Category: Music

Today it was revealed that former THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT front man Yusuke Chiba and former BLANKEY JET CITY drummer Tatsuya Nakamura will be teaming up for the first time to create a theme song for Toshiaki Toyoda’s upcoming film I’m Flash!

Additionally, they’ll be putting together a concept album under the name “I’m Flash! Band” along with bandmates Kazuhide Yamaji and KenKen.

The film was written and directed by Toyoda and was originally inspired by the song “Oh no! I’m Flash” by Sheena & The Rokkets guitarist Makoto Ayukawa (video).

Tatsuya Fujiwara, who was eager to work with Toyoda for the first time, stars as the charismatic leader of an upstart religious group who is involved in an accident which leaves a mysterious girl named Rumi (Kiko Mizuhara) in a vegetative state. In the aftermath, he flees to a desert island with a group of former yakuza bodyguards as his involvement in the incident is covered up.

His other co-stars include Ryuhei Matsuda, Kento Nagayama, Itsuji Itao, Yukiya Kitamura, and Michiyo Ookusu.

The “I’m Flash!” concept album will be released on August 22, 2012, followed by the release of the movie in September.

Source: Cinema Today

The official website for Toru Yamamoto’s Good Morning Everyone! has been relaunched with a new teaser trailer.

Based on a novel by Toriko Yoshikawa, the movie stars Kumiko Aso as a former punk rock guitarist named Aki who lives with her 15-year-old daughter Hatsuki (Ayaka Miyoshi), who she shares a friend-like relationship with.

One day, Aki’s former bandmate Yagu (Yo Oizumi) returns home after being overseas for two years and Hatsuki soon starts getting irritated by the way Aki puts up with Yagu’s carefree lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Hatsuki is upset about her best friend Tomo transferring to a new school—a situation Aki and Yagu can relate to.

“Good Morning Everyone!” will be released by Showgate in Japan this December.

Popular child actor Seishiro Kato will appear in Takashi Miike’s upcoming film For Love’s Sake, which will premiere as a Midnight Screening at Cannes later this month.

Kato will reportedly play Satoshi Tsumabuki’s character as a child. The role required a lot of action, such as punching and kicking, which was a first for the young star.

The film is the fourth theatrical adaptation of Ikki Kajiwara’s “Ai to Makoto” manga, but the other 3 were all released in the 1970s.

Tsumabuki plays a juvenile delinquent named Makoto Taiga who, while seeking vengeance, gets caught up in a fate-fueled love story with a rich honors student named Ai (Emi Takei), whom he first met as a child.

Kato took on an uncharacteristically gritty look for his role. During filming, Miike coached him to be forceful and abandon his typically kind, amiable personality.

After the Cannes screening, “For Love’s Sake” will open publicly in Japan on June 16, 2012.

Source: Eiga.com

Over the past two years, director Takashi Miike has hosted a series of live interview events to help promote upcoming movies. On Wednesday, he hosted one for his own movie, For Love’s Sake at Billboard Live Tokyo in Roppongi. Satoshi Tsumabuki and Takumi Saitoh were in attendance and participated in a frank talk about the film. This new special video featuring Emi Takei singing as her character, Ai Saotome,  premiered in the lobby during the event.

The film is based on Ikki Kajiwara and Takumi Nagayasu’s “Ai to Makoto” manga. It’s actually the fourth film adaptation of the series, but the first in 36 years.

Takei’s character, Ai, is the kind-hearted daughter of a wealthy family who falls in love with a dirt poor juvenile delinquent named Makoto Taiga (Tsumabuki). Saitoh plays Iwashimizu, an honor student who’s in love with Ai and persistent about professing it.

The film incorporates action, romance, music, and comedy in seemingly equal measure. During the discussion, Tsumabuki touched upon the difficulty in promoting a movie that doesn’t really fit into a particular genre. Saitoh seemed more confident, suggesting the film is a masterpiece that will resonate with today’s youth.

“For Love’s Sake” will be released by Kadokawa Pictures and Toei in Japan on June 16, 2012.

Source: Cinema Today