MBS will begin airing the Drama Series block ‘Drama Shower’ for one year only starting April 21. The first work, set to air on TV Kanagawa, Gunma TV, and a number of other networks around Japan,  will be the BL series Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai!

The story follows Fukuhara Kouta, a college student who has bad luck that causes problems everywhere he goes. One day, he runs into Shinomiya Naoya, a fellow student with the opposite problem – super good luck. Shinomiya decides to help him out, and in order to divide the luck between them, they need to be with each other all the time. As they become closer, the audience will be treated to plenty of laughs and heartwarming scenes, so you won’t want to miss it!

Check out the New 30-second Preview, Featuring the Ending Theme Shinu Made Kimi wo Shirou by Kobayashi Touya!

The trailer for the series, set to the emotional ending theme, features the quick and witty dialogue of the show’s token hottie Shinomiya Naoya. After hearing things like “I thought we were going on a date today,” and “I love your smiling face,” how can anyone NOT blush and want to see more?

Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai! 30-second Preview

The New BL Series is Scheduled to be Broadcast in over 190 Countries!

Social media sites have been filled with excited comments in Thai, Korean, English, and other languages, with BL fans excited for this international broadcast! Will you be tuning in from your country?

©「不幸くんはキスするしかない！」製作委員会・MBS

Bandai Namco has announced an upcoming global streaming event to highlight both current and upcoming Dragon Ball titles. ‘Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2022’ will take place between February 18 and February 19 in regions around the world. Plenty of updates and announcements will be made during the stream, so you won’t want to miss it!

The event was first held in February 2021 and brought together Dragon Ball fans from 23 countries around the world. This second annual event will feature even more popular content and will utilize the latest technology to bring even more excitement to fans of the series.

The world’s strongest players will once again be invited to participate in an exciting battle! This year’s Games Battle Hour will feature the Dragon Ball FighterZ, the Dragon Ball Super Card Game, and the smartphone title Dragon Ball Legends. Kids can also enjoy the new Super Dragon Ball Heroes digital card game!

On Dragon Ball FighterZ, the World Championship will be held to determine the world’s best player among the winners of the Regional Finals, a tournament featuring the top-ranked players from Europe, Japan, and North America. In the Dragon Ball Super Card Game, the winner of the 2021 World Championship will face off against the newest top player. Dragon Ball Legends will also announce a new project. 

A Super Dragon Ball Heroes event will pit six players from Japan against each other, separated into two teams for 3v3 battles. Those who aren’t interested in participating in fighting games can also enjoy a trivia competition!

The “DBXV2 Super Fashion Show” will see the top 16 fashion leaders in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 showcasing their most creative work. The ‘Dragon Ball Art Challenge’ will also invite viewers to create their favorite characters using unique mediums like balloons and Rubik’s cubes.

The recently revealed multiplayer game, Dragon Ball: The Breakers, will also be part of the event with the game’s producer giving an in-depth look and gameplay demonstrations for this upcoming game. ‘Dokkan DATA 2022’ will look back at the seven years since the launch of Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle and will share some data about how players have been playing the game and its exciting history.

Viewers can also take place in a workshop to learn how to best photograph their ‘Dragon Stars Series’ and ‘S.H.Figuarts’ action figures. A master of Chinese cooking will also take the stage to recreate dishes from Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot in the special program ‘Kakarot Cooking.’

A master sculptor and his protegee will create figures of Goku and Vegeta live during the event as well! Will you be tuning in? 

©BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION

©バードスタジオ／集英社・東映アニメーション　©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.

Eve will hold a special live streaming event on YouTube on–you guessed it–Christmas Eve! The stream will run from 19:00 until 20:00 on December 24, 2021. 

The stream is being held to celebrate over 3 million subscribers to Eve’s YouTube channel. During the event, he’ll go behind the scenes of the Yadorigi music video, as well as show the Live Film version of Inochi no Tabekata. There may also be a big announcement during the stream, so don’t miss it!

There will be no VOD for this event, so remember the date and time.

Amazon Prime Video is now streaming the second season of ‘The Benza,’ a Japanese comedy-drama series produced by independent film team Tokyo Cowboys. The new season will feature seven episodes, with the first four currently available. Episodes 5 to 7 will be released in March 2022.

‘The Benza’ was originally a 14-minute short film released in 2018. It inspired the first season of the television series in 2019 and found large popularity overseas. The show has won 32 awards from numerous film festivals in Japan and abroad, including Best Comedy, Best Actor, and Best Series. The series follows Kyle and Chris as they try to figure out how their toilet seat broke to prevent the end of the world.

Official Trailer

‘The Benza Season 2’ is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and PLEX in over 190 countries in eight languages.

Hard rock band BAND-MAID will stream a special acoustic concert on Christmas day. The event will be available to watch globally, so don’t worry about missing out!

This will be the group’s first attempt at an acoustic performance with no audience and will be pre-recorded. Everything within the stream was created with Christmas in mind, and the audio commentary will have English subtitles. More information detailing tickets and the stream’s start time will be announced soon. 

The official scorebook for BAND-MAID’s “Unseen World” will also be released on January 31, 2022. In addition to the band’s score for all 13 tracks on the album, the book will include member interviews, special photos, and an instrumental CD of the album. The interviews will be translated into English for international fans. 

Stay tuned for more details on the event coming soon!

Tactical Sound Unit Walküre, featured in the Macross Delta anime series and film Passionate Walküre, held their live tour finale at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo on September 10, 2016. Now, a complete version of the concert will be livestreamed to 18 countries around the world for the first time on August 28.

This stream will be the only way to view the complete version of the show, as it has never been included in any DVD or Blu-ray releases.

Walküre made their debut in Macross Delta, the latest entry in the Macross franchise. Macross is celebrating its 40th anniversary next year.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity!

©︎2015 BIGWESTMACROSS DELTA PROJECT

Japanese singer ASCA released her double A-side single Carpe Diem/Villain on June 2. The rock track Carpe Diem features as the ending theme for the ongoing anime adaptation of Square Enix’s video game The World Ends With You. The other song, Villain, is a full band cover of Teniwoha’s song of the same name. A lyric music video was posted on ASCA’s YouTube channel and features an illustration created by popular Japanese illustrator YOTTASUN.

ASCA – “Villain” Lyric Video

ASCA – “Carpe Diem” Music Video

ASCA performed live online on June 4 for fans who purchased the single at Tower Records. She will also hold another special online performance on June 27.

ASCA has dropped details on her upcoming new album Hyakki Yakou which is set to release on January 27, 2021, including the cover art and tracklist.

The record includes ASCA’s hit singles Howling which is used as an opening theme for the anime series The Irregular at Magic High School, an album arrangement version of Tenbin -Libra- which she performed in collaboration with Takanori Nishikawa, CHAIN which is used as the opening theme for Darwin’s Game, as well as other tracks such as the Sword Art Online app game theme Shinkaron, the ALTDEUS: beyond Chronos VR game theme DESIRE which is sung entirely in English, and more.

The album also features Mao Abe, TeddyLoid, Kana Adachi, MaRuRi (from MaRuRi to Ryuga), mizuki (from UNIDOTS), and more.

ASCA’s performance at Shibuya O-EAST last year is scheduled to be streamed for free on ABEMA on December 20, 2020 at 17:00 (JST). The performance will also be included on the Blu-ray disc that’s coupled with Limited Pressing Edition and First Press Limited Edition copies of Hyakki Yakou.

ASCA’s new song Howling was released today (November 4) on CD and digitally on Spotify, Apple Music, and the iTunes Store. The rock track serves as the opening theme to the ongoing second season of the TV anime series The Irregular at Magic High School.

The Anime Edition of the single features a cover of ASCA’s grilletto by GARNiDELiA.

ASCA’s is set to perform online on November 7, 2020 at 21:00 (JST) via the streaming platform e+ Streaming+. The online concert comes as a result of ASCA’s summer tour having been cancelled due to COVID-19.

ASCA is a Japanese singer whose songs have featured in numerous anime series such as Sword Art Online and The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. Her latest track, Howling, serves as the opening theme for the ongoing TV anime series The Irregular at Magic High School. The song made it to number one on iTunes Japan’s anime charts and is ranking high on other major music download services in Japan.

ASCA launched her official new fan club ASCA Music Entertainment on Monday. The theme of the fan club is based on a company environment, with ASCA as the company president and the fans as the employees. Members can enjoy a host of rewards including early access to new music, music videos, and more. They can also win signed cards, free invitations to live shows, and so on. Fans can sign up via the official website.

It was announced recently that ASCA’s nationwide Japan tour has been cancelled. But it’s not all doom and gloom for fans, as the singer has announced that she will perform live on a special stream on November 7, 2020. Tickets went on sale on Monday. Random fan club members will be selected to watch the show for free.

A new trailer released on Sunday revealed the artists set to perform the opening and ending themes for the upcoming anime series Shironeko Project: Zero Chronicle which is set to begin airing on April 6, 2020.

The series is an anime adaptation of the 3D action RPG smartphone game of the same name.

Takanori Nishikawa will perform the series opening theme.

He will be joined by guest vocalist ASCA who is known for her hit single RESISTER which has over 100,000 downloads in Japan. Details on the song title and its release have yet to be announced, but the song will cover the drama between the series’s main characters, Prince of Darkness and Queen of Light Iris.

Rei Yasuda will perform the ending theme song through the dark. Yasuda announced the release of her third studio album Re:I recently, which will hit shelves on March 18. through the dark is being produced by Japanese-Korean record producer and songwrite Jeff Miyahara who has worked with numerous high profile artists including Namie Amuro and Girl’s Generation.

Speaking about the ending theme, Rei Yasuda said: “What is it we can we do for the person we love? I tried expressing these mixed and strong emotions with the themes of light and dark. Love is made up of these two strong forms of love. It’s something that no one can touch, and if you have it, you can make it through any kind of darkness. I really believe that.”

She continues: “I wrote the song about going through hardships to want to do something to protect the person you love, even if you don’t know what someone with such a faint light as yourself can do. It’s a powerful and straightforward feeling that I’m sure everyone has deep instead their heart.”

© COLOPL/Shironeko Animation Project

©COLOPL, Inc.

ASCA’s song Hibari is currently being used as the ending theme for the popular ongoing TV anime series The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note.

The song is taken from her triple A-side single RUST / Hibari / Koubou. Following the release of the music videos for Hibari and RUST, the final music video for Koubou has finally dropped.

https://youtu.be/Us6xmFJ71W0

Koubou features as an insert song in the VR mystery visual novel TOKYO CHRONOS which is available on Steam. The music video features appearances of popular characters from the game.

The new single will be released on September 4 and will be promoted with a series of release events. ASCA will also celebrate her birthday on September 5 with a special live show. Fans can sign up for a chance to attend by getting a copy of the new single which comes with an application card.

ASCA will subsequently embark on her first solo tour in December with shows in Tokyo, Aichi and Osaka.

©三田誠・TYPE-MOON / LEMPC