With my introuction post out of the way, the next order of business is for me to give my intial ranking of members. As I go through my list, keep in mind that so far I’ve only watched one video of them that hasn’t been a PV, performane or an appearance of them in a drama/ movie. The video I’ve seen is Aiba reading a letter to the other members of the group after he returned from being away due to health problems for a while. The clip was recommended to me by MorningBerryz. So, at this point, these rankings have pretty much nothing to do with the guys’ personalities, but rather their vocals, looks and acting ability.

So without further ado, here are my initial Arashi rankings!

5. Matsumoto Jun (sorry MB XD)

This low ranking is based on a few things. Firstly, while by my understanding many fans are absolutely smitten by his looks, upon really LOOKING at the guys in Arashi, I found Matsujun to be a little bit too pretty. I tend to be attracted to guys who are a little bit rugged, or cute/ adorable. Matsujun is not the slightest bit rugged from the few PVs I’ve watched. Pretty boys don’t tend to be my thing.

Secondly, as I went through their 10 year singles collection, I noticed there was a voice I wasn’t particularly fond of. After checking the time that the voice was singing in a song, I loaded up the PV for the song and found out it was Matsujun singing. I am not a fan of nasally voices, and that’s what Matsujun has. Though, according to MB, he sometimes sings deeper… I’ll definitely be looking for that as I go through more of their PVs.

4. Aiba Masaki

MB tells me that Aiba is the group’s sweetheart. However, at this point I’ve only seen him in PVs and a bit of the AAA concert thus far and what I’ve taken from the PVs so far is that I’m not a huge fan of his voice, and he isn’t as cute as the others.

3. Ohno Satoshi

Like Aiba and Matsujun, my exposure to him has been limited, but unlike the previous two, I quite enjoy Ohno’s voice. And he’s so adorable. I was reading his profile in the Arashidex, and wow… 3 days of high school. XD I don’t think you’d be allowed to drop out of high school after 3 days over here. I’m not sure what the minium age limit is in my province to drop out of school, but I’m pretty sure you need to finished at least 1 year, if not 2 over here before you can drop out.

2. … Ninomiya Kazunari

The #2 spot was hard to choose… However, for now we’ll say Nino is my #2. I just watched Letters From Iwo Jima the other day, and I loved Nino’s character. His cynical character in that movie is so completely opposite of the happy-go-lucky character he plays in Yamada Tarou Monogatari, which I have nearly finished watching. For anyone who hasn’t watched that drama, I highly recommend it (it was recommended to me by MB). I mean, you have Nino and my #1 in it! What more could I ask for? XD

Outside of dramas, I quite like Nino’s voice from what I’ve heard so far. MB tells me he accompanies himself on piano and guitar (obviously not simultaneously) in concerts. I must see that soon. I went out to the store where I buy Hello! Project releases when I don’t really feel the need to buy the Japanese version, and I picked up Arashi’s 2008 and 2007 concert DVDs. I hope there’s some Nino on piano and/or guitar on those DVDs.

And finally, we get to my top member!

1. Sakurai Sho

Well, I think it’s fitting to have him as my initial #1 seeing as it was his drama, The Quiz Show 2 that opened my mind to the possibility of listening to Arashi.

After watching him in almost 2 full dramas, I just have to say that his smile/smirk is freakin’ hot! I don’t know what it is about his smile, but it’s got this mix of mischievousness, cuteness and a load if sexiness that just make me want to melt. XD *dies*

I also love his rapping. Sakurap is hawt. Super duper hawt. And knowing he writes his own rap lyrics is hotter. And knowing he’s graduated from university is hawt. And knowing (well, reading more like) that he’s dorky is hot. And reading that he tends to stumble over his words made me laugh and think of the leader of Morning Musume, who just so happened to be my favourite member in that group too. Maybe I just have a thing for people who trip over their words and get flustered. XD

So, that’s my intial ranking of the members of Arashi. We’ll see how/if they change as I see more and more of the guys. ^_^ Maybe in a few months time, I’ll be smacking myself for having had Matsujun at the bottom of my ranking. Maybe after watching a Matsujun drama, he’ll be just the right amount of pretty. XD Only time will tell!