The 7th CD Shop Awards 2015 recently revealed its nominee list for the first half of 2014. 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. Another 10 albums released from July 1 to December 31 will be chosen early next year. The 20 albums nominated for 2014 will then be narrowed down to a list of 10 final nominees before the winner is chosen next spring. Check out the albums nominated for the first half of 2014!

Open post time!

Come and chat about anything with your fellow Aramaians.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/hyndr7K.gif[/IMG]

Music Station took a break this week but they did reveal who the guests on next week’s show will be:

Leo Ieiri – Junjou
SKE48 – Bukiyou Taiyou
Kis-My-Ft2 – Another Future
Shonan no Kaze – Puzzle
Hata Motohiro – Himawari no Yakusoku
Nishino Kana – Darling
Jake Shimabukuro – Hula Girl

A continuation of the ‘Digimon Adventure’ series for the franchise’s 15th anniversary was announced for this Spring.

This sequel for ‘Digimon Adventure 02‘ is a “new story” and will feature all the characters of the first two seasons of Digimon. It will still star Tai, who is now 17 years old and in highschool.

Along with this announcement is news that they will release Blu-ray sets of the original series and films. The Digmon Adventure 15th anniversary blu-ray boxset will go on sale March 3rd, 2015. The movie boxset is a compilation of all the films from 1996 to 2006 and will be available January 9th, 2015.

SMAP has announced they will be releasing a new album, ‘Mr. S’ on September 3. A day after, they will embark on their Dome Tour with the title ‘Mr.S-SAIKOU DE SAIKOU NO CONCERT TOUR-‘, planned to gather one million audience for 22 performances. The tour starts at the Tokyo Dome, followed by Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Sapporo Dome, Nagoya Dome, and Fukuoka Yahoo! Auctions. It’s been two years since the group’s last tour and they have not held a tour this big since ‘Pop Up! SMAP -Tobimasu! Dobidasu! Tobisuma? TOUR-‘ in 2006.

This larger concert scale is to carry out members’ wish to have as many audiences to enjoy their concerts.

Up and coming rock band KANA-BOON has released details on their forthcoming single “Ikite Yuku.” The single is set for release on August 27. This will be the band’s 4th single after debuting at the beginning of last year. They have garnered quite a bit of buzz since their debut. Both their debut mini-album “Boku ga CD wo Dashitara” and debut album “DOPPEL” (both from 2013) ended up as finalists for The 6th CD Shop Award earlier this year. They didn’t snag the top prize, but they did win the Best Newcomer and New Blood Awards, tagging them as one of Japan’s new bands to watch. They also debuted on Music Station in May of this year with their 3rd single “Full Drive.” Check out the single’s covers, tracklist, and pv teaser after the jump!

Less than an hour after the release of their debut music video ‘Happiness‘, the new girl group from Korea’s SM entertainment Red Velvet began catching grief for featuring what is being described as “anti-Japanese imagery”.

The video contains a distinctive combination of live action and animation, making heavy use of digital collage. The anti-Japanese commotion stems from the fake American WWII newspapers that are spread out in the background with headlines reading “Japs Hit by Atomic Bomb“, “Allies tells Japs Hiroito must obey our command” and “Bomb Blasts Hiroshima: States Secret Weapon“. Only for a second is the footage shown, but it was still intentionally placed within the video to convey some sort of message.

A lot of people are asking what that message could possibly be that required the inclusion of these newspaper headlines, as a scandal like this could have easily been avoided without them.

As reported on Natalie, up-and-coming singer Yun*chi has announced her second major single, “Wonderful Wonder World*”, to be released on October 22nd. The release will contain three new tracks, the titles and cover art to be announced at a future date. This news follows her most recent mini-album “Starlight*” and the conclusion of her second appearance at the Japanese cultural event Hyper Japan in London, where she performed to great success. Read Yun*chi’s comment and watch the videos from the event below!