Everything Λucifer / Aucifer / Lucifer / リュシフェル

The Minori Chihara SUMMER CAMP 2 rehearsals are nearing their end!

This week at last, the 7th and 8th are drawing near～.
It’s the first time I’m visiting the Kawaguchiko Stellar Theater～.
Seems like you can see Mt. Fuji from there☆
I’m worried about the weather. Especially since it’s so close to the mountain…
We can play through all the songs perfectly now!
That’s a bit of a relief…

I think I’ll thoroughly enjoy this two-day festival♪

A story from a while back when we went to Okinawa to film a PV.
As we were searching for a Seven Bank which is where I always withdraw money, we found that there are no 7-Elevens in Okinawa!
Did you know that?
There were just loads of Lawsons and Famimas.
Be careful about that, everyone!

You can view Minori Chihara’s PV for “Freedom Dreamer” on YouTube, so definitely check it out.
I’m the second guy. (Note: that’s real helpful, Atsuro!)
It placed 9th on the Oricon chart. Congratulations～!
That’s pretty awesome as it it didn’t even have a tie-in with anything☆
I was let to take part in the guitar recordings, too, so be sure to listen to the CD as well!

With that, I’m off to rehearsal today, too♪

Here’s said PV featuring Atsuro. He’s the second guy. *chuckle* I assume he’ll also play in any and all TV performances of the song. For now, you can see him in the Music Japan 2010/08/01 episode.

While we’re on the subject of second guys, Yuki can be seen in the PV for Acid Black Cherry‘s upcoming single Re:birth. Here’s the CM:

By the way, there’s reason to believe that Yuki’s other band Rayflower is coming out with their yet-unnamed debut album on September 15th. All their stuff I’ve heard sounds pretty rockin’ so I personally can’t wait! Rayflower just came out with their second single two days ago and while there’s no PV to be found on YouTube yet, there are audio samples of both tracks on the single. The ever-present delicious boys’ love imagery they’re stuck on top of ought to come as a welcome bonus.

PS. Less than 20 days until the first reunion concert!

Arena SPECIAL on sale

So the Arena SPECIAL is now in stores～
I procured myself a copy. (lol)
We’re on the back cover, but there’s a lot of us on the inside, too.

As we’re moving closer to the limited time revival and getting pumped up for the reunion, I’m feeling really thankful. I’m seriously very grateful to the people in the editorial department.

Though I’m anxious to hear the fans’ thoughts on it, I’m very satisfied with how it turned out.
To Tanaka who took such great pictures of us～ much thanks! (lol)

On an unrelated note, a while ago Yuki opened a blog, too. You can find it here.

And with that, this blog is going on a little bit of a summer holiday — unless GN-0015 feels like posting something. *eyes GN-0015* I’ll be back in late July with the newest news, translations and, with any luck, reviews. Until then, take care!

ARENA37 SPECIAL

Though I previously wrote on this blog it’d be on 06/27, the Arena37 SPECIAL went on sale today.
Sorry ’bout that.
Those of you who have old magazines featuring us, please try comparing the pictures and see if you can avoid laughing (lol)～

As a bonus since Towa’s entry is so short, here are the fan comments to this so far. Do you think I should start translating some of these, too? I think it’s always interesting to see what the Japanese fans think as well. Let me know if you care for them.

Commented by Sea at 2010-06-26 22:36
I bought Arena!
I got excited trying to find it in the bookstore.
I’ll be looking forward to the live, too.
Commented by さに～ at 2010-06-26 23:25
I bought it as well ☆
I can only attend the Osaka performance but I’m looking forward to the live, too!
Commented by まあゆ at 2010-06-27 00:42
So it was the “SPECIAL” version. At first I was impatiently browsing the normal edition of the magazine going “It’s not here? It’s not here???” (lol)
In any case, for some reason it made me laugh that your names aren’t written as “Taguchi” or “Toru”, but as “TOWA” and “SANTA”… Oh well, it’s only natural here, right?
I think I’ll later carefully compare this with the old magazines and such.
The hairstylist who’s always worked with you, she seems to be quite well known, right?
The limited 10th anniversary commemoration live really feels almost like a class reunion, doesn’t it? I’m firmly looking forward to anything you might have planned for us. (Note: last sentence is a very free translation! Let me get away with it just this once. 😉)
Commented by かきちゃん at 2010-06-27 02:19
I did try doing a comparison but there was nothing that made me laugh (lol)
Though I’ve had the privilege of seeing you all live individually, this is the first time I’ll be seeing the five of you live as a group, so I’ll be really looking forward to it!
Commented by 真綾 at 2010-06-27 17:48
I live in a rural area so we’ll be getting it here in around a week…
I want to see it soon!
I’m seriously looking forward to it!!!

Lesson learned: Japanese people love looking forward to things.

(Note: sorry for the lateness. I somehow managed to miss this on my RSS reader!)

ARENA37°C

ARENA37°C, the magazine that took good care of us during the Λucifer era.
Today they interviewed the five of us in light of our reunion.
Supervisor Fujimori, photographer Tanaka and interviewer Yamamoto!!!
It was good seeing everyone in full force again (lol)
Everyone was still the same ＾＾
They got great pictures of us, so look forward to it!!!

It looks like this issue of ARENA37°C SPECIAL is going on sale on 6/27 (note: 6/26 actually)

↓ Here’s Yamamoto ＾＾

After the interview was over and the five of us were loitering around,
we found this store!!

It kinda looks like the Λucifer logo! (lol)

(Note: it does! Look here ↓)

Magazine publication information!

The August vol. 71 issue of Arena 37°C SPECIAL featuring Λucifer will go on sale 6/26!!!!!
It’ll have more pages than originally planned!!!!!
It’s an article full of gratitude about a band seven years after their break-up♪
When YUKI saw the group photos, he was caught off guard and shouted:
“It’s Λucifer!” (lol)
It’s a strange nostalgic sort of feeling.
Please do get a copy of it!

After we were done with shooting, the five of us went to have ramen together for the first time in seven years.
By chance, the restaurant we went into had lots of autographs of famous people on the walls.
I found Shokotan‘s there, too! (note: Atsuro plays/has played guitar in her backing band)
Even TWO BEAT? (note: old manzai comedy duo from the 70’s) How many years has it been?

Even the cheapest ramen was around ￥1,000!!! Too expensive!!!
Braised shark fin ramen was ￥2,600!!!
I took this photo on my iPhone right away.
Everyone’s hungrily slurping down their ramen and wholeheartedly agreeing it’s delicious.
As is usual with this band when eating ramen, everyone was completely silent (lol)
Incidentally, the restaurant is in Yuurakuchou, close to the Kokusai Forum where we played our final live.

Things were looking grim after my last post, but I’m very glad to have been proven wrong!

Aucifer now has a new site that promises to open in a bit over a week from now, on April 20th. For now, the site has links to the members’ respective sites. Looking pretty snazzy! There’s also a mobile version.

Here’s a portion of Mayu Shinjo‘s announcement:

Aucifer 10th anniversary
Finally, they’ve announced it!
I already wrote about it in a previous blog, but as their website was in preparation and none of the members posted any official statement, a lot of fans must’ve thought “is it for real?”
However, after lots of fine-tuning, their site is up.
This time, I can announce it loud and clear:
For a limited time, Aucifer are back!

On a related note, and this might just be entirely my imagination (or my limited Japanese skill), but Mayu might be hinting at some possible upcoming Kaikan Phrase activity. Whether she means another game, the manga or even — dare I say it?! — more anime, I know not. But again, this could just be nothing, so take this bit with a grain of salt.

Atsuro, Towa and Santa also posted messages about this on their blogs, all basically just throwing the announcement out there and saying they’re looking forward to it. However, there is one thing of importance all of them seem to be saying. I’m sorry to say this to all those hoping for new Aucifer songs (me included!), but for now it appears that it’s going to be a live reunion in nature. I’m hoping they change their minds because while I’d love to go catch them live, I don’t see that happening.

Ah well,  if nothing else, we can at least hope for a live DVD, right? According to Towa’s blog, their rehearsals have already begun. Behold, this is where the magic (supposedly) happens:

Lastly, TNB Entertainment has also posted an apology on their site, basically saying they’re sorry for the wait. I don’t know about you guys, but considering the nature of the news they’ve just given us, I’m alright with forgiving them!

Indeed they are! About damn time!

Though the news about this was originally announced a couple of months ago, I only found out about it now. Here’s a rough translation of the announcement made by Shinjo Mayu, the mangaka behind Kaikan Phrase that of course gave birth to the real life Aucifer.

Aucifer’s comeback!

“To commemorate their 10th anniversary, Aucifer are finally being revived!
For this 10th anniversary there’s a new game being released, a comeback for Aucifer…
As for the rest… it’s a secret! (lol)
We’re planning various things, so look forward to it!
Details will be found here → http://www.rinne915.com/
You can also see a few old promo pictures at the website of Makoto’s new agency here! → http://tnb-j.jp/

The members have had clashing schedules due to various projects, but they’ve finally made time for their comeback.
By the way, for all of you who don’t know…
– Makoto has been doing solo activities.
– Yuki has been a supporting member in Acid Black Cherry, solo project of Janne da Arc‘s yasu.
– Atsuro has been a supporting member in Shokotan‘s band.
– Towa and Santa are in a band together, and Towa has also been doing songs for AKB48 ¹.
– Atsuro, too, has been making songs for different artists².

Though their 10th anniversary was actually on September 15th, because of these various individual activities of the members, their return was delayed until now.
But, finally I’m now able to pass on this news to you all.
All the fans, please wait for additional info.
I really want to go see them as well!!
It’d be nice to meet old staff and assistants again.
I’m really looking forward to it!”

¹ The hell? AKB48? This is something even I didn’t know!
² Like I’ve written previously, Atsuro has worked with Hello! Project before. Interesting, it’s like Aucifer are in kind of indirect competition with the AKB vs. H!P thing, no?

Mayu’s message was posted on November 18th. It shouldn’t take much longer until we hear some more news concerning this. Can’t wait! I’ll try to keep you updated as I hear anything more.