Uchi Hiroki
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[edit] Profile
D.o.B.: September 10th, 1986 (Virgo)
Height: 175cm (5'8" - 5'9")
Weight: ~50kg (110lbs)
Hometown: Osaka
Bloodtype: AB
Position: Vocal
Groups: Kanjani8 (関ジャニ∞), NEWS (not currently practicing - 'solo' status)
Agency: Johnny’s Entertainment (1999 - present)
Status/orientation: married to Nishikido Ryo / fundamentally straight. ... it’s complicated.
"My front... surely the other members of Kanjani8 would say "He's an idiot.", I think. (笑) But I give them quite a lot of reasons to call me "idiot". When I'm with the others, the part of the "idiot" is most fun, so I'll do it. The real me does things properly~."
[edit] The Real
Uchi Hiroki (内博貴) auditioned for Johnny’s Jimusho in May of 1999, at the age of twelve. At the time he had absolutely no
In 2003, however, Uchi and Ryo both were asked to join the band NEWS (standing for north, east, west, south), along with six other members - Yamashita Tomohisa, Koyama Keiichiro, Masuda Takahisa, Tegoshi Yuya, Kato Shigeaki and Kusano Hironori. After some confusion over what would happen to Kanjani8, it was eventually stated that Uchi and Ryo would perform as members of both bands, the only members of JE to be in the lineup of two bands at once (as far as the mun knows). Determined to try his best in both, this seemed to be exactly what Uchi needed to help him open up, and from then on he fit in well with both groups.
The summer of 2005, however, while performing simultaneously in SUMMARY2005 and Hey! Say! Dream Boy (along with KAT-TUN), Uchi was diagnosed with and hospitalized for pulmonary pneumothorax, a condition which causes holes to form in the lining of the lungs. Uchi was pulled from both shows and underwent surgery to repair the three holes in his left lung, eventually returning to work in mid-June, just in time for the release of NEWS’s Teppen single as well as to begin filming the drama Ganbatte Ikimasshoi!, which he starred in with Ryo.
However, as soon as he came back, it seemed he was pulled again just as quickly; hardly a month later, on July 15th of 2005, Uchi was caught and arrested for underage drinking. Though he was released with only a stern warning, the tabloids were quick to get wind, blowing the incident up into enough of a scandal that JE saw fit to put Uchi on indefinite suspension from both bands. They even went so far as to blur his face in the recently released Teppen PV, as well as replace his role in Ganbatte Ikimasshoi! with Taguchi Junnosuke of KAT-TUN.
For a time, Uchi had dropped from the public eye entirely, though when 2007 rolled around, the six-member NEWS was reunited and allowed to perform at the Johnny's annual Countdown. Along with that came the news that Uchi and fellow suspended bandmate, Kusano, would be re-entering the agency as trainees; one level lower than the Johnny's Juniors, in that they are still to be kept from the public eye and will spend most (if not all) of their time brushing up on their skills. This training period went on for about five months before it was announced that Uchi and Kusano's senpais, the group Shounentai, had given them both the chance to perform in their yearly stage musical Playzone, the first public activity either of them have been allowed since their suspensions. Playzone was performed in July and lasted through the beginning of September 2007. A DVD release was scheduled, but due to more bad luck (one of the older cast members was arrested on a drug possession charge), the release was canceled.
In early January of 2008, it was announced that Uchi would be graduating from trainee to solo status with a lead role in the drama Isshun no Kaze ni Nare, a Fuji TV special airing for the last four days of February. As of now, it is uncertain whether his solo status is permanent.
[edit] The Muse
Uchi Hiroki was claimed in May of 2005, not long before his hospitalization and subsequent suspension. The mun is embarrassed to admit she didn’t know a thing about him at the time, other than she thought he was the cutest of NEWS. Imagine her surprise when she later found out he was actually in two bands. Obviously, her knowledge of him has improved quite a bit since then. Uchi became the loudest of his headspace almost immediately, and due to the mun spoiling him, that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
A fundamentally cheerful and optimistic person, deep down Uchi is also particularly sensitive and easily affected by what others say. While out of work, he found all he had to rely on was the support of his friends, one of the reasons why he tries to remain extremely open and social. His suspension was his biggest insecurity, constantly nursing the feeling that he’d let everyone down with his actions. He does all that he can to stay positive and make up for it, but deep down even he wonders if he’ll ever be allowed to return to his bands... though this feeling is improving now that he's started work again, even if he's still considered a trainee.
Uchi and Ryo currently share an apartment with an assortment of animals, a couple of which were given to Uchi as gifts – Aichan, a golden retriever, Yui, a grey tabby cat (both from Yamapi) and Brikku, an orange tabby cat (from Chiba Ryohei). Ingame, Uchi is extremely close to Yamashita Tomohisa, and the two seem to have a running competition over who can take care of the other more. Yamapi is currently winning. By a lot. But Uchi does everything in his power to look after his other best friend, considering how much Yamapi has done for him in the past (and still does).
Over the course of things Uchi has taken an interest in making friends not only at JPRP but also over in JRRP. He’s developed a curious but close relationship most notably with Kyou and Toshiya of Dir en Grey, both of whom he looks up to a great deal (and had started calling Kyou ‘senpai’ before he was dropped). He eventually met Kirito at a party hosted by Toshiya, and somewhere in there ended up as a member of Kirito's somewhat hodge-podge gang. He thinks it's awesome, though, as long as Kirito isn't abusing him and he gets to meet new people.
The muse is now thoroughly excited to be back doing work with Johnny's, no matter what his status is. He's determined to do his absolute best with anything thrown at him, in the hopes of eventually being able to rejoin his bands.
[edit] Bands
- Kanjani8:
- Yokoyama Yu
- Murakami Shingo ('Hina')
- Maruyama Ryuhei
- Yasuda Shota
- Shibutani Subaru
- Ohkura Tadayoshi
- Nishikido Ryo: husband, best friend, roommate.
- NEWS:
- Yamashita Tomohisa: best friend, confidante.
- Koyama Keiichiro
- Masuda Takahisa: 'first-born', married to...
- Tegoshi Yuya: disowned (?) 'son-in-law', occasional partner in crime.
- Kato Shigeaki
- Kusano Hironori
- Nishikido Ryo: (see above)
[edit] Important others
- Akanishi Jin: estranged friend. They do not have a good history.
- Amuro Namie and Hamasaki Ayumi (xxinspiredxx): close friends with a taste for seeing just how much they can get away with with him (which is a lot, including dressing him up in drag, which he has not admitted - and never will admit - to).
- Chiba Ryohei: closest male friend outside of JE, confidante; he relates to Ryohei in ways he doesn't think some of his other bandmates would understand. They don't get to see each other nearly as often as Uchi would like, probably mainly due to scheduling issues.
- Kirito: Uchi has somewhat unwittingly ended up in Kirito's 'army', not that he knows exactly what that entails. He's ranked as a General, though.
- Kajinaga Shukou: the closest to his age in Kirito's gang, so Uchi calls her oneechan. Even though he has yet to meet her in person.
- Yasu: also someone he knows through Kirito's gang, and also someone he has yet to meet in person.
- Kyou: senpai, close friend, confidante.
- Toshiya: senpai, friend.
- Uehara Takako: former love interest and closest female friend, until dropped in October of 2006.
