I’ve had a number of complaints that the downloads on the first entry in this blog no longer work. Links like that do tend to go down after a while, and I never intended to take the time and effort to regularly check and fix those links. From now on, I will provide downloads by specific request only, and not more than a handful of songs at a time per requester.
There’s been a request for the DUES solos, so here they are. Once you listen to them, might I suggest voting in the poll?
I just realized that Jin’s name can be fashioned into a wide variety of puns. Yes, you should be worried.
I’m somewhat opposed to doing the same kind of entry twice in a row, but there were some pictures of Jin from a July magazine posted in a KAT-TUN community that I simply must share but there’s more to this entry than just eye-candy, so I’ll let myself off the hook. I ought to shrink these… but I just can’t.
This picture literally had me shouting obscenities at my computer.
Gold boots aside, another great picture.
Flawless close-up
And now that I’ve fangirled over Jin’s beautiful face, I’ll move on to fangirling over his beautiful voice. His normal speaking and singing voices are both lovely, but his crazy high falsetto is another thing all together. I regretfully acknowledge that there are many better professional singers out there than Jin, but there are very few who have a better vocal range. He can sing from low notes all the way up to notes that are well above the staff. To demonstrate, I’ve just spliced together the two best examples I know of. They come from ‘Never Again’ and the ballad version of ‘Gold’. Now, he may well be lipsyncing this in these live performances (I think not on the first one but probably on the 2nd), but even if he only sang like that in a studio, I’m still hella impressed that he can do this.
Online Videos by Veoh.com
And that, my friends, is what you call pure God-given talent. Rumor has it that one of the tracks on the new album features more of this ability of his. From what I’ve heard in previews so far, I already like the new album much better than their second one, so if that rumor is true, it’s just icing on the cake.
It’s been too long since I posted any eye candy! Here are some scans from KAT-TUN’s new TV Guide spread. They’re quite nice.
Well Kame, if you insist
Jin scoffs at his cherries. “I don’t need cherries to look sexy” he says. He’s right.
Taguchi’s been looking good lately, hasn’t he?
Both Koki’s solo and his facial hair as of late annoy me greatly. I’ve made his picture smaller as punishment.
Just give me your phone number Hon.
Give you what? A clue as to how to hold those cherries? Because you need one.
What’s this? Is Jin wearing one of his and Yamapi’s matching friendship necklaces?
Yep. They’ve both been wearing those a lot lately too. The Summer Time PV, the latest Cartoon KAT-TUN… Akame may be a thing of the past, but at least we still have Pin.
Group shot to finish things off. Love Kame’s strange little smirk.
Happy news! They’ve added quite a few performances, including two more at Tokyo Dome, making it FOUR Tokyo Dome performances! I can only assume that these extra dates were added due to the high demand for tickets. I hold some small hope that the addition of these dates will make it a bit easier for me to get tickets. Anyway, here are the additional dates and locations.
I’m going to use this entry to keep tabs on the DUES sales figures. I’ll be updating it every day this week with the latest index numbers from Oricon and estimated total sales, so keep checking back if you’re curious as to how things are going. I I think it’s safe to say that DUES is kicking ass and quite possibly taking names. Here are the numbers! I’m using the 1.75 multiplier, but the actual number is almost always higher than that, so my estimated total is really only a conservative estimate.
DAY 1: 104,864 (x 1.75)= 183,512
DAY 2: 51,136 (x 1.75)= 89,488
DAY 3: 21,873 (x 1.75)= 38,278
DAY 4: 11,829 (x1.75)= 20,701
DAY 5: 11,157 (x1.75)= 19,525
DAY 6: 8,680 (x1.75)= 15,190
ESTIMATED TOTAL: 366,693
ACTUAL TOTAL: 381,672
And for comparison’s sake, here are the index numbers and total first week sales for their last three singles.
Yorokobi no Uta
Day 1: 69,659
Day 2: 43,322
Day 3: 16,190
Day 4: 7,437
Day 5: 10,834
Day 6: 10,806
First week sales: 300, 396
Keep the Faith
Day 1: 88,353
Day 2: 51,173
Day 3: 20,553
Day 4: 13,093
Day 5: 8,702
Day 6: 10,590
First week sales: 350,863
Lips
Day 1: 86,096
Day 2: 45,454
Day 3: 18,475
Day 4: 11,684
Day 5: 10,845
Day 6: 12,657
First week sales: 351,294
Maybe everyone’s not quite so number-loving as I am, but please do take note of how DUES’ numbers are higher than their last three singles so far. Let’s hope this pattern continues throughout the week!
Yes, I really enjoy calling it ‘DUES’,
~Celestia~
PS: There’s a new poll up! Vote for your favorite DUES solo track!
Apparently it’s from some hentai manga involving demons, and the girl over there has decided not to destroy humanity because there are too many pretty guys in the world. Johnny’s save the day yet again! She has good taste, doesn’t she, though I wonder if the Jimusho knows about this. I’ve almost worked out who is who in the pictures. I’m thinking that Arashi is Top-sho, middle left- nino, middle right-ohno, bottom left-Jun, and bottom right- aiba, but I’m not entirely sure. For KAT-TUN, I’m thinking it’s top-kame, middle left-junno, middle right- maru, bottom left- koki, bottom middle- jin, and bottom right- Ueda. I’m fairly sure about those actually.
#2 involves NewS again. I was looking at Oricon on Tuesday night, and was shocked to see that NewS’ “Summer Time” was no where to be found on the rankings. I was sure that NewS was releasing a single the week before KAT-TUN, so I didn’t understand how this could happen. NewS released a single and it didn’t even make the top 20 on its first day?!? Did one of them have some kind of major scandal or something? Was it revealed that Yamapi’s favorite hobby is kicking puppies? Did Ryo finally snap under the stress of being in two active Johnny’s groups at the same time and go on a fan-girl killing spree? Turns out they just released the single on Thursday. Don’t ask me why. Singles release on Wednesdays. Everyone knows this.
#3 Features one of Jin’s bestest friends, D-boys member Shirota Yuu. He’s only loosely related to KAT-TUN, so, to make up for that, here’s a recent picture of Jin with Yuu and his brother vacationing in Hawaii. Unofficial photo so, no one report me to the Jimusho, k?
The point of this blurb is that Shirota Yuu played Tuxedo Mask in the Sailor Moon musicals for a couple of years (rofl), and I happened to come upon a really amusing clip of him. I know that the text says, “I’m the Prince. I’m the Prince. I’m a prince of the Earth” but every time I listen to it I hear, “I’m a prince of the ass!”. Not to make fun of Japanese accents or anything, but that shit’s just too funny.
Yessssssssss!!! Giving up on the PV being released worked! Like how a watched pot never boils, right? It’s only the 4 minute PV, so I’ve just gone ahead and included the soundless fan-cam version of the beginning. This is EPIC. I hate to use that word, but for a Japanese PV, it really is. Wait. Watch it before I talk about it anymore.
And the full, 8 minute, version via fan-cam, just so you can see the beginning and the end.
It has been deemed mandatory that any discussion of this PV begins with freaking out about Jin’s hair. I’m serious. In all the Japanese music shows’ reporting about the PV, the headline has something to do with Jin’s hairstyle. So… Jin’shairJin’shairomfgjin’shairhelookslikealotrelfjin’shairhotjinextensionsjin’shair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And now that that’s finished, I can move on to the rest of the PV. I’m sure they will explain the plot eventually, (WHAT?? An idol PV with a plot??? YES! A plot!!), but as far as I can tell, KAT-TUN are some kind of mercenaries or perhaps just vigilantes in a futuristic and possibly post-apocalyptic city and they go to a mysterious club which might also be a cult to free the people from the influence of some evil glowing crystals. Their methods involve smashing the crystals, dancing, and wandering around while looking really really hot. Also, time freezes on occasion, the people may or may not be holograms, and strangest of all, they show Jin playing chess, so he is apparently smart in this alternate reality. Weird! The boys are victorious in the end, the happy clubbers dance on, not a glowy glass ball in sight, and KAT-TUN kick open the door and stride out of the club looking as bad-ass as possible. All in a days work, Miss. All in a day’s work. Okay, so that all sounds really stupid when I write it out, but it’s actually very cool. I could probably spend a long time analyzing this and trying to figure out the symbolism, because I’m pretty sure a deeper meaning is intended (if the text after Jin walks into the club didn’t make that clear) but I think I’d rather enjoy it for what it is than try and think about it too much.
So, I know where 90% of Johnny’s PV budget is going…. Like two dozen separate scenes! Special effects out the wazoo! Extras (and lots of them)! Johnny’s PVs have extras how often? Like once in a blue never? The other Johnny’s groups must be jealous. I know I would be if I were them. Heck, NewS is considering selling themselves to raise money for future PVs. SEE!* Arashi just twirled and jumped around in slow motion for their last PV. And then, KAT-TUN gets some kind of mini-feature film.
I can’t wait to see the making of… which is coming out with the album in like a month instead of with the single next week (aaaaaaaaarg!!). I wonder if they’ll show them talking to the extras, the girls in particular, or if they will keep some kind of fence between the females and KT. I hope they don’t mention the name of that girly Kame was dancing with, or she might start appearing on the fan girl’s hit lists.
I don’t know where else to put this observation, but Koki looks like such a school-yard bully when he starts grabbing people’s crystals and smashing them. Like, “nyaaaa! broke your toy!” and then the club-goer starts crying and runs home to his mom or something.
*Okay, so that’s just another crack-sub (by the same person who did the last one), and even though I’m not a fan of NewS, I had to post it. It’s really funny, and I’m amazed at how well the subs match the PV.
I am so frustrated. DUES is due (lol pun) to be released in less than a week, and a high quality version of the PV still hasn’t been aired yet. We’ve got commercials, previews, and even a fan cam version of the whole thing (because they’re playing it inside the Johnny’s stores now), but they have yet to show it on TV. It’s 8 minutes, 8 minutes! long and looks to be all kinds of awesome, but I don’t want to really write about the thing until I can show you a decent version, so I’m stuck. I tend to get rather impatient where KAT-TUN is concerned, don’t I? Well, I finally gave up on the waiting and found something new to amuse myself. I’ve made another OPV. This time it’s all about Jin’s baka-ness, because there are plenty of OPVs of Jin being sexy, but I don’t feel there are quite enough of him being stupid. Some of the clips I used are kind of bad quality… my apologies. I couldn’t find better versions. Hope you can enjoy it anyway. Clips used range from early Junior days to just a few days ago.
Last week Arashi was on V6’s show which featured cute boys dressed up as girls harassing them. They had absolutely no idea, so the prank was successful. This week, just Nino is back to evaluate some of the “girls” which combines two of my very favorite things in the world: Ninomiya Kazunari and cute boys in drag. If they had managed to throw ice cream in there somehow I would be in heaven. Does anyone else find it ironic that out of all the guys in the world they decided that Nino should be the one to judge how cute these boys are? Because, you know, if they can get Ninomiya, clearly the straightest member of the least gay group ever to grace the Japanese music scene, to fall for them, they must really be girly, right??
I just love that Japan is totally okay with this. No, they even encourage this kind of thing. The show gives make-up tips, presumably to be used by the viewers at home to make their own pretty boy look like a girl. Look at all the school girls in the audience, beside themselves with glee. Why is it okay for men to openly admit that lesbian stuff turns them on, but girls are supposed to be disgusted by male homosexuality? Japan has it right. It works both ways, though many American girls are too ashamed to admit it.
Nino’s cuter than all those “girls” put together though.
Sorry to update twice in a day, but this is just too hilarious. It’s Real Face with fake subs, and you really must watch it. Remember that huge popularity gap in KAt-tun I was talking about? Yeah…
Credits are in the video, but here’s where I actually got it from.
It’s embedded, but it might be better to watch on actual youtube because things keep popping up over the subtitles for me. Link to that is HERE
Please support Koki, Ueda, Junno, and that other one,
