Tohoshinki releases PV for “DUET”

Tohoshinki has released the highly anticipated PV for their new track, “DUET“!
With a dark palette of colors, dimly lit settings and, of course, a love story (sealed with a dramatic kiss!), the PV perfectly complements the laidback tones of this track.

Kis-My-Ft2 releases audio for “We Never Give Up”

Pop group Kis-My-Ft2 have broadcasted the full audio for “We Never Give Up” on radio airwaves.
As reported earlier, “We Never Give Up” is their second single and will come in five different versions. The song is described to be an energetic piece that’s sure to make everyone listening “stand up! stand up!”

JYJ’s Junsu praises, “Yoochun, you really are the best actor!”

JYJ’s Junsu thrilled his fans with his warm message of support for groupmate Yoochun.
On July 20th, the idol tweeted, “Yoochun, you’ve done well so far. You really are the best actor! Jaejoong-hyung is now starting to get busy so let’s cheer up a little.”
Yoochun recently wrapped up filming for MBC’s ‘Miss Ripley‘, which ended its run on the 19th. Junsu also added his support for Jaejoong, who is starring in SBS’s ‘Protect the Boss‘, set to air in August.
Netizens commented, “It’s nice to see your close friendship“, “I hope you three all do well in your respective fields“, “I’ll support you well too.”

Big Bang grabs #1 on Taiwanese charts

Big Bang can add another notch onto their victory belt, as they’ve secured a #1 on Taiwanese music charts.
The boys’ 4th mini-album, as well as their special edition album, concert DVDs, and behind-the-scenes concert book, have all been big hits in Taiwan, landing solid spots on the G-MUSIC, FIVE MUSIC, KuangNan Record, & BOOKS.COM charts under the ‘K-POP Album & DVD’ category.
Additionally, the title track for their special edition album, “Love Song“, reached the #1 spot on the Taiwanese MTV chart.
The five members are currently taking a break after they recently concluded their tour concerts in Japan.

Which manga was best adapted into a live action drama?

It has become a recent trend within the past couple of years for popular manga series to be adapted into a live action drama. Manga series have rich story lines, but because most fans have strong impressions of the manga they commonly are disappointed with the result of a live action adaptation. Of course there’s many exceptions to this and ORICON STYLE polled 1,000 people and asked the question, “Which manga was best adapted into a live action drama?”
Popular music manga, ‘Nodame Cantabile‘ starring Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi ranked number one in the poll. The comical essence of the drama on top of the real orchestra performances was more than people expected.
‘Nodame Cantabile’ is a manga written by Ninomiya Tomoko, and follows the story of a strange yet very talented pianist named “Nodame” as well as the people she associates with in this musical comedy. A poll taker commented, “The acting of the cast members playing these unique characters perfectly matched” proving that the exquisite casting did justice even to a fan of the original manga. However, the performance scenes, which the cast learned and practiced for, was the main thing that impressed everyone. What could not be brought to life in the manga was made a reality through the drama series bringing out the music within the story. Nodame Cantabile brought about the “classical music boom” and changed the impression and stereotype of classical music.
The second manga chosen by fans was the teen love story of  ’Hana Yori Dango‘ by Kamio Yok. The manga itself is very popular internationally and has been adapted into a drama even in the neighboring country of South Korea. In the Japanese adaptation Inoue Mao plays the character of Makino Tsukushi, a strong willed and sturdy young girl, and Arashi’s Matsumoto Jun plays the character of Domyouji Tsukasa, a high and mighty heir to a major corporation. The chemistry between the duo was brilliantly brought to life just like it is in the manga. A poll taker remarks, “There were parts that were slightly different from the manga, but as a drama it was very amusing“. After it’s airtime in 2005, the series came back with a sequel and even released a movie.
The medical history manga series that sold 6,800,000 copies in total, ‘JIN‘,  ranked in third place. JIN follows the story of Dr. Minakata Jin, played by Osawa Takao, who goes back to a time where medical practices were not highly advanced and learns the preciousness of life. This year in May it won the “15th Tezuka Osamu Bunka-sho Manga-sho” and has also received much praise. The realistic surgery scenes and the historical being incorporated into the story “made it exciting to watch the following week.” The series, loved by both men and women, finished it’s final episode with an average viewership rating of 26.1% and was praised with satisfaction.
When it comes to manga series being adapted into live action dramas, fans become very strict and critical. Although the popularity of the manga could mean it’ll become a hot topic, but it could also mean that with one mistake the drama will be referred to as a bad drama. In the midst of that pressure, the top 10 dramas below have been adapted well enough to receive the approval of many fans and may even be considered “masterpieces”. With this increasing trend in bringing manga characters to life, it will be exciting to see which character will be next to appear on the television screen in live action.
Check out the top 10 for “Which manga was best adapted into a live action drama?” and leave a comment below!
1. ‘Nodame Cantabile’ by Ninomiya Tomoko (Starring: Ueno Juri & Tamaki Hiroshi)
2. ‘Hana Yori Dango’ by Kamio Yoko (Starring: Inoue Mao & Matsumoto Jun)
3. ‘JIN’ by Murakami Motoka (Starring: Osawa Takao & Ayase Haruka)
4. ‘Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo’ by Amagi Seimaru, Kanari Youzaburo, and Satou Fumiya (Starring: Doumoto Tsuyoshi, Tomosaka Rie, Matsumoto Jun, and Suzuki Ann)
5. ‘ROOKIES’ by Morita Masanori (Starring: Sato Ryuta & Ichihara Hayato)
6. ‘Gokusen’ by Morimoto Kozueko (Starring: Nakama Yukie)
7. ‘Dr. Koto Shinryoujo’ by Yamada Takatoshi (Starring: Yoshioka Hidetaka & Shibasaki Kou)
8. ‘Umizaru’ by Sato Shuho (Starring: Ito Hideaki & Kato Ai)
9. ‘GTO’ by Fujisawa Toru (Starring: Sorimachi Takashi & Matsushima Nanako)
10. ‘Tokyo Love Story’ by Saimon Fumi (Starring: Suzuki Honami &Oda Yuji)

GACKT sets new singles record with his latest single, “Episode.0″!

GACKT’s first single in nearly a year, “Episode.0“, has sold approximately 29,000 units since it hit shelves on July 13th, landing solidly in third place and setting a new record for male soloists!

“Episode.0″ is GACKT’s 39th single, and it’s continued his tradition of landing in the top 10. This puts GACKT one single ahead of the previous record-holder, Tahara Toshihiko, whose 1992 single “Ame ga Sakende’ru” gave him his 38th ‘top ten singles’ distinction.
“I don’t mean that I’ve been aware of the record while I was promoting up until now, but since there are so many fans who will enjoy (hearing about this), in that case I’m happy about it,” said GACKT delightedly about holding the new record.
As we previously reported, the single “Episode.0″ was part of a special contest, in which Niconico Douga users could see their Gackpoid songs sung by GACKT himself. The winner was “Episode.0″, along with the second place winner “Paranoid Doll”.
Check out the top five male soloists below!
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< Male Soloists with the Most Top 10 Singles >
01. GACKT – 39 singles
02. Tahara Toshihiko – 38 singles
03. Go Hiromi – 34 singles
04. Saijou Hideki – 33 singles
05. Sawada Genji – 30 singles

Drama Prime Time Report – July 15th~18th

Lots of naked ikemen in "Ikemen desu ne", desu ne?!

It was a long weekend in Japan thanks to ‘Marine Day’ on Monday and people had other distractions to keep them away from the small tube, except for sport events like the World Cup or certain music and variety specials. When looking at the dramas, there were two big losers with “Zenkai Girl” that almost lost 5% and “Hana Kimi 2011” that is now down to ratings that are usually only reserved for late-night dramas.
Let’s start with Friday, because it featured one of the two new starts this weekend. “Ikemen desu ne“, starring Takimoto Miori, Tamamori Yuta (Kis-My-Ft.2), Fujigaya Taisuke (Kis-My-Ft.2), and Yaotome Hikaru (Hey! Say! JUMP), started with a two-hour-long episode and achieved a rating of 10.9%. It’s bad compared to last week’s variety special, but it’s actually okay for such a long episode. Compared to previous Friday dramas it doesn’t have to be ashamed either. The ratings of the next two episode will be important, especially when looking at other dramas and their huge drops.

Watch out for koala ambushes! ("Yuusha Yoshihiko")

On Saturday, “Don Quixote” managed to withstand the mega music special on TBS and only lost 0.7% compared to last week. Its ratings might even be able to increase again next week, without such a strong competition.
Now onto the problematic Sunday that started with the worst rating for “Gou” since it started airing. Here you could use the variety special on TV Asahi as an excuse, but the ratings have been gradually decrease over the past weeks again anyway, despite the appearance of Mukai Osamu and more screen-time for AKIRA.
However, nobody really cared about the ratings of “Gou”, because “Hanazakari no Kimitachi e” surprised everyone with a huge nose dive by 4.1%, down to miserable 6.0%. Of course, many people expected it to lose viewers, but that’s a lot. Several tabloids and self-proclaimed critics are already pointing out all the faults, but let’s hope the cast and team don’t get discouraged by those and the miserable ratings. Maybe it will already recover next week? Meanwhile “Hanawake no Yon Shimai” only lost 1.0% compared to last week.

After looking at the ratings... ("Hana Kimi 2011")

Today’s report also includes the Monday ratings due to the long-weekend and unfortunately I have to continue with another drama that lost even more percentage than “Hana Kimi 2011″. I’m talking about Fuji TV’s ‘Getsu 9′ drama “Zenkai Girl” that lost 4.8% and is now already below 10% with a viewer rating of only 9.8%. The drama actually received a lot of positive responses after its first episode, so this might be an even bigger surprise for many viewers and fans. Unlike “Hana Kimi 2011″, it had to compete against a very strong variety special, but on the other hand it also had quite a decent lead-in with the “Hey!Hey!Hey” music special that gained 13.2%.
Anyway, in the end everyone only looks at the figure and has to realize that it’s the first drama in the history of Fuji TV’s ‘Getsu 9′ time slot to already reach a single-digit rating with the second episode. Let’s hope it won’t continue to make history, especially since it’s the first starring role for Aragaki Yui and the Nishkido Ryo’s first ‘Getsu 9′ drama. The bad ratings could easily hurt their market value.
Meanwhile TV Tokyo started airing their Monday drama “IS“, starring Fukuda Saki and Gouriki Ayame, but sadly it’s a bit difficult to obtain ratings from TV Tokyo; not that it could compete with other dramas anyway.

Japan Box Office Report – July 16th/17th

"Pocket Monsters Best Wishes!" / "Harry Potter" / "Kokuriko-zaka Kara"

“Harry Potter” and Japan’s latest animated treasures completely replaced the top 3 of the box office chart during a long weekend that was perfect for a family trip to the closest cinema.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” already opened on Friday to sync with its worldwide release, but the Friday results don’t count into the weekly box office chart. Still, more than 880,000 people saw the movie during the weekend alone, resulting in a superb revenue of over 1.3 billion Yen (16.5 million USD) on its first weekend. Together with Friday it already grossed over 1.75 billion Yen (22.3 million USD). It’s already much more successful than the first part of the final chapter, so it’s expected to cross the 10 billion Yen mark sooner or later.
On 2nd place is the new “Pokémon” movie or rather two of them, since they adapted the way of the video games of the franchise for this new movie release. It’s the first double-release of an anime in the history of Japanese cinema and together they grossed over 820 million Yen (10.4 million USD). If you’re curious, the movie with the white heroine was slightly more successful by gaining 53.3% of the total revenue. The voice cast includes popular actors and talentos such as Takahashi Hideki, Nakagawa Shoko, Ishihara Satomi and many more.
The first weekend of Studio Ghibli’s newest masterpiece, “Kokuriko-zaka Kara” – with the voices of Nagasawa Masami and Okada Junichi, wasn’t strong enough to compete against the double-dosage of “Pokémon”. It’s revenue after the weekend and the holiday on Monday added up to over 580 million Yen (7.4 million USD). Both anime are expected to eventually cross the 5 billion Yen mark.
Unlike last week, don’t forget to check out the trailers of the new Japanese movies that opened this weekend below!
===

	Rank/Last		Title	Weeks
	01 (00)		Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	01
	02 (00)		Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie Victini and the Black Hero: Zekrom / Victini and the White Hero: Reshiram	01
	03 (00)		Kokuriko-zaka Kara	01
	04 (03)		Andalucia: Megami no Hofuku	04
	05 (01)		Super 8	04
	06 (02)		Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	09
	07 (05)		Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: The Sacred Star of Milos	03
	08 (06)		Ogawa no Hotori	05
	09 (04)		I Am Number Four	02
	10 (10)		Soreike! Anpanman: Sukue! Kokorin to Kiseki no Hoshi	03

===
> “Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Black & White” (Anime, Adventure)
Directed by: Yuyama Kunihiko (OLM)
Voice Cast (regular): Matsumoto Rika, Otani Ikue, Miyano Mamoru, Yuki Aoi and many more
Voice Cast (guest): Takahashi Hideki, Tsuruno Takeshi, Nakagawa Shoko, Ishihara Satomi and more

-
> “Kokuriko-zaka Kara” (Anime, Fantasy)
Directed by: Miyazaki Goro (Studio Ghibli)
Voice Cast: Nagasawa Masami, Okada Junichi, Takeshita Keiko, Ishida Yuriko and more

-
> “men’s egg Drummers” (Youth, Coming-of-Age)
Directed by: Yamaguchi Yudai
Cast: Maeda Goki, Furukawa Yuki, Takabe Ai, Tanaka Daichi, Sato Ayumu and many more

-
> “Ohshikamura Sodoki” (Comedy)
Directed by: Sakamoto Junji and Arai Haruhiko (writer)
Cast: Harada Yoshio, Okusu Michiyo, Kishite Ittoku, Sato Koichi, Matsu Takako, Eita and more

-
> “Mahjong Hishoden Naki no Ryu 1 & 2” (Suspense, Drama)
Directed by: Ide Yoshifusa
Cast: Matsuda Kenji, Miyagawa Ichirota, Hamaya Yasuyuki, Yoshizawa Masato and more

-
> “Towa no Quon Episode 2” (Anime, Sci-Fi/Action)
Directed by: Iida Umanosuke (BONES)
Voice Cast: Kamiya Hiroshi, Shiraishi Ryoko, Nazuka Kaori, Okawa Toru and more

-
> “Naked Boyz Short Movie Vol.1” (Youth)
Directed by: Tsujishita Naomi and Dai Yoshiteru
Cast: Fukuyama Seiji, Mori Teruya, Shinotani Hijiri, Shiramizu Hosei, Fujie Reina (AKB48) and more

-
> “Black School / Kokuhaku” (Suspense, Action) *sequel to “Black School / Riguro”
Directed by: Yoshimoto Shuya
Cast: Rukawa Maho, Miro, Nana Miyo, Ami Makito and many more

-
> “Peace” (Docu)
Directed by: Soda Kazuhiro

2PM performs “Without U” on HEY! HEY! HEY! Music Champ Special

South Korean group 2PM took the stage on today’s “HEY! HEY! HEY! Music Champ Special“.
The group performed the Japanese version of their hit song “Without U“. Their performance was superb as usual and filled with loud fanchants from their Japanese fans in the audience.

Which actor has reflexes like a ninja?

In light of Mizushima Hiro’s recent “ninja” CM for “Mobage“, goo Ranking asked its users which actor they felt was as quick as a ninja when it came to reflexes.
Surprisingly, Mizushima Hiro didn’t top the list, he actually came in fourth place behind NEWS member Yamashita Tomohisa, Arashi’s Oono Satoshi, and Okada Junichi respectively.
Check out the top ten actors below!
-
01. Yamashita Tomohisa (4281)
02. Oono Satoshi (2869)
03. Okada Junichi (2568)
04. Mizushima Hiro (2528)
05. Mukai Osamu (2454)
06. Aiba Masaki (2301)
07. Satou Takeru (1842)
08. Ichihara Hayato (1738)
09. Yamamoto Yuusuke (1578)
10. Tegoshi Yuuya (1321)
-

Yamada Ryosuke + Chinen Yuri to voice act for the Japanese version of “The Smurfs”

Hey! Say! JUMP’s Yamada Ryosuke will attempt voice-acting for the first time in the Japanese dub of “The Smurfs“!

Yamada will be joined by his fellow Hey! Say! JUMP member Chinen Yuri for the upcoming 3D movie, which will make its debut in America on July 29th. The film revolves around the cute blue characters as they try to find their way back to their village before the evil wizard Garamel finds them.
“I’m receiving advice from Chinen, who has experience as a voice actor, so I don’t ruin the cute image of the Smurfs,” said Yamada, who will tackle his first voice-acting role with the character “Clumsy Smurf”. “I want to do my best with him!”
Chinen – who will voice “Friendly Smurf” – replied, “I did try voice acting once in the past, but I had a lot of trouble with it… I think it’ll be hard this time, but I want little me to play a little blue elf!”
The movie will begin airing in Japan on September 9th.

B’z breaks their own record by topping Oricon Chart 45 consecutive times!

Popular J-rock band B’z has renewed their record of having the most consecutive #1 singles on the Oricon Weekly Singles Ranking after landing their 45th single, “Don’t Wanna Lie“, in first place this week. The record had just been extended to 44 singles back in mid-April.
“Don’t Wanna Lie” was released on June 1st and recorded first week sales of 169,000 copies, nearly 40,000 more than their last single.
The title track is being used as the opening theme for the anime “Detective Conan“, and the B-side track, “Homebound“, is the ending theme for TBS’s news program “NEWS23X“.
Source + Photo: Oricon

[Exclusive] Matsushita Yuya brings down the house at FanimeCon 2011!

FanimeCon (May 27-30, 2011) may technically be an anime convention, but that hasn’t stopped Japanese pop from making a big splash at the event. Having hosted artists such as AN CAFE and LM.C in the past, the convention’s trademark concert, MusicFest, carried through yet again for 2011 with back-to-back performances by Matsushita Yuya and FLOW!

Since debuting in 2008, Matsushita Yuya has released an album and eight singles, including “foolish foolish“, “YOU“, “Trust Me“, and “Naturally“, which was released earlier in May. Although this marked his first performance in North America, and at an anime convention in general, the audience was packed with fans who voiced their support with ecstatic screams and cheers.

—

Japanese pop fans who attended FanimeCon struck gold this past weekend with free tickets to the highly anticipated concert, which took place across the street from the convention center on Saturday evening. Many fans sacrificed precious convention time to queue up that morning; although the show wasn’t scheduled to begin until 7 PM, the line already was already snaking around two blocks by the afternoon. After the long wait, the early bird attendees were granted access to the first ten rows of seating, while everyone else streamed in to completely fill the concert hall seats on the first level and surrounding balconies.

—

Right when the clock struck seven, one of the convention staff members cut right to the chase and introduced Matsushita Yuya to the crowd. When the 21-year-old musician stepped onto the stage, he seemed to spark a fire in the audience – everyone abandoned their seats to swarm forward, immediately greeting Yuya with rousing cheers, chanting his name and pressing forward to get closer to the singer.

Sleekly dressed in a black suit and white button-up, and flanked with a dancer on each side, Matsushita Yuya perfectly exuded pretty boy charm. Matched with his soothing vocals and fast-paced choreography, the handsome idol achieved the perfect formula to capture the audience’s attention and keep the ladies swooning at the same time.

He launched his set list with the “YOU“, a sexy pop track to hype up the crowd, then followed with “Paradise” and the Evo Mix of “I’m Sexy“, matched with pelvic thrusts and body rolls. At one point during a dance break, Yuya licked his hand and pressed it down his body, and many fans reacted with ecstatic screams of delight.

—

After these first three tracks, Yuya introduced himself and greeted the audience with a smile. He then resumed with “foolish foolish” and “Back to Love” with his dancers. During each song, Yuya walked across each side of the stage and pointed at individuals in the audience, connecting with fans across the stadium despite the distance. With the music vibrating through the floor and such an enthusiastic crowd, it was hard not to get into the performance.

At the second break, Yuya began reading off a card in English, exclaiming, “Are you having fun? This is my first anime convention… I see so many cosplays!” He expressed happiness in seeing cosplays from Kuroshitsuji and Durarara in particular.

—

Matsushita Yuya also performed “Hallucination” and “Bird” from Kuroshitsuji 2 Project. For these two ballads, the singer sat alone onstage and let his vocal pipes do the rest and carry the performance. He then picked up the pace again with “Trust Me“, “Secret Love“, and “Honesty“.

After a rousing chant for an encore, Yuya returned to the stage and wrapped up the night with his newest track, ”Naturally“, featuring a hat dance with a black fedora.

—

As the final notes of the song faded and were lost in the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd, the singer gave his last bow and exited the stage. With such a successful and exuberantly received debut performance in America, tokyohive anticipates future performances from Matsushita Yuya in the future!

Stay tuned for tokyohive’s exclusive video interview with Matsushita Yuya!

Photography by: Kevin Chang

C-JeS Entertainment drops their injunction against Avex

C-JeS Entertainment has announced that they’ve dropped their injunction against Avex.
On June 2nd, Avex wrote through their official homepage, “C-JeS Entertainment has officially withdrawn their injunction as of May 27th. We believe that the reason such action was taken was because they did not feel it was necessary to continue with it.”
Representatives of JYJ explained, “We filed the injunction because Avex had interfered with JYJ’s ability to perform in Japan. JYJ is now able to hold concerts in Japan so we felt that the injunction was meaningless and thus dropped it.”
JYJ will continue with their charity concert on June 7th.

Mukai Osamu gives Kitagawa Keiko 100 blue roses at “Paradise Kiss” stage appearance

On June 4th , the stars of “Paradise Kiss” (directed by Shinjo Takehiko) took the stage at the Marunouchi Louvre movie theater in Tokyo to greet their fans at the first public screening at the movie.
Actress Kitagawa Keiko (24) wore a white dress with a single silver lamé strap. During the event, her co-star Mukai Osamu disappeared from the stage, and reappeared with 100 blue roses for Kitagawa, exciting the audience with the “surprise” scene.
“It was a hot summer (during filming), and we had a lot of promotional events, but you got through it. Good job, Yukari,” Mukai said, touching Kitagawa’s hair. Seeing this, Igarashi Shunji, who plays the cross-dressing character of Isabella, playfully bit his handkerchief. For the fans, it was like seeing their favorite movie come to life.

“Paradise Kiss” is a story about a high school girl who, under the influence of some new friends, dreams about becoming a model. When asked about her dreams as a student, Kitagawa said, “Since I liked going to the doctor, I always admired the people working there. I wanted to become a doctor or an astronaut”.
“We spent August to October of last year, slightly longer than normal, taking our time to film this movie. I have been waiting for this day, when we can finally bring the movie to you all”, Kitagawa said, full of emotion.
Attending the first public screening alongside Kitagawa, Mukai and Igarashi were Kato Natsuki, Omasa Aya, Kaku Kento, and Director Shinjo. The movie is now open in theaters nationwide.

Source + Photos: Mantan Web

[Exclusive] tokyohive interview with FLOW at FanimeCon 2011!

On May 28th, for a second time, rock band FLOW headlined FanimeCon’s MusicFest in San Jose, California. Although they performed last year, this year the band brought down the house to a sold out concert, performing hit songs that you have probalby heard of before!

If you’re a fan of NARUTO, Code Geass, Eureka Seven, or Persona, then you’ve undoubtedly heard of FLOW. With songs like “GO!!!” and “Sign” from NARUTO (-Shippuuden-), “Colors” from Code Geass, and their recent cover of “1/3 no Junjo na Kanjou” (Ruroni Kenshin) originally by Siam Shade, this five-member band has been providing songs to some of Japan’s hottest anime series since 2004.

Given their hit-laden career and prevalence in anime soundtracks, it’s no surprise that FLOW has garnered popularity amongst anime fans and has already made many stops across America.

Exclusive Interview with all-female Visual Kei band, exist†trace

Visual Kei band exist†trace will make their U.S. debut this month at the Sakura Con anime convention in Seattle, Washington. They are headlining the Friday (April 22nd) night concert, and have a Q&A and autograph session with fans on Saturday (April 23rd).
tokyohive got a chance to sit the band down and ask them a wide variety of questions, from the meaning of their band, their feelings on going major, and what they expect from their first U.S. live.
Check out tokyohive’s exclusive interview with exist†trace below!
===
- The Visual Kei genre has a mostly female fan base. Are most of your fans male or female? What is the biggest change you’ve seen in your fans from the time you started until now?
JYOU (Vocals): It’s 50/50 right now. We’ve been participating in a lot of different events lately, and that’s helped us find all kinds of new fans.
- How do you feel about being one of the only female Visual Kei bands in a genre that’s dominated by males? Do you ever play shows with male Visual Kei bands? Do you think that a female Visual Kei band seems normal now, or is it still something unique?

miko (Guitar): Since we started our band, we never really thought about the genders of other bands. Since we’re often part of Visual Kei events, we mostly perform with male bands. Female visual kei bands are still rare, but I think that number is increasing gradually.
- You’ve had a long career in comparison to some other artists. What is the most important thing about exist†trace that makes the band successful?
Omi (Guitar): We talk things out. Everything gets discussed thoroughly, with no limits.

- In a previous interview you did in Europe, you mentioned that being an all-female band makes a powerful statement. Some band members use a masculine style during performance. How does this style connect to the statement you want to make?

MALLY (Drums): Each of us expresses what we think is cool. It’s an individual choice for each of us. Our ideas about ourselves as women and our stage styles are really separate.
- Why is exist†trace spelled with roman letters? Were there any other names you considered when you started?

JYOU: We used English so it would be understood in the whole world, not just in Japan.
- exist†trace announced in January that you will move to a major label this year. What was your initial reaction when you heard the news?
miko: We were really happy, but moving to a major label isn’t the end goal for us, it’s just a part of our longer journey.
- What do you think will change when you have your major debut?
Omi: There will be more staff and hopefully more fans can hear our music.
MALLY: Our exist†trace family will be larger.

- JapanFiles released your latest album, “TWIN GATE”, in the U.S. What do you think about all the responses from American fans?

JYOU: Thank you! We’re very happy. We want to hear more and more of your voices.

- Have you started working on new songs? What new musical styles do you want to try next?
miko: We’re working on new songs right now. The style of exist†trace hasn’t changed, but we want to challenge ourselves with musical choices that we haven’t tried before.
- What’s your best memory about your recent tour of Europe?
JYOU: During our live shows, the fans had both Japanese flags and their countries’ flags up together.
- What are your expectations for your first American live show at Sakura Con?
MALLY: We want to hear really loud voices from the crowd. We want to see fists in the air too!
- Please give a message to your fans.
JYOU: Let’s make it an unforgettable and passionate night!

Oricon Monthly Chart for the month of March revealed!

Oricon has just revealed the results for the monthly chart of March.
Check out the rankings below!
-
< Single Monthly Ranking >

1. “Eternal” – Akanishi Jin : 03/02 (236,816)
2. “Banzai Venus” – SKE48 : 03/09 (233,458)
3. “Shuumatsu Not yet” – Not yet : 03/16 (213,864)
4. “Yume Tamago” – NYC : 03/09 (143,857)
5. “Greatest the Hits 2011-2011″ – Maximum the Hormone : 03/23 (109,994)
(Check out the rest of the single ranking chart here!)
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< Album Monthly Ranking >

1. “Negai no Tou” – EXILE : 03/09 (618,028)
2. “Goodbye Lullaby” – Avril Lavigne : 03/02 (252,622)
3. “Zettai Zetsumei” – RADWIMPS : 03/09 (216,327)
4. “Dejavu” – Koda Kumi : 03/02 (190,275)
5. “Ketsunopolis 7″ – Ketsumeishi : 03/16 (154,140)