January 11, 2009

saved by your smile

山下翔央, Yamashita Shoon, Ya-Ya-yah
I really need to update this blog more often because things I want to blog about keep piling up. -_-;;; Sorry this will be a bit of a mish-mash post.

First a little something that made me happy. The Horikoshi Highschool site has a piece of news featuring Taiyô. ^___^ (http://www.horikoshigakuen.ed.jp/secu/news/news2009110.html) It's nothing too exciting really, and the picture that accompanies the article is rather small, but it's good to hear about Taiyô. He's still wearing his hair short, and he looks even taller next to that man. XD Good to know you're doing well, Taiyô-kun! =D



A rough translation (corrections are most welcome): On December 8th of last year, the president and vice-president of the student council, Ayukawa Taiyô and Okamoto Kengo, paid a visit to Tanaka Daisuke, ward headman of the Nakano Ward Office. They donated 100,000 yen, raised during the Horikoshi festival through the sales of refreshment booths and others. They expressed their wish that this money be used for social welfare in the Nakano ward. On January 7th of this year, they received a letter of thanks from the Nakano Ward Office.

And speaking of Taiyô... Does anybody know who this junior is, the one in the background in the white jacket and the blue t-shirt? Tina pointed it out to me and we were both wondering if Taiyô might have a cousin because that boy looks like a younger version of him! ^_^ For a moment I thought Taiyô had come back.


Also, these are strange days for the Ya-Ya-yah fans. It seems HSJ is going to record a new version of Yuuki 100%. I don't know how I feel about it. Numb, I guess. Tired too. But mostly sad when I see that to some it means nothing. Certain songs are not just songs, the same way certain words are not just words. Some entail an emotional attachment you cannot get rid of, and I can't ignore the memories songs like Yuuki 100% bring when I listen to them. Old episodes of Nintama Rantarou, the anime series of which Yuuki 100% is the opening song, are being aired again in Spain, and a couple of weeks ago, the TV was on in the sitting room when I was tidying up the bedroom, and all of a sudden I started hearing the song in the background, the original Hikaru Genji recorded, and it brought a smile to my lips. HSJ singing it doesn't bring a smile to my lips though; it arises sad memories instead. It's hard for me to explain it to some friends who liked Ya-Ya-yah and are into HSJ now (which doesn't mean they don't still like Ya-Ya-yah of course), but that's the reason why I can't make myself watch HSJ videos and why I wince when I see HSJ pictures.

In the New Year episode of Hi!Hey!Say!, once again, Yabu and Hikaru sang another Ya-Ya-yah song, HaruNatsuAkiFuyu. (Thanks, Sue for letting me know!) And, as usual, there was no mention of the taboo word in the credits: Ya-Ya-yah. It was a pretty cool version, and so was the coreography, but of course it made me miss seeing Taiyô and Shoon with them. Actually, I have nothing against Yabu and Hikaru singing Ya-Ya-yah songs, because they are their songs as much as they are Taiyô's and Shoon's, though it makes me wonder why can't Shoon sing them too, on Shounen Club, for example, or his old solo, BadxNice. I mean, if for JE songs are just songs, why can't he sing Ya-Ya-yah songs too? ^^ He still wears his old Ya-Ya-yah outfits, so he should have every right to sing Ya-Ya-yah songs too, but that probably will never happen either.


2009.01.01 HHS LS HaruNatsuAkiFuyu.avi [credits: SayBest]

And, oh, the irony of Yabu and Hikaru wearing their old pink and silver Ya-Ya-yah outfits in the Winter HSJ concert, where HSJ performed Itoshii no Playgirl! Can you imagine them performing it on Shounen Club? What if Shoon was wearing the pink and silver outfit too that day? O_O That would be the most awkward thing for the three of them, but I doubt that will ever happen. I hope it won't happen, that is. It seems that with JE you can never know.


And since we're on the subject of Ya-Ya-yah let us turn to more pleasant things... Tinuviel sent me scans she's made of the 2004.03 issue of Myojo. Thanks again! ^__^ (and sorry about posting them this late m(_ _)m

2004.03 Myojo Ya-Ya-yah scans (courtesy of Tinuviel)




And now let us take another turn to talk about Shoon in last week's Shounen Club. Not much screentime this time around either, but at least we got to hear him wish us a happy New Year in the opening song, Hatsu no uta...



...and he was absolutely amazing in the theme medley, in which he sang solo a bit of Kirameki no kanata e with Taiga and Uekusa doing chorus for him. ^____^ Did I say Hasshi sang better than him? I don't care if there's a hundred people with a better voice than Shoon's. I'd rather listen to Shoon singing than anybody else in the world! =D And I suppose NEWS fans won't agree, but I think he sounded better than all of NEWS together. Actually I never liked that song much, and I've been listening to it a hundred times on my mp3 since last Sunday. And that lovely smile in mid-song... *dies*


2009.01.04 [SC] kirameki no kanata e.avi (23MB)
2009.01.04 [SC] kirameki no kanata e.mp3

Speaking of Shoon... He had mentioned in some article that he had been to a SMAP concert recently (the Super Modern Artistic Performance Tour), but he didn't mention Yabu and Hikaru were there too!! O_O Thanks a mil again to Tinuviel for this clip. *hugs* Shoon appears just a few milliseconds as she says, but I took a few screencaps and edited the clip, making it slow motion so you can see him more clearly. It's all kinds of awesome to see the three of them together, but it's somewhat bittersweet because he had to sit behind them with the chibis, and that he didn't get to ride on the cart with Yabu, Hikaru, Inoo and Keito, but had to walk behind it, with the chibis again. He looked a bit sad as well. <=( These things must be hard for him.



2008 Super Modern Artistic Performance Tour bit.avi

Actually I was getting a little worried and depressed after watching today's SC, because he seemed very serious on the short seconds he appeared, but then I discovered the beginning of a smile on his lips during the opening, right before he got cut off from camera. That beginning of a smile blew the clouds of worry away. Don't lose your smile, Shoon. =)


He was wearing my fave outfit today, and the SC staff added a sort of skirt to make it look a bit different. Nice touch! =) And today he sang with so much feeling! *_* Thumbs up, Shoon. ^0^ It's a damn shame they don't let you sing more. ;__;


PS: Thanks for reading, everyone, and please bear with me for being so slow in replying comments. m(_ _)m

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