A preview showing was held for “Death Note – The Last Name” last night at the Tokyo International Forum. Although star Fujiwara Tatsuya (24) was appearing in a stage production in Osaka and unable to attend, cast members including Matsuyama Kenichi (photo, 21) and Katase Nana (24) were on stage to greet the audience. The movie is the second in a two-part story, the first having been a big hit following its release in June. The movie has also done extremely well overseas and has drawn attention from Hollywood. It is based on a hugely popular manga series that has sold over 18 million copies. See this month’s Feature Article for more about Death Note.
Another manga-to-anime getting its first public showing yesterday was “Tekkon Kinkreet”. The movie, which features Arashi member Ninomiya Kazunari (23) in his first voice role, had its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Directed by Michael Arias and based on the popular manga by Matsumoto Taiyo (39), the movie is to get worldwide release through Sony Pictures. It’s set for release here on December 23. There are plans to enter it at the Berlin and Cannes film festivals next year.
• The latest in this season’s silly awards goes to actress Sato Eriko (24) who was named “Best Leather-nist” for 2006. The award is given to the celebrity who is judged to look best in leather. Of course Sato, who starred in the live action version of “Cutie Honey”, looks good in anything!
• The classic SciFi manga “Giant Robo” is to be remade as an anime. Written by the late Yokoyama Mitsuteru, the manga was first published in 1967 and the anime was planned to commemorate its 40th anniversary. Yokoyama, known as the Iron Man of manga, died in 2004 but producers decided to fulfill his wish to see the idea realized. The story was made into a live action TV series in the late 1960s and a straight-to-video series in the mid 90s. The new series of 13 episodes will be available first on the online service Sg-TV from January and aired on the Animax satellite channel from February.
• U.S. vocal group Boys II Men release their first new album in four years today. “The Remedy” is being released in Japan first, with a bonus track featuring a collaboration with Exile member Atsushi (26). The group are coming to Japan next January for a tour of seven cities.