Oricon recently interviewed Asian Kung-fu Generation for the release of their album "World World World." Translation provided by sigelx here.

In a survey conducted in February, Oricon asked 900 men and women between the ages of 10 and 40 to name the funniest manga they had read. While a wide variety of answers were given, the highest ranking one was "Gintama," favored mainly by female readers.

"One Piece" came in second, while "Ping Pong Club" tied with "Sexy Commando" for #3. "Gyagu Manga Biyori," the only title to make the top 5 among both men and women, ranked in at #5.

"Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku" and "Nodame Cantabile" tied for #6. At #8 was the long-running "Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Kouenmae Hashutsujo," which made the top of the men's list. The last two titles in the Top 10 were "Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar" and "Lovely Complex."

Oricon recently conducted a survey asking which of the celebrities turning 20 seem likely to have a successful year. The research firm asked the same question about those turning 18 (between April 2, 2008 and April 1, 2009), and the #1 answer by a wide margin was figure skater Mao Asada.

The rest of the top ten choices consisted of actors, actresses, and two Hey! Say! JUMP members. In order, the list included Kie Kitano, Haruma Miura, Saki Fukuda, Yuya Yagira, Kanata Hongo, Hikaru Yaotome, Mitsuki Tanimura, Kei Inoo, and Kento Hayashi (tied with Inoo for #9).

The main cast has been revealed for "Happy Flight," the next film by "Water Boys" and "Swing Girls" director Shinobu Yaguchi. The movie is set in the airline industry and bears the distinction of being filmed during actual flights.

Seiichi Tanabe stars as a co-pilot to a pilot played by Saburo Tokito. Haruka Ayase has been given the female lead as a cabin attendant, with her colleagues played by Shinobu Terajima and Kazue Fukiishi. The story is set on a flight from Japan to Hawaii.

Yaguchi began planning for the film with ANA in 2006. The airline agreed to freely lend one of their Boeing 747-400 planes to the project for a 15-day period, from April 10 to April 24. Scenes were shot on board during a real international flight, though for safety reasons, the cockpit scenes were filmed in a studio.

"Happy Flight" is scheduled for theatrical release on November 15.

In a close race for the #1 spot on the album charts this past week, Perfume emerged victorious with 154,000 copies sold of their second album, "GAME." They are only the second technopop group to top the charts, which was last achieved by Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1983.

Right behind them was the band HY, whose "HeartY" had 150,000 in sales. Yuzu's newest ranked third with 103,000. Also in the top 10 were Mariah Carey (#7) and ACIDMAN (#9). Meanwhile, EXILE's "EXILE CATCHY BEST" broke the million mark, becoming the first album of 2008 to do so.

On the singles chart, the always-popular B'z had their 41st consecutive #1 single with "Burn -Fumetsu no Face-," selling 142,000 copies. The group recently announced that they are releasing two best albums this year.

Shuchishin surprised many by staying at the #2 spot from last week, beating out new releases from Morning Musume (#3), "Kamen Rider Den-O" (#4), YUKI (#5), and Ikimono Gakari (#7).

Musician Gackt will act in his first Hollywood film. The movie, titled "Bunraku," is an action film written and directed by Guy Moshe, starring Josh Hartnett and Demi Moore.

The film is named after a type of traditional Japanese puppet theater, but the universe it is set in also draws inspiration from origami, video games, and other sources. Hartnett plays a drifter on a quest for revenge. Gackt will play his companion, a samurai named Yoshi.

This is Gackt's first movie role since he starred with hyde in the 2003 film "Moon Child."

Filming began in Romania during the middle of this month. The movie is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters in 2009, but no release information for Japan has been announced yet.