Singer/voice actor Shouta Aoi released a preview of each track from his new EDM-flavored single “flower”, which will be released next week. The title track is currently being used as the monthly ending theme for the TBS show King’s Brunch.

Check out the previews below the cut!

It looks like the hype for Makoto Shinkai’s “Your Name” won’t be dying down anytime soon, the film has shattered records originally set by Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic 2001 film “Spirited Away“. “Your Name” has currently grossed $331.6 million USD at the box office, simultaneously making it the highest grossing anime film in the world, and the highest grossing film in Japan of all time. “Spirted Away” originally grossed $289.1 million USD. The box office numbers for “Your Name” are expected to dramatically increase over the course of the year as it’s set to hit theaters in over 90 more countries.

“Your Name” made it’s premiere at the 2016 Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles, it later hit Japanese theaters on August 26th 2016. The plot of the film is as follows:

Mitsuha Miyamizu, a high school girl, yearns to live the life of a boy in the bustling city of Tokyo—a dream that stands in stark contrast to her present life in the countryside. Meanwhile in the city, Taki Tachibana lives a busy life as a high school student while juggling his part-time job and hopes for a future in architecture.

One day, Mitsuha awakens in a room that is not her own and suddenly finds herself living the dream life in Tokyo—but in Taki’s body! Elsewhere, Taki finds himself living Mitsuha’s life in the humble countryside. In pursuit of an answer to this strange phenomenon, they begin to search for one another.

Kimi no Na wa (Your Name). revolves around Mitsuha and Taki’s actions, which begin to have a dramatic impact on each other’s lives, weaving them into a fabric held together by fate and circumstance.
(MAL)

Have you seen the film yet? A trailer for it can be seen below.

18-year-old CHANMINA is an aspiring rapper who has gained popularity for “both excellent rap skills and inappropriate behavior”. She was born in South Korea to a Japanese father and a Korean mother and is currently a high school student based in Japan. CHANMINA made an unofficial debut last year with “Princess” that has garnered about 1,4M Youtube views since July 1. This year she is set to make a major debut with a full album titled “Miseinen” (Minor), which references her age and the fact that she is still 2 years short of achieving coming of age.

The album is scheduled for March 8. It will have 10 tracks in total, including the previously released title track, a remixed version of “Princess” and a new single, “FXXKER”, that will be available for purchasing on iTunes Store starting February.

This week’s guests were Niiyama Shiori, HOWL BE QUIET, Brian the Sun, and Amatsuki.

Niiyama Shiori – Snow Smile

HOWL BE QUIET – Sanakazura

Brian the Sun – Pathos to Ethos

Amatsuki – DiVE!!

Actor and singer Jin Akanishi is set to appear in a Chinese drama based off of the popular mythical figure Sun Wukong, titled “The Legends of Monkey King”. The plot revolves around a mortal man (played by Hong Kong actor Raymond Lam) who somehow time-travels in the past and finds himself as the famous Sun Wukong. Unwilling to accept this strange fate he sets out to understand why this has happened to him, and restore things back to normal.

Jin will be playing the role of “Erlang Shen”, a god who is one of the fiercest warriors in the land. The exact role “Erlang Shen” will play in this interpretation of the Monkey King hasn’t been revealed yet, but it’s been suggested that it will largely have something to do with his sister the “Holy Mother” (played by Jiang Meng Jie) who is also a main character. In traditional Chinese folklore “Elang Shen” is furious that his sister married a mortal, after giving birth he kidnaps her and keeps her hidden in the “sacred mountains”. She’s eventually rescued by her son.

Filming for “The Legends of Monkey King” will last for 5 months, 45 episodes are scheduled to be released via the streaming video service “youku”. The last time Jin was a main cast-member in a drama was nearly 10 years ago, where he played “Miroku Shochikubai” in NTV’s “Yukan Club”. Pictures from the press conference can be seen below!

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.

One of the big names I see thrown around in the J-rock scene these days is ONE OK ROCK. Aware of their rise to somewhat mega heights and international acclaim, I took it upon myself (an avid ROCK fan) to check them out, to try and see what it is exactly that’s causing all this buzz. When being fully honest, I’ve avoided them, knowing full well that they are fronted by a Johnny and photos of them to me just scream ‘try-hard’. But hey, never judge a book by it’s cover right? So, under the pretense of doing a review, I cleared my preconceptions, opened my mind and listened to their latest album “Ambitions“. All I have to say is…

ONE OK ROCK are just about the LEAST “rock” thing I’ve heard in years.

It has been announced that V6 member Ken Miyake will once again be joining the cast for “Takizawa Kabuki”. Originally created and directed by Johnny Kitagawa, Tackey & Tsubasa member Hideaki Takizawa took over the directing role in 2010 and is also the main star of the production. It has become a mainstay for the JE fan every cherry blossom season over the last decade. The very first show was staged in 2006, and has gone on to sell out every single year. The show has even had acclaim overseas where it had a successful run in Singapore back in 2015.

Hideaki himself personally wanted Ken to join the production, and it apparently took 4 hours of convincing for Ken to finally give in! Due to the great reception Ken received from fans last year it was decided that he would appear for the second year in a row. Unfortunately Ken suffered a bone fracture injury last year which hindered some of his involvement in the show, but he was still able to complete his performances post-injury.

The 2017 version of “Takizawa Kabuki” will begin on April 6th at the famed Shinbashi Enbujo theater and will run until May 14th.

(via hochi)