Kamenashi Kazuya, 亀梨和也, (born February 23, 1986)
Akanishi Jin, 赤西仁, (born July 4, 1984)
Taguchi Junnosuke, 田口淳之介, (born November 29, 1985)
Tanaka Koki, 田中聖, (born November 5, 1985)
Ueda Tatsuya, 上田竜也, (born October 4, 1983)
Nakamaru Yuichi, 中丸雄一, (born September 4, 1983)
The group's name is an acronym formed by the members' surname initials.
Typically like all other Johnny's group, KAT-TUN not only sing and dance but the members also act and star in commercials. They are one of the most popular talent idols group in Tokyo at the moment and they finally debuted March 22, 2006. Yayy!!
Members
Kamenashi Kazuya is affectionately called Kame and is one of the two most popular members of KAT-TUN. Although the youngest member of KAT-TUN, he is considered the group's 'unofficial leader'. He works extremely hard, and is supposed to be really talented in baseball. Being good in public speaking, he is often appointed as the main speaker whenever KAT-TUN does their MC in TV shows or concerts. Kame usually leads KAT-TUN's participation in the musicals as he is the one most often actively seeking the spotlight. With Jin, he is the main vocalist of the group. He starred in Gokusen 2 with Jin and as a result, earned an award for best male supporting actor.
Akanishi Jin has some affectionate nicknames from fans. Jin is one of them, but there is also Bakanishi (baka literally means stupid; because he often acts childishly). With Kame, he is one of the two most famous KAT-TUN members. He plays the guitar, has a fabulous voice, and writes many songs for himself and KAT-TUN ("Care", "Hesitate", "Love or Like, "Murasaki""). He starred in Gokusen 2 with Kame, Anego, and a dorama special called Kurisumasu Nankka Daikkirai (I Hate Christmas).
Taguchi Junnosuke is known as Junno. This tallest member of KAT-TUN is currently addicted to tap dancing. His trademarks are the acrobatic stunts he performs in their shows, despite being the tallest of them all, and also his smile, which has been described as 'invincible'. In 2004, Junno injured his knee and has had to take a few months' break from group activities after surgery. Junno is left-handed.
Tanaka Koki naturally gets called Koki. His role in the group is as the main rapper. He writes most of the rap lyrics in their recent original songs and has started to write his own solo rap songs. However, it is also a fact that even his most die-hard fans are usually hard-pressed to distinguish what he is mumbling during performances. His style is hip-hop, and he likes to protray a cuddly personality that is at odds with his image. Koki pairs up with Nakamaru most of the time and they have a comedic unit called TaNaka (TAnaka - NAKAmaru).
Ueda Tatsuya, the appointed and official leader of the group, is one of KAT-TUN's most 'striking' members because he tends to change his image a lot he has been criticized for being "fake" in terms of personality. He is called by the rest of KAT-TUN as Tat-chan. He is learning the English and French language (just like Gackt does - he's a big fan of Gackt, to the point that he was obsessed with looking exactly like Gackt for a long period of time), and prefers songwriting to acting even if he only has a total of two songs to his name. His solo song Love in Snow in their Kaizokuban concert was originally made by him, both lyrics and music. So far, he is the only member of KAT-TUN who still doesn't have a drama.
Nakamaru Yuichi, or Maru, the oldest member, is very funny. He proves that by being in the TaNaka comedy unit with Koki. Maru's trademark skill is his human beatbox (sound of beats he creates with his mouth) that gets incorporated in KAT-TUN's songs a lot. Because of this skill, he seems to be gaining more popularity recently. He is sometimes called Nakama.
***Excuse me if I'm impartial to some in the group. A girl's gotta have her favorites! :P
To see more of KAT-TUN, check out these websites:
http://www.j-storm.co.jp/J-OneRecords/page_top.html
http://junnosuke-taguchi.com/milk_white.html
http://jweb85.blog48.fc2.com/
OR...EVEN BETTER-
Check out this videos of KAT-TUN in the flesh !!!
Commercials (FUNNY!)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sUFG0h6JdpU&search=kat%20tun%20haha
Acting
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fhWU6qJ1fsk&search=kat%20tun%20haha
(Poor Kame's being picked on since he's the youngest in the bunch)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q14SciofMDc&search=kat%20tun%20haha
(My Boy Jun's in this one too)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pmgtum4Hb7k&search=kat%20tun%20vocal%20lesson
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2PcPRXCxGKk&search=kat%20tun%20vocal%20lesson
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a_ynUtZ02YM&search=kat%20tun%20haha
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XEzoL-my8S8&search=kat%20tun%20vocal%20lesson
Performing
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NL88P--h_sY&search=kat%20tun%20haha
(If you're gonna watch this clip, YOU HAVE TO WATCH AND READ THE LYRICS TO HA-HA, I swear....that was the first time I remember watching this on TV and actually STOPPING what I was doing b/c I heard the lyrics and was like WHAT??? - I loved them from that moment on)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eDL3UBs5BDQ&search=kat%20tun%20debut
