Meet Ballistik Boyz, Japan’s Attempt At Making Their Own BTS

Ballstik Boyz is a Japanese boy band managed by LDH.

BALLISTIK BOYZ is a new Japanese boy band produced by Exile’s HIRO, managed under LDH. The average age of the 7-member group is now 21.6 years and the specialty of all members is vocals and performance.

The members include Hidaka Ryuta, Kanou Yoshiyuki, Kainuma Ryusei, Fukahori Miku, Okuda Rikiya, Matsui Riki and Sunada Masahiro who come from PROJECT TARO and VOCAL BATTLE AUDITION 5.

HIRO explained that the group was named “ballistic” because the members in charge of vocals and rap continuously change according to the song and their speedy image that resembles a bolt of lightning was strong.

HIRO added the group currently has a great balance as well as outstanding performance so he is looking forward to their future.

BALLSTIK BOYZ followed FANTASTIC 9’s nationwide tour and performed as the opening act from the Fukuoka performance on May 12, 2018.

Source: Twitter

The group was first introduced through LDH’s TV show Shuukan EXILE, which gave viewers a glimpse into how they look and sound as a group.

Clips of the group practicing dance and singing have proven their vocal and performance skills.

Despite the potential and skills of this new group, Korean netizens have been claiming that the new group has copied BTS’ name as well as their concept and have been criticizing them for it.

  • “They say they go by btz…it’s obvious that copied the name…and with 4 vocals and 3 rappers in a 7-member group, they even copied the construction of the group…this agency usually has a few members sing and the rest just dance like back dancers so this group formation is a first for them…in fact, even their showcase date is the sameㅋㅋㅋ I guess they’ll probably dance well since their from the EXILE agency, but it’s too obvious”
  • “Is Japan starting to copy us now ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
  • “ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋhow ridiculousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋdo they think they’ll enter the Billboard just by copying?”
  • “There are tons of international netizens mocking btz on Twitterㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋit’s hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

One netizen had even claimed that the agency had copied K-Pop many times in the past and uploaded an image to prove their point.

This agency has copied K-Pop a few times. When Girls’ Generation was at their peak, they just took out the ‘girls’ and created a boy band called Generation and now that BTS is really popular, they took off the ‘s’ and made them btz. Girls’ Generation also had some goods including pink hair bands and E-girls came up with the same goods. They copied EXO’s  MAMA movie opening and even copied BIGBANG.

— Netizen

Meanwhile, many international fans have been feeling sympathy for the new group that has been receiving criticism even before their official debut and have been trying to clarify any misunderstandings.

Check out one of their recent music videos below.