ZARD Is Still Alive

ZARD’s latest single 翼を広げて (Tsubasa wo Hirogete) will be featured in a Detective Conan movie

A previously unreleased song by Izumi Sakai, lead vocal of the Japanese rock band ZARD will be the theme song for the latest Detective Conan anime movie, “Meitantei Konan Senritsu no Gakufu” (Detective Conan, Score of Horror). Izumi Sakai was the voice and face of the somewhat mysterious unit that was extremely popular in the 90s. She passed away last May under cloudy circumstances while battling cervical cancer.

The poster for 名探偵コナン 戦慄の楽譜 “Detective Conan Score of Horror”

The song “Tsubasa wo Hirogete” (Spread Your Wings) was written by famous Japanese musician Tetsuro Oda and its lyrics penned by Miss Izumi Sakai herself. The animated movie will hit theaters across Japan this Saturday.

Japanese talent Chiriko Sakashita (L) and comedian Ryota Yamasato of Nankai Candies (R) promoting the movie in Tokyo last week

Dancing Stormtrooper Part II

Woo…look what I found! I didn’t know Tokyo resident and otaku extraordinaire Danny Choo was itching to get his Stormtrooper cosplay fix again and went out on to the street of Shibuya recently.

This time he’s busting out moves what the Japanese refer to as “uma uma dance” ( ウマウマダンス) while dancing to the track “Caramelldansen” by Swedish pop group Caramell. This catchy eurobeat has caught on like wildfire in Japan since the latter part of 2007 and the origin of the simple yet cute dance moves can be traced back to the characters from the Japanese PC game (later turned anime) “Popotan”.

The Caramelldansen / uma uma dance has the person sway his / her hip from side to side while having the hands flap around over the head to simulate rabbit ears. Only in Japan can they come up with cutesy stuff like that! :)


I think the sight of a Stormtrooper doing the uma uma / Caramelldansen dance is just too funny! Ah Danny, you’re a genius! xD

Uncle Chicken’s Drag Rag

“Super Preppy Flapper Cart!”

I proudly present you with another “what the fuck” video. Some otaku made this video from the video game Idol Master (you’re in charge of selecting, training and promoting a girl and see to it that she becomes a successful idol) and sync’d it with the track from Plus Tech Squeeze Box, a Japanese capsule group.

The song is so funny and cute at the same time! Just be thankful there’s English caption…there’s NO WAY I could’ve understood what she was singing without it!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAo9ZWTCvok[/youtube]