I always look forward to Johnny’s Countdown every New Year’s. I get updated to new JE songs and I get to know more about the younger groups. (It’s been years since I last saw Shounen Club. NHK was dropped out of our cable’s basic channel line-up.) This year was quite interesting, fun, and bittersweet.
I like that Taichi Kokubun and Yoshihiko Inohara are hosting again. We got two anniversaries this year, Arashi’s 20th and Kanjani∞’s 15th. King & Prince joins this mix. It’s a bit odd with no TOKIO and Kinki Kids. Quite sad with Tackey & Tsubasa’s last performance, but it was sweet seeing everybody’s support from the kouhais to the senpais. Speaking of senpai, Masahiko Kondo looks dashing! And wasn’t it cool seeing Four Tops again? 😁 We didn’t see the "birthday special”. I guess there aren’t any Johnny’s talent born in the year of the pig? ^.^’
Poor Marius by the way! He fell off the stage. It looked like a pretty high fall. He seemed fine later on, thank goodness. He actually went trending on Twitter! And…when will Sexy Zone ever be complete in the countdown? 😅
The Countdown isn’t complete without Kanjani∞ fooling around. Last year, Shingo was really going at it with the rap part in A·ra·shi. Now, Maru joins ABC-Z in the Shuffle Medley, doing the Kanfu Fighting “do-ra-gon-ga” choreo, and Hina joins in and punches him! 🤣 (shoutout to my friend who loves Maru, @pyricdevilgum ♥)
Also commenting on my fave. I’m happy that Ultraman Tiga’s theme song Take Me Higher was performed this year, and the camera shows V6/Hiroshi Nagano, Tiga himself! He’s the reason I got into Johnny’s in the first place back in ‘99. (It’s a long story. :P) It was also nice seeing Ken Miyake leading a group of his kouhais in the shuffle medley. To my eye through the years, he’s like a kid, being one of the younger members of V6. Wow, time flies! (FYI: Ken, the one in the maroon coat, is the basis of Viktor Nikiforov. I’m throwing in a screencap of Junichi Okada, aka Otabek. ❤️) I loved it when V6 sang weeeek for the Group Change Medley. That’s one of my fave NEWS songs. Two faves in one. Also happy that this year ended with another V6 song. Last year was WA ni Natte Odorou. This year, Can Do! Can Go!
What I like about these countdowns is I get to know more JE songs. Funny enough, there are songs that I feel like “meh”. Then they grow on me and I end up singing them in the next countdowns! 😆
