One half of the popular group Sandaime J Soul Brothers are the stars of a brand new Pocky CM. The CM which will begin airing nationwide today includes JSB vocalist Hiroomi Tosaka plus the performers Naoki Kobayashi and Takanori Iwata with the concept of “sharing a happy dance”

This goes hand in hand with the current brand slogan “Share happiness!” a campaign originally started for Pocky’s 50th anniversary. This new CM is also seen as a “sequel” of sorts to the extremely successful “THE Sharehappi” campaign which also starred the same JSB members. The Sharehappi song currently has over 25 million hits on youtube.

In the CM the boys are seen in the backseat of a car doing their “Happy dance”, during their ride the passengers change multiple times ranging from foreigners, a young family, and office workers who dance along with them. The iconic candy hopes to continue to showcase their universal appeal and “share happiness” to all. The full CM as well as a making-of can be seen below.

The Idol Formerly Know as LADYBABY just released a Music Video for “LADY BABY BLUE“, third track from their recently released single “PELO“.

The song is written by none other than J-pop singer/songwriter Seiko Oomori, that crafted a laid-down yet well structured Rock piece for the girls, taking distance from the usual fusion of Idol pop and Metal that marks the duo’s sound. It’s a simple yet nice track, that valorizes both Rei and Rie’s voices, particularly in the verse section. The video was mostly shot through Rie’s phone, showing the girls’ everyday life, as well as their strong love towards each other.

We’re back with this week’s edition of Oricon Flashback. This is where we look back on what topped Oricon this week 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago. Think of it as a way to reminisce and learn about the past of Japanese music.

High priestess of hashtags Tomomi Itano has released the latest MV for her newest single “#Ii ne”!

For this release Tomomi opted for a cute cheerful song, a far cry from many of her more dance/club oriented singles. The vibrant and colorful video begins with Tomomi sleeping in bed, things seem to not be going too well for the singer with her morning going off to a very hectic start. Her pearls are all tangled, glasses bent out of shape, she spills fance serum all over herself, and messes up her lipstick.

After getting sorted out and enjoying a healthy balanced breakfast of cupcakes and popcorn, the scene changes to Tomomi doing various chores like attempting to clean her car and doing laundry, but that streak of bad luck seems to be following her everywhere. Fortunately her furry dog friend is there to help her out.

Do you think this cute image suits Tomomi, or are you more inclined to her “sexy” club bangers? Watch the full MV for “Ii ne!” below.

This week’s guests were Natsume Mito, Charisma.com, and LEZARD.

Natsume Mito – Puzzle

Charisma.com – #hashdark

LEZARD – TOKAGE!! Rising

Fresh off the announcement of their world tour, Juice=Juice has released the latest mvs for their upcoming double a-side single “Jidanda Dance/Feel! Kanjiru yo”. The single will be released in three limited edition CD+DVD versions and two standard CD only versions. Limited Edition A will include the “Jidanda Dance” MV while Limited Edition B has “Feel! Kanjiru yo”. The SP edition has the dance shot version of both MVs.

“Jidanda Dance” takes inspiration from many of Hello!Project’s wacky songs from the past. Featuring funny lyrics and odd choreography, the song is sure to become a fan favorite at concerts. Throughout the video the girls are seen drinking, eating sweets, dancing, and running around the lobby of what appears to be a large office building. There’s also scenes of the girls dancing in traditional summer festival garb. “Feel! Kanjiru yo ” takes a complete 180, the song is a cute mid-tempo pop number with beautiful scenic nature shots throughout the entire video.

“Jidanda Dance” and “Feel! Kanjiru yo” will be released on April 26th, 2017. Both MVs and the single covers can be seen below.

The latest trailer for the upcoming film “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” has been uploaded to Youtube.

Ghibli fever has arguably reached a high after it was officially announced that Hayao Miyazaki would be coming out of retirement (again). Back when Hayao announced his first retirement he was very clear that he didn’t want his studio nor team to cease production. In 2015 a few Studio Ghibli alumni left to create their own animation company “Studio Ponoc”. Former Ghibli producer Yoshiaki Nishimura officially took the reigns as the founder.

Since it’s launch Studio Ponoc has worked with the railway company JR West to create television commercials, “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” will be the studios debut film. Based off of the British Novel “The Little Broomstick”, by Mary Stewart, the film follows the story of Mary, a little ginger girl who discovers that she has the power to become a witch for one night. The breathtaking visuals and heartwarming story is everything you would expect from a Studio Ghibli film.

“Mary and the Witch’s Flower” will hit Japanese theaters on July 8th, 2017. Watch the trailer below!

MeseMoa recently released the MV for their new song “Shadow Kiss” , the main promo song for their upcoming studio album “Secret”. The MV takes place in a church where the members repeatedly kiss each other over and over again.

MeseMoa is an indie boy group who originally got their start in 2012 under the name “Morning Musuemen” where they covered songs by the Hello!Project supergroup Morning Musume. “Secret” is the groups first album released under their new name, it will be released on April 29th, 2017.

According to RocketNews24 there are 36 kisses in total, with the song being just under 4 minutes long that equals to 1 kiss every 6 seconds! The MV has actually received quite a positive response from their fans (obviously) and netizens. As of this post the MV is just shy of 10k likes, and only has 295 dislikes.

Watch the video for “Shadow Kiss” below!