STARTO’s New President Ushers in Fan Club Boom for Veteran Stars Like Hiroki Uchi
The roller-skate group disbands
On July 24, the official Junior website announced that the junior group “Go! Go! kids”, under STARTO ENTERTAINMENT (STARTO), would end its activities.
With this, the tradition of groups performing on roller skates—carried on since the days of the former Johnny’s office—has come to a complete end, leaving some fans disappointed.
“Not many fans actually knew the members of Go! Go! kids. But groups that specialized in roller skates trace back to Hikaru GENJI, which included Kazumi Morohoshi (54), then Kis-My-Ft2 (Kis-My), and later HiHi Jets (HiHi). Many fans are saddened that there’s now no group to carry on that legacy,” said an idol magazine writer.
The late Johnny Kitagawa was famously passionate about youth baseball, but he had also been incorporating roller skates into his show productions since the 1970s.
“Back then, Japan-U.S. Roller Game was televised and became a social phenomenon. The pro roller-skating team Tokyo Bombers produced many stars and enjoyed explosive popularity. Kitagawa was deeply inspired by this.
Naoki Igari, a late-period member of Tokyo Bombers, is the father of HiHi’s Soya Igari (22). Naoki was a legendary member in the team’s final era. If Johnny had lived longer, HiHi would almost certainly have debuted as the next roller-skate group after Kis-My, just as originally envisioned,” explained a veteran TV producer.
However, junior groups are now shuffled, and Igari has joined KEY TO LIT (Kiteretsu). Since the group includes members from Bishonen and 7 MEN Samurai—who have no roller-skating background—industry insiders say the likelihood of roller-skating performances in the future is extremely low.
Toward an agency for adult artists
“The disbanding of the Junior groups is also said to have been intended to completely erase the color of Mr. Johnny, so it’s likely that roller-skate groups, which reminded people of his productions, were also done away with. In addition, there has been another new development at STARTO. Former Hikaru GENJI member Atsuhiro Sato (51), former Kanjani∞ and former NEWS member Hiroki Uchi (38), and Four Tops’ Jun Hasegawa (39).
And now, fan clubs have been created for them as well as for Yuki Nozawa (32), formerly of noon boyz. Uchi is active on stage, and Hasegawa appears in dramas from time to time, but as for Nozawa, even among us reporters, conversations like ‘Did he leave the agency?’ ‘No, he didn’t, right?’ come up occasionally, since it’s difficult to grasp his current status.” (Idol magazine writer)
Incidentally, the former members of Four Tops were Tomohisa Yamashita (40), Toma Ikuta (40), Shunsuke Kazama (42), and Hasegawa. The group naturally dissolved when Yamashita joined NEWS, but aside from Hasegawa, the others have been very active starring in dramas and films or establishing themselves as acclaimed supporting actors.
As for noon boyz, they were the last Iitomo Seinen-tai on Waratte Iitomo! (Fuji TV). Nozawa’s partner, Yuma Sanada (32), left the agency in 2018 and is now active as a member of 7ORDER. TV writer and columnist Mihoko Yamada analyzes STARTO’s move as follows:
“Even so, I believe the agency is treating with care those who chose to stay, continuing sincere discussions with staff. Looking around beyond them, most of today’s debuted members are already in their 30s, but I think the agency is doing a good job of producing them. Sports papers, for example, gave big coverage to key members of the stage team, such as Takuto Teranishi (30) and Yoshitaka Hara (29), who joined timelesz.
Recently, 4U appeared on Naniwa Danshi no Gyakuten Danshi (TV Asahi) and competed in games. For their live battle-of-the-bands partner, A.B.C-Z chose none other than Junretsu and BREAKERZ, the latter fronted by DAIGO (47).
I think this kind of planning shows great sense. Seeing these moves, I felt that STARTO is once again trying to promote its talents in their 30s and 40s who have been with the agency for a long time. In the past, boy groups were essentially the agency’s specialty, but now, with boy groups from other agencies debuting one after another and gaining popularity, STARTO—the original male idol agency—may be transforming into an agency for adult male artists.”
With the new president now in place, a fresh direction has begun to take shape. How do fans feel about it?