is a Japanese

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

formed by Starto Entertainment. It consists of seven members who primarily come from the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

. The group's official debut announcement was made through their label Storm Labels. Their debut single, "Ubu Love", was released on November 12, 2021. The name "Naniwa" refers to the old name of Osaka (also name of a ward in Osaka). Since their debut they sold 6 million copies in Japan.

History

Naniwa Danshi is produced by Super Eight's

Tadayoshi Okura is a Japanese singer, actor, voice actor and radio host. He is also a member and the drummer of Japanese male idol group Super Eight (previously known as Kanjani Eight), which was under the management of Johnny & Associates and now is under ...

. Prior to Naniwa Danshi, a Kansai Junior trio unit called was formed in August 2012. Naniwa Ouji includes the two current members Daigo Nishihata, Ryusei Onishi, and Ren Nagase, who later became a member of King & Prince. The group's formation was informed to the members through mass e-mails, as opposed of being called directly to Johnny Kitagawa's place, leading members to think that "it was a prank." Nishihata thought it was a prank due to the group's name "Naniwa Danshi" just means they are "people from Kansai." Now he's grateful for it since people are easier to remember them with the name. Formation of Naniwa Danshi was the first time in 4 years for Kansai Junior and was publicly announced through the magazine ''Potato''.

2021-present: Debut

On January 5, 2021, Naniwa Danshi, along with two other Kansai Junior groups ( Ae! group and Lil Kansai), joined the Junior official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, indirectly replacing SixTones and Snow Man after their departure from the channel. The group's official debut was announced through their Naniwa Danshi First Arena Tour 2021 #NaniwaDanshiShikaKatan concert at

Yokohama Arena is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...

, which was also a surprise for themselves. The debut was announced on Naniwa Day (July 28). This also marks the long-awaited debut for Joichiro Fujiwara, who had been a trainee for 17 years 8 months—the longest in Starto Entertainment's history. Alongside their debut CD release, an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account was also made. They also "graduated" from the Junior YouTube channel and opened their own YouTube channel. In 2024, Super Eight, West, and Naniwa Danshi collaborated in all-Kansai group named Kamigata Boyz. The group digital single, was released on May 3, 2024 and is available on music streaming sites. Hyadain wrote and composed the song. The song title is combination of each group songs: Musekinin Hero (Super Eight), Eejanaika (West), and Ubu Love (Naniwa Danshi). Okura was the one who suggested the title. On August 13, 2024, during their talk segment on +Alpha concert at Yokohama Arena, the group announced their first Asia tour concert. The concert will be held at 3 cities Taipei, Seoul, and Hong Kong. They also announced that some of their song will be available on some

music streaming services A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to s ...

from the 14th.

Members

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Video albums

Tie-ins

Filmography

Dramas & TV Shows etc

Documentary

Films

Commercials

Concert tours

Solo concerts

* * ~~NANIWA DANSHI LIVE 2020 「Shall we #AOHARU」(2020)~~ * Kansai Johnny's DREAM PAVILION 〜Shall we #AOHARU?〜 (streamed on Family Club Online) * * * * ** Naniwa Danshi ASIA TOUR 2024+2025 '+Alpha' (held in Taipei, Seoul, and Hongkong)

Joint concerts

* Johnny's Festival 〜Thank you 2021 Hello 2022〜 (2021) * Johnny's Countdown (since 2021) * WE ARE! Let's get the party STARTO!! (2024) *

Pre-debut concerts

* * Kansai Johnny's Jr (X'mas Party!! 2018) * * Kansai Johnny's Jr (SPRING SPECIAL SHOW 2019) * Johnny's IsLAND Festival (2019) * * * Johnny's World Happy LIVE with YOU（2020, online) * *

Other media

A virtual idol collaboration project between Starto Entertainment and Showroom started from 2019 which features two members Joichiro Fujiwara and Kazuya Ohashi. They voiced two-person group members Ascana: and , respectively. The duo streamed every day at 21:30 JST on Showroom. Honeyworks handles the music and character designs. Along with Naniwa Danshi's official debut, both of them "graduated" from the project in 2021.

Notes

References

External links

Naniwa Danshi Official website
- Storm Label
Naniwa Danshi
- Starto Entertainment * * * * on

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naniwa Danshi Japanese boy bands Japanese pop music groups Japanese idol groups Starto Entertainment 2021 establishments in Japan Musical groups established in 2021 Musical septets J Storm