Arashi Cameos

Aiba
- Nino's drama Freeter, Ie wo Kau
- Sho's drama Yoiko no Mikata


MatsuJun

- Ohno's drama SP Mou Yuukai Nante Shinai (as Tokita Shuntaro from Lucky Seven)
- Ohno's drama Kaibutsu-kun
- Sho's drama Yoiko no Mikata (as Sawada Shin)

Nino
- MatsuJun's drama Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku
- Ohno's drama Maou

Ohno
- Sho's drama Yoiko no Mikata (as a claim agent of C no Arashi)
- Sho's drama Tokujo Kabachi
- Sho and Nino's drama Yamada Taro Monogatari

Sho
- Ohno's drama SP Mou Yuukai Nante Shinai (as Kageyama from Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de)
- Aiba's drama My Girl
- Ohno's drama Sekai Ichi Muzukashii Koi (as himself, context News Zero)
- Ohno's drama Uta no Oniisan (as himself, context Yatterman)

Actors/Actresses who have worked with Arashi

Through J-dramas, I've come to know Arashi, and through Arashi, I've come to know so many more actors and actresses, some of whom I've come to really adore in their own right. So let's take a look at what roles each of these talents have been cast along with Arashi and identify any ones who have had completed the Arashi Grand Slam of working with all five!

*This post may be updated on an irregular basis. I hope to see many of these actors/actresses get more projects with Arashi members in the future.

**For some of the roles listed, the actors were in the same drama/movie as an Arashi member, but they may never have shared a scene.

Things I love about 99.9

I have just finished watching the first episode of MatsuJun's new Sunday drama 99.9 Keiji Senmon Bengoshi, in which he plays Miyama Hiroto, a young lawyer who specializes in criminal law and believes in getting to the bottom of the truth even in the face of cases where the defendant has a 99.9% chance of being declared guilty.

In the first episode, we're introduced to Miyama as an eccentric lawyer with a paralegal sidekick Akashi (who has apparently failed the bar several times and is thus stuck working with him). He stands in stark contrast to the polished, trimly dressed lawyers in the Madarame Law Firm (represented by the corporate lawyer Sada Atsuhiro (Kagawa Teruyuki) and Eikura Nana's Tachibana). Miyama is playful, carries an old leather backpack, likes to suck on hard candies, and doesn't wear his attorney's badge on his lapel like most lawyers do. He is also poorer than most lawyers, as criminal law tends to be a lot less lucrative than the corporate wangles that bigshot firms like Madarame specialize in. 

Warning: Spoilers Below (well, sort of)

Arashi Fandom is in a Happy Place

I have been neglecting this blog. For that, I apologize. I guess the deeper I sink into this fandom, the less inclined I am to editorialize the actions and performances of our beloved five Arashi members. I've found that there are both good and bad things about fandom, and one of the bad things is that it's very easy to start getting swayed by the (often strong) opinions and conjectures of other fans, and the next thing you know, you're spending hours trying to refute something that probably didn't matter much to begin with while you could have been basking in the raucous laughter of a good old episode of Shiyagare instead.

So you know, I've just been trying to spend more time with the raw sources of my happiness, not on some carefully curated tumblr or twitter feed. And as a result, I've just felt like I'm in such a supremely happy place whenever I step into the online world these days.

Arashi Live Tour 2015 "Japonism" 12/17 in Fukuoka - The Concert Experience

Japonism was an album that was made with performance in mind (actually, come to think of it, what Arashi album isn't?), and this year, I had the immense fortune of hitting for amazing arena tickets that just bordered the moving stage's trajectory, so needless to say, I worked Fukuoka into my winter travel schedule, and paid my first ever visit to Yafuoku Dome.

Yafuoku! Dome, under some beautiful, forecast-defying weather on Dec. 17.

I'll skip all the pre-concert drivel, but in short, everything went by without a hitch. I went to the Dome around 3pm to avoid the early morning crowds and shop for my concert goods. It was nice and bright when I got there (see picture above), there was barely any line for the goods, plenty of the venue-limited masking tapes were still available (they hadn't even started limiting the number per person yet), and I got everything I wanted within 30 minutes.

SPOILER ALERT BELOW

Japonism - Arashi Album Review

It's that time of year again. It's Arashi album season. And yes, that means staying up late at night to loop these familiar voices in their new melodies. Fear not though, because our fab five have given us a pretty fine album this time!

As any Arashi fan who doesn't live under a rock might know by now, the new album is entitled Japonism (conception by Sakurai Sho), and its overarching theme? To fuse the beauty of Japanese musical elements into the usual pop/rock/whatever-it-is-that-one-labels-Arashi. Now, the whole fusing traditional with modern thing is something that's totally been done before by other Asian artists (Jay Chou, anyone?), and when it's done right, it can be absolutely soul-shatteringly brilliant. So how did Arashi do?

Arashi x Pazudora - Fantastical Worlds

Whenever I hear of a new company engaging Arashi as endorsers of their products, my eyes go bright, and a brief dopamine surge kicks off in my brain as the anticipation buds. Over the years (and I've done a couple of posts on Arashi CMs here and here), the fab five have acted as endorsers for various products, from cars to potato chips (and even diapers, in MatsuJun's case), and even though I don't have the opportunity (or necessity, really) to purchase many of the things they endorse, I still hang on to every frame of their CMs because 1) they're beautiful; 2) they're action-packed; 3) they're humorous; and 4) they always have a happy ending. It's the plastic world of commercials, after all.

I've found that different companies tend to make use of Arashi's image in different ways. For example, Kirin likes to play the OT5 card a lot (perhaps, they feel the completeness of Arashi most keenly, since they were a company who didn't start out with all five members in their initial contract, and had to acquire Nino and Sho after the other three). Kirin's CM's also tend to be light and jovial, which is undoubtedly meant to evoke the frothy, fizzy feel of their beer. Nissan, on the other hand, tended more towards making Arashi look sleek and modern, which of course fit perfectly with the intended image of their sleek and modern cars. In contrast to most others, JAL likes to hover closer to reality, collaborating with Ohno on a jet design and often referencing Arashi's real-life duties as idols in their CM scripts. Hitachi, the other big corporation with all five under its name, places the heaviest emphasis on comedic elements and often casts Arashi in various domestic vignettes to showcase that.

Starting a couple of years ago (2013? 2014?), a new player signed on to deck itself out in the five-colored rainbow, and this was Gungho, the company that developed the popular smartphone game "Puzzles and Dragons" or "Pazudora" for short.

A Rambling Review on News Zero Culture Spinoff (2015.07.30), featuring Ohno, Sho and Shige

In a relatively low-key, 20 minute program at the end of this July, News Zero gathered three ""unconventional" Johnny's idols for a laid-back heart-to-heart on why they chose to take professional detours from the traditional idol path of singing, dancing, variety shows and acting. The three idols were Ohno Satoshi of Arashi (for his art activities), Sakurai Sho of Arashi (for his role as a newscaster), and Kato Shigeaki of NEWS (for his work as a writer of fiction).

Now, I've admired all three of them for pushing the boundaries of idolhood (though I'll admit I didn't know much else about Shige as a person other than the fact that he liked to fish with Ohno), so I was naturally excited when I heard the announcement of this program. It just seemed like such a long overdue topic, and I feel like it's been quite a while since people were under the impression that idols (or at least, Johnny's idols) had to be strictly confined to the "conventional" idol activities, most of which are aimed at showcasing their physical appeal (whether that be the kawaii or kakkoii factor). I mean, sure, idoldom is still largely considered a field of shallow pleasures, but who really believes that an idol can have lasting appeal based solely on face value and a plastic public persona these days?

Arashi Choreography - The Beloved, the Beautiful, the Breathtaking and the Just Plain Silly

Arashi performances are a wonder to behold, whether they're done live in a stadium full of hopping people or in a studio stage with no one but the staff and cameras. So much heart, so much effort goes into an Arashi performance, but of course, what it always boils down to in the end are two things: the song. And the dance.

And boy, do they dance. Over the years, these five boys-turned-men have tried their hands (and perky little butts!) at a broad sampling of dancing styles, from Latin to hip hop, from jazz ballet to straight up breakdance. Go through a string of Arashi performances, and you'll find moves that are contemporary, disco, funk, acrobatic, with a creative sprinkling of experimentation in aerials and traditional Japanese dance. And sometimes, when the day is done and the boys just want to relax, you'll even see the very Arashified version of the "move your body and look dorkily silly" school of dance.  

So here, I've endeavored to list some of my personal favorite Arashi dance moves. I tried to choose from a variety of styles, just to showcase how versatile our fab five are! Please enjoy a wonderful gif-filled Arashi dance selection!

*Warning: Very very gif-heavy!

The Difference between Aimiya and Sakumoto (Arashi ni Shiyagare 2011.02.19 with Yuzu)

Pairings-wise, I honestly don't think there is a single one within Arashi that I don't find myself flailing over. I mean, Arashi's a bag of rainbow-colored fun, and you can mix-n-match and combine the members however you want; all combis turn out to be magical and charismatic! ^.^  But of course, each combi is also different, and as I was rewatching this one episode of Arashi ni Shiyagare (with Yuzu as guests, aired 2011.02.19), I noticed this detail that I couldn't help but tuck away as a little memo to myself. 

Basically, Yuzu are introducing Arashi to some lovely Chinese food, and as the chef brings the steaming bowls of noodles to Arashi, we notice, first of all, that there are only three bowls for five members. 

That's right. One bowl on the table between Sho and Jun, one bowl for Leader alone in the middle, and one bowl for Aimiya, who are both properly chanting the customary "itadakimasu~!" 

More and More - Arashi Song Review

It's 2015, fanboys and girls, and Arashi is back with a stunning new single to keep that sparkly spring in our step as we head on into the year of the sheep! 

Yes, I'm talking about Sakura, and no, I still can't quite make up my mind if it's about the flower or the imposter, but at this point I really don't think I care, because it's one hell of a seductive song to one hell of a suspenseful drama, and all that matters now is the whirlwind of pink petals and Toma getting bloodied up alongside Juri and everyone's knees swooshing 360 on the M-ste floor and strings strings strings gliding in a frenzy to trickling piano notes that finally end with Leader's reptilian stare after the upsweep of the last violin.

I really had to choose which song I wanted to flail over first. Did I want to wax my poesy over the agitated tremors of each and every string in Sakura or would I rather dive right down the glitzy rabbit hole of the gazillion little dings and zings and be welcomed to Arashi's Rainbow Wonderland all brassy with more and more?

A Tiny Gesture of Leaderly Care from Ohno to Aiba

I just rewatched the 2007.06.11 episode of Arashi no Shukudai, featuring Ungirls as the guest, and I noticed this teensy detail between Ohno and Aiba that I never saw before!

Aiba mis-speaks, as usual, so naturally Nino (aka Aiba's primary first-line tsundere) steps up to give him a well-deserved smack to the head.

But then, right after Nino's smack, Oh-chan, who is standing just behind them, reaches out a gentle hand to fix a little tuft in Aiba's hair (which was presumable messed up from Nino's smack just now). Yasashii, Riidaa! <333

You can even see Aiba giving a tiny nod back at Leader, as if thanking him.

Nino is unforgiving though, and doesn't even blink twice before swiping at his best friend's hair again, this time going directly for the part that Ohno just fixed. Haha what a little devil!

Anyways, just thought I'd share this little moment because it made me smile today :-)

Arashi on Bullying - News Zero 2006.12.11

Everybody remember Kazoku Game and its shocking depiction of the malicious extents to which young teenagers (I'm talking like middle schoolers) can go to inflict pain and humiliation upon their peers? Perhaps the scenes in the drama were representative of the more extreme and violent forms of bullying, but there is no doubt that even if the bullying that occurs in most schools is not half as dramatic as Kazoku Game, it still leaves a powerful and lasting psychological wound on its victims, subjecting them to the torment of low self-esteem, social ostracization, depression, and in worst cases, suicidal tendencies.

Sho and Nino reading thank you letters from victims of bullying.

On the 2006.12.11 episode of News Zero, of which our beloved Sakurai Sho is a newscaster for, the program talked about how they had received lots of letters from victims of bullying on their homepage (I think they were doing some sort of special discussion about this topic at the time). Many of these letters were addressed to Arashi and talked about how Arashi's songs had given the writers strength to face life. One girl who was so afraid of her bullies that she developed a fear of going to school said that the lyrics "Dareka ga dareka wo sasaete ikite irun da" from Arashi's song Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi really gave her the courage to step into her classroom again. Other letters which were handed out personally to the five Arashi members spoke of how Arashi's music and their example encouraged victims of bullying to face their tormentors and some even said that Arashi saved them from suicide.

Ramblings on Arashi's Leader

If you've been reading this blog, or blogs/websites like this, it's probably not news to you that Arashi is the male idol group that is currently dominating the Japanese entertainment scene. These five guys comprise a cultural phenomenon you're bound to hear of or come across, even if you're just a clueless tourist walking the streets of Tokyo. Arashi is everywhere. In my whole life, I've only been in Japan for a total of 7 days, and I've seen numerous billboards of Arashi members endorsing various products, I've overheard schoolgirls talking about a drama starring an Arashi member, and I've even picked out the melody of Arashi's Beautiful Days from a music box rendition that was playing as the background music to a Harajuku ramen bar. Make no mistake about it, Arashi is big, and it's a besparkling five-colored rainbow that has simultaneously bewitched generations of men and women (and all genders in between) alike.

Now let's zoom in and focus on Ohno Satoshi, the one true leader of this merry band of five, and one of the characters I find most fascinating in the industry.

The Digitalian - Album Review

The Vegetarian Digitalian is finally here, throbbing through our poor fangirl bodies in the form of an inexplicably irresistible mass of geometrically arranged... leaves and fruit.

It's probably a testament to Arashi's staying selling power that this album can still sell well despite the LE cover looking like this:

The Arashi members, just so you know, were all perfectly aware of how similar sounding "Vegetarian" is with "Digitalian" in Japanglish. You can say that this graphic is no accident. No ho... Hah. But all vegetable jokes aside, this album is actually coming at a very special time. Not only is this their 15th anniversary, but The Digitalian is also the successor to what is perhaps the most phenomenally polished and musically riveting Arashi album ever: LOVE. There's certainly a lot to live up to, and after producing something as amazing as LOVE, the standard for their music has certainly been raised, and I think fans will probably be less forgiving of sloppy music from now on.

And yes, I am a huge fan of LOVE, but I am aware that not all people might share my enthusiasm for it, so consider yourselves warned that this post will contain some LOVE/Digitalian comparisons and that everything written here is my own personal opinion, which has no musical or professional authority whatsoever.

Arashi is certainly trying their hardest with this new album. They're going for a "digital" theme, which manifests in a few heavily techno tracks, and a techno elements mixed into other genres here and there. They're doing something pretty new, and very very dynamic. In fact, if I had to describe this album in one word, it'd be dynamic. Movement and action just permeate The Digitalian, which makes it pretty different from LOVE, because LOVE was sleek, mature and had quite a smattering of weighty tracks like "Ai Wo Utaou" and "Yozora e no Tegami." It also showed off some beautifully tender Arashi sounds in tracks like "sugar and salt," "Sayounara no Ato de," "Tears." The Digitalian brings us something decidedly less ponderous. I'd say of the 17 tracks on this new album, only the 3rd and 16th ones, "Tell Me Why" and "Hope in the Darkness" qualifies as having the same subdued/weighty tones as the LOVE tracks mentioned above. The rest of the album is all about action, from the shake-your-shake-your-body "Zero-G" to the five-times exclamatory "Take Off!!!!!"

So without further ado, let's get into the specific songs.

Arashi CM's - Gifspam!

I just binge-watched about three hours worth of Arashi CM's, from pre-debut to their 15th anniversary. And the amazing part is that I'm pretty sure there's still loads of stuff out there that I haven't even seen or heard of. I really, really enjoy CM's as a fan. They're so gorgeous they're practically like animated magazine shoots, full of glossiness and hilarity and positive energy.

Anyways, enjoy this gifspam into the shiny, plastic world of commercials!

*And yes, this is going to be a pure gifspam. Unadulterated by my rambling comments. It's loooong, so please allow a few minutes for your browser to load.

Aiba for Tongari Corn

Random Soubusen Moments ❤

These are in no particular order. Just random notes I jotted down over the last few months of little moments that caught my interest =D

1. Nino's answer to "If you were a girl, which Arashi member would you date?"

From the 2009.04.25 episode of Ousama no Brunch.

If you watched this episode, you might recall that before announcing his answer, Nino indicated that the gap between the fourth and fifth places was huge, pulling the chair for the fifth place far out to the end of the stage. Then, he names poor Aiba as the member he would least want to date.

Mukae ni Iku yo (むかえに行くよ) - Arashi Song Review

人混みのなか步く　疲れる街のノイズ
なぜだろう　淚がこぼれた
Through the crowds I walk / the noise of the weary city
And without knowing why / the tears spill out.

Oh Nino, you vulnerable, puppy-eyed ball of melancholy! That shiver in your voice, that little dip as you sing of spilling tears, that brittle tremor, oh, oh! 

This song had me at its first chorus. But it had me in tears at Nino's solo verse.

It's just so delicate, so lilting, so expressive and emotional. Arashi may not have composed the melody or written the lyrics, but their voices are the direct vehicles to our hearts, and it's on these beautifully laid bare voices that the full yearning in this song is delivered, from Aiba's muted velvet tones in the beginning to the wistful cooings of "Uuu, uuu..." that melt softly into the hum of strings at the end. 

Mukae ni Iku yo is one of the more pensive numbers in Arashi's 2010 Boku no Miteiru Fuukei album, and was sung in concert against a background video of two battered robots walking through deserted landscapes to finally find each other in a tender embrace. It is one of my favorite Arashi songs, and the lack of performance videos of it is one of my most often lamented Arashi things.

2014/09/20 Hawaii Blast concert review

A concert staff member greeting guests with
complimentary leis that have an Arashi charm on them!

How do I begin. 

I feel like something in the way I approach Arashi has changed, like I'm not the same kind of fan I was before, like there's this new dimension to my idolization of these five men that has been born of simply seeing them with my own two eyes. 

Jackets to the floor, babes, we're gonna give you some LOVE - Concert DVD Review

Throw'em to the floor, Arashics!

I swear, Intergalactic has just gained at least 80 plays since I watched the LOVE DVD. Yes, this moment has finally come. Some of you who have followed this blog since its early days may know that I am a huuuuge fan of Intergalactic. I wrote a song review on it, in which I flailed so hard I nearly dislocated my ovaries to outer space, because this song is just. that. good. And I think I mentioned even back then (what was it again, November? of last year) that I was expecting some fabulicious costumes and sexy space choreography to party to when this finally got performed in concert.

Hora~! 

Oh wait, was that not a good enough view? Here, have a close-up!

Dance in the starship, babies! God Riida, your hair! I could not stop sighing over your hair (especially since my previous Prince of Perfect Hair MatsuJun decided to go with the sleazeball slick in this concert, poo~).