SMAP news round-up

Well SMAP has had a few recent bits of news come out as I was busy finishing up finals.

The first is that they will all be in a drama together for the first time in about six years. And what's unique about this one is that none of them knew they were being filmed for a drama. Instead they believed they were filming for a variety program. The drama special will air on TV Asahi on July 1st.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Then Kimura Takuya's upcoming film, Space Battleship Yamato, will be celebrating it's 35th anniversary of the original series debut. As part of the promotion there will be a special team up with Hello Kitty, who is also 35 years old this year, who will adorn the costumes of the characters for a special show, Hello Kitty to Daniel no Eiga Daisuki!! ~Space Battleship Yamato yori~, at Tokyo's Sanrio Puroland theme park from the film for a limited time.

Anime News Network article. (English)

Then finally Kimura Takuya will be voice acting in an upcoming anime film, REDLINE, by animation studio MADHOUSE that will be released in theaters in Japan in October. He will voice the main character of the film and this will be the second time he has been a voice actor in an animated feature, the first being Howl's Moving Castle.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)