Alicia Haddick/アリシア

This is also to say: I will do anything to be in London to see the new updated Death Note in August, I'm fascinated how this show is evolving and what it could set the stage for in future

I'd also cut off my arm if it meant also catching Paddington in London at the same time

Maybe Happy Ending for me is a great show, but as a production it's also fascinating for what it could lead to moving forwards

As someone championing some of the work here in Japan (anime adaptations to musicals are booming, fascinated by the Skip and Loafer one that just started), it's exciting

It's also a chance for producers outside the US to stake their claim to produce high-quality musicals, when so often Broadway is heard and Europe and Asia are ignored when it comes to new musicals despite some of the most exciting work coming not in English from them (Moliere in France, for example)

I also know this isn't the end, with other yet-to-be-announced attempts to spread Japanese works using this model, so it's a movement

For Broadway it's appealing as a way to bring in international hits when it's more and more expensive to produce at home, so the timing works

I wrote about it recently, but Japan are trying to emulate its model, with both HoriPro and TOHO looking at turning some of their productions into global hits

That's a big thing fueling the new Death Note musical in London, which notably is receiving a few updates before it hits the West End

It's a statement to create something like this and find success and awards, and it sets a blueprint for it. There's some interesting original works in Korea now, not sure they have the same global endgame in mind but they're varied and fascinating shows all the same

Beyond the show itself, Maybe Happy Ending's production/creative process is just so fascinating

Korean musicals are making more pushes for a global audience with its originals and this had Korean producers and started there but with international collaborators with Broadway its inevitable endgoal

Unless they do a Hadestown-style special return of the original cast for the stage to record the production, we won't get that. Helen Shen left the show last month, Darren Criss came back but leaves again in May

A real shame with how pertinent the themes of the show are for today's world especially

A poster for the Japanese 2020 production for Maybe Happy Ending

Went through a lot of changes from its 2016 Korean debut to Broadway, most for the better, it deserved all its Tony Award wins. Desperate for this new version to make it over to Japan for a production

There were JP productions in 2017 and 2020 based on the old script, but not this finalized one

Maybe Happy Ending: Tiny Desk Concert YouTube video by NPR Music

I'm so upset we're seemingly never going to get a proshot featuring this original cast for the show, because between the soundtrack and concept and especially the staging, Maybe Happy Ending is perhaps my favorite new musical of the last few years

Caught Ado’s MV getting promoted on the MODI monitor in Shibuya (I saw a post just before walking past it an hour or so ago that it was playing there so chose to wait to capture it)

The standards are through the floor, but sometimes you can be surprised

I can safely say that’s perhaps the most respectful attempt by someone to try and nampa in Shibuya, mainly because they started conversation after I let them ahead of me at a vending machine but also, just were normal about me saying I didn’t want to go with them and left me be

In a month filled with a LOT of new releases, from most of the awards hopefuls getting delayed releases to Japanese major releases ahead of the spring, it’s honestly the one I’m personally most excited for

Such cool and creatively-strong original anime deserve that celebration

A firework scene in darkness showcased within the exhibit

One of the director’s prior art pieces of a person in a kimono lying in water

He did the painterly sequence in the last third of Your Name, is the thing most will know him for, but he’s a talented artist whose done great work outside of anime, also did the posters for Pokémon movies, very excited, some MVs, excited to see his feature directorial debut

A poster for A New Dawn at the entrance of the exhibit

An example of how they used lights and gel to create water effects in the animation, taken from above

An example of how they used lights and gel to create water effects in the animation, taken from the side with the scene showcased in above images

A number of shots from the film

In the Hobonichi Gallery they have a little free gallery for A New Dawn, the new anime film just released in Japanese cinemas today

Co-production with Miyu in France, using stop motion and cel animation techniques to enhance the visuals, Yoshitoshi Shinomiya, the director is a painter

The White Cine Quinto logo now orange with a table tennis ball on it

A large poster for the film on the wall

Another logo for the cinema with the scene of Marty running imposed over the letters

The cinema inside the PARCO is also decked out for the showcase, though

A ball sticker for Marty Supreme on a store window, with a large ball inside

A look inside the store, where a Cup Noodle tower and a long line is visible

I will also say, the store is PACKED, and alongside the entry ticket you need to buy a ticket at a different cinema to where I already have a ticket so I’m not going inside, but it is BUSY

They’re using the rooftop space at the Shibuya PARCO which I feel is really underutilized

It sounds like an idol name if you add emphasis, like

「ブラッピぃぃぃぃぃ」

That wasn’t the point I just wanted to check the store out of curiosity and because I was coming out for a movie anyhow

But like?

An aside: the jackets they did internationally for the releases there are also being sold today and though I don’t plan to get one, I got myself a 4pm entry slot for the store to check it out

Anyhow, he turned up at 3:40pm and because I missed a connection wasn’t there early and missed that

The thing about Japanese is that the path to fluency is working out how to shorten everything

Timothee Chalamet is in Japan right now because Marty Supreme is only now releasing over here. Been reading tweets about it and all of them shorten his name to ティモシャラ

Not even names are sacred

Reminder this has till the end of the month if you want to see the Castlevania musical with subtitles!

Otherwise, there’s the Japanese BD release (without subtitles), as well as a newly-announced release of the Symphony of the Night soundtrack that includes a live CD recording of the musical

On top of that, I also interviewed the CEO of SIGMA, Kazuto Yamaki, about the company’s future with new lenses and cameras after a trio of announcements at this year’s CP+

【Ado】ビバリウム (Vivarium) YouTube video by Ado

She’s quite open in discussing personal things during concerts, there’s an essay you could write on how Ado and artists of her generation are redefining J-Pop with honesty as much as their shifting sound

From bits I’ve heard’s in the book, and the MV, I’m fascinated as both fan and observer lol

A 4K BD for In the Heights

Also managed to find this US 4K for In The Heights for 900yen second hand in a shop that sells import BDs recently, one of the best of the last few years for real, and such an amazing musical… feels a steal of a find for the price

Excited to dive in, tho may be another week or so before I get a moment to start

Vivarium, the biography from Ado, with its bonus bookmark and trading card

My copy was a tad late for a delay with the store-exclusive pre-order bonus, but Ado’s biography landed in my post today

‘I think we’ve gone past that era’ — Fujifilm on why Finepix will stay in the past, and its future in premium compacts Yes, there's a resurgence in vintage point-and-shoot cameras, but the same is true of premium compacts, and that's where money can be made

Following up from CP+ last week, for Techradar, I spoke to Fujifilm’s General Manager for Imaging Solutions in the UK, Theo Georghiades, about making cameras accessible, the compact camera market and Gen Z’s growing interest in retro digicams, and more

I’m thinking on this rather than the fact that I’m only 6 months younger than A-rin, who is also the youngest member of the group, and a group who are still on the stage and of which half is married >.<

But seriously, this is so nice to see, I’m so glad for them