Osamu Tezuka was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the Father of Manga", "the Godfather of Manga" and "the God of Manga". Additionally, he is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during Tezuka's formative years. Though this phrase praises the quality of his early manga works for children and animations, it also blurs the significant influence of his later, more literary, gekiga works.
M-Flo is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of record producer DJ Taku Takahashi, Verbal and Lisa.
Super Eurobeat is a CD compilation series of Eurobeat music in Japan. The series itself is one of the longest-running music compilations. It has been running for over thirty years and the current list consists of 250 volumes.
Fantastic Plastic Machine is the stage name of Tomoyuki Tanaka, a Japanese musician and DJ born in Kyoto, Japan. Tanaka was considered to be part of the Shibuya-kei movement.
Shinichi Osawa, also known by his stage name Mondo Grosso, is a Japanese musician, DJ, record producer and composer currently signed onto Avex Trax's Rhythm Zone label. Previously he was signed to Sony Music Japan's FEARLESS RECORDS division and released albums under the title of Mondo Grosso showing influences of Brazilian music and language in songs such as "Maigo no Astronauta" or "Carnival of Colors". Over the course of his career he has worked in genres from acid jazz to house, with strong influences of underground club music, though his recent work has been in the genre of electro house. HMV Japan rated Mondo Grosso at #95 on their "Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists" and Shinichi Osawa is ranked as Japan's #1 electro house DJ and Japan's #3 overall DJ by TopDeejays.com.
Avex Inc. is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other business domains like anime, video games and live music events, partnering with Ultra Music Festival and hosting the annual A-nation. The company is a member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) keiretsu.
"D.D.D." is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Kumi Koda, taken from her second greatest hits album, Best ~second session~ (2005). It contains guest vocals from Japanese music duo Soulhead. It was written by Soulhead members and sisters Yoshika and Tsugumi, with production being done by Octopussy. The song is Kumi's first collaborative effort since her single "Hot Stuff" with Japanese rapper KM-MARKIT, which was released a month prior. As part of Kumi's 12 Singles Collection releases, "D.D.D." premiered on December 21, 2005 as the third single from the album. The CD cover sleeve has Kumi wearing a black mini-dress and headdress. The cover sleeve is to represent the country United Kingdom, and its symbolism of Britannia.
Taku Takahashi is a Japanese hip hop recording artist, DJ and record producer who debuted in 1997 as a record producer of the hip hop group M-Flo. The group rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with hit singles such as "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Again." Takahashi was also a member of Avex's 20th anniversary dance music project Ravex, and has produced songs for musicians such as Crystal Kay, Ami Suzuki and Rie Fu, and remixes for Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki. He formed the record labels Tachytelic Records and TCY Recording.
Nao Baba, known professionally as DJ Ozma and legally as Sumitada Ozumano, is a Japanese pop singer and musical artist. He is also known as Show Ayanocozey of the rock band Kishidan and Naomi Camelia Yazima of the drag queen pop group Yazima Beauty Salon.
Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio founded by Osamu Tezuka in 1968. It is known for animating notable works such as Marvelous Melmo, the 1980 and 2003 Astro Boy series, and Black Jack. It is also the holder of the intellectual property of Tezuka's works; his son, Makoto Tezuka, currently aims to use the company to extend Tezuka's manga series with new issues and publish posthumous works such as Legend of the Forest.
"Eien/Universe/Believe in Love" is BoA's twenty-seventh Japanese single. It was released on February 18, 2009 in two formats, CD-only and CD+DVD. The CD edition also comes in a first press limited edition. The second A-side, Universe, features fellow J-pop singer Crystal Kay and label mate, Verbal of M-Flo. The third A-side is the acoustic version of Ravex's single "Believe in Love", which features BoA. The 4th track on the Limited Edition version of the single, Best Hit Mega Blend [Limited Edition Bonus Track], is a mashup of multiple of her best hits in Japan.
"Reincarnation" is a song by Japanese recording artist Ami Suzuki for her second greatest hits album, Ami Selection (2011). It was written by Emi Hinouchi and produced by Taku Takahashi. It was Suzuki's first collaboration with both Hinouchi and Takahashi. It premiered on February 25, 2009, as the lead single from the album. The CD and digital cover sleeve has a close-up of Suzuki hovering a GCI bubble. The DVD cover sleeve features a slightly altered version of it.
Trax is the debut and only studio album from Japanese electronic music group Ravex, which consists of Shinichi Osawa, Tomoyuki Tanaka and M-Flo's member Taku Takahashi.
Jetter Mars is an anime series directed by Rintaro and written by Osamu Tezuka. Originally planned by Tezuka as a full-color remake of the original anime adaptation of his popular manga series Astro Boy, unfavorable circumstances during the pre-production phase of the project led him to abandon it temporarily and create Jetter Mars instead. Although it remains as one of Tezuka's lesser known works, it gained a large following and is fondly remembered.
Ravex in Tezuka World is a 2009 18-minute anime short film by Japanese band Ravex. It was featured in the album Trax, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Avex as well as the 80th birthday of Osamu Tezuka.
"Feel the Love" is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released in six different formats on December 25, 2013 by Avex Trax, Avex Taiwan, and Avex Entertainment Inc. worldwide. It was also her first physical release in three years since her EP–single L (2010), and her first double A-side single, alongside the track "Merry-Go-Round", since "Moon" and "Blossom" that same year. The track was written by the singer, whilst production was handled by Japanese musician and long-time collaborator Max Matsuura with the assistance of DJ Hello Kitty; this marks the singer's first single to be produced with another producer outside of Matsuura. Musically, "Feel the Love" is an electronic dance song that lyrically focuses on love and having a good time.
"Believe in Love" is a song by Japanese dance music project Ravex, featuring South Korean singer BoA. On February 18, 2009, the original version of the song was simultaneously released with an acoustic version of the song, found on BoA's "Eien / Universe / Believe in Love" single.
The discography of Japanese female duo FEMM includes one studio album, one remix album, two extended plays, four remix singles, and ten singles. All of their English and Japanese musical releases have been with Maximum10 and Avex Music Creative Inc., two sub-division record labels of Avex Group.
Disco Volante is the fourth studio album by Japanese-Colombian singer Lisa of the group M-Flo, which released on November 11, 2009. The album was the final chapter in Lisa's "luxury disco" series, which started with the extended plays Ready to Disco (2008) and Got that Fever, (2008) and featured a primarily dance, house and electro-pop sound. The album's leading promotional song, "Falling for You...", saw Lisa reunited with her former bandmate Verbal from M-Flo.
