The years 2006 and 2007 are the peaks of Boys Love or yaoi films and movies. About a dozen boys love- themed works have been released within the two year-span and more are on the way. In my opinion, this is the only time I have seen BL films to be released at such a fast rate, successful or not.

It might not be a coincidence that most of the BL dramas, if not all of them, released in the previous two years featured Tenimyu actors. After all, the stage adaptation of Prince of Tennis is a mine of ikemen, or gorgeous young men, and most of them are just starting their careers and waiting for a big break to the big screen or television. Aside from their looks, they are also talented in singing, dancing, and acting, making them versatile targets for the industry that had always been bent on keeping the female part of the fandom happy: Boys Love.

If casting Tenimyu actors in BL is a tradition or a coincidence, we may never know. But really, who wants to find out the answer when we’re all busy watching?

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Apologies for the amazingly late post for this…er… last week! I’ll be recommending a single that is technically coming out the 16th, but has already been leaked, so we get an early taste of this awesome single!

An odd coupling at first, these two powerhouse diva’s work amazingly well together. Their voices blend in this single for an inspiring song that might be a bit familiar to those fans who also own Celine’s most recent album. Rumor has it that after hearing Yuna’s rendition of My Heart Will Go On on the album Tribute To Celine Dion, she picked Yuna to do a duet with over all the other collaborators for the album.

When first hearing of this single, I was a bit afraid Celine would overpower Yuna and outclass her a bit. After seeing the PV, I’m happy to say that my fears were misplaced. Yuna holds her own; indeed, I’d say she is featured even more than Celine is! Of course it is her single afterall… but even in the parts they sing together, Yuna’s beautiful voice shines through.

The single consists of four versions of the same song: the original, a “U.S.A version”, a version with Yuna singing the entire thing herself, and an instrumental. Although the version with Yuna by herself is beautiful, I tend to prefer when Celine sings as well, as I enjoy hearing the blend of two voices I love! The U.S.A version I would have assumed would be completely in English, but the lyrics are the same. It is the background music that is different, using just the more acoustic-sounding guitars and less of the little electronic additions that are in the original. Honestly though, they don’t sound all that different. I’d have been interested in an all-English version as a duet, but perhaps that was deemed too much like Celine’s solo original.

Additional Links:
Single information from wiki.theppn
Youtube link to the PV
Buy!: CDJapan // Yesasia
Lyrics from JPopAsia

So, what did you guys think? (BTW, would you prefer this style of posting/reviewing, or that of a big list and brief reccs?)

Happy New Year, everyone! I’m back with an (admittedly) small set of recommendations for the first release session of the new year, simply because there were only 4 of them! And honestly, I’m surprised at that… who bothers to release on the same week as Ayumi Hamasaki’s album? Precisely.

AKB48 - album - “SET LIST ~Greatest Songs 2006-2007~”
Hamasaki Ayumi - album - “GUILTY”
Kuraki Mai - album - “ONE LIFE”
w-inds. - album - “w-inds. Single Collection “Best Eleven”"

So I’ll just go through these one-by-one then! Read the rest of this entry »

Lucky number 7 has come and gone, and the best way to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new is to do one last recollection.

Most Played-Out Song of 2007

Sure, there was plenty on the pop side (”Get Freaky!”) and even in enka (”Sen no Kaze ni Natte” anyone?), but there was one particular song that captured the ears and hearts of many, while others screamed “AGAIN!?” everytime it came on. I was the latter.

SoulJa - Koko ni Iru yo (feat. Aoyama Thelma)

Okay, so maybe it was bearable the first hundred times, but the catchy chorus sung by Aoyama Thelma slowly became more and more annoying as time went on, and SoulJa’s whisper-rapping didn’t help. But then Thelma released “Soba ni Iru ne” which just happened to feature SoulJa and have the same hook! Are you kidding me?

Best Holiday Song of 2007

Fresh new Japanese holiday songs were as scarce as a good-tasting fruit cake this year, but we still had a couple good ones. Among the many cover albums that came out this holiday season, Full of Harmony and Exile’s winter songs stood out the most, but since I have to pick one, it’s gotta be Exile.

Exile - I Believe

“Ima sugu ni dakishimete…” If that line didn’t get stuck in your head after hearing Exile’s R&B winter song, then I don’t know what will. “I Believe” had just enough winter and season references to count as a song for the holidays, but was centered more around love than anything else, making it suitable for the winter months after Christmas as well.

Breakthrough Artist of 2007

Many artists made their stake in the Japanese Urban music industry in 2007, but few did it like this woman. As much as I’d love to give this title to Foxxi MisQ, nobody did it like Thelma.

Aoyama Thelma

She went from being totally unknown to being one of R&B’s biggest names without even releasing an album. Starting with her collaboration with DS455, “Summer Paradise,” her catchy hooks and beautiful voice pushed just about any song with her in it to the top. After finally releasing her first single, “One Way,” she appeared on SoulJa’s “Koko ni Iru yo,” and then released her own re-hash of it, “Soba ni Iru ne.”

Comeback Artist of 2007

On the pop side, it’d be hard to not give this title to the Brilliant Green, but as far as urban music goes, ISSA was definitely in the running with his single “Chosen Soldier,” but after a three year lull, Japan’s Wu-Tang came back with a new album.

Nitro Microphone Underground

2007 was NMU’s year. A new album, entitled “Special Force,” was released in November, along with their own Nike Air Force Ones, and one of the best selling Hip-Hop DVDs of the year.
Hottest R&B Album of 2007

This is totally my opinion, but I think it’s hard to disagree with. Other R&B singers came out with good albums this year, including Juju, Kato Miliyah, and May J, but this girl’s great singles “Not Over” and ‘Next Door” were just precursors to the awesome album that she released in November.

Aria - The Jukebox

Combine a beautiful voice with solid production and almost as many collaborations as an M-Flo album, and you’ve got The Jukebox.
Hottest Hip-Hop/Rap Album of 2007

Well, there were a ton of awesome albums to choose from, including Dabo’s “Baby Mario World Vol.1,” Zeebra’s “World of Music,” NMU’s “Special Force,” and Kreva’s “Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu,” but none achieved the level of Hip-Hop greatness that this album did, in my opinion.

Big-O and DJ Watarai - Straight to Next Door

DJ Watarai and Big-O on every single track? It was clear that the album was going to be hot, and it received more hype and publicity than I have seen for a Hip-Hop album in a while. Throw in a couple NMU members, some other really good but not well known Japanese MCs, and the always enjoyable Lupe Fiasco, and you’ve got an album full of listening pleasure.

Male Artist that Owned 2007

I didn’t want to call it “the best” male artist of 2007, because that’s all about opinion, but there’s no denying this guy was in charge of the charts all year long.

Kreva

That’s right. His crossover R&B/Hip-Hop/Pop vibe took the oricon charts by storm this year, with a ton of singles that broke through the top 50 and a couple that claimed spots in the top 10. With his first mix album in March and his third full solo album in September, Kreva was on fire all year long.

Female Artist that Owned 2007

This woman went from topping the charts with her candy pop to doing the same thing with her stylish “Hip-Pop,” of which she is definitely the queen. In almost every store I walked into while in Tokyo, they were playing either Koda Kumi, or this girl’s new album. Who else could it be?

Amuro Namie

“Baby Don’t Cry,” “Can’t Sleep, Can’t Eat, I’m Sick,” “Funky Town,” and “Hide & Seek” claimed top spots on the charts all year long, while other tracks from her new album, “PLAY,” were used all over the place, including in the Japanese versions of the movie “Sin City” and the TV series “Prison Break.” Not only is she the queen of Hip-Pop, she’s the queen of 2007.

I hope you enjoyed my recap of 2007, and let’s all hope 2008 is as good to the Japanese Urban Music community as ‘07 was! If you’ve got comments, questions, or maybe want to add/replace some of my choices, just leave a comment!

The anime world had, as always, been busy with lots of releases for 2007. Some of them sold well, some of them flopped, but no one can really be the judge of that. After all, everything depends on each person’s taste, right? Here is my list of the memorable anime that debuted in 2007. These are series that I have watched and left me lingering thoughts about them. The series are arranged by show date in Japan. Click the titles to go to the each anime’s official site.

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New releases for this week were almost non-existant, and with the new year coming up, things are really slow. So I thought I’d do a sort of “year in review” for reference.

Bands/Artists that Debuted this year:
Acid Black Cherry - Janne da Arc’s taking a break, but we get Yasu’s awesome solo project. He has a new single and an album planned, and let me tell you, that album will be mine as soon as I can pre-order it!
alan - Chinese Opera singler extraordinaire! Her debut single was awesome, and her collab with Rin’ was too. Can’t wait for the next release!
ERIKA - Sawajiri Erika had a release for the drama Taiyou no Uta under the name Amane Kaoru in 2006, but officially debuted in 2007. Or something like that.
Ikegami Kei - Still hard to get her stuff, but she has a nice voice.
ONE OK ROCK - Had their major debut, though they’ve been indies since 2006.
Soulja - His awesome duet entitled “Koko ni Iru yo” with Aoiyama Thelma was really good, and his album did pretty well if I recall correctly.

Bands/Artists that Disbanded this year:
BeForU - I never really listened to them, so I can’t really comment on this.
bis - I can comment on this, though… bis is disbanding in Jan 2008 (can I even include them in this list?) and I’m really surprised about it. I felt like their latest releases have been pretty strong; but then I only started listening to them recently, so I guess I can’t really make that distinction well.
Def Tech - Micro now does seperate collabs, but always seems to still be introduced/credited as “Micro of Def Tech”. Hmm…
LOVE - Otsuka Ai’s sugary sweet bunny-thing. Grows on you.
Mi - Cute girl group that I actually sorta liked. They weren’t really bubblegum which was nice.
W - Hello!Pro group that was on hiatus due to Kago Ai’s smoking scandal. Then she was caught “socializing” with older men. This being an especially sore point for H!P fans, I think I’ll stop with the comments here. They wouldn’t have been very nice anyway. *grin*

Other odd happenings in that respect
AAA - the loss of one of the girls hasn’t changed the singing of AAA much. I wonder how it feels to be 2 girls surrounded with 5 guys all the time? *grin*
Antique Cafe - lost their bassist Bou, but gained 2 new members and came out with strong singles in my opinion. I really liked Ryuusei Rocket, and though I’ve always liked Bou, I also like the changes in An Cafe that came about this year as well.
the brilliant green - Came back! YES! 2 new singles this year, and a single collection planned for early next year.
speena - They left avex and had a name change to something I can’t quite remember and don’t feel like looking up.
ZARD - Izumi Sakai, the single and face of ZARD, died in the hospital this year. I really liked her, and I was sad at this news… but really. Do we really need 6 tribute/best of/rememberence/whatever albums? Seems wrong to use her death to sell stuff.
…and both mai and Van Tomoko seem to have dropped off the face of the earth, music wise.

Interesting collabs:
ayaka and KOBUKURO - WOW. The sheer awesomeness of voices for this single still never fails to blow me away.
Ito Yuna and Celine Dion - including this because even though the single isn’t out till January, the PV is out. What an interesting duo… I’d have thought Yuna’d be outclassed by Celine, but she really proved she deserves “diva” status. She held her own, and then some!
The Gospellers and Howie D - Definitely Backstreet Boys-esqe, but I’m really enjoying this theme of Asian + Western artists. I think it is awesome that Western artists are at least attempting to sing in Japanese! XD
Koda Kumi and Tohoshinki (DBSK) - reaffirmed I really don’t like Tohoshinki, but that Koda can make anyone look good. Did those guys sound goofy in the talking part, or what! *dodges rotten fruit thrown by fangirls*
KOH+ (Shibasaki Kou and Fukuyama Masaharu) - Liiiiiked it!
MONKEY MAJIK - did a lot of collabs this year, everyone of them good. Except maybe that last with CHEMISTRY… I honestly couldn’t tell it was a collab.

I’m sure I’ve missed some, but those were the main things for me. Feel free to add on in comments, and any other news you remember being big from the year!

Seeda has been a busy guy. Not only has he kept up his Concrete Green projects with DJ Isso, but he’s been releasing albums like crazy. Just one year ago he released the highly acclaimed “Hana to Ame,” then he followed up with his first major debut album, “Machikaze,” and now he’s got another album coming out in late January, entitled “Heaven.” Perhaps Seeda is capitalizing on one of Koda Kumi’s methods for gaining fans — release as much as possible in a short amount of time.

Seeda is hardly new to the rap game. He’s been releasing albums since 1999, then under the moniker “Shida da Shadi,” and joined the group SCARS, after an impressive showing at 2000’s B-Boy Park MC Battle. His bilingual rhyme style has gained him many fans, both Japanese and foreign alike. After his release of “Hana to Ame,” he started popping up as a featured artist on many different albums, including Dabo’s “Baby Mario World.” Now, with his own official website and major debut album out, Seeda’s popularity is higher than ever. It’s no surprise that he wants to capitalize on it.

If you count next month’s release, Seeda will have six album releases in just 13 months; three Concrete Green albums and three solo albums. That’s not counting the three albums he’s been featured on this year: Dabo’s “Baby Mario World,” Sac’s “Feel or Beef,” and Aria’s “The Jukebox.” It’s a wonder the guy hasn’t ran out of material.

Seeda’s “Machikaze” was well received by Japanese Hip-Hop fans and currently has an average costumer rating of 88 on HMV’s site. However, the album didn’t have the emotion that filled many of the tracks in “Hana to Ame”, something that Seeda excels at incorporating in his rhymes. Perhaps “Heaven” will show off the softer side of Seeda. Instead of working with a plethora of different producers, like on Machikaze, he’s sticking to the two producers that have done him so well through his rap career — Bach Logic and I-Dea.

Seeda has burst out from the underground scene to challenge the best of mainstream Hip-Hop. Do you think he’s got the skills to take it on? What do you think of Machikaze, and how hyped are you for Heaven? Tell me what you think!

Sources:
www.hmv.co.jp
www.yesasia.com
www.wikipedia.org
seeda.tv

In my country, the Philippines, we celebrate Christmas by going to midnight Mass, eating a huge feast afterwards and then exchanging gifts. We also adopted some western traditions like hanging stockings (even if we don’t have chimneys), candy canes, and Santa Claus. Every country in my opinion has a unique way of celebrating Christmas.

Have you ever wondered what the Japanese people do during Christmas eve and Christmas day? Only about 1.5% of Japanese are Christians. However, their present lifestyles have enabled them to adopt the common customs of celebrating Christmas.

December 24 and 25 are not considered holidays in Japan. December 23, though, is a holiday (Emperor’s birthday). Still, the Japanese are still fond of the celebration. They decorate their homes and shops with Christmas trees, mistletoe and fairy lights. Santa Clauses, beautiful illuminations and other Christmas decorations are all over public places, adding cheer and excitement.

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“I wonder why people lie?”

Ashita no watashi no tsukurikatta
November 2007
Directed by Ichikawa Jun
97 minutes
Narumi Riko, Maeda Atsuko

Sumitani Juri (Riko Narumi) is a normal girl. She is neither popular nor bullied in class. She idolizes the most popular girl in her elementary class, Hanada Kanako (Maeda Atsuko). She pities the bullied girl in her class, Kubota Manami. However, she does nothing to change the norms and just goes with the flow of society. Outside, she might seem like a carefree, fun-loving girl but she is mainly a girl who is struggling to keep her family together and feels pain whenever her parents go into arguments.

During her elementary graduation, she talks with Kanako. Kanako has previously gotten into an argument with the class and was demoted from being the class representative to being the bullied one in class. As they talk, they both unload their burdens of keeping up a false front to people in order to fit in: with Kanako trying her best to be the well-liked girl in class and Juri trying her best to meet her parents’ expectations and keep them together.

Juri and Kanako drift away from each other until Juri finds out that Kanako is moving away to a new high school. Concerned that her old friend will still be troubled at her new school, Juri sends her an e-mail. When Kanako does not recognize her, Juri decides not to reveal herself. Instead, she undertakes a false identity, Kotori, who tells Kanako the story of a very popular girl named Hina.

Kotori tells Kanako of Hina’s ways to fit in and have lots of friends. Kanako becomes a shadow of Hina and follows everything Kotori tells her about. She easily fits in and becomes popular and even gets herself a boyfriend (Kanei). All throughout those times, Kanako depended on Kotori and her stories of Hina to keep herself together.

When the e-mails stops, however, Kanako finds herself thinking if it is right to keep pretending. Juri also starts to think about the real reason behind her e-mails. Is she just keeping it up to make the story of Kotori and Hina happy? Who are their real selves? Will they be able to fit in if they are their real selves?

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Angela Aki is half Japanese and half Italian-American from Hawaii (though she was born in Japan), hence her awesome English skillz. She originally debuted in America, but soon switched to Japan and was able to catch the attention of Uematsu Nobuo after the release of her ONE minialbum. She landed the theme to Final Fantasy XII, and the rest is history!

Angela’s signature style is as a singer-songwriter who mostly features her piano. If you don’t like the piano, then you probably wont like her no matter how good her voice is. If you’re like me, though, and love the piano, this is definitely an artist you don’t want to miss!

Anyway, the usual sampleness! Her music doesn’t really have much of a range. I hesitate to say it is limited, since that is normally a negative trait, but in terms of instruments used and typical style, hers is always identifiable. She also likes to remake songs and feature them on several releases. Still, she has some amazing songs, so give her a try if you haven’t before!

POWER of MUSIC: SD’s Angela BEST! 01. Kiss Me Good-Bye 02. MUSIC 03. This Love 04. Rain (Re-Arrangement) 05. サクラ色 (Sakurairo) 06. TODAY 07. たしかに (Tashika ni) 08. 孤独のカケラ (Kodoku no KAKERA) 09. On & On 10. Kiss From a Rose (Seal Cover) 11. Again 12. Louisiana 1927 (LIVE Randy Newman Cover)

Song reviews, youtube links, etc. under the cut! Read the rest of this entry »