13-year-old actress Anri Okamoto ("Sunadokei," "1 Litre of Tears SP") has been added to the cast of next year's live-action "Yatterman" movie, directed by Takashi Miike.

The movie stars Sho Sakurai as Gan/Yatterman #1, Saki Fukuda as Ai/Yatterman #2, and Kyoko Fukada as Doronjo. The "love triangle" between the three characters is being expanded to include a third girl named Shoko, played by Okamoto. An original character made for the movie, Shoko gradually falls in love with Gan while working with the Yatterman team against the Dorombo Gang.

"Yatterman" is scheduled for release in spring 2009.

22-year-old model Anne (the daughter of Ken Watanabe) is now venturing into film with her first starring role. However, her debut will be overseas, with a French film tentatively titled "Fashion Week." The picture is being directed by Claude Junior Zidi, the son of noted director and screenwriter Claude Zidi. It is his first feature-length film.

The movie is a love story appropriately set during fashion week in Paris. Anne plays the model Aoi, who meets a young French man aiming to be a movie writer, played by actor Jocelyn Quivrin.

Anne won the part in an audition held in Tokyo in January, attended by five of the film's staff, including both the senior and junior Zidis. She is said to have been chosen unanimously.

Filming starts this summer, timed to coincide with the fashion events in Paris. To prepare for the part, Anne is currently studying French, and she will begin living in an apartment in France a few weeks before shooting. The movie is expected to open in spring 2009.

Rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel has another tie-in with Subaru Legacy. Like last year's "MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM," their new song "NEXUS 4" will appear in a commercial for the automobile. No release date has been announced for the single yet.

Sports Nippon reports that singer Mika Nakashima, 25, and actor Masatoshi Nagase, 41, have broken off their relationship, despite rumors last year that they were soon headed for marriage. Like many other celebrity couples, it seems that their busy careers have caused them to drift apart.

The two met when they played siblings in the drama series "Shiritsu Tantei Hama Mike" in 2002. At the time, Nagase was married to actress Kyoko Koizumi, but he divorced in 2004. Shortly after that, he and Nakashima started dating.

Rumors surfaced in early 2007 that marriage was near, fueled by speculation from members of Nakashima's family. However, it appears that they gradually began seeing each other less frequently, and they finally broke up earlier this spring.

Ami Suzuki is collaborating with musician and producer Yasutaka Nakata for her next single "ONE." The song will be released on July 2, roughly 10 years after her debut single.

Suzuki previously worked with Nakata on her 2007 single "FREE FREE / SUPER MUSIC MAKER." This fall, she will also release a new original album, entirely produced by Nakata.

The winners of the 37th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards have been announced. This year's Grand Prize went to Naoki Urasawa for "20th Century Boys"/"21st Century Boys" and to Hiroko Minami for "Hina-chan no Nichijo." Each of them will receive a prize of 500,000 yen.

Seika Nakayama won the Excellence Award with "Alfheim no Kishi." Special awards were given to Haruyuki Nakano for "Nazo no Mangaka: Sakai Shichima Den" and Manpu Hashizume for all of his works. The three authors will each get 200,000 yen.

Kuniharu Naruse is also being recognized for his works with an award given by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT/Monkasho).

The presentation ceremony is scheduled for June 13 at the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka.