JE History Through 8時だJ - Introduction
Hello, everyone! You might know me from a certain disbanded comm, and if so, you probably know of me as that crazily old-show-loving chick who was connected to that 8時だJ (8 ji da J, or literally "It's 8 o'clock! J") project. In light of the indefinite hiatus (for obvious reasons), I thought I would start a journal series on this show--notes, ( Read more... )
I heard about that rumor too, that thing about what's now Arashi being originally a group for Takki, Tsubasa, Kohara, Osaka, and Hamada. Don't remember if Subaru's included. My source wasn't really clear on the exact member list, but the main part is that what we now know as Arashi was formed pretty last minute after some juniors who were scheduled to debut with Takki in 1999 (obviously implying Osaka and probably Hamada) were involved in that underage drinking scandal in late '98. So yeah, the other guy you were talking about was most likely Hamada Kazuo. The scandal also involved Omi Kazuki and Anazawa Masahiro. A lot of people speculates that all the scandals and incidents around late '98 and '99 are connected and that other companies were trying to bring JE down a notch, and I think there's a lot of truth in that. After all, wasn't Johnny-san's trial around that same time period?
Anyway, back to the juniors, if you look at the junior-central variety shows like 8J, while the younger three of Arashi were pretty prominent from the very beginning, they're not all that much more heavily featured than older popular juniors like Osaka. They sit on the first row (and Toma could usually be found with them as well), but not front-center unless they're the main feature of a segment. But towards the end of '98 and beginning of '99, they begin to move closer to the center, and around that time, Sho can be seen more and more often as well, whereas in the beginning Sho wasn't one of the juniors who regularly feature in the various segments. And with the concerts as well, for quite a while it looked almost as if Takki was training MatsuJun to be the next junior leader when Takki himself debuts, what with the way Jun was helping with the concert planning and everything... Though that might just be a product of Jun being staunchly on Takki's side if you start thinking about the factions among the juniors during that time.
But what do we know, really, the past's the past and while what-ifs like what if Kohara debuted and MAIN debuted together are fun... *sigh* I guess it'll always be bittersweet for me, think about those juniors. Glad to know that you seem to love them too though! ^-^
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So...it was a drinking scandal? I remember Takki had to apologize in a MS performance because of that incident. Also, you're right. The three younger members of Arashi started to get more prominent after the scandal.
I remember reading that Nino started to get really concerned in early 1999 because he felt he was suddenly being pushed into the spotlight by the management. He was worried cause he was planning to quit in 2000.
Sho was confuse about the sudden push by the management too even though he was a senior. Ever since his hiatus due to his school work, he was always being placed in the back in dances.
Also, I didn't know that Takki was grooming Jun as the new leader. I was under impression that Takki was grooming Yamapi. However, I remember Jun mentioning his involvement in jr concerts too and how fascinated he was by it. I think that was a good experience for him because he is still the concert planner for Arashi even now.
You're right about the what ifs. I am pretty happy the current Arashi debuted. :D But I wonder why the Jimusho held Takki back? Why couldn't they just replace the two members with Jun or another popular jr? I think the Jimusho really hurt his growth in popularity because of that. Maybe they were trying to control the jrs so they wanted Takki to mentor the younger ones and help maintain their popularity. Also, it was really a shame with Kohara. (sigh) He was so cool. At least, he still keeps in touch with Sho and Nino.
Also very interesting that there was a conspiracy (well, if you can call it that.. xD ) against Johnny's. I have always wondered if people were threatened by JE. I guess they are.
I really appreciate this. Thank you!
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And well, with the grooming Jun/Yamapi to be the next leader thing... To be fair Takki was grooming Yamapi, but that didn't really start, or become apparent for that matter, until later, with shows like Shokura. And when was that? That's right, after Arashi debuted. It seems that Takki took a liking to Yamapi from the beginning though. But all the same, as far as us fans can see anyway, Yamapi didn't really come near to being the de-facto successor to Takki until Jun et. al. were all debuted and gone. And if Takki, Kohara, and the other older juniors (pretty much the best of the 93-95 crowd, and of course, Kohara, the lone veteran who entered as early as '91) debut in '99 instead of Arashi, then Jun would be much more of an obvious choice for the next junior leader than Yamapi. ...Unless Yamapi pulls a Takki and lands himself national popularity through drama appearances, and then we'd have a reenactment of Takki vs. Kohara on our hands.
But I digress. Like I said, the whole Jun-was-supposed-to-be-the-next-junior-leader thing was all speculation, albeit one that I personally believe to be pretty close to the truth. But what do us fans know anyway, right? So yeah...
As for why the Jimusho held Takki back, well, my personal pet theory is that if they debuted both Takki AND Jun, then they would really have no one who can lead the juniors. Yeah, there's always Yamapi, but not without an initial period of unrest, probably, and that's exactly what the Jimusho doesn't need at that point in time because the situation isn't the best all-around already, what with the sexual harassment lawsuits with Shukan Bunshun. And knowing what we know now, unless Arashi debuted the way it did, Ohno, Sho, and Nino weren't going to stick around, and I would bet that if Aiba didn't debut, there's a good likelihood that he, not his brother, would've been the one to inherit the restaurant... So in the end, you get pretty much the same people as we did in our version of history, and no (or significantly less) Takki. True, Arashi was with the juniors a lot even after their debut, but if it was Takki et. al. who debuted, things might have turned out slightly differently, because after all, the group would have debuted on the tails of Takki's post- Majo no Jouken popularity. But still... I don't know.
And I'm not even going to try to go into the whole thing with Kohara because he's still my secret JE-fav... At least he has his name in the JE legends, since he was and still is the only junior ever who got to announce leaving JE, during a concert or otherwise. They usually just disappear and you don't really find out until much later.
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