The one-man live (“Haruna Luna LIVE 2017 “LUNARIUM”) of Haruna Luna, a popular animation song artist who sings for many popular animations was held at Roppongi’s EX THEATER ROPPONGI on the 22^nd of October.

The one-man live “Haruna Luna LIVE 2017 ‘LUNARIUM’” was held after the release of her original album (the last album was released two years and three month ago) in June. Although the weather was not good, the venue was packed with excited “Lunajus (fans of Haruna Luna).”

After the lights turned down, the hall was filled with green penlights (green is the theme color of Haruna Luna). Of course, the opening song of the live was “Prologue ～LUNARIUM～.” Haruna Luna appeared on the stage with the mermaid-like costume which was a remake item of the album’s main visual and sang “Stella Breeze.”

After saying hello, she sang “MONSTER,” “Junshin Crisis” and “Ripple Effect” with the four dancers.

Then, she gave a dance lecture to the fans. She practiced the choreography of the collaborative song with Rika Mayama of Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku “PURPLE LOVE” with the fans in a cute manner. After the dance lecture session, she cheered up the fans and performed a cute 80’s style electric pop number, “Fly Me to the Moon” which was a remixed by Shinnosuke(ex. SOUL’d OUT).

After that, the middle section of the live started. She performed two strings arranged ballads “REASON” and “Aikotoba.” After singing the two ballads, she performed a full-fledged famous song “Startear” and the fans listened to her song quietly. Then, the fans started to waive their rainbow colored psylliums which was a surprise event for Haruna Luna and she responded to the fans by singing beautiful songs.

After this, Haruna Luna disappeared from the stage for a moment and the band started to play an instrumental tune. After the musicians performed their solos, Haruna Luna wearing a new costume (green and white gingham patterned costume) made for the new single “KIRAMEKI☆Life Line” appeared on the stage while singing the song included in her second album “Minna Zettai Kimi ga Suki.”

At the MC section of the live, she explained about her new costume. Some fans said “please turn around!” and the venue was filled with laughter. She also talked about the animation “URAHARA” which she participates as a voice actress in and performed the new single “KIRAMEKI☆Life Line” for the first time.

The song is used as the ending theme song and it has a high-quality tune with the sounds of a jazzy horn section, rock guitar and digital sequence mixed together. She performed her new pop song with a strong voice.

In the latter part of the live, she performed “Candy Lips,” “Sayonara Moratorium,” “Koi no Kigen ha 3nen, Ai no Kigen ha Nannen?” from her 2^nd album and “NAKED HEART,” “Kyoso Refrain” erotically with the renditions of lights and laser beams.

After saying “Here’s the last three songs!” with the beat of a twin drum, she performed “Dunamic Dreamers,” “Kimiiro Signal” and “Aio Utae” which are standard tunes at her lives.

She appeared on the stage wearing a t-shirt and white frilled skirt after receiving an encore and sang “Clumsydays” passionately. After introducing the live goods frankly, she announced that she will hold a Christmas event for the new fan club “L-67 Runaju☆Station” which was renewed this summer, on the 16^th of December. The dancers appeared from the audience seats and cheered up the fans while Haruna Runa was singing “Koi no Senshi.” At the very last part of the live, she appreciated the fans saying “I am very happy that I can deliver my feelings to everyone through music. Let’s see many sceneries together!” and sang the very popular single “Overfly.”

The one-man live was a fulfilling live for the fans. The fans are awaiting for the release of her new single “KIrameki☆Life Line” which will be released on the 8^th of November.

Let’s check out the lives and events which will be held.

The anime “URAHARA” will be broadcasted from this autumn! The opening and ending theme songs and the additional cast members have also been announced!

The storyline is based on a real shop that exists in Harajuku called “PARK”, that is dedicated to FASHION×OTAKU×CREATION. An alien from outer space called “Scoopers” invades the earth, threatening to snatch away earth culture. In the shaken Harajuku, three girls carry the pain in their chests of this sci-fi drama.

ⒸURAHARA Film Partners

So, who’s who?

Luna Haruna took up the challenge to become a voice actress for the first time ever in her life and for this anime, has been given the roll of Rito Sudo. Sumire Uesaka has been given the roll of Mari Shirako, and Kotoko Mentsumugi’s roll will be voice acted by Manaka Iwami.

…and who sings the opening and ending theme songs?

Sumire Uesaka has taken on the opening theme song, while Luna Haruka sings the ending theme song. The two girls, working as voice actresses, main characters and artists in one show, are offering more than enough to go crazy about!

The opening theme song “Antithese Escape”, sung by the cool pop girl Sumire Uesaka paints a whole new world of fun music!

The ending theme song is a rock tune that reflects the anime and crosses over with the personality of Luna Haruna. Both the ending and opening themes amplify the magnificence of URAHARA.

The cast of the side characters has also been revealed! The mysterious character Misa Maruno, who looks up to the three main characters as older sisters, is voiced by Amano Kokoa. Riho Lida was given the roll of Sayumin, the loving owner of a crepe shop, who, like a crepe herself, wraps the three girls in her love. The strange pet fried shrimp is voiced by Yasunori Matsumoto.

Crunchyroll, a service that broadcasts anime to America, and bilibili, which broadcasts to China, are taking action! This Harajuku-based anime and its main theme song is going to be broadcast all over the world through these services! (Which is why you should watch it!)

Don’t miss out on your slice of Harajuku culture!

Haruna Luna, a popular animation song artist will debut as a voice actress playing the main character of the TV animation which will start broadcasting this coming autumn.

Haruna Luna has been inspired by animation since she was little and is famous as being a mania of animation. She says “voice acting is a god-like job which breathes new life into characters.

She has been saying that working as a voice actress is too difficult for her but she accepted the offer by the production team of this animation.

Haruna commented “I’m about to black out because I’m so excited and I’m feeling nervous at the same time but I will study the character of Rito Sudo and do my best.”

 “URAHARA” is based on the illustrated novel “PARK: HARAJUKU Crisis Team!” which is being serialized by the animation distribution service in North America called “Crunchyroll.”

The setting of the story is the store “PARK” which was created under the theme of FASHION×OTAKU×CREATION located in Harajuku where culture, fashion and kawaii style gathers.

The main character Rito Sudo wil be played by Haruna Luna, Mari Shirako will be played by Sumire Uesaka and Kotoko Mentsumugi will be played by Manaka Ishimi.

The animation is a collaborative project with the Chinese major platform bilibili produced by Crunchyroll which has twenty million users.

Let’s wait and see how Haruna Luna will play the main character of the animation which is a collaborative work of animation and Harajuku.

Details about the broadcasting of this animation will be announced soon. So, animation fans, animation song fans and voice acting fans be sure to keep a lookout for all new informantion.

 ●Haruna Luna’s comment

I have a passion for animation and so I became an animation singer. Voice acting is something I have always aspired to do but I thought this will be too difficult for me. So, this is a dream come true.

I can’t believe that I can work as a voice actor which breathes new life into characters!

Is this a dream? Is it really OK to work as a voice actress?

I’m about to black out because I’m so excited and I feel nervous at the same time but I will study the character of Rito Sudo and do my best.

Related article：In the Music Video of Haruna Luna’s new song “Fly Me to the Moon” she appears in a swim suit.

Related article：Haruna Luna releases a lyric video of her new song “MONSTER” from her new album!

In line with the release of LUNARIUM, the new album by popular anime song artist Luna Haruna, a track-by-track preview trailer has been posted on her official YouTube channel, showcasing a diverse line-up of 13 songs in total.

“LUNARIUM” comes as Haruna’s third album in total, almost two years since her previous record, “Candy Lips.” The title of the album is a portmanteau of her name, “Luna,” and the “rium” that forms the end of words such as planetarium and aquarium. “LUNARIUM” boasts 13 visionary and dynamic tracks by Luna Haruna.

The First Press Limited Edition comes with an attractive 48-page photobook compiled of photos that were taken of Haruna in Hawaii, as well as 4 music videos, a gorgeous CD cover featuring photography of Haruna, and the footage during the making of the photobook. This definitive package is an essential for all fans of Luna Haruna, packed into one complete volume.

To support the release of the album, Luna Haruna is touring to perform at numerous release events around Japan, so if you’re in Japan be sure to check the dates below and see if you can make one!

◆「LUNARIUM」(Trailer Movie)

https://youtu.be/45jaBtXiDvY

Related Article：In the Music Video of Haruna Luna’s new song “Fly Me to the Moon” she appears in a swim suit.

Related Article：Haruna Luna releases a lyric video of her new song “MONSTER” from her new album!

Haruna Luna has released a lyric music video of her song “Fly Me to the Moon” from ther new album “LUNARIUM.”

 “Fly Me to the Moon” written by Shinnosuke(ex. SOUL’d OUT) has a sparkling 80’s sound and is an impressive cute pop song. The lyrics for all of Haruna Luna’s songs are written by “Saku” and the story in this song is that of a young maiden who falls in love with the waiter at a café. The title, “Fly Me to the Moon” expresses the feeling of falling so in love that one feels like she could fly to the moon. It has nothing to do with the standard jazz song with the same name.

In the lyric music video just released, “Fly Me to the Moon” the title is corrected to “Fly Me to Hawaii”!? The message is not “fly me to the moon” but rather “fly me to Hawaii.” In April of this year, Haruna Luna went to Hawaii to perform in the event titled “Kawaii Kon” and at this time a photo session was held in Hawaii so as to take photos to include in the CD first edition photo book.

Inside this photo book are numerous photos of Haruna Luna in her swim suit. So, in this lyric video, there is just one swim suit photo included. In the actual glamorous photo book, (48 pages) one can view Haruna Luna’s various expressions and styles. Be sure to check this out.

The much anticipated new album of Haruna Luna will to be released this week. Be sure to check this out.

◆Fly Me to the Moon (Lyric Video)

https://youtu.be/vyL3y4Qbvd8

Related article：Haruna Luna releases a lyric video of her new song “MONSTER” from her new album!

Related article：Haruna Luna releases lyric video for a new song from her upcoming album “LUNARIUM”!

The popular anime song artist who is famous for many theme songs of popular animations, Haruna Luna has released a lyric video of “MONSTER” included in her new album “LUNARIUM.”

A cute and pop rock tune,“MONSTER” is a mixuture of hard rock sound (8 beat ＋ distortion guitar sound) with electro techno digipop and it represents the aggressiveness and cuteness of “an immature monster which gets bigger by eating amorous attention” inside the heart of a girl.

The lyric video consists of still pictures taken in Takeshita Street in Harajuku, Cat Street and Omotesando. The tune represents the MONSTER who says “I will obtain love” in the pop and colorful world of “Haruna Luna to Date Now.”

Haruna Luna is releasing new videos subsequently ahead of the release of the new album. Let’s check them out.

◆MONSTER (Lyric Video)

https://youtu.be/92w5ljOcLxw

Related article：Luna Haruna releases lyric video for a new song from her upcoming album “LUNARIUM”!

Related article: The album artwork and the content of Haruna Luna’s 3rd album “LUNARIUM”was announced!

2017 marks 10 years for Seiko Oomori’s music career. The Japanese singer-songwriter shows no sign of slowing down as she continues to soar through the music scene, having released her third album “kitixxxgaia” back in March this year. With her new record in hand, Seiko Oomori has begun a new Japan tour entitled 2017 LIVE TOUR “kitixxxgaia”. The tour kicked off on June 2^nd at Sendai’s Rensa.

Joining Seiko Oomori on this tour is the indispensable and familiar line-up of A-chan (Kinoko Teikoku, Guitar), Kenji Hatakeyama (H MOUNTAINS, Guitar), Eramegumi (Masakita 89, Bass), Kenta Sakurai (Guitar, Percussion, etc), Pierre Nakano (Ling Tosite Sigure, Drums), and sugarbeans (Tommy & Sammy).

The stage was decorated with a majestic backdrop of the artwork from Seiko Oomori’s new album. Seiko and the band members were ebullient in their performance from the get go. The crowd joined in the fun with their indomitable excitement. The feeling in the room between the fans and Seiko was one of unshakeable unity as the performance began with tracks from “kitixxxgaia.”

As the night went on, Seiko went on to perform the ballad track “Orionza,” singing in cheery unison with the crowd. Seiko Oomori proves once again during this song that her live shows are packed full of emotion thanks to the phantasmagoric tone of the music provided by the band such as the guitar riffs, as well as Seiko’s acapella, and the unified singing of everybody watching that reverberated through the room, all of which combined to bring tears to the fans’ eyes.

A beautiful moment was born during that blissful air as Seiko let an elementary school girl play her guitar that she had been playing. It was also an unexpected song to be performed for one of Seiko’s concerts, so she defied people’s expectations for a good cause.

Seiko Oomori’s tour will continue until July 20^th where it will conclude in Tokyo at ZEPP Diver City. There’s plenty more singing from Seiko to be heard and music from the band to enjoy during this tour. We look forward to seeing her grow even more by the end of it.

It was also announced that Seiko will release a brand-new single on August 9^th which will be performed throughout her tour. We can expect to see plenty more from her as she shows no sign of letting up. For those people who reserve themselves a copy of the new release, you will be eligible to receive a special goodie that you can only obtain at one of her concerts. Be sure to check it out if you plan to go to one of her shows.

Related article：LADYBABY collaborated with Omori Seiko in a two-man live! They announced that Series Vol.4 will be held!

Related article：The 3rd wave of artists announced for “KAGA MUSIC FESTIVAL 2017” including tofubeats, Maki Nomiya & more!

Luna Haruna, acclaimed as a popular anime song artist having provided many theme songs for countless hit anime, has released a lyric video for her song “Utsukushiki Sentiment” from her new album “LUNARIUM.”

“Utsukushiki Sentiment” is a four on the floor style, fast-paced track with a gorgeous string arrangement. This fantastical track creates a sense of wonder with its delicate sequences and use of synthesisers. The lyrics also capture the feeling of the “LUNARIUM” as a whole, making this a big hit.

New visuals for the CD jacket and Luna’s main outfit for the release have already been unveiled despite the music video just being released. The visuals show Luna in the same outfit and situation but a different cut. They fit perfectly with the song and lyrical content.

Luna must now prepare for the upcoming album release and the subsequent events and performances surrounding it.

More videos are scheduled to be released in the run up to the album’s release, so be sure to keep an eye out.

Related article: The album artwork and the content of Haruna Luna’s 3rd album “LUNARIUM”was announced!

Related article: Haruna luna’s 5th anniversary live was a great success! Her new single and album will be released soon.

With their latest single “Dead End in Tokyo” in hand, MAN WITH A MISSION recently held the last of their extra shows for their “Dead End in Tokyo Tour” at Shinkiba STUDIO COAST. Joining them as special guests on stage for this string of encore shows was American rock band JIMMY EAT WORLD, who haven’t performed in Japan for almost 6 years (and almost 9 years as a solo act). MAN WITH A MISSION announced at the final show that they will be joining JIMMY EAT WORLD in a joint tour in America for September this year.

JIMMY EAT WORLD stepped onto the stage as the opening act, who released their 9^th album “INTEGRITY BLUES” back in October 2016 which marked their 20^th anniversary since their major debut. The show was a joint gig with set lists that focused around enjoy the bands’ old and new music rather than just the newer material.

From the get go the crowd gave a huge round of applause and cheered for the band as they walked onto stage. The crowd were devoured by the sound of JIMMY EAT WORLD who played songs such as “Work” and “Lucky Denver Mint.”

The crowd sang along for their final two tracks, “Sweetness” and “The Middle,” before their set came to a close. They are two universally love tracks by fans, so people made sure to give it their all for the last of JIMMY EAT WORLD’s performance.

MAN WITH A MISSION were then welcomed on stage. Guitarist and vocalist Jean-Ken Johnny screamed, “It’s been a while, Tokyo. Let’s go!” The band stirred up the crowd even more with their performances of “Get Off of My Way” and “Hey Now.”

Bassist for the band Kamikaze Boy ran around the stage, and DJ Santa Monica also left his booth to join in with the madness on the floor in front of the stage. The band went full high-speed from the very beginning, before performing the next song, “Give it Away.”

Amongst a powerful ensemble of instruments, the music was amplified to 100 by Tokyo Tanaka’s powerful vocals and Jean-Ken Johnny’s rapping.

DJ Santa Monica braved a stage dive into the pumped up crowd for “distance” and was joined by Kamikaze Boy who was held up by the crowd as he continued to play his bass.

The latter half of the performance began with “NEVER FxxKIN’ MIND THE RULES” where the band got creative and technical with their sound and played freely.

Spear Rib upped the drive of the crowd even more with his drumming skills. The band then began to play the famous guitar riff of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” which sent everybody in the venue wild.

The band were also having a huge blast, but it was the crowd whose overwhelming power reverberated throughout the room.

Jean-Ken Johnny described the fact that the band had been lucky enough to not only play alongside Hi-STANDARD at the end of 2016 for AIR JAM 2016, but now JIMMY EAT WORLD, as “indescribable.”

The members of MAN WITH A MISSION talked about their ups and down as a band for the past 7 years, looking back at how their path had not just been full of fun times, but also how they had been put down many times before. But they also said to look back at themselves as guys who always have a smile on their face, and to continue working hard together. Their drive and self-confidence is linked to the scale of their sound and their toughness as a band which has continued to pierce through, rather than what kind of music they like or what principles they subscribe to.

Their almost 3-month long tour ended with a ‘let’s meet again at our next show’ to the crowd and a performance of “Dead End in Tokyo.”

The encore consisted of a special digest video entitled “Ookami Daizenshuu V” (Japanese: 狼大全集Ⅴ) and the announcement of their joint tour in America with JIMMY EAT WORLD scheduled for September 2017.

Be sure to keep your eyes on this wolf pack and their endeavours as they continue to pierce through the scene even further.

Related article: MAN WITH A MISSION’s song “Dog Days” features in the new “Asahi Dry Zero” TV commercial song!

Related article: MAN WITH A MISSION is appearing on the video “FENDER FEEDBACK” as a non-human head artist

The album artwork and the content of Haruna Luna’s  3^rd album (previous album was released two years ago) “LUNARIUM” was announced.

The title of the album, LUNARIUM” is a coined term combining her own name and the word “RIUM” (meaning- a place or a thing related to) which is used in words like planetarium and aquarium. The new visual includes an object using asterism as a motif and light reflecting on the surface of water. The visual evokes a fantastic starlit sky and aquarium.

The album includes three singles which were released over the past two years, “Stela Breeze”(Opening theme of the TV animation “Saenai Kanojo no Sodatekata) for which she wrote the lyrics on her own, “Windia,””Ripple Effect,””S×W –soul world-” and “Sweet Fantasy” which is the lead song of her mini album “Dreamer.”

The album includes 13 various kinds of songs and as an original song it includes the solo version of“PURPLE LOVE”which is a collaborative song with Rika Mayama of Shiritu Ebisu Chugaku, “Fly Me to the Moon,” the cute and rocky song,“MONSTER,”the sexy song, “NAKED HEART,”the slow ballad, “READON,”and the song with a string arrangement, “Utsukushiki Sentiment.”

The photo book consists of 48 pages which its pictures taken in Hawaii, the amenity music videos of four songs and the making video of the sleeve photo and the photo book will be included in the first edition.

Let’s check out this album which is packed with Haruna Luna’s present spirit.

Related article：Haruna luna’s 5th anniversary live was a great success! Her new single and album will be released soon.

Related article：Luna Haruna charms a crowd of 3,000 anime fans at “Kawaii Kon”

The famous anime song artist, Luna Haruna will release her new single, 「STELLA BREEZE」and its new music video on May 3^rd.

This new song will be used for the TV Anime, “Saenai Kanojo no Sodatekata”from April 13^th as an opening music.

You can feel the fresh wind and the blue sky which makes her cute with a ponytail from the cover photo.

In addition, your heart will skip a beat because of the lovely music video! The one of the notable scenes is the scene that she has been singing a song on the bed wrapped in a bed sheets.

Furthermore, she wrote the lyrics for the TV Anime, “Saenai Kanojo no Sodatekata”. Not to be missed and feel the matching of these Anime and the lyrics.

She will have a live for the 5^th anniversary of her debut before and after her new single release. The live is called 「Runa Haruna LIVE 2017 “5th Anniversary Fes. ♡with you♡”」

Don’t miss her new single 「STELLA BREEZE」and check it up her next action!

Information:

STELLA BREEZE

Release：3rd May

Runa Haruna’s official website http://www.harunaluna.jp

“BABYMETAL”. If you haven’t heard of this band yet then you must be living under a rock.

BABYMETAL have proven to be a limitless and unprecedented trio that continue push the boundaries of the music industry.  If you’ve seen their name in the headlines over the past year in particular, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Just when I thought that these three young girls from Japan had no way of topping that amazing and surreal performance together with Rob Halford of Judas Priest at the Alternative Press Music Awards back in July, the Red Hot Chili Peppers announce that they are to take the same BABYMETAL with them on the UK leg of their “The Getaway World Tour”.

The tour was originally planned to begin on December 5^th and end on December 15^th, with two consecutive performances at a few of the scheduled venues, including the famous O2 Arena in London with a capacity of 20,000. However, due to popular demand, a third date was added for The O2, extending it to December 18^th. This is the show that I attended.

The huge arena faded to black and screams echoed throughout. When the lights came on, out stepped the Kami Band. The girls followed and they opened the night with the epic “Road of Resistance” which included call-and-response interaction with the audience to get them pumped for what was to follow. BABYMETAL performed “KARATE” as well as a number of classics that included “Gimme Choco!!!”, “Megitsune” and of course “Catch me if you can” which has come to be the track where the Kami Band show off their true skills on their instruments with solos from each member.

What truly made the night, however, was when Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers surprised the audience by joining the Kami Band and the girls on stage as the drummer. Chad himself dressed as a Kami Band member, donning the white robes and make-up. He was officially dubbed “Chad Metal” by the girls during his performance. What followed was an absolutely incredible cover of two Judas Priest songs, “Painkiller” and “Breaking the Law”, the same songs the band performed with Rob Halford in July. It was an unexpected treat and loved by fans that recognised the songs. SU-METAL has come a long way with her amazing singing ability, and these covers really showed her potential. SU-METAL thanked Chad Metal for joining them on stage and he went off. But Chad soon returned to the stage with a birthday cake for SU-METAL, whose birthday was on December 20^th, and the entire venue sang Happy Birthday for her. Chad then spoke some heartfelt words about BABYMETAL, saying “BABYMETAL’s been on the tour with us for all the UK. We love having them, they’re amazing. They’re beautiful, wonderful, talented people.”

BABYMETAL are set to tour with METALLICA on their “WORLDWIRED TOUR 2017” in Seoul on January 11^th, 2017. They will then join Guns N’ Roses for their “JAPAN TOUR 2017” where they will play 4 dates on January 21^st, 22^nd, 25^th and 29^th in Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama and Saitama respectively. The power and love of BABYMETAL is evident to see. If they’re heading to a city near you, don’t miss out on your chance to see a performance from one of the biggest names in metal today.

Writer: Joshua Kitosi-Isanga
Studying Japanese and has a deep interest in Japanese pop culture.
Currently enrolled at university in the UK and has studied abroad in Japan for 1-year.
Writer & Translator at MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON.

−−−

■Related article：I can’t know with just the music! What’s the fascination with Perfume & BABYMETAL, two groups gaining attention all over the world!?

■Related article：Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford joins BABYMETAL onstage for an epic performance【Video】