I feel like if I’m doing a post just to get people to watch KAT-TUN performances and read my stunningly insightful commentary, having a coherent theme helps legitimize it. This time, the theme is KAT-TUN covering other Johnny’s songs. Due to their extended time as juniors, they did quite a bit of that. I’ve been wondering though, what is the best method of sharing media files? I like embedding, though I worry that that’s bad for those of you who are not blessed with fast internets, youtube links are okay, but they require you to open a new page, and maybe you don’t want the hassle. I could also provide downloads, but I don’t know if people would actually use them. Hmmm. I think I’ll do both embedding and downloads this time, but if that proves to be too much of a hassle in the future I might not continue.
First, not all of KAT-TUN, but just Akame covering the Kinki Kids song ‘Bonnie Butterfly’. Those two really do look nice together, don’t they? I don’t mean as a couple (sorry, Akame fans, but any hope of that died long ago) but performing side by side. Their different styles, voices, and looks complement each other perfectly, I think. Oh, and love that last pose, btw.
Next, a clip I only recently stumbled upon. It’s KAT-TUN singing part of that darn SMAP song that was playing absolutely everywhere when I was in Japan. It holds a special place in my heart as the first Johnny’s song that I knew and liked, so I was excited to find KT singing it. And yes, they do sing better than the smappers. Waaaay better. KT sure looked a lot friendlier (and less cool) when they were Jrs, didn’t they? Ueda, with his blonde hair and that necklace looks the most princessy I’ve ever seen him, and Jin and Koki are both smiling way more than I’m comfortable with in a performance from them. As for the bastard children of a toga and a leisure suit costumes that they’re wearing, I think that the costume hall of shame may have to invade this blog very soon. My only concern is that it’s almost too easy.
As long as we’re discussing this clip, a short h!p digression. I’d like to point out baton-boy in the background. See, this is one of the things that Johnny’s consistently gets right. No, not baton twirling, but utilizing the special talents their idols. You know how to twirl batons? Great, get out there and start twirling. Good at tapdancing? Can play the guitar? Can whistle and play harmonica (hey Kame)? Do flips? Whatever they have, they incorporate it into their live performances. H!p should be taking notes! Why do we not have JunJun out there playing piano, Ai-chan incorporating classical ballet into a nice lyrical number, or any of the other girls honing whatever special performance talents they have and showing them off? This needs to happen, and it needs to happen like yesterday.
Lastly, another Kinki Kids cover, Hakka Candy. It’s actually KAT-TUN and friends, but whatever. Admittedly, KT looks pretty young and unpolished (this is from four years ago). Well, Jin is as beautiful as ever, but most of them have unflattering hair, Kame seems unnecessarily angry at times, and it’s not vocally perfect. Despite those things, I still cannot describe how much I love this performance. The song is just so beautiful and all the emotion in it comes through exquisitely. The trademark tiny Jin smile at the very end melts my heart every time.
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 2nd in the State three out of the four years I was there. The fact that we placed 2nd 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.
“The Mystery of Ohmiya” might sound like a good title to a Nancy Drew book or perhaps even an Indiana Jones movie, but what I actually want to write about is one of the most unusual and fascinating features of Arashi: the Ohmiya relationship. Ohmiya of course stands for Satoshi Ohno and Kazunari Ninomiya, who are known to be a little bit too comfortable around each other, making a regular habit of holding hands, playing grab-ass, and generally being joined at the hip whenever Arashi is together. Sure, it makes the fangirls squeal, but after watching 8 years of this and hearing the other members say time and time again that, if anything, they’re even worse when they’re not on camera, makes it difficult to believe that what we’re seeing is mere fan-service.So what the hell is going on? Is there some kind of romantic relationship? Are they just doing this, as they claim, because they’re good friends and it amuses them? Do they like each other that way but they’re in denial so they tell themselves they’re just playing around? Have they gotten so used to the fanservice thing that they do it when the fans aren’t watching just out of habit? Does my collection of Ohmiya quotes have the answer? Here are some of the better recent ones, arranged from “aw, they’re good friends” to “have you no shame!?”
Nino: Even if we meet every day, I still always mail leader (note: he’s talking about cell-phone mail) Sho: Really? You guys sure get along well. Nino: If we’re counting, I probably mailed him about 6 times yesterday.
Nino: That’s what nakama are (kind of a hard word to translate. maybe companions, but with more friendship implied). In my case, I get the feeling of nakama when I’m alone too. I could really feel it when I was in America, and I watched TV shows with the other four members in them. Ohno: Who was it that you wanted to see again most? Nino: Eh!? It was you of course!
April 2007, Non’no
Ohno: Yeah, I dream about Nino-chan all the time.
February 2008, Oricon Style
Ohno answers a question directed at Nino about himself, and surprises everyone by giving the right answer. Note that it’s notoriously difficult to figure out what Nino is really thinking, even for the other members of Arashi. Sho: Amazing! You two really seem to understand each other. How do you understand Nino so well? Ohno: Because I love him
Interviewer: The two of you (Nino/Ohno) seem really close, ne? Nino: That’s because we’re going out! Sho: Coming out at last? Ohno (sheepishly muttering to interviewer): Please don’t write that down… Nino: Ah, just joking, ne?
Messages on wink-up message board (celebrities leave messages to each other)
It is well known that Chinen from HeySayJump really admires Ohno. To Chinen from Nino: I will never lose to you! To Ohno from Nino: Lately there’s a kouhai who’s suddenly appeared and is aiming for Satoshi, but I will never lose, because I’ve always been watching Satoshi!
This exchange is seperate from the one above: Ohno: Nino, compared to meals, I would rather eat you.
The members are asked to write New Years messages to each other: Ohno’s message to Nino: Love doesn’t change~(laugh). Shall I say it more? Love for all eternity…
Love for all eternity???? Even in jest that’s a very not-normal thing for one guy to write to another, right? Then there’s this video….
Oh, and the clip is mislabled. They were actually in Sho’s bed. Ohno’s bed is the one he retreats to, and Nino is supposed to be rooming with Matsujun. I notice that all too often Sho is an accessory to these quotes and situations. Maybe he’s in on it? I do believe that Matsujun and Aiba are as baffled as I am by their behavior, but Sho… maybe Sho knows something…
Anyway, the best part of that clip is where Sho tells Jun that he found them asleep and cuddling and Jun’s response is not “WTF?” but rather, “They did that again?” And then he just calmly moves on to talking about the book he’s reading.The most incriminating thing is how sheepish and embarrassed Ohno acts. Just look at him in that video. Nino’s cutely confused and sleepy (huh? is it morning already?) but Ohno goes and hides like a little kid who just got caught doing something bad. It’s the kind of illogical, ‘I just woke up’ thinking that probably prompts him to think, “maybe if I don’t show my face they won’t know it’s me!” I think he got woken up when Sho came in and then sort of panicked. If it was all a big joke, then shouldn’t they be laughing and playing along more? Actually, whenever Ohno gets questioned about why they’re so touchy he gets kind of annoyed at the interviewer/the other members and changes the subject. Also, if Ni no Arashi has taught me anything it’s that Nino can’t keep a straight face for very long when he’s playing a trick on someone. Whatever they’re doing, there is no way that I can believe it’s all just a joke.
On the other hand… if there really were something going on there, it’s hard to believe that they would be so damn obvious about it. I know plenty of real life couples who are no where near this affectionate in public. I dunno. Then again, convincing the world that they’re just good friends messing around when they really are secretly more than that is exactly the kind of joke that Nino would enjoy most. It almost fits. Ohno becoming embarrassed because he’s afraid that if Nino reveals too much, their cover will be blown, and Nino vastly amused by seeing how much he can get away with. He totally would…
I suppose that another option is that one of them secretly has romantic feelings but he’ll never admit it because the other one just thinks they’re playing around. Or they both like each other but they think the other is just playing around so neither will admit it for reals! Fanfiction fodder, no? Meh. I don’t believe it. Such pretty stories probably don’t exist in real life.
As happy as it would make me if they would just get married already, my gut feeling is that these two are just both rather strange people (TRUE!) and that whatever this unusually close bond they have is, it’s nothing sexual. Don’t ask me what it actually is because I’m not sure that even Ohmiya themselves know that. Is it possible for two straight guys to fall in love with each other? What if you met someone who you were compatible with in every way except that you weren’t physically attracted to them? Because if so, maybe that’s what’s going on here. Okay, so my official position on the “are they or aren’t they?” question is: They’re not, but they kind of wish they were.
Or maybe I’m totally wrong. I can only hope that when they’re old and retired one of them will write a tell-all book, and then maybe the mystery will finally be solved. Knowing them they won’t though…
Confused, but too entranced to look away,
~Celestia~
Okay, I’ll dedicate one line to KAT-TUN. Remember how I have a student named Tanaka Koki? Well, I was tutoring him today when one of his friends called from across the room, “Oi! Kattun!” and he looked up and said, “What?”. The guy answers to “Kattun” rofl
I know I should update my other blog, but I’m spending far too much time making concert screen-caps, and I can’t post until they’re perfect. In the meantime, please enjoy this media-based post.
Behold picspam! I REALLY like all of these brand-new photos. If anyone can get me an actual copy of this magazine, I might just be indebted to you for life. Look how pretty…
click for big on the 2nd two!
You know what, I’m officially giving myself permission to post things about my other, non-KAT-TUN related Johnny’s interests in this blog when I feel like it. That’s the beauty of it being my blog and me being able to do whatever the hell I want with it, you see? Of course, the majority of my Johnny’s interests lie with KAT-TUN, but you’ve probably figured out by now that Arashi also holds a special place in my heart. Here is further video evidence of the reason why. It’s the encore from their most recent concert DVD. I like posting things that make me happy, in hopes that it might make others happy as well, and if you can watch these and not end up with a smile on your face then I’m afraid you might be dead inside.
I have never seen a group appear to be having as much FUN during a concert as Arashi, and I’ve heard many a music-idol name concerts as their favorite part of the job. They’re clearly exhausted and running on adrenalin, but you can see nothing but pure joy on their faces, especially when they’re singing their debut song/theme song (2nd clip). Matsujun in particular is just reveling in it. There was once a heyheyhey telephone box segment where the telephone asked who loved Arashi the most, and everyone argued that it was themself, but Matsujun was the eventual winner. Ohno claimed 2nd and gave Nino 3rd (though Aiba and Sho weren’t very happy about that). It makes me sad that I can’t even imagine an argument among KAT-TUN over who loves their group the most. Sigh. Anyway, that’s even more reason to love Jun despite his horrible nasally singing.
…Jin’s still hotter though. AND he can sing.*returns to staring at the pictures at the beginning of the entry*
Is this too much media stuff for one entry? I have super-fast internet at my school, so it’s hard for me to tell sometimes.
First, I’d like to congratulate KAT-TUN on their unusually high (even for them) weekend sales bringing the weekly index number for ‘Lips’ up to 185,211! That should easily put ‘Lips’ above ‘Yorokobi no Uta’, and probably slightly below Keep the Faith’s first week. Depending on the modifier used, ‘Lips’ sold about 320,000-340,000 copies in its first week! Go team!!
Now the real reason for this post (and that title). I’m afraid that there is more Arashi talk in the KAT-TUN blog. Why oh why can I never stick to my self-selected topic? It seems that after writing a bit about Ninomiya I was inspired to produce an OPV. Of course, I can’t help but share it with you all. It’s really funny (I promise), entirely due to Nino, not my video making skills, and so it’d probably be worth your while to watch it even if you aren’t an Arashi fan. Oh, and there is a KAT-TUN scene with Nino poking at Kame from behind during the Best Artist awards talk, so there is a (small) connection to the actual topic of this blog.
Ja jan!
If you don’t know Arashi and you are confused, I’ll try to clarify a few things. If you’re familiar with the group, you can probably skip all of this. Some of the scenes (the one with the smoke, the one with Nino on stage by himself (the crowd called him out for a personal encore without the other members), and the one with the surprise “encore” waiting for the group in their dressing room) are from a segment on Arashi’s show at the time called Ni no Arashi where he plays pranks on the other members. In one scene near the beginning, MatsuJun is chasing Nino around the stage because he has been instructed to be his personal backup dancer for part of the song, and Nino, of course, is not making it easy on him. If you don’t know how to recognize Nino, during the jumping on the bed scene, he’s the one in the pink shirt and white headband, he’s wearing the red shirt that’s not a polo in all the scenes from the “Happiness” PV, if you couldn’t tell, he’s the one in the green during the ’surprise encore’, and all other cases, just look for the guy groping, poking, distracting, teasing, or otherwise harassing the other people on the screen.
Oh, and please be nice. I’m unjustifiably proud of this, though I’m sure it is of quite poor quality in the eyes of the experienced OPV fan, or maybe just in the eyes of everyone but me. Ah well, I had fun making it.
I really enjoyed this performance. The fans kind of get in the way, but everyone sang really really well, and it looks like the guys are having fun out there. I enjoyed Koki and Maru being all buddy-buddy and Jin’s bouncing around at the very end. You can really tell when they’re singing this live vs only doing the verses live (this one is all live) because Jin holds the notes in the chorus longer than everybody else (which sounds awesome) btw. Yay for this!
Yaaaay for getting to watch the making of ‘Lips’! It wasn’t quite as entertaining as ‘Keep the Faith’, but there were a lot of great moments. More importantly, the guys were all looking much happier and healthier than they did in the KTF making video. Everyone was kind of tired and cranky in that one, especially by the end. Kame hardly cracked a smile when they were making ‘Keep the Faith’, and he’s one of the most entertaining members this time around. Well, maybe Junno was a bit tired in this one,and I’m kind of concerned about how everyone seemed to be choking on whatever was spraying out of the mics at the end, but still. I’ve embedded the 2nd part for you because it’s my favorite. You can easily find the rest on Veoh.
Here’s my highlights!
-Kame/Koki singing other Johnny’s songs was my very favorite part. They both sounded really good singing acapella. Usually Koki sings in kind of a rough, aggressive way, so I was surprised to hear him singing Arashi so sweetly. Just another reminder that, yes, they all really can sing, even the ones who aren’t the ’singers’. It starts at 2:44 of part 2 (the part on this page), and you really must watch it.
-Jin can exude more sex appeal by just opening his eyes at the camera than most of the others can by gesturing and posing their little hearts out.
-Taguchi when examining the microphones: “I’m glad that one’s not mine” *points at Nakamaru’s*
-I never realized there was so much pink in the costumes/set. There’s pink everywhere!
-Interesting set-up they have with Kame and Jin always in the front and the rest of the group rotating behind them. I had assumed they were all rotating. Gee, I wonder who the two most popular group members are?
-2nd favorite sequence is when Koki, Jin, and Kame try their hand at lypsyncing Maru’s beatboxing part. Kame is soooooo bad at it, and it’s hilarious. Maru was horrified. It starts at 6:57 of part 2, but you can see how bad it really was better at 9:40 of part 3.
-Speaking of Kame, when he’s not making scary faces at the camera, the eye-makeup just makes him look pretty.
-Jin likes his megaphone. Lol.
-Mysterious hands are always reaching out from off screen to fix Maru’s hair.It happens from 2:15-2:22 and again from 4:44-4:47. He doesn’t even seem to notice. Wooo! Spooky!
-Koki is really hyper during this making of. Attempts to spin a chair are met with much more success than the wheelbarrow from KTF.
-Does Jin say, “Oh my God, Akanishi deshita” when he walks out at the end? Probably not, but that’s what I heard. If that is what he said, it’s hilarious, and if not, I’m going to go ahead and pretend that he did because it amuses me.
-Maru and Ueda are super cute together. <3
Naturally, having an essay due in two hours prompts me to update BOTH of my blogs today. Oh man. Will anyone pay me to write stuff if I flunk out of college because of my blogging addiction? No? Better write that essay then. Continuing with the new tradition of signing off on my blog entries:
Hello and welcome to my brand spanking new KAT-TUN blog. This is essentially an outlet for my fangirly tendancies, and as such I can promise neither deep and insightful posts nor frequent updates. What I can promise is eye candy, giddy ranting, and a fair amount of humor. I should start off by mentioning that I did not make any of my icons. Unfortunately, I collected them before I made this journal, without any real intent of using them, so I didn’t keep track of where they came from. My apologies to their creators. Aren’t they cute though? Now, on to the actual post!
KAT-TUN is arguably the coolest group in Johnny’s. I don’t mean that they’re the best (even though they are). I mean that they have the coolest image. Their music is almost always infused with beatboxing, rap, and rock sounds which pushes it a bit away from the traditional pop sound. Their post-debut costumes lean more towards ‘casual punk’ than ‘brightly colored/sparkly leisure suit thing’, the standard uniform of Johnny’s groups. Someone unfamiliar with KAT-TUN who had perhaps only seen post-debut pictures and performances would probably assume that they really are those ‘cooler than though’ guys you see on the screen. Kakkoi to the core. What I mean by cool here is the complete absence of dorkiness. However, that illusion is easily shattered, especially if you watch any sort of footage from their days as Johnny’s Jrs.
Nakamaru is too much like a regular guy to be cool. He lacks that unapproachable super-star air that the others have. Pretty Princess Ueda is far too feminine to ever really be cool. Koki is more than willing to make a fool of himself for a joke. The very idea of Junno as cool is almost too hilarious to contemplate. Jin screams like a little girl and giggles like a complete dork. Kame is scared of roller coasters and gets really in to singing anime theme songs on the most recent cartoon KAT-TUN. I have folders and folders of clips of hilarious moments of KAT-TUN un-coolness that they probably would prefer to forget about. I’m not talking about skits from shows where they are acting uncool on purpose either. Here are youtube links to some of my favorite funny, unscripted moments. KAT-TUN fans are probably already familiar with these, but I get the sense that lots of new fans are being added every day recently, so this is more aimed at them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiMRo-Z6GUk Jin’s voice can go very high which is a good thing when he sings, but maybe not the manliest trait when he screams…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tArvgtW-azA The other way to make Jin shriek (besides having him light a candle, lol) is by touching his collar bones which are very tickilish. He doesn’t really scream here, but it’s still super-funny.
This is the BEST. Maru gives Jin a real run for his money at shrieking like a little girl. I don’t know why they have white stuff smeared all over their faces, but it only serves to make the clip funnier.
Hope you enjoyed. KAT-TUN really is cool… just not all the time. =p
