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u/MontyHallProb

r/weare_starto
▲ 26 r/weare_starto

4U to have one CD debut! Continued releases & full debut contract conditional upon sales/MV view

it was announced at the 4U (ふぉ〜ゆ〜) concert at Nippon Budokan that 4U will have a CD release on 11/11/2026! The CD release will be under Teichiku Records, and if the CD release achieves

selling 50,000 copies
the music video for the single has had 1,000,000 views by year end

then 4U will have a second release and a full contract. Congratulations to 4U and all their fans, and best of luck on getting a second CD/full contract.

https://mdpr.jp/news/4828776

u/MontyHallProb — 9 days ago
▲ 8 r/weare_starto

Would Starto do a double or triple debut of their junior groups?

Just speculating on whether Starto would do a multi-debut of ACEes, KEY TO LIT, B&ZAI (either a double debut or a triple debut) like SixTONES/Snow Man. ACEes and KEY TO LIT both have concerts today, so if there was a double debut, they might project the other concert on the screen and announce it as a surprise. Ohkura is in charge of the juniors, and when Naniwa's debut was announced they did it at a concert, so maybe that is his style.

I know many fans have mixed feelings about multi-debuts, since it pits fandoms against each other. I also expressed concern that a triple debut might strain Starto's ability to promote each group and give them the push they deserve, but got pushback from fans of multiple groups.

Anyone else have thoughts?

reddit.com
u/MontyHallProb — 1 month ago
▲ 31 r/weare_starto

DOMOTO will cease agent contract with Starto, take over management of their group, Koichi Domoto will keep agent contract with Starto

DOMOTO (consisting of Koichi Domoto and Tsuyoshi Domoto) will stop being managed by STARTO on July 21, 2026, 29 years after they debuted as Kinki Kids. DOMOTO will continue their activities, managed independently of STARTO - they are about to perform dome concerts, with

Tokyo Dome performances July 15, 16 (under STARTO management)
Kyocero Dome perfomance July 22, 23 (under independent management).

Koichi Domoto will maintain his agent contract with STARTO entertainment. Tsuyoshi Domoto is independent of STARTO.

corporate.starto.jp
u/MontyHallProb — 1 month ago
▲ 12 r/weare_starto

Would Starto ever do a "Famimall" concert?

With Richard joining Famimall, it got me thinking, would Starto ever do a joint Famimall concert? currently Famimall is Starto's fan club for idols/talents/actors that do not have their own fan club:

Koji Uchiumi, Atsuhiro Sato, Hiroki Uchi, Jun Hasegawa, Keito Okamoto, 4U [Yuki Koshioka, Yusuke Matsuzaki, Yuta Fukuda, Yudai Tatsumi], Shota Hayashi, Ryuta Muro, Sho Takada, Daichi Imae, Kota Matsumoto, Kensho Tomioka, Yuki Nozawa, Fujii Naoki, Keita Richard Kusama

I know 4U does their own concerts, including at Budokan in August this year, and Koji Uchiumi and Atsuhiro Sato formed "U&S" and did a tour. I guess I was wondering if they could do some sort of "joint concert" where there are perform starto songs: in different combinations, solos, 4U performs some of their group songs, etc. - kind of like a joint jr concert or a mini version of countdown.

I know that some of these people, like Keito Okamoto, are very focused on acting and left their groups to focus on being actors. I just miss that Fujii and Richard won't be dancing, and thought this might be a way for them and everyone else to do a concert on the stage.

u/MontyHallProb — 2 months ago
▲ 19 r/weare_starto

KAMIGATA BOYZ festival to be held October 31-November 1

"KAMIGATA EXPO PARK FES 2026" will be held on 10/31/2026 (Sat) and 11/1/2026 (Sun) at Osaka Expo Commemorative Park. the KAMIGATA BOYZ groups and the Kansai Juniors will be performing.

Performing artists
・SUPER EIGHT
・WEST.
・Naniwa Boys
・Ae! group
・Kansai Junior.

Oricon has comments from Ryuhei Maruyama, Nozomu Kotaki, Ryusei Onishi, Yoshinori Masakado, and Toa Shimasaki.

Edit: adding website link:https://2026.kamigataboyz.com/

u/MontyHallProb — 2 months ago
▲ 15 r/weare_starto

New Junior group "Howzit" created

A new junior group "Howzit" has been formed among the juniors. It includes the following five members

Nao Oriyama,
Takuya Nishimura,
Koki Kuroda,
Kosei Hiyama,
Wataru Vasayegh

This is group that had a previously announced to be holding "Junior Tour 2026" this summer now renamed to "Howzit 1st LIVE 2026 NICE TO ME YOU"

u/MontyHallProb — 2 months ago
▲ 14 r/weare_starto

Any idea what Ae! group is doing for a bassist?

When Ae! group released the music video for their song PRIDE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9PQ_UXGZ2A) while playing instruments, it made me note that they have lost both bassists😭. I was wondering if Ae! group might do for a bassist, as most rock songs have a bass and a lot of their junior songs have bass. I remember reading that when TOKIO lost their bassist, they stopped their music because they were not able to find a way with touring to make it work. Did Ae! group use a session musician for their latest tour? If so, any reactions from fans on if it worked?

u/MontyHallProb — 2 months ago
▲ 0 r/weare_starto

New Stage Play "Hyakki Yakyou [百鬼夜鏡]" Directed by Koichi Domoto and Starring Shota Tatsuka (A.B.C-Z) Matsuzaki Yusuke (4U), Kota Yabu (HSJ), & Jrs.

The play will run in November 2026

https://mdpr.jp/news/detail/4800234

The play also stars the Juniors Koki Kawasaki, Waku Motoki, Sota Uchimura, Hideki Ajima, Takumi Kitagawa, and Tatsuru Matsuo.

I wonder if this represents a return of Starto produced stage plays with predominantly Starto idol casts (in 2025 we only had ANDO, while in 2024 we had Dream Boys, Shock, Massara, ABC Big Venus)

u/MontyHallProb — 2 months ago
▲ 1 r/weare_starto

New Stage Play "Hyakki Yakkyou [百鬼夜鏡]" Directed by Koichi Domoto and Starring Shota Tatsuka (A.B.C-Z) Matsuzaki Yusuke (4U), Kota Yabu (HSJ), & Jrs.

The play will run in November 2026

https://mdpr.jp/news/detail/4800234

The play also stars the Juniors Koki Kawasaki, Waku Motoki, Sota Uchimura, Hideki Ajima, Takumi Kitagawa, and Ryu Matsuo.

u/MontyHallProb — 2 months ago
▲ 11 r/weare_starto

Will Travis Japan do a concert tour outside Japan this year?

Travis Japan held overseas tours in September–October 2024 (Taipei, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York) and again in July–September 2025 (New York, Anaheim, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Bangkok). However, they have not announced any overseas dates for 2026.

I've been reading about some Western artists scaling back or canceling tours because of rising travel and production costs. That made me wonder whether increasing expenses, caused by higher fuel prices/inflation, could affect Starto's ability or willingness to send Travis Japan on a tour outside Japan this year. Could they not tour outside of Japan this year, or might do Asian cities but not the US. any thoughts?

At the same time, STARTO has announced Asian tours for Kento Nakajima and Takuya Kimura, so the company is clearly still investing in overseas activities. Anyone have any speculations on what Traja/Starto might do? And might Starto make other changes in response to inflation, such as raising concert prices for Travis Japan or other acts?

u/MontyHallProb — 2 months ago
▲ 8 r/weare_starto

Would there be a good way to do a "audition reality show" with the Starto juniors?

Obviously Starto did timelesz project, but that had the structure of "audition reality show to join an existing group," and the juniors were not allowed to participate. I was wondering if Starto would do an audition reality show with the juniors?

I realize that Starto is investing in ACEes/KEY TO LIT/B&ZAI, but with other group disbandments there are a large number of non-group juniors that could participate. Obviously there are issues you would have to work around: is it fair to pit juniors like Nao Oriyama that have over 10 years expience against 10 year olds who have just joined the company? Also, you would not want to label juniors "F class" like Produce 101 Japan, or have them labeled rejects if you wanted them in a group in the future.

Maybe if they formed a group with a more international focus, so juniors are not rejected for being bad idols but instead because they don't fit the goal of an international group? or maybe for determining who gets solos/positions at a junior concert, as opposed to creating an overall group?

(I know that Starto has televised the "audition to become a junior" like how they found Ryosuke Yamada, but they have not done that in a while, plus I was thinking of an audition show with existing juniors.)

reddit.com
u/MontyHallProb — 3 months ago
▲ 24 r/weare_starto

I realize that the countdown concert was months ago, but I have been thinking about whether Starto would not do another countdown in the back of my mind. The main thing is this notice about defamation Starto released the day after the concert. In it, they talked both about both the slanderous comments about some of the idols and the difficulty in coordinating schedules for all the groups/individuals. I know Starto cancelled Hey!Say!jump's arena tour in 2019 because of fan's behavior, so I wonder if the online attacks on the idols is in the same category that would lead Starto to not do countdown, and just do end of year shows?

u/MontyHallProb — 4 months ago