GACKT and ICONIQ are in a relationship?

Weekly tabloid magazine “FRIDAY” has reported that singers GACKT (38) and ICONIQ (27) are currently in a relationship! The latest magazine issue released on June 22nd contains photos of the alleged couple together.

According to FRIDAY, the rumored couple went to a high class French restaurant and dined there for around three hours eating and sipping wine. In one of the photos, the rumored couple can be seen gazing at each other and holding hands. When they parted, they gave each other a hug. GACKT and ICONIQ both appeared to be very happy.

The couple became acquainted through the music festival “a-nation” last year and became closer when they met together with staff to go out and eat. According to officials, their relationship is starting to truly blossom.

When Sankei Sports approached GACKT and ICONIQ’s companies neither negated the rumor, but said, “It’s their private lives and they can do what they wish.”

Source: Tokyohive

Pumpkin: Please excuse me while I sit in a corner and cry my fangirl heart out. But if this relationship can bring Gackt true happiness then I shall be happy for him.

Google Chrome's Hatsune Miku Ad Wins Bronze in Cannes Lions

Google Chrome Japan's commercial featuring the Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku has won the Bronze Lion Award in the Direct Lions category of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The awards honor "excellence in creative communications" in the advertising industry. The festival, the world's largest dedicated to advertising, is running in the French city of Cannes from June 17 to June 23 (roughly one month after the more famous Cannes Film Festival). 

The ad for Google's web browser features the livetune song "Tell Your World" with Hatsune Miku and also shows footage from Mikunopolis in Los Angeles, the July 2 concert at Anime Expo.

Source: ANN

PSotD - Yume no Ukifune

Title: Yume no Ukifune

Artist: Aika Yoshioka
Year: 2011

Notes: Opening song for the anime Hakuouki: Sekkaroku.

Hijikata-san!!

DDL: From Gendou music (Requires account - it's easy to make one!)

PSotD - D-Tecno Life

Title: D-Tecno Life

Artist: UVERworld
Year: 2005

Notes: Second opening song for the anime Bleach.
This was my first UVERworld song and I instantly fell in love with them. The lead vocalist Takuya looks so cute.

DDL: From Gendou music (Requires account - it's easy to make one!)

Anime Review (v.P): Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love 1000%

I promised a ramble review on UtaPri, and here it is! Phew, this is the longest post I've ever written.

Originally an Otome game (a game which is targeted towards the female audience and focuses on romantic relationships) developed by the company Broccoli in 2010, this popular game series was adapted to a manga and anime one year later. The green light was given for the second season of the anime, due to be aired approximately in late summer/early fall 2012 (Japan).

Synopsis: (from myanimelist.net)

With dreams of becoming a composer and someday writing a song for her favorite idol, Haruka enters the Saotome Academy, a prestigious performing arts school. If successful there, she’ll be able to join the Shining Agency after graduation. However, it won’t be so easy when Haruka is already surrounded by potential idols and composers. On top of that, her homeroom teacher is a current idol, the headmaster was a record-breaking singer, and the academy itself is a chaotic place where anything can happen. Which prince of song will be paired up with Haruka?! Uta no Prince Sama is an exciting, coming-of-age romantic comedy that will be like sweet music to your eyes and ears!

Review:

[STORY]

The story is quite easy to understand. Simply stated, a group of six talented male performers, become bonded through the main female lead (Nanami), and everyone, over the course of 13 episodes, struggle through hardships and in the end becomes a successful idol group. There are not many parts that require thinking, and the interesting developments of this series relies on you, the audience, to get caught in the flow of emotions of the characters. That being said, if you weren't able to develop an affinity with the characters then this story would be pretty boring.

From the beginning, it was rather obvious where the story was heading and you could guess the ending after watching the first episode. A lot of foreshadowing was used, and probably includes only one tear-jerking cliff hanger.

Being an ex-musician, I couldn't agree more with the opening statement, "Music changes the world". The words from opening scene are repeated exactly in the final scene, this gives a harmonious and complete feel, leaving you with a warm fuzzy emotion in your tummy about the happy ending.

When I take the perspective of Nanami, this story fills me up with inspiration. She starts off as someone who knows nothing about music, but through her hard work and determination she eventually becomes the composer for her dream idol group. It motivates me to keep working hard towards my goal even if I encounter obstacles.

This anime is classified as a romantic comedy. While I'm not one for those lovey dovey romance stories, I was able to bear through this series because I focused more on the romance between the characters and the wonderful music they produced. Certainly, there were plenty laughable moments making this anime more enjoyable.

No matter how many times I've watched this series (by my count it's been at least 8 times), I always tear up at the scene where the six boys appear in front of Nanami's house, after Nanami ran away from the academy, and starts singing the a capella version of Mirai Chizu.

Rating: 8

[ART] 

Most importantly, there are plenty of bishies!
The art is drawn in the style used in most animes. There's definitely nothing unique or striking that differentiates the art of this series with other animes. In fact, I think the artwork is quite simple and not much effort was put into the backgrounds. It uses a lot of vibrant colours which helps the audience distinguish between the different characters.
Rating: 7

[SOUND]

With a story based around the music theme, I had high hopes and expectations for the sound department. I was in no way disappointed with their final products. I was entranced by all the songs. The background music was refreshing, and well suited to the atmosphere of the story. The character songs (released separately) adds another dimension to the characters, allowing me to love them even more.
Rating: 9.5

[CHARACTER]

The characters were well developed throughout the story. The medium-pace of the story allowed the characters to build uniqueness and individuality, providing fans with plenty of freedom to write fanfics. 

The characters listed in the order of my preference (with reasons): 

1. Hijirikawa Masato (His hairstyle, his mole/freckle, his nose, his personality, his calm composure. He seems to be a quiet person that keeps his thoughts to himself, has problems in and is reluctant to express his own feelings. A very intelligent man with amazing musicianship.)
2. Kurusu Syo (I'm a shouta-con, 'nuff said. But really, Syo is so cute and I fully agree with his dress sense. He plays the violin.)
3. Jinguuji Ren (He is such a sexy beast with a very seductive voice. He plays the saxophone. I love his long blonde/brown hair. His winks kills me each time.)
4. Shinomiya Natsuki/Satsuki (His curly blonde hair, his electric green eyes, his alter ego. He plays the viola and violin. His powerful voice)
5. Ichinose Tokiya/Hayato (His voice - Miyano Mamoru is in the top five of my  list of favourite seiyuus. His character kind of irked me because of his stuck up nature.)
6. Tsukimiya Ringo (I'm always jealous of guys who look as pretty or even prettier than real girls. I really like his voice and cheerful/playful personality.)
7. Ittoki Otoya (I found his character slightly annoying, kind of like a spoiled brat that whines a lot.)
8. Aijima Cecil (Neko's are cute :3 His hot body and brown hair.)

Rating: 8.5

[ENJOYMENT]

If I have watched this 8 times already and I still have the desire to keep rewatching it, then there is clearly no doubt that I really enjoy this show.
Rating: 8.5

[OVERALL] 

My heart is filled to the brim with love for these characters. I'm most definitely looking forward to the second season which comes out later this year. I hope there will be many more inspiring songs to be released.
Rating: 9.5

[SCREENSHOTS] 

I have yet to find "perfect" cosplays of these characters. I think Masato and Natsuki are the hardest to imitate.
Aside, here are a few (only 17!) screenshots with comments.

The boys - Who do you love the most?

The first time I died.

Comedy relief.

Masato's first appearance. かっこい！

Ringo sensei so cute.

Ohoho, those words make me swoon.

Ichinose's "meh" glare.

Jinguuji throwing a dart. His smile is so delicious.

A reminder for both Haruka and myself.

Ittoki is blushing!

This happens when Natsuki cooks.

I hope so too Masato.

Music, I miss those days.

The second time I died.

Satsuki is so darn hot.

Tokiya's "kind" face.

The scene that always makes me tear up - the boys comforting Nanami.

PSotD - Mirai Chizu

Title: Mirai Chizu (Map of the Future)

Artist: Otoya Ittoki (Takuma Terashima), Masato Hijirikawa (Kenichi Suzumura), Natsuki Shinomiya (Kishou Taniyama), Tokiya Ichinose (Mamoru Miyano), Ren Jinguuji (Junichi Suwabe), and Syo Kurusu (Hiro Shimono).

Year: 2011

Notes: Insert song for the anime Uta no Prince sama.

OAOAOAOAO! I can't believe I haven't posted anything about UtaPri yet, my #1 anime of all time. I can and will fall in love over and over again with these bishies and their amazing and beautiful voices. I promise I'll go and write an anime review on it in the coming weeks, after I rewatch it (for the 8th time). So I guess I'll ramble about how much and why I love it in the review rather than here.

This song moves my heart (almost to tears) every time I listen to it. The voices of the six boys just match and mixes so well together. The lyrics are also very meaningful.

DDL: From Gendou music (Requires account - it's easy to make one!)

Supercell to produce debut album for fictional artist, EGOIST

It has just been revealed that supercell will completely produce the debut album of the fictional artist “EGOIST“.

EGOIST is an artist that appears in the television anime “Guilty Crown“, and will be releasing a currently untitled first album on September 19th. The vocals are provided by chelly, a 17-year-old high school girl who was chosen by ryo out of 2,000 applicants to become one of the new vocalists for the group. chelly has been singing for EGOIST as the character Yuzuriha Inori within the anime

Although the track list for the album has yet to be revealed, it has been confirmed that the album will be available in two different versions: a limited CD+DVD version and a regular CD-only version. It will also include the hit singles “The Everlasting Guilty Crown” and “Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~“.

Stay tuned for more on EGOIST’s first full album!

Source: Tokyohive

PSotD - Hajimaru no wa, Sayonara

Title: Hajimaru no wa, Sayonara

Artist: On/Off
Year: 2011

Notes: The second opening song for the anime Beelzebub. 
I really enjoyed the Beelzebub manga. It's is a shounen action/ slice of life/ comedy manga which follows the story of a male delinquent that has to look after and protect a demon baby (Baby Beel) from "hell". In return, he obtains insane strength which he utilizes to fend off enemies while accomplishing his mission to protect Baby Beel. The art is quite good, the girls are pretty hot and the babies are cute. However, I found the anime to be pretty boring and slow paced.

DDL: From Gendou.

Hatsune Miku to celebrate her 5th ‘birthday’ with two best-of albums

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of her creation, Vocaloid Hatsune Miku will be releasing two best-of albums simultaneously.

Since making her debut in Japan on August 31st, 2007, Miku has garnered a huge amount of attention and fans. To mark this huge occasion for the pop culture icon, two best-of albums titled “Hatsune Miku 5th Birthday Best ~memories~” and “Hatsune Miku 5th Birthday Best ~impacts~” have been confirmed for a release on August 1st. The albums are a collaboration project between Sony Music Direct and Dwango Music entertainment, following in the vein of her previous albums “Hatsune Miku Best ~impacts~” (2009), “Hatsune Miku Best ~memories~” (2009), “VOCALOID BEST from Nico Nico Douga [Aka]” (2011), and “VOCALOID BEST from Nico Nico Douga [Ao]” (2011).

The best-of albums will include a wide range of songs, from her popular videos on Nico Nico Douga totaling over 1 million views to her latest and greatest songs from 2012, as well as two new songs written especially for the albums by Vocaloid producers titled “Anniversary Song” and “Birthday Song“. A DVD has been planned for the limited edition versions of the albums so that fans can have physical copies of the videos for some of the most popular Hatsune Miku songs.

Although the track lists for both albums have yet to be revealed, the “memories” version of the album will contain hit songs such as “melt“, “Hello, Planet.“, “FREELY TOMORROW“, “Kagerou Days“, “Electric Love“, and more for a grand total of 19 songs. The “impacts” version will contain the same number of songs, but will feature tracks “Matroshka“, “Senbonzakura“, “Koi Suru VOC@LOID“, “Nijigen Dream Fever“, and “Akatsuki Arrival“.

Stay tuned for more on Hatsune Miku’s two new best-of albums, and check out the covers for them below!

Source: Tokyohive.

GACKT to Star in Live-Action Show of Sengoku Basara Game

CAPCOM's historical action game franchise Sengoku Basara is inspiring its first live-action television show next month, and actor/singer GACKT(Fûrin Kazan, New Fist of the North Star, Tono to Issho, Shiki) will star in it as Oda Nobunaga (pictured far right). Sengoku Basara -Moonlight Party- will also star Kento Hayashi (Arakawa Under the Bridge) as Date Masamune (center) and Kōhei Takeda (Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e: Ikemen Paradise, Kamen Rider Kiva) as Sanada Yukimura (left). (Historical Japanese names are listed family name first, while modern names are listed family name last.)

Gackt will contribute the ending theme song "Hakuro."

The show will premiere on July 12 on MBS, and it will run every Thursday night at 1:25 a.m. (effectively early Friday morning).

Teehee, Gackt with a fake mustache! XD

Source: Animenewsnetwork.

PSotD - Shiny Tale + Daily Lives of High School Boys Mini Review

Title: Shiny Tale

Artist: Mix Speaker's Inc.
Year: 2012

Notes: The opening song for the anime Daily Lives of High School Boys. 
I recently finished watching this anime and I found this anime hilarious. There are two things which I agree with this anime, 1) if you want to shut a girl up you need to give them chocolate, lots of chocolate, and 2) at some point in a girl's life, we would've pulled our skirts up to our chests and worn the skirt in an idiotic way.
Because of this anime I have found a new VK band to fall in love with, Mix Speaker's Inc.. Their music style reminds me of ViViD.

Mini Review:

Daily Lives of High School Boys: A laid back slice of life anime. For someone who loves action and horror this is definitely out of my comfort zone. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this anime very much. It's a big contrast to the usual full of suspense shounen adventure animes. Each story consists of short (approx. 5 minute) scenes. I found most of them quite funny and there were many times when I was literally rolling on my bed laughing (I was watching this on my bed). I had my dose of bishies and shouta, so I'm not complaining. There were also several of my favourite seiyuus participating in this anime, so no disagreements here. I loved the opening song, and I liked the background music for 'the literary girl'.

I would recommend this anime for those seeking comedy relief. It serves as a good breather between watching action packed animes.

One of my favourite scenes - from episode 7.

DDL: From AnimeMp3.

PSotD - Butterfly

Title: Butterfly

Artist: On/Off
Year: 2010

Notes: The second ending theme for Durarara!!. 
On/Off is a JPop duo consisting of twins Naoya Sakamoto and Kazuya Sakamoto. They have provided OP and ED songs for animes such as Beelzebub and Vampire Knight. They have released two albums so far.
One of my favourite characters from DRRR!! is Shinra Kishitani.

ZOMG! Dem BISHIES!! *Screeches* This pic is killing me. -grabs tissues-

DDL: From Gendou.

PSotD - Hide and Seek

Title: Hide and Seek

Artist: Kaitou Tatsuya
Year: 2012

Notes: Track 10 from the 5th Mirai Nikki OST.
I'm still hooked onto Mirai Nikki. My favourite male character is Akise Aru. Why? It's pretty obvious considering I have a fettish for male characters with white hair. Even more exciting for me is that this bishie has red eyes, and Akise's a smart/cunning character.

DDL/Torrent: Here.

PSotD - Blood Teller + Mirai Nikki Mini Review

Title: Blood Teller
Artist: Faylan
Year: 2011
Notes: First ending song for the anime Mirai Nikki.

I finished watching the anime last night, so here is my little spiel about it.
I really liked the anime ending, it wasn't one of those sappy happy endings and the whole story made sense. Then again, Yuno from the 1st world (and kami of the 1st world) died in the 3rd world, so does that mean the 1st world crumbles and disappears? If so, then couldn't Yuuki from the 2nd world use his kami powers and commit suicide, that way he no longer needs to suffer?

Anyway, I had a quick glance at the manga ending, and wasn't too impressed by it. I tried the first episode of the MN Live action drama. This story is based on different characters and an alternative storyline to the original manga and anime. The characters were not what I imagined to be. I was hoping that the main female lead would look more lunatic, but she just looked like some really annoying and dumb chick, and the main male lead wasn't handsome enough. Frankly, I was bored to tears by the live action and was pretty disappointed in it.

Mmm...Akise Aru.

DDL: Gendou.

Winter Camp 2012

During the long weekend just passed, the My Bubbletea Time team along with a few other friends went camping for three days and two nights (some people were there for four days and three nights). We had a lot of fun despite the wet and cold weather. We had hot pot and BBQ meat for dinner, and toasted marshmallows for dessert. We played around with glow sticks and Monopoly Deal. Here are a few snaps from the three day adventure.

Campfire all ready for toasting marshmallows.

More fire >:D

PSotD - Kuusou Mesorogii

Title: 空想メソロギヰ (Kuusou Mesorogii)

Artist: 妖精帝国 (Yousei Teikoku)
Year: 2011

Notes: The first opening song to Mirai Nikki.
So I started watching Mirai Nikki today, and let me say that this anime is epic! I love it! It's an action packed anime with mild horror/gore. I love the yandere character Gasai Yuno. This anime is highly recommended!

DDL: Here.

SPYAIR to provide theme song to “The Amazing Spider-Man 3D”

On June 27th, rock band SPYAIR will release a new single “0 GAME“. It will be the theme song to movie “The Amazing Spider-Man 3D“, which will release in Japan on June 30th.

The song is an original by SPYAIR, who offered the film production company to feature it in the movie. The movie’s staff had high praises for the song and stated that it’s the perfect theme song for the film.

All the members of SPYAIR were die-hard fans of NICKELBACK, and a member of the band, Chad Koreger sang to the original series of the movie back in 2002. Member MOMIKEN(B) said that he’s seen every Spider Man film many times, and that they are also fans of Aerosmith. He also mentioned that SPYAIR is happy to be able to provide the theme song this time around.

-

“0 GAME”

Regular Edition

< CD >

1. 0 GAME

2. Rock’n Roll

3. MOVIN’ ON

4. YOU 2

Source: tokyohive

Nakagawa Shoko to participate in upcoming DECO*27 album as a guest vocalist

It has just been revealed that talento Nakagawa Shoko will be participating in DECO*27’s upcoming album “Love Calendar“, which will be released on July 25th.

As tokyohive previously reported, “Love Calendar” follows the story of two high school students as they fall in love for the very first time. Nakagawa will be participating on the album as a guest vocalist in the song “Amayadori“, which goes along with the first kiss scene of the protagonists of “Love Calendar”.

“You get the image that Ms. Nakagawa sang the song with all her heart,” said DECO*27 of working with the singer. “I thought she opened up the potential of the song I wrote.” Nakagawa commented, “Out of the few love songs I’ve sang myself up until now, this one is my first song about a sweet love. Mr. DECO*27’s melody lines, and the world in the lyrics, which are full of wordplay, were revolutionary to me.”

Check out the jacket cover for the album below!

Source: tokyohive

Final Fantasy Dimensions Mobile Game's Gameplay Video Streamed

The video game news website IGN posted a hands-on gameplay video on Wednesday for Square Enix's upcoming release of the Final Fantasy Dimensions mobile game. The video highlights a battle inside a cave area in the game. 

Square Enix will release the game for both iOS and Android devices this summer. Square Enix describes the game as follows:

Drawing upon the roots of the series with such features as beautiful 2D pixel art, job-driven character growth, additional scenarios in which to inherit the jobs of your adventuring companions, and a classic story of light, darkness, and crystals, FINAL FANTASY DIMENSIONS delivers the best of FINAL FANTASY, retro and fresh alike, directly to your smartphone.

[Source: ann]