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Okay, back to business. First off, no, of course I didn’t forget Ryutaro‘s birthday. But I’m not making a special birthday post because I already sent him a birthday letter that stands a way better chance of getting read by him than a blog post would. Still I’d like to mention once again that Ryutaro is one of my all time favourite Johnny’s boys. Earlier this week one of my online acquaintances dared to say to me that she doesn’t see anything special in him. That’s outrageous. You know who you are, lady, and yours is one of the now 100+ comments and emails I have yet to reply to, so we’ll still have to talk about this. (*shakes fist*)

I think I first fell in love with Ryutaro when I saw him flirting with female fans that were twice his age during the 2006 Daibouken concerts. I don’t know, seeing this just made me smile because he was obviously enjoying himself a lot and having a great time, and that made me happy for him. I won’t get into the whole “oh he’s working so hard” thing. All these kids are working very hard. But some of them improve over the years while others don’t. Three years ago Ryutaro was pretty much a n00b, and there were so many times when I watched him and thought that poor kid is totally lost and has no idea what he’s doing. Now when I look at him I see a 13-year-old professional who knows exactly what he’s doing, who knows what he’s supposed to do, and who seems to have the time of his life. I see other kids working just as hard but they still don’t know what to do and they don’t seem to enjoy themselves at all. Maybe for them Johnny’s isn’t the right thing. For Ryutaro it is. Happy Birthday again, Ryutaro. You’re awesome, and I’m looking forward to the many great things you’ll do in the future.

I have this A3 laminated poster of Ryutaro, Yuto and Ryosuke grinning into the camera when they were 11 to 13 years old. It’s on the wall above my desk. I bought it in Harajuku two years ago and to this day it’s one of my favourites. I love seeing these three boys together. Johnny put them together very early on, and in a way they still are kind of their own little sub-unit. I don’t know, for some reason this 3-boy-combo just works for me, and I’m very happy that for the new Show wa Hey!Say! program they didn’t add Chinen and Keito to the mix. You know I love Keito to bits and I admire and respect Chinen for his awesome voice as well as his looks and his professional attitude. But in Show wa Hey!Say! they’d be totally out of place.

Speaking of which…

I got up at 4:30 this morning to watch the first episode of Show wa Hey!Say!. And the great news is: for once I was pretty much right with what I wrote about it a couple of days ago before I knew what it would be like. They removed the boring parts of Heisei Families and put more emphasis on the fun parts. Heisei Families was a basically a talk show that had a few funny games and way too much boring restaurant reviews. Show wa Hey!Say! is a game show with a little talk and no boring restaurant reviews. Total WIN. One thing that’s changed from Heisei Families is that Yuto, Ryosuke and Ryutaro are no longer the three cute kids that get to say a few (scripted) funny lines every once in a while. In Show wa Hey!Say! the three boys have pretty much advanced to co-hosts of the program, who at times have the whole stage, the audience and the cameras all to themselves and they talk freely and it doesn’t look scripted at all. That’s just awesome and exactly what I want to see, and now that they’re given the chance they’re doing a really great job. Eat your hearts out, Yabu and Hikaru, that kind of thing will never happen to you on Hi!Hey!Say! (except I tend to be wrong about these things and now that I said it won’t happen it probably will, but what the heck).

So yeah, Show wa Hey!Say! gets two thumbs up from me. There also was a Live Stage. I’ll upload that one together with the full episode (because it’s a historical document, being the first one and all), but it’s a big file so that’ll take a while. Check back tomorrow.

Next up, the first episode of Battery. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love that drama. What can I say, it’s about two things I love, baseball and boys, so there’s no way I could not love it, unless it’s really bad which luckily it isn’t. If I were Nakayama (sorry, I didn’t memorize their role names yet so I’m referring to them by their real names for now), and I came to a new place and there’d be that annoyingly genki Takada Sho all over me right from the start I’d be totally pissed. I’d never smile either, and people would think there’s something very weird about me. Just like Nakayama. And if I were Takada, and that annoyingly un-genki but still awesome baseball hero Nakayama came to live in my sleepy little village, I’d be totally excited and I’d be all over that new kid in no time. Just like Takada. So I can kinda relate to both characters and I’m really looking forward to see how they both get along (except I’ve seen the movie so I already know, but still). Nakayama is incredibly cool in Battery, and I’m beginning to really really like him. Takada is incredibly cute, and I’m not only talking about his looks but about the way his character is excited about having a new friend. And Shintaro… oh well, Shintaro is Shintaro. He’s just adorable and doing a great job. Watch out, Ryutaro. So yeah, another two thumbs up from me for Battery. For those who haven’t seen it yet, episode 1 can be downloaded from D-Addicts.

And finally, today’s Shonen Club. One thumb up from me. I don’t know. It was good, and I enjoyed it. There were many great little things that I really enjoyed a lot. Shoon solo. Sanada solo. Takki was there (god, how I love Takki!). But sometimes you throw a couple of great things together and they end up being… not so great. Really good and enjoyable, but not great. This Shonen Club was good, and it was enjoyable. But I’ve seen greater things before and I’m sure I’ll see greater things again soon.

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SC 2008-04-06 Deai Medley.mp3

Great people in that Deai Medley. Sanada♥, Hasshi♥, Shintaro♥, Anderson♥, Kyomoto♥, Ookawa♥, Shoon♥, Uekusa♥. But I was a bit disappointed by Shoon’s Way of Life. Not his fault though. I just thought there’d be more than just one solo line. And I think that if they had really wanted to they could have found a better costume for him.

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SC 2008-04-06 HSJ – Chance to Change.mp3

Chance to Change. Good performance. Nothing extraordinary, just like the song itself, but good. And good job, Keito! There’s only one thing that you really need to stop doing and that’s constantly looking at what the other members are doing because people can see that you know. They’re doing their own stuff, and that’s what you should be doing too. But other than that, two thumbs up from me, Keito. I’m still not really sure if that’s what you want to do, but if it is hang in there because if you really want to you can.

And finally, just for the fun of seeing Takki, Hey!Say!JUMP and the Juniors on stage together…

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SC 2008-04-06 Crazy Rainbow.mp3

That’s it for today. Thank you for all the very supportive and uplifting comments I’ve received in the last couple of hours and days. I’ll try to reply to them as soon as I can. I’ll be back tomorrow with the Show wa Hey!Say! Live Stage, plus a little rant about why Microsoft sucks so much. See you then.

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