Fine. I'm one of THE ultimate fangirls and I am NOT afraid of admitting to it!
I LOVE JOHNNYS!!! SUE ME!!
*shakes bum at scoffers
Since there seems to be a wave of Johnnys lovin' due to 'Nobuta wo Produce', let me start the ball rolling for THE THREAD that will hold ALL my fangirly squeals and gushes!!
Here's most of the basics of what you would want to know about Johnnys but never had the guts to ask till I appeared here to ram it down your throat! Whee!!
MAIN MENAnd by that I mean current notables that are still active under the Johnnys umbrella in order of seniority.
Kondo Masahiko ( aka Matchy )Consists of : Matchy himself

I have NO IDEA about Matchy coz he's too old for me to notice.

But I think he's very into race cars and used to take part in races himself.
ShonentaiConsists of : Higashiyama Noriyuki, Nishikiori Kazukiyo, Uekusa Katsuhide.
They used to be really HUGE in the 80s I think. Same time Matchy and Hikaru Genji was big and SMAP was still part of the Skateboys. I don't really know much about them just that they are central to "Playzone", an annual stage production that Johnnys Jimusho has. Mostly doing stagework now I think.
SMAPConsists of : Nakai Masahiro, Kimura Takuya, Inagaki Goro, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi and Katori Shingo
Ex-Member : Katsuyuki Mori
They are MOST famous for being the longest surviving boyband in Japan, Kimura Takuya as THE sexiest man in Japan, Nakai being unable to sing for nuts, Shingo Mama and Chonan-kan. I could go on somemore so best that I stop myself from gushing further.

What makes SMAP very special for me is their concerts. They don't sound good no. But no other Johnnys group holds their concerts in jam-packed football stadiums. No other Johnnys group has whole families going for the concerts and by that I mean the whole extended family with grandparents, parents, kids, grandchildren, etc. It's EXCELLENT!! I wanna go for a SMAP concert wearing a yukata!! WHEE~!! ^o^
Tip : If you don't wanna get slapped, best to not refer to Takuya as KimuTaku in front of fans.
TokioConsists of : Joshima Shigeru (guitar), Yamaguchi Tatsuya (bass), Kokubun Taichi (keyboard), Matsuoka Masahiro (drums) and Nagase Tomoya (vocals)
The only true band that has debuted in Johnnys!! I could go on and on and on about them but erm... *cough*. Nevermind.

My absolutely FAVE of the lot has to be Mabo/Matsuoka Masahiro. Drummers are SO COOL!! Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Tomoyan but he somehow gets in the way when I'm watching Music Station and can't see Mabo at the back on the drums.

My deepest memory of them is watching Tokio film the food segment of their variety 'Mentore G' in Fuji terebi! My friend and me were mad!! We queued TWICE just to see Tokio!! TWICE!! ^o^ But it was fun!
TOKIO SAIKOU!! ^o^
V6Consists of : Sakamoto Masayuki, Nagano Hiroshi, Inohara Yoshihiko, Morita Go, Miyake Ken and Okada Junichi.
V6 is sometimes split into 2 different groups for singles :
Tonicen (Sakamoto/ Nagano/ Inohara) and
Kamisen (Morita/ Miyake/ Okada)
KinKi KidsConsists of : Domotou Koichi and Domotou Tsuyoshi
KinKi Kids is famous for holding the record as the artiste having the most number one hit singles. Every single one of the singles that they have released since debut has hit number one and they are noted in the Japanese edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for it. I could ALSO go on and on and on about them but... hmm... *restrains*
Tsuyo-chan has gone solo himself releasing 2 albums and 2 singles in-between work with KinKi Kids while Ko-chan's most famous for leading the cast in 'Shock', a Johnnys musical which he stars in with Imai Tsubasa of 'Tackey & Tsubasa' and Akiyama Jun of 'Musical Academy'
Arashi
Consists of : Ohno Satoshi, Sakurai Sho, Ninomiya Kazunari, Aiba Masaki and Matsumoto Jun
Arashi to me, is most famous for the raps done by Sakurai Sho. Sho's voice when rapping, is getting LOWER and LOWER as the years go by and his raps are getting HARDER and HARDER to catch.

But I really love this group! I do! The only one that can really truly sing is the leader Ohno and if you have the chance to watch the Arashi varieties, keep an eye out for Ohno's drawings. NICE!!
Tackey & TsubasaConsists of : Imai Tsubasa and Takizawa Hideaki
Group consisting of THE most famous Junior in Johnnys other than Yamap, Takky and his best friend Tsubasa have debuted together to form T&T. IMHO, even though Tsubasa gets the harmonies for most of the songs that T&T sing, I still think that Tsubasa sounds better. Then again, I could in all probability be biased.

I like Tsubasa even though he's arguably less of a piece of eye candy than Takky!

PS : YES!! I'm old school! I don't CARE how Avex or Johnnys Entertainment spells Takky. I've been spelling Takky as Takky from day one and it's gonna stay that way!
NewS
Consists of : Yamashita Tomohisa, Koyama Keiichiro, Nishikido Ryo, Maasuda Takahisa, Uchi Hiroki, Kato Shigeaki, Tegoshi Yuya and Kusano Hironori.
Ex-member : Moriuchi Takahiro
Most famous for Yamap. Seriously.

Their single 'News Nippon' while was released while they were still under the Juniors, has a very special place in my heart for no other reason other than it was EVERYWHERE when I was in Japan. The Odaiba christmas tree that year was by NewS and while watching the promo vid at the top of the Fuji terebi stairs, I will ALWAYS remember this woman with shocking orange hair wearing a white jacket. She was about 35+ in age and what made me remember her for life was that she was standing there, watching the PV and dancing to NewS! I nearly died of shock while my friend burst out laughing.

Those were fun times...
Kanjyani8Consists of : Shibutani Subaru, Yokoyama Yu, Murakami Shingo, Maruyama Ryuhei, Yasuda Shota, Nishikido Ryo, Okura Tadayoshi and Uchi Hiroki.
Most famous for being from Kansai and PROUD of it! YAY!! ^o^ Members Nishikido Ryo and Uchi Hiroki are also part of NewS. Double exposure!! Not that I mind since I think that Uchi is SERIOUSLY cute. REALLY. SERIOUSLY. GOOD-LOOKING.
KAT-TUNConsists of : Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Ueda Tatsuya, Nakamaru Yuichi
There are really only 2 that I will take note of and these 2 are the most prominent faces in Kat-tun : Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin. I've got a preference for Kamenashi, not because of anything else but coz I thought that he did quite a good job as Kindaichi in the recent Kindaichi special. Nice one Kame!!

:
NOTABLE JUNIORSMusical AcademyConsists of : Akiyama Jun, Machida Shingo, Yonehana Tsuyoshi and Yara Tomoyuki
The eldest sub-group in Johnnys Juniors, you cannot possibly miss them if you have watched a Johnnys concert or a musical. They work very closely with Domotou Koichi of KinKi Kids in the 'Shock' series of musicals and are almost always dancing backup for KinKi Kids. I watched them 'live' at the KinKi Kids concert and MA's dancing is REALLY

:!!!
4 TopsConsists of : Ikuta Toma, Hasegawa Jun, Kazama Shunsuke, (Yamashita Tomohisa)
As the name suggests, these 4 are the top 4 juniors. Well. Used to be 4 since Yamap's now debuted with NewS so it's just Toma, HaseJun and Kaza left. If you watch Shounen Club on NHK, you'll see a lot of them! Especially Kaza coz he's blessed with the gift of the gab!
SIDE GROUPS/ACT OR ONE-SHOT GROUPS/ ACTSJ-FriendsConsists of : Tokio, V6, KinKi Kids
Formed in December 1997, the aim of the group was to raise funds for the victims of the Kobe quake disaster. They released 4 singles for the cause and were officially dissolved in 2001.
Sakuraba YuuichiroConsists of : Yuu-chan himself!
Alter-ego of Tokio's lead vocalist in the doramas 'Mukodono', Sakuraba is produced by Tsunku himself! YAY!! ^o^
Toraji.Haiji.Consists of : Kokubun Taichi (Tokio) and Domotou Tsuyoshi (KinKi Kids)
Spin-off group bearing the names of the 2 main characters from the movie 'Fantastipo', I love the song AND the PV!! The dance is QUITE funny indeed!!
Shuuji to AkiraConsists of : Yamashita Tomohisa (NewS) and Kamenashi Kazuya (Kattun/Johnnys Juniors)
Spin-off group from 'Nobuta wo Produce', this was probably THE dorama that made the blokes sit up and notice Johnnys.

Yay Yamap and Kame!! ^o^
ENDLICHERI*ENDLICHERIConsists of : Domotou Tsuyoshi (KinKi Kids )
Domotou Tsuyoshi releases his 3rd solo single and album under the pseudonym of ENDLICHERI*ENDLICHERI. What is it with Tsuyo-chan and fish, I will never understand...
EX-JOHNNYSGo HiromiMotoki Masahiro