KAT-TUN 2 Me

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

Online Videos by Veoh.com

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~

Okay, okay. Last “Time” clip,at least for a while, but I somehow missed this on my first perusal of the concert. I want to do this soooo badly. It looks insanely fun.

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Happy Spring!

~Celestia~

There’s not a whole lot I can say about Arashi’s new concert DVD that hasn’t already been said more eloquently over at Morning Berryz , other than to agree that this is a truly awesome concert, one of the best I’ve ever seen, and mention that the costume designers have truly outdone themselves this time, but there was one particular performance that I felt obliged to share. You see, Matsujun, apparently feeling overheated, decided to rip his shirt open at the beginning of “Carnival Night” and…and… oh sorry. I lost my train of thought there. Actually, it’s a really entertaining performance from all of the guys, and even though it’s not my favorite song, I’d still really enjoy this even if we couldn’t see the sweat on Matsujun’s chest….but we can. And it’s hot.

Can I get a “kyaa!”?

~Celestia~

Jin totally pwns him at soccer.

This is just a clip I cut out of this week’s Cartoon KAT-TUN. The boys all had to show off some skill, Jin said soccer, and Maru claimed to be better than him at it. This was disproved when Jin throughly kicked his ass at pk’s, wearing a tuxedo no less. I don’t really blame Nakamaru though. As someone who has played soccer for quite a while, I can attest that Jin is damn good at it. Look at the slow-mo versions of those saves, not to mention how powerful his shots on goal are!

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Mostly this is just an excuse for me to swoon over JinJin being all athletic though. Oh, and PS. youtube is doing some kind of serious crackdown on Johnny’s related videos these last few days, so download the ones you like before they’re gone! I guess I’ll start offering downloads of the clips I post, even if it’s a pain, because I don’t want to have to replace them when they go down. That’s more of a pain.

Go! Fight! Win!!

~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

I found a collection of translated concert MCs from Arashi’s Summer 2007 concert here, and since I seem to feel that this blog is not inundated with enough Arashi Love, here are a few of the choicer bits. My comments in purple

Aiba makes an attempt at expressing more queer arashi love in order to distinguish himself. They’re talking about songs they like to sing.

Aiba: ‘Only Love’!

Matsujun: So who are you in love with right now?

Aiba: These four people *points to the rest of the group*

A solid effort, but Ohno (group whore) can outdo that easily

Sho: And then I said, “Captain, lend me some lip cream (like chapstick)” and he said, “Hmm? Oh, I see” and then *puckers lips towards audience* (there is some debate amongst the boys about whether or not Sho wanted to accept his offer to take it directly from his lips)

Nino: Leader…. (jealousy Nino?)

Sho: I honestly didn’t think he’d take that path

Matsujun: But even so, he was kidding, right? After such a long time..

Sho: Well, it would be great if we could pass this off as a gag, but he’s pretty serious about it

A comment by Matsujun in response to that conversation

Jun: After all, within the five of us, it wouldn’t be that weird if two of us ‘came out’

Truer words never spoken, but let’s cut to chase and let Ohmiya, the undisputed masters of queer Arashi love, have the floor

Nino: He kept staring at me that entire set! (referring to Ohno)

Ohno: Well, he always touches me, and he suddenly didn’t do anything today. I kept looking at him and wondering why he hadn’t touched me at all

Matsujun: Why do you sound so disappointed? Shouldn’t it be, “he always touches me and I don’t like it”

Ohno (poutily): but…but…he always touches me. He always touches me!!

Of course, Nino gave Ohno what he wanted, groping his butt for a while and then escorting him off-stage with his arm around his shoulder.

This last one is long, but an excellent example of Ohmiya suspicious behavior.

Sho: Kitael (concert venue) has only 4 shower stalls

Nino: And how many members in Arashi?

Jun: 5! very good jun, you get a cookie

Sho: Therefore, there is always one person who gets left behind (talks about Ohmiya invading his shower stall together to steal his shampoo, but then forgetting the shampoo and leaving without it because they’re too busy chatting)

Nino: But then when we went back there were no wash cloths

Aiba: Oh, there were five of those in my stall

Sho: You should have said something earlier then, like “Oh, there’s 5 in here!”

Aiba: I thought that everyone had brought their own *shakes head fondly* oh Aiba…

Nino: Therefore, we washed each other with our hands. We rinsed each other’s backs…

Ohno: He washed my butt too

Nino: He has a nice butt

Ohno: Nino also has a very nice…

Jun: Stop that! It’s gross.

. Aw Jun. Why’d you have to spoil the fun? They did return to the subject though and make plans to shower together again after that concert. Then there’s this video, most of which comes from that concert series’s MCs as well. The rest is just bonus Ohmiya love. When Ohno’s calling Nino “futoshi” that’s just a character name from the ohmiya sk skit things. Oh, and I didn’t make this video, btw.

So trouncing around stage like that is obvious fan-service, but I ask again, if it’s all an act for the fans, why is so much going on behind the scenes? Even if it is Japan, I can’t believe that straight men who are just friends would lovingly wash each other’s naked bodies, asses included, with their bare hands just so they have a good story to tell the audience later. Also, in reference to the tackling clip, for god’s sake Ohno, stop making sex noises, and Nino, stop panting like that! You can hear that even the fangirl-filled audience is starting to get weirded out!

Rabu rabu,

~Celestia~

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~

I’ve decided to do a feature on Masaki Aiba today. This is to make sure that Aiba gets his due, because he’s my least favorite Arashi member, so I’m not usually inclined to write about him very often. I still do love him though. It’s just that he can be kind of…annoying sometimes with his hyperness and his speaking voice. His singing voice is not unpleasant, but it is disconcertingly feminine, so that’s a whole ‘nother problem right there. Plus, he’s the least attractive Arashi member, at least to me. All of that aside though, it’s impossible to hate Aiba. He’s so like a child in so many ways: enthusiastic, sweet, ditzy, emotional, clumsy, and naive. Hating Aiba would be like kicking an unusually cute puppy. Let’s start this off with an attempt to find a decent picture of him.

Now, some quotes!

Aiba: I’d like to try riding on a whale’s spouting water
Interviwer: Is that even possible?
Aiba: Probably not, but isn’t it dreamy?

source

Matsujun: These guys (sho and nino) were shooting a drama, so the other three of us were doing various things to prepare for the concert. Riida was working on choreography and I was planning various things like staging and song order, and Aiba-chan… Aiba was just eating.
Aiba: Yes! In order to keep everybody’s energy up!
Nino: Ohno used his body and Matsujun used his brain, but he didn’t do anything, did he?
Aiba: If I’m not eating, I can’t give energy to everyone!

Interview Question: A song you always sing at karaoke?
Aiba: Arashi’s live song list for two and a half hours. It’s fun! It’s like, “Ah. Just as I thought. I am in Arashi!”

source

Interviewer: How long do you want to keep doing concerts?
Sho: We can still do them right up to the last minute, can’t we?
Aiba: I can still dance, even with a cane!

Eep. Lost the source. Sorry.

Interviewer: You and Aiba-chan have known each other for 11 years now. What is the most unforgettable thing about him?
Nino: Basically, he is a BAKA. (laughs) He can’t do 2 things at the same time. I was talking to another member about that and he got mad and said, “I can so! I can eat newspaper and read breakfast at the same time” I remember I said “That’s amazing. I can’t do that”.

He tells this story too often…
Aiba: When I was in high-school on a class trip I was in the bathroom and a woman came in. I thought, “Oh crap!” and I couldn’t decide whether to hide my crotch or my face.

Aiba: Every day I have a feeling of thankfulness for all of the members. That’s basically because I like everything about all of them. Since we did lots of solo activities, whenever we are together as Arashi I can feel that “sensation”. I think about that kind of thing a lot, but I can’t quite find the words to explain it.

Finally, videos! First, a clip of a concert MC that mostly focuses on Aiba. Subbing credits are in the clip. The subs are in the boy’s image colors (Aiba=green, Jun=purple, Nino=yellow, Sho=red, and Ohno=blue) so you can tell who’s saying what. After you get past the Arashi “YAY!” stuff (they really like to say ‘yay’) it’s pretty much all Aiba trying to make the scoreboard light up, falling on the ground naked, empathizing with birds, and making Matsujun pissy because he’s talking too much. More importantly, it’s a really good sample of Aiba’s personality. really funny.

And a Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi performance. It’s not only Aiba, but there’s lots of Aiba in it. It’s the fake-out ending to last year’s concert tour (there’s still the encore) and he is already just bawling. To be fair, I’m pretty sure I see tears in the eyes of several of the members, but Aiba is definitely the worst.Isn’t he just the cutest thing? I also enjoy this clip because of Matsujun’s facial expression at 3:17 or so (could he be any happier?), Sho patting Aiba on the butt around 2:52 (I’m surprised! usually sho is one of the least gropy members), and because of their costumes. I get the impression that they’re covered with stickers advertising something. Just like racecars!

Now Exiting AibaLand,

~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~

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~