It has been announced that the new opening theme for the popular anime series Ace of Diamond Act II will be performed by GLAY members TERU and TAKURO.

The series began airing on April 2 and is the sequel to the popular baseball anime series Ace of Diamond. GLAY originally performed the first opening theme Hajimaru no Uta and its members are returning to perform the second.

This marks the fourth time that TERU has written a song for the Ace of Diamond series. For the new song, TERU composed the music and TAKURO wrote the lyrics. The music was arranged by GLAY and DJ Mass MAD Izm*, and Seiji Kameda served as the producer. GLAY are known for serving many fresh hits throughout their discography, but this dance rock number is truly unlike anything they have written before.

Speaking about the new collaboration with the series, TERU commented: “I’m truly honoured to be working on the main theme for the TV anime series Ace of Diamond again! The songs we have written up to now for it have spoken of youth and blue skies, but we took a completely different approach on this one. It’s written from the perspective of losing a [baseball] match. I think it will give people the strength to not give up.”

Japanese rock band GLAY have announced that they will release a greatest hits album titled REVIEW II next year.

The band held a public talk on May 25 to celebrate their 25th anniversary. On New Year’s Day this year, they announced that they would commit themselves to 7 different things centred as part of “GLAY DEMOCRACY,” a theme the band are pushing for this year. The first was the announcement of their hall tour, the second was the announcement of their new single G4・Ⅴ-Democracy 2019- releasing on July 2, the third will be the band’s upcoming concept shows “GOOD GLAY” and “BAD GLAY” which will take place at MetLife Dome on August 17 and 18 respectively, and the fourth was the announcement of their 15th studio album.

At the 25th anniversary talk, the band gave details on the next three projects. The first will be a nationwide 17-date arena tour entitled “25th HOTEL GLAY” which will begin at Sun Dome Fukui on November 9 and will run into 2020. They are expected to play for 180,000 fans across the tour. Band member Takuro spoke about the tour’s theme “HOTEL GLAY” at the talk. He said: “We have performed live hundreds of times. We want people to enjoy not just the concert, but before and after the concert too. We will satisfy and bring smiles to lots of people by delivering the most wonderful and ultimate hospitality like that of a hotel. We want lots of people to enjoy spending a great time there.”

The second is that GLAY will release REVIEW II, their first greatest hits album in almost 10 years, in 2020. The title originates from their first greatest hits collection REVIEW ~BEST OF GLAY~ which was released back in 1997. Oricon reports that the initial sales of the record exceeded 2 million copies, making it the first album to reach that mark at the time. As of 2019, it has over 4.88 million copies sold, making it the third best-selling album in Japanese history.

The final was that the band will embark on a long overseas tour and dome tour in 2020 to celebrate their 25th anniversary. This will mark their first dome tour in 15 years, following GLAY 10th Anniversary Year Final GLAY DOME TOUR 2005 “WHITE ROAD” back in 2005. Full details on the new tour are yet to be announced.

But GLAY’s endeavours don’t stop there. Over on the official GLAY DEMOCRACY website, fans were asked to submit something they want the band to do, and one of the biggest requests was a free live show. The band will satisfy that request by holding a free concert on July 31. The location has yet to be announced, but it will be held wherever the biggest number of requests for a free live concert is. July 31 is celebrated as “GLAY Day” for a legendary concert they held 20 years ago on that day for 200,000 people. The fact they will now hold a free show on the same day makes it even more special.

Speaking about 25 years since the band’s debut, lead guitarist Hisashi commented: “In our 25 years of being together, right now is the most fun. [At our ongoing hall tour] we have finally been able to express their original meanings which is something we have always wanted to do.”

Bassist Jiro expressed his desire to convey the band’s multitude of feelings to lots of people, while guitarist Takuro commented: “When our 25th anniversary is up, we’ll return to the normal everyday GLAY. Keeping the each and every little promise we give out to people around the country is very us. I want to make more people smile.”

The members had plenty to celebrate about during the talk. Takuro also commented on the huge number of announcements they had: “When we spoke about doing all the things to make all our fans happy, seven ended up not being nearly enough.”

カメラマン：斎藤大嗣

It was revealed last month that GLAY will perform the opening theme for Ace of Diamond Act II which is set to begin airing on April 2. The band also just revealed at Anime Japan 2019 held on March 24 the song’s title and digital release date.

The title of the song is Hajimaru no Uta. It was written by the band’s own vocalist TERU who said at the event, “This song is about the start of one’s dreams, the beginning of one’s new life […] I hope that this song becomes the start of something for people.”

This is the fourth opening theme the Hakodate-formed four member band has written for the Ace of Diamond series following HEROES, Hashire! Mirai and Sora ga Aozora de aru Tame ni.

The anime edit version of the song will be released digitally on April 2, the same date the anime airs.

It has been revealed that Japanese rock band GLAY’s new song will be used as the opening theme for the upcoming anime series Ace of Diamond Act II set to air on April 2, 2019.

The song was written by the band’s own vocalist TERU. This is the fourth opening theme the Hakodate-formed four member band has written for the Ace of Diamond series following HEROES, Hashire! Mirai and Sora ga Aozora de aru Tame ni.

Each song to date has evoked the feeling of high school baseball which the series is based around.

Speaking about the song, TERU comments: “I have been given the opportunity to write another opening theme for Ace of Diamond. The song is about the starting of one’s hopes and dreams, the beginning of a new life, the feelings that serve as the impetus for these things. I hope this song becomes the start of something for other people too.”

GLAY will release their new album “SUMMERDELICS” on the 12^th of July and they held a pre-listening event of the album and the talk event at Shinjuku WALD 9 on the 10^th of July (Mon.).

The audience at this event heard all 14 songs included in the album. Many in the audience enjoyed the album, some closing their eyes and moving their bodies to the rhythm.

After listening to all the songs of the album. TERU, TAKURO, JIRO, HISASHI appeared on stage and talked about their new album. TERU said, “By releasing this album which includes songs written by each of us, we gained confidence.”

Two surprise announcements were made during this event.

The first announcement was the release of a music video of one of the songs on the album “XYZ” which was the theme song of Red Bull Air Race 2017. The music video is a collaborative work with Red Bull Air Race including the video of the special live held at the final match of the Red Bull Air Race Chiba held on the 4^th of July. I am pretty sure you will feel the freshness and the speed of the song.

The second announcement was an urgent announcement!

The words “TOKYO SUMMERDELICS” appeared on the screen and it was announced that “something is going to happen somewhere in Tokyo” and a countdown started. The countdown was also started on the official website of GLAY.

As the album title, SUMMERDELICS suggests, (it defies any attempt at a quick and simple solution) we need to keep our eyes focused on their future activities.

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