The Ok-pop business has lengthy been infamous for the impermanence of its acts; there are as many teams who disband as there are new ones that storm onto the scene every year. Some fall to the dreaded seven-year curse – the place bands half methods as soon as the seven-year clause of their contracts is up – whereas others to an indefinite hiatus from which they by no means return, so it’s uncommon see a bunch persevere within the face of the Ok-pop business’s unforgivingly fast turnover.
Enter Tremendous Junior. The group are revered for his or her longevity, having debuted in June 2005 as a 12-member unit. The SM Leisure-founded boyband have develop into one of many business’s first-generation pioneers who helped lay the foundations for the worldwide behemoth that’s Ok-pop right now. Disney+’s newest documentary on the group, Tremendous Junior: The Final Man Standing, revisits their wealthy historical past in unprecedented element. The docu-series exhaustively chronicles the group’s 18-year journey, beginning with their lesser-known origins as Tremendous Junior 05 all the way in which to their far-reaching affect right now.
The Final Man Standing is a treasure trove of Tremendous Junior lore, presenting a whole repository of archival footage starring the group all through their profession, stored off the document till now. Supplementing this abundance of movies throughout the eras are private interviews with every of Tremendous Junior’s 9 energetic members – Lee Teuk, Hee-chul, Ye-sung, Shin-dong, Eun-hyuk, Dong-hae, Si-won, Ryeo-wook, and Kyu-hyun – reflecting on the blood, sweat and tears it has taken them to get to the place they’re now. (Contextualising Tremendous Junior’s monumental debut and lending perception on their affect on Ok-pop are music critics Kim Yoon-ha, Im Jin-mo and others who’ve each carefully labored with and noticed the group through the years.)
Whereas Tremendous Junior usually are not the primary Ok-pop band to obtain their very own documentary, nor will they be the final, The Final Man Standing is especially refreshing. The candour of the Tremendous Junior members, who at this stage of their careers are much less afraid of opening up about each the highs and lows of their time collectively, makes this documentary a honest and worthwhile watch (its credit present SM Leisure and the Tremendous Junior-dedicated Label SJ have been closely concerned in its manufacturing).
The way in which Tremendous Junior’s members recall the band’s key milestones and a number of the methods they set the precedent for future Ok-pop teams (group dimension, for example) by no means comes throughout as boastful. They’re all the way down to earth and gracious of their interviews whereas recalling the immense anxiousness that got here with being a bunch attaining many firsts of their time, the onerous work poured into every tune they launched, and even the animosity felt among the many group throughout occasional battle (together with the addition of Kyu-hyun to the group shortly after the unique line-up debuted). Right here, Tremendous Junior present that irrespective of how iconic our Ok-pop idols appear, they’re nonetheless people at their very cores.
Not like a good few different Ok-pop documentaries, The Final Man Standing is surprisingly beginner-friendly. After 4 generations loaded with a whole lot of teams’ histories, Tremendous Junior’s remains to be most likely one of the vital intimidating to strategy because of the sheer quantity of albums, exhibits, tasks and knowledge that include almost 20 years of exercise. Fortunately, The Final Man Standing is an accessible catalogue of every part to find out about Tremendous Junior.
That features much less sunny, extra contentious moments within the Tremendous Junior story: it was particularly satisfying to see footage and point out of members who’ve since left the group, specifically Han Geng, Ki-bum and Kang-in (examine this to different, youthful teams that always scramble to cowl up any point out of previous members of their movies and social media presence). Longtime followers will little doubt admire the acknowledgment of those former members and their contributions to the group and their historical past.
One factor The Final Man Standing shares with different Ok-pop documentaries is a puzzling sense of pacing. Episodes usually are not intimidating in size – they run lower than an hour – however typically dwell for too lengthy on explicit incidents (say, Ryeo-wook’s addition to the line-up); these fixations might exasperate viewers not already invested in Tremendous Junior to start with. The Final Man Standing remains to be value a look ahead to Ok-pop lovers, although, because it doubles as a outstanding deep dive into the business’s beginnings. It’s not merely for older followers craving nostalgia, however for newer converts seeking to study extra about an leisure powerhouse that exhibits no indicators of slowing down.
Tremendous Junior: The Final Man Standing is now streaming on Disney+.