If I start talking about people I am a fan of, it usually is relatively hard to keep me from talking about them and why I love them. Somehow, I always felt responsible for letting people know how much of a great character they are and what they do that makes me love them this much.
I always see them as people I aspire to be, so hard work will always be pointed out by me. Whether it’s their improvement on vocals, how amazing their dance skills are, what songs they personally choreographed, how they did their concert make up, how they keep up with the amount of workload they have, and so on. All efforts are easily appreciated by me because everything comes from hard work. I guess that’s why it was so easy for me to fall for a group named “AmBitious,” especially with the rationale behind their group name.
Before we dwell in to that, let’s backtrack a bit towards the end of December 2021 where I cried myself over the performance of “Soragato Orchestra” by Kansai Juniors. My fangirling history with STARTO was really something that comes-and-go and when I finally decided I would settle and dedicate myself for the groups of the company, I met them.
“Soragoto Orchestra” was really that song that made me think that I want to support these juniors as much as I could because my introduction to them is really so memorable. I put it down as my anniversary date because I didn’t have one, and so my journey of being their fan begins there.
For AmBitious, it probably was a lot earlier than that. After all, I am also a H.A.F (HiHi Jets fan) and part of it was extensive research, until I found “Koi no Yamai to Yarougumi” which is a junior drama with mixed members from HiHi Jets, Bishonen, 7 MEN Samurai, Shonen Ninja, and Ae! group. It was just a cute high school drama with a bunch of guys thrown into an all-boys class, and the lack of female interaction made them catch the “Can’t-Talk-To-Girls” disease. So to say it’s a somewhat no-brainer drama because you didn’t have to overthink the plot and just enjoy what you see.
The funniest episode for me would probably be Mimura “Mimurin” Ren’s (Nakamura Reia) episode because the similarities and love for writing were there. Most especially with Mimurin’s annoying junior, who was stressed out that everyone in the drama club left, nearly causing the club to shut down.
The whole episode was fun thanks to that annoying junior who did his acting really effective and great. So when they announced the second season of Yarougumi, I was hoping to see him again. I ended up reviewing the whole cast list in Wikipedia JP, refreshing what I know about Yarougumi as a way to keep up with the new season.
Surprisingly (not really), that annoying junior was also from the same company and a Kansai Junior. Koshiba Riku made me go on a deeper dive looking for him, and I discovered he was already in a unit called AmBitious. During that time, I only knew about Boys be as Kansai Junior’s latest group, so hearing about them made me even more curious.
Riku makes his appearance again in Yarougumi, now making films for the club and asking Mimurin’s guidance. Watching his episode makes me happy that his name was already tagged, and it also promoted his group. I also noticed how much he improved in acting, and that somehow gave me some kind of proud moment because he really did well. It was probably then that I started looking out more for his group, watching as much content about them as I could. Trying to catch up on the things that I have missed out like their magazines, interviews, several blog posts, and such.
I was slowly remembering all of the members getting familiar with their names at one point. If you’re a fan of the juniors, especially the ones without units, you know how exceptionally hard it is to find their things. With a new unit like AmBi (short for AmBitious), it was hard to get to know them with limited sources (and English-speaking fans). It didn’t help much that his name was too vague for a Google search.
I paid more attention to them, especially when the New Year Live 2022 Noroshi DVD came out, I really rushed to be able to watch it as soon as I could, and I didn’t have many regrets as I saw how amazing they really are performing. It was the first content I actually got to witness from them after several months of just relying on the Noroshi Digest from the official account.
I could only look at Riku during the digest, and watching the main concert, I could still only look at him and see a whole different image from Yarougumi. I keep looking left and right because everyone’s stage presence is amazing as well, seeing their center Mayumi Takeyuki. My first thought was really, “Wow, he really is a reliable center,” because of how amazing his stage presence is, and you wouldn’t miss him.
I think I fell in love the most with the blonde guy whose dance skills are so great I couldn’t help but re-watch his part over a couple of hundred times. It was probably the reason why ARASHI’s “Crazy Moon” would make me cry and sing almost immediately. Watching the games helped too when I overheard the other juniors calling him “Gaku“, who turned out to be Kawashita Gaku. I later realized that the one junior I saw on the official X (former Twitter) wearing Le Petit Prince costume was Gaku. Making it seem like a weird twist of fate that I was absolutely smitten by his dance.
My mind made a whole theory that they were absolutely balanced because there are people who have high stage presence, those who are great with variety skills, and those who are absolutely an all-rounder. Before I knew it, I was getting to know everyone’s name properly and easily remember who is who.
My hyper-fixation got the best of me when I read more about them and made my own page of just their facts. I was constantly on the lookout for them, and upon further dive, I found the group’s origins.
Although it has been a constant inside joke that SUPER EIGHT’s Ohkura Tadayoshi and Yokoyama You really just liked the phrase “Boys Be Ambitious” from the previous STARTO project, Ohkura’s explanation really made more sense to me. AmBitious‘ group formation was announced through the magazine MYOJO, and what’s cute about it is that they only knew about it that day too. Produced by Ohkura, he explained that the name is simply derived from the word “Ambition” and that “Some people are embarrassed to have passion and dreams, but I thought the way they worked hard on stage was truly ‘ambitious‘.”
Thinking about it, he was right about the members. Everyone was very ambitious in their own way, be it through variety, showcasing their talents, or venturing somewhere else. It was evident that how they were always giving 900% of their soul and energy in each performance, whether it was dancing, singing, acting, or just making jokes.
I wasn’t sure whether it was when I found out parallels with Riku’s character in Yarougumi that he was also a film major or when I found out how hard-working Oka Yuri and Yoshikawa Taro are in building not only their abs but their English skills as English majors.
Or how Inoue Ichita is a dance prodigy and was in a dance crew prior but still would join dance lessons to improve his skills, or Nagaoka Leo practicing acrobats so much so he could surpass Gaku, or how Gaku focuses on making song covers to improve his singing.
Or how Ura Rikuto’s really invented idol gijinka (idol personification) and how great his acting background is; or how Ouchi Rion focuses on improving his guitar skills; or how Mayumi did his absolute best in being an MC, and as AmBi’s center, that I started thinking how dedicated and talented their group is.
The first indicator of how ambitious they are in making their names known is through their self-introduction. Everyone thought of a very unique way of introducing themselves, ranging from using puns on their name, mentioning something unique about them like their previous image or their talents, and even gags that would make you remember them because of how ridiculous it sounded. I memorized every bit of it. It was cute when they made a TikTok referencing their name introductions.
I remember it was only a couple of months since I liked AmBi — probably less than 6 months into the fandom when the Kansai Junior Dream Live was announced. They already announced that Ura would not be able to attend the show due to conflicting schedules as he has a stage play in Tokyo during that time, I was already discouraged, thinking that if AmBi isn’t complete then I surely can just wait for the replay instead. Jokes on me because on the day of the show, I felt this huge impulse to buy the ticket, and I casually asked my friend if they wanted to watch livestream on that day. Luckily, they said yes, and I immediately bought the tickets just 2 hours before the show started. I enjoyed every moment of it and realized how much AmBitious grew from their performances in Noroshi.
Again, I was really proud. They were really and truly AmBitious. Even with a missing member, they still made the performance look complete like nobody was missing. It’s like bringing Ura’s heart along with them during those performances.
The encore for it came, and probably, that was the most heart-warming moment for me that whenever I think about it, I start tearing up. Since it was the final show, and it was being livestream, AmBitious did a tiny surprise during the encore stage, and there was Ura, who rushed from Tokyo just to join them, at least for the encore stage. It was also how AmBi was pointing at Ura happily like they were absolutely showing him off every time the camera pans to them.
I think that was when I realized how strong their bond is with each other and how much they’re working for the same goal. If ISLAND TV was still up, I would definitely link that video taken after the show and how everyone greeted happily and how excited they were that Ura was able to catch up.
It was about their bond, too, and how well they know each other that I began to really love them more. I couldn’t help but switch lanes every time because of how loveable everyone is. The next thing I knew I was buying goods of other members as well whenever I feel like it and how I pay attention and get excited whenever they update.
It wasn’t hard to jump into their circle and be a fan, especially if you took the time and pay attention to everything they do and the intention behind it. In Island TV, everyone had their own segment like Riku’s meal diary, Oka’s dinner diary, Gaku’s singing series, Ura’s idol ginjinka, even Taro and Oka’s English series, everything boils down to Ambicharge. An ISLAND TV segment that comes up whenever you need a quick battery charge from a tiring day. Even though they didn’t have a YouTube channel on their own, they really took up making this content for everyone.
AmBi had great news one after another, having their own live, their own stage play, and finally their first song. Although I didn’t experience it firsthand, hearing just news about it makes it feel like I was there, and I was happy for every milestone they had and thinking it was something they deserved after all the hard work.
They started having more work and more content to follow. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but they still made things work and still gave it their all. They work hard to make sure nothing is lacking and catch each other whenever they can.
It was how, despite everything, everyone was focused on their goals of improving themselves, whether it’d be improving their speaking skills, their muscles, their vocals, reviewing the basics, and focusing on their studies. Everyone found their own niche to focus on, yet that didn’t divide them fully but made them a more well-rounded group.
In my mind, they were a perfect team that held each other equally responsible for one another, and the way they talked about it was always so full of love and affirmation. Through the blogs, they were able to consistently praise their member and be proud of every achievement they made, like how they kept talking about Ichita making the choreography for their song “RIDE,” or how Mayumi thought Rion did great on his musical and that he was on a different level. They never fail to reassure not only each other but also the fans that they’re doing their best. I think about that one fan cam during Wasshoi CAMP Tokyo of Rion saying that “AmBitious is 9” doing Riku’s ‘Oh Shanghai’ pose, and that one really stuck with me.
Those were probably the hardest 6 months of constant waiting, and news that I didn’t want to hear came up. Even though it was hard, listening to Riku’s thoughts on his final message (about his departure from the group and the agency), calling the members by name one by one, and thanking them warmly pulled several heartstrings in mine. He was smiling while mentioning everyone and it really made the decision clearly something that is not easy, but very much understandable.
Even then, I thought he was still living by the group’s name when he followed his dreams fully and focused on making films. The other members continued forward, focusing on their goals as well. Despite that, it was very evident that they supported each other silently, proving that AmBi’s bond was stronger than it appeared to be.
Out of every group that I became a fan of, I think my attachment to AmBi really came from being able to witness every milestone they had, from their first live, their first stage play, their first online commercial, assigning their member color, their announcement as an official unit through the website, their Island TV mascot, their first song, their second song, and their own group blog. It was fun to witness everything and see more people appreciate all their talents and efforts. It would be an understatement to say how proud I am of everything they have.
They are living up to their name and they know no limits. One page would not be enough to describe how much I love them and why everyone should support all 8 members of AmBitious. There were still a lot of things to know talk about them, wouldn’t it be fun to jump in this rabbit hole too?
Please look forward to how much they’re growing and take a look at these AmBitious (pun intended) boys!
Check out the Juniors on their various social media platforms!
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