 We had the great pleasure to interview Aldious following their US debut at NAMM SHOW! Aldious is an all-female metal band that is often credited for pioneering the "Girl Metal Band Boom" in Japan. Formed in 2008, they've evolved over the years into a group that's ready to take the world by storm, complete with their new vocalist R!N! We sat down with them and discussed everything from their formation, their 2019 Live Tour that saw R!N officially join, the difficulties in performing in the US for the first time, and much more! Be sure to check it out and keep an eye out for more from them soon as we're confident that this won't be the last time you hear their name!
It’s been almost a year since we last spoke to ACME, and what a year it’s been for the visual kei band. With several more single releases dropping after their release of the full length album, Zesshou Ouka, and more shows in Japan and America, we were lucky enough to have the chance to sit down with them after their first Texas live at A-kon 2019! Check out our chat about their new singles, dream collaborations, and how good Girl Scout cookies are!
Interview with "AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES" Director Kotaro Uchikoshi & Character Designer Yusuke Kozaki8/8/2019  We recently had the opportunity to sit down with some of the people behind the upcoming game "AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES", Director and Scenario Writer Kotaro Uchikoshi & Character Designer and Illustrator Yusuke Kozaki! Both are big names in the industry with the former being well-known as heading the Zero Escape series and the latter having worked on everything from the recent Fire Emblem games to Pokemon Go! We discussed their thoughts on the title and what exactly makes its mechanics and setting unique and we hope that it leads you to check out "AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES" when it drops on September 17! We know we will!
 Playing their first show in America at A-Kon 2019, Brian the Sun has fast become a recognizable name with anime fans around the world. Their hits LONELY GO and HEROES have been used as themes for Boruto and My Hero Academia, and they’ve also lent their works to Sweetness and Lighting, March Comes In Like a Lion, and more. In their first ever US-based interview, we got to talk about high school music clubs, their favorite foods, going viral, and their recently released album, MEME.
Brian the Sun has their roots set from all the way back in 2007, when Ryota and Haruki were in high school together. Over the years of playing shows, they met Shinji and Shunta, and had their first big single, SISTER, in 2012. Since then they’ve played all over Japan, releasing two mini and two full length albums, and was brought to a huge audience when HEROES was used as an ending theme for the smash hit anime My Hero Academia.  We recently sat down with character designer and illustrator Q-Gaku at Anime Expo 2019 and asked him a few questions about his work on various titles like "Kyonyuu Fantasy" (AKA "Funbag Fantasy") and his work in and out of the eroge field. It was a really fun interview and apparently his first and we thank our friends at MangaGamer for the help in arranging this. Check out this interview and then take a look at some of his titles, if you're over 18 of course! Also, note that while much of Q-Gaku's art is NSFW, this interview is perfectly safe barring a few links at the end!
 If you’ve watched The Asterisk War or Kantai Collection (KanColle), then you’ve probably heard Shiena Nishizawa’s music. Having won the Grand Prix in the first FlyingDog audition in 2014, her pop rock stylings have been heard in anime since 2015. At A-kon 2019 we got the chance to chat with Shiena about her start in music, her love of American rock music, Steins;Gate, how she preps for a show, and more!
 Japan is no stranger to wild street fashion looks. From lolita to punk and everything in between, Harajuku especially is a fashion lover’s dream. Bold and bright, Hypercore’s clothing is unique amongst many Japanese street fashion brands. The brainchild of Hisacy, he brings his distinctive rock stylings from the world of album art to the fashion world. Based out of Harajuku, Hisacy came all the way out to Dallas, Texas, for A-kon 2019 [You can check out the gallery HERE], and talked about visual kei, his design process, Billie Ellish, and more!
 In recent years, lolita fashion has boomed outside of Japan. Elegant dresses with elaborate details and matching accessories are a more and more common sight, both at conventions and outside of them. These princess-like looks have found fans worldwide, giving their wearers a sense of fairytale wonderment and decadence in their lives.
A long running lolita fashion brand, Baby the Stars Shine Bright was recently at A-kon 2019 [You can see the gallery HERE], along with their sister brand, Alice and the Pirates. Baby is celebrating 30 years as a brand, and Alice 15, and show no signs of slowing down. We got to sit down and chat with some of the designers and one of the brand models about their works, international lolita events, favorite dresses, and more!  We recently came back from AX and we have a lot of interviews to bring to everyone! The first of these was with Fuyuki Hayashi and RIUICHI! Fuyuki Hayashi is the director and producer behind CRYSTAR, an Action RPG where tears play a central role, and RIUCHI is the game's character designer who threw in his specialty with gothic-inspired work to add a unique touch to the game's visuals! They discussed everything from their early work to the central themes of making cute girls cry! Check out the interview and be sure to take a look at CRYSTAR when it drops on August 27!
 A-to-J Connections recently realized that we were a bit overdue for a new KOTO interview and as chance would have it, this would be our fifth interview with her and it would take place just prior to her special Fifth Anniversary Concert! If you don't know who KOTO is, let's give you all a very brief recap. We first officially caught up with KOTO early in 2016 with an interview and a live report that can be found HERE and HERE respectively. Just a few short weeks later we were lucky enough to catch up with her in Taiwan where she held her first overseas live! That interview was split into two parts and can be found HERE and HERE. A few months after that we arranged another interview that followed the release of her single "Butoh Yugi" which can be found HERE. LASTLY, we caught up with KOTO in October 2017, circa the release of her "Kotoraberingu" (Kotraveling) single and you can find that one HERE. Basically, you can learn all about KOTO in all those articles!
Since then, a lot of developments have occured! She had a successful crowdfunding campaign for a new album and MV in April 2018 and followed that success up by announcing her major debut, and the creation of a new label just for her called "KOTORA", through Universal Music Japan! November 2018 would see the first album from her in two years with the release of "Bye Bye Teens Lullaby" and she'd also release an MV for one of its songs, "Tiger Fighter Cyber Fighter"! As already mentioned, she recently celebrated her fifth anniversary and has even expanded into other things such as creating choreography for other idols! Basically, there's a lot to say, but let's move onto to the interview! |
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