The wildly popular track OTONABLUE by ATARASHII GAKKO! won the top prize for the first half of 2023 in the TikTok Trend Awards.

Although the track was initially released years ago, OTONABLUE became popular this year after its curious neck-swing dance became a popular subject on TikTok. As of June 21, 2023, the total number of videos using the song on the short video app exceeds 3.1 billion. The award recognizes the track’s incredible impact on TikTok, considering the total amount of likes and views on related videos. The neck-swing dance has become a major trend with young people both on the app and outside of it.

The group performed OTONABLUE live at the awards ceremony, wowing the crowd with their rendition of the iconic choreography. The award was bestowed by Ichiro Yamaguchi of Sakanaction, a TikTok ambassador and presenter at the ceremony.

Pokemon and Original Inc. are back with some new Pokemon Shirts in collaboration with the popular visual artist Yu Nagaba! Customers can head onto the official Pokemon Shirts website now to grab one of these cute new Pikachu-inspired designs. 

The apparel brand Original Stitch was created by an engineer working in Silicon Valley who wanted to make it easier to shop for clothes. After launching a test service in 2013 and establishing the brand’s parent company, Original Inc., in 2015, the company began developing its custom shirt service. Those buying from the site can customize every detail of their shirt and order in as little as five minutes. These shirts are carefully tailored by craftsmen at a factory in Japan.

Two New Designs Made in Collaboration with Popular Artist Yu Nagaba

Two printed patterns and one unique embroidery have been added to the collection for a limited time. Yu Nagaba’s designs can be used to cover entire shirts or can be used as accents on collars and sleeves. Customers can even use the embroidery on a plain shirt to make something more subtle. 

Yu Nagaba’s casual depiction of Pikachu shows why his art is so beloved. Silly and subtle, both Pokemon fans and fans of Nagaba’s art are welcome to snag one of these shirts before they’re gone. Check out the website for more details.

Pattern: Yu Nagaba (White)

Pattern: Yu Nagaba (Black)

Embroidery: Pikachu (Yu Nagaba)

Popular illustrator and alcohol ink artist Jiji will release her first artbook in May! 

Images

Behind-the-Scenes

This is the first collection of works by Jiji to be compiled and released. ‘Jiji ILLUSTRATION AND MAKING BOOK’ will include around 110 illustrations, including both past creations and new images made exclusively for the book’s release. The compiled illustrations were made in a variety of ways, including with alcohol ink, fountain pens, and by digital means.

The anime series My Isekai Life will air in July 2022!

The light novel series has been a huge hit since its release in 2017, selling over 5 million copies to date. The tenth volume went on sale in November 2021, and a manga series is running in Manga UP! magazine. An anime series is on the horizon, set to premiere in 2022 It will be animated by REVOROOT, with Pony Canyon is producing the music.

The opening theme will be performed by Non Stop Rabbit, Japan’s first YouTuber band to make a major debut, with over 900,000 subscribers and 400 million video views. The group made the announcement during their first concert after their major debut. The number of ticket sales tallied up to 43 times higher than the venue’s capacity. 

Comment from Non Stop Rabbit

“My dream to perform the opening song for an anime series is coming true! I read the manga and was instantly captivated by the story. I wrote one of our best songs to help bring the story to life. The three of us are musicians and YouTubers, and I hope you’ll listen to this track we created together.”

Tatsuya Taguchi – Non Stop Rabbit

©進行諸島・SBクリエイティブ／転生賢者の製作委員会

Peanuts Cafe Nakameguro and six other locations have begun selling love-themed desserts and drinks for a limited time! Be sure to stop in by March 14 to try these tasty treats based on your favorite characters.

Lucy’s Ruby Chocolate Mousse / Sally’s Pink Dress Hot Chocolate

Love Each Other Special Donut

Love Each Other Latte Art

USHIO CHOCOLATL Collaboration Chocolate

Love Each Other Chocolate Brownie

Join Snoopy, Lucy, Sally, and other Peanuts characters as they express love for their family and friends. Guests ordering one of these love-themed desserts or drinks will receive a special paper lunch mat perfect for posting on social media!

(C) 2022 Peanuts Worldwide LLC　(短縮形 (C) 2022 Peanuts)

Masayoshi Oishi has been chosen to perform the theme song for the upcoming anime series Love After World Domination, scheduled to premiere in April 2022. The new track is a duet with popular voice actress Yukari Tamura, and a preview of the track can be heard in the newest trailer. 

Based on the manga series written by Hiroshi Noda and illustrated by Takahiro Wakamatsu, the show tells the story of a hero and villain pursuing a forbidden love.

Love After World Domination Trailer

Masayoshi Oishi has also announced a three-stop concert tour! The artist will perform at Zepp Namba on May 6, at Zepp Nagoya on June 9, and at KT Zepp Yokohama on June 17. Ticket details will be announced on the official website at a later date. This will be the first solo concert for the artist in about eight months. 

Comment from Masayoshi Oishi

“From the beginning, I wanted to make the opening song a male/female duet track, and I was so thrilled to work with Yukari Tamura! Thanks to her, it became an incredibly emotional song. I hope everyone enjoys the series as much as I enjoyed creating the theme.”

Comment from Yukari Tamura

“Masayoshi Oishi invited me to perform a duet with him! I was so nervous about recording as a guest vocalist in this major track rather than performing a character song, but I ended up really enjoying it! I hope this becomes a famous duet song, please enjoy it!”

©野田宏・若松卓宏・講談社／恋せか製作委員会

New-generation music producer and track maker yonkey released his new song Tobu, Saihate. (feat. Kana Adachi) on May 28. The song serves as the main theme for the anime Artiswitch.

yonkey is a producer who has worked with countless music artists from a diverse range of genres and generations, such as Tempalay, TENDRE, AAAMYYY, Ace Hashimoto who has performed with Mac Miller and Thundercat, Japanese rapper sanari, and more. He has also produced for ATARASHII GAKKO! when they made their international debut from 88rising, has been involved in a remix project for the anime series Lupin III, has written songs for Kai Kubota and sorane, and much more. His production work spans far and wide across the industry, both in Japan and overseas.

Tobu, Saihate. (feat. Kana Adachi) comes as the first song from yonkey in almost a year. The track serves as the main theme for an original animation by Sunrise and ASOBISYSTEM called Artiswitch, the first episode of which is now available to watch on the anime’s official YouTube page. The track features Kana Adachi on guest vocals, a singer-songwriter with over 1.3 million followers across her social media pages. It features yonkey’s trademark edgy electronic sound with majestic strings to weave a dramatic ballad. Kazuma Ikeda, who is directing Artiswitch, also directed the music video for the song.

yonkey | Comment

“I could not contain my surprise when I was first asked to write this song, since it’s my first time doing a main theme for an anime. The melody incorporates themes of facing [challenges], pain, and fighting. It’s a great match for Adachi’s emotional and beautiful vocals. The track itself moved me deeply. I’d love for people to enjoy it alongside the Artiswitch story, [the first episode of which] was released at the same time as the song!”

Kana Adachi | Comment

“This was my first time working with yonkey. I was really taken aback when I was invited to sing on this song, but I was excited more than anything. When I received the demo and listened to it, it felt like a different world compared to what I usually sing to, so I was able to take on the song with a fresh perspective. I sang each and every phrase with equal value. Please enjoy it together with the Artiswitch anime [which started] on the 28th!”

17-year-old rap artist sanari features on the newest and 3rd single by yonkey, Time Slip, which was released today together with a music video.

yonkey composed the melody, track, and lyrics for the song. Its catchy pop melody is addictive, especially when coupled together with sanari’s silky vocals. The track is mixed with organic sounds like percussive beats and a music box sound. It’s the perfect colourful springtime song for the season.

The music video was directed by malloonx, a young high schooler and video director.

yonkey | Comment

“The theme of this song is travelling between the past and and future. It has a warm tone to it, with percussive beats that make free use of sounds from everyday life and the sound of a music box. sanari’s silky vocals match with it perfectly. I’m confident about this one! Please be sure to give it a listen!”

sanari | Comment

“When I first heard yonkey’s track, I was taken aback that an artist as incredible as this existed! I know how amazing his tracks are, and how considerate he is down to the tiniest of details. There are times when the track goes in a completely different direction to what you were expecting too, so he’s fun to listen to. But I was super glad I was allowed to sing how I felt on this pop piece!”

malloonx | Comment

“For this video I animated movements using only images. It was my first time trying it, but I think it came out pretty entertaining, even in a way for myself. The song yonkey has made is super catchy and pop. I feel good listening to it, so it was fun working on it.”

yonkey is a 22-year-old music producer known for his edgy hip-hop electric fusion. Known as the front man in his band Klang Ruler, his YouTube videos are followed by a large number of enthusiastic fans consisting largely of teens and young people in their early 20s. Some of his videos got over 50,000 views in just two months. 

yonkey’s second single, which has already been released,  features vocalist Ace Hashimoto (Brandun DeShay) who is famous for being in Odd Future alongside Tyler, the Creator and is also an avid Japan fan. Through the power of music, the two musicians crossed the international border, joining forces for an epic collaboration. yonkey from Tokyo composed the music and created the track, while Chicago’s Ace Hashimoto wrote and sung the lyrics, layering it with a number of melodies and brushing up on the instrumental arrangement. 

The cleverly weaved lyrics are entirely in English and reflect Ace Hashimoto’s edgy style. The flowing rhythm bounces with pop vibes. Mixing it with yonkey’s refined track, the dope duo churned up their new song Haunter (feat. Ace Hashimoto). 

A statement by yonkey

It was a pleasure to have Ace Hashimoto jump in on my second ever track. With Ace’s dope lyrics as the base for the song, I created a track inspired by lofi hip-hop, which is popular worldwide. I’m so proud of what we made so please check it out!

A statement by Ace Hashimoto

It was incredibly fun making Haunter. Usually I write songs while discussing the track in the same room as the artists and producers but this time, yonkey’s manager was there to help with communication and we discussed our ideas over messages. It was a very unique experience for me to create a song with yonkey without directly talking to him. I first discovered yonkey’s songs in Chicago through my manager and my friend Moe Shop. After visiting Japan in 2017, I became eager to work with Japanese musicians. It’s usually difficult to work with Japanese musicians when you don’t live in Japan but that just made this experience all the more special. yonkey is an amazingly talented producer and I’d love to make more tracks with him. It would be incredible if we could perform Haunter in Japan together and get Moe Shop to jump in on it too.

No Guns Life is a manga series created by Tasuku Karasuma which has been serialized in Shueisha’s Seinen magazine Ultra Jump. An anime version of this manga has been created and will premiere in October 2019. We have now discovered that the opening theme song for the anime is MOTOR CITY and was written by Kenichi Asai.

The second anime trailer for No Guns Life, in which you can hear a snippet of MOTO CITY, has also been released. The anime adaptation of No Guns Life was created by Madhouse, who are popular for their anime adaptations of Overlord and BLACK LAGOON. 

© Tasuku Karasuma／Shueisha, ＮＧＬ ＰＲＯＪＥＣＴ

 Uru’s new single Negai will be released on September 11 and will be available for downloading and streaming from July 26. The official music video has just been uploaded on YouTube. 

Negai is a down-to-earth song which paints a world of a happy place that is filled with the people most important to you. It contains strong feelings of not wanting to let go. 

Uru Negai YouTube ver.

Atsunari Toushi, who was previously involved in the making of the music videos for Uru’s songs Freesia and Shiawase no Uta, was in charge of making the music video for Negai. The music video contains scenes of a utopia where two young sisters are living a beautiful life together as well as an empty dystopian scene where one of the girls can be seen stood in a plain white dress.

A statement by Atsunari Toushi

Uru’s lyrics perfectly depict the story of two young girls who are forever close. We hope that you will be struck by many emotions when you watch this video. This entire creation is but a beautiful story and music. We hope that viewers who watch and listen will want to hold those precious to them even closer as they enter the world we have created in the new music video. Please take a look and enjoy both the beautiful scenes and the music. 

 Along with the release of the music video, the lyrics for the full song have been released on song lyric website UTA-NET (Japanese only).

Negai has also been chosen to become the ending theme song for the new original anime Granbelm. You can enjoy the new song on air from today. Granbelm is directed by Masaharu Watanabe, who is also known for directing Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World. Original character designs were created by Shinichiro Otsuka and the series was structured by Jukki Hanada, who is famous for many works including directing multimedia project Love Live! There was an advanced screening of the anime a few days ago, which received a great response. This is one of the most sensational topics in the media and is snatching up the attention of many anime fans. 

After collaborating with popular rap crew Normcore Boys to release “2 LIVE IN A REAL WORLD feat. Normcore Boyz”, MANON continues to collaborate with cutting-edge artists of the new generation such as Sleet Mage and Yuckle. She has now completed a brand new song called AIR KISSING  feat. KM & LEX which is guaranteed to be a big hit.

The song was produced by KM, whose popular tracks drive the current hiphop scene. KM has previously remixed ANARCHY, SALU, BADHOP and much more. The theme of MANON’s new song is midnight. This emotional and sentimental trap hiphop song sets the scene for MANON to tell the story of a female high school student and her fleeting heart. Midway through the track, the song takes a drastic turn, where edgy teen rapper MANON allows LEX to take over for the second half. LEX picks up the pace for part two with an emotional tone. As the song becomes more and more intense every second, there is no doubt that this is the next teenage anthem. 

The music video has already been posted on YouTube. In the video, MANON can be seen wearing items from her collaboration collection with WEGO. This collection, which even includes collaboration T-shirts, will be released for limited sale at selected WEGO stores from July. Please check them out.