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?

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 :-)

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.

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

スーパーフレッシュ (Super Fresh) - Arashi Song Review

Ah, it's been a while since I reviewed Arashi's music and while I have fallen in love with the new songs (Bittersweet, Sync, and Motto, Ima Yori), it's curiously their 2009 track スーパーフレッシュ (Super Fresh) that I find myself humming absentmindedly around the house. So keep your seats, ladies and gentlemen, because I'll be taking you all for a spin back to the past with this post.

My Girl is one of those singles I bought out of loyalty. I didn't think (and still don't think) that the A-side マイガール is anything all that special, but this is one of those instances when loyalty pays off, because both the B-sides (which I had not heard prior to purchasing) blew the socks off my feet and to this day still remain among the top-played on my iTunes tally. Tokei Jikake no Umbrella (時計じかけのアンブレラ)  is one of those impassioned songs that do everything you could ever want a song to do: it punches, it seduces, it sways, it lifts, and as a bonus it has some tough-ass Sakurap tossed in, too. But since my friend nekobot01 has already written her very professional review on it (linked above in text), I will now divert your attentions to the other no less sensational B-side: Super Fresh!

What can one say about Super Fresh after four years of loving it?

It never gets old. Believe me. Some songs come and go, and you can only tolerate them for a set amount of plays before they lose their flavor, and you have to forget them before you can enjoy them again. BUT such a song, Super Fresh is not. I could set it as my morning alarm clock and I'm pretty sure I'd find myself bopping along happily to its beat at whatever ungodly hour I get up at 365 days a year no fail. No lie.

Super Fresh just has this quality to it, a carefree sway in its melody, a playful riff on the steady drumbeat, an unprocessed innocence in Arashi's voices, that all make it such a relatable song. In one word, I'd probably call it "youthful" because it's just abounding with the sort of simple positivity that is so characteristic of those wide-eyed teenagers stepping out into the real world (with Arashi at their backs cheering them on, of course).

So let's countdown 3-2-1!

Kyo no Hi wa Sayonara (今日の日はさようなら) - Drama SP Review

I had been looking forward to this drama SP quite a lot. The promotional CM's showing Ohno in the beanie, looking helpless and frail as he lies on a bed or slides into an MRI machine really caught my eye because a) I'm a sucker for 24-Hour TV Specials, and b) I've always thought that Ohno had just the perfect look to star in one of these. He's not an actor with a particularly wide range of facial expressions, but it's something about the weariness in his "default" face, the lazily hooded eyes, the slight melancholy pout, and the tendency to look down at his feet that makes him so suitable to play a quiet boy-next-door character who suddenly finds himself having to deal with the arduous process of dying. Ohno has a good victimized look, which is not to say he's bad at playing villains because he did so beautifully in Maou, but the moments in which he really shines dramatically are the moments where he shows his vulnerability. Even in Maou, the best scenes were when you could see his self-loathing and the hopelessness in his eyes as he tells himself that there is no other way. (shivers). Being a fan of Ohno, I think that people like him not only for his talent, but also for his aura of innocent vulnerability; I know my maternal instincts (yeah yeah I'm only like 23 years old, but I can still have maternal instincts, okay?) tend to crush my ovaries together at the mere sight that dazed little Fishing Riida.

But back to Kyo no Hi wa Sayonara. 

I set aside some time one night to watch it. I locked my doors to ensure absolute solitude, turned off the lights, grabbed a box of tissues and pressed "play." Because hey, no one should ever interrupt the sacred viewing of an Ohno drama.

お誕生日おめでとう, 大ち ゃ ん (Happy Birthday, Oh-chan)

This is going to more visual than textual, so I hope you enjoy seeing Riida's pouty face over and over again!

Ohno Satoshi turns 33 today (since it is already Nov 26 in Japan), and I'm sure the other members have prepared a surprise for him at the LOVE tour. I'm hoping it's a cute prank :-) like when they gave MatsuJun that sparkling jacket as a gift. Who knows?

Riida debuted when he was 18, and he's certainly grown up a lot from the awkwardly reticent, long-haired teenager on that Hawaiian cruise ship back in 1999. For 14 years, he has been a part of fans' lives, singing us through difficult times with his powerful voice and offering us the rare word of wisdom in an odd magazine interview every now and then. He may be the quietest in Arashi, but his presence is like a warm blanket that covers the sets and stages; it envelopes us and reassures us. Everything's going to be all right; Riida has got your back.

Yoshi! On to the pictures!

Arashi - LOVE Album Review

I finally got my album in the mail from my trusty old cdjapan.com. I could only get the Regular Edition, because the Limited Edition sold out. Sigh. I kind of wanted that PV of P.A.R.A.D.O.X. but I suppose I'll just have to live with the short teaser version (which, by the way, is already heart-stoppingly smooth and dangerous) and the screencaps that any generous fans may post on the internet.

So now, on to the album.

リフレイン (Refrain) - Arashi Song Review

I'm still waiting for my copy of LOVE to arrive in the mail, so instead of drumming my fingers on my desk and rewatching old episodes of VS Arashi, I've decided to write a little review of one my all-time favorite Arashi ballads: リフレイン, or "Refrain" in English. It's a track from their 2010 album 僕の見ている風景 (Boku no Miteiru Fuukei), so I've been listening to track for over three years now, and call me sappy, but it still hasn't lost its appeal. This will be a quick one, so please forgive and feel free to point out any errors in my listening. 

In one word, melancholy.

Ohno Satoshi - Power Vocals Hide Behind this Quiet Exterior

No, I didn't think this pre-pubescent looking
guy was actually the leader of Arashi when I first joined
the fandom either. He's just too... pretty!

The leader of Arashi may have come to this position by a chance game of janken (rock-paper-scissors), and his leadership may be decidedly lazy and unassuming on their variety shows and interviews, but the moment he parts his refined (almost girly) lips at any musical performance, you will understand why all the other members stick firmly to the leader they chose way back in 2000 on Shonentaimu. His voice is just...heaven. When I first got into Arashi, I identified Ohno as the "voice of Arashi" because his was the one I heard most; he had the most solo lines and even in choruses I got the feeling that the sound engineers upped the weight of his voice in relation to the others. Not that I blame them. Ohno's voice is like that fine whirring engine that knows how to respond to even the slightest change in pitch or power. His control is fantastic and unrivaled in Arashi (and I'm tempted to say, in all of Johnny's, but I won't because I'm not actually familiar with all Johnny's idols), and it just soars so beautifully wherever Ohno pilots it.

Favorite Arashi Songs

It is always a daunting task to choose a top ten or even a top twenty when you're talking about artists as prolific and as variable in style as Arashi. So I'm not even going to try to limit the number of songs I talk about here. I'll just give some of my thoughts on the songs that particularly stick with me. They're not in any particular order.

But first, I'll digress a little by talking about some playlists I have on my iTunes, because I just need a reason to post pictures of these awfully good-looking boys.

I have a few Arashi playlists on my phone. They're named after members, of course.

Under Arashi Aiba, I have happy songs, things that make me nod my head and smile cheekily like SuperFresh and Everybody Zenshin and most of Aiba's solos. Arashi Aiba is like the boy-next-door who comes over all the time and wants to pick up your mood by making you appreciate all the little things until life is not mundane anymore. Everybody loves Aiba. I have such a soft spot for him, and this playlist is so dedicated. I play it a lot in the morning right after I get up, to remind me that the day is beautiful, and that Aiba is telling me Ganbatte!

Yes, that's right. Hidden inside this tender-faced shonen is a powerful voice that will take you far far away. 

Arashi Ohno is pure magic. It will transform me into a soaring bird. It's because his voice is just so suited to taking flight. It's got such clarity, such power, such precision, that you feel like you are a piercing ray of light shining out of a crystal and shooting straight into the clouds. In this playlist, I have all his solos and I also have songs where his voice picks it up to a different altitude (like movin' on and Monster).

Arashi Nino is a little melancholy, and a little sentimental. It's the perfect soundtrack for a night alone, with only a glass of wine and the distant voices of the streets for company. It's what you're feeling when you enter heartbreak hotel, but it's also what you feel deep down inside for every wasted day you spend hating yourself for not doing more with your life. It's got anguish, it's got sorrow, and it's got tons and tons of regret. Select Nino solos (and some Ohno solos!) and Arashi ballad numbers such as truth, refrain, Akashi and Your Eyes are included.

I was tempted to post the an an pictures, but that would have been "very, very danger."

Arashi Sho is manly, sexy, and full of swag. He wants to get into your face and really make you listen to him. He's the type of guy you want to be rapping in your ears when you need to rough it out in the gym or just when you're just feeling fly. His voice is husky and low but very distinct, and you can hear him chugging out his words with a gruffness that you wouldn't ever imagine to be in a person as polished as he is. But Arashi members surprise us at every turn, don't they? It's part of their charm. The playlist is upbeat with a bit of in-your-face conceit, the type of thing you want to cross your arms and wear your baseball caps sideways for. Think A.RA.SHI, a Day in our Life, Pikanchi, Jidai, and of course La Tormenta.

Arashi Jun is one fine beast. Where Sho is swagger, Jun is slick. Arashi Jun has a futuristic feel. Jun knows how to be smooth and sexy, and he likes to take you for a ride while he's at it. There's something about that nasal voice of his that, when flattened and treated, is the perfect vehicle for a ride into an alternate sci-fi universe. Arashi Jun is something to play when one is dressed in a sleek leather suit and strutting down the street, ignoring all the heads you turn, because, like Jun, we can be vain princesses ;) *smirk* Songs we princesses strut to include Come Back to Me, Face Down, Breathless, Intergalactic, Mada Minu Sekai E, Lotus, and a swoonworthy number called Tokei Jikake no Umbrella.

All right, on to my favorite songs!