February 20, 2008

me? jealous? um, yes ._.

山下翔央, Yamashita Shoon, Ya-Ya-yah
I've been going through a sort of Ya-Ya-yah/Shoon "faith" crisis these days. I've been worrying that I'm not doing a very good job as a lighthouse keeper lately. I should have posted already the Yabu and Hikaru March scans, but I haven't; I should —perhaps?— at least download and watch the HHS livestages and post about them, but I don't; I should have made a post about Hikaru's solo on the latest SC, but I haven't yet; I should make some post about Taiyô, but I haven't since his birthday. The list goes on and on. ._.;;;

I've also been having some scary thoughts of abandoning the fandom altogether —but I've chased them away, don't worry. =] There are moments when I feel so jealous of other juniors (both debuted and undebuted) who are getting so much more attention than Shoon. It makes me feel petty, but I can't help it. I've never hidden the fact that I don't like Yamada that much —yeah, I belong to that 0.5% of the fandom—, but watching the latest SCs I've found myself rolling my eyes at Senga and Takaki too for behaving like divas *points at clip on the right* [Senga, you'll break your neck if you're not careful, and... um... Takaki, you're starting to scare me ^^;;;] and fuming at how completely unknown fresh juniors seemed to have overtaken the theme medley in the last 2 or 3 SCs. I understand that JE is preparing the way for the new generations (from Hasshi downwards) after HSJ’s debut, but the theme medley was the only shot Shoon was having of getting some decent screentime, like he had with Pikanchi. Oh, well. .__. Hopefully Shoon will get more screentime some other way soon. Please? :3 *makes puppy eyes at the SC staff*

The thing is that when I downloaded the 2nd SC of this month I felt murderous. 3 endless weeks of waiting to see Shoon again, and then all you get is a few miserable seconds. ;__;

I actually felt rather upset as well when I watched the 1st one, but after rewatching a dozen times Shoon's bit in Dreaming Blood and his smile I felt better. It's amazing what a smile can do. ^^

Going back to the March SCs, though... A couple of days ago I read a report from a Shoon fan that went to the recording. For the first episode he didn’t appear until the ending song, Hurricane. It’s depressing, but good to know in advance, because that way I won’t be pulling at my hair while watching it. At least he was wearing his black suit. ^3^ On a cute note, apparently Chinen was standing behind him, and Shoon pushed him gently forward.

It seems he fared better in the 2nd episode. Shoon got a solo part in the opening medley, which is quite nice. He sang a bit of the Kinki Kids song Ao no Jidai (青の時代) and he was wearing the Himawari outfit —the blue and white one. He also took part in the Junior League. Apparently Yabu patted his head and they shook hands firmly. I'm not going to get overenthusiastic about this until I see it with my own eyes. Last time the Japanese fans said Hikaru and Shoon leaned on each other during the ending song of the 1st episode, and they were just standing next to each other =/ And they said Yabu and Shoon stood next to each other during the ending song of the 2nd episode and they were hardly even close to each other on the stage. <=/ So, yeah, let's wait and see, but if that really happens I'll be one happy fangirl. Yabu patting Shoon's head. ^3^ In this segment Shoon was wearing his white suit.

And finally he appeared in the closing song, Vanilla, for which he was still wearing the white suit and he stood at the center of the stage —probably just because HSJ were not on stage.

So it seems there’s a pattern: if he gets more screen time in one episode, he hardly appears or doesn’t appear at all in the other one. If he gets less screentime, he appears in both. I’d love to know what’s the criteria for alloting screentime to the different juniors. I guess that after 6 years in SC and 5 in the Ya-Ya-yah show JE deems Shoon is popular enough so he doesn’t need as much pimping as other juniors do, but still... And I understand that it’s hard for them to find where to place him now that he doesn’t have a group, but there’s the Junior ni Q segment, there’s the Junior League segment, there the MC segment, and there’s the Anata ni o-tegami kakimashô segment. Can’t we get to see him in one of those a every once in a while and not once in a million years? I also understand —well, I don’t, but... *shrugs*— that lots of people like Yamada and that JE wants to please them, but wasn’t it a bit too much that in the latest SC he was the producer, he had a solo, and he had the Anata ni... segment all to himself? ¬¬ Just like in the junior ranking in one of the March magazines. To begin with, why was HSJ in the junior ranking? And why was Yamada “hogging” the first place in almost all the categories? Okay, people are crazy for him, I know. But really. Ah, don’t mind me; it’s just the mean and jealous side of me; I can’t help it. I can’t deny I’d be delighted if it were Shoon. But I do know that if I had taken part in the ranking I wouldn’t have voted for Shoon for each and every category. O_o Not even I am that biased. Shoon is the best for me in many things, but he’s not the best in everything.

Speaking of which... I’ve always thought Fujigaya’s rapping is better than Shoon’s, and I know comparing people is not fair, but to me Shoon’s rapping when Ya-Ya-yah sang Yorokobi no Uta on the Ya-Ya-yah show sounded better than Fuyigaya’s in the 2nd SC of this month. O_o What do you think?


Anyway, I’ve been thinking that instead of just complaining about the lack of Shoon in SC I’ll do something about it. Japanese Shoon fans are doing this, so I’m going to do it too. They’re sending letters to Shounen Club asking for Shoon to produce another episode and sing a solo. I’m going to add a request for the Anata ni... segment too. I’ll send one letter every two weeks... until they cave in. XD


◇リクエスト・プロデューサー
山下翔央

[requested producer: Yamashita Shoon]

◇リクエスト・テーマ
「あきらめない」

[requested theme: “Akiramenai” (“Don’t Give Up”) – Shoon’s motto ;-)]

◇リクエスト曲
翔央くんソロ曲Bad☆Nice

[requested song: Shoon’s solo – not my favourite, but it’s his only solo ^^]

◇「あなたにお手紙書きましょう」リクエスト
山下翔央x山下莉央か山下翔央x薮宏太か山下翔央x八乙女光

[request for the “Anata ni...” segment: ShoonxReon, ShoonxYabu, or ShoonxHikaru]

If you want to join me, you can send your letters to:
BS "The Shounen Club", NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation 2-2-1 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-8001 JAPAN
[〒150-8001 東京都 渋谷区 神南2-2-1日本放送協会 NHK-BS「ザ少年倶楽部」係]

In other news Yabu is going to sing his new solo next month in SC, as you probably already heard from Kamichan. =] Which reminds me I still have to make that post about Hikaru’s new solo from the latest SC. ^^;;; I don’t think I’ll ever get used completely to Hikaru’s new cool image, but I love his voice and his dancing was superb — especially in the second half of the song. ^__^b

And to end this long-ish post... fan corner. ^___^ When I feel like giving up you guys give me strength. Sometimes I get really passionate and enthusiastic e-mails and LJ messages from fans from different countries. It’s very touching and I always feel humbled when I read them. =] Other times it’s different fan tributes to Ya-Ya-yah that some of you want to share with the rest of the fandom, and I’m very happy that this place can serve as a sort of... speaker’s corner or microphone for you all. ^__^

For example Hydee (bakahachi on LJ) has put together another Ya-Ya-yah mini-exhibit, as beautiful and original as the first one. ;-) Please go visit. I promise you won’t regret it. ^_^v

Also, here are some really, really cool drawings Stevenica made for Yabu’s, Taiyô’s, and Shoon’s birthdays. I think Shoon’s and Yabu’s eyes look exactly the same as in reality. O__O And Taiyô’s drawing is my favourite. ^3^

yabu18bday01312008_small430 shoon19bday12202007_small766 taiyo17bday01182008_small296

Aaand we also have four colourful and pretty birthday banners by ShoonMassu. =]

Untitled-3 shoon
397703319_011f111adb_b 492221110_fd9b8d6502_b

PS: You can find more info about the March SCs at this post in Kamichan’s blog.
PS2: New header to celebrate Yabu’s graduation from High School. ^^ It looks very lonely compared to the one I used for Shoon last year. -_- When I read on a Japanese blog that Yabu had had his graduation ceremony already I remembered Shoon’s graduation last year, and remembered a magazine article from that time. Yabu said there that he was going to miss seeing Shoon in their school uniform, that it was going to make him feel lonely. That surprised me back then. I had never thought Yabu would admit such a thing. Of course immediately he was embarrassed and he laughed at himself, saying he sounded like a granny, but if he admitted he was going to miss such a small thing... I wonder how much more he must miss other things. *sigh* Then I thought how this year there won’t be any Ya-Ya-yah articles with Taiyô, Hikaru, and Shoon congratulating Yabu. ;__; Instead of course there will be HSJ articles and he’ll “share” them with Takaki, who has graduated this month too. Somehow these things made me all emotional and I felt like crying. .___.

山下翔央, Yamashita Shoon, Ya-Ya-yahPOST A COMMENT :: READ COMMENTS