stencilled

My feelings about this have been fluctuating since the news hit. But now I think I've adjusted and well, here's my view on the matter.

First of all, I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of Jin's. I was introduced to KT around the time Rescue was released and Jin was already in his gloomy phase by then. I've watched KT's older videos and Jin from back then is a huge contrast to the recent Jin. In the past he was more open and engaging, but the recent Jin was so gloomy that I never invested much in him to begin with. But even though I wasn't a fan of his, I didn't hate him either. I was really mad at him for treating KT like his security blanket and never showing his appreciation for the group like the other members did. But I don't think anger = hate. My anger was an emotional reaction to his provoking behaviour, but I never hated him. I was, and remain, neutral towards him.

And honestly, I'm not all surprised by his departure from KT. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Jin, in my eyes, has never been a team player. The other members have said it, even Jin himself has admitted it: Jin is self-centered. He wants what he wants. And what he wants is to go solo, and even if that means ditching his group, he'll do it. And now he has and I think that it's for the better, for both him and KT. I confess, for a while now, I haven't seen Jin as part of the group. What makes KT such a cohesive group despite the members' strong opinions and clashing personalities is their mutual goal to rise to the top as KAT-TUN. If the boys all had different goals, given their personalities, I doubt that anyone of them would have remained in the group.

And that's whats happening with Jin. His dreams have found a new path that diverges from KT's and he's chosen to follow it. And I'm going to have to agree with Johnny's decision to not allow Jin back into KT if he still decides to go solo. I rather not have Jin back in KT knowing that he'd rather be elsewhere. If he's going to be in KT then he better love it like all the other members do, but that's not going to happen and I don't think I can blame him for wanting something different. But I do blame him for dragging down KT for so long. Seriously, even if he was upset because he wasn't getting an opportunity to go solo, that doesn't excuse his childish, mopey behaviour these past few years. But who knows, maybe this little rebellion of his persuaded Johnny to give him the green light for his solo tour.

Whether Jin will be successful as a solo artist in the US or in Japan is not relevant to me at this point. What's important is that Jin has FINALLY made a decision after dragging this issue along for so long. He needs to grow as an individual and be comitted to whichever path he chooses and so I think he made the right decision in leaving KT. If he did both solo and KT activities then he would give less of himself to both and neither Jin, his fans or KT would be happy with that. By choosing to go solo he'll be able to tackle his career with all of his potential and at the same time, release KT and allow them to move forward as a 5-member group.

Personally, I think a five member KT will do well without Jin. Sure, Jin's voice will be greatly missed since he was the lead vocalist, but in JE idol groups, I don't think that singing ability is weighed very heavily. If the fans wanted to listen to amazing vocals, they would focus on singers, not idols. The charm, in regards to idol groups, comes from the interactions between the members. That's why Jin and Kame were so popular in the past, because together they made AkaKame. With Jin's departure, I think what KT lost in terms of vocals will be regained by their growing member-ai. Often when groups lose a member, the remaing members grow closer ~~(which is what's happening to the kpop group Super Junior; they've lost three members this year, but just by looking at them, you can tell that they've grown closer than ever as a group)~~ and judging from KT-TUN's jweb entries and interviews, I think they've realized just how important KT is to them. All five of them are happy and grateful for what they have, and watching them together makes me happy too. They're no longer as tense as they used to be when Jin was around. And I also believe that as a JE group, they have more potential than they did with Jin as a member, because while Jin does bring a new flavour into KT, he also kind of inhibits them. For example, his refusal to dance in the D-motion PV and performances. I'm sure the PV would have had a dance routine if only Jin hadn't refused to dance. And the KT-are-bad-dancers excuse doesn't work because just look at KT's latest PVs.

In my eyes, Jin leaving KAT-TUN is beneficial to all parties involved, excluding the 6-nin and Akame fans, which is understandable. I sincerely feel for thoses fans who have grown attached to Jin and have been following KT ever since they debuted. In fact, I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad: happy because I never let myself invest too much in Jin so his going solo doesn't hurt me as much, or sad because I wasn't able to know the fun, Bakanishi of the past because I'm sure he must have been incredibly lovable in order to gain so many hardcore fans.

In the end though, for me, KAT-TUN without Jin is still KAT-TUN. (yes, Kame's covering for the K and the A, and nobody better blame him for it. >:-[ )