Cartoon KAT-TUN II You

Infobox Album |
Name = Cartoon KAT-TUN II You
Type = Studio Album
Artist = KAT-TUN


Cover size =
Recorded = 2006 - 2007
Released = flagicon|Japan April 18 2007
Genre = J-Pop, J-Rock
Length = 01:00:42 (First Press & Regular Edition) [ [http://www.jbook.co.jp/p/p.aspx/3327973/s Album Details - Cartoon KAT-TUN II You (Regular Edition)] , JBOOKS. Retrieved on August 3, 2008.] [ [http://www.jbook.co.jp/p/p.aspx/3327972/s Album Details - Cartoon KAT-TUN II You (First Press Edition)] , JBOOKS. Retrieved on August 3, 2008.] 01:22:11 (Limited Edition) [http://www.jbook.co.jp/p/p.aspx/3327971/s Album Details - Cartoon KAT-TUN II You (Limited Edition)] , JBOOKS. Retrieved on August 3, 2008.]
Label = J-One Records
JACA-5055~5056 (Limited Edition) JACA-5057 (First Press) JACA-5058 (Regular)
Producer = Johnny H. Kitagawa (executive), Julie K.
Reviews =
Last album = "Best of KAT-TUN" (2006)
This album = "Cartoon KAT-TUN II You" (2007)
Next album = "KAT-TUN III -Queen of Pirates-" (2008)Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Limited Edition Cover
Type = Studio Album


Lower caption = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = First Press Edition Cover
Type = Studio Album


Lower caption =
Misc = Singles
Name = Cartoon KAT-TUN II You
Type = studio
single 1 = SIGNAL
single 1 date = July 19, 2006
single 2 = Bokura no Machi de
single 2 date = December 7, 2006"Cartoon KAT-TUN II You" is the second studio album by Japanese boy band KAT-TUN, released in Japan on April 18 2007 by J-One Records. It is the group's first album to not feature all six members with Jin Akanishi taking a sabbatical to study overseas six months prior. The album was released in three editions; a regular version with all 14 tracks, a first press edition with the same track listing as its regular counterpart and a 40-page booklet packaged in and a limited edition with an extra CD of seven bonus tracks. The limited edition did not feature the song, "YOU".

With the release of this album, KAT-TUN became the first artist in Japanese music history to have all of their collective releases (three singles, two albums, and five DVDs at the time) reach number 1 on the charts. [ [http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-947 KAT-TUN reaches 10 in a row] , Tokyograph, Oricon; retrieved on August 3, 2008.] The album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. [ [http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/gold/200704.html Recording Industry Association of Japan: April 2007] ; retrieved on August 4, 2008.] KAT-TUN went on a seven-city nationwide tour from April 3 2007 to June 17 2007 in support of the album. The last performance at Tokyo Dome was filmed and released on DVD entitled "Tour 2007 Cartoon KAT-TUN II You" on November 21 2007. [ [http://www.johnnys-net.jp/j/artists/kattun/disco/disco_dvd.html KAT-TUN discography: DVD] , Johnny's Net; retrieved on August 7, 2008.]

Album information

The album's title is similarly named to the group's late-night talk show, "Cartoon KAT-TUN", which began airing two weeks before the album's release on NTV. The album was recorded in Tokyo and Bennett Studios in Englewood, New Jersey. Songwriters who presided over the group's debut album also contributed several tracks to the record. ma-saya who worked with KAT-TUN before penned their second single, "SIGNAL", and the third track, "Splash...". [http://wiki.theppn.org/Signal Signal: music profile] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 3, 2008.] [ [http://wiki.theppn.org/Splash... Splash...: music profile] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 3, 2008.] Kazumasa Oda, folk singer-songwriter formerly of Off Course, wrote their third single, "Bokura no Machi de", a tender love ballad. [http://wiki.theppn.org/Bokura_no_Machi_de Bokura no Machi de: music profile] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 3, 2008.] Yoji Kubota, a prolific lyricist for many of Japan's contemporary pop artists [ [http://wiki.theppn.org/Kubota_Yoji Kubota Yoji: profile] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 3, 2008] , wrote "Movin on..." with arranger Nao Tanaka and also penned "Heartbreak Club". The group's senpai, Takizawa Hideaki of Tackey & Tsubasa, composed the music for "My Angel, You are Angel". All tracks from the bonus CD are songs KAT-TUN had been performing in concerts and "Shōnen Club" since their junior days. The second track, "Peak", was used in a commercial for NTT DoCoMo's 903iTV series of cellphones which Kazuya Kamenashi starred in.

KAT-TUN members also received a solo track each which they co-wrote themselves, with the exception of Kazuya Kamenashi and Junnosuke Taguchi. The fourteenth track, "YOU", was not officially released as a single but a music video was shot marking Jin Akanishi's return to the group. The song also served as a theme song to Kamenashi's drama, "Suppli". All rap lyrics featured in the album were also written by Koki Tanaka himself; he also co-wrote his rap verses in "Fight All Night" with Tomohisa Yamashita of NEWS and with bandmate Yuichi Nakamaru for "No Matter Matter".

Chart performance and reception

In its first week of release, "Cartoon KAT-TUN II You" sold 270,976 copies in Japan, a sharp drop from the first-week sales of their debut album. [http://wiki.theppn.org/Cartoon_KAT-TUN_II_You Cartoon KAT-TUN II You] , Wiki.theppn; retrieved on August 3, 2008.] Despite the stark difference in reported sales, the album's two singles which had been released months in advance had seen more than 1 million shipments altogether before the album's release in April 2007. The album's first week numbers were enough to grab the number 1 spot on the Oricon album charts, however, and it stayed on the charts for another 3 weeks before dropping off the top 30. The album has sold more than 354,973 copies to date and was certified as the 30th best-selling album of 2007 by Oricon at the end of the year. [ [http://wiki.theppn.org/2007_Oricon_Top_100_Albums 2007 Oricon Top 100 Albums] , Wiki.theppn, Oricon; retrieved on August 3, 2008.]

KAT-TUN also won six awards at the 21st Japan Gold Disc Awards with "SIGNAL" and "Bokura no Machi de" placing on the "The Best 10 Singles (Domestic)" list. [ [http://www.riaj.or.jp/e/data/gdisc/2007.html Recording Industry of Japan: Japan Gold Disc Awards] ; retrieved on August 2, 2008.]

ingles

"SIGNAL" was the first single released from the album. Released nine months in advance, the song debuted at number 1 with 450,752 copies sold in its first week of release. It stayed on the charts for 7 weeks and sold more than 566,233 copies by the end of its chart-run. The song was certified double platinum by the RIAJ and the fifth best-selling song of 2006 by Oricon.

"Bokura no Machi de" was the second single and was released in December 2006. It became KAT-TUN's third number 1 single with first-week sales of 410,103 copies and sold a total of 558,491 copies at the end of its chart run. Based on shipments in 2006 alone, the song was certified as the 13th best-selling song of the year by Oricon and was certified double platinum by the RIAJ in 2007.

Track listing

Regular and First Press edition
#"SIGNAL" (ma-saya, Joey Carbone, Lisa Huang, AKIRA, JOKER) - 3:37
#"Peak" (Buduo Koike, Ayumi Miyazaki) - 4:13
#"Splash..." (ma-saya, DoiToki, Seikou Nagaoka) - 4:59
#"nihongo|Bokura no Machi de|僕らの街で" (Kazumasa Oda) - 4:42
#"Make U Wet"¹ (JOKER, silvertongue, AKIRA) - 3:06
#"key of life"² (Yuichi Nakamaru, Nao Tanaka) - 4:06
#"LOST"³ (Tatsuya Ueda, Ayumi Miyazaki) - 4:13
#"Jumpin' up" (Ami, Shoichirou Hirata, Masayuki Iwata, JOKER) - 4:17
#"nihongo|SAMURAI*LOVE*ATTACK|サムライ☆ラブ☆アタック" ⁴ (Anchang, ha-j) - 3:58
#"FREEDOM" (Gota Nishidera, Makihiko Araki) - 4:42
#"someday for somebody"⁵ (H.U.B., Koutaro Egami, Seikou Nagaoka) - 4:21
#"Movin' on" (Yoji Kubota, Nao Tanaka, JOKER) - 4:09
#"nihongo|Utai Tsuzukeru Toki|うたいつづけるとき" (Narumi Yamamoto, Satomi Narumoto, Seikou Nagaoka) - 5:28
#"YOU"⁶ (kenko-p, SAKOSHIN, CHOKKAKU, JOKER) - 4:26

^{1 2 3 4 5} Koki Tanaka, Yuichi Nakamaru, Tatsuya Ueda, Junnosuke Taguchi and Kazuya Kamenashi solo tracks, respectively. ⁶ Regular and First Press Edition only.

Limited edition bonus EP
#"nihongo|Freeze|フリーズ" (kenshin, Kaori Niimi, Joey Carbone, Anthony Mazza, ha-j, Taku Yoshioka) -3:06
#"LOVE or LIKE" (Jin Akanishi, SPIN, AKIRA) - 4:06
#"FIGHT ALL NIGHT" (ATOZI Makoto, LaVenDer, Masaya Suzuki, JOKER, Tomohisa Yamashita) - 2:29
#"HEARTBREAK CLUB" (Yoji Kubota, Arata Tanimoto, CHOKKAKU) - 4:18
#"MY ANGEL, YOU ARE ANGEL" (TAKESHI, Hideaki Takizawa, Hiroshi Shinkawa) - 4:15
#"nihongo|No Matter Matter|ノーマター・マター" (Ayumi Miyazaki, Hideyuki "Daichi" Suzuki, JOKER, YUCCI) - 3:51
#"Peacefuldays" (Akio Shimizu) - 4:15

Credits

*Producer: Julie K.
*Executive producer: Johnny H. Kitagawa
*Management: Toshiya Kamada, Kaio Tsuruta and Atsushi "Sushi" Kosugi
*A&R: Jun Inoue
*Recording engineer: Dave Darlington
*Mastering: Hiroshi Kawasaki
*Mixing: Hideyuki "AK" Akimoto, Shigeru Tanida, Mikirou Yamada, Hiroshi Yokote, Manabu Yokota, Maki Kosugi, Tetsuro Takeuchi and Noboyuki Aoyagi
*Assistant mixers: Masahiro Shinbo, Takeshi Inoue, Kei Iizuka, Shinya Matsuo and Tadashi Hashimoto
*Recording studios: Victor Studio, Warner Music Recording Studio, Folio Sound, On Air Azabu Studio, little BACH studio and Johnny's Studio (Tokyo); Bennett Studios (New York)
*Art director: Shirohide Azuma
*Designer: Kohsuke "Tommy" Tomizu
*Photographer: Takeshi Machara
*Stylist: HIRO
*Hair and make-up: Koichi Toyofuku and Yoshinori Takeuchi
*Promotion: Yuichiro Iida, Shogo Okusu and Daigo Imai
*Sales promotion: Chiho Kitabayashi
*Artist promotion: Suguru Shirahase and Masami Yazaki
*Artist management: Ritsuro Sekiguchi

References