SMAP has announced that they will be releasing a new album this year on August 17th, titled SMAP AID. 200Yen from each album sold will directly go to the Marching J fund to go towards the relief effort in Japan.
The album will be a collection of their songs chosen by fans by a vote and each copy of the album with come with one of two handkerchiefs, Shiawase (Happy) no YELLOW-AID or Genki (Energetic) no RED-AID.
Also for everyone who buys the album they can send in to be part of a lottery to go to special fan meeting with the group that is limited to 10,000 people.
They also have fan meetings scheduled in four different cities for members of their fan club with all the proceeds from those going to Marching J.
Tokyohive article. (English)
From the little information up on Johnny's net about the album it seems the voting will be done in connection to their program SMAP X SMAP.
20 June 2011
19 June 2011
New release from Kinki Kids and PLAYZONE 2011 OST
Catching up on release announcements Kinki Kids have an upcoming BD/DVD release of their concert on January 1st, 2011 and this year's PLAYZONE will release a soundtrack CD.
The RE version has the concert and is the version that the BD is for. The LE is DVD only and comes with bonus MC footage and a bigger booklet. All will be released July 27th.
KinKi Kids 2010-2011 - Kimi mo Domoto Family - [Regular Edition] / KinKi Kids
KinKi Kids 2010-2011 - Kimi mo Domoto Family - [Limited Edition] / KinKi Kids
KinKi Kids 2010-2011 - Kimi mo Domoto Family - [Blu-ray] / KinKi Kids
I wish they would have the LE version for the BD as well. As someone who prefers BD over DVD (yay for better picture and sound quality as well as being the same region as Japan) and tries to get the LE versions of concert releases I find having only the RE version for the BD versions really disappointing. I hope Johnny's realizes that there is demand for a LE BD and switch over soon, especially if all future concert video releases will be on the two formats.
Not much information is about for the PLAYZONE'11 SONG & DANC'N soundtrack other than it will have 22 tracks in total and will be released July 20th.
PLAYZONE '11 SONG & DANC'N. Original Soundtrack / Original Soundtrack
I really hope this soundtrack is more like 2009's instead of 2010's. I really liked having the group songs at the end of the soundtrack for 2009 and was sad to see that 2010 didn't have anything like that. I want a good Nakayama Yuma solo song and unless this soundtrack has one I'll pass on it as I did for last year's.
The RE version has the concert and is the version that the BD is for. The LE is DVD only and comes with bonus MC footage and a bigger booklet. All will be released July 27th.
I wish they would have the LE version for the BD as well. As someone who prefers BD over DVD (yay for better picture and sound quality as well as being the same region as Japan) and tries to get the LE versions of concert releases I find having only the RE version for the BD versions really disappointing. I hope Johnny's realizes that there is demand for a LE BD and switch over soon, especially if all future concert video releases will be on the two formats.
Not much information is about for the PLAYZONE'11 SONG & DANC'N soundtrack other than it will have 22 tracks in total and will be released July 20th.
I really hope this soundtrack is more like 2009's instead of 2010's. I really liked having the group songs at the end of the soundtrack for 2009 and was sad to see that 2010 didn't have anything like that. I want a good Nakayama Yuma solo song and unless this soundtrack has one I'll pass on it as I did for last year's.
16 June 2011
Okada Junichi to star in Tenchi Meisatsu film
It was announced that Okada Junichi will be starring in an upcoming film titled, Tenchi Meisatsu. His character, Shibukawa Shunkai, an astronomer of the Edo period as well as a Go player.
Yokoyama Yu will have a role in the film as well as the Go rival for the lead character.
The film is being planned for a fall 2012 release.
Tokyo Graph article. (English)
Yokoyama Yu will have a role in the film as well as the Go rival for the lead character.
The film is being planned for a fall 2012 release.
Tokyo Graph article. (English)
14 June 2011
Dream Boys 2011 news
Information for this year's Dream Boys performances has begun to come out. First off Kamenashi Kazuya will be starring in the musical this year. He will be joined by fellow KAT-TUN members Tanaka Koki and Nakamaru Yuichi who will have major roles in the production.
Dream Boys is expected to run from September 3rd to September 25th at the Tokyo Imperial Garden Theater.
Momoedgewood blog. (English)
I guess even if they don't have their concerts most will have this musical for this year. Hopefully Junno and Ueda will have something to keep themselves busy with around the same time.
Dream Boys is expected to run from September 3rd to September 25th at the Tokyo Imperial Garden Theater.
Momoedgewood blog. (English)
I guess even if they don't have their concerts most will have this musical for this year. Hopefully Junno and Ueda will have something to keep themselves busy with around the same time.
Yamada and Chinen lend their voices to those even smaller than them.
First off, sorry for being a bit MIA over the past couple of months. I ended up getting really bogged down by class work, especially since it was my final quarter. I've graduated now so I'll be trying to get everything back on track again now that I have the free time. So expect some catch up posts for recent news and I will be getting back to the recent comments in the next couple of days.
Yamada Ryosuke and Chinen Yuri will be voice actors for the Japanese language version of the upcoming Smurfs movie that will run in Japanese theaters starting from September 9th. This will be Yamada's first time voice acting while Chinen has done voice acting for an anime movie before.
Nikkan Sports article. (Japanese)
You can put me down for one of the people who think there is a good chance we may get a new NYC single from this. Seeing as their tie-in so far has been an anime series for young children a family friendly movie like this would be a good fit with the young image NYC has. But if that's so the single will be released about the same time as the movie in Japan which should be early September so it'll be a while before we'll get an announcement if it will be the case.
I kinda hope it will be the case if just because it will increase the likelihood of being able to get another Hey! Say! JUMP single before the end of the year, which I'm really hoping for.
Yamada Ryosuke and Chinen Yuri will be voice actors for the Japanese language version of the upcoming Smurfs movie that will run in Japanese theaters starting from September 9th. This will be Yamada's first time voice acting while Chinen has done voice acting for an anime movie before.
Nikkan Sports article. (Japanese)
You can put me down for one of the people who think there is a good chance we may get a new NYC single from this. Seeing as their tie-in so far has been an anime series for young children a family friendly movie like this would be a good fit with the young image NYC has. But if that's so the single will be released about the same time as the movie in Japan which should be early September so it'll be a while before we'll get an announcement if it will be the case.
I kinda hope it will be the case if just because it will increase the likelihood of being able to get another Hey! Say! JUMP single before the end of the year, which I'm really hoping for.
04 June 2011
2nd half of year predictions, debuted groups
Well summer has come and the year is about half way over now. The first half had some big surprises, both good and bad and mostly unpredictable. Hopefully the rest of the year will be calmer and things can start getting back to normal as things can get for Japan. I'll just be covering debuted (or officially set to debut) groups as I'm sure I'll get long winded about the Juniors.
SMAP looks like they'll manage as they always have the rest of the year. They're still one of the most popular Japanese artists and will keep busy with variety programs, dramas and movies. I can see them either releasing another single or a new album before the end of the year to keep their 20th anniversary celebration on track. Very few artists reach that hallmark, especially idol groups so I can't see Johnny's not wanting to do something for it for one of their top groups.
TOKIO has enough regular work they will continue doing. I am hoping though they will finally release an album before the end of the year. As they've already done a concert for this year I doubt they'll do another, though if they do release a new album they may tour next year.
Like the rest of the older groups Kinki Kids really doesn't seem all that affected by the first half of the year. Koichi has Endless Shock to keep him busy and I'm sure Tsuyoshi will find something for him to do. They also have a single coming up in a couple of weeks so they'll have their single for the year. Wouldn't be surprised if they do the usual tour in Winter so they'll have the Tokyo Dome for Countdown like usual.
As they haven't released a single this year I'll predict that V6 will release one before the end of the year. Though I don't see them doing much else. Usually I would assume they would have a tour still, either as a full group or one of the sub-units, but it doesn't look like there will be as many concert tours this year as there usually are and I can see them being one of the groups that will not be making their usual yearly tour.
Being one of the top groups more or less ensures that Arashi will continue to have the kind of releases they would usually. Which can be seen with the fact they have a concert DVD and a studio album coming up to be released over the summer as well as a tour lined up to take them through to early next year. I'll predict they'll have at least one more single that will be released, maybe two, before the year ends.
Tackey & Tsubasa are hard to guess about what will happen with them. The only thing that seems certain with them are the musical productions they keep themselves busy with. Release-wise I wouldn't be surprised if we don't anything more from them, together or as soloist.
I'd guess that we'd get at least a single from NEWS before the end of the year. I know there was a rumor for one for a July release but unless it ends up being late July I don't see that being more than a rumor. But as Yamapi's solo concert winds down and if Kanjani8 doesn't have anything lined up anytime soon I can see a single for the group being released in the next few months.
Kanjani8 have had a good year so far, despite all things. They're ending a string of single releases and I can see them putting out either another single or an album near the end of the year. I'm also sure we'll be seeing them do another winter tour so they can have the Kyocera Dome again for Countdown.
Poor KAT-TUN. This year was supposed to be their 5 year anniversary celebration but it doesn't look like things are turning out well for them. While I can see them keeping things up with releases they have had their concert tour canceled. I can see them releasing one more single and then an album before the year is out but they'll have to wait for 2012 to tour again.
Hey! Say! JUMP looks to be slowly getting back to some sort of regular release schedule. They're still hampered a bit with having to share members with NYC but they've been doing better with balancing the two groups. With any luck we'll get one more single from them before the end of the year or at latest early 2012. They're also one of the lucky groups that will be able to tour this year and have SUMMARY over the summer. It'll be interesting to see if they'll do the usual winter tour this year.
I don't see any new releases for Akanishi Jin until after he finishes filming for the 47 Ronin movie. And if anything it'll probably be another Japanese single.
Kis-My-Ft2 is probably the other group that's been most affected by the earthquake. They've had their debut single pushed back to sometime this summer and personally I'm going to guess it'll be sometime in August at this point. The tie-in to the Ikemen Desu ne drama will be a help though and make August the ideal month as then there will be anticipation built up from the drama for the release and the single should get a sales boost every time an episode airs once it has been released. Luckily they still have their tour and it seems to still be on schedule. I can see them getting at least one more single out before the end of the year and maybe we can finally get a concert DVD from them if not this year but next year.
And I guess I'll stick NYC here as well. I think it's possible for them to release another single before the end of the year but honestly they've already released something this year so they don't really need to and they can just use Yumetamago to be their end of year song.
And that about rounds everything up for the debuted groups.
SMAP looks like they'll manage as they always have the rest of the year. They're still one of the most popular Japanese artists and will keep busy with variety programs, dramas and movies. I can see them either releasing another single or a new album before the end of the year to keep their 20th anniversary celebration on track. Very few artists reach that hallmark, especially idol groups so I can't see Johnny's not wanting to do something for it for one of their top groups.
TOKIO has enough regular work they will continue doing. I am hoping though they will finally release an album before the end of the year. As they've already done a concert for this year I doubt they'll do another, though if they do release a new album they may tour next year.
Like the rest of the older groups Kinki Kids really doesn't seem all that affected by the first half of the year. Koichi has Endless Shock to keep him busy and I'm sure Tsuyoshi will find something for him to do. They also have a single coming up in a couple of weeks so they'll have their single for the year. Wouldn't be surprised if they do the usual tour in Winter so they'll have the Tokyo Dome for Countdown like usual.
As they haven't released a single this year I'll predict that V6 will release one before the end of the year. Though I don't see them doing much else. Usually I would assume they would have a tour still, either as a full group or one of the sub-units, but it doesn't look like there will be as many concert tours this year as there usually are and I can see them being one of the groups that will not be making their usual yearly tour.
Being one of the top groups more or less ensures that Arashi will continue to have the kind of releases they would usually. Which can be seen with the fact they have a concert DVD and a studio album coming up to be released over the summer as well as a tour lined up to take them through to early next year. I'll predict they'll have at least one more single that will be released, maybe two, before the year ends.
Tackey & Tsubasa are hard to guess about what will happen with them. The only thing that seems certain with them are the musical productions they keep themselves busy with. Release-wise I wouldn't be surprised if we don't anything more from them, together or as soloist.
I'd guess that we'd get at least a single from NEWS before the end of the year. I know there was a rumor for one for a July release but unless it ends up being late July I don't see that being more than a rumor. But as Yamapi's solo concert winds down and if Kanjani8 doesn't have anything lined up anytime soon I can see a single for the group being released in the next few months.
Kanjani8 have had a good year so far, despite all things. They're ending a string of single releases and I can see them putting out either another single or an album near the end of the year. I'm also sure we'll be seeing them do another winter tour so they can have the Kyocera Dome again for Countdown.
Poor KAT-TUN. This year was supposed to be their 5 year anniversary celebration but it doesn't look like things are turning out well for them. While I can see them keeping things up with releases they have had their concert tour canceled. I can see them releasing one more single and then an album before the year is out but they'll have to wait for 2012 to tour again.
Hey! Say! JUMP looks to be slowly getting back to some sort of regular release schedule. They're still hampered a bit with having to share members with NYC but they've been doing better with balancing the two groups. With any luck we'll get one more single from them before the end of the year or at latest early 2012. They're also one of the lucky groups that will be able to tour this year and have SUMMARY over the summer. It'll be interesting to see if they'll do the usual winter tour this year.
I don't see any new releases for Akanishi Jin until after he finishes filming for the 47 Ronin movie. And if anything it'll probably be another Japanese single.
Kis-My-Ft2 is probably the other group that's been most affected by the earthquake. They've had their debut single pushed back to sometime this summer and personally I'm going to guess it'll be sometime in August at this point. The tie-in to the Ikemen Desu ne drama will be a help though and make August the ideal month as then there will be anticipation built up from the drama for the release and the single should get a sales boost every time an episode airs once it has been released. Luckily they still have their tour and it seems to still be on schedule. I can see them getting at least one more single out before the end of the year and maybe we can finally get a concert DVD from them if not this year but next year.
And I guess I'll stick NYC here as well. I think it's possible for them to release another single before the end of the year but honestly they've already released something this year so they don't really need to and they can just use Yumetamago to be their end of year song.
And that about rounds everything up for the debuted groups.
01 June 2011
Hey! Say! JUMP's new single gets a new edition
I woke up to find some exciting news in my e-mail box in that Hey! Say! JUMP's upcoming single, Over, will have another LE version. This version will have Born on the Earth as a song track on the CD and come with a DVD with a video clip for Ai-ing -Aishiteru-. Much of that excitement died though when I went to add this to my already existing pre-order and found that it was listed as sold out at CDJapan.
I figure I'm stuck having to either wait for CDJapan to open pre-orders for it again, which I'm hoping they will seeing as the original LE version of the single is still open for pre-orders, or having to hope that the Kinokuniya nearby will have it in stock when it comes out. Though I think I may just ask next time I'm in about saving a copy for me so I can ensure myself a copy.
For those who want to see if CDJapan opens up pre-orders again for it here's the link for it.
Over [w/ DVD, Limited Edition 2] / Hey! Say! JUMP
Other than that it should also be mentioned that there's a special campaign with this single in which if you buy a copy, doesn't matter which version of the single, you can download a message from one of the boys. Each single will have one user code which can only be used once and will only let you download one message. Each member will have three messages each so there will be 30 messages in total.
Honestly I can't say I'm actually too surprised at this turn of events. If you follow the charts the week HSJ is releasing this single has competition with girl groups No Sleeves and KARA, both who potentially could sell as much if not more than HSJ, especially as they both had/have more versions of their single as KARA has 3 and No Sleeves has 4. So I'm pretty sure that this is to combat that by at least having as many editions as KARA and then adding the special messages to give incentives to have fans buy multiple copies of the three editions.
But as this is giving us a CD version of one of HSJ's concert songs I'm not complaining too much. In fact I kinda welcome it as I really would love to see more of the songs they've only sung live be put on CDs so I can enjoy them with higher quality sound and without audience noise. I just gotta figure out whose messages to download (if they can be downloaded with a PC and it isn't just a Japanese cellphone thing) because I'm rather torn between Takaki and Keito.
I figure I'm stuck having to either wait for CDJapan to open pre-orders for it again, which I'm hoping they will seeing as the original LE version of the single is still open for pre-orders, or having to hope that the Kinokuniya nearby will have it in stock when it comes out. Though I think I may just ask next time I'm in about saving a copy for me so I can ensure myself a copy.
For those who want to see if CDJapan opens up pre-orders again for it here's the link for it.
Other than that it should also be mentioned that there's a special campaign with this single in which if you buy a copy, doesn't matter which version of the single, you can download a message from one of the boys. Each single will have one user code which can only be used once and will only let you download one message. Each member will have three messages each so there will be 30 messages in total.
Honestly I can't say I'm actually too surprised at this turn of events. If you follow the charts the week HSJ is releasing this single has competition with girl groups No Sleeves and KARA, both who potentially could sell as much if not more than HSJ, especially as they both had/have more versions of their single as KARA has 3 and No Sleeves has 4. So I'm pretty sure that this is to combat that by at least having as many editions as KARA and then adding the special messages to give incentives to have fans buy multiple copies of the three editions.
But as this is giving us a CD version of one of HSJ's concert songs I'm not complaining too much. In fact I kinda welcome it as I really would love to see more of the songs they've only sung live be put on CDs so I can enjoy them with higher quality sound and without audience noise. I just gotta figure out whose messages to download (if they can be downloaded with a PC and it isn't just a Japanese cellphone thing) because I'm rather torn between Takaki and Keito.
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