The anime adaptation of Yoshihiro Togashi’s Level E now has two official websites: one from Pierrot and another from TV Tokyo. The TV Tokyo site has a special treat for all you Level E fans that can’t wait to see the anime – a promotional video featuring some teasers from the anime, as well as everyone’s favorite idol, Shoko Nakagawa! Shokotan enters her dressing room over the voice of the narrator, Fumihiko Tachiki who says “Hundreds of kinds of aliens come and go to Earth and live”. Shokotan, then turns into a long-tongued alien that is “giza” scary, and we see a preview of the anime. At the end of the video, Shokotan reverts from her alien to her human form, and leaves, ready to perform. We wonder if this could be a hint for who will be singing the theme song? Shokotan shot this during the most recent Jump Super Anime Tour, and was happy to be chosen to play an alien in this short. She hopes everyone will watch the anime when it airs on TV – we are sure all of Togashi’s fans will watch it too!

(In other Shoko Nakagawa news, she was showing some of her old favorite video games on her blog, and look which one she chose for one of the entries!)

New Album Full of AniSon Covers Coming Soon!

Set to be released on March 10th is a new album from Shoko “Shokotan” Nakagawa called “Shokotan☆Hip 3: Anison Connects Mankind”. This album is chock full of familiar songs from anime, and comes in two flavours, a CD-only version (SRCL-7220) and a CD+DVD version (SRCL-7218). For those fans who opt for the latter version, you’re in for a treat! Not only do you get videos and making-of clips on the DVD, but you get a bunch of additional tracks too! Two of these additional tracks are Moonlight Densetsu and Sailor Star Song, the two beloved openings of the Sailor Moon series! Shoko will also cover two songs sung by stars of Sailor Moon, Give A Reason from Slayers Next by Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko) and Don’t You…? from Himitsu no Akko-Chan by Mitsuko Horie (Sailor Galaxia). Shoko is even covering a song from Yoshihiro Togashi’s Yu Yu Hakusho, Smile Bomb! This release is just starting to pop up on online stores. You are better off just searching for Shoko’s name and working from there since the album’s name is probably going to change from what the stores have listed now. Here is the tracklist:

01. Angel Night ~ ~ You are an angel (“City Hunter 2”)
02. GOD KNOWS … (“The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
03. Interstellar flight (“Macross FRONTIER”)
04. Unyielding wish (“Magic Knight Rayearth”)
05. Freckles (“Rurouni Kenshin”)
06. Rain-Kissed Bouquet (“YAWARA!”)
07. Smile Bomb (“Yu Yu Hakusho”)
08.Fuse of Excitement (“Fushigi Yuugi”)
09. Give a reason (“Slayers NEXT”)
10. Refrain of Soul (“Neon Genesis Evangelion”)
11 Come Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power! (“Dragon Ball Z”)
12. Precure 5, Full Throttle GO GO! (Anime “Yes! Precure 5 GoGo!” / Kudou Mayu with Purikyua 5)
Bonus tracks (CD + DVD)
13. Bit by Bit My Heart is Charmed, Opening Song -short ver .- (“Dragon Ball GT”)
14. Don’t say “lazy”-short ver .- (anime “K-On!”)
15. Moonlight Densetsu-short ver .- (“Sailor Moon”)
16. Sailor Stars Song-short ver .- (“Sailor Stars”)
17. Wonderful Color Happiness -short ver .- (“Magical Emi, the Magic Star”)
18. DON’T YOU …?-Short ver .- (“Himitsu no Akko-chan”)

Shokotan always covers her anime songs vibrantly, and this album looks like it will be a lot of fun! Shoko has always loved to sing songs from Sailor Moon and cosplay as her. Here are a few links to video for you all to enjoy!

From 2009, singing with a bunch of dancers cosplaying as Sailor Mercury.
Cosplay Silliness on a Japanese Variety Show – 1
Cosplay Silliness on a Japanese Variety Show – 2

Two stars we have covered on this blog made the Japanese tabloids a few weeks ago when it was rumored that they might be dating! The infamous idol, popstar, cosplay enthusiast, and recent mangaka, Shoko “Shokotan” Nakagawa and Jyoji Shibue (Tuxedo Mask in PGSM) were recently caught by the tabloids having dinner in a tavern in Shibuya. The two were chatting away and having a great time, without a clue that they were spotted by someone who snapped them together (pictured). Another website had posted an article alleging that the two were dating, and that their date did not end after dinner. Shoko took offense to this, and posted a retort on her blog , saying that she didn’t understand why going out to dinner with a friend was such a headline. Shibby’s blog is pretty boring and featured no retort whatsoever. This is the first we have ever heard of these two being friends, and we hope that in light of this tabloid hiccup, they can continue to be friends. Shoko is after all, a big fan of Kamen Rider, of which Shibby had a leading role in one of the latest series. Of course though, we had to leaf through a few entries for Sailor Sightings! Here is a snack she is getting ready to enjoy (berries and condensed milk) in some anime-themed snack bowls she found, here she is with Ayana Tsubaki buying manga (look what Ayana is holding!), and here she is in formal dress, holding a Chibi-Usa plushie. She cracks a joke that dressing up and wearing makeup again after a long time isn’t like “Jupiter Power”!

We’ve Got a Heartwarming Shokotan Story!

Hey readers – I’ve been talking with The Me and we are both aware how much you are missing reading articles and seeing commercials – believe me, we’re having a tough time trying to find time to get these things done. For most of the year now I’ve been taking on a few computer consultant/web development jobs and the latter has kept me busy (and stressed beyond my mind, as anyone who has had to do anything for a less-than-ideal boss can understand). The good news is that it appears that most of the stars in Japan haven’t been up to a lot lately so look forward to seeing a News From The Other Side of the Pond in a few days that will not be split up by Sailor Moon production (though it’s sad that the actors are up to little, it actually makes our lives easier when we bing the stories to you!). We’ve also got some exciting Flashpoint news from around the world to share with you this upcoming week, and an exhibit in Japan with features Sailor Moon.

In the meantime though, we read this really heartwarming and charming story about Shoko “Shokotan” Nakagawa on Kotaku, one of the best blogs for geek culture. We all try to hit this one a few times a week when we have time to kill. Tokyo Game Show (like E3 but some of it is open to the public) just ended, and Shoko appeared at the con to sing at a concert and from the picture here, it looks like she was there for some Pokemon promotion as well. We’re not sure if the story in this post is true about the editor’s son wanting to marry Shoko because she is pretty and knows lots about Pokemon, but we would not be surprised if it was! Shoko is one of the few idols who is always candid about the anime, manga, and games that she loves, even if the tabloids make fun of her for it. Hey, if you were a little kid and had an idol like this to look up to, chances are you’d want to spend the rest of your life with this person☻! Shoko once again ruffled the feathers of the tabloids when she posed for pictures in Sailor Moon cosplay with popular “newhalf” model , Ayana Tsubaki. Ayana is one of Japan’s most popular transexual models, so of course while some parts of culture accept her, others don’t. The article did say that Ayana looked impressive in her Sailor Mars cosplay – and we think so too. Aside from her boots, we thought she did a good job! Shoko remarked on her post that it’s good to make lots of friends and that it was nice to cosplay with a friend as Sailor Moon characters since it’s a story that her generation really enjoyed. She ended the post with an ascii character hugging “⊂二二(＾ω＾)二二つ”. We don’t care what anyone says about her, but she is probably the coolest of all the idols in our opinion because of her love of cosplay and anime! We’ve posted the picture here for you all to see.

Hey Moonies – quick update! Go check out ANN’s interview with Shoko Nakagawa! It’s GIZA subtitled and around 4 minutes she starts to talk about how much she loves Sailor Moon. The interview was conducted last month when she appeared at Anime Expo! Later she talks about how much she likes to cosplay as Sailor Moon and how she was influenced by the manga. Some of her blog entries are also translated in English and they are now posted here! For her original blog, click here.