Sexy boys wear sexy briefs (a bit of fun before Christmas ^^)
Fuma!!
Good to see him trying to live up to the groups name ^^ I'm not the biggest fan of animal prints but I think I'll let this slide since his been exceeding my expectations and more on the recent Jr Land episodes.
In other news, it's been reported from a few sources that Kochi Yugo has passed his University entrance exams! Congrats to him. Haven't always been a front runner when it comes to dancing or singing, but I'm sure like his graduate sempai's Sho and Koyama, he'll make one hell of a host or mc oneday. Hopefully with his exams out of the way, we'll finally see his return in Febuarys SC.
I've actually wanted to write this since Sexy Zone's debut but haven't found the time nor courage to do so until now, and that's a "Johnny's Group Name Diagnosis!"
I think for fans who've been in the fandoms for a long enough time, we're almost numb to group names and accept it for what it is but it's not until you hear from an outsider or from a haters point of view that you start to find it hard to come up with points to defend that groups name.
With Kisumai and Sexy Zones debut this year and ABC-Zs DVD debut announcement and having spent far too much time reading through arama comments, I kind of wanted to categorise JEs group names and to see what conclusions I can draw for myself. This counld end up a lenghty post.
-Abbreviations and Acronym Names-
SMAP - Sports Music Assemble People
Before knowing that "SMAP" actually stood for something and what it stood for exactly, I thought it was an awesome name. One with impact. Doesn't make you question whether the person who came up with the name actually grew up in California or not. Catchy. I guess if you add some punctuation to it, "sports, music, assembles people" there seems to be a message in there but I'd be happier to have never known what SMAP stood for.
V6 - Volleyball 6
Johnny-san has in the past announced that the V stands for a variety of things including vegetable, bicycle and versus, but for me it's always been volleyball. I refuse to believe the V stands for vegetable just because Sakamoto's parents own a vegetable shop and the same goes for Nagano's parents who runs a bicycle shop. They were the first Johnny's group to sing the image song for World Cup Volleyball, therefore the V stands for volleyball. Simple, meaningful.
NEWS - North East West South
Why? As volleyball supporters I guess the cardinal directions represents the different countries that come from different parts of the world to compete but still. Same reasoning as "SMAP", happier to not have known what it stood for.
ABC-Z - Acrobat Boys Club + Hasshi
I don't know if the japanese feel this way but when I first learnt about the group, all I could think when I saw their group name was, "ABC ABC Alphabet Alphabet Seasame Street Seasame Street ELMO!" Once again, looking at it as just ABC-Z is fine but after their debut I think I'd rather see "Acrobat Boys Club" on the cover of that DVD instead of ABC-Z. It will also save them having to explain to Tamori during every Music Station visit what their name stands for.
-Using Initials Names-
KAT-TUN
Kis-My-Ft2
Not much to say about the names themselves I guess, "Kisumai" sounds fine and the name itself looks cool but as an international fan it's not an easy name to fall in love with. The lucky thing about both names is that when the "A" and "i" left, the "Ks" in both names were able to cover for that loss. Guess it a sign that it was meant to be?
NYC
Nothing to comment on when it comes to the name, it is what it is. Their latest single however, OMG someone shoot me. Chinen will always be my favorite in HSJ so I will like NYC regardless. Though their existance may seem unfair to HSJ but hey, it's not like this hasn't happened before (ie Tegomass). Their better releases I've always liked, and their worser releases I'm still critical of but still manage to trick myself into liking but "Wonderful Cupid" I absolutely hate. Only previews have been released and it doesn't come off any diffrenet to Yume Tamago or the other bad releases I've put up with but seriously, you can't keep having a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds continuely producing those kinds of songs and PV. Their not the wiggles, the sales haven't been great, please allow them to grow up. Despite his looks, Chinen in my country can already drive, drink, smoke, vote and hold a fire arms license.
-Play on Words Names-
TOKIO
TOKIO is the english romanisation of Tokyo. Don't have an issue with the name. Looks cool, sounds cool, and the meaning behind the name is perfectly reasonable.
Kinki Kids
Both members are from the Kinki region in Kansai and hence the name. Might be misleading to new or international fans as to what they do or the genre of music they produce, but personally I like the name. I think even when explained it's a good name with an origin and gives quick background information on the members themselves.
Hey!Say!JUMP - Heisei Johnny's Ultra Music Power
It's actually quite a clever name, one that either Johnny-san put alot of effort into or one that came to him in a dream, but either way a good name in my opinion. Such a good name infact, Johnny has decided to recycle it through out the post-HSJ junior group names which is the biggest negative effect of the names brilliancy.
-Self Titled Names-
Tackey and Tsubasa
Tegomass
I guess when there's only two members, the best group name for them is to just call them by their names. From their earlier work, I'm just happy that T&T weren't named Star Studded Divas.
-Other-
Kanjani8
I'm in a bit of an iffy territory here but it stands for Kansai Johnny's Eight right? As the only real kansai debut, I think it's probably the most fitting name for the group
-Out of the Box Names-
To be honest, this is the part of this 'Diagnosis' that I wanted to write about the most, but having done this in one go so suddenly, I'm getting a bit tired ^^ Maybe I'll edit this at a later date, but for now I'll keep this section short.
Arashi
My perfet storm. Unlike other groups, Arashis the only group you'll see with their name stylised as a kanji. Like how international fans may have issues with certain names because of the english behind it, japanese fans may do too, or at least did before Arashis rise to fame so it's to be debated whether having a japanese name was a good idea or not. But bias aside, I still think Arashi is the best JE group name to date.
Sexy Zone (the root of why all this was written)
Their young, we get it. If you must, call them Cute Zone if you want but that's not their name. As it's decided, they are Sexy Zone. I like the name. From the first time I heard it, all I thought was how excited I am about this group and the issue with the name didn't even occur to me until the haters and bashings began. Maybe I'm a bit slow but some people just need to take it easy when it comes to words like "sexy". Besides the name, JE isn't exploiting the boys or making them do rauchy things. Even the sexiness of their debut song was in the end about a rose.
When it comes to JE group names, for better or for worse the name shouldn't really matter but I'm glad I wrote all this out as something to look back on as a fan in later years. Lol lousy conclusion.