Author: Fiona

Ninomiya Kazunari to stars in Ooku adaptation

by Fiona

Kyaa~~ it has been finally confirmed!!

Kou Shibasaki (28) and Arashi member Kazunari Ninomiya (26) have been chosen to star in Fuminori Kaneko’s “Ooku,” a live-action film adaptation of the manga by Fumi Yoshinaga. This will be the first jidaigeki film that either has starred in.

Yoshinaga’s “Ooku” is a historical fiction set during the Edo period. A mysterious disease strikes Japan’s male population, reducing their numbers to a fraction of the female population. As a result, the traditional gender roles are overturned, with women becoming the dominant members of society and men becoming valued for their ability to produce offspring.

In the story, the shoguns of the time are actually women, and the “ooku” (the “inner chambers” of the shogun’s castle) consists of thousands of men rather than women. Shibasaki plays the role of the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune, while Ninomiya plays a young man named Mizuno who enters the ooku.

The movie, said to have a budget of 1 billion yen, covers only the first of the 5 manga volumes released so far. However, producers are considering turning “Ooku” into a series of films.

“Ooku” opens in theaters on October 1, 2010.

From Tokyograph

The official website and CM has been released:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1EdvqNRbbE

Looks intensely dark and awesome! I especially intrigued by the plot and the Samurai period (have become an growing interest to me since I watched The Last Samurai). Who can resist a man with a blade, ne! I’m also quite fond of Kou Shibasaki’s acting and now she’s co-starring in a drama special and movie with our two beloved Arashi boy, definitely a dream come true. Just cannot wait to see Nino is a historical costume and looking forward to the series of films.

Now off I go searching for the Ooku manga, just one more series that I need to read along side with Gantz. Our Mr. Prankster is going to be mecha busy next year with two movies, ganbatte!!

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Arashi – First artist to dominate yearly sales in 4 categories

by Fiona

Oricon’s year-end sales rankings for 2009 are out, and the results confirm that Arashi is the top selling artist of the year. They had the #1 single, the #1 album, the #1 music DVD, and were #1 for the first time in artist total sales. In the 42 years of Oricon’s history, no one else has topped all four categories in the same year.

Counting sales of singles, albums, music DVDs, and music Blu-ray Discs, Arashi grossed a total of more than 14.46 billion yen. At #2 this year was EXILE, who topped the list in 2008 with 19.58 billion yen in total sales.

In single sales, Arashi had the #1, #2, #3, and #5 releases, with “Believe / Kumori Nochi, Kaisei” in front at nearly 657,000 units sold. The only other artists to occupy the top three spots were Pink Lady in 1978 and Hikaru Genji in 1988. Arashi are the first to have four of the top five, as well as the first to hold the top two spots in back-to-back years.

Their “All the BEST! 1999-2009” album sold over 1.43 million copies. In DVD sales, they were #1 and #2 with “5×10 All the BEST! CLIPS 1999-2009” (591,000) and “ARASHI AROUND ASIA 2008 in TOKYO” (428,000).

More complete ranking lists are available on the Oricon website.

Source: Tokyograph and Oricon

Press Conference:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD99veUMpKc

OMEDETOU ARASHI!!!!

*throws confetti and cheers like a maniac*


So damn proud of the boys and certainly well deserved! I’m truly happy for them and never get bored of wonderful news like this.

With this merit, they should be entitled a vacation paid by the Jimusho. Our boys qualified for good well-rested one :up: , they have been working non-stop for so long now. Maybe they can go to Hawaii for a PV or something and then stay there for a holiday. Just my two cents.

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