Introduction Post: BANQUET

As requested, I will be writing more about the boys here and introduce them on a more 'personal level' (i.e. my own thoughts and opinions and flail and not just objective information).

For more objective information about the group, you can go my website HERE (connected to this blog, written in English) or visit the group's official website HERE (Japanese).

Alright, so, WELCOME TO THE BANQUET WORLD.

Note: This will be long.

I will start off brutally honest here and admit that when I first came across this group, I had almost no interest in them at all (lol). Funny how things change.

When I tweeted about them for the first time, I wrote:
"Last was BANQUET. Had seen a bit of them bc they are really good friends with WhiteA. Their outfits were pretty much 90s boyband lol their music was okay? Singing and dancing was good but did not really do anything much for me tbh. They seem like fun ppl though and they made for a good last act."

Indeed, I had seen BANQUET around at other stuff that I had gone to for WhiteA and I had heard about them because they had been to Vietnam before, so I checked them out briefly but they had not stuck with me back then. And even now, their music isn't really the reason why I like them XD

Interestingly enough, though, the "they seem like fun people" part was what got me in the end.

As terrible as most things have been so far this year with the pandemic and all that, I cannot say that it was all negative on my end. It is thanks to everything and everyone moving online that my life has changed in the ways that it has. Instead of in-person events, more and more online ones popped up and online events could be attended even when you were physically far away, which was the case for me, having been sent into snowy and icy exile in Hokkaido for three months. Add 'stay home' orders to the mix and there was really nothing but the internet there to keep me entertained and keep me company.

So I started to see more of the BQT guys around, as they interacted with WhiteA and as they put up stuff on their own crazy YouTube channel. Things were a trickle still as Tokyo had yet to go into the 'lockdown' but it was getting more and more frequent as in-person events were cancelled one after another.

Now that I had seen some sides of them that I hadn't been able to when they were on stage, my interest was piqued and then they started doing online things more, streams and eventually online tokutenkai (see the 'tokutenkai' entry for details on this). BQT offered very reasonably priced 'otameshi' slots on an app  was already using and had points for so I pretty much YOLO decided to 'go and talk to them'.

Under normal circumstances, going to the tokutenkai of two groups is difficult, unless you only have one boy in each group and the lines move in your favour. Online however, you did not have to line up as everyone was assigned a time slot. Pretty convenient.

So, I got tokutenkai tickets for all 5 members because I really hadn't chosen a favourite at that point and I have this habit of going to meet and talk to all of the guys in a group in person before I really make a judgement as sometimes their on-screen and off-screen personalities could be different.

I talked to them in the order of:
1. YUMA (reason: he's the leader, so let's start here aka とりあえずリーダーにご挨拶)
2. GAKU (reason: boy speaks English! allegedly)
3. Toshi (he seems fun, he's the one who fell asleep on Junya during their instalive)
4. KaiTo (Toshi's BFF? and the guy who talked a lot at the performances)
5. yusuke (all is slots were taken for the other day, so sorry last one he is...)

I came back for seconds for YUMA (ok, I came back for thirds for him, too) and Toshi and I would have wanted KaiTo but he's crazy popular so all of his slots sold out in the blink of an eye. At least all the cheaper ones and a that point I wasn't fan enough to shell out more money for the higher tiers yet.

So, finally, here's what I think about these guys - then and now.

YUMA

Yuma is the leader of the group and the only one among the 5 members who is not from the Kanto area. His hometown is Kameda-machi in Niigata. He started dancing when he was still in his hometown and actually had a job there as a salaryman after graduating but decided that he wanted to pursue a career in the entertainment business and moved to Tokyo with the money he had saved. He said that when he first came to Tokyo he was saving and scrimping a lot, though because he had no real job and Tokyo is expensive. But then one day, while he was shopping in Harajuku/Omotesando, he was approached by an agency scout and invited to an interview.

He went to the interview and he joined the agency and took on a modelling job at first. But behind the scenes he was offered two things: join an established group to replace a member who had to leave and be guaranteed to stand on the big stage within half a year OR join a newly formed group and start from zero with no certainty for success or any plan at all really.

It might seem strange but Yuma chose the latter and thus he became part of BANQUET, a group put together by Kamei-san, one of the agency's producers. Why did he make that choice? Yuma said in an interview that he wanted to create something from zero, that he wanted to carve out a spot for himself instead of simply getting dragged along by the group that was already on the road to success.

That motivation and mindset were what made Kamei-san and BANQUET's former manager decide to have him as the leader of the newly formed group. Yuma's qualities as the one to push forward and as the one who puts in more effort than anyone else behind the scenes are what make him a good leader as well as the fact that he is very caring and supportive. Other members talked about how Yuma was the one who took care of them when they fell ill during trips outside of Tokyo and the like, looking up hospitals and driving them there even when schedules were tight or sleep was being lost.

Aside from being the leader, an essentially also a manager, of the group, Yuma's position is rapper and bass (for harmonies) and dancer. I think his rap-voice is really different from what you are used to in the more poppy rap genre in Japan (or in general) and makes him stand out.

As a dancer, I think his movements are fluid and graceful and yet sharp and you can tell that he has his own style and isn't merely following a choreography but also interpreting it in his own way, without falling out of the rest of the group. I taught him the expression 'feline grace' and he really liked it XD

Okay, I could go on for hours here but I shall stop myself from doing so. If you have questions, please feel free to comment and I will continue to waffle on endlessly, I mean, get back to you.

 

Can I just comment on how much better he looks these days compared to his "stay home style"? lol
Looking back a these pictures ... like, BOY you look different now!! XD

 

As for my relationship with Yuma, I don't know how to describe it but have you ever had a moment where you met a person and things just seemed to 'click' might be the closest thing I can give you to how Yuma and I started off. It's really hard to describe but there was just -something there- from the get go when we talked to each other for the first time and then a second and third time. By the third time we were on first-name basis without honorifics.

Even now if you ask me why I like him, I can't really give you a real comprehensive answer aside from 'I just feel like he is a great person'. And I don't just say that on a superficial basis. It's not some kind of image of him that I have that I'm projecting or anything, it is actually what Yuma is like. And I can confidently say at this point that I have talked to him enough to be able to have a good grasp of his character and what he is like both in his 'on' and 'off' modes.

I will not get into too much detail here because it gets a bit too personal for me to have it out here in the open but let me just say that Yuma and I rolled more into the 'friends' territory than the 'oshi and fan' one over the course of the past few months. Yuma helped me through some really dark times and we talked on a really personal level and not just on a 'casual fan relationship' level, if that makes sense.

These days, Yuma will call me out on my moments of stupidity or make sure I don't rageflip too much at or about work. He'll also make sure I can switch my work-mode off and have fun. On the other hand, I will drag Yuma out of his moments of self-doubt and make sure he feels relaxed and appreciated.

We've also come to kind of share the same little brain-space whenever we are together, something that is driving some of the other members (namely KaiTo, sometimes Toshi) nuts. XD

GAKU

Gaku is the youngest member of the group. He is also the member who will be leaving at the end of 2020 to focus on his acting career. Gaku joined the agency with this dream, scouted just like most of the other members, off the street. Like Yuma, he did modelling jobs first before becoming a part of BANQUET.

 

Since working out is his love and hobby, he has quite a fine body, which he does not hesitate to show off. More often than not Gaku will be wearing tank tops or will roll up his sleeves to show his arms.

He was the only member of the group who had no previous experience in dancing or singing and Gaku admitted in interviews that the first year or so with BANQUET was really difficult to say the least and he had a lot of problems and had to haul himself through a lot of things to keep up and keep going. But he loves the group and the other members and they were very supportive of him, still are.

Gaku is a very 'pure' guy, despite how he looks. He can be very childlike and will speak his mind without thinking too much about the 'adult stuff'. This can be good and bad sometimes. Like he will voice his discomfort about asking so much money from fans e.g. asking people to participate in so many things at the same time and thus spend so much money. He said that he knows that this is unfortunately how things work and he's thankful and grateful and all that but that doesn't mean he has to be completely okay with it. I appreciate his thoughts on the matter and I appreciated that he was honest about it.

 

When he was in high school, Gaku studied abroad in Australia for a while, so he is pretty fluent in spoken English (his written English is getting really rusty, same with his reading). But if you talk to him he can have a conversation with you without too many problems (although he does say he gets nervous).

As Gaku entered the entertainment world with the dream of becoming an actor (one of his big dreams is to be a Kamen Rider and man I hope his dream comes true), Gaku decided in 2019 that he was going to follow that dream. So he decided to leave the group in order to pursue an acting career. He passed the auditions for the "Shin Prince of Tennis Musical" and will be appearing in it starting December 2020.

 

 

Gaku and I have a good relationship and we always have fun talking to each other whenever we meet. We usually tend to speak in English unless one of us switches to Japanese. It's usually Gaku who initiates the conversation in English when we meet in person. I think he enjoys having someone to talk to in English, he said he got really rusty so it's good for him to speak again.

My first impression of Gaku was half-amused and half-scandalized. Thinking back now, it was pretty hilarious and very VERY Gaku. So when we me for the first time in the online tokutenkai, he was topless when he first appeared on the screen and I think the "OMG" must have shown on my face because he quickly shrugged on a fluffy hoodie. Gaku can be off in his own world sometimes or just not pay attention, so I think the fact that I was a new fan had not quite registered at that moment.

Despite all that, Gaku is someone who thinks about things a lot and thinks about things very seriously. I noticed that when I talked to him. I want to keep supporting him as an actor as well and wish him the best.

I'll miss the expressions of absolute confusion on the other members' faces while they listen to the conversations between Gaku and myself. XD

TOSHI

Toshi is the main choreographer and stylist for the group (if there are no outside choreographers or stylists involved and even then, he will take part in selecting the outfits) and also the mood-maker and jester, both within the group and when he is with fans. Toshi really knows how to make things fun and he has good people skills. To quote Kamei-san, Toshi really knows how to 'put himself out there' and make use of his charms and talents. He is also the one who works the most behind the scenes after Yuma.

I think Toshi is a bit of the center of the group because he connected many of them when the group was initially founded - he was also the reason why KaiTo joined the group. Toshi and Yusuke had been classmates since Junior High School and get along really well. Even now you can tell that their relationship is really close and just on a different level, compared to the others. Toshi and KaiTo met at university, studying in the same department and then joining the same dance circle.

While out shopping, Toshi and Yusuke were scouted and invited to join BANQUET. They met with Gaku and Yuma but as the group felt that something was still amiss/lacking, Toshi invited KaiTo to come along to a rehearsal and before they knew it, KaiTo had become part of the group and BANQUET officially started their activities as a 5 member group.

While still a student and in BANQUET's early days, Toshi and KaiTo took part in several dance contests and won prizes and they took part in shows as back-dancers for groups such as Arashi. Speaking of JE, Toshi is often told that he looks a lot like Akanishi Jin.

Something I hope Toshi will work on in the future is that he is a bit of a stupid drunk. He is usually a good guy and very careful about the things he does in front of a camera but once alcohol gets into his system, his brain shuts off. It doesn't help that he's a lightweight. He's hurt himself a few times while drunk (falling etc.) or just ended up going to who-knows-where because he fell asleep on the train.

Toshi and I had an okay start, I think. He was one of the members I was more interested in at the beginning and talking to him online was 'okay' (maybe because we had some connection issues, so the quality of the tokutenkai calls was not the best and so we couldn't get things across as well as we would have wanted to). This 'sorta okay' changed into a really good relationship over time as we interacted more and more in the streams and then after we met in person for the first time.

Him saying that he did not feel like it was our first time meeting at all still holds a special place in my heart. And that hasn't changed. I'd say Toshi is most definitely my No.2 in the group - and he might have been a contender for No.1 but his smoking and drinking habits are blocking him there.

What I really like about Toshi, though is how he shows his appreciation to people and how he will liven things up to make things fun and interesting. I am not a morning person but when Toshi started his 7 AM morning live streams, I woke up for them and suddenly waking up became a lot more fun and easier thanks to him (and the other people in the streams).

Another thing I really like about Toshi is his contagious laugh. I really like it when he laughs and is happy.

KaiTo

KaiTo is the loud one in the group - not that the others are particularly quiet - but he's the blabbermouth, the MC and the people person. It can border on being obnoxious but behind all of that is actually a very kind, very serious soul. A soul that has seen hard times in life.

When KaiTo was younger, his life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Unlike the other members in the group, he wasn't blessed with good looks with being popular at school. He was overweight  and introverted, bullied and well, you might be able to imagine the rest. But, he changed himself. He lost weight, hauled himself out of the shadows and became the spotlight hogging entertainer he is today. Due to his past, he is very self-conscious about his looks and especially his body (he'll never take off his shirt, he still has 'boobs' he says and some excess skin folds - people who lost a lot of weight will understand) but he does not let that darken his mood.

As someone who's been on the darker side of life, KaiTo just has this understanding about how life isn't always great and how things can go wrong. He's a great person when you need to confide in someone, or need to ask for help or advice about life and whatnot. He takes care of the other members' mental well-being, too. It's quite a gap, the silly, loud and obnoxious guy vs the one who listens and understands.

KaiTo is an entertainer and he always tries to make things fun for everyone. He does it in a different way than Toshi does but it's no less effective. He ropes you in and then doesn't let you go again.

Another pretty amazing thing about KaiTo is his memory. He remembers every single fan and even remembers details about people, it's really just 'wow'. KaiTo has a way with words, too and it's just all too easy to just let him do with you as he pleases (in a good way...I guess? lol).

I'm so glad he got rid of his facial hair!!! He looks so much better without!!

KaiTo and I have a kind of special relationship. It's hard to explain lol We started off really well and to be honest, for a while he was my No.2 but that spot was taken by Toshi, although maybe they share it. I remember that when we first talked, KaiTo was super excited about my name, saying that it was cool.

We hit it off when we first met in person as well, making casual conversation and just being very friendly with each other. There was no nervousness at all somehow. And then KaiTo started the whole "Hey, Kira!" thing on BIGO. So, BANQUET used various streaming services in the past but most of them were usually domestic ones such as 17 (aka LIVIT) or MixChannel. But since July, they switched to an international service called BIGO (allegedly the largest live streaming platform worldwide, based in Singapore). So whenever they stream, a bunch of international viewers will join.

Since the guys, with the exception of Gaku, aren't the best English speakers, I jumped in to help whenever I was available. In KaiTo's stream it got to the point where he would actively ask me questions or ask me to do things whenever the need arose and the other girls joked how KaiTo was treating me like Siri and should call for my help with "Hey, Kira!" (instead of "Hey, Siri!") and well, guess what happened. 

So it's become a thing between us and in the fandom. It's not as "big" as it used to be in the beginning but it's still something that we kind of share between the two of us, something that brought us closer together.

And KaiTo and I are by no means distant. He'll talk to me about things, confide to me about stuff as well, in private or in front of others during the events or private chats.

KaiTo also had a hand in me really deciding on becoming a Yuma-oshi. He basically decided it for me during the online streams. Like 'you guys go together well', so Kira is definitely a Yuma-oshi. I had been torn between Yuma, Toshi and KaiTo at that point but since KaiTo decided that I should go to Yuma, I did. It was no hard decision, though and I don't regret it lol It worked out really well.

Although I do wonder sometimes whether KaiTo regrets it because he gets so sick of Yuma and me sometimes during events XD

 

yusuke

Yusuke is the 'face' of the group. He was definitely scouted for his looks and then his voice. He has a great voice and I think as he continues to train it, it's developing really nicely. His high notes have become really good and it's become more fun to listen to him sing.

Despite looking the most like an idol in the group and being a people magnet because of his good looks, Yusuke is shy, to the point of having mild social anxiety. It takes a long time for him to open up to people, and it takes a long time for him to be able to deal with new people really. He'll talk when people approach him and talk to him but he won't be the first one to approach someone.

Once he does open up, he is a fun person, though and he can be just as silly as the rest of his group - although he is sometimes the voice of reason as well. Yusuke's strong point is that he is very observant. He has lots of time and opportunities to observe because he is not the most active person in conversations, so he watches and he sees. And he will join in at just the right time. He has that smart and witty side, that shines in certain moments.

He is also very caring and protective of the people he knows and loves. Yusuke cares for the group and the other members a lot and will look out for them in his own way.

Considering Yusuke's nature, we were off to a rocky start. Our first time talking online was just short of being awkward but then we talked more during the streams but that still wasn't all THAT great. It wasn't until we met in person for the first time, that our relationship started to improve. And as we get to know each other better and better, things change.

Now Yusuke will initiate conversations with me, will ask m questions and even more comments about something I said or did or was wearing (the onigiri necklace for example). It's still a bit hard to talk a lot but we are comfortable around each other now and have a good understanding of each other. I think it's because in some ways, we're quite similar and ever since we noticed that, we have a kind of mutual understanding and kind of a routine.

Yusuke said he has a hard time getting rid of honorifics and addressing people casually is not something that comes easy to him (he was raised that way, despite being a bit of a bad boy, he is still polite and well-mannered!) BUT we have gotten to the point where he can just call be by my name and no honorifics. We did this gradually, from "-san" to "-sensei" and now to nothing.

I think this gap is what makes Yusuke really charming. He looks like he'd be the perfect idol and be all outgoing and maybe flashy or 'charai' but he's actually the opposite. It takes a while to fully appreciate him. I thought that he was boring at first but that opinion has changed a lot ever since we got to know each other better and he's shown me different sides of him that had been hidden at first.

Okay this turned out very long lol

Thank you if you read all the way to the end!