Milestone marks BoA’s 10th anniversary in J-Pop. In 2001 she made her way over to Japan at an age of 14.
Next year the movie Cobu 3D will be released. It’s a (3D) dance movie where BoA plays one of the major roles. I heard that it will be out in cinemas early next year, but on IMDb the release date is stated as October in the Netherlands, so perhaps it will only be shown in the US first :S.
I finished the drama Mary Stayed Out All Night a while ago. One of the main characters is played by Jang Geun-suk. He sings a lot in the drama and I thought I’d post a clip of one of the songs. It wasn’t released as a music video though (although I haven’t looked through all the special features that came with the drama), so I’ll post his Japanese debut song instead. It’s called “Let me cry” and debuted at #1 on Oricon. It’s kind of a pretty-boy rock song.
I still have stuff coming in (*cough*SNSD blu-ray*cough*), but this is the latest batch of J/K-Pop goodies that I’ve received. It’s YUI’s latest album How Crazy Your Love (CD+DVD) and the special edition of IU’s Last Fantasy.
I actually received these last week. Let’s start with IU’s album. Just like her last special edition, the box has the regular album inside, but also has a photo book. Or rather, it’s a book about (I guess) how the album was made, but it contains loads of photos of IU. The pictures in this one are super nice. It’s pretty thick too. You can see how big the box is compared to YUI’s album, which is a normal CD case. The inside of the box was a bit damaged on my copy. I guess it wasn’t built for overseas shipping. I think the book is too heavy for the box construction, so it squished the cardboard things holding it in place when it shifted around in transit.
Then there’s YUI’s album. I got the overseas (Hong Kong) version. I usually get that version, since it’s cheaper than the very expensive Japanese one. I opened the case, not really expecting anything special, and look what I found! It comes with a YUI guitar pick (Fender medium)! How cool is that? I felt the urge to break out my guitar which has been stowed away for quite some time now. I also had the idea to make a necklace out of it, like the one YUI used to wear, but I don’t think I can “ruin” it by drilling a hole in it. This CD is also an example of what I like about YUI’s releases in that it comes with a concert DVD. What other artist does that? I think it’s awesome.
SNSD has two Japanese releases coming up. One is their first Japanese photobook, called Holiday. The other is a release of their first Japanese tour on DVD and Blu-ray. The blu-ray is supposed to be region free. I must have it, but it’s so expensive! There’s also a limited edition, which is even more expensive.
One of the reasons I want this blu-ray: […] there’s more! »
4Minute are back… in Japan. Ready Go is their latest Japanese song, which is used as a theme song for the drama Welcome to the El-Palacio. The single will be out on December 7th.
They’re really playing the sexy card in this video. 4Minute have been doing hot videos for a while, but this time it’s noticeably more cleavage-y than before 
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I can’t wait to see them perform in Paris in February 
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IU is gearing up for her Korean comeback as well as her Japanese debut. These are the known dates for the releases.
Nov 22nd: Tracklist for Korean comeback album
Nov 29th: Release of Korean comeback album
Dec 14th: Release of Japanese pre-debut albumJan 2012: First official showcase in Tokyo
Feb 2012: Release of first Japanese debut single
Credit: weheartiu
The tracklist for her Korean album isn’t out yet, but it’s called Last Fantasy, so I’ll venture to guess that the title track is called Last Fantasy, which will also be included on the Japanese pre-debut album I□U. That would mean that the only new material (assuming you own all the Korean stuff) on the Japanese pre-debut album is the documentary DVD.
Before IU makes her real Japanese debut, she’s releasing a “pre-debut” mini-album in Japan called I□U, which consists of a few of her Korean hits, as well as a new song called Last Fantasy. It also comes with a documentary called “All about IU” on DVD.
Here are some promo pictures:
The first picture is of very high resolution, but all the pictures are heavily compressed, so the files aren’t that large.
Credit: weheartiu
You can pre-order the album here if you, like me, want it for xmas 
Update: I made a 1920×1200 wallpaper of the big picture. I converted the colour profile, so the colours look better.
The auto-tune fest continues . This performance was requested by Rin a while back. It’s the Japanese version of Bo Peep Bo Peep.
T-ara recently released the Japanese version of Yayaya (youtube). Like Bo Peep Bo Peep, it’s very similar to the Korean original, but without the story element. The concept is the same. I was hoping they’d do their Korean comeback next week, but I guess they’ll be busy in Japan.
In just a few weeks (November 2nd) YUI will be releasing her new album called HOW CRAZY YOUR LOVE. One of the new songs on the album is Lock On, which will also be the theme song for the upcoming drama Kaito Royale. The casino theme in the music video comes form the drama.
Credit: source vid. steely@jpopsuki
Lock On has a bit of a new sound compared to YUI’s previous stuff. Or rather, a combination of the various styles she has used in the past. It’s good, but my first impression is that it’s perhaps a little “all over the place”. It’s getting better with each listen though. I really like the “oo-oo-ooh” at the end of the chorus .
progress is one of the songs on Ayu’s mini-album Five. I like it. It has a more classic Ayu sound to it. It was used as the theme song for the game Tales of Xillia. It starts out slow and mellow, but then it picks up as the song progresses.
I haven’t listened to Ayu for a long while to be honest. Mostly due to the fact that I didn’t re-add her albums after iTunes corrupted most of my music library a couple of years ago, but also because I wasn’t impressed by her later albums and took a break and stayed out of the loop for a while.
mrdeus: Yeah, she bumped TaeTiSeo from #1 on the online charts too.
Spider: IU is currently #1 on Korea’s Billboard top 100! God,...
Alex: Yesterday was IU’s birthday.mrdeus: I appreciate the comments mrdeus: Yeah, they’re doing really well. Almost as if it was the whole...Spider: Twinkle is currently #2 on Korea’s Billboard Top 100!!Alex: Im a big fan of your opinions and reviews. I especially like your...mrdeus: Haha, brings new meaning to “k-pop” . I love this song...
