Today is Kanjani day!
"It's about time!"
Shut up!
Careful now, before we start I want to clarify that it's "Kanjani Eight" not "Kanjani Infinite"
I know, the name is stylised so it's confusing
But now you know
Formed in 2002, the group debuted in 2004 as a modern Enka band
Enka is a form of sentimental ballad mixed with traditional Japanese music and a LOT of tremolo when singing
Kanjani's music has evolved to a more pop, pop rock sound but originally it was about that.
The band was formed initially with 8 members, all from the Kansai region
Their name is in fact a portmanteau: they're the Johnny's from Kansai, so :
add a bit of an accent on top and you get: Kan-Jani
and they're 8 so...Kanjani8
As there's a lot to say about them, and there's a handful of members I'll try to be as short and concise as possible
Otherwise the video will be 30 min long. That's a challenge!
Member Number 1
No, "You" is not his real name
He's one of those with a pseudonym as the kanji for his real name (Kimitaka Yokoyama) were to hard to read
so Gramps Johnny decided to call him "you" instead
Bearing in mind Gramps Johnny calls Everyone "you"
Basically, if this was in France he would have been called Kevin. Kevin Yokoyama.
Plus no one cares, everyone calls him Yoko so.. Dammit the video is really gonna be 30min long!
Anyway! Yoko is the chatty geeky one, he's a drama star, especially for the psychopath type of roles
He has the face for it
Kanjani differentiates themselves from other Johnny's as they're all musician
Each one being in charge of an instrument
and Yoko does percussions
I know you're picturing something swaggy like the drums but no, he's playing bongos!
In any case Yoko is not the best singer or musician from the band but his real talents are:
writing, MC, and acting
Not only is he a great actor, he's also the brain behind the Eito rangers skits
More about that later on
Next we have
aka the screaming sow of the group, Subaru is THE singer
Kanjani members were initially selected as they were the most popular amongst Kansai Johnny's Juniors
And Subaru at the time was the superstar of Kansai Johnny's Juniors
He was already performing solo
Whenever you listen to Kanjani and hear someone yelling in the back, it's probably Subaru
He's writing and composing for the band and the sub-units both (more about that later)
He's a music lover, has tried different style going from Enka to Jazz, through pop,rap and rock
and he can also play the guitar, the piano, harmonica and shamisen
Actually, he just finished his 4th solo tour, which went great
Now, anyone has anything to say about his lame haircut?
No?
Didn't think so
Remember Kanjani are musicians and Shingo is in charge of ... how do you say in French? Keyboard
and on TV if you're watching them there are 2 members who can't shut up: the first one is Yoko
the second is Shingo!
Shingo and Yoko, sounds like a comic duo
Shingo is usually in charge of the MC for the group
and he's also the one slapping the others so if you see one that is too loud and gets slaps, it might be by Shingo
Wut? Why?
Nah it's just for fun it's nothing like.. look we don't have time for that!
Next member
Maru is playing the bass in the group (option rap) and he's also the Happy one
Remember when I was presenting NEWS, I told you there's usually a happy one and in Kanjani that would be Maru
He's borderline hyperactive, it might be slightly tiring
If you have a doubt, watch out for the one that keeps smiling and suddenly blasts PAAA to the audience, that's Maru
I should have told you also that Kansai people are known for being louder than Tokyo people
They're funny, they're comedians, they like making the show, you see
sometimes killing your hearing in the process, but it's part of their charm!
It's like us creole people when we get to Paris. They make fun of us for having a stupid accent and being loud
Kanjani speaks to my soul.
Next member
Shota is the cutest guitarist in the world, look at this face!
Shota is the other side of the Happy one
You have Maru being more hyperactive and Shota is more like a Moomin
Cute, nice, caring and more discreet
But it's not really his fault I mean when you know that 2 members can't shut up, one who jumps around, the other who sings 50% of the song,
one with a bitchy attitude, one who hits the others...
that doesn't leave him with a lot of room
But, of course, to ruins the perfection Shota is one of those who have no taste when it comes to costumes
I suppose you can't have it all: being cute, nice, talented and have a sense of fashion
Shota is no exception
Next member
Next member!
aka Tacchon (FRh accent), well Tacchon (JP accent)
Tacchon! (FR). Let's be quick (NB: "Tacchon" sounds like "Tâchons" meaning "Let's" in French)
Okura is Princess, and Princess plays the drums that she had to learn in a month in order to stay in the band
Princess is obviously pretty and she knows it so you can just pop her here on the side and she'll be pretty.
Then again it's not really her fault, considering the members she's dealing with
But to his credit we can say he's getting out there a bit more, sometimes even slapping a sneaky bitchy comment
Tacchon! (FR)
They deserve it. And because he's talented and gorgeous Princess also has starred in a few dramas
Maybe less impressive than Yoko or Ryo, or even Maru? But she's doing good!
Tacchon! (FR)
And finally we have
Uchi, like Ryo, was part of both NEWS and Kanjani8
If you've seen the NEWS presentation I've made, I told you there were 3 members that got kicked out.
Uchi was one of them
When he was younger, Uchi kinda got caught drunk...underaged
Okay, he might have been slightly arrested... anyway scandal, kicked out of both groups in 2005!
Don't worry, it's fine he got a solo come back in 2008 and since 2010 he officially has a solo career as well
He's fine, he was lucky...unlike the other 2
Under this fabulous name are in fact 2 things
A webpage on one side where members write a little note for fans
but also a series of sketchs they made during each concert
it became so popular that they made 2 movies
not exactly in the same spirit than the skits on stage that are made more to make people laugh
The design is inspired by the Super Sentai, of which they're a parody with helmets and different colour
and yes, colours have a meaning, they represent a character trait of each member
I love the skits even more so because it's funny and written by Yoko
but also because it was made in collab with Kansai Juniors, especially Akito and Junta from B.A.D
who are now part of Johnny's WEST!
But I digress
When speaking of Kanjani8, Eito Rangers is inseparable
I feel they also mad this trend of band having funny MCs with a very specific costume
It is a must see
Because they're musicians, they have also created sub-units with different styles
First one being Sankyodai made of Yoko, Subaru and Shota
and all their songs have a reference to food. It'swritten by Yoko and composed by Subaru
I reckon Shota didn't really have a choice and followed the other 2
Second sub-unit SubaruBand, which is basically the equivalent of Jem and the Holograms
You have Subaru singing and playing, with the others around him
Ok, they do accompany him too but the fact that it's called "SubaruBand"...
Er...yeah.
The sub-unit is made of Subaru, Maru, Shota and Princess (Tacchon!)
And finally the last sub-unit is actually a comic duo made of Maru and Shota (he's everywhere) calle YamaDa
Kanjani's strength comes from the fact that they are fearless comedians with a fun approach of things
with costumes ever so crazy
and they went a step further, as we explained in our Top 10 that I recommend you also watch,
with Kyanjani, which is a sort of temporary unit of Kanjani members, dressed as girls, to promote the game Candy Crush
and to be in line with the concept they also changed their name, making it feminine
Take "ko" in Japanese, put it at the end of any name and you get a girl's name
So we therefore have Yokoko, Subako, Kurako, Nishikiko...
A concept like Kyanjani, knowing Japanese culture, is not very surprising but...
But.. I have the feeling it was secretly the members' idea
And went something like this:
Manager-san
Look, it's not the time to piss me off right now, if anyone tells me they created a scandal or want to leave...
(Southern FR (bad) accent) What a shame Manager-san
We wanted to dress up as girls and release a single as a girl band
And it would be called Kyanjani!
What a shame! Dat is good!
Ok, go for it
YEAAAAAAH
No, don't..stop that!
OKAYYYYY
Come on Kansai, why so loud...
There you go!
Phew, made it!
I hope you liked the video, I really loved preparing it as you know it has a soft spot in my heart
I really wanted to cover as much as possible
Let me know in the comments your favourite part and who you want to see next in the "What is " section
Give us a thumbs up to let me know you liked this video and feelf ree to share it around you
If you missed last week's video, it's right here!
If you want to know more about Kanjani's music, please watch our Top 10 about Kanjani8 but also the Halloween top 10
there's one of their song in it written by baby Shota
As usual you can find us on FB, TW, IG, LJ everywhere!
All links are in the description box. That's it for me this week, see you soon!
Bye bye!
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