Music News: Kanon x Kanon to play in London!

On the horizon at the O2 Islington Academy in November is 'Kanon x Kanon'. You may recognise the name as it includes Kanon Wakeshima who appeared at Hyper Japan earlier this Summer. You can read the full press release below -

"kanon x kanon x kanon Euro Tour 2011

Experience the stage match-up of Lolita sensation "Cello Vocalist" Kanon Wakeshima and the "2.5th-dimensional phenomenal musical unit" kanon x kanon!

Kanon Wakeshima, Tokyo's one and only "Cello vocalist" comes back to Europe to perform.
Kanon's rich, haunting sound, rooted in her classical music background, blends into current pop music and Gothic & Lolita street fashion culture.

In addition, she will be joined by another "kanon", famed Antic Cafe bassist Kanon, to have their European debut as the unit "kanon x kanon" (pronounced 'kanon kanon')! The duo's deep affection for Anime and Anime songs, mixed with their distinctive visual expression, is definitely something unprecedented.

Like a diamond with many facets, "kanon" and "kanon x kanon" sparkle in many colors - feel them all and welcome to this truly special concert by "kanon x kanon x kanon"."

The UK leg of this european tour is set to be on November 18th. Tickets are due to go on sale on September 5th. We'll make sure to post the ticket purchasing link when available. If you're an O2 UK customer, chances are you might get a pre-sale a day or two before.

For those of you perhaps wanting a little more from the concert, you might want to read the info below -
"At a later date, we plan to offer a limited number of ticket holders a chance to upgrade their tickets with certain amenities. We'll let you know as soon as we set the details."

You can view the video for the first single by Kanon×Kanon "Calendula Requiem" below



For more information on Kanon×Kanon you can visit their site HERE or their facebook page HERE.

Music News: 'Versailles Philharmonic Quintet' set to play in London in October!

Following a successful concert in the same venue last year, Versailles Philharmonic Quintet return to grace the London O2 Islington Academy on October 2nd as part of the European leg on their 'Holy Grail 2011 world Tour' with a night of their heavy melodic arrangements.

Below you can watch a preview video for their son 'Masquerade' taken from their latest album 'Holy Grail' available now in digital format from Amazon HERE. (You can also samples of all the tracks from the album at that same Amazon link.)



You can also see the complete video of their single 'Philia' below:



If these two songs are anything to go by, it should be a great night of music!
Tickets are available now at £23 each (excluding booking fees) and can be purchased HERE.

For more information on Versailles Philharmonic Quintet, visit their official site HERE or visit their official Facebook page HERE.

Music News: 'Unshin' to play at Japan Underground event in September

For those of you who ventured to Ayacon a few weeks ago you will remember the Japanese outfit 'Unshin' playing a concert there. After much praise for their performance their they have announced they are set to officially launch their debut CD “Waltz for Broken Dolls” which according to their official website "is a concept album telling the story of a young girl growing up under the strict pressures of Japanese society, but manages to stay on her own path" this week!

Their next set of appearances take place at the conclusion of this week and next week:

*Japan Underground / Album Launch Party
This Saturday (September 3rd) they will appearing in conjunction with Japan Underground music event at the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, basement of the Tavistock Hotel, Bedford Way, London WC1H 9EU

This event is acting as their official album launch party and there will be a live performance from the band during this event! Tickets are priced at £7.50 and can be purchased HERE. (You can also find more information about the event at the same link.)

*Alcon
On September 9th the six piece outfit venture up to Leicester to perform at the Alcon convention.

Alcon is a convention set to take place at the De Monfort University that will feature a variety of Anime related happenings over the weekend. Guests for the event include Catlin Glass who played the role of Winry Rockbell in Fullmetal Alchemist amongst many others and is an ADR director also (For you video game fans out there, she is also the voice of Cammy in the current Street Fighter IV franchise.) You can also expect to see Tia Ballard who you may know from her portrayal of Shao May in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood along appearances in the likes of One Piece, Strike Witches, D. Gray-man, Nabari no O, Casshern Sins and Eden of the East.

Also appearing at the event are a variety of peoples linked to 'abridged' series of Dragon Ball Z and Yu Gi Oh and many more!

As mentioned, Unshin are set to play on September 9th at the convention. If you're in the area make sure you head along to the convention for good old time!

For all the information on Alcon, click HERE.

If you want to find more information on Unshin, you can visit their official website HERE where you can also purchase their debut album in both CD and digital form right now!

We will be reviewing their debut album in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that!

Some new details regarding the third Evangelion remake movie

While the DVD & Blu-Ray versions enjoyed a successful release here in the UK this summer, the second of the current 'Rebuild Of Evangelion' project recently had its television premiere in Japan that confirmed through a trailer a the end of the feature that the third film currently known as 'Q' is set for release in Japanese cinemas in the fall of 2012.

This likely meaning that the earliest the film will appear in English is the first quarter of 2013 (although we should stress this by no means confirmed and purely speculation).

Below you can view the trailer (this version spotted by our good friend Andy Hanley of UK-Anime) that aired following the conclusion of the TV broadcast mentioned above:



Photo credit: Anime News Network (via http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-3627.html)

It's going to be a long wait for this film to reach the UK, but if the previous two outings of this 'rebuild' project are anything to go by, it should be one worth the wait!

Two films for 'Scotland Loves Anime revealed

Last year Scotland Loves Anime brought Anime fans from around the UK together to view Anime on the big screen. This very popular weekender returns to bring yet more Anime to the big screen over two weekends in Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively.

"Scotland Loves Animation is pleased to announce that we will be running Scotland Loves Anime again in October 2011 in both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The dates have been locked in as follows:

Glasgow: October 7th – 9th 2011
Edinburgh: October 14th – 16th 2011

Coming back with a new range of EU and UK premieres with some classic content mixed in – Scotland Loves Anime aims to not only showcase a range of different works but to add contextualized presentations afterwards."

Titles such as 'Trigun - Badlands Rumble' & 'One Piece - Strong World' were featured in the billing for last year and now the first two titles have been revealed for this years events.

"We're pleased to announce we'll be hosting the Scottish premiere of Mardock Scramble 1st Combustion back-to-back with the EU premiere of Mardock Scramble 2nd Compression at [Scotland Loves Anime] this year."

You can watch a trailer for it below -


The first of the two films was showcased at the Leeds Film Festival last year to great response. There are sure to be many who are chomping at the bit to see the next in this trilogy.

For more information on Scotland Loves Anime, visit their official website HERE.

'The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya' UK release to be "upgraded to 2-Disc set" by Manga UK

Manga Entertainment UK have made it known via their twitter account that the upcoming release of 'The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya' will now include a bonus DVD packed of extras to compliment the release!

According to Manga UK, "News Flash! Disappearance Of Haruhi Suzimiya DVD and [Blu-Ray] release to include bonus extras disc. Over 169 min of features. All pre-orders for [Disappearance Of Haruhi] will be upgraded to 2-Disc set. Bonus disc is a DVD disc. Special features incl. tons of Behind The Scenes, Tokyo, Theme Song, Trailer, Teasers, Commercials etc"

The film itself has a duration of 163 minutes. This means you are getting more than the runtime the film you're purchasing in extras! Well worth the money if you ask us!

It should also be noted that according to the message above, the bonus disc will be a DVD packed in both the DVD and Blu-Ray versions.

Manga also note that the listings on various websites including Amazon UK will be updated with this news as soon as possible.

App News - 'Fullmetal Alchemist Gallery'

To continue with the recent posts I've been making on Anime based apps available this week I turn attention to a very popular series of which the second incarnation is being released by Manga Entertainment UK, Fullmetal Alchemist.

This app released in November 2010 by Square Enix (known for making the Final Fantasy games amongst many others) is one that focuses on how you can make your iPhone into a Fullmetal Alchemist fans dream.

Packed with promotional pictures and more you can set wallpapers and (based on the images available) you can even set icons on your devices home page.

Here is the official description:
Fullmetal Alchemist, a manga by Hiromu Arakawa, has become a worldwide success with over 45 million volumes sold and two separate anime adaptations produced. This wallpaper app features design sheets, promotional visuals, and other rare illustrations from the series. Immerse your iPhone in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist!

Price: £1.49
Location: HERE

App News: Dir En Grey release official iPhone app

It's been a busy few weeks for Dir En Grey. They've released their new album 'Dum Spiro Spero', started a world tour in support of the album in Germany at the Wacken Open Air festival last week and are due to play at the Camden Koko in London this coming Friday (providing certain troubles in London don't say otherwise). Now they are reaching out to their fanbase further with the introduction of an official iPhone application!

The 'Dir En Grey - OUROBOROS' app is based on their previous album 'OUROBOROS' released back in 2008. (A somewhat odd choice to me personally seeing as the new album has just been released, but then again it is potentially the album that most UK fans are familiar with.) It features photos from their two concerts at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo that was later released on CD/DVD along with slide shows, access to setlists from concerts and app exclusive extras to customise your handset with.
Below is the official information for the app -

"The app features live photos from the 2 DAYS show at NIPPON BUDOKAN in January 2010. On top of that, the app offers live photos from their domestic and overseas tour including shots from their appearance at music festivals. Carefully selected photos from the official photo book for sale only by mail order in Japan and unreleased photos are presented in realistic, sensational and uplifting feelings of DIR EN GREY’s live.
When you tap on a photo, you will be able to view the set list of each show. You also have the option to view photos as a slideshow and have access to checking out some band interview. The app also comes with DIR EN GREY icons and skin to customize your iPhone with. With so many features including the ability to watch video previews, the app is user-friendly and simple to use."

The app is available to purchase through the iTunes app store HERE for the price of £3.99

Music: new single by FLOW, 'HEY!!!'

One of our favourite Japanese bands FLOW recently unveiled the video for their (ridiculously catchy and infectious) song 'HEY!!!'.
Watch it below and prepare to rock out!



Despite the fact this song isn't released until August 31st in Japan, the band have already performed it live and it's been featured as the 3rd opening song to the anime 'Beelzebub'. Here is the opening sequence -

[NOTE - May contain spoilers]


Crunchyroll are currently streaming Beelzebub. You head over to their site and watch it HERE.

Beez warehouse burned down during London riots

As I'm sure everyone reading this is aware there has been rioting and looting in the streets of London recently. The situation has now affected Beez Entertainment, one of the UK's Anime distributors in a big way.

Our friends over at UK Anime noted that Beez, via Twitter, made it known the warehouse containing their stock was burned to the ground during the rioting in London last night.

"We'd like to apologize to fans just now - there will be a slowdown in stock dispatch due to our warehouse burning down in the riots. The important thing is that at least from reports no workers were hurt. We're working as quickly as possible to find solutions but it will take a little bit of time to fix, thanks for your patience on this."

An short update followed:
"Thanks for the well wishes guys - right now all we know is the place was torched. We'll update as soon as we have it. Best case: There's stock left and things can be brought on track quickly. Worst case will take longer. Also worth mentioning is it's not our staff - but was at Sony DADC's warehouse. Their staff are reported to be OK though."

Obviously this is terrible news. Our thoughts go out to everyone at Beez and those affected by the London riots.

-------

Programming note -
We're set to record our podcast later today (Tuesday 9th). It will be made available tomorrow morning. We'll be discussing this news along with other topics. We'll also bring you a preview of the big Ayacon convention in a few weeks time. Our good friend Andy Hanley of UK-Anime will be joining us on the podcast to add his insight too!

If you have any thoughts, comments or questions you'd like conveyed on the podcast, please email us at AnimeChronicleUK@gmail.com by no later than 7pm UK time tonight.

App News: 5 Evangelion themed apps available to the UK

While doing a random search of the Apple App store (as I tend to do from time to time) for anime based apps I came across a collection of Evangelion themed ones.

Admittedly these have been available since the first quarter of 2009 so it's quite a late slip on my part, but it is the first time I've come across them and I wanted to share this knowledge to those who might not have been aware these existed.

There five apps produced by APPLIYA are themed around the Evangelion 1.0 feature film. They are all paid apps varying in price but there is a trial 'Lite' version of one of them. Each one represents a different category of application meaning they are unique to each other. I'm now going to go through them one by one for you.

*Evangelion Vol 1 - Cut Out
"Evangelion Cut Out lets you put yourself and your friends into the world of Evangelion with images taken directly from the hit anime movie, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone.

We’ve taken scenes from the movie and created a cutout area that you can place over portraits in your Camera Roll. You can even put your face onto Gendo Ikari’s body, including his signature sunglasses. When you’re done, save the new picture and send it to your friends, or make it your new wallpaper!"

Price : £1.49
Location: HERE


*Evangelion Vol.2 - Clock
"The Evangelion Clock makes checking the time an exciting event! This app is designed to fit the unique style of the NERV headquarters timer screens that monitored the remaining battery life of the Evangelion mecha.

The app includes graphics that are faithful to the movie, optional sound effects, and there’s also an exciting timer mode that switches to “emergency” red countdown stage with ten seconds left. "

Price: £1.99
Location: HERE


*Evangelion Vol.3 - Picture Stamp
"Integrate the Evangelion anime movies into your photos with Appliya’s new Evangelion Picture Stamp application. Find out what your classmate might look like with Rei’s signature blue hairstyle, or add NERV military vehicles over that picture of an aircraft carrier you just took. The Picture Stamp app allows you to make any picture more interesting with the inclusion of vehicles, character elements, and mecha from the highly popular anime movie, Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone. "

Price: £1.49
Location: HERE


*Evangelion Vol.4 - Calendar
"This app enables you to create a wallpaper calendar that uses special images from the highly popular Evangelion franchise. Choose a scene from our picture gallery, which features characters, sketches, mecha, and vehicles from the anime, then pick the months you want to display on your calendar.

The image will be saved to your camera roll, and you can set it as your wallpaper from there. Now you have a new Evangelion wallpaper with a quick reference calendar on it! You can check dates with just a glance at your device, or just admire the beautiful art of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone whenever you want!"

Price: 69p
Location: HERE


*Evangelion Vol.5 - Puzzle
"Evangelion Puzzle provides an exciting new twist on puzzle apps.

This latest entry in Appliya’s Evangelion application series uses imagery taken directly from the Rebuild of Evangelion movies in a challenging puzzle game that will have you occupied for hours!

The rules of the game are simple: load up your app and choose an image, difficulty setting, and type of grid. Each puzzle consists of an image that has been broken up into a grid of scattered tiles. Use your touch screen to slide the tiles into the proper place, but there’s only one empty space on the grid so your number of moves will be limited. Be smart and plan your moves carefully!

If you’re not quite sure where a piece should go, use the “hint” button to give you a full-view version of the puzzle image in its solved state.

Amateurs can choose a 3 x 3 grid on Easy or Normal, but serious puzzle pros will love the challenge of the Hard 5 x 5 grid. When you crank up the difficulty, the time limit for solving the puzzles decreases, so be quick!

As you complete puzzles, you can save the image to the camera roll and unlock new ones that use new scenes from Rebuild of Evangelion. The app also keeps track of your best puzzle completion times, so you can brag to your friends or motivate yourself to do better!"

Price: £1.49
Location: HERE for full paid version or HERE for free trial version.


For those of you who own an iphone or ipod touch, I hope you found this entry useful.

Review - Dir En Grey @ Wacken Open Air, Germany

On August 6th Dir En Grey kicked off their 'Paradox Of Retaliation' European tour with a performance at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany.

With their latest album 'Dum Spiro Spero' being released just a few days earlier it was a chance to catch the bands new material while still fresh to the senses. This performance at Wacken was also streamed online and viewable to millions of fans around the globe. I watched this performance on that very stream.

Having seen Dir En Grey during their last European tour twice, at Sonisphere in Knebworth and at the Koko in London, I had seen two very different experiences of a Dir En Grey show. One to a relatively unknown crowd and the other to passionate fans of the Japanese outfit. On this occasion it was likely to be a performance to the former but interestingly despite it appearing to be a lot of people unfamiliar to the band they got into the music and were very respectful to what they were hearing. (With the festival being a heavy metal festival, Dir En grey fit right in when it came to how heavy they could be.)

The band themselves were on good form. With this being the first date of the tour everyone looked fresh and ready to go. Kicking off with a few recent songs including their last single 'Lotus', the band launched into what would be a predominantly heavy set of numbers from their back catalogue. Playing 'Red Soil' and 'HAGESHISA TO, KONO MUNE NO NAKA DE KARAMITSUITA SHAKUNETSU NO YAMI' (the single prior to 'Lotus') it came across to me there was an issue of some kind on stage. Be it a technical fault or not, Kyo (vocalist)looked to be distracted by something so much so it caused him to miss certain lyrics of 'HAGESHISA...'. From what I could tell, which keep in mind wasn't a lot as I watching a time delayed internet stream, it appeared to be a foldback problem. (Foldback is the speaker at the front of the stage facing the various band members so they can hear what's being played by each other.) He was beginning to sing off key at some points during this early portion of the set and it looked be annoying him as he glared back to his road crew while singing as best he could. No doubt trying to motion there was a problem that needed to be attended to.

After a minute or two to have some water and the crew to attend to whatever the issue was the problem appeared to be sorted. Kyo was getting into his singing a lot more and band felt more cohesive because of it. The energy level picked up tenfold and they roared through such songs as 'Different Sense' & 'RASETSUKOKU' from the new album along with favourites 'Dozing Green' & 'Obscure'. This proved why you should catch them live if at all possible. The ferocity of their music is something special and I can vouch from personal experience it's a whole different kettle of fish when you are there in person.

For those interested the songlist as according to a post on Setlist.fm was:
-(Intro music) KYOUKOTSU NO NARI
-TSUMI TO KISEI
-LOTUS
-RED SOIL
-HAGESHISA TO, KONO MUNE NO NAKA DE KARAMITSUITA SHAKUNETSU NO YAMI
-OBSCURE
-DIFFERENT SENSE
-CONCEIVED SORROW
-DOZING GREEN
-BUGABOO
-REIKETSU NARISEBA
-Merciless Cult
-Agitated Screams of Maggots
-RASETSUKOKU

Dir En Grey are returning to the Camden Koko next Friday (12th August) in London following their monumental performance in same building last year. If you can get to Camden, I strongly suggest you experience this live!
[Photos in this review captured from Live stream by the ndr.de website]

Jeremy Graves

New titles added to Anime On Demand lineup

Anime On Demand have now begun adding titles as part of their summer streaming lineup to their website.

The first title is "Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan". The synopsis of this series is "Rikuo Nura lives in Ukiyoe Town and looks like your typical junior high student. But unlike his classmates, he lives in an old, Japanese-style house full of yokai that serve him. Unbeknownst to many, Rikuo is the grandson of Nurarihyon, who is the leader of all yokai. Rikuo is regarded as the Third Heir of the Nura Clan, but he has yet to officially take his seat."

Currently the first seven episodes are available for viewing HERE.

The second series is "Mystic Archives of Dantalian". The plot (as described by Anime News Network) sees "Hugh Anthony Disward inherit an old mansion and a personal library from his grandfather. In the basement of the mansion, he meets a mysterious girl—Dalian. She is a Dantalian and a gateway to "Dantalian's bookshelf", which stores the prohibited books of the demons."

The first three episodes are now available for streaming HERE. It's the intention of Anime On Demand to make this a weekly simulcast once they are parallel with the Japanese viewing schedule.


There are more title to be added in the coming weeks and we'll be sure to notify you once they are available.
For more information on Anime On Demand, visit their website HERE.

Details on how to watch Dir En Grey's performance in Germany tomorrow through your PC!

Dir En Grey are set to perform at the legendary 'Wacken Open Air festival' in Germany tomorrow (Saturday 6th August) as part of their current European tour. Thanks to the wonder that is the internet you'll be able to watch their set through your computer!

All you have to do is click HERE and you'll be taken to the page where the Wacken live stream is located, click play in the window located in the centre of the page that loads up and before you know it you'll be watching the stream!

Please note, Dir En Grey will be on stage from 2-3pm (UK time) in Germany but, the performance itself won't be streamed until a few hours later. The time you need to tune into to see their performance is 6.45-7.45pm (UK time).

Expect a mixture of old favourites along with track from their new album 'Dum Spiro Spero' to be played during their 60 minute set.

For more information on the Wacken Open Air festival click HERE.

L'arc~en~Ciel to play concert in London!

Some pretty big news by all accounts given how much we like this band, but Japanese rockers L'arc~en~ciel have revealed they are set to embark on a world tour at some point in the near future (meaning in 2012) as part of their 20th Anniversary "L'Anniversary" celebratory world tour.

The band have confirmed on their website (see screenshot below) that the world tour will be stopping in Europe, but this time aside from Paris (where they played their inaugural show in Europe back in May of 2008) they will be playing a concert in good old London, England!

No more information is currently available at this time. But believe us when we say we WILL keep you updated on this.

Aaside from various dates in Japan, as one would expect, the tour will be going to the following locations -
[Screenshots below are taken from the official website of L'arc~en~ciel]



You can view their latest single 'Goodbye My Way' below -

Music News: Entire new Dir En Grey album available for streaming!

Ahead of the release of their album Dum Spero Spiro, Dir En Grey have made the entire album available for streaming through their myspace site!

You can visit their Myspace page HERE.

The album is due for release this week (August 2nd) so be sure to head over there to hear it in it's entirety!
[There's currently no word on how long you'll be able to stream the album for. So perhaps best to listen sooner rather than later.]