Category News

Jan 4 2012

Information On “BEST OF HERO” Character Song Album (Updated)

Mr. Ozaki has decided to spoil some info about the upcoming character song album BEST OF HERO over the week on Twitter. So far we’ve learned that the album will have 11 tracks, 9 of them are songs by the heroes and 2 are bonus tracks by other characters. One of the songs will be another Wild Tiger & Barnaby duet.

Song titles:

  1. 「生涯ワイルド宣言」 (Shougai wairudo sengen) by Wild Tiger. Ozaki says that it will give “a bodily sensation of a persistent soul”.
  2. 「轟け☆カンフーマスター」 (Todoroke☆Kung-Fu Master) by Dragon Kid. Ozaki calls it a Chinese rhythm that’ll go through your body, and he also gives an electrocution warning to nearby areas.
  3. 「ICE DOLL」 by Blue Rose. It should show the “heart” behind her icy mask.
  4. 「Thanks, and thanks again!」 by Sky High. It’s supposedly a very fitting song for the character, and will get stuck on loop in your head.
  5. 「No Farewell」 by Barnaby Brooks Jr. A tender and slow ballad.
  6. 「恋するヒロイン」 (Koisuru Heroine) by 『乙女☆クラブ』 or Girls☆Club. Ozaki says it’ll make your chest tighten with feelings. (Girls☆Club equals Fire Emblem, Blue Rose and Dragon Kid.)
  7. 「見切れ桜」 (Mikirezakura) by Origami Cyclone. It has Japanese spirit.
  8. 「酒と仲間と男のバラッド」 (Sake to nakama to otoko no baraddo) by Rock Bison with Wild Tiger. It has an “old man flavour” according to Ozaki.
  9. 「You are the HERO!!」 by Tiger & Barnaby, co-starring the other six heroes. Ozaki says it’s a powerful song that’ll make your spirit rise and make you do your best.
  10. 「タナトスの声を聞け」 (Tanatosu no koe wo kike) by Lunatic (Bonus Track)
  11. 「嗚呼、HERO SUIT」 (Aa, HERO SUIT) by Doc Saito & Ben Jackson (Bonus Track)

The CD is coming out on February 8th, and it’s available at least in CDJapan, Amazon Japan, and Hobby Search. Lantis has a special page for the CD with samples for songs already played on Hoshizora Sunrise starting January 9th. The bonus tracks aren’t scheduled for sampling, you’ll have to listen to them on the CD.

Sampling schedule was added to the official site:

1/8 Sky High and Blue Rose
1/15 Wild Tiger, Girls☆Club, and Rock Bison
1/22 Origami Cyclone
1/29 Dragon Kid
2/5 Barnaby Brooks Jr. and Tiger & Barnaby duet

Samples will be played on Hoshizora Sunrise radio on FM NACK5 on the listed Sundays from 23:30 JST.

Dec 24 2011

Tiger & Bunny Stuff For Holidays (Updated)

I didn’t ask for much for Christmas, and this is plenty already:

Hirata Hiroaki also posted on his blog about the character songs – he and Morita Masakazu (or Banikazu-kun as he called him) are singing a duet and solo songs again.

Update: Morita Masakazu tweeted that he was recording Bunny-chan’s song for the album. (“Bunny-chan” was his exact wording, not mine.)

Update 2: Inoue and Ozaki were having a conversation on Twitter earlier, seems that the first song to get sampled from BEST OF HERO will be Sky High’s. It’s supposed to be very fitting for the character, and also will get stuck on loop in your head, so you’ve been warned.

Dec 21 2011

Tiger & Bunny New Years Special On Ustream (Updated)

https://twitter.com/#!/TIGERandBUNNY/status/149505282756714496

https://twitter.com/#!/masa_ozaki/status/149505913827495936

As it says on the topic, the official Twitter announced that there will be a New Years Special on Ustream, at 25:59 JST on December 31st, and 13:59 JST on January 1st. There’s no more information yet whether the second airing is a rerun or not, nor is there information on exactly what the show will be about but Mr. Ozaki promises in his tweet to give more information later.

I think my plans for New Year are pretty much covered with this!

Update: New Years Special is planned to feature the following, and the same material will be on the 2nd broadcast:

  • Movie sample (probably the same that was shown at Hero Awards 2011 but I’ve heard they have also a longer promo video of it)
  • Live-action hero suits
  • Hero Awards 2011 BD/DVD promo video
  • Making of simulcast (this was previously shown at NYCC but for the Japanese audience it’s new material)

And in a totally different topic, Koubutsuya added more items to the T&B crystal dome cellphone charm line: Antonio, Nathan, Paolin, Yuri and… Maverick.

I don’t know about others, but I’d steer clear of a person sporting a Maverick charm on their cellphone. (∩ﾟдﾟ) The reaction on Twitter was roughly 90% horror and “WHY?!” with amusement mixed in.

Nov 24 2011

Bring It On, Bandai! I Will Fight!

Tamashii Nation 2011 is this weekend, and there’s already a ton of pictures of Tiger & Bunny figures on display there. Dengeki has a pretty nice report, but the official Tiger & Bunny Twitter account posted some pictures that weren’t on Dengeki.

Although I think Lunatic looks awesome, and H-01 is pretty sweet too, what really got me going was this:

Hiding there, inconspicuously in the corner like he’s taken photo-bombing lessons from Origami Cyclone… that’s an actual Wild Tiger crapsuit edition figure (maybe with a surprise bulge and dangerous underpants like director Satou wanted). I haven’t been able to find a full photo of it but if it’s even nearly as sweet as I hope it is, I’m going to fight for it. (It might finally be the figure that will make Amiami’s servers go up in flames when the preorders open.)

Aki wished me luck…

…and I think she was laughing.

By the way, Hirata Hiroaki, Morita Masakazu and Inoue Go are at Tamashii Nation on Sunday 11/27. They’ll be on Tamashii’s Ustream program at 16:00 JST with reairing at 21:00 JST, and it’s not region-locked.

Nov 22 2011

Sweet Dreams With A Hero Of Your Choice

We leave most of the merchandise blogging to Sternbild Central Market these days, but I can’t resist this. Partially because it almost got me to do a spit-take at my screen.

There’s been that fanmade mildly NSFW hug pillow cover available at Mandarake and Toranoana, but these… These are actual, official merchandise.

They’re bedsheets, your choice if you want to sleep with Kotetsu or Barnaby. There are also matching pillow cases, Kotetsu & Barnaby versions. I wonder if these will pop up on Bandai’s shopping webcast next time…

Update: These aren’t exclusives after all, above links go to CDJapan now, but they are available at Amiami and Hobby Search, too.

This photoshopped version is making me think that just like in this photoshopped composition of the posters, the poses on the sheets are a bit too intentional. As is that strip of bare midriff Barnaby is flaunting on the sheet and the poster.

And while I’m going on about merchandise and spit-takes, the character song album that was set for December has been pushed back to February 2012. It has a title now, too, BEST OF HERO. I can only hope the delay is to ensure we have another spontaneous discharge epic experience like “sandy beach, sandy beach” waiting for us.

I also got the new official books, Hero TV Fan vol. 2 and Official Hero Book 2, in the mail today. Review coming as I have time to get acquainted with them.