News From The Other Side of The Pond #10!

This tenth entry is quite large, as we’ve found quite a few sightings of stars from the anime and the live action so brace yourselves!

New Keiko Kitagawa Commercials Soon!

Who would have thought that Keiko Kitagawa (PGSM Sailor Mars) would be one of the hottest stars in Japanese entertainment today? Her new drama Mop Girl is doing very well in Japan and now can be seen in commercials for several different products! Just recently NTT DoCoMo announced some new models of their FOMA 705i and 905i and that the cast of the DoCoMo 2.0 commercials from last summer will be returning to promote these new commercials. To refresh your memory, the DoCoMo 2.0 included such idol heavyweights alongside Keiko Kitagawa, such as singers Anna Tsuchiya and Tomoya Nagase. We are definitely going to keep our eyes peeled for this new set of commercials! We have also learned that Keiko Kitagawa is going to be one of the new faces of Coffret D’Or (Translation: Gold Treasure Box) , a new line of shimmering pink and champagne gold makeup from Japanese cosmetics giant, Kanebo. She was chosen along a few other women, because she represents the "elegance and beauty made ideal from the beholder, flowing from the inside out." This one will be out in December, just in time for the holiday party season! We’ll leave you with this new shot we found of Keiko in a magazine.

An Almost Real-Life Tachikoma!

The Tachikomas are those poor, blue, underappreciated robots from Ghost in the Shell, who have always been there to follow orders from Motoko and Batou and have gotten them out of several sticky situations. But much of the series revolved around the Tachikomas developing their own "Ghosts" or personalities, and every episode had a humorous short featuring these loveable battle machines. In fact, these Tachikomas could probably make the perfect pet if they really existed! Come February of next year, this dream is going to become an almost reality. In Japan, Bandai will be releasing a mini-robot Tachikoma that you can install and hook up to your PC via a USB cable. The robot talks and lights up, and the CD-Rom comes with several games that you can play with your Tachikoma! And providing the voice for the Tachikoma is none other than the voice of the Tachikoma herself, Sakiko Tamagawa! Sakiko’s voice should be familiar to Sailor Moon fans, as she played Elsa Grey in S episode 106, and Princess Kakyuu in Sailor Stars. The robot stands almost 10 cm tall and will cost close to $120, so start saving now!

Kikuko Inoue in New Anime!


The romantic comedy Clannad just started in Japan and Pony Canyon held a big event where nine of the Seiyuu for the show came out to answer a Q&A from fans. Among these was Kikuko Inoue (Sailor Aluminum Siren, Princess Rubina) , who plays Sanae Furukawa in the series. There was a contest where fans had to draw characters and items from the show, and the winner received a case of ramen. The actors apologized for this sorry gift, but noted that this event was about having fun! They all talked about their work on the show and some commented on the exceptional quality of the animation. The anime is about a guy who encounters many girls with strange powers in a kind of dream world which somehow fuses with the real world. Kikuko is on the right in this picture.

Another Masaya Kikawada Interview!

We came across another interview Masaya Kikawada (PGSM Motoki) did to promote the latest Kamen Rider movie. He didn’t say anything too much different in this one compared to the last one - but he did comment on the gap between what was popular when he was younger and what is popular now! And he thinks it can only get even more complex in the future, especially the gap in his acting. He thinks he will do different kinds of acting in the future compared to what he is doing now. He loves acting in dramas but he is scared of acting in soap operas!

And Finally, Rina Koike is Making Her Way in The Idol World!

One of the more bizarre decisions made in PGSM was the humanization of Luna as a young girl (and a senshi). This character was annoying but almost everyone can agree that the actress who played her, Rina Koike, was very cute and talented. She is now 13 years old and is one of the top models at her agency, Very Berry Production. Rina was featured a few days ago on a show in a Pay-Per-View series where she learned about modeling from veteran Gravure (and adult magazine) Idol Yuuri Morishita. We don’t think she is really the right kind of model for Rina to learn from especially since she is a lot more reserved than others. We read that Rina didn’t really feel comfortable with the idea of modeling in her birthday suit. In around a week’s time, a short DVD called Her Friends Are Billion Year Old Ghosts is set for release. This DVD shows her playing the piano and telling some charming children's stories. As of a couple weeks ago, she is also a voice of a character in Mobile Phone Girls, an anime that is just for cell phones starring some genki schoolgirl characters! The picture here is Rina at an announcement for this series last August.