NHK announced on Thursday that the late ZARD vocalist Izumi Sakai will be making her Kohaku Uta Gassen "debut" this year. Like the memorial concerts earlier this year, the performance will combine live musicians with videos of her singing.

In September, memorial concerts for the singer were held in Tokyo and Osaka, and it was recently announced that the show would go on tour. A special performance will take place at the NHK Osaka Hall on New Year's Eve, and it will be shown live as part of Kohaku Uta Gassen.

It was also announced that a two-disc album titled "ZARD Request Best ~beautiful memory~" will be released on January 23. The 30 songs on the album received the most votes out of approximately 500,000 requests made via mail and ZARD's official website. More details will be announced later this month.

TBS will broadcast a drama adaptation of Seicho Matsumoto's novel "Nurareta Hon" on December 17 at 9:00pm. Many of Matsumoto's other works have been adapted to drama or film, but this is the first time for "Nurareta Hon."

Yasuko Sawaguchi stars as the manager of a small publishing firm struggling to strike a deal for a manuscript from a popular author. However, she soon runs into a series of troubles, including being suspected by the police for the mysterious death of her lover, and as a result she turns to more desperate measures.

Other cast members include Masanobu Katsumura, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Mayuko Iwasa, Takehiko Ono, and Hirotaro Honda.

The popular detective series "Aibou" (starring Yutaka Mizutani) will become one of the few television dramas to be adapted as a manga.

The comic, drawn by Tamayo Koyasu, begins serialization in the next issue of Big Comic Superior, which goes on sale on the 14th. The story will be based on selected cases from the drama's third season and earlier.

"Aibou" will also see its second novel go on sale on January 11, and a movie is scheduled to be released in the spring.

Starting in January, rock band the brilliant green is handling the theme song for TBS's "Mobile Suit Gundam 00." The tune is titled "Ash Like Snow" and will go on sale February 6. It was also announced on Friday that new artist Stephanie will provide the show's ending theme, titled "Friends." That song will be released on January 30.

mihimaru GT also will be heard on an anime series this winter. NTV's "Yatterman" remake starts on January 14, and its ending theme is being provided by the popular duo. "diverge" is a reworking of a demo song they wrote in 2003, before their debut. The single will also be released on January 30.

Meanwhile, idol Shoko Nakagawa has been chosen for the ending theme of Fuji TV's "Hakaba Kitaro," which premieres on January 10. The ballad, "snow tears," is Nakagawa's first time writing her lyrics. The single is also being released on January 30, and a limited number of CDs are being shipped with stickers depicting her as Neko Musume, the character that she is voicing for the series.

Sakura-Con has announced that pop-punk band ketchup mania will perform at next year's convention, which takes place March 28-30 in Seattle, Washington. The band is being brought by JapanFiles, who first introduced the band to the U.S. this past June at A-Kon in Dallas, Texas.

ketchup mania won the Best Japanese Punk Group award in Shojo Beat's 2007 Music Issue.

NHK has announced that its 79th Asadora is titled "Dandan," starring twin celebrities ManaKana. They previously appeared together in the 1996-1997 series "Futarikko," playing the young versions of the two female leads. This will be the first time that an actress has played an Asadora heroine twice.

The drama is written by Kyoko Moriwaki. The two women portray sisters separated at birth, unaware that the other exists. Mana plays a high schooler in the Shimane Prefecture who loves to sing, while Kana plays an apprentice geisha in Kyoto. One day, they meet again at the Izumo Taisha, and they eventually decide to become a singing duo.

"Dandan" will start at the end of September 2008.