Last year, Yuzuru Hanyu teamed up with the Red Cross to urge more people to donate blood. He appeared in a commercial featuring sick children and lip synced to GReeeeN’s “Believe.” Today, the 2016 version of this CM was released on YouTube, with its television debut taking place on January 1. Yuzuru has a more serious look in the new commercial as he encourages sick children to fight through their illnesses. The children then reply that they will fight on. Yuzuru then urges the public to donate blood to help the children win their battles. The commercial is promoting a blood drive that will take place January 1 – February 29.
Check out the CM and its making after the jump!
On December 19, SALU released his new digital single “AFURI.” On the same day, he performed at the Atsugi Music Festival 2015 in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. The city partially contains the famed Mount Oyama, which is called “Mount Afuri” by locals. “AFURI” is in effect an ode to the area.
SALU has now released the music video for “AFURI.” The music video has dual screens at different points. In the clip, SALU wanders around Atsugi. There are also shots of Mount Oyama in the video.
In related news, SALU will be releasing his new album this coming spring.
Check out the cover and music video for “AFURI” after the jump!
Today statistics-tracking company Oricon Inc. published its complete end of the year report, which reveals all of the sales data that it collected for the year 2015. This includes the five top earning acts for the year, as well as the yearly single, album, music DVD, and music Blu-ray charts.
This year’s top five selling acts, and their total gross for the year (in yen) are as follows:
- Arashi (¥14,328,000,000)
- AKB48 (¥11,291,000,000)
- Sandaime J Soul Brothers (¥6,856,000,000)
- Kis-My-Ft2 (¥5,777,000,000)
- Kanjani8 (¥5,471,000,000)
Arashi also managed to top this year’s Album chart with “Japonism”, the Music DVD chart with their “ARASHI BLAST in Hawaii” release, as well as the yearly Music Blu-ray chart with their “ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2014 THE DIGITALIAN’”. Meanwhile, AKB48 found themselves atop the yearly Singles ranking with “Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai”, making it the 6th year in a row that they’ve had Japan’s best selling single.
You’ll find the Top 50 Singles and Albums, the Top 25 Music DVDs, and the Top 10 Music Blu-rays for the year right after the jump, so please read on if you’re curious about the full rankings.
On January 13, Gesu no Kiwami Otome. will release their new album, “Ryoseibai.” Today, the band released the music video for the album’s opening track, “Ryoseibai de Ii Janai.” The clip features the band performing the song on stage, backed by a school chorus and also some samurai wearing light up costumes.
Yesterday, Gesu no Kiwami Otome. released the trailer for one of the clips on the DVD that comes with the limited edition of “Ryoseibai.” The clip is titled “Ryoseibai Gesu Tour.” The clip centers on a surreal bus tour featuring the band and a number of guests. Frontman Kawatani Enon narrates the adventure. He’s also featured in drag in “Ryoseibai Gesu Tour”, as is keyboardist Chan MARI.
Check out both videos after the jump!
This year’s edition of Music Station’s year end special, Music Station Super Live, will air on December 25 at 7PM – 11:10 PM. It will feature several popular acts such as Arashi, AKB48, Sandaime J Soul Brothers, Perfume, Nishino Kana, Gesu no Kiwami Otome., L’Arc~en~Ciel, X JAPAN, Mr.Children, and YUKI. Today, the song list for the show was released. Check it out after the jump!
This week’s guests were MAX, LEZARD, I Don’t Like Mondays., and SOLIDEMO.
MAX – Special Medley (TORA TORA TORA / Give me a Shake / Ride on time / Tacata’ / Mi Mi Mi)
LEZARD – Kakurenbo
I Don’t Like Mondays. x SOLIDEMO – CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU
This week’s episode was a special that revolved around a conversation between Sakanaction’s Ichiro Yamaguchi and Hiroshi Fujiwara. There was also a talk segment with Infinite.
This week’s guest was Leo Ieiri.
Leo Ieiri x Kanjani8 – Kimi ga Kureta Natsu
