'Male AKB48' Naked Boyz Group Debuts with 44 Members
Naked Boyz, Japan's largest ikemen (handsome male) performance unit, debuted in a Tokyo event on Thursday. The self-described "male AKB48" group has 44 members and plans to perform several times a year from their "base" at the Live Hall Face in western Tokyo's Shinjuku ward. (By comparison, the all-female AKB48 idol group is situated in eastern Tokyo's Akihabara otaku shopping district.) The official website and blog will provide more information.
The members of Naked Boyz range in age from 16 to 30 years old. They will take part in 24-Hour Television, NTV's live annual charity marathon, on August 28, and they will also appear on the Mache-Vari variety program in September. 38-year-old transsexual singer and talent Ai Haruna participated in Naked Boyz' debut event and joked that she wanted to date the entire Naked Boyz group - one member every day.
Some of the members have appeared in television, film, and stage productions such as Motoki Ochiai (Last Quarter, Gantz, Gokusen the Movie 2), Tatsuya Kishida (Samurai High School), Kazuki Shimizu (Gokusen the Movie), Yūta Takahashi (Hana Zakari no Kimitachi e : Ikemen Paradise), Kenshi Takemoto (20th Century Boys), Yūto Tsujimoto (Inazuma Eleven), Hiroyuki Nakahara (Basara, Itazura na Kiss), Daigo Fujisawa (Golden Boy), Yūki Matsuoka (Moyashimon, live-action Perfect Blue, The Prince of Tennis), Yūki Murakami (Samurai High School), Win Morisaki (Gokusen Sotsugyō Special '09), Kōichi Yoshino (La Corda D'Oro Stella Musical), Shūto Yoshihara (La Corda D'Oro Stella Musical), and Keita Yonamine (Boys Be...).
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source: ANIME NEWS NETWORK