ARASHI's Diary -Voyage- (2019)

I'm a huge Arashi fan ( known as Arashians) since 2014, because of Hana Yori Dango and Matsumoto Jun with an advice of a friend of mine.
Jun is still my IchiBan since then. I'm from Italy, and I started to admire him. Then, i discover a Storm. And I was happy.
This documentary show how near Arashi are to their fans, how much they care for them, together with their success, their story, their lives and their goals. Matsumoto questioned if they would really regret something. I think they achieved a lot, being the most successful Japan Jpop band, and famous almost worldwide. The Tornado from the East has not only reached Eastern countries, and with only physical cds until 2019.
I was a great fan before, but I recommend watching this voyage throughout their experience, because it really made me love them a way more than before. And there's more, because the documentary show some private life sides about each of them.
On December 31st they went on indefinite hiatus and I was lucky to watch it. After 24 episodes, I admire MatsuJun even more now. But I love every Arashi member. MatsuJun is still the one I admire the most though.
I hope they would remain close friends ( even though Ohno is missing), and they eventually come back. I still believe in Matsumoto's words, " indefinite hiatus".
Thank you Arashi for being my Storm in my heart and my dream.

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This Is Arashi

In October 2019, Arashi opened a YouTube account. Earlier that year, the band announced their intentions to go on hiatus after December 31, 2020. Honestly, I didn't pay too much attention to the announcement. I'm only a casual Arashi fan because of MatsuJun being in 'Hana Yori Dango.' However, a Johnny's band opening a YouTube account was unprecedented. I HAD to pay attention and discovered some new songs in the process. The following month, they made another surprise move by creating several social media accounts, including Instagram where I followed them voraciously.

Next, came this documentary. When I watched the first episode, I thought it was going to be a one-off thing really. I'm surprised that I kept watching something I started on December 31, 2019! Throughout the series, I was most struck by Arashi's dedication to the fans and how they genuinely seem to care about them. These moments touched me so much that I cried. The episodes where Arashi is trying to break in to the US market are particularly poignant to me. It makes me wonder about so many things that would've gone different if coronavirus hadn't happen. I'm sure Arashi's planned concert here would've been amazing.

I recommend watching the first episode, and their respective "diary" episodes the most. I wasn't so interested in some of the behind the scenes stuff, though it's interesting to see just how much MatsuJun was involved with the concerts. Now after twenty-four episodes, I can say I'm a fan of Arashi and all five of its members. I never would've thought I'd connect with Ohno the most tbh. Now that they're on hiatus, I hope they enjoy themselves but I also hope that they remain close friends and will eventually come back to us as Arashi.

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