Here’s the latest update in the drama charts. Check out the numbers below!
Check out the music video for the latest single of NEWS titled “EMMA”, which dropped last February 8. The title for this single, “EMMA,” is a girl’s name and the song is described as a a mature and sensual love story.
Member Masuda designed the costumes and air:man (Furitsuke Kagyo) choreographed the dance. Catch NEWS in this overwhelmingly aggressive and catchy song below.
We get early confirmation for next season’s getsu9 drama! To mark its 30th anniversary, Arashi’s Aiba Masaki will be starring in the new drama “Kizoku Tantei” (The Aristocrat Detective) starting April. It is based on the novel of the same name published by Shueisha.
Joining him are Takei Emi, Namase Katsuhisa, Igawa Haruka, Takito Kenichi, Nakayama Miho, Nakama Yukie and Matsushige Yutaka.
Check out the details of the drama and Aiba’s interview below.
Last we heard from ALSDEAD, the band was on an indefinite hiatus. The band has announced a return but under a new name: AIIS. The band has also announced its first live showcase. They will be joining Saber Tiger’s movement, Gaon act.2. Currently only an official twitter for the band exists.
amazarashi‘s next single ‘Deserving of Life (Inochi ni Fusawashii)’ is a collaboration with the game NieR:Automata. ‘Deserving of Life’ is available for purchase starting February 22, while the video game releases the day after. A demo for the game is currently available for the Playstation 4.
Check out the video and a preview of the game after the jump!
Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Hoshino Gen defeat Daichi Miura and Mr.Children. Gen and Mr.Children are back again this week, 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!
Through her official website, Hikaru Utada has announced that with her Universal Music Group contract expiring, she will be moving to Sony Music Japan. Utada was originally signed to Toshiba EMI that was renamed EMI Music Japan following the selling of their remaining stake to EMI in 2007. In 2013, the label was absorbed into Universal Music Japan. In her message, Utada emphasizes that it is her first label transfer as an artist.
She expresses her gratitude to the EMI and Universal staff who have been involved in her activities up until this moment and says that she wants to keep tryin’ new things which means that a new record by her might come out sooner than we expect.
On September 5th, 2016 Oricon implemented new more strict rules regarding the sales of CDs at events. This new rule seemed to target groups that were selling their singles as boxsets. The sale of one boxset would count towards how many copies were included inside. So, if a boxset had 5 singles and a fan bought 3 of them it would count as 15 copies sold. Now boxsets only count as 1 sale. This rule also applied to events held 3 months before a release to reduce the inflation of first day sales, if a CD is pre-ordered at an event it must have a release date and title (temporary titles like “To be announced” are fine) However, there was still quite a few loopholes with both the public and some agencies not really understanding the new rules. Oricon released a statement on January 20th, 2017, but many consumers still had questions.
Oricon released another statement this month clarifying some of the questions raised. Oricon openly commented on the declining rate of CD sales, and said that these new sales tactics are a great fan service expansion, and find it responsible for helping “revitalize” the industry. However, some companies were taking advantage of these sales promotions to the point where Oricon could no longer overlook the matter. Oricon feels that achieving a high rank should not incite so much excessive competition, so expanding upon the original new strict rules Oricon went into more depth of what they entail. Three examples were provided: