Akira Ishida Likes to Watch a Travel Show, and Starring in New Animes!

Akira Ishida (Fisheye) in a recent radio interview spent 20 minutes professing his love for Roque Roque Roque Roque Mitsu, a Travel show in Japan. Most specifically, he loves when they show different parts of Kansai. The show is hosted by cosplay idol Saki Inagaki, and has a very interesting concept behind it. Fans can check out the interview in Japanese here! Akira is in 2 different anime on the air as we speak in Japan. The first is an anime adaptation of Sengoku Basara (which we will tell you more about in a future PGSM article), and he will be playing the major role of Hanbee Takenaka. He will also be playing the leading role of upperclassman Komugi Musashi in the anime adaptation of Hen-Zemi, a manga about an abnormal physiology class.

Sakura Tange Continues RPG Streak!

We told you in the last big update that Sakura Tange (Miharu Akiyama) is a voice in two RPGs. Well, we can add a third to that list! KoiKen is a dating RPG played thorugh Mobage Town, one of Japan’s largest Mobile-only social networks. KoiKen 2 will be released this summer, and the new heroine will be a character named Hotaru Yamabuki, and she will be played by Sakura! Also joining her will be Akira Ishida (Fisheye), who will play Mr. Sekiguchi, a 26 year old physics teacher at Hotaru’s school who has a photography hobby. We couldn’t find too much else about this RPG, but we hope that Sakura will return to anime too. A few screenshots have also just been released for Love Plus, another RPG that Sakura is voicing a character in. She also joins Yuko Minaguchi (Sailor Saturn) as Nene Anegasaki. The game features new enhancements in the stay and evolution systems, and character design. For fans who want to hear what she sounds like in the upcoming Fate Extra RPG for PSP, the official site now has a trailer up where she narrates as her character, Saber! Sakura is also joining Megumi Ogata (Sailor Uranus) in hosting NHK’s Anisong program on the radio. Megumi will host the first half, and Sakura will host the second half.

Megumi Hayashibara Narrating New Emotional Anime

Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko) is serving as the narrator in an anime that is hailed to be just as popular as Death Note is in Japan, in time. Rainbow – Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin (The Seven Boys of Dorm 2, Room 6) is set in the 1950s, and is centered around the recovery of 7 juvenile delinquents and their relationship with their mentor at a reform school. This series was a challenge for everyone to record, including Megumi who seems to have the simplest role of all. The series is based on the manga of the same name by George Abe and Masasumi Kakizaki which was a prize winner at the 51st Shogakukan Manga Awards. The show has been in development since 2006 and finally premiered on April 6th of this year.

In a Distant Time 3 Features Many Sailor Moon Seiyuu (But the New Anime Only Has One)!

The female-friendly RPG In a Distant Time 3 (Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3) features four Seiyuu well-known to Sailor Moon fans. This RPG is about three friends who meet a strange boy who transports them to a different world. They learn, that they have special powers to seal off an evil force tearing this world apart, and return back to their own. Akira Ishida (Fisheye) plays Ridvan, a sword instructor for two of the kids, and the role of Hakuryu is split among Ryotaro Okiayu (Tiger’s Eye, Yuuji, Achiral, and George) and Ikue Otani (U-Chouten and Sailor Tin Nyanko/Nyanko Suzu) . Ikue plays the child form and Ryotaro plays the adult form. Hakuryu is a being that summoned the children from the other world, and grows into his own during the game. And finally, Maria Kawamura (Eudial) plays Masako Hojo, the wife of a clan member who has alterior motives. The games were released a long time ago, but a new anime adaptation only retains Maria in the new cast (pictured third from left in front row). The anime began in January, and Maria was very vocal about the cast changes, saying that she wished that everyone could be back together again. Back then, they all got along really well and would laugh a lot, and this recording cast doesn’t feel the same to her.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana Fans Get Interviews Included on New Drama CD!

Ys: The Oath in Felghana is a PC RPG where two heroes have to save their hometown from evil. Bin Shimada (Yuichiro Kumada) plays the Bishop Nicholas Garland, the governor of Felghana. He reprised his role in the accompanying drama CD released alongside the latest release for the PSP, which also came with a bonus – cast interviews! Of the drama CD, he says that listening to the CD will make the player really feel like they are in the 3D world of Felghana, and can’t wait for the fans to play the game and hear the drama CD. The game was released for PSP on April 22nd.

Akira Kamiya May Be Out of Latest Detective Conan Film, but Wakana Yamazaki is in it for the Long Haul!

The latest (and 14th) Detective Conan movie, Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky premiered in Japan on April 7th. This movie marks the first in which Akira Kamiya will not be playing the character Kogoro Mouri (he left the role last Fall), however Wakana Yamazaki (Koan, Child Queen Nehellenia) continues to play the role of his daughter Ran. She jokingly said that she wondered if this was the last movie at the premiere, but there are more on the way as the 15th movie was previewed at the end! Once again, she thought that the movie had the perfect balance of action, suspense, and of course love! She also thanked the fans for braving the cold weather to come to the premiere. In this movie, Conan faces his rival Kid the Phantom Thief, aboard the Bell 3, the largest airship in the world. There’s a little problem though, before Kid can even get on the ship it is hijacked by terrorists, and Conan and his comrades are also on the ship! There were plenty of jokes made connecting this to 24, as the new voice of Kogoro Rikiya Koyama, is also the Japanese dubbing voice of 24‘s Jack Bauer! The movie has been met with resounding success in Japan, but as of this writing it is unknown if the movie will ever make it to the English market.

New Anime Adaptation of Manga Features Sailor Moon Animator!

Lily Hoshino’s manga Otame Yokai Zakuro (Demon Maiden Zakuro), is getting an anime adaptation. This manga is about a different universe where Japanese society includes both humans and demons. There is a special Ministry that deals with conflicts between the two, and it is comprised of human and demon representatives, and one very special representative. Zakuro, is a half-human, half-demon girl, who faces challenges every day when her demonic tendencies collide with her human sensibilities. She is a fox-maiden paired up with a human who has been traumatized by demons! Days ago, the staff for the anime adaptation was announced, and Shinya Hasegawa will be in charge of character design. Shinya was a key animator and an animation director through the R movie, S, SuperS, and the S movie.

Mamoru Hosoda Wins Award!

Mamoru Hosoda has sure come a long way since his days as a key animator on Sailor Stars and the SuperS movie! Summer Wars was a big hit last summer in Japan, and has won a few awards worldwide. One more can be added to that list – and that is a Best Director Award at the 19th Japanese Film Professional Awards! The movie was also #2 on the top ten list of best work. The awards will be handed out on May 15th at a special ceremony at Ikekuburo’s Shin-Bungeiza, and will also feature some screenings and appearances by the award winners. As of this writing, only an English-language license has been announced by Manga Entertainment UK.

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!

Senshi Minus One Reunite With Naoko!

Naoko Takeuchi invited Kotono Mitsuishi, Aya Hisakawa, Michie Tomizawa, and Rika Fukami to her house for a New Years’ lunch. Emi Shinohara was probably also invited but wasn’t there. She posted a photo of everyone enjoying champagne and wine! From left to right in this photo: Rika Fukami, Naoko Takeuchi, Aya Hisakawa, Michie Tomizawa, and Kotono Mitsuishi. She writes:

Super Gorgeous!

This is a New Years Party at the house of the original author of Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi~

Aya Hisakawa, Rika-chan Fukami, Michie Tomizawa and I had a wonderful lunch with Naoko Takeuchi!

It was too fun!

It was too delicious!

Do we ever get tired of talking about Sailor Moon?
Mitsuishi was in the best spirits after all that champagne and wine!

Kotono is so cute – and this is definitely a rare look inside Naoko Takeuchi’s house! It sure looks pretty regal to us – we wonder if she themed her house to be Princess Naoko’s palace? Did Yoshihiro Togashi take this photo?

The Seiyuu Also Invaded a Shopping Arcade!

The Shinmachi Shopping Arcade to be exact! The Machi★Asobi Vol 2. Exhibit opened in the arcade in January, featuring all sorts of anime and manga memorabilia from drawings, to autographs, and costumes. Some of the seiyuu involved with Sailor Moon had autographs that were featured in this exhibit, and they included: Michie Tomizawa, Rika Fukami, Mika Doi (Queen Serenity), Emi Shinohara, the late Kaneto Shiozawa (Prince Diamond), and Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko). Some Sailor Moon movie posters were also featured as part of the exhibit. To see more pictures, click here!

Going back to Kotono…

Kotono also appeared at a special press event for Kokkeko-san a little over two weeks ago with the entire cast of the show (she is front row and center, holding the Kokkeko-san doll). This article features an interview with them, and Kotono had a lot to say about her role! She spoke about how Kokkeko-san is a lovely mother who just wants the best of her kids, and just like many other mothers, has to deal with a husband who doesn’t always help her. She thinks that this is a great cartoon for mothers and children to bond to watching it together. She enjoyed and sympathized with this role, being a mother just like Kokkeko-san! All of the cast also wished that they had moms like Kokkeko-san! Kotono ended the interview saying how much she loved the arts, and asked for all mothers to watch it with their children.

Emi Shinohara Plays Piano For Peace!

Besides using the power of thunder to save the world, did you also know that Sailor Jupiter plays the piano? This is one of many talents listed on her official agency profile, and we were a little surprised to learn of this sighting! There is a piano that has traveled all over Japan, and is known for being a symbol of peace. This piano survived the bombing at Hiroshima, and has a very interesting story behind it (and we can even share it with you in English)! On January 23rd, a special concert was held at the Cultural Information Center in Hanoura, Anan City, in Tokushima, Japan. The piano still holds small amounts of radiation and shards of glass throughout its lacquer, but the piano tuner who restored it (Mitsunori Yagawa) commented that those who hear how good the piano sounds, they cannot tell that it was part of such a horrific event. Emi Shinohara accompanied singers at this concert which played to an audience of 300. This piano is one of four pianos which survived the bombing, and a different one that Yagawa has restored will be making its way to New York City later this year to mark the 9th anniversary of the September 11th attacks and International Day of Peace. There was even a special part of the concert where some very talented 7th graders played the piano as well. We have featured an image of Emi Shinohara accompanying soprano Miki Furumoto above.

Hear Sakura Tange in Video Games!

Sakura Tange is probably most famous for playing Sakura in Card Captor Sakura, and well known for singing that show’s theme song. She also had a small role as Miharu Akiyama in episode 139 of Sailor Moon SuperS. Fans of Sakura can hear her voice in two video games this month! The first is Fate/Extra, where she plays Saber, the lead female warrior. This was not met without controversy as she is playing a role once played by Ayako Kawasumi. Fate/Extra is the fourth game based on the popular Fate/Stay Night series. The second game that fans can hear her in is Konami’s Love Plus Valentine, which was just released last week. She plays Rinko Kobayakawa, a first year high school student. This game is a dating sim that is all about being in love when you are in high school!

Part Two will be posted a little later this week!

We saw the new episode of Slayers Revolution last night and it was just like nothing had changed for any of the characters. Lina was still explosive, Gourry was still an airhead, Amelia still had her long justice speeches, and Zelgadis is still always the last piece of the puzzle who can crack even the hardest of situations. Fans of the old series will not be disappointed! Every blog review we have read was positive so we think that this will be a big hit. No word yet as of this writing if Funimation has considered to pick up this series. A brief summary since we anticipate most of you will go hunting for fansubs very soon (SPOILER ALERT AFTER THE JUMP).

Congratulations to Megumi Hayashibara and Hikaru Midorikawa on their success with the return of Slayers!

So our tale begins on the high seas, and there’s these pirates that have a huge mountain of treasure on their ship. Lina crashes their celebration over their victory by casting a fireball, and along with Gourry, they move with their ship towards the pirates and kick their butts. Amelia, Zelgadis, and Wizer are on another ship, and they eventually join in the fighting. The fish-lady from seasons past has returned and tells the pirates that Lina has destroyed villages aplenty. Of course, that ticks Lina off and she blasts the ship to oblivion (no Dragon Slave T_T). Lina and Gourry feast at an Inn, and wait for Amelia and Zelgadis to arrive… along with a mysterious new character named Wizer, who is there to arrest Lina Inverse just for being herself. The gang manages to escape Wizer, but only to be confronted with a tank/turtle and an army. They are left with no choice but to fight, and at the end of the episode, the final blow is handed down by a little green monster who uses… DRAGON SLAVE?! But that’s Lina’s Attack?! Lina freaks out at the end of the episode wondering what just happened. Ahh, we can only wait and see what this new season brings! Fans can check out a fuller summary with pictures here.

As we speak, the new Slayers series, Slayers Revolution, is airing on Japan’s TV Tokyo. When we first heard about this news months ago, we were really excited. Slayers ranks right up there with Sailor Moon among our favorite anime. It has been 7 years since we last heard from our favorite sorceress and her friends… it gives us a little hope that after some time, perhaps even Sailor Moon could make a comeback (hey, anything is possible?). Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko Nayakotake in the S Movie) returns in her title role as Lina Inverse, as does Hikaru Midorikawa (Ail, Fiore in R Movie) as Zelgadiss Graywords! In this series, Lina and Gourry travel to find a replacement weapon after the Sword of Light was lost in the last battle they had fought. Of course, nothing is ever easy with the Slayers, and expect some troubles and hardships (along with humorous filler episodes) along the way! We will be following the blogs today for initial reaction and we will keep you posted all about the new series!