From a B-grade idol to a complete turnaround: The “historic turnaround” made by manager Michi Iijima on the eve of SMAP’s breakup.

In the previous article, “[Also with Johnny’s’s Disqualified Persons] The Identity of What “Drove and Abandoned” SMAP Immediately After Their Debut,” we analyzed the predicament that surrounded SMAP as they made their debut.

Commonalities” between Saori Minami and SMAP

The history of idols is interesting.

In 1971, Saori Minami, a girl who came to Tokyo from the southern island of Okinawa, opened the door to the history of idols in Japan with her debut “17 Sai.

The idol boom stalled at the end of the 1970s, but in the spring of 1980, Seiko Matsuda suddenly appeared from Fukuoka, Kyushu, triggering an idol boom in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, Namie Amuro from Okinawa shined as the star of the era, and SPEED followed her as if to break through the “idol winter era. As I said, girls from the south revitalized the world of idols.

It’s amazing!　I wonder if there is a “great will” that governs the idol genre, and if it is not due to that power.

The history of Johnny’s is similar.

A genius producer named Johnny Kitagawa and his sister, Mary Kitagawa’s shrewd management team built up a huge empire of Johnny’s. At the end of the Showa Era, the group Hikari Genjiji was established. At the end of the Showa period, the company reached its zenith with Hikaru Genji and Shonen-tai.

At that time, SMAP was a failed idol. They sang badly and could not dance. They were just plain poofy. Their CDs did not sell well, they had no more hits, they had no more singing shows, and they were abandoned by the fading generation. Michi Iijima, a clerical worker, stepped forward to help them out of the siege. He had no experience in the entertainment business. He was a complete novice.

Everything about him was the opposite of the “Johnny’s aesthetic. Everyone thought that there was no way he could make it work. They would be a B-grade idol group that would disappear sooner or later. However, …… has a lot of information about idols.

The history of idols is interesting. When the popular ones at the top of their game disappear, the next ones to emerge are those with the opposite attributes.

Let go of your pride and start over.

Consider the dinosaurs. Giant creatures that once roamed the earth. However, the dinosaurs went extinct without a trace, and what ruled the earth afterwards was a small body and not much physical ability……. Yes, it was humans.

SMAP is not the dinosaurs of Johnny’s kingdom.

They were the little humans of the next era.

Of course, Michi Iijima couldn’t have strategically thought and managed them that way. She had no choice but to “do what she could” out of desperation.

They would do what their predecessors in Johnny’s had not done. The Best Ten” and “Night Hit Studio” are no more. If there are no singing shows to appear on, what are we going to do?　That’s right, variety shows!

Idols have appeared on variety shows in the past. However, it was only as an afterthought after their singing career was successful.

It is unusual for a member of SMAP, whose face was not yet well known to the general public, to appear as a “lowly” member of Kinichi Hagimoto’s or Cha Kato’s variety show.

Or they auditioned and appeared in dramas on their own. It was not a leading role. It was a supporting role. They were called the variety group (Nakai, Kusanagi, and Katori) and the drama group (Kimura, Inagaki, and Mori), but they both did jobs that were not even listed on the TV program listings.

Their predecessors up to that point would not have done this.

Yes, they had abandoned the pride of Johnny’s.

There was a variety show called “Sakurakko Club” (broadcast from 1991 to 1994 on TV Asahi). The main group was a girl idol group of the same name, and SMAP was also on the show. The members of Sakurako Club were Miki Nakatani, Miho Kanno, Harumi Inoue, and others. They were playing games with SMAP in their swimsuits at the pool at Seibuen Yuenchi!

At the time, when I saw SMAP on the show, I was astonished and said to myself, “What? I was surprised to see SMAP on the show at the time.

Yume ga MORIMORI” was a variety show featuring Kenji Moriwaki and Hiroko Moriguchi (broadcast from 1992 to 1995 on Fuji Television). Two MORI and the third MORI was Katsuyuki Mori, and SMAP was also on the show.

It is hard to imagine now that SMAP, who later became national idols, were treated as backers of Kenji Moriwaki (!). It is hard to imagine that nowadays.

Kimutaku’s big break was inevitable.

In 1993, Takuya Kimura finally appeared in Fuji Television’s “Tsuki 9” drama Asunaro Hakusho. However, it was not the leading role. He was flanked by Michitaka Tsutsui, who played the lead role. ……, which is also hard to believe nowadays.

In this drama, Kimura completely eclipsed Tsutsui in the lead role, setting the stage for the explosion of his popularity. The script was written by Eriko Kitagawa. Yes, three years later, he would write “Long Vacation” for the same “Tsuki 9”.

After “Yume ga MORIMORI” (The Dream is MORIMORI), also from Fuji Television, finished airing, “SMAP x SMAP” would begin in the spring of 1996.

SMAP’s breakthrough was already in sight.

How did SMAP, a failed idol group, make a major comeback?　In “Johnny’s and Japan” by Toshihiro Yano (Kodansha Gendai Shinsho), there is a description of “the shift from dress-up to dress-down by SMAP.

Dressing up, yes, glittering costumes like Hikaru Genji and Shonen-tai, do not suit SMAP. Dressing down, casual clothes that look like fashionable everyday wear, suits SMAP well.

This is not a flashy disco with a mirror ball spinning in the bubble era. It is the world of a club where there is no dress code and people are relaxed in their everyday clothes.

In every way, it is the exact opposite of the aesthetics of Johnny’s, which reached its zenith in the Showa era. However, this has become the new aesthetic of the Heisei era.

SMAP has abandoned the star power of the former Johnny’s. It is, so to speak, the anti-Johnny’s. It is, so to speak, the anti-Johnny’s. Neither the genius Janie Kitagawa nor the shrewd Mary Kitagawa helped them. An amateur clerk helped them. Those who rejected Johnny’s are shining as the new Johnny’s stars. It was SMAP, who abandoned the pride of Johnny’s, who built a new pride of idols.

That’s right. Then, there are those who gently reached out to them. The era that once abandoned them, ……, yes, the “era,” had somehow become SMAP’s greatest ally.

In the next article, “[The Day a Star of the Heisei Era Was Born] The Unwritten Rules of Johnny’s,” which SMAP radically changed on April 15, 1996, we will take a deeper look into the background of the birth of the famous song “One and Only One Flower in the World,” which made history as the idol representing the Heisei era.