Hey! Say! JUMP’s Yamada Ryosuke will attempt voice-acting for the first time in the Japanese dub of “The Smurfs“!
Yamada will be joined by his fellow Hey! Say! JUMP member Chinen Yuri for the upcoming 3D movie, which will make its debut in America on July 29th. The film revolves around the cute blue characters as they try to find their way back to their village before the evil wizard Garamel finds them.
“I’m receiving advice from Chinen, who has experience as a voice actor, so I don’t ruin the cute image of the Smurfs,” said Yamada, who will tackle his first voice-acting role with the character “Clumsy Smurf”. “I want to do my best with him!”
Chinen – who will voice “Friendly Smurf” – replied, “I did try voice acting once in the past, but I had a lot of trouble with it… I think it’ll be hard this time, but I want little me to play a little blue elf!”
The movie will begin airing in Japan on September 9th.
Popular J-rock band B’z has renewed their record of having the most consecutive #1 singles on the Oricon Weekly Singles Ranking after landing their 45th single, “Don’t Wanna Lie“, in first place this week. The record had just been extended to 44 singles back in mid-April.
“Don’t Wanna Lie” was released on June 1st and recorded first week sales of 169,000 copies, nearly 40,000 more than their last single.
The title track is being used as the opening theme for the anime “Detective Conan“, and the B-side track, “Homebound“, is the ending theme for TBS’s news program “NEWS23X“.
On June 6th, a video of Suzuki Airi was uploaded on C-ute’s official YouTube channel.
Basically, Suzuki was giving an announcement that there will be an announcement! On Friday, June 10th at 20:00 (8pm) JST, make sure to check out C-ute’s Official YouTube channel for the mysterious announcement that Suzuki was talking about.
Details on what the announcement is going to be about are still unknown, so you’ll have to tune in to find out what it is. Hopefully it won’t be an announcement of an announcement of an announcement.
Itano Tomomi performed her new song, “Ai ni Pierce,” (digitally released on June 1st) for the first time at AKB48’s nationwide handshake event at Kyocera Dome in Osaka. Accompanied by two back-up dancers, Itano wore a sexy black outfit and performed in front of 25,000 fans, “It’s been awhile (since February) since I’ve done a solo performance, so I felt nervous,” she said with a smile.
This January, Itano had her solo debut with her hit song “Dear J”, which sold 215,000 copies and peaked at #2 on the Oricon charts. She has since released a two month consecutive digital single release, “Wanna be now” in May and “Ai ni Pierce” in June. Itano is also set to drop her second physical solo single on July 13th.
On this day, AKB48 announced that their new song “Everyday, Kachuusha” has shipped over 1.7 million copies. Takahashi Minami reported, “Thanks to all of you, we were able to sell enough copies in a week to get #1”.
We previously named the lead stars for the Japanese remake of Korean drama, “You’re Beautiful”, and now another cast member has been revealed!
AKB48’s Kojima Haruna (23) has been chosen to play ‘NANA‘, a popular idol who has an innocent image on the outside, but is a malicious little devil on the inside. In the original Korean version, NANA was called ‘Yoo He Yi‘ and was played by After School member UEE.
This will be the first time that Kojima will star as a main cast member in a primetime drama, thus taking her first real step into the acting field.
If you guys have seen the original, how well do you think Kojima can pull off the evil side of NANA/Yoo He Yi?
AKB48 sub-unit Not yet has just unveiled the covers for their upcoming second single, “Naminori Kakigoori“!
As the covers and title (‘Surfing, Shaved Ice’) suggest, the sub-unit’s newest song is a sparkling summer song that is sure to make you smile. The single will be released in three different versions on July 6th: ‘Type A’ (CD+DVD), ‘Type B’ (CD+DVD), and ‘Type C’ (CD-only).
AKB48 appeared on Countdown TV (CDTV) to show fans a few previews from their highly-anticipated first album, “Koko ni Ita Koto“!
During this week’s episode, fans can catch a glimpse of their songs “Wagamama Collection“, “Kimi to Boku no Kankei“, “Iikagen no Susume“, and “High school days“. Radio rips of their new songs “Kaze no Yukue” and “Koko ni Ita Koto” were just posted as well.
Music store Tower Records announced during a press conference on June 3rd that they’ll be launching their own idol music label, T-Palette Records!
The press conference was held at the Shibuya Tower Records store and was open to both fans and the media. During the event, it was revealed that the first artists to be signed under this new idol label is the girl group Vanilla Beans and the Niigata idol trio Negicco. Label representative Minewaki Ikuo is said to be a self-professed “idol fanatic”, and personally chose the groups himself to begin the new record label.
To kick off their new activities under T-Palette, Vanilla Beans will be releasing a new single, titled “Tengoku e no Kaidan” (a cover of the famous Led Zeppelin song ‘Stairway to Heaven‘), on June 29th, shortly followed by their newest album, “Vanilla Beans II“, on July 20th. Negicco’s first release under T-Palette – a mini-album titled “GET IT ON!” – will also hit stores on July 20th.
For eager fans who can’t wait to hear their new material, and exclusive listening party will be held on July 10th to preview Vanilla Beans’ new album. Both Vanilla Beans and Negicco are also preparing for a performance at the same Tower Records store on July 20th.
Check out the track lists for all three releases, as well as photos from the event below!
< Vanilla Beans – “Tengoku e no Kaidan” > 01. Tengoku e no Kaidan (cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’) 02. Baby Portable Rock (Pizzicato Five cover) 03. nicola (re-release) 04. a little crying (re-release)
< Vanilla Beans – “Vanilla Beans II” > 01. Vanilla Beans 02. Elscaddy 03. Nakaji Time (Interlude) 04. Doctor, Onegai 05. Summer vacation 06. ? 07. Oosumi Time (Interlude) 08. Musunde Hiraite 09. C You-san no Uta 10. Oppai 11. Takami Time (Interlude) 12. Sodermalm 13. Yume Miru Shippo 14. Oyasumi 15. Tengoku e no Kaidan
< Negicco – “GET IT ON!” > 01. GET IT ON! 02. Gutter! Gutter! Gutter! 03. Kanzen Kouryaku 04. Disco!! The Negicco 05. Falling Stars
It was revealed on June 4th that the opening song of NHK’s current telenovela, “Ohisama“, starring Inoue Mao (24), will be sung by singer Hirahara Ayaka (27).
The song, simply titled “Main Theme“, will have added lyrics sung by Hirahara and could possibly be used within the drama.
“Main Theme” is an original song by composer Watanabe Toshiyuki, and a wordless 45-second version of the song is used in the drama. The words for Hirahara’s version are written by “Ohisama” scriptwriter Okada Yoshikazu.
The new song, titled “Main Theme Ohisama~Taisetsu na anata e“, contains lyrics describing a mother’s love, such as “To sacrifice my life/I wouldn’t hesitate”. It’s still in production, but is expected to be 5 minutes long when finished. Hirahara’s “Main Theme” will be featured on the “Ohisama” soundtrack, on sale June 29.
“To have Ms. Hirahara sing my lyrics so sweetly is truly an honor”, Mr. Okada commented. “I enjoyed working with her, and I will always treasure this experience.”
Recochoku has just revealed its results for its 2011 wedding song ranking!
Coming in first place for the second year in a row is Kimura Kaela’s hit song “Butterfly“, which she wrote for the marriage of a close friend. The song has maintained its popularity since it dominated the digital charts after its release in 2009. Many of the voters left comments such as, “When I get married, I’d like everyone to sing this together” and “I heard this song at a friend’s wedding and cried.”
Second place went to Kobukuro’s song “Silhouette“, the B-side to their 2011 single “Ano Taiyou ga, Kono Sekai wo Terashitsudzukeru You ni.” and the duo’s first wedding song in nearly seven years. When asked about their choice, voters responded with comments like, “I like how Kobuchi sings so painfully about how a girl feels before she gets married.”
Check out the top five most touching wedding songs below!
AKB48’s ‘ace’ Maeda Atsuko has released a PV preview for her latest single “Flower”, which will be released on the 22nd.
The preview also includes a “making of” segment with a few adorable moments. The little girl in the video is played by Kimura Manatsu and she asks Maeda “Would it be okay if I join AKB?” to which Maeda responds, “You’re so cute! You want to join AKB? I’ll give you a warm welcome. You would be the youngest.”
Two radio rips have been revealed from AKB48’s new album, “Koko ni Ita Koto“, which will be released next week.
The title track “Koko ni Ita Koto” was a major collaborative effort from AKB48, SKE48, NMB48 and SDN48. It’s a divine ballad with moving lyrics that truly showcase the 48 Family’s chorus-like singing style.
The next song, “Kaze no Yukue“, was sung by AKB48 sub-units No Sleeves, French Kiss and Not yet. It’s more upbeat than “Koko ni Ita Koto”, and its bubbly charm is making us hit repeat again and again. Koto”.
Sandara Park releases an angelic CF for “Nikon”
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Nikon Imaging Korea has just released a jaw-dropping commercial with 2NE1‘s
Sandara Park.
The idol shed her quirky style and emerged as a gorgeous woman w...
Itano Tomomi performed her new song, “Ai ni Pierce,” (digitally released on June 1st) for the first time at AKB48’s nationwide handshake event at Kyocera Dome in Osaka. Accompanied by two back-up dancers, Itano wore a sexy black outfit and performed in front of 25,000 fans, “It’s been awhile (since February) since I’ve done a solo performance, so I felt nervous,” she said with a smile.
AKB48 sub-unit Not yet has just unveiled the covers for their upcoming second single, “Naminori Kakigoori“!
Music store Tower Records announced during a press conference on June 3rd that they’ll be launching their own idol music label, T-Palette Records!
To kick off their new activities under T-Palette, Vanilla Beans will be releasing a new single, titled “Tengoku e no Kaidan” (a cover of the famous Led Zeppelin song ‘Stairway to Heaven‘), on June 29th, shortly followed by their newest album, “Vanilla Beans II“, on July 20th. Negicco’s first release under T-Palette – a mini-album titled “GET IT ON!” – will also hit stores on July 20th.
Morning Musume leader Takahashi Ai updated her official blog, showing off her brand new look to her fans.
