New Character Songs Announced for Free!-the Final Stroke- the Second Volume Movie

New character songs for the upcoming sequel to the anime movie Free!-the Final Stroke- have been announced. They will be sung by Haruka Nanase and other characters from the movie. Details about the CD release lineup were also revealed.

There will be eight volumes in total, with eleven characters singing songs—Haruka Nanase, Makoto Tachibana, Rin Matsuoka, Ikuya Kirishima, Asahi Shiina, Nagisa Hazuki, Rei Ryugazaki, Natsuya Kirishima, Nao Serizawa, Kaede Kinjou and Hiyori Tono. Each volume will contain two songs—a newly written song for one of the characters and a group song where everyone sings together. The CD jackets will feature illustrations of the characters drawn by Kyoto Animation.

*All eight volumes are scheduled for release on music streaming services on August 31, 2022.

Don’t miss out on this compilation of character songs sung by the characters themselves from the Free! series!

Free!-the Final Stroke- the second volume will hit theaters in Japan on April 22, 2022. It is the final chapter that will conclude the Free! series produced by Kyoto Animation and first aired in 2013. The movie depicts Haruka Nanase, a young man who developed friendships through swimming and has pulled off the impossible time and time again. Carrying all of his past experiences and feelings with him, he is now competing on the world stage.

Voice Actor × Music × Hero! “PRELUDERS”, Which is A Project About A New Hero, Begins with A New Era!

A new project called, “PRELUDERS” was announced at the Pony Canyon Booth at Anime Japan which just started today. All information about “PRELUDERS” was revealed at this great occasion and its official website and official SNS have just been released as well. “PRELUDERS” is a project which consists of music and audio drama. Songs will be released one after another from May and an album will be released in August. At the same time as the release of each song, the audio drama will be released by CD and online streaming. 

The world of “PRELUDERS” is a battle of two co-existing different types of person. The battle between “the one who aims to be a hero” and “the one who misuses power to become a hero” in a world where anyone has the power to become a hero. The activity of the heroes in “PRELUDERS” will be uploaded through the video streaming service called “Hero Cast”. Their ranking will be decided depending on the viewers reaction. “PRELUDERS” reflects totally to work with the age of social media.

The story of the audio drama developed around the two outstanding action hero teams called “High Five” and “S-quad”. These teams fight battles against “Discord”, who misuses the power to be able to become a hero. “Discord” belongs to the mysterious organization called, “Vice Versa ''.

The four voice actors who act as “High Five” are Junya Enoki, Ryota Suzuki, Ryota Iwasaki and Shun Horie. The other 4 voice actors who act as “S-quad” are Yuma Uchida, Kento Ito, Koutaro Nishiyama and Kouhei Amazaki. Gorgeous voice actors have been gathered for this exciting project. The two voice actors who act as the characters from a mysterious organization called “Vice Versa” have not been announced yet. Fans must be on the edge of their seats to find out.

The first song which is going to be released is “Hero License”. The song will be released on Wednesday the 18th of May. This song is the theme song of, “PRELUDERS” and its lyrics and music are done by Masayoshi Oishi. The song has two versions. One is sung by all eight voice actors of “High Five” and “S-quad”. The other version is done by four members of “High Five” and “S-quad”, separately. Chapter one of the series, “Fate,” from the voice drama is also included with the song on the CD.

The cover of the CD is an illustration newly drawn by POKImari, who has also created the character designs for “PRELUDERS”. 

Furthermore, on Monday the 25th of April, Music video is going to be released on the official YouTube channel as advance release. The program for PR is also planned to be released on the official YouTube channel so please check it!

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Here are comments from all the voice actors and Masayoshi Oishi at this special occasion when the information was fully revealed.

[ Junya Enoki ] (act as Asuka Morito, High Five)

This is a heroic story and it is a very interesting project since we are going to promote this through SNS. Please support our new project, “PRELUDERS” which just started! 

[ Ryota Suzuki ] (act as Shun Nakamitsu, High Five)

I am playing the character Shun Nakamitsu, who is a hero even though he doesn’t really want to stand out. I hope you find out why each character wants to become a hero. Hope you enjoy it!

[ Ryota Iwasaki ] (act as Minato Haruma, High Five)

Hello, I am Ryota Iwasaki. I am acting as the character Minato Haruma, who is from the Kansai region in Japan and is very active and always highly energetic. I have no idea how I ended up becoming this unique hero figure since I always admired team hero stories since my childhood. (Laugh)

I will do my best to protect the peace of the world with my team member’s Asuka,Shun and Sera. And I hope that “THE PRELUDERS,” will go viral! Please enjoy the story of High Five & the PRELUDERS!

[ Shun Horie ] (act as Sera Kashiwagi, High Five)

I tried to act as this fabulous boy, who loves fashion and make up, glamorously.  I felt the passion and strong desire to make this unique character from the staff. The result is amazing and I felt it was fate to meet this new character whom I have never met before. Please enjoy it.

[ Yuma Uchida ] (act as Ko Kujikami, S-quad)

I am Yuma Uchida and I play as Ko Kujikami. “PRELUDERS” is a story of heroes. There are all kinds of heroes but my character Ko is a dark one. You might be attracted to his aggressive and lonely side. There are many unique characters in “PRELUDERS”. Please enjoy the show and all its details.

[ Kento Ito ] (act as Chikage Misumi, S-quad)

A new exciting project has just begun! The project will show the story of the ‘Heros’ and ‘Discode’. We will shout when we do the special action and we will sing songs! I hope you enjoy it!

[ Koutaro Nishiyama ] (act as Ayumu Rando, S-quad)

I am Koutaro Nishiyama and I am acting as Ayumu Rando. I was drawn to the smooth atmosphere around Ayumu Rando from the first time I saw the character. Especially the question why did someone like him decide to fight a battle…!

Please enjoy the story development which has a great tension! I myself am very excited about it!

[ Kouhei Amazaki ] (a act as Kota Karasuma, S-quad)

All members of S-quad are so cute but Kota is especially cute!!!! I can say that he is like a small dog who barks a lot. I feel like I want to pat his head gently and touch his hair with affection when I am acting as him!

The story is so interesting and I am looking forward to seeing how the story goes. I hope you also like this project and enjoy the development of the story! Please enjoy “PRELUDERS”!

[ Masayoshi Oishi ]

I have been working on the theme song focusing on the view of the world, “Everyone has a license to become a hero"! I am confident about the result and believe it is a very good song! I hope you will find your hero and he will come and save you!

Each song’s music video has been created right now with the animated characters.

 Furthermore, original content, like PR programs and four-frame cartoons, are going to be released through the PRELUDERS Official YouTube Channel and Official SNS. Don’t miss it!

Please check out how this exciting project with song and audio drama will develop.

[ PRELUDERS ]

Voice actor × Hero × Music

New project called,”PRELUDERS” begins!

Story of Heros in a new era with songs and audio drama by gorgeous voice actors! There is not only one way to be a hero.There are as many types of heroes as there are people. This is the story of young people, who have power and will, who try to become their own hero.

[CAST]

★High Five

Asuka Morito (a CV.Junya Enoki), Shun Nakamitsu (a CV.Ryota Suzuki), Minato Haruma (a CV.Ryota Iwasaki), Sera Kashiwagi(a CV.Shun Horie）

★S-quad

Ko Kujikami (a CV.Yuma Uchida), Chikage Misumi (a CV.Kento Ito), Ayumu Rando, (a CV.Koutaro Nishiyama), Kota Karasuma (CV.Kouhei Amazaki)

★Vice Versa

Rei Tendo (a CV.？？？), Rin (a CV.？？？)

[STAFF]

Original Story : W・A / PONY CANYON

Character Design : POKImari

Screenwriter : Yuta Yashiro

Title of the theme song : ”Hero License”

        Song：PRELUDERS (High Five & S-quad )

　　　　Lyricks/music : Masayoshi Oishi

Music production : APDREAM

Sound production : PONYCANYON ENTERPRISE

Music Video production : IJIGEN TOKYO

Production : ARCH

PR : PONY CANYON

　　　ARCH PR

Planning and production : PONY CANYON

Singing Cosplayer Hikari Teams Up with Vocalist Yohei Onishi to Host A Brand New Program ANIME SONGS PARTY!

ANIME SONGS PARTY!

A program called, ANIME SONGS PARTY!, will start on Sunday the 3rd of April. On this program, you will be connected with anime fans all over the world by singing anime songs together. The hosts of this show are Yohei Onishi, a singer of anime songs and Tokusatsu (special effects movies) , and Singing Cosplayer Hikari, a popular cover singer worldwide.

A new show called, ANIME SONGS PARTY! will start broadcasting on Sunday the 3rd of April and this program will be on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, a Japanese radio station. This new program aims to connect anime fans around the world by participating in the program singing their cover songs of anime.

This program welcomes sessions which were done by all anime fans around the world. All anime fans can enjoy anime songs by sharing their own singing content through various different platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

‘Anime Songs’, which have been very popular in Japan, have now spread popularity to the world, alongside the great movement of Japanese Anime worldwide. Anime songs have been loved by many people in different countries and regions despite the fact that they are sung in Japanese and people who don't understand Japanese might have language barriers.

This new program called, ANIME SONGS PARTY! will introduce the content from anime fans including videos of them singing anime songs’ and ‘videos of them playing the anime songs’. On the program, anime songs sound samples will be uploaded through YouTube and YouTube Shorts. This way the viewer can use the sample as their Karaoke sound source to sing anime songs.

Also, the sound and movie which are uploaded with the hashtag ‘#ANIMESONGSPARTY’ will be shared on the program. Furthermore, the hosts will join the listener’s sessions and the cover songs which were created on the program will be spread to the world.

The hosts of the program are Yohei Onishi and Singing Cosplayer Hikari.

Yohei Onishi is a singer of anime songs as well as songs for Tokusatsu projects.

He sang the opening theme song of TV anime “Sasaki and Miyano”, the opening theme song of the Super Sentai Series Mashin Sentai Kirameiger and the theme song for the TV series of, Shin ・Hana no keiji.

Singing Cosplayer Hikari, who is a worldwide cover singer, is the other host. She has been very active as a YouTuber and a TikToker. She covered the Vocaloid song, “Yume To Hazakura” by Hatsune Miku in April 2021 and this song ranked No.1 in various J-POP charts in 14 countries. Another of her cover songs, ‘Muscles Please!’ was a collaboration with Nakayama Kinni-kun and is also getting great attention inside and outside of Japan.

Also, the video of Singing Cosplayer Hikari and Yohei Onishi’s session in the studio has been released. There is a comment from both of them included in this video.

After the program is on air, the videos including studio sessions will be shared on YouTube channels of various media like, ‘Anime News Network’ (U.S.A) , ‘Manga News’ (France) ,‘HYPER JAPAN’ (U.K.) and ‘GwiGwi’(Indonesia). In this way, the cover songs which were created by anime fans will be shared and spread to all Anime fans around the world. 

The program will welcome guests such as anime singers, actors, actresses, comedians and YouTubers, as well as anyone who wants to join and sing cover songs from all over the world. The first guest for the program, which will air on Sunday the 3rd of April, is Hironobu Kageyama.
His songs from his latest original album, Hangeki no Ouchi Rock, released on Friday the 18th of March 2022, will be introduced during this program. He will also play a session of selected anime songs which he especially has loved, from the studio.
In the program, they encourage hearing your opinion about the program by email. Please write to them about your opinion about the program, comments for the hosts, and any request you may have.

AmPm Rolls Out the Red Carpet for their 5th Anniversary!

Having made their debut in 2017 with “Best Part of Us”, Japanese masked production unit AmPm have built a fan base all over the world. To mark the fifth anniversary of their debut, AmPm announced that they will unveil new information on the 16th of every month this year, as a new project for 2022 titled ‘AmPm Delivering’.

The first release is a 2022 concept trailer that offers hints at the plan for the year ahead. As part of their roadmap for 2022 – an info drop titled AmPm Delivering “THE TRUNK” – AmPm announced that they will release their debut album this year, along with a remix of “Best Part of Us”, their debut hit that exceeded 10 million plays in its first few months of release. “Best Part of Us - Anniversary Mix” will drop in May, and this will be only the beginning of a run of exciting future activity.

The new album will be a concept album themed on “travel”, a topic that is close to AmPm’s roots, and the trailer includes video footage of Tokyo, New York City, Jakarta and Amsterdam – each of which were also the titles of tracks released by AmPm last year as a series of singles inspired by those cities. While this imagery undoubtedly hints at the content of the concept album, it will be fascinating to find out how it is all connected and expressed as music. The first album track, a collaboration themed around a particular city, will be released in the near future.

The concept trailer also includes footage from past AmPm performances around the world. AmPm’s global performances have included DJ sets at ULTRA Miami, ULTRA Korea and ULTRA Japan, as well as a co-headline show with Jonas Blue and a solo concert in New York. Will 2022 be the year when they are finally able to head overseas again? Keep an eye out for more news from AmPm to find out.

In addition, AmPm made history in March 2021 when they became the first Japanese artist to publish and sell an NFT music release, and now they have announced that this will be followed by a second NFT release this year. AmPm will be active in the real world and the virtual space in 2022, so there will be plenty to talk about this year.

AmPm have been publishing congratulatory comments on their official social media channels from many famous fans, including artists they have collaborated with on original songs, remixes and productions.

In the runup to these new announcements, AmPm have been releasing their very first series of lyric videos for 28 past collaboration singles, as a countdown that began in February. As we look back on AmPm’s previous releases, we can also look forward to new music soon.

Comment from AmPm

“When we released our debut song ‘Best Part of Us’, we never imagined that we would make it this far. Shortly after releasing that first track, we were amazed to see it spread through the world instantly through Spotify; and when we played at our first festival in Indonesia, we were surprised to be welcomed by an audience who sang along with us, despite us still being relative unknowns. We have also been able to collaborate with a variety of artists from Japan and overseas, which has brought us great happiness.

“We have released over 30 songs to date, and as we have recently been creating new lyric videos for them, we’ve remembered fond memories for each track, and we have begun to feel the weight of the past five years of work. Although our debut was sudden, we have finally finished building our foundations, and now we are heading into the phase where we can share the experience we have accumulated through even more productions.

“We hope you will support AmPm in the future. We are extremely grateful to everyone who has listened to our music so far, and we hope that those who do not know us yet will enjoy discovering our past releases, as well as the music we will announce in the future.”

Minori Suzuki Brings A New Identity with Upcoming Release!

Vocalist Minori Suzuki has announced that she will be releasing her 6th single “BROKEN IDENTITY” on June 1, 2022. The title song is the opening theme of I’m Quitting Heroing, a new anime airing from April 5 in Japan. The anime’s second promotional video features the chorus of this song, which is a hard rock tune unlike anything Suzuki has done before. The single will have a total of six songs, including two new coupling tracks and an instrumental of each.

The single will be released in three formats: Limited Edition A will include a Blu-ray Disc containing the Minori Suzuki Anime Song Covers Collection, a sequel to the Minori Suzuki Covers Collection that gained popularity on YouTube last year. This will include four newly recorded covers, along with comment videos, and a self cover of “Saihate” that was only performed once during a special livestream to commemorate the release of her previous single. Limited Edition B will include a CD containing the sound source of Minori Suzuki 2nd LIVE TOUR 2021～Make My Story!～, which was held last year. It will be a 60 minute recording and contain all 11 songs. More specifics about tracks will be announced at a later date. The Regular Edition will come with a CD wrapper with an original anime illustration.

A new artist photo has also been revealed. Minori Suzuki is shown in a beautiful blue dress with a slightly melancholy expression on her face. The mature image raises expectations for the cover picture, which will be released in coming days.

In other exciting news, several full music videos of Minori Suzuki’s past singles will be released on YouTube and other streaming/download services at midnight on March 15. We hope you will take the opportunity to look back on her career!

Be sure to check out the music video for “FEELING AROUND” along with the pre-order links for “BROKEN IDENTITY” below!

Standard edition

Limited edition Type A

Limited edition Type B