As reported earlier, Mikuni Shimokawa had announced a concert to be taking place on August 22 of this year and that the concert would be held at the Movida, St James Power Station venue. And for those looking to attend, tickets are finally available and on sale to the public.
Tickets for the event can be found on Gatecrash. The tickets themselves cost around SGD $93 excluding booking fee.
J-pop singer Utada Hikaru has announced on her blog that she’ll be going on hiatus starting next year. She does plan to release a full-length album consisting of her more recent singles before she departs, but as she takes note to emphasize, this will not be a retirement announcement or even a break. Based on what she wrote, she’s looking to mature as an artist and once she feels recharged, it’ll be full steam ahead.
What she doesn’t say is how long this hiatus will last because she hints it could range from 2 years to as long as 5 years. It has been 12 years since she debuted and has been working almost non-stop this entire time.
The K-ON! franchise is able to whip up a frenzy among buyers, and in doing so, they just cannot seem to stop selling CDs. With the release of the opening and ending singles, titled Utauyo!! MIRACLE and NO Thank You! respectively, the sales generated have propelled them to the #2 and #3 spots on the Oricon weeklies for the week ending on August 4, 2010.
The opening single, Utauyo!! MIRACLE, succeeded in placing #3 with sales numbering around 26,686 sold, while NO Thank You! managed a touch higher with 26,989 albums sold. Knowing the track record for these albums, it’s likely they’ll continue to stay on the charts for weeks down the line.
For those looking to purchase the albums, links to CDJapan are below:
Utauyo!! MIRACLE – Limited Edition | Regular Edition
NO Thank You! – Limited Edition | Regular Edition
Though not quite as popular or well-known as his counterparts Miku Hatsune, the Kagamine twins, and Luka Megurine, Kamui Gakupo, better known to most Vocaloid enthusiasts out there as the sexy, aggressive Gackpoid, is celebrating his 2nd year of coming into being. The voice, taken from J-pop-rock singer Gackt, has been used in all sorts of creations, ranging from the heavy metal pieces composed by ROY to lighter fare like turnastudio’s qawsedrftgyhujikolp. Often looked upon as the Vocaloid team’s sexiest singer, now might be a good time to sample some of the songs that use his voice. You can check out some of the following below:
You might not have heard of Bice, but those who’ve seen Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ may remember the sweet, charming music that played in the anime as well as the calm, soothing vocals that accompanied some of the BGM. Bice, who also goes by Anne, composed the score for Mahoraba’s anime and provided said vocals. Regretfully, she has passed away on Monday, June 26, from a heart attack.
In addition to Mahoraba, Bice also composed music for Kirarin Revolution as well as a live-action adaptation of a Yayoi Ogawa work.
Source: Natalie
For those of you who’ve been having a blast listening to volume 1 of the K-ON!! Original Soundtrack, the soundtrack to the second season of the K-ON! anime, the second volume’s release date has been set. The CD will be out in stores on October 6, 2010. You can order the soundtrack on CDJapan.
Like with the previous album, volume 2 will continue to present Hajime Hyakkoku’s light-hearted compositions from the K-ON! anime series. Whether the album will come with a character song or two like the first volume did is unknown for now.
Sphere, the pop group made up of seiyuu Aki Toyosaki, Haruka Tomatsu, Ayahi Takagaki, and Minako Kotobuki, have announced a concert at Budokan on November 23, 2010. The concert, ON LOVE, ON Live, will open their doors at 4:30pm and officially start at 5:30pm.
Anime music fans should be familiar with Sphere’s work given their debut single for Hatsukoi Limited’s intro, titled “Future Stream.” They’ve gone on to release “Super Noisy Nova” for Sora no Manimani, and, most recently, Asobi ni Ikuyo!’s “Now loading…Sky!!.” They also have a single set to be released in October for an anime premiering in Fall 2010.
Source: Sphere website via J1m0ne.
It shouldn’t be a surprise given that Hiroaki Yura, Hiroki Kikuta, and Shihori will be guests for this year’s Otakon 2010. The trio will appear during the opening ceremonies where the three worked together in composing, producing, and rehearsing the theme song, titled “Shackles of Night” which will be performed during the ceremonies.
The music will accompany the opening animation which is done by Japanese studio Production I.G.
Japanese metal band Dir En Grey is all set to begin touring in the United States, performing in such cities as Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland in late August, early September.
The tour will begin in North America at Toronto on August 23 before moving on to the United States with a performance at the Nokia Theater in New York on August 24. More information about the dates and locations can be found on Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles.
VIP packages are also on sale, which includes goodies such as an opportunity to meet and greet with the band members, a Dir En Grey VIP carabiner, a hand-signed Dir En Grey silk-screened poster, and a commemorative VIP laminate. More information about the VIP packages can be found here.
Ghibli Movie, Only Yesterday, Gets Stage Adaptation
There are additional plans to take it out of Tokyo, with a performance in Semboku City before embarking upon a national tour April of 2012.
Source: Oricon via AnimeNewsNetwork