My Top 5 Most Handsome Jpop Boys

Hi all! Partially inspired by the video below (you should also check out this person's other videos; they've made a few good ones about Jpop and Kpop and the differences between how the two genres are perceived overseas) I thought I'd put together a list of my top 5 most handsome Jpop boys.

This list is of course my own opinion so if you disagree feel free to let me know in the comments or make your own list! I'm sure most of you know I love me some cute idol boys too so I'll probably do a seperate post at some point about my top 5 cute Jpop boys. But anyway, let's get started!

5) Fujita Mahiro from MAGiC BOYZ

I hate to admit it but back when Mahiro was just the DJ of MAGiC BOYZ I didn't pay much attention to him. He wore those big glasses all the time too so regretfully I didn't really notice his looks either but now I definitely think he's the most handsome (and talented!) member of Majibo. I often find myself spamming "Mahiro is so cool!" in the comment section of Majibo's videos, haha. That face just gets to me!

4) Ogasawara Kai from Bullet Train

 I think very few people would disagree with this decision. Kai has a very attractive and somewhat mysterious face. He's often praised for looking like an anime character and I would definitely agree, especially when he has his hair dyed blonde. 

The Majibo Experience | Thoughts on MAGiC BOYZ' "Dai Ichi Ji Seicho Ki ~Baby to Boy~"

Now, MAGiC BOYZ do have a bit of a reputation for being weird. When they first debuted I thought they were pretty funny in a cute way. These adorable, seemingly innocent Japanese schoolboys rapping to some sick beats didn't seem to fit right at all and that's what made them so entertaining. Yes, I did in fact just say 'sick beats'.

But then they got older, members graduated, and new members joined. It stopped being cute and just got kind of awkward. I was constantly asking; how are they still going? What audience are they even targeting? Who is even buying their CDs?! They're like a bad parody of hip-hop, but at the same time it seemed like they were actually legit trying sometimes? Someone help them.

As objectively terrible as Majibo are, I still fell for them. Their songs are catchy as heck and the members are all lovable dorks. Their concerts look like so much fun too. Basically, I am Majibo's target audience; someone who just loves male idols regardless of how weird and whacky they are. Sure, the members might not be the most talented but it's their imperfections and the bond they share with their fans that keeps me coming back for more. I've bought several of their CDs and I'm only a little ashamed.

On August 30th of this year, Majibo released their first album. I had been putting off buying it for a while since it was quite expensive but much to my surprise, I recently discovered that it was up on iTunes. MAGiC BOYZ' releases did used to be put up on iTunes for overseas fans to buy but for some reason they stopped after their 3rd single. It's nice to see that their label has remembered the overseas fans again, and buying the album on iTunes obviously turned out to be much cheaper than getting the whole physical CD shipped from Japan.

We're Gonna Be Late For Idol School! | My Top 5 School-Themed Music Videos

Here in the UK and in many other parts of the world, September is the start of the academic year. For me at least it marks the end of being able to sit around all day fangirling and having to get my butt back to college and start being somewhat productive again. But I still continue fangirling in my breaks, of course.

If you're anything like me, returning to school/college/wherever isn't exactly something to look forward to but luckily, some of our favourite Jpop boy groups have our backs with some cute school-themed music videos we can sneakily watch in class when we're supposed to be doing work. So grab your seifuku and your buttered toast because here are a few of my favourites.

MAGiC BOYZ Member Ranking | EBiDAN Member Ranking Week 6

Yo, what's up my homies? I felt like I should greet you like that because of who this week's group is. What was that? You think I should never say that again? I completely agree. I was half-tempted to begin this post with a screenshot of Ryuto giving the camera the middle finger.

 

This week it was Angi's turn to chose the group for our little collab and much to my surprise, she chose MAGiC BOYZ. AKA the group I pretend to hate but actually love 100% unironically. So let's get started! Yo, brap, and whatever the cool kids say these days.

Introduction to EBiDAN

One of the main purposes of this blog is to shed light on Jpop boy groups outside of Johnny's Entertainment. One of the most popular agencies besides JE that produces a lot of boy groups in Japan (and also my personal favourite) is EBiDAN. I actually prefer EBiDAN to JE in a lot of ways as I feel like they're much more accessible to overseas fans (and fans in general) and they just have a lot more groups that appeal to me personally. The only downside really is that EBiDAN isn't as popular overseas so it can be hard for new fans to find information in English and other languages.

Nonetheless, I think that EBiDAN is a great agency to get interested in if you're someone like me who likes JE a lot but often gets frustrated at how difficult it can be to be a fan of its groups when you don't live in Japan. So I've put together a general introduction post. If, after reading this post, you've become interested in any of the groups and would like to know more about them then feel free to contact me. Also, stay tuned as I plan to make a few more in-depth posts about certain groups. I'm mainly interested in the younger EBiDAN groups though (cute idol boys are my weakness, haha) so I might not be able to give you much information on groups like PrizmaX and DISH//.

Ebisu Gakuen Danji-bu (EBiDAN for short) is an entertainment school for male idols that was formed in 2010. Like Johnny's Entertainment; EBiDAN consists of singers, dancers, and actors. It is associated with the agency, Stardust Promotion (You may know Stardust as the company that manages the female idol group, Momoiro Clover Z). For more information on EBiDAN's overall history then you can check out this post.

Current Groups

 PrizmaX

PrizmaX were actually active as a group since 2002 but were added to EBiDAN in 2010. They made their CD debut in 2013 with the single, "Mysterious Eyes / Go!". The lineup of the group has changed several times since their debut but the current members are vocalists Tim Kurokawa and Win Morisaki, rapper Shimizu Daiki, and dancers Fukumoto Yuki and Shimada Tsubasa. The interesting thing about PrizmaX is that a lot of their earlier songs are in English as both of the vocalists are hafus. Tim is from the US and Win is from Myanmar. 

DISH//

DISH// were one of the first groups to actually debut from EBiDAN. They debuted at the same event as Chotokkyu in 2012 with the indie single, "It's alright". Their music is in more of a rock style and they do actually play their instruments but they dance while performing on stage. Their major label debut was in 2013 with the single, "I Can Hear". They are so far the only EBiDAN group that isn't under the Stardust Music Label; they are represented by Sony Music Records. The members are vocalist and guitarist TAKUMI, back-up vocalist and guitarist MASAKI, bass guitarist and rapper RYUJI, DJ and rapper To-i, and drummer DAICHI.

Chotokkyu

Also known as Bullet Train, Chotokkyu made their debut in 2012 with the single, "TRAIN". They are probably the most popular EBiDAN group overseas. Each of the members of Chotokkyu have a colour that represents them; Koichi - black, Kai - blue, Ryoga - purple, Takuya - green, Yuki - red, Yusuke - yellow, and Takashi - white. Koichi and Takashi are the singers of the group, the rest are dancers. I love Chotokkyu for the somewhat crazy style to a lot of their songs. All of their songs are available to purchase on iTunes (even outside of Japan!).

Sakura Shimeji

Sakura Shimeji are a duo who made their CD debut in 2015 with the single, "Ikujinashi / Kino no Yume". The members are Takata Hyouga and Tanaka Gaku. Both of them sing and play the guitar. Hyouga also plays the tambourine. All of their songs are available on iTunes as well.

MAGiC BOYZ

Now for probably the most er...unique EBiDAN group. MAGiC BOYZ (sometimes called Majibo for short) are a "rap" group who also made their debut in 2015 with the single, "MAGiC SPELL ~Kake Chau Zo Pippippi~". The lineup has changed quite a lot over the years but the current members are MCs Ryuto, Touma, and Mahiro, and DJ Joe. Some of their older songs are available to purchase on iTunes. A lot of Majibo's songs are actually quite catchy, it's just that the members themselves are pretty awkward and don't really fit well with the group's concept in my opinion.

M!LK

Now for my personal favourite group! M!LK made their CD debut also in 2015 with the single, "Coffee ga Nomemasen". The title track was used as the ending song for the anime, "Pankisu!". I'm totally not extremely bitter about the fact that M!LK are the only 39&KiDS unit whose songs aren't available on iTunes outside of Japan, nope. M!LK is a group with a very cute image and all of their songs are super upbeat and catchy so if you're into groups like that then definitely check them out! The members are Sano Hayato (pink), Itagaki Mizuki (orange), Yamazaki Haruki (green), Shiozaki Daichi (blue), and Yoshida Jinto (yellow).

 SUPER★DRAGON

SUPER★DRAGON's first widely available single was "Pendulum Beat!" which was released in 2016. The title track was used as the opening song for the anime, "Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V". SUPER★DRAGON have a more cool, bad boy kind of image (which I find kind of funny sometimes because members like Raku for example are way too adorable to pull off that kind of image) and their music tends to have a lot of rapping and dubstep-like sounds. The group is split up into two subgroups; FIRE DRAGON - which is made up of the four oldest members - Reo, Tsuyoshi, Jean, and Hayate and THUNDER DRAGON - which is the five youngest members - Sougo, Koki, Hyoma, Tomoya, and Raku. Tsuyoshi is the main singer of the group, Jean mostly raps, while the other members mostly just dance but this sometimes changes depending on the song. Also Jean is half-Turkish. All of their songs so far are available on iTunes.

EBiDAN 39&KiDS

As well as the debuted groups, EBiDAN also has its own trainee members similar to Johnny's Jr. in JE, known as EBiDAN 39&KiDS. EBiDAN 39 (pronounced 'sankyuu') are the older trainees while EBiDAN KiDS are generally the under-13s. Sakura Shimeji, MAGiC BOYZ, M!LK, and SUPER★DRAGON all started out as 39&KiDS units so a lot of the time they will still appear in the 39&KiDS live events and TV shows. EBiDAN 39&KiDS has six different locations; Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, Okinawa, and Fukuoka. There is also EBiDAN THE STREET for groups that mainly focus on performing street lives.



If you're interested in any of these groups, you can head on over to Stardust's official YouTube channel to check out their music videos and other cool videos. Also if you'd like to watch any of their concerts or EBiDAN's weekly TV shows, they can be found on Stardust Channel. If you'd like any more information then feel free to comment below!