SixTONES Deep Impact!

[meguren0216]

I have always been a big otaku at heart and a big Rumiko Takahashi fan at that so I did not pass up the opportunity to watch her latest creation on YouTube — Yashahime. I live outside Japan so this is the closest I could get to watching it legally. Anyway, as I grew older I noticed I did not have the same patience as I did in listening to the opening theme song. But for this one I made an exception or perhaps I was just too lazy to skip it and boy was I glad I did. The new opening song was awesome! I saw on the opening credits that the title was New Era - quite fitting - I thought to myself - since the main characters were already the children of the original heroes. I have always been sentimental and not really a fan of change. I was hoping that this anime could showcase more of the original characters, but of course we gotta move on and perhaps today’s generation might also benefit from a new story line instead of a rehash of the old one. Obviously I was a bit sad, because for some reason, I would always find  a way to cling on to every last remnant of my childhood LOL. 

And that’s when I saw it - the name of the group who sang the opening theme song - SixTONES. I briefly reminisced the time when the opening song was Change the World by V6 and me and my elementary classmates would sing it. Oh no, another thought struck me. New Era wasn’t only for the anime. It was for Johnny’s too! With Arashi’s impending hiatus and the number of older Johnny’s quitting the agency/retiring (Nishikido Ryo, Subaru Shibutani, Tackey & Tsubasa, and recently Tegoshi Yuya and Yamapi!) I don’t know whom to root for anymore because I really like older men lol. I was thinking, who will I watch during Johnny’s Countdown? Only HSJ is left... 

I had this thinking that all Johnny’s groups debut during their late teens or mid teens that is why I never bothered to get to know the groups that debuted after Kisumai. And boy was I wrong. So where does SixTONES fit in all of these? Sorry for being chatty but I have to set the stage for how I turned 180 and regarded them now with much respect and admiration. 

Going back to Inuyasha, rather Yashahime - watching it more and more made me hooked on the song, so I watched the PV on YouTube and my oh my I couldn’t stop replaying it. The video was just awesome, SixTONES is simply awesome. And me finding out that they were also the one who sang Navigator for Fugou Keiji made me like them more. But I was still hesitant to go down the rabbit hole. I needed more convincing. So I listened to their singles and watched their newly released concert DVD. Their music was just my type. Very upbeat. Very lively. I found myself wanting more. 

I was only familiar with Taiga (being kyomoto masaki’s son - I loved kou kou kyoshi) and Shintaro (watched him on GTO remake and of course know him as Ryutaro’s brother) I wasn’t familiar with the other 4, so I researched and realized that I have already watched them in some jdramas. I’m going to be your fan too Jesse, Hokuto, Juri and Kochi! 

So what was the deciding factor? What astounded me? It was their feature on Ride on Time. I know that Taiga and Shintaro have been with Johnny’s for a long time, and the others as well, but I didn’t realize that it’s been over 12 years and they haven’t debuted yet. I knew that something like that would be so frustrating and painful but I didn’t expect that idols experienced it too. A bit ignorant of me because who else would bear those feelings heavily if not idol trainees. As Jesse and Taiga shared their frustrations- further sharing that it was not only sempais that overtook them, but kouhais as well. Given the hierarchical culture of Japan, being passed on for kouhais must have been rough. It was painful to hear them say that regardless, they still waited and each and every chance they get, they hoped that it would be their turn, but it never came. Perhaps their experience hit so close to home that’s why I took a deeper liking and appreciation of them. 

I also liked the part wherein they were filmed while preparing for a concert saying that as juniors, they had to do their own make up and hair and they had to be professional about it. I remembered watching an old interview of Tackey wherein it was shown that Tsubasa and him would take the train to get to work because juniors had to commute to work and did not have the luxury of having a car. You can really see the passion and excitement in their eyes. I did not see that same intensity from the other Johnny’s idols I stan.. probably because they didn’t have to wait over 12 years to debut. It just shows that waiting for something you want for so long and finally seeing it to fruition makes it all the more satisfying. Simple psychology. The longer you wait, the better it tastes. I even found myself crying while watching the clip of them singing Imitation Rain during their debut. Taiga’s solo was just so emotional and the rest of the group was so emotional too. I look forward to this group’s continuous growth.