'nuki notes episode 1

Since I get one view/month, and I tend to get my information from other blogs around the net(meaning any new info I'd post is basically a rehash of something you've already read) I figured I'd try to mix in reviews / random thoughts with a bunch of H!P and Johnny's news.

First off, KAT-TUN is going wild to start 2009, and I couldn't be happier. They are definitely my favourite Johnny's act(by a pretty wide margin), the majority of their singles seen to have an edgier / heavier feel to them. I thought that last year KAT-TUN was really off compared to 2006(obviously they were everywhere for their debut), but even compared to '07(even with Jin gone for a few months). I liked LIPS and DUES, but I feel they kind of dropped the ball for the rest of the year. I also have this kind of ambivalence towards Arashi(mostly because I don't like MatsuJun), so the fact that Johnny's basically poured all their marketing into them to end 07 didn't help.

Good news though, KAT-TUN's bouncing back. Kame and Maru both star in their own respective doramas(which I haven't actually seen yet, I've been super busy), and both feature a KAT-TUN single as the theme. First off is the 2/11 release of One Drop(theme for Kame's Kami no Shizuka) followed by the 3/11 release of Rescue(theme for dorama of the same name starring Maru' and costarring Masuda from NEWS). I just saw the HEYx3 perf. for One Drop, and I thought it was pretty good(KAT-TUN was on with Kinky which had their new single drop this week).

Secondly, I just wanted to mention that I'm going to start blogging Q.E.D episodes(and maybe Rescue if I have time) starting the end of the week. I've only seen the first episode, but seriously Ai is simply amazing. Kind of disappointed with the ratings so far, I was hoping it would have a pretty broad appeal(and maybe reinvigorate sales of Naichau Kamo...), but its still a great show.

To finally end this ridiculous post, I watched two concert DVDs in the past week, KAT-TUN's Queen of Pirates tour(from this summer) and Morning Musumes fall'08 live. I don't know if I'll actually blog those fully, but let me just say that both were pretty great, KAT-TUN as always put on a fantastic show. As for MM, I thought this was one of their better concerts(of this generation), they actually showed a lot of energy and jump(vs. Spring 08, which was one of their weakest performances ever IMO). Biggest problem though? No Shabondama...uhhhh right.

~nuki