A History of *pnish*
Reading [info]lavenderlilly's recent post asking for *pnish* history made me curious, so I went digging. I've put together what I know in a story-esque format, with information on everyone I could get my browser to point me towards. Check it out if it so pleases you, and comment with additions or corrections if you see any that need to be made!
A History of *pnish*
So, all right, this isn’t exactly a history per se, because truth be told we don’t know their history. I find this simultaneously frustrating and saddening, because they’ve been together for so long (nearly six years now) that you’d think we’d know more about the group, or at the very least they would have told us themselves.
We’ll start out with some individual backgrounds.
Sano Daiki
Daiki was born January 22, 1979, in Shizuoka prefecture. He has a father, mother, and two elder brothers, one of whom is Johnny's Jr. Sano Mizuki. His grandmother passed away in early 2007. He's the Leader of *pnish* and one of the two founding members. He relates, looking back, that he never really “wanted” to be an actor. He didn’t wake up one day and think he wanted to be a part of a theatre troupe.
He was the kind of crazy, spastic kid who wanted to be whatever popped on the TV when he was looking: baseball player, tennis player, pro golfer, even a mangaka crossed his mind at one point--an idea which likely fueled his interest in drawing and art. But one day in elementary school he spotted Morohoshi Kazumi, a member of Hikaru GINJI, on television, and was hooked-he wanted to be an idol.
On graduating from high school, he started hitting up auditions all around, but couldn’t manage to land anything. Then he joined up with the jimusho ZEAL, which is kind of like a talent agency, and while his lifestyle didn’t much change, it did spur him on to actually want to do something on his own-he wanted to do something, and if the work wouldn’t come to him, he’d have to go to it. He had a bit of help in his older brother Mizuki, who was already a well-known talent by the time Daiki migrated from Shizuoka to Tokyo, and the two roomed together for a while before Daiki actually started landing steady work.
Living with his brother, who was already well established in the world Daiki barely had his foot in, he would often relate his dreams to Mizuki of starting his own theatre troupe and putting on shows with their own funds and manpower.
Moriyama Eiji
Eiji was born October 3, 1976, in Nagasaki prefecture, on the island of Ooshima. He has a father, mother, and an elder sister who is married. He’s the oldest member of the group and the second-in-command, the fuku-Leader to Daiki's Leader.
Though he was born in Nagasaki, he moved to Tokyo in 5th grade with his family, joining the soccer club in middle school and working odd jobs in high school. After graduating, he was working on the staff of a friend who was making a movie, when the friend commented that Eiji seemed more suited for work in front of the camera, rather than behind it.
Thinking it seemed worthwhile to at least give it a shot, Eiji soon got to actually be on stage rather than working behind the scenes. In late 1997, he landed a role performing a bit part in a production of Our Town. While it wasn’t a large role, and while the rehearsals were long and taxing, he realized he really wanted to be more involved in the warm atmosphere he found with his castmates-one of whom happened to be, of all people, Sano Mizuki.
Although the two weren't very close during the production, as Mizuki had his hands full with his role (Mizuki was one of the top billed, while Eiji wasn't even listed in the cast list), after the show's run ended, the two would occasionally hang out and chat over drinks or dinner. It was during one of these outings, though, that Eiji related to Mizuki one of his dreams: to start his own theatre troupe and host their own shows, gathering a fan following of their own.
Here, the stars aligned and everything came together, as Mizuki remarked idly that hey, he had a little brother who wanted to do the same thing! They should meet up!
And that is how *pnish* was born, when Moriyama Eiji and Sano Daiki were introduced by Sano Mizuki.
Washio Noboru
Wasshi was born February 8, 1977, in Miyazaki prefecture. He has a father, mother, and younger brother. He’s also the *pnish* member who’s known Daiki the longest, though he didn't join *pnish* until after Eiji and Daiki met.
Wasshi would have told you, had you asked him when he was a little kid, that he wanted to be a soccer player when he grew up. But around middle school, he kind of lost interest when it became more and more up to him to keep going with it. In high school, he found a growing interest in Nagasaku Hiromi, an actress and singer for the j-pop group Ribbon, and decided to delve more into the acting industry. While he didn’t yet have enough drive to actually be in any performances or anything, he began taking classes at a vocational school learning the backstage workings-sound, lighting, props, sets, the whole shebang.
After a while, though, he realized that if he just stayed at the school learning as he was, he’d soon have to get a real job and quit the school, and he’d never find this opportunity again if he didn’t make steps towards furthering his career now. So he left the school and began working in earnest to be a real actor.
He recalls that his parents didn’t really have any objections, and supported him-this was actually the first time he’d ever strongly asserted what he wanted to do with his life, how could they? Even now they’ll still come to his shows, dragging along friends at times, and really enjoy his work.
However, it wasn’t until he entered a jimusho by the name of ZEAL that he really got bitten by the acting bug and wanted to become a part of the world it was connected with. Once contracted with them, he would go in once a week for acting and dance lessons-and it was there that he met one Sano Daiki. But he still wasn’t 100% committed to making acting his career (rather, you can't BE an actor that early on, it just doesn't pay enough!), and spent his days balancing part-time jobs with his lesson comings and goings.
Wasshi lost touch with Daiki in his busy days over the months after they met, and it was over a year later when he was contacted by his old friend with an offer to join up with him and one Moriyama Eiji in forming their own theatre troupe. The rest is history!
Tsuchiya Yuuichi
Tuti was born February 6, 1979, in Yamanashi prefecture. He has a mother named Yumiko and a younger sister, and is the youngest member of *pnish*.
Ever since childhood, Tuti had always dreamt of being really special, and different from others. Shortly after graduating from high school, he hopped on his motorcycle and sped off to Tokyo to visit a friend-but after two weeks there, he wasn’t ready to leave, and decided to just move there for good. He eventually found work with a travelling theatre troupe that went around to elementary schools performing. He adds that at this point, he didn’t really have any interest in the world of theatre so much-it was just to pay the bills.
But now and then when he’d get off work, he’d go and check out the performances of one troupe, BQMAP. So drawn in was he by the group’s work, he asked if they were accepting new members, and after an audition he was the newest member. This was c. 1998, and he was affiliated with the group until September 2000. During this time, though, performing at first bit parts and then working his way up to bigger and bigger roles within the group, he became introduced to the other *pnish* members through his jimusho, eventually lending his amazing dance skills to the group which helped them gain more and more fame for their abilities on stage and off.
Tuti is quite accomplished at English, though he appears to pride himself more on recalling the vocabulary and grammar taught in middle and high school than actually being proficient in conversation. He celebrated 10 years in acting in June, 2007, and joined up with Office Jr. Co. in 2009 after operating as a free (not-affiliated with an agency or manager) actor since 2003.
So how does ShiroxKuro fit into all this? Let’s break it down:
ShiroxKuro was short-lived and many-membered. Check out the list:
Sano Daiki
Moriyama Eiji
Washio Noboru
Tsuchiya Yuuichi
Yoshida Naofumi
Nishikawa Takeshi
Mori Norihisa
Hara Kouji
Motoki Ikuya
The bolded names went on the become part of *pnish*, while the others dropped out of the company before it became anything bigger.
Mori Norihisa would go on to become a successful actor and voice-actor, perhaps best known around here as the voice of Yanagizawa Shinya of St. Rudolph in the Prince of Tennis anime. He also worked a radio program called Mori’s 25 Minutes where, after *pnish* was up and running, he invited the group to be his guest. He appeared in both ShiroxKuro productions.
Motoki Ikuya and Hara Kouji were only with the group a short time. Hara participated in the first ShiroxKuro production before devoting his time to the theatre troupe bul-bous-bowl, which broke up in 2004. He no longer works as an actor, while Motoki still performs.
ShiroxKuro was everything: a dance group, a theatre troupe, and even a boy band. They put on two plays during their short time together, Best Team and Set a Trap.
Best Team was performed July 15-18, 2000, in Wendy Theatre. Performing were Sano Daiki, Moriyama Eiji, Washio Noboru, Tsuchiya Yuuichi, Yoshida Naofumi, Mori Norihisa, and Hara Kouji.
Set a Trap was performed February 1-4, 2001, in Sphere Mex. Performing once again were Sano Daiki, Moriyama Eiji, Washio Noboru, Tsuchiya Yuuichi, Yoshida Naofumi, and Nishikawa Takeshi. Mori Norihisa also participated, though not as a full member. The play centered around two robbers breaking into a house they thought was empty, only to find people there-they try to pass themselves off as friends of the house’s owner, and hilarity ensues situational comedy-style.
There are a few reports that Sano Mizuki, one of Daiki’s older brothers, and a former Johnny’s Boy, was also involved in some way with ShiroxKuro at one point after initially introducing Eiji and Daiki, but no further information on these rumors is available. Eiji was in Comic Jack with him in 2003, though, and Mizuki also took part in *pnish*’s September 2006 performance of Wonder Box and June 2009 performance of Samurai Mode. Details regarding how *pnish* was formed did not come to light in any fashion until Mizuki guested in Daiki's solo event D-room 2 in January 2008, and did not become public knowledge until late 2008, when Eiji revealed the group's beginnings during his guesting stint on Kira Kira Actor's TV.
ShiroxKuro’s disbanding was announced on May 21, 2001. Their planned October show was suspended at that point, and on July 1, 2001, *pnish*’s formation was announced, with Sano Daiki, Moriyama Eiji, Washio Noboru, Tsuchiya Yuuichi, Yoshida Naofumi, and Nishikawa Takeshi remaining in the group.
Of the six starting *pnish* members, only four remain now.
Yoshida Naofumi left in 2003 to pursue a personal acting career, eventually standing on stage again with Moriyama Eiji and Tsuchiya Yuuichi in 2005 and 2006 when they performed in Rock Musical Bleach together.
Nishikawa Takeshi left in 2002 after growing too busy with his own productions outside of the group to keep up with *pnish*. He was married around 2004, and Tuti attended in very…casual dress. He wore his trademark Puma jacket.
With the loss of these final two members, the current *pnish* group was finalized and will celebrate their 8th year together July 1, 2009. Ten self-made-productions, six Ons (seven after Summer 2009), and numerous solo events and inner-group works (Daiki’s D-room performances, Santies performances, Tuti's T.T.T., and Wasshi's Lives) later, the group’s on the move and performing in steadily larger venues.
They say you can tell a lot about where someone’s going by looking at their past. While *pnish*’s past is far from clear, with many details remaining to be clarified, it’s still obvious that they’re going up up up!
Any comments or tidbits to include are most appreciated, as I pretty much threw this together very quickly and without much backup :P Hope this clears some things up!
For further information on post-conception *pnish* works, I’ve translated the timeline included in *pnish* Panic Days! Check it out here. (granted, it's a bit out of date now!)