Garage rock trio The 50 Kaitenz performed at the Ebisu Liquid Room on Tuesday as part of their current tour. During the show, they announced that they have been chosen to do the new opening theme for Fuji TV's long-standing "Gegege no Kitaro" anime series.

The theme song was first sung by Kazuo Kumakura and most recently by Shigeru Izumiya. The 50 Kaitenz will be the 5th artist and first rock band to sing the theme.

The group performed the song in public for the first time during Tuesday's concert, accompanied on stage by a costumed Kitaro. Their version will be released on CD on May 21, and the cover art will feature both the band and the Kitaro family.

It was also announced that the trio will make a guest appearance in the anime series in July.

Pop duo Yugin has been put in charge of their first image song for a movie. Their new tune, "Checkmate," will be used to promote the Japanese release of "The Spiderwick Chronicles," which stars Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger.

Because Highmore plays the role of twins, the movie's Japanese distributor decided to ask Yugin to provide a song. The duo is made up of two brothers, Shinji and Suguru.

Yugin barely released their first major-label single, "Fate," in January. The song became a big hit last October after it was selected as the theme song for Fuji TV's popular show "Ainori."

"The Spiderwick Chronicles" opens in Japan on April 26. "Checkmate" will go on sale on April 30.

On March 19, singer Shinji Tanimura is releasing a request album titled "Ongaeshi." For the cover art, he has tapped mangaka Tetsuo Hara, best known for "Fist of the North Star." This is Hara's first artwork for a CD jacket.

Tanimura, who requested the art in December, commented that Hara's drawing of the singer reminded him of his younger days.

43-year-old actor Hiroshi Abe is now officially married, it was learned on Tuesday. Last November, he announced that he was engaged to a 28-year-old woman. They held a private wedding at the start of this month, and last week they formally registered the marriage.

The two had been dating for about a year and a half when Abe proposed in August. They have already started living together in a Tokyo apartment.

This year, Avex Group Holdings is planning to hold its general shareholders' meeting at the Saitama Super Arena on June 22.

Since 2001, the event has been held at the Tokyo International Forum, which has a capacity of about 5,000 people. To celebrate its 20 years of being a publicly-traded company, Avex has chosen the much larger Super Arena.

Last year, 7 artists performed at the meeting, including Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda, and TRF. While this year's lineup has not been revealed yet, it will likely feature several of the same artists.

At the end of September, Avex announced that it had more than 35,000 shareholders. For the event, the company expects attendance to be around 20,000, which will make it the largest shareholders' meeting ever in Japan. Sony currently holds the record, with a crowd of 7,247 in 2006.

Avex is reviving its former policy of allowing shareholders to bring one guest. As an additional gift, attendees will receive a 2-CD set containing some of the company's biggest hits from the last 20 years.

Anime News Network reports that the Japanese directors for the "Batman: Gotham Knight" anthology have been announced.

The project, consisting of six animated shorts, was revealed last December. While the stories are written by an American team, the animation is being handled by Madhouse, Studio 4°C, and Production I.G.

Five Japanese directors have been recruited for the project, including Shojiro Nishimi, the character designer and overall animation director for "Tekkon Kinkreet." The other directors are Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki, and Toshiyuki Kubooka.

The anthology will be released on July 8 in North America, available on DVD, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, and digital formats.

It was announced on Monday that Shinichi Tsutsumi and Yasuko Matsuyuki have been cast in the movie "Yougisha x no Kenshin," based on an award-winning novel by Keigo Higashino.

The novel is part of the "Tantei Galileo" series, which was the basis of a Fuji TV drama series this past fall. The drama, titled "Galileo," starred Masaharu Fukuyama as the brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa, who helps a detective (Kou Shibasaki) solve baffling crimes.

Fukuyama and Shibasaki, along with the main cast of the TV series, are reprising their roles for the movie. Matsuyuki plays a suspected murderer, while Tsutsumi plays Yukawa's true opponent, a mathematical genius.

The movie, which was announced in October, is being directed by Hiroshi Nishitani. Filming has been under way since mid-January, and production is expected to be finished in time for a fall release.

Photographer Kazumi Kurigami is making his directorial debut with a movie titled "Gelatin Silver LOVE," which begins filming soon.

The movie stars Rie Miyazawa as a silver-haired killer, while Koji Yakusho plays a man who hires a cameraman (Masatoshi Nagase) to secretly follow and videotape her. The connection between the three is gradually revealed over the course of the story.

"Gelatin Silver LOVE" is expected to see theatrical release in 2009.

Masakazu Aihara, one half of the owarai duo Messenger, is expecting his first child this July.

His wife of more than 8 years was feeling ill, so she went to the hospital on Sunday. The doctor diagnosed her with entiritis, but also informed her that she is carrying a baby boy.

The couple has reportedly decided on the name Keiji.

Actress Tae Kimura became a mother on Saturday, giving birth to a baby girl. The good news was announced through her agency's website on Tuesday.

Kimura has been married since 2005 to an advertising company employee.