On December 23, E-girls will release their new single, “Merry x Merry Xmas.” The song serves as the CM song for Samantha Thavasa’s “-Kimi ni Merry Christmas-” campaign. Today, the group released the music video for the song. The clip sees E-girls getting in the mood for the holiday season. Check it out after the jump!
Singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada (32) updated her Twitter in the morning of December 1, 2015 for the first time in approximately 5 months. In her last tweet which was published in July, she announced the birth of her first son.
Now, she expressed her feelings about having become a mother:
“I haven’t had to get up at 6:30 am in the morning since dropping out of university 15 years ago.
There is no weekend, no holiday and no absence due to poor health when it comes to “parent work”.
I only realized this now that I’m a parent myself… The first “ohayou gozaiKUMA BONJOUR!” since I’ve become a mom (＝(エ)＝)ﾉ彡☆”
On December 2, Hoshino Gen will release his new album, “YELLOW DANCER.” Today, he released the music video for the album’s opening track, “Toki yo.” In the clip for the upbeat song, Gen plays a train conductor. The video consists of him dancing around a train station with a female co-worker. The duo displays some pretty intricate synchronization throughout the video.
Gen also recently released a preview video featuring the second track off of “YELLOW DANCER”, “Week End.” Check out both videos after the jump!
SMAP’s Katori Shingo will be starring in TBS upcoming drama “Kazoku no Katachi” (A Family’s Form) starting January next year. He plays the role of Nagasato Daisuke, a 39 year old man who can’t get married. Katori referred to himself as the same as his character and says he has lots of examples around him to help in playing the role such as the other SMAP members Nakai Masahiro, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi and Inagaki Goro, who are men who cannot get married for different reasons, so he wants too take elements from each to integrate into his role.
Daisuke’s peaceful life gets disturbed when his father Yozo, played by Nishida Toshiyuki, suddenly came to visit him. His father tells him that he remarried in secret but the woman left her son on Yozo. He moves in with his stepson to live with Daisuke, who finds his single lifestyle disrupted. The heroine will be played by Ueno Juri. She will play the character Kumagai Hanako, a 32 year old office worker who works in a major trading company, and have experienced divorce in her early 20s. She lives in the same apartment as Daisuke, and shares similar characteristics with Daisuke that leaves them to be at odds with each other. This is the first time Ueno and Katori will be starring together.
On December 23, Ayumi Hamasaki will release her second classical album of 2015, “Winter diary ~A7 Classical~.” The album will consists of songs from her album “A ONE” and her mini album, “sixxxxxx”, both of which were released earlier this year. These songs will be rearranged in an orchestral style. The album will also feature a new song produced by Tetsuya Komuro titled “Winter diary.”
Today, Ayu released the cover for her new classical album. Check it out after the jump!
On November 25, Frederic released their new mini album, “OTOTUNE.” The band has now released the music video for mini album’s third track, “Hello Goodbye.” The video stars model Akutsu Yurie and has a similar feel to some of the band’s older videos. The “Hello Goodbye” music video deals with the hope and anxieties that come with life’s encounters and departures. Check it out after the jump!
On January 20, Koda Kumi will release a new ballad collection album titled “WINTER of LOVE.” The album will feature songs such as “Ai no Uta”, “Suki de, Suki de, Suki de.”, and “Moon Crying.” It will also feature 2 new songs, “On And On” and “NO ME WITHOUT YOU.” “WINTER of LOVE” will have 17 songs in total.
The album will be released in 4 editions: a CD+DVD edition, a CD+Blu-ray edition, a CD only edition, and CD+DVD fanclub edition. The DVD / Blu-ray will feature music videos for all the songs on “WINTER of LOVE”, including the 2 new songs. There will also be making of clips for those 2 music videos. The DVD that comes with the fanclub edition will footage from Kumi’s 15th anniversary concert from this past August.
Kumi will be collaborating with Suma Pula on this release. When purchasers download an app, their physical purchase then becomes available on their smartphone or tablet, via Suma Pula Music and Suma Pula Video.
Check out the covers and tracklist for “WINTER of LOVE” after the jump!
Asajo recently compiled a list of the top 15 lowest rated Jdoramas of all time (regular, primetime). It’s a given that drama ratings are down these past years. As I also do the weekly ratings chart, it comes a bit interesting to note that several dramas of recent has made it to the list.
The press likes to feast on low ratings all the time and it has followed Odagiri Joe with his 2012 drama “Kazoku no Uta” until the title of the lowest ratings was taken off him in 2013. Just this 2015 however, 5 dramas made it into the list. When Horikita Maki’s “Masshiro” drama ratings are dropping, the producer of the drama apologized to her fans and took responsibility. FUJI TV has it a bit worse this year, with 3 of their 2015 dramas making it into the list.
Of course, low ratings does not necessarily mean low quality. It may be a commercial flop but a critical success. Have you watched any of the dramas from the list?