Kanjani Eight

Nominally an eight-strong boy band from japan region of Kansai, Kanjani Eight (“8” is spelled horizontally, as an infinity sign) is in fact an umbrella showbiz brand that Johnny & Associates, a gigantic male idol manufacturing agency, has specialized in. The group’s music may be the anticipated pop fare, with some rap and a great deal of enka (Japanese traditional music design) added, however the associates also band jointly into subunits which range from the rock and roll Subaru Band towards the Kanjani Sentai Eight Rangers (a humor skit action), run range and radio displays, and superstar in Television series and musicals. The guys can enjoy and write music furthermore to performing and dance, but Kanjani Eight stay a device in the military-discipline machine of Johnny’s rather than “free-range” band. Many associates of Kanjani Eight became associated with Johnny’s around 1996-1997 if they inserted the rates of Kansai Jr, a trainee device of the company. In 1999 the V Western world band was produced, including Hiroki Uchi, Shota Yasuda, Ryuhei Maruyama, Kiyohito Mizuno, and Toru Imayama (Tadayoshi Okura, a afterwards person in Kanjani Eight, rejected the give to participate). The music group didn’t hit it big, and around 2001 most associates mulled over the idea of quitting present business altogether, however in 2002 these Kansai Jrs got parts in the summertime particular musical Another, and Johnny’s announced the creation of Kanjani Eight, that was likely to feature eight associates, as the Kansai Jrs’ Television show shown on the neighborhood route 8. The group included You Yokoyama, Subaru Shibutani, Shingo Murakami, and Ryo Nishikido aswell as Maruyama, Okura, Yasuda, and Uchi; Nishikido and Uchi had been soon reallocated to some other Johnny’s unit, Information, but divide their time taken between the two rings. In their first stages, Kanjani Eight continued to be largely an area phenomenon, regularly playing the Shochiku-za location in Osaka and debuting in 2004 having a Kansai-only solitary, “Naniwa Iroha Bushi,” which still managed to get to quantity eight within the all-Japan graph, prompting its countrywide re-release, that was a success aswell, becoming the 1st enka-related solitary in 17 years to best the weekly graphs. The EP Kansha Ni Eight adopted prior to the end of the entire year, making it towards the 5th place in the graphs. In 2004 Kanjani Eight also starred in the musical Desire Boy as well as another Johnny’s son band, Kat-Tun, time for this creation in 2005 and 2006. Two 2005 singles, “Osaka Rainy Blues” and “Sukiyanen, Osaka,” do no worse compared to the debut, charting in the very best Five and moving 120,000 and 160,000 copies, respectively. Nevertheless, at the moment the music group also lost an associate after a juicy scandal: Uchi was asked for a glass or two by a mature Fuji Television presenter, and got busted for debauchery and underage taking in. He was officially “suspended from the general public attention,” and Johnny’s shelved it drama unique Yakusoku, which experienced the misfortune of starring all users of Kanjani Eight, Uchi included. The company actually forbade the Kanjani Eight users — unusually close buddies all — to say the disgraced fellow, even though additional bandmembers still produced a display of hinting at their support for him. For the time being, Kanjani Eight finally released their 1st full-length recording, KJ1 F.T.O., in 2006, which spawned the singles “Osaka Obachan Rock and roll/Osaka Romanesque” (number 2 on Oricon) and “Kanfuu Fighting with each other,” their 1st number one. From then on, the group involved in an extended amount of touring, the bandmembers carrying out both single and collectively at frequently oversold venues; in addition they starred in three theatre specials released like a package arranged that topped the Dvd and blu-ray graph. The touring prolonged into 2007, when Kanjani Eight also released their second recording, KJ2 Zukkoke Daidassou, its singles “Zukkoke Otokomichi” and “It’s My Spirit” both rating at number 1. Uchi produced some stage looks at that time, although Johnny’s still experienced him continue his penance through oblivion (in 2008 he starred inside a Television miniseries on Fuji Television). Even more touring and many theatrical looks kept the lads occupied in 2008, and in ’09 2009 they released their third album, Puzzle, which increased to number 1, similar to the preceding “Musekinin Hero” one from 2008, which marketed 400,000 systems.