Wed, October 29, 2008 (1:41am EDT)
The power of "Quiz! Hexagon II" has once again proven itself on the music charts. The omnibus album "We Love Hexagon" - featuring Pabo, Shuchishin, and related artists, all under the name Hexagon All Stars - has captured the number-one seat on the Oricon rankings. It sold 270,000 copies in its first week to end Mariya Takeuchi's three-week streak at #1.
"We Love Hexagon" is the first multi-artist compilation album to reach #1 since "Beautiful Songs ~Kokoro de Kiku Uta~" in 2006. Counting only albums born from a variety show, it is just the third to top the charts, following in the footsteps of "Yamada Katsutenai" in 1991 (from "Kuni-chan no Yamada Katsutenai TV") and "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun" in 1976 (from "Hirake! Ponkikki").
SHAKALABBITS charted at #5 with their self-titled 5th album, while Fukumimi's tribute to COIL took #9. Masashi Sada made the bottom of the top ten with his new album.
Earlier in the week, Oricon reported that melody.'s retirement announcement had briefly pushed her recently released best album back into the top ten on the daily charts, but it ended the week at #23 overall.
On the singles chart, Hey! Say! JUMP picked up their 4th consecutive number-one with "Mayonaka no Shadow Boy," which saw 211,000 in sales. This easily pushed them past Masaharu Fukuyama (at #2 with 111,000 in sales) and AKB48 (at #3 with 48,000).
Several other artists released new singles in the top ten: mihimaru GT (#4), Shoko Nakagawa (#5), Yui Horie (#7), and Garnet Crow (#9).
"We Love Hexagon" is the first multi-artist compilation album to reach #1 since "Beautiful Songs ~Kokoro de Kiku Uta~" in 2006. Counting only albums born from a variety show, it is just the third to top the charts, following in the footsteps of "Yamada Katsutenai" in 1991 (from "Kuni-chan no Yamada Katsutenai TV") and "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun" in 1976 (from "Hirake! Ponkikki").
SHAKALABBITS charted at #5 with their self-titled 5th album, while Fukumimi's tribute to COIL took #9. Masashi Sada made the bottom of the top ten with his new album.
Earlier in the week, Oricon reported that melody.'s retirement announcement had briefly pushed her recently released best album back into the top ten on the daily charts, but it ended the week at #23 overall.
On the singles chart, Hey! Say! JUMP picked up their 4th consecutive number-one with "Mayonaka no Shadow Boy," which saw 211,000 in sales. This easily pushed them past Masaharu Fukuyama (at #2 with 111,000 in sales) and AKB48 (at #3 with 48,000).
Several other artists released new singles in the top ten: mihimaru GT (#4), Shoko Nakagawa (#5), Yui Horie (#7), and Garnet Crow (#9).
Wed, October 29, 2008 (12:36am EDT)
KAT-TUN member Jin Akanishi will be making his big screen debut with a starring role in a movie titled "BANDAGE." The film, set in the early 1990s during Japan's "band boom" era, will be the first fictional film directed by music producer Takeshi Kobayashi.
In the movie, Akanishi plays Natsu, the leader and vocalist of a 4-member rock band called LANDS. The story follows the ups and downs of the members' friendship as they aim for fame.
In addition to directing, Kobayashi is producing the film and handling the music. He was chosen as director by Shunji Iwai, who wrote the movie's script. The pair have worked together before - Kobayashi did the music for Iwai's "Swallowtail" (1996) and "All About Lily Chou-Chou" (2001), and most recently they are both involved with Eriko Kitagawa's "Harufuwei." Kobayashi previously directed the 1995 documentary "es" about the group Mr.Children, but this will be his first time in charge of a movie with actors.
As music producer, Kobayashi is planning to write at least five songs to be performed in the movie by LANDS. The songs will likely see a CD release in the future.
Fans will have to wait until 2010 to see the movie, but filming begins on November 3.
In the movie, Akanishi plays Natsu, the leader and vocalist of a 4-member rock band called LANDS. The story follows the ups and downs of the members' friendship as they aim for fame.
In addition to directing, Kobayashi is producing the film and handling the music. He was chosen as director by Shunji Iwai, who wrote the movie's script. The pair have worked together before - Kobayashi did the music for Iwai's "Swallowtail" (1996) and "All About Lily Chou-Chou" (2001), and most recently they are both involved with Eriko Kitagawa's "Harufuwei." Kobayashi previously directed the 1995 documentary "es" about the group Mr.Children, but this will be his first time in charge of a movie with actors.
As music producer, Kobayashi is planning to write at least five songs to be performed in the movie by LANDS. The songs will likely see a CD release in the future.
Fans will have to wait until 2010 to see the movie, but filming begins on November 3.
Wed, October 29, 2008 (12:35am EDT)
The 9th annual Best Formalist awards, organized by the Japan Formalwear Association, were presented on Tuesday. Actress Yumiko Shaku and actor Yo Oizumi were this year's winners. Shaku attended the ceremony in a cerulean blue dress, while Oizumi wore a black tuxedo.
