Junior Reorganization Sparks Fan Outrage—The Hidden Agenda Behind the New Theater Project

The suddenly announced restructuring

STARTO ENTERTAINMENT (hereinafter referred to as STARTO) announced on the 16th that it would disband the three Junior (formerly Johnny’s Jr.) groups, HiHi Jets, Bi Shonen, and 7 MEN Samurai. In a major restructuring, members of these three groups, along with members of Shonen Ninja, were shuffled to form three new groups.

The newly formed groups are ACEes, KEY TO LIT, and B&ZAI.

The members of each group are as follows:

ACEes: A five-member group consisting of Bi Shonen’s Hidaka Ukisho (22), Yuto Nasu (23), Ryuga Sato (22), HiHi Jets’s Ryuto Sakuma (22), and Shonen Ninja’s Ryusei Fukada (22).

KEY TO LIT: Another five-member group featuring Bi Shonen’s Taisho Iwasaki (22), HiHi Jets’s Mizuki Inoue (24) and Soya Igari (22), as well as 7 MEN Samurai’s Reia Nakamura (27) and Taiko Sasaki (22).

B&ZAI: The largest of the three groups, with eight members: HiHi Jets’s Ryo Hashimoto (24), 7 MEN Samurai’s Rei Yabana (24), Taiki Konno (25), Rinne Sugata (26), Katsuki Motodaka (26), and Shonen Ninja’s Ibuki Kawasaki (19), Michiharu Inaba (19), and Yuji Suzuki (20).

Among the three, ACEes is already scheduled to embark on an arena tour starting April 10 at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena, covering five cities. The other two groups also plan to hold concerts starting in June.

“For fans who had been supporting each group with hopes of their CD debut, this restructuring has been completely unbelievable. Even though they were all part of the Juniors, suddenly having to work together with members from rival groups must be unsettling.

Additionally, Bi Shonen’s Naoki Fujii (24) was left out of all three groups and will now have to pursue a solo career, which has been a shock to fans. Shonen Ninja also lost several of its key young members, who were effectively ‘poached’ for this reorganization.

Looking at the lineup, it’s clear that ACEes is being favored. Many suspect that the group name was deliberately chosen as a play on ‘Ace’ to establish it as the leading group,” said an entertainment journalist.

In response to this restructuring, criticism has flooded the internet: “I don’t think many fans can accept this.” “‘Kiteretsu’ and ‘Banzai’ don’t sound stylish or cool at all.” “I have nothing but distrust. Were the members really okay with this?” Although it never materialized, there were even extreme fans who attempted to incite a protest in front of STARTO’s headquarters, demanding an explanation for the restructuring.