Ohno Satoshi & Musical Academy

twainhater213 · PIKA☆NCHI Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 71

Dang, I hope no one minds me Ohno-spamming. I don't know how to post pictures in the thumbnail format so please feel free to edit if you are the moderator.

For those who might not know, "Musical Academy" (MA) is another unit in Johnny's system that focuses on musicals. I daresay it is the most talented, premiere league of dancers in the entire Johnny's. Try to check out some of their stuff on YouTube - as few as there are - they're quite amazing.

MA started as a unit intended to specialize in musicals in early 1999. I've heard that it is a unit that was made just for those who like dancing and are extremely good at it. Debut is not their main objective.

There were 5 founding members - I do not know all of their names, but three of them were AKIYAMA JUN (still with MA), MACHIDA SHINGO (still with MA), and OHNO SATOSHI. big grin

I think all Ohno fans ought to be proud that he hailed from such a talented group of dancers!

Here is a picture of early MA:

Ohno (2nd from the left), Machida (middle)

MA then merged with another Johnny's unit which Sakurai Sho was part of at the time. This was AFTER Ohno and Sakurai dropped out of their unit in order to be part of Arashi. After 7 members going in and out, MA came to the current line up of:

Akiyama Jun
Machida Shingo (the leader of MA)
Yonehana Tsuyoshi (was in the same unit as Sakurai before joining MA)
Yara Tomoyuki (was in the same unit as Sakurai before joining MA)

So had Ohno not become part of Arashi, he most likely would've stayed with MA (if he didn't quit before then).

Ohno is really close to Machida Shingo. They joined Johnny's on the same day. Machida was even there when Ohno dropped out of high school after just 3 days. They were in Kyoto together. Machida is a friend who stuck with Ohno through his hardest times. Maybe because of this history between the two, Ohno has a different air around Machida when I look at him in the pictures, compared to Arashi.

Here are some pics of Ohno & Machida together.

Machida (left), Ohno (middle, blimey, he looks young!), Don't know (right)

Osaka Shunsuke (top, another junior Ohno was close to, no longer with Johnny's), Ohno (left), Machida (right)

I think it's the same trio as above.

More recent picture of Ohno and Machida together.

Charlie · Guest

it would be interesting see MA dancing in ARASHI concerts big grin

they do a very good looking couple

i heart aiba · Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:21 pm Post subject:

Ooh, thanks for posting this!

What musicals did they do while Ohno was still in?

twainhater213 · PIKA☆NCHI Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 71

i heart aiba wrote:

Ooh, thanks for posting this!

What musicals did they do while Ohno was still in?

I have no idea. I'm tempted to say "MASK" (starring Domoto Koichi from Kinki Kids) and "Playzone," since the timeline seems to fit when Ohno was in MA, but I'm really not sure. Also because the current MA does a lot of stuff with Koichi and Kinki Kids. I've had absolutely no luck finding any of his MA stuff - that one picture was a stroke of luck. smile

I think it's because the time he was in MA was so short before he joined Arashi that it's hard to find any clips of them performing together. I'll keep looking.

BTW sorry about the double-post in my last post. Please feel free to merge the two and delete the second one if you wish. smile

mondainai · Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 11:28 am Post subject:

This is really interesting. Thankyou! I've got pics of Sho with MA, and I always wondered who the heck they were.

Eri · Guest

The other popular member whom I can recall was Yuki Kohara. Had he stayed w/ Johnny's back in 2000, I think MA would still be a popular subgroup in Johnny's (I do remember they were total tops more popular than KAT-TUN and all those other units in the '90s). Kohara quit in 2000 after Arashi debuted (he was actually rumored or one of the potentials who was going to be part of Arashi too) due to his college schooling and the fact that he just turned 20 and felt that he had no chance of debuting at all. Kohara is also very close to Sho.

twainhater213 · PIKA☆NCHI Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 71

Eri wrote:

The other popular member whom I can recall was Yuki Kohara. Had he stayed w/ Johnny's back in 2000, I think MA would still be a popular subgroup in Johnny's (I do remember they were total tops more popular than KAT-TUN and all those other units in the '90s). Kohara quit in 2000 after Arashi debuted (he was actually rumored or one of the potentials who was going to be part of Arashi too) due to his college schooling and the fact that he just turned 20 and felt that he had no chance of debuting at all. Kohara is also very close to Sho.

Yes... Kohara I think is a sad loss, but I guess it's better for him now. Wasn't there also a V6 member who left Johnny's because he thought he had no chance of debut, but later wanted to come back? I think it was Sakamoto Masayuki... so he was 24 years old (or somewhere close) when he debuted as V6. Makes me wonder what Johnny's criteria for "debut" is and why some get to do it while others don't.

Speaking of V6, I read on J-Wiki that Ohno was originally considered for kamisen. Do you know anything about that?

i love Jun · Guest

Chibi Ohno!! where did you find this information, may I ask? I'm just curious ^^

do you have any information on "West Side Story" also??

Eri · Guest

twainhater213 wrote:

Yes... Kohara I think is a sad loss, but I guess it's better for him now. Wasn't there also a V6 member who left Johnny's because he thought he had no chance of debut, but later wanted to come back? I think it was Sakamoto Masayuki... so he was 24 years old (or somewhere close) when he debuted as V6. Makes me wonder what Johnny's criteria for "debut" is and why some get to do it while others don't.

Nagano was another guy who also left Johnny's and then went back (about the same time as Sakamoto). I gotta tell you though, Johnny's is damn unpredictable like that LOL. Latest news about Kohara though that I've heard is that he is back in showbiz again, but is working *behind-the-scenes* instead of in front of the camera. I even heard a rumor that Kohara is one of the managers of Arashi, but that was never justified. LOL x.x

Quote:

Speaking of V6, I read on J-Wiki that Ohno was originally considered for kamisen. Do you know anything about that?

I don't think that's true though, in fact this is the first time I've heard of that fact. LOL..... Ohno debuted as a Jr. in 1994 and V6 debuted in 1995--- there's no way he could have been considered because he's such a fresh Jr., you know? Then again I can't really say that because Okada was only a Jr. for 2 months before he got in to V6 LOL. ^^

I do remember another MA member--- also one of the founders and he was also considered to be part of V6--- Tomohiro Hara. He is now a solo vocalist from a different agency/record company now.

Ah, history... LOL. ^^

twainhater213 · PIKA☆NCHI Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 71

Quote:

I don't think that's true though, in fact this is the first time I've heard of that fact. LOL..... Ohno debuted as a Jr. in 1994 and V6 debuted in 1995--- there's no way he could have been considered because he's such a fresh Jr., you know? Then again I can't really say that because Okada was only a Jr. for 2 months before he got in to V6 LOL. ^^

Okay I found the source, so if I can find the video now, I'll definitely let you know! Apparently, Ohno said this himself when they were doing the concert in 2003 (I don't know which one) - his MC script was something like this:

He was "considered" for V6 (I guess that would be in place of Okada) and Johnny asked him if he knew how to play volleyball. Ohno said "muri (無理)" - impossible - because at the time he thought that if he answered yes, that's all he would be doing - playing volleyball. Then Sho asked Ohno which group he would've liked better, and Ohno said something along the lines of "I can't do it without Arashi." Then Sho said that the reason Johnny didn't explain to Ohno clearly during the recording (for Arashi's debut song) was probably because if he hadn't, Ohno might've not showed up. Then Nino said that that is how much Johnny needed Ohno to be part of Arashi.

I'll go look for the video of this conversation, I'm sure there has to be one floating around somewhere.

twainhater213 · PIKA☆NCHI Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 71

i love Jun wrote:

Chibi Ohno!! where did you find this information, may I ask? I'm just curious ^^

do you have any information on "West Side Story" also??

Sorry no, I don't have any info on West Side Story. I can try to look though.

Pictures are courtesy of Korean Arashi fans - since that is the language I can read and I can't read Japanese fast enough - you probably know that Arashi visited Korea (after Thailand and Taiwan) earlier this month. They have a pretty big following there, and a lot of Korean fans speak/read/write Japanese fluently.

nightowl · Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:20 pm Post subject:

very interesting. never knew he was considered for V6.
thanks for posting this info!

sarahpotz · Guest

wow.. this is really interesting.. Ohno.. JE history.. i'm starting to love ur post.. flowers

i'm so amazed.. he was even a candidate for V6?? wow.. this is really something.. something..

Eri · Guest

i love Jun wrote:

do you have any information on "West Side Story" also??

What kind of information do you need? x.x

i love Jun · Guest

anything really...^^;