On August 22nd, NTV will broadcast a special episode of their Music Lovers show. The episode, featuring Arashi, will be called “Music Lovers 200 Kai Kinnen Manatsu no Arashi special.”

It will be a special fifty minute long episode that will act as the 200th anniversary episode for Music Lovers. The Johnny’s Entertainment stars are already well known for their hits “Happiness,” Believe,” and “Troublemaker.” For the television special, they will be unveiling performances from their new album “Boku no Miteiru Fuukei.” For this special live event they will also be restricting it to only male fans of ARASHI. The show also conducted a poll of Arashi fans before the special and will show the results during the episode.

In addition to Arashi, Music Lovers will also host Yashima Norito and Meisa Kuroki as guests.

From Tokyohive

This is such a treat, cannot wait to see the performance of the new songs. A male only audience, eh!? It is will be certainly interesting to watch compared to the usual fangirl squeals. I wonder if they are all fanclub member? Nevertheless, we’re going to have loads of fun ne. XD

Possibly Related Posts:

• Arashi – CDJapan taking preorders for Dear Single
• Arashi – Covers for Love Rainbow Revealed
• Who is the preferred member of Arashi among female celebs?
• Fans vote on their favorite Arashi song
• SMAP, TOKIO and Arashi will be guesting on Music Station together

Arashi’s Kazunari Ninomiya (27) is confirmed to be starring in a new drama series this fall. Titled “Freeter, Ie wo Kau,” the show will feature Ninomiya as a part-time worker trying to get his life back together for the sake of his family. Karina (26) will play the female lead.

The show is Ninomiya’s first starring role in a drama series since the 2008 “Ryusei no Kizuna.” As an actor, he has recently been focused on filming for his upcoming movies “Ooku” and “GANTZ.” In contrast with those spectacular big screen roles, his character in this home drama will be a “freeter” (a term used to describe young people without full time employment, not counting students and homemakers).

The story is based on a book of the same name by Hiro Arikawa, published last year. The story revolves around a young man named Seiji Take (Ninomiya), who quits his job after three months. With no dreams, no savings, and a poor relationship with his family, he becomes a hikikomori (shut-in) in his own room. However, after his mother falls ill with depression, he ends up having to take on a part-time job at a construction site. Because of that, he soon decides to work towards rebuilding his life: “Even though I’m just a freeter, I’m going to buy a house for the sake of my family.”

One of the people he meets at the construction site is Manami Chiba (Karina), who graduated from a top-class university and joined a well-known general contracting firm. Manami, proud to be working as an on-site supervisor, is the complete opposite of Seiji. But while their personalities clash at first, they gradually come to understand each other.

Filming already started earlier this month. The show will air on Fuji TV on Tuesdays at 9:00pm, starting in October.

From Tokyograph

Woot, I can’t believe it has been two years since he’s been in a drama. It feels like yesterday that I was watching the last episode of Ryusei no Kizuna. Freeter sounds interested and very Nino-like. LOL I cannot wait to see this.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Ninomiya Kazunari – Gantz Press Conference
• Ohoku’s themesong and extended trailer
• My ultimate favorite Jdrama
• I’m back! ^^
• Kaibutsu-kun’s special guest revealed

Arashi’s popular variety show “Himitsu no Arashi-chan,” was broadcasted on the 12th. This week’s episode was an editorial of “VIP ROOM” which showed 42 previous guests and included some unseen footage.

In the corner, “VIP ROOM,” the guest (usually female) picks her “favorite Arashi” member. In this episode, they announced “the best of ‘favorite Arashi’, which revealed who has been picked the most. The winner was Ohno Satoshi, the leader of Arashi. Satoshi was chosen by 11 female celebrities, including Shibasaki Koh, Kuroki Meisa, and Karina.

From Tokyohive

Hehe…that’s our Riida, the real womanizer! I’m not a bit surprised as he is a constantly picked as a favorite during the HnA VIP Room. Though, I love them all, Jun-kun will always be my ichiban followed closely by Oh-chan. He is extremely modest and knows when to be serious or CHO hilarious. Everyone knows that he is such a bad boy at heart. LOL

Possibly Related Posts:

• Arashi – CDJapan taking preorders for Dear Single
• Arashi – Covers for Love Rainbow Revealed
• Music Lovers to air Arashi summer special
• Fans vote on their favorite Arashi song
• SMAP, TOKIO and Arashi will be guesting on Music Station together

An event for upcoming movie “Kimi ni Todoke“, was held on the 11th, and the lead stars, Tabe Mikako and Miura Haruma showed up at the event. They appeared in Yukata’s (summer kimono) for the first time this summer, and invoked a big hit for the movie.

“Kimi ni Todoke” is originally a very popular manga, about a pure love story between a high school couple. The manga “Kimi ni Todoke” sold a total of 11 million copies.

Haruma told fans, “I know some people are a bit anxious about this movie, since it’s from an extremely popular manga, but we worked hard on this movie, and we also are big fans of the manga. We will not let down your expectations, so please love the movie as well as the manga.”

“Kimi ni Todoke” will be released on September 25th.

From Tokyohive

ZoomIn coverage of the event:

Kimi ni Todoke is love, sooo excited for the movie! They certainly look adorable together and have been casted perfectly as Kazehaya and Sawako. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Haruma-kun, he is maturing beautifully. May I say he looks quite dashing now-in-days?!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Ninomiya Kazunari -- Gantz Press Conference
• Ohoku’s themesong and extended trailer
• Sakurai Sho’s upcoming movie, Kamisama no Karute
• Ninomiya Kazunari Feels Comfortable with Chignon in his 1st Historical Drama
• Ninomiya and Matsuyama Kenichi to Go Out Into the World!

In the magazine “TV LIFE” (17th vol.), the results of “My ‘Arashi uta’ ranking”, in which fans voted for their favorite Arashi songs, were revealed. The poll was held through the TV LIFE website from July 1st to 14th.

The #1 Arashi song is… “Still…“, which was the follow up song from their 20th single, “Happiness” (released in September 2007). The runner up was the song, “5×10“. The complete top 40 ranking is available only through the magazine.

What is your favorite Arashi song?

From Toykohive

Still is a lovely song, however, I’m a bit surprised that it was voted as #1 as poll-takers usually select a title song such as Truth or Believe. For me, it’s extremely hard to pick just one, Arashi has too many wonderful songs. Like voters, Still and 5×10 are among my favorites along with Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi, Tomadoinagara, We can make it!, Boku ga Boku no Subete, Cry for me and Once Again. How about yours?

Possibly Related Posts:

• Arashi – CDJapan taking preorders for Dear Single
• Arashi – Covers for Love Rainbow Revealed
• Music Lovers to air Arashi summer special
• Who is the preferred member of Arashi among female celebs?
• SMAP, TOKIO and Arashi will be guesting on Music Station together

The press conference was held on August 5th, here’s the coverage from Super News:

Nino looks so tiny compared to the other cast members, though, still very cute. Love his little wave and his recent hairstyle. Wasn’t this held a bit too early? The theatrical release will not be until January 2011, they just want to keep us on the edge all the time.

I had also locate an article regarding the 500,000 yen costumes for the movie:

GANTZ cast talk about iconic 500,000 yen body suit

Not only were the stars of “GANTZ” excited to wear the characteristic body suit, so were their cast members, it was revealed at the film’s press conference in Tokyo this afternoon, reports Eiga.com, Mainichi Shinbum Digital, and Oricon.

Arashi’s Kazunari Ninomiya (27), Kenichi Matsuyama (25), and the cast of sci-fi film “GANTZ” talked about working on the film.

The press conference was also watched live by 2000 fans in Hibiya park, central Tokyo.

Nino and Matsuyama play two friends, Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, who die in a train accident, but are then mysteriously recalled back along with several other dead people to hunt down and kill aliens. The movie is a live action version of the manga series of the same name, which has to date sold more than 11 million copies and also has a large fan base in Europe.

All of the cast members had revealed that they were big fans of the manga before production. Nino had said this had given him some problems during filming.

“I thought that if we were going to do a live action version, we should do it properly.

“But (as an actor) I couldn’t talk about how the movie should be directed, and that made me a little sad. But I put everything I could into this movie,” he said.

The popstar had said the characteristic GANTZ body suit, which had cost 500,000 yen to make, was the centre of attention all throughout filming.

“There was a lot of waiting time (during filming) so people who didn’t wear the suit would be playing around and trying it on. I’m talking about (co-star) Yoshitaka-san”

A shocked Yuriko Yoshitaka was fast to explain herself.

“Why did you bring that up now!?

“I thought everyone had gone home so I thought this was my chance and tried it on. But then, Ninomiya-san hadn’t gone home yet.

“But when I put it on it was more revealing than I had imagined…and I threw it off because I got embarrassed,” she said.

Currently in post-production, film producer Takahiro Sato said he wants to create a movie that could compete with Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”. He also added that the female body suit actress Natsuna wears outlines her womanly figure clearly.

Nino quickly responded by saying, “you’re making it sound like this is a pervert movie! It’s science fiction”.

Nino also said that being a fan had created other problems in his private life.

“When I heard rumours it would be turned into a live action movie I was excited, but when I heard I would be starring in it I got a little depressed.

“It means I can’t talk about it a lot with my GANTZ fan friends,” he said.

The star said one of the reasons why he had taken up the role was because of his co-star.

“I was concerned about who would play Kato. But they told me they were thinking of Matsuyama-san and I just went, ‘if Matsuyama-san’s involved, I want to be a part of this’,” he said.

Matsuyama could not hold back a smile at the remark.

“I feel very privileged to hear Ninomiya-san speak of me like that. I couldn’t think of anyone else to play Kurono but Ninomiya-san as well,” he said.

With a budget of 40 billion yen and filming which had taken almost six months to finish, film director Shinsuke Sato said he wanted to create a movie that would not simply be a copy of the manga, but something that could stand on its own.

From Momoedgewood

The conversation between Nino and Yoshitaka was LOL, her description certainly makes the film sounds kind of hentai. Awww poor Nino, it’s awesome that he was able to star in one of his favorite manga, but discuss with his friends about his participation is prohibited. I would be the same, I truly about that the live-action will live up to everyone’s expectations. The Nino fanboying was mecha kawaii as well!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Ninomiya Kazunari to star in Fuji TV drama
• Miura Haruma & Tabe Mikako hold an event for “Kimi ni Todoke”
• Ohoku’s themesong and extended trailer
• Sakurai Sho’s upcoming movie, Kamisama no Karute
• Ninomiya Kazunari Feels Comfortable with Chignon in his 1st Historical Drama

Popular music show “Music Station”, which airs on TV Asahi, has announced the lineup for their August 13th show. Music Station will have three popular Johnny’s Entertainment groups, SMAP, TOKIO, and ARASHI, performing all on the same day.

Music Station is a long-running Japanese music television program which began broadcasting on October 24, 1986. It has been 12 years since three groups from Johnny’s Entertainment performed together on Music Station on the same date. On the show, SMAP will be performing their new single titled “This is love”, which was released on August 4th. TOKIO will be performing “NaNaNa (Taiyounante Irane)”, which will be released on August 11th, and ARASHI will be performing two songs, one titled “movin’on” and one called “Troublemaker” from their new album, “Boku no Miteiru Fukei.” Other artists who will perform at the show include Fukuyama Masaharu, FUNKY MONKEY BABYS, and perfume. Music Station airs every Friday from 8:00PM ~ 8:54pm on TV Asahi.

From Tokyohive

Kyaa~~three of my favorite JE groups are going to be together on MS! Me thinks this will be one epic and “chaotic” episode. LOL

I cannot wait to see how SMAP is going to fanboy over Arashi like they did over the La La La performance many years ago. Maybe there will also be a Nakai-Ohno war, that would be truly awesome. _{**Boy I really miss Utaban!} TOKIO is going crazy and wild as ever, those dorky sempais! LOL

Possibly Related Posts:

• Arashi – CDJapan taking preorders for Dear Single
• Arashi – Covers for Love Rainbow Revealed
• Music Lovers to air Arashi summer special
• Who is the preferred member of Arashi among female celebs?
• Fans vote on their favorite Arashi song

Boy band Arashi released a new album on Wednesday, titled “Boku no Miteiru Fuukei.” In its first day of sales, fans bought 275,000 copies, setting a new personal record for the group. Last year, their “All the BEST! 1999-2009″ collection set their previous record with 261,000 copies in its first day. That album went on to sell 753,000 copies within the first week, so many are hoping to see “Boku no Miteiru Fuukei” break that record as well.

Arashi’s last original album was “Dream A live” in 2008. Since then, they have released several hit singles, including “Monster” and “Troublemaker,” which both sold more than half a million copies in their first weeks.

From Toykograph

Sugoiiii!! I cannot believe the sales are so good and even had surpassed the first day for All the BEST! It’s probably going to be a quintuple crown this year?! Omedetou to those dorky five!!

I had an opportunity to preview the album last night and it was such a hit for me. I absolutely ♥♥ Mada Ue Wo, Refrain and Kagero, love the variety of melodies and mature lyrics. This certainly displays how Arashi has grown and how versatile they have become. Though, their solos have not been listened to, there is a feeling that Ohno’s will be loved. His gorgeous vocals always seems to amaze me.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Arashi – CDJapan taking preorders for Dear Single
• Arashi – Covers for Love Rainbow Revealed
• Music Lovers to air Arashi summer special
• Who is the preferred member of Arashi among female celebs?
• Fans vote on their favorite Arashi song