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Planetarium
Released Date: 2005.09.21
Debut Ranking: #1
Label: avex trax
Product Code: AVCD-30769
First Press: Special packaging |
Ai Otsuka’s 10th single, “Planetarium”, was released on 2005.09.21. “Planetarium” gained the first place on the Oricon daily single charts on its first day of release. This single also managed to achieve the top position on the Oricon weekly single charts, having more than 121,000 copies sold so far.
This is Ai’s first ballad single that has achieved such excellent results, which is quite a feat. As most die-hard fans of Ai know, her ballads usually sell poorly compared to her upbeat singles, such as “Sakuranbo” and “SMILY”. I do believe that the success of “Planetarium” is a positive sign that Ai Otsuka is gaining her fame rapidly due to her recently released DVD drama, Tokyo Friends, for which the sequel movie will be shown in theatres next year; her radio show, Otsuka Ai no ai-r Jack; and last but not least, her talents as an artist. Ai composes and writes lyrics for all of her songs and also has excellent piano playing skills.
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Do As Infinity, one of the greatest rock bands in Japan that will never fade from our memories.
Before DAI formed, there was only Nagao Dai. Dai was already an experienced composer at that time because he had been composing songs for an amateur band before it disbanded. After that, Dai decided that he wanted to continue to achieve his dream, so he sent demos of his songs to about 50 record companies in Japan. avex was one of the companies that received Dai’s songs and they decided to hire him as a composer. He was given the task to compose music for Ayumi Hamasaki and Hitomi.
Not long after, avex gave Dai the opportunity to make his dreams come true by forming a band, so auditions were held and Van Tomiko and Ryo Owatari were chosen as the lead singer and guitarist, respectively. Together, they formed Do As Infinity (DAI). On the 29th of September, 1999, DAI’s first single Tangerine Dream was released and they held a live concert in Shibuya not long after.
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1. pretty voice
2. 桃ノ花ビラ
3. さくらんぼ
4. GIRLY
5. 雨の中のメロディー
6. しゃぼん玉
7. 石川大阪友好条約
8. 片想いダイヤル
9. ハニー
10. 甘えんぼ
11. Always Together |
LOVE PUNCH, Ai Otsuka’s debut album, was released on 2004.03.31. This album debuted at #3 on the Oricon album chart, which is an impressive feat considering that she had only been in the industry for 6 months, and was also facing strong competition from more experienced artists such as L’Arc~en~Ciel (their album SMILE debuted at #2 on the same day) and Utada Hikaru (her single collection debuted at #1). So far, over 660,000 copies of LOVE PUNCH have been sold, according to Oricon sales figures. For people who enjoy first press extras, the LOVE PUNCH first press CD only version comes with a 60 page booklet thick with drawings drawn by Ai herself.
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Ayumi on Popteen, September 2005 Issue
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Artist: Ayumi Hamasaki
Product Code: AVCD-30842/43
Release Date: 2005.09.14
Highest Ranking: #1
Genre: Pop/Ballad
Label: avex trax
Format: CD or CD+DVD
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Ayumi Hamasaki’s 37th single “HEAVEN” was released on the 14th September 2005. Apart from being Ayumi Hamasaki’s 3rd single for this year, it is also the theme song for the highly anticipated movie “SHINOBI -heart under blade-”. For this reason, Ayumi spent a lot of time and energy onto this single for months prior its release due to its importance, making it a highly anticipated release for her fans.
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Photoshoot from ‘Mahiru no Tsuki’
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Artist: Hitomi Shimatani
Product Code: AVCD-30805
Release Date: 2005.08.31
Debut Ranking: #12
Label: avex trax
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Approximately six years have passed since Hitomi Shimatani’s debut in the J-Pop Industry back then in 1999 with her debut enka single ‘Osaka no Onna’. Since then her music has undergone through multiple genres. She has released twenty singles, 4 studio albums, a best compliation album, a mini album and a concept album. Apart from her impressive singing career, Hitomi also has an acting and seiyuu career. In August, Hitomi was proud to release ‘Mahiru no Tsuki’ to commemorate the release of her 20th single.
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