dancers, so to stand out from the crowd enough to be placed in a unit and debuted, you almost have to be a really good dancer. You might be good at singing, but if you can’t dance, I don’t think they’ll give you enough of a second glance to realize that. This wasn’t so true in the time of, say, SMAP, but with the more recent groups, dancing is at a premium. From preliminary observations of newest debuted group Hey!Say!Jump, I’d say that trend is only becoming stronger. I’ve also read many interviews saying the Johnny’s really don’t do much voice training, but they do A LOT of dance training. Well, they are idols after all, and how they look on stage really is more important than how they sound, isn’t it? Bad singing can be hidden, to a certain extent, by the other members or using lip-syncing, but bad dancing is much harder to disguise. Of course, a group can’t primarily be made up of bad singers, or their music will be disastrous, but, as Matsujun definitively proves, it is not necessary for all the members of a group to be competent singers. I would argue that for the current groups it is necessary for all of the members to be competent dancers.

For fun, a member by member breakdown of dancing styles, ranked by my personal opinion of how good they look.

KAT-TUN

1. Junno- 1st because I think he’s the best technical dancer (as in technique, not technicality). I’ve seen him do a lot of technically difficult moves, kick-spins and triple+ pirouettes for example, and because he looks the most spirited

2. Jin- sexiest at dancing for sure, he makes it look really effortless. Especially good at pop and lock style or anything that involves rolling his hips. Of course, this only applies if he happens to remember his choreography. Lol.

3. Kame- not technically the best, but the smoothest. He reminds me of Michael Jackson (just his dancing, not the creepy/insane pedophile thing), good at twirling

4. Koki- kind of dances like he’s attacking someone, good at break-dancing and aggressive-type stuff. Very energetic.

5. Maru- surprisingly good at dancing, but he never stands out, and his “blah” facial expression detracts from his performance

6. Ueda- is quite graceful, but he’s not very sharp (a bit timid with the moves) and he tends to fade into the background. He is very good at the hip-rolling thing though.

Arashi

1. Matsujun- Natural grace and rhythm combined with lots of flair. He’s probably the most naturally talented out of the bunch when it comes to dancing. With his long limbs, he has the potential to look gangly, but since he’s so well-coordinated, it just makes his moves bigger and his dancing more impressive.

2. Aiba- Very energetic and sharp. He always meshes with the group nicely

3. Ohno- Has less flair, but he’s very precise. If his arm is supposed to be parallel to the floor at a certain point, for example, then it’s going to be exactly parallel to the floor. He practically never makes a mistake or looks awkward, and he gets bonus points for making up a lot of the choreography. Hmm, he probably should be 2nd, but I just like Aiba’s style more really. Ohno’s dancing is almost too perfect.

4. Nino- is a really good dancer, maybe the best…by himself, but his style is quite loose and so it sometimes comes off as sloppy when he’s with the group. Still, he’s always right on beat and never half-does any move, so while he does stand out, it’s not really in a bad way. Also, he can kick really high!

5. Sho- only gets last here because he can be a bit stiff at times, kind of the opposite problem Nino has. He just doesn’t quite flow as well as the rest. The rankings on the other 4 are somewhat debatable, but I’m quite confident that Sho belongs in 5th. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad dancer though! Just that the rest of them are really really good.

The final segment of this entry is video examples of some very nice dancing by these boys.

First, an Arashi performance of “Right Back to You”, possibly my favorite of their album tracks. Arashi never fails to impress me with how much choreographed dancing they incorperate into their concerts. They tend to do more lip-syncing in lives than KT does, but if they didn’t, I’m afraid that with all the dancing they do they would drop dead of exhaustion by the end of the show. Anyway, Arashi dances usually lean towards the cheesy, so this ‘cool’ dance is a nice change of pace. This is no easy dance they’re performing either. It’s full of very quick, precise isolations. If they were doing anything not quite full-out, or they weren’t almost perfectly in sync, this would look like a complete mess! There are a few moments where they’re not quite matching up (sho messes up around 0:22), but overall it’s great. I especially like Aiba’s dancing throughout this, how cool Jun looks at 0:36, and Nino’s move at 2:41. Sexy! Damn. The more I look at this, the more I want to teach myself this dance.

Enough of Arashi though, let’s focus on KAT-TUN.

Here’s their little dance solo-introduction things from KT’s ‘real face’ tour. First there’s a short dance, but it’s kind of lame choreography, so don’t pay attention to that. I chose this clip for the later parts that focus more on each member. Then there’s individual cam-whoring segments (funny how well they all fit their personalities), and lastly short paired dances. Jin and Kame don’t so much dance as sex it up for the camera on their turn (last pair), but I’m perfectly okay with that. I really enjoy their little, “what” pose at the end. The cam-whoring order is kame (sexy), jin (SEXY), ueda (cute but please never do your hair like this again), koki (tough then funny), maru (lame), and junno (dork!).

See what I mean about Junno’s technical dancing skills? I certainly love barrel turns (the jumpy thingys), and those turns at the end are impressive. 6 without his other foot touching the ground, by my count. Sigh. I can do 3 if I’m lucky.

Jin solo that’s full of amazing sexy dancing! *squeals* The most of the actual dancing is toward the end (like 1:05 on). Oh those are some dirty lyrics there JinJin. There’s also a really funny cameo by Kame.

Dancin’ All of the Night

~Celestia~