Live action film “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter I” directed by Takashi Miike finally made its premiere in Japan last August 4 across 323 screens. Despite coming in with much hype and high anticipation due to the popularity of the manga and anime, the film underwhelms at the box office, opening at no. 5 with just 166 million Yen on 117,000 admissions. This is a number definitely below expectations and a stark contrast to live action “Gintama’s” opening numbers 3 weeks ago (393K admissions, 541M Yen).

Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw SKE48 defeat Mr.Children and EGOIST. Mr.Children is back this week (but with a different song), facing off against 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!

This week’s episode features DEAN FUJIOKA, who made his SONGS debut on this special episode. This week’s show gives some background on DEAN’s career, which began overseas before starting in Japan. The main focus of the show is a concert that he gave in his birthplace, Sukagawa, Fukushima Perfecture. On the show, he deals with the effects of The Great East Japan Earthquake, which damaged his hometown and home perfecture. He also recruited local schoolchildren to sing along with him during his show.

Recently, electronic indie pop songwriter ZOMBIE-CHANG dropped her latest single “WE SHOULD KISS” with it’s accompanying video, released digitally. It marks the first major single from her since March’s album “GANG”.

The Kento Yamada directed music video keeps all the self awareness, minimalism and irony that ZOMBIE-CHANG has built her brand on, and features ZOMBIE-CHANG ‘half’ dancing/shrugging out the lyrics while holding the ultimate in millennial iconography- the Fidget Spinner.  It’s funny, cool and simplistic eye candy- with the song being catchy as ever to boot. It’s great to see the artist gaining more and more steam in her career and this single is another great addition.

Watch the MV and check out the single cover after the gap.

Winners have been announced for the 93rd annual Drama Academy Awards. There are 5 categories in total, Best Drama, Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Theme Song.

Each category is then split into a top five ranking voted by three different sets of people. There’s a public voting, TV reporter voting, and judge voting. All of those are then combined to make a final top 3 ranking.

TBS drama “Reverse” continues it’s streak of success by coming in first place for the coveted “Best Drama” category.  Other winners include Fuji TV’s “Kizoku Tantei” and “CRISIS Kouan Kidou Sousatai Tokusou-han”. Tatsuya Fujiwara won Best Lading Actor overall for his powerful role in “Reverse“, he commented on how proud he was to win an award for this role. It wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing vision of the director Ayuko Tsukahara and producer Arai Junko, he additionally thanked all the staff and his co-stars. Aiba Masaki came in first place for the public vote, while Oguri Shun won in the judge voting category.

For Best Leading Actress Haru won the top prize for “Anata no Koto wa Sorehodo“. Both the judges and general public were charmed by Haru’s pure, strong, and confident image she masterfully portrayed. Erika Sawajiri had more of the public on her side however, as she won first place in the public voting.

The full list of winners from each category are as follows:

It was announced on Studio Ghibli’s official website that grand old man Hayao Miyazaki has moved on with his plans to direct his final full-length animation film before retiring from the industry (well, yet again).

For an already retired man, Miyazaki is a very busy one. After ‘The Wind Rises’, his latest full-length film released in 2013 which garnered positive reviews from both the critics and fans, he went on to create a short film for Ghibli Museum. The 12-minute short called ‘Boro the Caterpillar’ utilized CG techniques. However, Miyazaki was not satisfied with it, and last February Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki finally confirmed that Miyazaki had decided to turn it into a full-length film.

The 10th CD Shop Awards 2018 has released its nominee list for the first half of 2017! Eleven albums were picked that were released between January 1 and June 30. The albums were chosen by 869 CD shop staff from across Japan to highlight releases that caught their discerning ears. Another group of albums released from July 1 to December 31 will be chosen early next year. The albums that were nominated for 2017 will then be narrowed down to a list of final nominees before the winner is chosen next March. Check out the albums nominated for the first half of 2017 below!

DANCE EARTH PARTY have released the second MV in support of their upcoming single “POPCORN“. This time the spotlight is being shown on the singles b-side “WAVE“, which has received it’s very own MV.

The unit DANCE EARTH PARTY is part of EXILE USA’s solo project DANCE EARTH and bridges EXILE TRIBE with new E.G. Family as a mixed-gender group. EXILE USA is joined by EXILE TETSUYA as a performer and Dream Shizuka as vocalist.

Taking a complete 180 from the “POPCORN” MV,  “WAVE” takes place in the beautiful outdoors. The video fully shows off Japan’s beautiful beaches, sky, and forestry. Donned in colorful tourist-like ensembles the trio happily sing and dance their way throughout the various scenic landscapes. A surprise rap performed by USA and TETSUYA also serves as a fun treat for fans.

“WAVE” will be released on August 30th, 2017. Watch the full MV below the jump.