One Piece Celebrates Tenth Anniversary!

On March 27th, a special event was held at the 2010 Tokyo Anime Fair to celebrate the 10th anniversary of One Piece. Two Sailor Moon Seiyuu with roles in the anime were in attendance: Ikue Otani (U-Chouten and Sailor Tin Nyanko/Nyanko Suzu) who is the voice of Tony Tony Chopper and other characters, Kazuya Nakai (Oranja and Ittou Asanuma), and Mayumi Tanaka (Robert), who is the voice of Luffy! The thousand lucky people who were there to attend all got straw hats just like the one Luffy wears! The manga has sold 300 million copies to date, and the 57th chapter was just published. Here’s to many more, One Piece!

Ikue Otani Thanks Fans!

In March, there was a second Fans’ Thanksgiving event for fans of the popular gaming franchise Ar Tonelico. The latest game in the shojo RPG franchise Ar tonelico III: The Girl’s Song that Pulls the Trigger of World’s Demise was released in January for the PS3, and sold over 81,000 copies in its first week! Ikue Otani is the voice of the villain Mute, a girl with a monstrous and hideous appearance who still maintains her femininity. The first Fans Thanksgiving event was held in October, and Bandai-Namco games decided to do another one just a few months afterwards to celebrate the immense success of the latest game in the franchise. Ikue felt like she was playing a character half in her grave because of her character’s grotesque bony and sinewy appearance. There was also a raffle at the event where fans could win prizes such as merchandise emblazoned with the game’s logo and characters, and a book signed by the cast.

Arisa Mizuki Admired by Women, In a New Haircare Commercial, and Reprises Her Role in a Sequel!

In an Internet poll held in the month of January, single women were asked which female talent they admired most. Arisa Mizuki is best known to us Moonies as the singer of the last theme song of Sailor Stars Kaze Mo, Sora Mo, Kitto (The Wind, The Sky, Still), and she was chosen in third place with 5.9% of the vote! Arisa is also in a new commercial for a haircare line from Shiseido – Tsubaki Head Spa. Her commercial is the very last one on this page. This shampoo has a blend of essential oils to bring out the best in your hair. She was featured with 5 other actresses in these commercials and appeared alongside them at a special event to celebrate the product’s launch in Tokyo (featured in photo here). And finally, Arisa is reprising her role as the namesake housewife in a second Sazae-san special to be broadcast sometime this summer. This special is being produced in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the popular manga about a Japanese woman striving to be the most modern housewife that she can be.

Many Seiyuu Cosplay and Sing at Sakura Taisen Concert; Out Soon on DVD!

Michie Tomizawa (Sailor Mars), Kazue Ikura (Natsumi Ichinose, Bonnone), Kikuko Inoue (Princess Rubiina, Reiko Aya/Sailor Aluminum Siren), Mayumi Tanaka (Robert), Taiki Matsuno (Pegasus/Helios), Kumiko Nishihara (Diana), Yuriko Fuchizaki (Cyprine) and Toshio Furukawa (Hawk’s Eye) were all in full cosplay and singing hit songs from Sakura Taisen at Sakura Taisen Teito Hanagumi Live 2010 in Tokyo on March 6th. The concert was held in two parts, one during the day and one at night. This was the first Sakura Taisen concert event held in four years, and it was a wonderful reunion for the stars as well as for the fans. The show was so successful that it will be released on DVD in June. For more photos of the event, check out this post from Gamespot Japan. The one we have posted here features a few of the Sailor Moon Seiyuu – Michie Tomizawa is on the left, next to her is Kazue Ikura, and third from the right is Mayumi Tanaka!

Kikuko Inoue Flies Again in Radio Drama, and Shows Up in a Ton of Other Places Too!

Almost 7 years ago, Yahoo Japan embarked on an ambitious project to show English-dubbed anime shorts with Japanese subtitles. While we don’t know how this turned out, one of those properties is experiencing a resurrection through a radio drama in Japan. Trip Teck is a story about a young girl named Zocco who is the daughter of a Mighty King and a simple human woman. Her mother has been gone out of her life for reasons unknown, and she begins a journey to look for her. Accompanying her are two animal companions, a rabbit named Mimime and a fly named Catherine, who is played by none other than Kikuko Inoue. Sailor Moon fans may remember Kikuko as the voice of Sailor Aluminum Siren/Reiko Aya and Princess Rubina. In a new interview with the stars of the drama, she thought it was difficult to have to play a fly that advises Zocco on her journey, because who listens to flies? ITMedia has also gone a step further and posted photos of the actors recording their lines, something we hardly ever get a glimpse of! We’ve featured a shot of Kikuko working hard here! She hopes people will tune in because the show takes listeners to a completely new world and she feels that people will think that this is their journey too, and not just Zocco’s! For all you Metal Gear Solid fans, Kikuko also has a role as a new character named Chico in the upcoming game for PSP, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. All we know about this character is that the character Amanda is his older sister. Kikuko is also voicing a commercial for a computer store advertising some sort of Intel replacement program at their store. Trading in certain desired processors and motherboards gets you a lottery ticket to win store credit towards a new machine. And those of you planning to purchase a MAPLUS GPS system in Japan, Kikuko is one of 17 popular actors chosen to record voices for the navigator, so the next time you take a wrong turn and your GPS takes forever to “recalculate” the distance, at least you can imagine Sailor Aluminum Siren contemplating a new route for your evildoing trip. And our very last Kikuko sighting for now is an appearance of her at an event for Rio Super Carnival, an anime based on a popular pachinko character (who later appeared in a Dead or Alive game). And here we thought Toru “ToFu-san” Furuya kept us too busy when this blog first started, and now it seems that Kikuko is the new hot star that’s out and about everywhere in Japan!

Tales of Festival Tickets are On Sale!

For those of you planning to be in Japan on June 5th and 6th of this year, you could have the opportunity to see Masaya Onosaka (Jadeite, pictured left) and Hikaru Midorikawa (Fiore, Ail/Alan, pictured right)! Tales of Festival 2010 tickets are now on sale, and those two seiyuu will be among a handful of stars from Bandai-Namco’s Tales RPG series appearing at the special 2 day concert. Hikaru played the characters Lion Magnus in Tales of Destiny, and Judas in Tales of Destiny 2. Masaya played Zelos Wilder in Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Tickets went on sale earlier this month and are going for anywhere from 4800 Yen to 7800 Yen ($53-86 USD). There aren’t too many details out about this event yet, but it looks like it will be a lot of fun for Tales fans!

Queen Nehelenia Turns Nice in Cobra: The Animation!

Yoshiko Sakakibara (Queen Nehelenia) reprised her role as Armaroid Lady, Cobra’s android sidekick, in a two episode Cobra: The Animation OVA which aired on Japanese TV just weeks ago. The entire Cobra: The Animation series which stretches all the way back to the 80s, is finally being released on Blu-Ray beginning this April in honor of Cobra’s 30th anniversary! Fans can learn more about the OVA from Mania.com, and also watch subtitled episodes on Crunchyroll!

Some Seiyuu Involved in Ghoulish ParaPara?!

Wataru Takagi (Rubeus, an MC, and Kobayashi), Daisuke Sakaguchi (various supporting roles), and Machiko Toyoshima (Palla-Palla and various supporting characters) are part of an enormous cast doing something special for popular Japanese ghost story franchise, GeGeGe no Kitaro. The cast happily volunteered for a special CD filled with their singing, and dancing – they are all going to be doing GeGeGe-themed Para-Para! They are all featured on the cover next to a monster with a giant eyeball for a head. This will be released on February 19th and looks like it will be a lot of fun!

New RPG Gives Characters the Chance to Have the Voice of Ryotaro Okiayu!

Square Enix’s Concerto Gate Forte, a sequel to the hugely popular MMORPGs Cross Gate and Concerto Gate, has a very special item in it that players can collect. For two weeks as part of a special lottery, players could collect the “Power of Words Candy” and their character would be able to speak with the voice of one of 3 seiyuus. One of those is Ryotaro Okiayu (Tiger’s Eye and various other supporting characters). The other two voices that fans could win are Jun Fukuyama (best known as Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass) and J-pop singer Nana Mizuki. Concerto Gate Forte has proven to be popular among Japanese game players for its very interesting art style: it combines 3D characters and maps with hand drawn map elements!

New Doraemon CD Features An Old Favorite…

Mitsuko Horie (Sailor Galaxia) is featured on a special Doraemon movie theme album! To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first Doraemon movie, a special 2CD album is being released with the best-loved theme songs. Mitsuko Horie’s “Aozora-tte Iina” from 1988 is featured on the compilation. To hear the song, click here!

..As Does a New Gundam Album!

Or rather, old favorites! On February 24th, a limited edition boxset with 145 Gundam songs will be released as a nice touch to the 30th anniversary celebrations which began last year. Chieko Honda (Tellu) and Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko) will be singing Tokyo Boogie Night on Disc 10: Another Story. The Boxset also comes with a 272 page book with a Gundam timeline, interviews, and comments on the music. This is quickly selling out on many online stores so Gundam fans who want a copy of this should go find it quickly!

And To End, Lots of Kikuko Inoue!

Kikuko Inoue (Princess Rubina, Reiko Aya/Sailor Aluminum Siren) is sure up to a lot these days! On February 2rd, she will be appearing at a special “Kodansha Comics Afternoon Festival” for a radio interview that will later be streamed online through NicoVideo. For more information on this event hit the Afternoon Festival blog here! Kikuko’s voice can also be heard in a dating sim: Vector’s Book Of Love. Kikuko plays a high school student in this dating sim for men. This is a dating sim built just for the mobile market, and men who want to play this game can try it for free. We can’t find too much more about the nature of this game (if there is any hentai/ecchi themes involved). The last place that you can hear Kikuko this month is on a CD of music to accompany the popular Zero na Tsukaima series called Nemurenai Fantasy. This CD is full of character songs and dialogues, and is a must for any ZnT fans!

Yes, you’re hearing this officially! Just hours ago, Otakon announced the addition of Kikuko Inoue to their guest list! While everyone remembers her for her roles as Belldandy in Oh My Goddess, Kasume in Ranma 1/2 and Sephiria Arks in Black Cat. But, the only roles that have ever mattered to us Sailor Moon fans are her roles as Princess Rubina in the SuperS season, but most importantly, Sailor Aluminum Siren/ Aya Reiko in Sailor Stars! Words cannot express how excited all of us on staff are to hear about this – we all hope that Human Swine Flu/H1N1/ or whatever it wants to be called these days doesn’t stop her from coming! Who amongst our readers is also excited to hear this?

Beware of Fake Rika Izumi aka Chisaki Hama Blog!

Ahh,Rika Izumi, or better known by a stage name of years passed, Chisaki Hama (Sailor Mercury in PGSM). Her whereabouts since last year have only been documented in blogs from the other actresses of PGSM when they have hung out. This year saw something different though, a resurrection! But wait, it’s probably not her. It all started last October when someone posted some pretty grainy cell phone videos of Rika Izumi – or so they say. It could be her, but we really doubt the authenticity of this channel. Besides, the only “stars” we know that would post private videos are usually aiming for a different audience. And some of these “private videos” show Rika in situations that look scripted. We don’t think that this is Rika and that this channel is probably fake. Late last month, we learned of this website, which features a blog translated by her roommate “Michiko”. We thought it was a little shady since it appeared to be a community of all the PGSM actresses, and featured very little of their work outside of the show. We also learned that the English parts of the blog are some poorly translated entries, that are supposedly posted by the stars themselves. Some of the stars though, notably Ayaka Komatsu, have their own blogs elsewhere, and to be able to post comments, you have to pay a fee to be a member of their fan club. Then you can post all the comments you like! We highly doubt they would also run a free site on the side. We’re sure if her management knew about how her entries were being copied and frauded around like this something would be done. We have reason to believe that this site is also fake as Jay Navok of Genvid has pointed out that the Japanese probably isn’t correct either. We have tried our hardest to contact as many of the talent agents of the other stars, to warn them that content is being stolen, however as of this writing it appears none of them have done anything about it.

Mop Girl Only The Latest In A Growing Trend

Keiko Kitagawa‘s (Sailor Mars in PGSM) new late-night drama Mop Girl is only the latest in a recent trend in Japanese Television. 10 years ago, “midnight dramas” were not really in existence, and Japanese people were not likely to watch television late at night. This time slot attracts the youth especially and is almost becoming the new primetime for that demographic. Mop Girl is especially popular with viewers aged 20-24.

Phone Girls is out on DVD!

Rina Koike (Sailor Luna in PGSM) continues her ascent in the idol world, and her new series called Phone Girls / Keitai Shoujo was released on DVD November 26th in Japan. It’s about schoolgirls who love to talk and use their cell phones! The show has an animated RPG component, as well as a live action drama about a phone girl falling in love on a class trip. Last week all the idols of the show did a live show which will be released on DVD in February. They all played instruments and this was the first time Rina performed the drums for an audience! We were smitten with cute when we saw this picture, Rina is such a darling!!

Megumi Ogata Holds Concert Celebrating 15 Years in Anime!

Yesterday, Megumi Ogata (Sailor Uranus) held a concert in Shibuya O-EAST celebrating her 15 years in the Anime industry. She sang a whopping 38 songs , and opening the show was Moonlight Densetsu, better known as the opening theme of the first four seasons of Sailor Moon! And there cheering her on was none other than frequent co-stars Aya Hisakawa (Sailor Mercury) and Kikuko Inoue (Sailor Aluminum Siren)! She sang hits from all her work, including Cruel Angel’s Thesis from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Congratulations Emi and here’s to more years of hearing your voice in anime! Fans may be interested to know that Jamiroquai Frontman Jay Kay is a producer of one of the floors at Shibuya O-EAST where fans can enjoy a fine meal while they are at a concert.

In Other Concert News…

Yoko Ishida will also be performing a concert December 24th, to thank her fans. Coincidentally, she is also celebrating 15 years in the industry! Her first hit was Otome no Policy from Sailor Moon R in 1993. The concert begins at 5:30 PM and tickets are ¥4000. For those of our fans who are in Japan and can attend Thankful X’mas, they can find out more information from the venue, Eggman.

Toru Furuya Appears at Yet Another Intel Event!

Toru Furuya (Tuxedo Kamen) is such a technophile! He has made yet another appearance at an Intel event November 25th to promote Intel’s processors. This time he appeared at the Special Stage of Intel in Osaka 2007. He joked that the new Core 2 Quad processor has 5x as much power as a Gundam! He did voices of his most famous characters at the event to get the audience’s attention, including Tuxedo Kamen! He said something to the effect of not standing for men who break an elegant girl’s heart. We wonder why Intel hasn’t bothered to hire Vince Corazza to make Sailor Mon fans everywhere swoon enough to buy Intel Processors! Nonetheless, we absolutely love this shot of Toru holding the processor box in his hands!

Mika Kanai And Her Husband Get Divorced 🙁

Last week, several Japanese news outlets covered the sad news that Mika Kanai (Mimete) and her husband, Kouichi Yamadera have been divorced for over a year. They divorced after around 12 years of marriage in spring of 2006, but this has only come to light now. The two are long-time veterans of voice, with Kouichi being the Japanese dub voice of such hollywood heavyweights like Eddie Murphy and Jim Carrey. He proposed to her in 1994 after they had gotten to know each other from co-starring together in a radio drama. His proposal was infamous as he had popped the question to her while standing on a mailbox! Though the cause of the split is unknown, many are speculating that their busy schedules over the last few years was likely the cause. They probably barely had time to spend with each other after their careers.

The two had worked together on many series, such as the children’s favorite Anpanman, Ranma ½, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig, and Pokemon. They even worked together on the dub of Tiny Toons Adventures , playing Shirley McLoon and Plucky Duck. While this may come to a shock to us now, friends of the couple say that they had been discussing divorce for several years repeatedly. Mika is now living in the three-story house they once shared, and Kouichi is living in an apartment in Tokyo. The two still remain friends, and neither wishes to speak about the divorce saying that this is a private matter and they will not comment. Mika can be seen next in a sold-out concert December 16th. She and other seiyuu from the popular OVA Suchie Pai will be performing a Christmas special at Live Inn Magic in Tokyo.

This tenth entry is quite large, as we’ve found quite a few sightings of stars from the anime and the live action so brace yourselves!

New Keiko Kitagawa Commercials Soon!

Who would have thought that Keiko Kitagawa (PGSM Sailor Mars) would be one of the hottest stars in Japanese entertainment today? Her new drama Mop Girl is doing very well in Japan and now can be seen in commercials for several different products! Just recently NTT DoCoMo announced some new models of their FOMA 705i and 905i and that the cast of the DoCoMo 2.0 commercials from last summer will be returning to promote these new commercials. To refresh your memory, the DoCoMo 2.0 included such idol heavyweights alongside Keiko Kitagawa, such as singers Anna Tsuchiya and Tomoya Nagase. We are definitely going to keep our eyes peeled for this new set of commercials! We have also learned that Keiko Kitagawa is going to be one of the new faces of Coffret D’Or (Translation: Gold Treasure Box) , a new line of shimmering pink and champagne gold makeup from Japanese cosmetics giant, Kanebo. She was chosen along a few other women, because she represents the “elegance and beauty made ideal from the beholder, flowing from the inside out.” This one will be out in December, just in time for the holiday party season! We’ll leave you with this new shot we found of Keiko in a magazine.

An Almost Real-Life Tachikoma!

The Tachikomas are those poor, blue, underappreciated robots from Ghost in the Shell, who have always been there to follow orders from Motoko and Batou and have gotten them out of several sticky situations. But much of the series revolved around the Tachikomas developing their own “Ghosts” or personalities, and every episode had a humorous short featuring these loveable battle machines. In fact, these Tachikomas could probably make the perfect pet if they really existed! Come February of next year, this dream is going to become an almost reality. In Japan, Bandai will be releasing a mini-robot Tachikoma that you can install and hook up to your PC via a USB cable. The robot talks and lights up, and the CD-Rom comes with several games that you can play with your Tachikoma! And providing the voice for the Tachikoma is none other than the voice of the Tachikoma herself, Sakiko Tamagawa! Sakiko’s voice should be familiar to Sailor Moon fans, as she played Elsa Grey in S episode 106, and Princess Kakyuu in Sailor Stars. The robot stands almost 10 cm tall and will cost close to $120, so start saving now!

Kikuko Inoue in New Anime!

The romantic comedy Clannad just started in Japan and Pony Canyon held a big event where nine of the Seiyuu for the show came out to answer a Q&A from fans. Among these was Kikuko Inoue (Sailor Aluminum Siren, Princess Rubina) , who plays Sanae Furukawa in the series. There was a contest where fans had to draw characters and items from the show, and the winner received a case of ramen. The actors apologized for this sorry gift, but noted that this event was about having fun! They all talked about their work on the show and some commented on the exceptional quality of the animation. The anime is about a guy who encounters many girls with strange powers in a kind of dream world which somehow fuses with the real world. Kikuko is on the right in this picture.

Another Masaya Kikawada Interview!

We came across another interview Masaya Kikawada (PGSM Motoki) did to promote the latest Kamen Rider movie. He didn’t say anything too much different in this one compared to the last one – but he did comment on the gap between what was popular when he was younger and what is popular now! And he thinks it can only get even more complex in the future, especially the gap in his acting. He thinks he will do different kinds of acting in the future compared to what he is doing now. He loves acting in dramas but he is scared of acting in soap operas!

And Finally, Rina Koike is Making Her Way in The Idol World!

One of the more bizarre decisions made in PGSM was the humanization of Luna as a young girl (and a senshi). This character was annoying but almost everyone can agree that the actress who played her, Rina Koike, was very cute and talented. She is now 13 years old and is one of the top models at her agency, Very Berry Production. Rina was featured a few days ago on a show in a Pay-Per-View series where she learned about modeling from veteran Gravure (and adult magazine) Idol Yuuri Morishita. We don’t think she is really the right kind of model for Rina to learn from especially since she is a lot more reserved than others. We read that Rina didn’t really feel comfortable with the idea of modeling in her birthday suit. In around a week’s time, a short DVD called Her Friends Are Billion Year Old Ghosts is set for release. This DVD shows her playing the piano and telling some charming children’s stories. As of a couple weeks ago, she is also a voice of a character in Mobile Phone Girls, an anime that is just for cell phones starring some genki schoolgirl characters! The picture here is Rina at an announcement for this series last August.