Of Hans Christian Anderson and a can of worms ...
An interesting thing happened on the weekend. After me banging on about how none of my friends understand my love for J-Pop in general and Kanjani8 in particular I took a leap of faith and inflicted both, in general and in particular, on one of my friends. This was a different person to those I went away with a few weekends ago. This person is far
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Yasu and Ryo are the two most prolific writers, creating stuff for themselves and the group. Yoko does write some ‘interesting’ lyrics. He’s also responsible for Crouton. On the other side of the coin he is also wrote the beautiful 413 Man, thanking his deceased grandfather for all the things he did for him.
I had a bit of a ferret around and Tada helped write his sub-unit song Yoru na Yoru na Yo NIGHT (Hina, Yasu and Tada) on Fight. He was also supposed to help with My Store from the Genki album, as was Yasu but Maru ended up doing most of it himself. lol
I don’t watch all of Kanjam, it doesn’t make much sense when you don’t know what they’re saying but I always watch the performance part. K8 have performed with some incredibly diverse artists. It showcases how versatile they are. I like the way they share around lead vocal duties and they always look like they’re having a great time - both Eito and the guests. Maru and GACKT were really cute together. I like GACKT too.
They’ve done everything from dancing Fashion Monster with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to singing Jail House Rock with Sakamoto from V6 - now that man has a good voice (and the rest of him ain’t bad either). Last week Maru sang with StarS. They performed a song from the stage musical Les Miserables. You know that Eito member with the crap voice? Well, he did not sound out of place with people who were obviously trained singers.
Kanjani8 spent a long time in the wilderness, Johnny pretty much ignored them. Still does to a degree. Everything they have, they had to get for themselves. Dividing their time between Tokyo and Osaka and working their butts off. I think that’s another reason I felt so drawn to them … they are the underdogs of Johnnys. I don’t know whether Johnny’s WEST will fare much better. On one hand I’m happy to see them being given opportunities but I don’t like that it seems to be at Eito’s expense. Almost like Johnny has written them off and is preparing for their replacement.
Disco Star is a great song but I don’t think it’s the best. My favourite is either Friendship or Hello Goodbye. They’re both quite old but are real Aiba style songs - sweet, cute and bouncy.
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I think a good reaction to “Leave the group!” uchiwas would be “You leave the concert! We don’t care since we already got your money!” lol. I’m just hoping they won’t go all batshit insane like K-pop fans
I think Nagase can be a tough guy...until someone with a stronger personality shows up. Which is basically everyone. lol. Kinda like Maru, I guess. It was pretty hilarious he was yelling at Hina, “Stop thinking while you’re on top of me!” It’s also kind of weird they do things like that. I mean, how often do they make female idols kiss and whatnot? Odd.
I haven’t seen Haruna-chan yet...But I’ll add it to the list!
If I were a successful idol, I’d invest in the best house ever. Like with a great kitchen, mini theater, gym, etc. Then I’d never have to leave and could be totally happy. Or when I did have to leave, a fast (getaway) sports car with blacked-out windows. People would never see me except for on TV, ‘cause I’d do all my shopping and whatnot online! I’m sure they’d still judge the TV appearances, though.
When you say YokoMaru Pandas, you mean this?
Is Yoko actually wearing shorts?! I thought he’d shrivel up an die if he ever exposed skin :P But I guess it’s OK at night.
Solo stuff seems fun. I liked Yoko’s TRICKSTER video, though I was kinda mad when the PV ended because they didn’t tell us who the secret man was! Or where the jewel went!!!!! I can’t find the rest anywhere, though. Boo. Do you know if the PVs are included on the 1st editions of the CD? I think I like the LIFE PV best. The band stuff is fun. The rest of them seem to be giant balls of WTFery. Like Musekinin HERO. Tacchon dancing on a chair?! And who thought Hina having facial hair would be a good idea?! Yeesh. The older videos are so sad, too! Like they REALLY didn’t give them any money to debut with, huh? Thankfully people liked them and they’re doing better now!
Even though I understand a lot of it, I can mostly drown out Japanese songs when I want to focus on something else. Unless they’re saying something ridiculous... like Kanjani often does :P
I guess I’m just confused as to WHY they’d want to say someone has a bad voice or face. I mean, it doesn’t make business sense. If they ‘poison’ the fans’ thinking, wouldn’t that lower the group as a whole? I mean, I suppose someone could be an ass and want to raise their own image by slandering someone else, but that’s rare.
Aww, the lyrics to 413man are beautiful. He seems to have suffered a lot of loss in his life. Do you know if he wrote anything for his Mom?
Honestly, KanJam doesn’t make a lot of sense even when you DO know what they’re saying. It’s a lot of random stories. I didn’t know Yoko used to work in a factory, though. That was interesting. I was surprised with Maru & GACKT, too. GACKT is a perfectionist... so he would’ve ripped Maru a new one if he thought he was terrible. RE: Jailhouse Rock - Is it mean of me to wish Ryo had just sang the whole thing himself? >.>;; His voice suited the song the best... and I could make out what he was saying the best. Plus, he even had the Elvis hair. As for them doing X’s “Forever Love” .... I bet Tacchon was freaked out playing drums in front of the biggest drumming legend in Japan. And all of them having to sing in front of Yoshiki - he’s notoriously, violently picky. But Baru’s voice definitely sounded closest to Toshi’s. Which is probably why he was making “OHCRAPOHCRAP” faces the whole time before and after. I wonder if Maru was unavailable for the Kyary one. Don’t dance things usually always go to him? Hina and Tacchon were good... but I would’ve expected Maru & Yasu.
It’s kind of nice that KJ8 gets ignored, though. I bet they wouldn’t get away with half the stuff they do if the Jimusho were keeping an eye on them. It’s kinda sad to me, though, that when they do push KJ8 and WEST..... the only thing they seem to think is special about them is “THEY’RE FROM KANSAI!” I can’t tell if they’re saying that to explain away any weirdness/lapse in social grace or if they think they don’t have anything to offer besides being from Kansai. Even if they were from some random countryside county, I’d still think they were interesting.
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Ah yes, the YokoMaru Pandas. Damned cute. The first time I saw them I thought WTF guys, but after I discovered the number of kids (little ones with their parents) that are in the audiences of their shows, this kind of thing doesn’t seem so odd after all. Yoko and his vampire legs … hehe
The PVs of the 8UPPERS solos, collectively known as The Prologue of Patch, were released in two parts with the limited editions of the singles Wonderful World (parts 1-4) and LIFE (5-8). These all seem to be out of print now. There are uploaded versions around. You can find these ones on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/117975954083/videos/406017999890/ Prologue of Patch 1-4
https://www.facebook.com/117975954083/videos/425916794890/ Prologue of Patch 5-8
All will be revealed about the secret man and the jewel.
I like the WTFery, I suppose 'cause it’s so … them. The first PVs I ever saw were Zukkoke Otoko Michi and Wahaha - both sterling examples of Eito at their most demented. It was love at first sight with Maru when he kept coming through the door in Wahaha. I think it was the hair.
I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense that they’d want to say someone has a bad voice or face. but J & A seems okay with having groups where there are ‘popular’ and ‘unpopular’ members. Take Kis-my-Ft2 for example. Johnnys promotes 3 members to the point where the other 4 just look like back up dancers. Hey Say Jump - Yamada Ryosuke, how many others can anyone (apart from fans) name.
I think it all comes down to what I call the ‘narrative’ of a group. They all have to play a part that the fans can readily digest and maintain. I keep returning to Arashi as an example because they are the group I know as well, if not better, than K8.
Sakurai Sho, probably one of the most intelligent and accomplished Johnnys IRL, has been designated the ‘fail’ of the group. He sucks at everything, apparently. I’d put money on the fact that he doesn’t suck at much at all but that’s the part he has to play. I often wonder just how much it galls him to have to play that role.
Maru has scored the gig of the member who just about everyone picks on. A perfect example of this can be seen relation to their alter egos Kyanjani. According to the members Maruko was the ugly one. They said it, Maruko herself talked about it. Forget the fact that NONE of them make particularly attractive women. (Except for Subaru - he was weirdly cute). But this is what you saw fans repeating. “They’re all gorgeous, except for Maruko”.
I don’t know if Yoko has written anything for his mother as yet. I’m not sure they were particularly close. Yoko parents split when he was very young. When his mother remarried and he was sent to live with his grandparents, who raised him. It wasn’t until much later he went back to live with his mother and half-brothers. Hence 413Man.
KPP was on Kanjam again the other night and this time we got Maru, Yasu, Yoko and Ryo. They were all impossibly cute.
That’s true about them getting away with stuff, they push the envelope at times in regards to appropriateness. My greatest concern would be to see them go down the sanitised, ‘appeal to the lowest common denominator’ road that Arashi have.
I really like the Kansai boys. They have a rakish charm about them - I like that they are a bit rough and ready. I am trying to catch up with WEST (I think Hamada is magnificent) but barely have time to fangirl one group let alone two.
Have some cute Hama-chan just for fun.
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You’d think it wouldn’t be odd that they dress up as pandas for the little kids, but then you also have to realize those little kids are also there for fundoshi time and Subako panty flashing. Not sure how I should feel about that. (Did you see Yoko’s legs in last Saturday?)
Hmm, maybe if I’m lucky I can find some copies at BookOff. Thanks for the Facebook links! I’m kinda disappointed, though. Like Yoko’s video was this badass story, and I learn that Hina got the stone only to...... DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WITH IT. Disappointment major! But I did get a good chuckle out of the feathers in his. I kept thinking, “Chi-chan attacked Hina’s pillow.” I think the only ones I really liked were Yoko’s, Maru’s, and Yasu’s. Barus’ was okay, but I wish someone else had sung the song :x Ryo’s, Tacchon’s, and Hina’s were too slow for me. Hina’s could’ve been good if they had some kind of action/story to break up the dance parts. Oh, and why am I not surprised the penis gun I was side-eyeing on Yoko’s video comes from Baru? Eesh. I do love 8Uppers, though. I should watch it again. THOSE NAMES!
I’ll have to go back and watch those PVs, then! Demented is kind of a constant state of mind for me these days, so I bet I’ll enjoy it :P
I suppose they’re happy as long as some members are popular? Because if even one guy is super popular, people are still paying to see all of them. So they can kinda squeeze money out that way. I can actually name some of the guys in HSJ other than Yamada! Kota Yabu (some of the JHS girls had a thing for him). Yuri Chinen (Ohno fanboy) Yuto Nakajima (I’d better know him... I spent hours staring at his face for YowaKate because of Nino), Inoo Kei (Intelli-Idol & annoys Aiba with his Cat Love on TenShiDo). Keito Okamoto (grew up in the UK; annoys MatsuJun). That one kid with the hair that was in Gokusen that I can never remember his name but at least I know he’s in HSJ :P 6.5/9 isn’t bad! But I guess I only know them because of Arashi. Maybe that means I’ll know WEST soon because they’re always on KJ stuff. Prolly not, though. I always skip their parts on JaniBen. lol. I’m so mean.
Is Sho the fail one? I always thought that was Aiba. Sho’s got his genius rep, so Aiba and Oh-chan get to be the dumb ones. But I guess Sho’s supposed to fail at physical stuff (along with Neen). And any time they’re supposed to romance a girl. Good Lordy, did you see the one he did in English with Jun Hasegawa? I thought I was going to break a rib laughing so hard at the cheese. But they do have their roles. I suspect Jun is far less cool than he wants us to believe, and far less ‘S’. And Neen is actually not a total brat. Oh-chan’s not a zombie. Aiba’s not a moron. It’s funny - I watched AniShi for the first time in ages the other week and it was so confusing to me..... It was so quiet! They weren’t all shouting at each other and talking over each other........ I guess you get used to the chaos with Eito after a while :P
I thought Yasu was a pretty cute girl! And actually, Maru was really beautiful when he dressed up with Hina to work at Cecil McBee. He was one on of the prettier ones in KyanJani, too... so I just kept thinking it was a “bitches be jealous” thing :P Everyone kept fawning over Ryo & Tacchon, but I was just like ...... no. They all suck at being cutesy girly. Except Yasu. And Maru. Yoko was OK. I think the biggest problem was the wigs. NO ONE looks good with those awful heavy bangs! I guess they figured they had to hide their manly brows somehow, but it’s not like high school girls can wear makeup/pluck anyway. But yeah, Maruko was not and has never been the ugliest girl in KyanJani.
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I’m not sure I can handle that much cuteness. My brain might explode. Well, I suppose Grumpster Ryo is there to balance it out. Also... watching old KanJani videos...... was Yoko supposed to be the wildly adorable one back in the day? Because all his faces are so hilarious! It seems to have shifted to Yasu and Maru later on and Yoko’s taken on a Nino-like brat role. (Though Tacchon definitely has the stronger ‘Nino’ role)
If you sanitize KanJani, I don’t think there’s really anything left to watch. I mean, obviously they’re awesome people, but they wouldn’t be KanJani then. Just some random group of seven guys in their 30s.
I only know two of the boys in WEST, so I have no clue who this Hamada kid is, but he’s cute. lol. I think he was on JaniBen once, though. Maybe?
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