JKT48 Rena Nozawa to Join in AKB48 Concurrently, For the First Time from Overseas Sister Group

On June 18th, JKT48 Operational Team officially announced that their 1st generation member, Rena Nozawa, is going to hold a concurrent position in AKB48 due to the situation that her parents have to return to Japan for reasons related to their work.

This time, it is the first time that members of overseas sister group to serve concurrently as AKB48. Details such as the date to join AKB48 and her belonging team will be announced later.

Announcement of Rena Nozawa’s double position [sic] in both JKT48 and AKB48

Due to the fact that JKT48 Team J Rena Nozawa has to return to Japan, on Tuesday 18th of June 2013, it was announced in JKT48 Theatre that she will be holding a concurrent position in both JKT48 and AKB48. This would be the first time in the history of 48Group that an overseas sister group member is able to hold a concurrent position in both her original team and AKB48. Under these circumstances, Rena will also continue her activities as a member of JKT48 Team J.

Rena Nozawa, whose parents hails from Japan, successfully passed the audition for JKT48′s 1st Generation in November 2011, and became one of the only Japanese member among all the Indonesian members. Together with Takajo Aki and Nakagawa Haruka, she became a member of JKT48 Team J

Because Rena thinks that it’s of the utmost importance that this news is announced personally, on Tuesday 18th of June she directly announced this news to the fans at the JKT48 Theater

Information regarding which team (in AKB48) she will be participating as a member in and her activities as a concurrent member of both groups will be announced shortly

JKT48 Operation Team

Source: JKT48 Official Website

Girls und Panzer tank cakes now available from Patisserie Swallowtail

 

Your eyes are not deceiving you. The cute tank cakes from Girls und Panzer are real!

If you’re a fan of Girls und Panzer, you should recognize these tank cakes from episode 5.

Patisserie Swallowtail White Rose created these cakes in real life and sold them in their special booth located in K-Books Akihabara back in March, but they will be selling them again from June 20 to June 23, because these cakes are amazing.

These cakes come in two types. The first is Miho and Hana’s chocolate tank cake. This tank is 6 cm tall, 14 cm long, and 9 cm wide.

Next is Saori’s lemon tank cake. This tank is 10 cm tall, 12 cm long, and 9 cm wide.

Each cake costs 1,575 yen, and Patisserie Swallowtail will make only 50 of each per day. Their booth opens at 13:00, so get there quick!

Also making a comeback are these Anglerfish Team macarons featuring super-deformed pictures of the main characters and their anglerfish mascot. Miho, Saori, and Hana are vanilla-flavored, whereas Mako, Yukari, and the anglerfish are chocolate. Each one costs 300 yen.

But that’s not all! Patisserie Swallowtai is also selling this brand new St. Gloriana Girls Academy Darjeeling Tea Set, which includes three Darjeeling tea packs and two cookies with pictures of Orangepekoe and Assam. Darjeeling tea, also known as the Champagne of Teas, has a floral aroma and fruity, astringrent flavor that sometimes includes a musky spiciness known as muscatel. Of course, Darjeeling is also the name of the commander of St. Gloriana’s tank team.

As a bonus, you can also get these coasters featuring pictures of the main characters. For each cake you buy, you will get two coasters for free, whereas for each two macarons or single tea set, you will get one coaster. In place of a coaster, you can also get a tin slide case, with dimensions of 50 mm x 80 mm x 15 mm. If you can get to Akihabara, be sure to get your cake and presents as soon as possible!

By the way, these tank cakes aren’t the only tank-based foods inspired by Girls und Panzer. In January, the tonkatsu restaurant Cook Fan started serving the tank-katsu from episode 10. Here are some more food that weren’t even in the anime. What kind of tank-shaped food would you like to see?

Source: Patisserie Swallowtail White Rose,sgcafe

‘Danganronpa 1 & 2 Reload’ coming to PS Vita, preview of anime’s ending theme revealed

 

Spike Chunsoft has been teasing Danganronpa’s arrival on the PS Vita for a while, but the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu has officially revealed a PS Vita port of the murder mystery series, titled Danganronpa 1 & 2 Reload.

Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei is set in Kibogamine Academy, a school occupied by a group of incredibly talented super-students who each have a title such as “Super High School Level Baseball Player” or “SHSL Gambler”, the only exception being Makoto, an ordinary student who entered by winning a lottery.

However, the only way to graduate from this school is to kill someone without getting caught!  As if that doesn’t sound bad enough, every time someone is killed, all students have to enter a trial where either the culprit gets caught and sentenced to death, or everyone else dies!

The second game, Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubou Gakuen, takes a similar premise, but sets it on a deserted island, and it sold over 69,000 copies in its first week.

Danganronpa 1 & 2 Reload will feature high-resolution graphics for both PSP games and use the Vita’s touchscreen and rear touch pad. In addition, there will be new dialogue for dating and socializing parts, the Island Mode from the second game will be renamed School Mode, and you will have the option to adjust the difficulty settings for mini-games in the School Trial Mode.

Along with the port being announced, the animation studio Lerche has revealed a preview of the ending theme of Danganronpa the Animation. The song, titled Zetsubousei: Hero Chiryouyaku (Despair: The Hero Remedy), is performed by Suzume, a composer famous for his Vocaloid songs, and Soraru, an artist known for singing cover songs on Nico Nico Douga. You can listen to a preview of their wild ending theme below:

 

Danganronpa the Animation will start airing on July 4, while no date has been given for the PS Vita port yet. Whether you’re a fan of Danganronpa or you’ve never heard of it, you have a lot to look forward to.

Source: Yaraon, Otakomu,sgcafe

CeVIO creates free VOCALOID with new singing add-on

Fans of VOCALOID and it’s sister freeware UTAU will be happy to know another virtual voice is making it’s way on stage.

CeVIO came onto the scene in April and has been impressing users and updating since then. Originally it was created as a freeware artificial speaking program similar to VOICEROID, it has since added on a singing extension that should be familiar to users of both VOCALOID and UTAU as it utilizes a piano roll and note pencil for creating music.

The project originally wanted to create a program that could speak alongside a cute character, which was ultimately achieved in it’s original version with the character Sasara Satou. They also hoped that they would be able to have the voice sing, and with support from fans they were able to create a synthesized voice and face that is suited for both singing and speaking. With the newest version featuring the singing software released on June 14, plenty of people have taken to Nico Nico Douga already with covers of existing songs and new ones. Because the software supports MIDI file import and a UST (the file UTAU uses) to CCS (the file CeVIO) converter already released, most of the work lies in tuning Sasara’s voice to the song.

Her voice is tuned through a set of switches in the program that determines anything from how high her voice is to how adult it sounds. So far, preconfigurations loaded into the program include energetic, angry, and sadness. These configurations are especially useful when the script feature for speaking is utilized. Because it features a text to speech feature you can type full sentences for her to read, then set the timing on the screen with a simple click-and-drag interface. For singing, of course, you will have to use the single phoneme input familiar to users of other synthesized singing programs. As of right now only Japanese input is supported, romanji entry on non-Japanese operating systems causing the program to crash.

Sasara has proven to be popular, with her official character design showing off not only her in program appearance, but her box art as well. With the simple design, she already has MikuMikuDance models and fan art of her circulating the internet. She has gained popularity not only because of her voice, but because of the previous CeVIO Vision event held in January at Animate in Akihabara. While there visitors could interact and speak with the newest virtual star. Recenlty, on TV Tokyo’s ChoRyuHa program she has also been appearing alongside her users.

For those curious about the program and looking to download CeVIO Creative Studio, the official site is here.

Source: AnimeAnime,sgcafe

Get your fill of ‘One Piece’, literally, with the new ‘Baratie’ restaurant in Tokyo

 

Today, Fuji TV announced that they will be opening a One Piece themed restaurant on the seventh-floor of their headquarters in Odaiba, Tokyo. Fuji TV has been producing the unbelievably popular anime adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s manga since 1999, so I guess you could say that it’s about time! For the One Piece fans out there (and that’s to say everyone), “One Piece Restaurant Baratie” will open June 28th – less than ten days from now!

Obviously, the name “Baratie” comes from the ship-restaurant in the Sambas region where Sanji worked before he joined the Straw Hat Pirates. Fuji TV will place “Baratie” on the garden part of the floor and have the exterior replicate the restaurant in the show. The interior design looks pretty snazzy as well.

Staying in character, visitors will be greeted by Zeff (the store’s owner) and Sanji’s voices. You can also hear Luffy’s voice coming from the kitchen. The menu, which will be kept fresh with updates every few months, will feature food and drinks inspired by the characters. The anticipation is high – reservations have already been made!

If you’re wondering why this news sounds familiar to you, it could be because this is not the first One Piece themed eatery. In Shibuya, there’s a placed called “Buffet and Food Bar 325″ which also features One Piece inspired interior and food. You can check out our previous coverage of that particular place here. Go to both places, and let us know what you think! Do they satisfy your hunger for One Piece?

Source: Crunchyroll,sgcafe

Licca-Chan shows off Madoka and Miku dolls

The newest Licca-chan dolls were on display over the weekend, and they included not only Hatsune Miku but some magical girls as well.

 

You won’t have to make a contract to see the latest additions to the Licca-Chan doll lineup. The Hatsune Miku version of Licca-chan was previously leaked when it was accidentally listed with an image last month. During Toy Show 2013 over the weekend, she was officially revealed by Takara Tomy. Her arrival was so anticipated that not only was she set on her own pedestal, but her own pop-up advertisement near her display as well.

Miku was not the only exciting character to show up to Toy Show 2013. Takara Tomy also brought along Madoka and Homura from Madoka Magica for fans to admire as well. Under the line Licca Rise Mahou Shoujou Madoka Magica, the dolls will be made in the same way normal Licca-chan dolls are. They will, however, also recreate the items and clothing worn by the heroines of the popular anime. The price of the dolls will be 6800 yen each and go on sale for preorder on July 1.

Apart from the Licca-Chan dolls, there will also be a collaboration with the Koeda-chan line that features all of the different magical girls in a petite form and will be 714 yen each.

Unfortunately, the preorders for the Miku version of Licca-chan is already sold out as her release date is coming up soon on July 13, but there’s still a chance to pick up the Madoka and Homura versions.

Source: AnimeAnime,Sgcafe

Miku-Pack 02 brings a bundle of joy to fans of the VOCALOID star

Fans of the green-haired singing star Hatsune Miku will be glad to know the next issue of Miku-Pack is out and she’s brought some of her Crypton friends along for the ride.

 

The magazine Miku-Pack 02 might seem like it costs a bit, retailing at 980 yen, but it comes bundled with so many fun things that Miku fans are bound to be happy with it. Put out by Ascii Media Works, it features a CD with works by several VOCALOID producers, interviews and several illustration pages that can always double as posters.

The HATSUNE Appearance! Hatsune Summer Festival Caravan was in full swing last summer, and those who were involved with the ANGEL Project during it were interviewed for this issue. The concert series was unique in that in featured a MikuMikuDance model, rather than the standard ones ripped from Sega’s Project Diva games, which proved to offer smoother motions during songs. The model, called APIMiku was later distributed for public release by Crypton on the creators Piapro page.

Five Vocaloid producers feature on the CD that comes bundled with the magazine, and each are also interviewed in the magazine. The tracklisting for the CD, called Summer Clothes, along with the producers is:

1. Parallel World – Nem
2. Tsuribashi Effect – BoukariotoP (noa)
3. Pushing into June – Ou
4. Sunshine Over Mary Jane – HarryP
5. Nighttime Swimming – Tenioha

The CD is not the only thing bundled with the magazine, either. You can also get your hands on a new illustration that is part of the Happiness and Peace of Mind series.

Goods and interviews are not the only thing to be found within Miku-Pack 02. Specially themed Senbon Zakura illustrations are also to be found. They are there not only to look good, but to also promote the second novel in the series.

Apart from the Senbon Zakura novel being promoted, two new illustration books are as well. One called QUANTUM FLOWERS nagismo VOCALOID artworks will retail for 2415 yen and feature art from the illustrator most famous for the Meltdown PV. The other, called CUBE hatsuko Artworks will retail slightly less at 2100 yen and feature works by hatsuko, most famous for their Invisible PV.

Featuring plenty of Miku and a smattering of other Crypton VOCALOIDs, Miku-Pack 02 is sure to please fans.

Source: Dengeki News