, previously known as is a five-member Japanese boy band from Japan's Kansai region. They are managed by the multimedia talent agency Starto Entertainment (formerly Johnny & Associates) and signed to Infinity Records. The group was formed in 2002 and made their CD debut in 2004 as "Johnny's modern enka group", though after the year 2006, their sound and style has become a mix of pop and rock. Like the rest of the acts managed under Johnny & Associates, Super Eight also perform in various other areas of the Japanese entertainment industry such as variety show hosting, television, movie, and stage acting, and radio talk show hosting. They sold 17 million copies in Japan. Starting on February 4, 2024, the group's name changed to Super Eight, following the decisions taken at the agency to eliminate "Johnny" from everything related to the group in the wake of the Johnny Kitagawa sexual abuse scandal.
History
Combination of two groups: 2002–2003 Kanjani Eight was the combination of the four top leading Kansai Johnny's Jr. of the "Junior golden age" and the newly popular V. West (Five West), a rock band Kansai Junior unit. Prior to the creation of the group, Subaru Shibutani, Yuu Yokoyama, Shingo Murakami, and Ryo Nishikido were one of the top leading juniors of the time, headlining many Junior hosted programs and acting in dramas. After the debuts of Arashi and Tackey & Tsubasa, the golden era was suddenly coming to an end and so was their popularity. By the year 2001 all their activity had slowed down to magazine photoshoots.
On the contrary, a new Kansai Junior unit named V. West was taking off in popularity, more so than their eastern counterpart FiVe. The group consisted of Ryuhei Maruyama, Shota Yasuda, Hiroki Uchi, Kiyohito Mizuno, and Tooru Imayama. The group became so popular that by 2001 they had their own television show, Weekly V. West. But, when Mizuno and Imayama left Johnny's & Associates, worry had begun to creep within unit as to their fate within the talent agency.
In 2002, after the end of Weekly V. West, a new program was created to replace it on Kansai TV Channel 8 entitled J3Kansai (pronounced as J Cube Kansai). This show brought together the top leading Kansai Juniors of the golden age and V. West creating the new Junior group, Kanjani, a portmanteau of the words Kansai Johnny's. With the success of the stage play, Another, the group became official garnering the name Kanjani Eight. The "8" stood for the channel that the show J3Kansai aired on. Tadayoshi Ohkura had been added to the group as a drummer and then as an official member in the 12 episode finalizing the group as an eight-member group.
Kanjani Eight, as a newly formed group, held their first concert in December 2002, titled " Kanjani Eight Xmas Party 2002 ". This concert ended up becoming a yearly tradition before ending in 2005. It was also the birthplace of the group's signature act, Kanjani Sentai Eight Ranger.
In 2003, Kanjani Eight members Nishikido and Uchi were called to go to Tokyo to become a part of NEWS, another Johnny & Associates group.
Debut: 2004–2005 Although Nishikido and Uchi were already members of NEWS, they went on to also debut as members of Kanjani Eight when the group released their debut single titled "Naniwa Iroha Bushi" in the Kansai area on August 25, 2004. The single became a local hit, capturing the traditional feel of their hometown region through the pop-enka tune. Shibutani had said, in regards to the feel of the song, " The song has a Kawachi Workman's bass, so it's entirely something new. It'd make me happy to see others dancing when they hear it." Despite the release of the CD, their debut was lackluster, leaving many to question if the debut actually was real. The members themselves had found out of the debut through a newspaper article; Shibutani had said that he was "very surprised" when he found out.
Even though there was questions about the group's debut, "Naniwa Iroha Bushi" had risen to the number-one spot on the Oricon's Enka charts and reaching number-eight on the Oricon's generic music charts. When the single made its nationwide debut on September 22, it had hit number-one on both the Oricon Enka and General Music charts.
Much of 2004 activities were Kansai region focused in comparison their fellow acts who had the luxuries of nationwide exposure. Kanjani Eight had become hometown idols with majority of their popularity within the region but outside the area they were almost unknown. The release of their second single, "Osaka Rainy Blues", further exemplified the fact with the CD single debuting number-nine on the Oricon. To this date, "Osaka Rainy Blues" is the group's lowest single in sales.
2005 had marked the launch of Kanjani Eight's popularity even though it had opened up with the lackluster sales of their second single, "Osaka Rainy Blues". The group had been starring in three regular programs, now being aired nationwide, and were starting to get recognition as a debut Johnny's act. But with growing success came a scandal and in 2005 Hiroki Uchi was arrested for disorderly conduct and underage drinking, being 18 at the time.
The scandal had a significant impact on Kanjani Eight as well as NEWS, the other group he was active in. Johnny's & Associates removed Uchi from both units and put him under an indefinite hiatus from all activities. Also, the drama special about the World War II Kamikaze pilots starring the group, Yakusoku, was canceled. Kanjani Eight continued on that year to do their first Osaka-jō Hall performance with one member less in the summer of 2005.
KJ1 F.T.O: 2006 After the nationwide exposure and scandal in 2005, Kanjani Eight were pushing forward without looking back. Their late 2005 single, "Sukiyanen, Osaka/Oh! Enka/Mugendai" had shown signs of the group's growing success opening at number-two on the Weekly Oricon charts and in March 2006, the group had released their first nationwide debut album, KJ1 F.T.O, the title standing for Kanjani 1: Funky Town Osaka. The album had hit number-two on the Oricon on its debut.
Now known nationally and having an official album release under their belts, Kanjani Eight had begun their first tour. Named after the album's title, the F.T.O.N, Funky Tokyo Osaka Nagoya, concert tour spanned the three cities for six days and twenty performances in total. Soon after the small spring concert tour, the band launched their first nationwide tour, entitled Nationwide 1-St Tour 2006 followed up with a part two winter concert which was appropriately named after the release of their first number-one single, "Kan Fu Fighting". Both tours were a total of 46 performances.
As with all Johnny's, music and television appearances were not the only thing on the group's active schedule. 2006 had also marked the acting debut leads for Ohkura, Maruyama, and Yasuda. By the end of 2006, the group had been in more than four dramas including the Kansai TV drama special showcasing the entire band in three separate stories.
Kanjani Eight have also been active in several stage plays, returning once again for the third year in a row to headline the popular Johnny's & Associates produced play, Dream Boys, with KAT-TUN. This year also marked the end of their summer special stage play series with the return of Another as Another's Another. Their final summer special stage play had a total of 58 performances and marked the last time Kanjani Eight would ever perform at Osaka Shochiku-za Theater.
KJ2 Zukkoke Dai Dassō: 2007 2007 would be marked as the year of Kanjani Eight's success as a group and as a Johnny. The year had opened up with the chart-topping single, "Kan Fu Fighting", which was then followed by the release of their second single, "Zukkoke Otoko Michi". "Zukkoke Otoko Michi" debuted at number-one on the Weekly Charts and number-three for the month of April. The single went later on to be the number-one8 top selling single of 2007. Despite the popularity of the song, it still wasn't as substantial as the success of "Kanfuu Fighting" which had been number-nine on the 2007 yearly charts.
The release of "Zukkoke Otoko Michi" also marked the change of labels from Teichiku Records to its subsidiary, Imperial Records partly due to the change of sound that the band had. Teichiku is an Enka label and the change to Imperial allowed the band to be on a label with a broader sound as Imperial is Teichiku Entertainment's pop/rock label.
June 2007 was the release of their second full-length album, KJ2 Zukkoke Dai Dassō. The album was a significant departure in sound from their first release, focusing the funk and rock side of things, but still didn't stop record sales as it had debut number-one on the Oricon and number-two overall for the month of June.
Majority of 2007 was spent on the road as the group had opened up 2007 holding a concert series as Kyocera Dome entitled Eh?! Honma?! Bikkuri!! Dome Concert in Osaka (Eh? Really?! Shocking!!). The concert tour was extended to a full-length nationwide tour of the same name, breaking records of being the first pop group ever to perform in all 47 prefectures in the same concert tour. The Eh! Honma! Bikkuri!! Tour 2007 had lasted five months and was a total of 113 performances.
In between all the concert activities, many members in Kanjani Eight were involved in other side projects. Yokoyama had starred in the Fuji TV drama, as well as the drama adaptation of the manga, Yūkan Club. Nishikido had starred in the Attention Please drama special and in 1 Liter of Tears. Ohkura had a role in the franchise revival of Hissatsu Shigotonin as well as a supporting role in the TBS drama, Utahime. Maruyama also held a role in the TBS special, .
Directly following up the concert was the release of their seventh single, "It's My Soul". The song had followed the style of its preceding single and album, and managed to hit number-one on the Oricon in its debut week and number-two overall for the month of October. The single managed to hit twenty-second most sold single of 2007.
2007 had ended with the release of the documentary photobook and the concert DVD, 47, which was from the Tokyo Dome performance of their nationwide 2007 tour. 47 ended up becoming the top selling music DVD of 2008 on the Oricon charts, staying on for a solid 57 weeks.
Puzzle: 2008–2009 2008 continued the flow of the band's high-speed activity for the first half of the year. The release of their eighth single, "Wahaha!!", met with success reaching number-one on the Weekly Oricon charts, Billboard Japan Hot 100, Billboard Japan Hot Single Sales, and reaching number-two7 on the top singles of 2008 (Oricon).
Right after their 4-city, 24-performance spring tour, Kanjani Eight hosted the NTV special, , a 13-hour television special spreading the awareness of ecology and the impact of energy waste and littering to the planet. Soon after, they hosted the sequel to their variety special, Sore Yuke! Daidaman, Daidaman Z.
Much of 2008 after June was spent with mild activities from the group. After the successful summer tour, the group released their ninth single, "Musekinin Hero". The single marked a milestone in the group's rising stardom by breaking over 300,000 units sold. The single had reached number-one on the charts and number-eleven on the 2008 yearly charts.
In 2009, Kanjani Eight had released their third album Puzzle after nearly two years since the release of Zukkoke Dai Dassō. Puzzle was a complete departure in sound compared to their previous two albums, containing more of mixture of R&B, rock, and pop songs. The album took only three months to complete and was released in April instantly garnering the number-one spot on the Oricon. The album ended up the number-one best-selling album in the first half 2009. After a very successful concert tour, a DVD was released from their Tokyo Dome performance. The DVD had reached number-one on the General and Music DVD Oricon charts.