The ad campaign for French fashion house Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer 2016 collection has been released. One of the stars of the ads is Lightning, a character from the “Final Fantasy” line of video games. The images are credited to Square Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura. Of the campaign, he said, “The stunning new look of Lightning, including her poses and character in action, was fully produced by Louis Vuitton. Additionally, thanks to the Visual Works team, they were able to produce brilliant work under a tight schedule. This collaboration is not just a promotion of a game, and it is a great honor that the character herself received an offer from a world famous brand. As a result of this collaboration, this has infused new breath into the character, Lightning.”
There are many male idol groups in Japan, but which one is the best? Goo recently asked 500 readers who they thought was the male idol group that shined the brightest in 2015.
Arashi is #1 with 21.1% of the vote. Music, drama, variety, CMs, the news, there isn’t a day that Arashi isn’t seen on tv. In the first half of 2015, Aiba Masaki and Sakurai Sho had 10 CMs for various companies, the most among male celebrities. Ohno Satoshi and Ninomiya Kazunari had 9, while Matsumoto Jun had 8. All 5 members appeared in the year end CM for Japan Post’s nengajo campaign. Aiba Masaki also starred in the “getsu 9” drama “Yokoso, Wagaya e”, where he was surprisingly good in an unexpected and suspenseful story. The finale of “Yokoso, Wagaya e” received a rating of 15%. Arashi is Japan’s favorite group and there will be more to come of them in 2016.
Sandaime J Soul Brothers was second with 12.6%. “R.Y.U.S.E.I.” continued to be a hit into 2015, and was followed by their hit album “PLANET SEVEN.” The group came in third in Nikkei’s concert mobilization power ranking, with over 1 million people seeing them live in 2015. The members have rich personalities, and are known for their good looks, especially Iwata Takanori. They have Johnny’s-like popularity with young women. Each member of Sandaime J Soul Brothers will have more individual activities in 2016.
Find out the rest of the top 10 after the jump!
There are many female idol groups in Japan, but which one is the best? Goo recently asked 500 readers who they thought was the female idol group that shined the brightest in 2015.
Momoiro Clover Z topped the list with 11.6% of the vote. Even though they failed to be invited to Kohaku in 2015, they did work with KISS on the song “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mina.” This was the first time that KISS had collaborated with a Japanese group. Even though AKB48 sells more, Momoiro Clover Z ranked higher than any other girl group on Nikkei’s concert mobilization power ranking. They also had non-musical activities which increased their media exposure, such as the movie “Maku ga Agaru” and the Suzuki Hustler tv commercials. With no major scandals, the always perky, hardworking group is one that people want to cheer on.
AKB48 came in second with 10.7%. Graduations, the general election, and scandals help keep eyes on AKB48. Rino Sashihara made a comeback and claimed the #1 spot in 2015’s election. She then went on to to be the center for the group’s next single, “Halloween Night.” That single sold 1.27 million copies in its first week. Even though CD sales are down overall in the industry, AKB48 has managed to have 22 consecutive million selling singles. In March, Minami Takahashi will graduate, ending an era. But how will the group fare with the members that made the group popular all gone? It is a cause for worry, but AKB48 is an influential group due to all the related groups they have spawned.
E-girls is third with 10.2%. They’re an outstanding singing and dancing group, whose performance ability sets them apart from other idol groups. They are seen as both cute and cool. They enjoy overwhelming popularity with middle school and high school girls. Ami, the figurehead of the group, is in great demand on variety shows. She also is E-girls’ first member to have a solo debut.
Check out the rest of the top 10 after the jump!
There is a lot of talk about what is the next big thing in Japanese music. Some people say that there is a band boom coming, but then others say that idols are still on top so nothing is going to change. Patrick St. Michel of The Japan Times recently looked at what the youth market was into in 2015.
His article starts off by talking about how Japan’s music industry is behind the times, in part due to its love of CDs. The Japanese love of CDs is something that Western press loves to talk about when talking about the Japanese music market. But the CDs that sell the best in Japan are those by older acts and idols groups that few people would describe as “musically progressive.” Despite this love of CDs, the Japanese music market sees less and less sales annually. Instead of doing something new, records labels stick to tried and true methods, including releasing unneeded best albums, such as the recent one by DREAMS COME TRUE.
But there was a bit of a change in 2015, namely because the Japanese youth pushed 3 acts more to the forefront of today’s music scene: Gesu no Kiwami Otome., E-girls, and SEKAI NO OWARI. These acts helped to shake up Japan’s tired mainstream musical landscape.
On January 6, MISIA will release her new album, “LOVE BEBOP.” Today, she released the music video for the album’s second track, “Butterfly Butterfly.” In the clip, MISIA can see seen performing the song, backed by an array of muppets. Check it out after the jump!
Hello Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw back number top AKB48. back number is back again this week, along with a newcomer. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the physical and digital charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!
A few months ago, The 8th CD Shop Awards 2016 released its nominee list for the first half of 2015. Ten albums were picked that were released between January 1 and June 30. The albums were chosen by CD shop staff across Japan to highlight releases that caught their discerning ears. Today, the nominees for the second half of 2015 were announced. Nine albums released between July 1 and December 31 were chosen, as well as 1 random one from the first half of the year. The 20 albums nominated for 2015 will be narrowed down to a list of 10 final nominees before the winner is chosen. Voting for the final nominees begins tomorrow. Check out the albums nominated for the second half of 2015 after the jump!
On February 28, the first SPACE SHOWER MUSIC AWARDS will be held. The awards will honor the best acts in a variety of genres. The show will be hosted by Yusuke Santamaria and Shimizu Fumika at Tokyo International Forum Hall A.
The nominees in several of the categories were announced today. The nominees for “ARTIST OF THE YEAR”, “VIDEO OF THE YEAR”, “BEST GROOVE ARTIST”, “BEST HIP HOP ARTIST”, and “BEST ALTERNATIVE ARTIST” have not been released though. Voting for “PEOPLE’S CHOICE” is currently open to members of SPACE SHOWER TV’s website on the awards show’s website. The audience for the SPACE SHOWER MUSIC AWARDS consist of 3000 people randomly selected from the voters for “PEOPLE’S CHOICE.”
Check out the nominees for the SPACE SHOWER MUSIC AWARDS after the jump!