 A "Flowerball" against a wallpaper of Murakami's flowers There's a good chance at some point you've seen a work by Takashi Murakami. Perhaps his ubiquitous flowers? Or maybe a picture of My Lonesome Cowboy floating around online? Probably his cover for Kanye West's Graduation album in passing? No matter how you've seen some of his work, there's nothing quite like seeing the pieces for real, to really grasp the scale and detail behind his often brightly colored, cartoony, and occasionally unsettling works.
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 Japan’s top maid cafe chain maidreamin gives Canadian fans a double dose of Akihabara culture this month, returning to North America to perform at the four-day Fan Expo Canada event at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, August 30 – September 2.
 (c) Takarazuka Revue Company A-to-J Connections is no stranger to the Takarazuka Revue we've hosted panels on the topic and even had a blog dedicated to it in our early days. We recently had the opportunity to speak with a former Takarazuka actress and we were very excited to conduct this interview. While Mio Cloud's time in the Takarazuka Revue might have been somewhat brief, her time as Jun Sagiri (an otokoyaku or "male player") provided us with a lot of insight on what being a part of the troupe was like and gave us an insider's look at the Revue itself. We're really excited to bring everyone this interview so we hope that you all check it out!
Before we jump in, here's a brief rundown on what the Takarazuka Revue is: The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Japan formed in 1913. It held its first performance in 1914 and has been in operation ever since and currently consists of five troupes, Flower (Hana), Moon (Tsuki), Snow (Yuki), Star (Hoshi), and Cosmos (Sora). There have been countless shows, from originals to adaptations of popular works, arguably the show that brought the Revue to massive popularity was The Rose of Versailles which debuted in 1974. Several other popular adaptations also include Black Jack, Rurouni Kenshin, Sengoku Basara, and more. What makes the Takarazuka Revue stand out among others is the fact that all roles are played by highly-trained female actresses. While there is much more to be discussed regarding the Revue and its history we will refrain from delving too deeply into it here, but instead suggest that interested readers check out online resources such as the Takawiki (http://www.takawiki.com)!  Japan’s top maid cafe chain maidreamin will perform their first Canadian service at Montreal’s Otakuthon, August 3-5, 2018.
 In a wild and unexpected clash of entertainment worlds, BiSH vocalist Aina The End, RIZE bassist KenKen, and rapper Chinza Dopeness all came together for a four-minute monster of an ad for current and upcoming Playstation 4 games. The music in the ad combines signature traits of all the participating musicians, each of whom brings a unique talent to the table and shows their prowess for unconventional projects such as this. KenKen has been known to collaborate with many musicians in the past, while Aina The End has just begun to make a name for herself outside of BiSH with her recent TeddyLoid collaborations and an upcoming solo spot on the Disney tribute album Thank You Disney. You can watch the ad (and more importantly, hear the song) embedded below.
-Justin The Revival of “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Musical” Says “Stage On!” to Its Final Stage!9/13/2017 復活したミュージカル「美少女戦士セーラームーン」がラストステージに「ステージオン！」  20周年を記念にミュージカルが復活したニュースを耳にしたときは夢のように聞こえました。やっと大好きな作品の舞台を観ることができると。そして、5年も続いた事がとても嬉しかったです。ただ、嬉しい気持ちの裏にはほろ苦い気持ちもありました。始まった事はいつか終わります。
There were a large number of overseas-born fans who rejoiced in the news that the Sailor Moon musicals would be making a comeback. Hearing the news that the musicals would be revived as part of the 20th Anniversary Project was like a dream come true. I would finally be able to see the world I loved on stage. I was even more elated when the musicals continued year after year these past 5 years. However, behind that happiness there was always a sort of bittersweet feeling. All things that begin must come to an end one day.  VIZ Media will be releasing two brand new, oversized picture books based on the Studio Ghibli hits Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke in early December! These books are chock full of full-color pictures from the film and easy-to-read text, making it a perfect way to introduce the younger set and those young at heart into the world of Studio Ghibli during family story time.
 Recently we attended Anime Matsuri XI in Houston, Texas and were lucky enough to conduct several interviews and here is one of those featuring the special maids from @home cafe! We have had the pleasure of interviewing Hitomi of @home cafe three times since last year's Anime Matsuri and this time she was joined by two other maids, Chimu and Mizukin! Chimu and Mizukin are both premium maids from @home cafe and the three of them spent most of their time at Anime Matsuri making the maid cafe the place to be at the convention! The interview was brief, but in our time we discussed several topic things such as the convention itself, their time in Houston, and even Hitomi's recent book! Be sure to check it out and keep an eye out for more content like this!
For those who want more information on Hitomi you can check out our earlier interviews with her! Our first interview with Hitomi, from Anime Matsuri X, can be found HERE. A more recent interview with her from Pacific Media Expo 2016 can be found HERE. Both the PMX interview and this one can be found on our YouTube Channel as well. The full video of this interview can be found at the very end of this article. |
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