Maaya on location in Ireland for an original movie

Maaya's official site has been updated again with this week's big news: Maaya is currently on location in Ireland filming an original short movie:

ただ今、オリジナル・ショートムービーをアイルランドにて撮影中！

（コンセプトアルバム初回限定盤DVDに収録予定）

スウェーデン在住のＤＪ兼ジャズ・ピアニスト、Rasmus Faberと、
彼のプロデュースでデビューしたシンガーソングライター、Frida Sundemoによる共作を含む全9曲収録。

The film will be included on DVD with the first press edition of Maaya's new concept album. The album itself will feature nine songs, including collaborations with the Swedish Jazz pianist/DJ Rasmus Faber and his protege, the singer-songwriter Frida Sundemo.

Source: Maaya's official site

News roundup for a Wednesday afternoon

Maaya in Pirahna 3D dub
Yes, you heard correctly, Maaya has been cast in the Japanese dub of the horror-comedy film Pirahna (in 3D!)...well, if you enjoy shoals of fish eating people with Maaya voicing over the action then it's good news. Source: Hollywood Channel.

Season two of Glee DVD's announced
Maaya will be continuing her role as Rachel in the Japanese dub of Glee for the new season, as announced by HMV Japan. The DVD's will be coming out in December, just in time for Christmas!

'Sangetsuki' - 3rd 'Full Moon Recital Hall' cover unveiled
The editor's blog on Sai-zen-sen has revealed the cover design for the next volume of the Full Moon Recital Hall series. 'Tis very nice. I prefer the first volume and 'Bedtime Story' illustrations but the the story itself was interesting.

'Kimi to Boku' DVD on sale 5th October 2011

According to Tower Records the DVD will be released on the 5th of October, pre-orders have started. The DVD will feature the trailers and one of the audio commentary tracks included will by Maaya and the director of the movie.

It doesn't look like there will be English subitles, unfortunately. Another interesting point is that the details list the running time as 45 minutes. That's a lot shorter than I thought, no wonder the price is relatively cheap at ￥2,940.

Maaya reprises Natalie Portman in Thor movie dub

© 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.

This totally isn't just an excuse to post the most beautiful man I've seen in a movie since forever, but Maaya has been cast as Jane in the new super-hero flick Thor for the Japanese dub. Some of you might remember that Maaya was Natalie Portman/Amidala in the Star Wars franchise in Japan as well. It's quite nice to see her 'grow up' as Natalie Portman herself does.

If you haven't seen Thor yet, perhaps this might persuade you? Also, it's being called 'Mighty Thor' in Japan - even more awesome! Hot men and Maaya all in one movie ^^

Source: Maaya's official homepage and Thor Japanese release site

Maaya at APPLESEED X III press conference

An excuse to post a picture, rather than to post this as a news item as I don't know much about Appleseed at all.

Maaya is starring in the new APPLESEED X III project as the leading lady Deunan Knute. There's a trailer and lots of information in English if you'd like to find out more about the project on the Appleseed Wikia website.

There are a lot of photos and news articles in Japanese about the press conference floating around the internet but this was my favourite image. You and see this and the other photos, along with a report (Japanese) on the event on Moca News.

© moca news

By the way, this blog is almost at 10,000 hits. Thank you very much for visiting, and please don't be scared to comment on the entries more (^^)V you are also all very welcome to join the discussion over at Maaya's if you're looking to chat more about Maaya!

News round-up: TEKKEN, Kimi to Boku and Tomita LAB photos

Just a couple of things that have been announced this morning.

First up, Maaya has been cast as Ling Xiaoyu in the new CG (and 3D) movie TEKKEN Blood Vengence, which is due to premier in the US in summer 2011 before opening in Japan in September. There's a nice promo photo on Narinari.com.

The character is a schoolgirl. Also, it says in the article that Maaya won the 2010 Famitsuu Female Chatacter Voice Award which I didn't know before. Or maybe I forgot. Anyway, that's cool. More details on the cast at Cinema Topics Online or Famitsuu Online.

Not specifically Maaya-centric news but the original author of Kimi to Boku has quite a long interview about the process of transferring his comic to the big screen on Close Up Net Tube here.

And finally, Natalie.mu has a report and some really pretty pictures of Maaya up on their website here for you to enjoy.

(C)

'Kimi to Boku' PR: Maaya dreams of her hamster...

Just to round off the Kimi to Boku theme this blog has had over the past few entries, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper website had an interview with Maaya last week on her role as the voice of Ginougo. A lot of it was pretty much in the same vein as all the other pieces I've picked out but this was so sweet I had to post it:

When we ask her about her own memories of keeping a pet she reveals that she had a hamster when she was in primary school, and even now it appears in her dreams at times, such as when she’s tired. “[A pet’s] life is limited but if I think about how they will always be there in your memories, what they leave behind is a sense that they will always be with you because the time that you spent together was so special,” said Sakamoto, revealing that her precious pet lives on in her heart.

Aww...

One of my cat's died a couple of years ago, his sister is still going strong at 18 (that must be something like 100 in cat years!) so that's 18 years of my own 24. Definitely an important part of my life.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun online interview

'Kimi to Boku' PR Event - "I had no worries at all"

As an excuse to post this rather lovely photo of Maaya and Aoi Nakamura together with the Ginougo cats, Takashi Kubota (director of the movie) said the following of casting Maaya in the film:

© ENTAME~TERE

“Regarding Ms. Sakamoto, I had no worries at all. When I heard it for the first time during recording my heart was struck by the purity and innocence of her voice, so I’m glad that she was able to join this production.”

Source: ENTAME-TERE Film News

EDIT: Another report of the interview and photos of the event at CloseUp NetTube.
EDIT no.2: Zenzouren.com report - apparently one of the cats plays Ginougo, the other is that cat's kitten.

'Kimi to Boku' PR event - "I want to take it home!"

More photos and another report of the event have been published on the Movie Collection website, and the report features some really nice pieces that the others missed. The photos are different too, so please go take a look if you have a moment. The kittens look like a handful!

(C)Movie Collection

One question which surfaced during the Q&A was whether Maaya or Nakamura had ever owned a pet. Nakamura replied that his family currently own a dog, and...

When Sakamoto answered, "I had a hamster when I was an elementary school student," it got a laugh from the reporters and Sakamoto's expression was surprised: "Why are you laughing?"

Apparently when she was holding the kitten Maaya also said, "I want to take it home!" Then, regarding the appeal of the film her comment was: "I think you can really empathise with it. Even the author of the original picture book (Yamagara Shigeto) cried during the dubbing session."

Sounds like the kleenex might be needed...

Source: Movie Collection

'Kimi to Boku' Photos and Interviews all over the place

A promotional event was held for 'Kimi to Boku' and accordingly photos and articles have sprung up all over the net. Really, REALLY adorable photos of Maaya and that Nakamura boy who's also in the film holding the Ginougo kittens (*_*) Maaya would look pretty with or without the cat, of course. But with a kitten is always better!

©moca news

Nikkansports.com, has a nice group shot and the portion of the Q&A they chose to focus on was the fact Nakamura and Maaya had never heard of each other before working on the film together! Actually, all of the articles seem to like including this confession!

Nakamura smiled wryly as he said, "Well...this film was the first time [I knew about her]", and Maaya also said apologetically "I didn't know who he was either...sorry. I don't usually watch television that much."

At least they were both honest!

Cinematopics.com also reports this exchange, but also has a different set of photos (similar though) and a slightly longer extract of the Q&A session. Here are some of Maaya's answers:

―――Playing a cat?
Sakamoto: This was my first time to play a cat, and because I got to watch the film while I was performing I had a fun time acting.

Eiga.com has a photo and small report too, as does Cinema Today where the Director comments that Maaya was 'perfect' for Ginougo. Going on, there's a photo and tiny article at Daily Sports Online - just a 'this happened' sort of article.

The voice actor news site MoCa News is the gold mine, really. As not only do they have some of the talk but they also have a variety of photos of Maaya (including the one in this post) which you can enjoy.

―――Regarding the process of making 'Tegami' for the theme song:

Sakamoto: I read the script and the original story book, thinking about what sort of song would linger in the mind after seeing the film. I wrote it as a message from Ginougo to the boy who is the main character. I'm really happy because they included a portion of the lyrics from 'Tegami' in the film itself.

Although, now that I look closely, does anyone else think that the kitten in this photo looks slightly evil? "Yes, world domination!"

And finally, there's a slightly longer interview about the movie with just Maaya on the Walker Plus website here. There's some promo photos from the 'You Can't Catch Me' album (which, amusingly, they've called 'You Can't Touch Me' in the article!) and some photos of Nakamura and the kitten from the film itself.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Another report and more lovely photos of Maaya at the My Comi-Journal website.