Bento Beatbox returns to Anime Network! (Premiere)

[quote]JRockRevolution and Anime Network Premiere the new Bento Beatbox.

Several years ago, the cult-followed program Bento Beatbox by Sony / Tofu records broadcasted a variety of Japanese music videos through Anime Network – After a haitus, Anime Network and JRockRevolution.com are now Premiering the return of Bento Beatbox throughout all Anime Network VOD cable and satellite operators as well as 6 million households in Southern California through United Television Broadcasting.

Bento Beatbox will feature 4-6 new music videos from Jrock and Visual Kei artists that will be touring or releasing albums in the U.S. and will be hosted by Xion, lead vocalist for the Los Angeles/Japan rock band, VAEIDOS.

The 30 minute premier of the new Anime Network/JRockRevolution Bento Beatbox presents 5 music videos from: Gackt, VAMPS, Angelo, LUNA SEA and Deluhi.

About the artists: (Information courtesy of JRockRevolution.com)

Gackt
Our first introduction goes to Gackt, known for his start in the Visual Kei band Malice Mizer back in the 90’s, this famous front man has enjoyed a very successful solo career known as “Gackt JOB”. Drawing upon multiple talents, Gackt is also known for his modeling career as well as his acting prowess in several commercials, television shows, and films.

VAMPS
Founded in 2008 by Hyde (L’arc en Ciel vocalist) and K.A.Z (Oblivion Dust guitarist), VAMPS entered the music scene seemingly by storm. In the summer of 2008, VAMPS released their first single “Love Addict” and followed with a 46-show tour.

Angelo
Angelo was formed in August of 2006 by ex-PIERROT : Kirito, KOHTA, and Takeo. Their first single “REBORN” was released in November 2006 and was soon followed by their second single “WINTER MOON” in early 2007. Their premier album “REBIRTH OF NEWBORN BABY” was soon after released in April of 2007.

LUNA SEA
It is a rare occasion to find a long-standing band that has maintained a solid line-up for the entirety of their career. However, LUNA SEA—originally Lunacy—is one of those gems alongside being what most would consider one of the most influential rock bands in Japan’s history.

Deluhi
Created in January of 2008, Deluhi’s members consist of Juri (vocals), Leda (guitar), Aggy (bass), and Sujk (drums). Not wasting any time, they put out their first mini-album “SURVEILLANCE” the following month and followed with their first live the same month. After touring several Tokyo venues during Spring of 2008, their first single “ORION ONCE AGAIN” was released in July.[/quote]

Source: ADV Nation

Updated the post with my story above.

Watched it last night and have to say it was quite good. JRockRevolution and Anime Network did a pretty good job on the production as a whole. I do think JRockRevolution might want to work on some scripts or something as Xion was a little too improve at times, the host segments need some more sprucing up. Xion is a musician not necessarily a VJ. He is a good choice given his musicianship background though, but perhaps he needs more time to get accustomed to the new role of being a VJ – scifiwizard’s suggestion of music in the background is a good one, also, I think.

Anime Network and JRR did a good job with the selection of high profile artists, with Gackt, VAMPS and LUNA SEA… Hopefully this may be the beginning of more to come with more music videos and Japanese related coverage from Anime Network, like the old days. :slight_smile: Hopefully if this goes well enough they’ll be able to expand their offerings from J-Rock/Visual Kei to also some JPOP too.

The other interesting aspect to this is the production and perhaps video cutting etc, was handled by ADV/Anime Network employees. Good news for ADV Production having more work to do!

I am fairly surprised over Bento Beatbox. Xion hosting was a pleasant surprise (except for the uncomfortable silence between lines so add some music or something). Starting with Camui Gackt’s “Ghost” [a lot of Terminator references before the T4 movie comes out next week] is in good taste and the choices after were really well chosen (Angelo, Vamps [Go HYDE & K.A.Z.!!], Deluhi, and Luna Sea).

A few people new to the J-Rock scene might appreciate subs for the songs (it’s widescreen format and is doable). A few fansubbers are willing to help out depending on who you go to. The J-Pop selection does need to brought in from Oricon or an equivalent source, but overall the show was great and I felt it was too short (being a fan of GOOD music).

I am very happy to see ADV bring this back, not happy to see Angelo again though.

I am guessing this is monthly because the cons were all for May.

The Gackt song was the Japanese theme song of Sarah Connor Chronicles, that is why it is Terminator like.

I really enjoyed Bento Beat Box. I haven’t seen the previous show, but watched it the other day and loved it. I really enjoy listening to jpop and jrock. This gives me another way to enjoy it.:slight_smile:

I must admit that when I first got into anime that I avoided Bento Beat Box, because I really didn’t think I’d like this sort of music. But, since they’ve brought it back, I thought I’d give it a shot.

You have to realize right off that I know absolute zero about any of these people. I also spent a lot of the beginning of the videos with my eyes closed, so as not to get a bad first impression of what they looked like, and to focus more on the music aspect.

First of all, “Ghost” by Gackt was a very well-done video, I loved the production, music and dancing. However, I didn’t care for the way his voice was done ‘electronic-ly’. I never have liked that particular sound. But then, that’s just me. All in all, I was thoroughly enraptured with the whole thing once I was able to accept that minor flaw with the voice.

“Sister” by Angelo - I liked the sound of this one right off. It reminded me of the music that I like to listen to (enough said). I didn’t truly care for his appearance, but that’s his thing, not mine. Since I couldn’t understand the lyrics, I don’t really understand the video - or did one have anything to do with the other?

“I Gotta Kick Start Now” by VAMPS - Before looking I was reminded of an '80s garage band, after looking I was reminded of an ‘80s garage band. I did like this song - a lot. It was good and clean and fun and rockin’.

“Hybrid Truth” by Deluhi - Didn’t care for this from the get-go. Not a big metal fan. From the first chord I thought it sounded metal. When I looked, it looked like a metal band. But I listened to the whole thing. Didn’t get any better for me. Just not my cup of tea. Or hot chocolate.

“Roiser (Live)” by Luna Sea - This was a really good live performance. The crowd was into it. The band was into it. I was into it. It wasn’t my favorite video of the bunch, but I liked it ok. Mostly the only live videos I like are ones where I REALLY, REALLY like the performers.

I have a very narrow love of music. So I hope I haven’t offended anyone. I’m actually surprised that I liked any of these. But, I did, so there’s hope for me yet! :side:

I really think that Bento BeatBox should try to obtain the licensing for some of the vids from the more popular J-Rock bands that drew many of us in to this fandom. Of course, anyone with a computer and internet could just watch them on Youtube, but it’d be so much better if they could be played on TV on Bento Beatbox where they can be exposed to new blood and be viewed in a clear, non-pixelated medium. The show definitely needs a more varied style, not so much of the stereotypical light and relaxed J-Pop stuff. I’d like to see a bigger portion of actual Japanese --ROCK-- in this program. Y’know, make it a little closer to what “International Music Feed” was, before they got bought out and shut down.

Dir en grey

Child Prey


Drain Away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMHap29eyiw
Kasumi

FILTH

Obscure (censored)

The Final

MUCC

Zetsubou


Ware Arubeki Basho

Rojiura Boku to Kimi e

Gerbera

LIBRA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixS2c1Ac2n0 (seen on IMF)

12012

CYCLONE


SHUDDER

BURN

WANA

GIRUGAMESH

Owari to Mirai


VOLCANO

Vermilion

BREAK DOWN

The Gazette

Chizuru


REGRET

HYENA

COCKROACH

Taion

FILTH IN THE BEAUTY

Slowhand wrote:

[quote]
“Hybrid Truth” by Deluhi - Didn’t care for this from the get-go. Not a big metal fan. From the first chord I thought it sounded metal. When I looked, it looked like a metal band. But I listened to the whole thing. Didn’t get any better for me. Just not my cup of tea. Or hot chocolate.[/quote]

Odd, “Deluhi” was the only band out of the line-up that
I even liked, everyone else just seemed way too poppy.

To be honest they made a descent selection with their music, Gackt is god, seriously, did anyone see New Fist of the North Star a few months back on SVOD, that was him that did the ending theme, he also did the opening of Kamen Rider Decade, the newest show in that series. Vamps was co-founded by Hide of Larc en ciel, the group that did Ready Stedy Go, the first opening of Gundam 00, and the FMA movie theme, Luna Sea is a legendary band, that has been around for years, they also threw in a few less known ones.

I thought they choose great, but if your taking request Flow is always good.

I’ll certainly be forwarding all your suggestions to the people at Anime Network

I quite enjoyed it myself, it was definitely better than just the Angelo video a few months ago – I’d like to see more. :slight_smile:

Personally I’d like to see some more J-pop here too, but given it’s a partnership with JrockRevolution, I’m expecting more in this vein. It’s very difficult to legal licensing hurdles cleared with content with Japanese Music videos in recent times. Every major one that was accessible on TV or VOD in the last few years seemed to vanish. If even Sony (PopJapan.TV and the original Bento Beatbox) bowed out of delivering Japanese music via TV platform to the US, that tells you how hard it is… So it’s definitely good news that Anime Network found a way to revitalize it again. Hopefully there will be more, but that is up to you all.

If you want to see this expand, watch more, get it more ratings… tell your friends about it. The companies can only do so much without you (us end-users). If it gets enough of a following, it’ll grow and continue.

Gackt -is- popular, and I will admit that he was my first exposure to Japanese Music (Mizerable was the very first Japanese song I’d ever listened to back in 03’, thanks to an overly-obsessed friend), and initially I wasn’t much into the harder/louder stuff either, but I gradually branched out and discovered that there’s alot more to Japanese Music than just cheerful Anime themes and pretty boy/girl singers. There’s Japanese hard rock, metal, dance, techno, industrial… all kinds of stuff.

My opinion probably means little here, but I just think that if they really want more people to watch, they should atleast have some vids from those more well-known bands. Even folks who don’t usually like foreign music have heard of Dir en grey, thanks to their stateside album releases and tours, MUCC have been on JRR and Taste of Chaos, and Girugmamesh are also starting to get noticed thanks to their performance at Sakuracon and album releases through JapanFiles.

And seeing as this show is a collaboration with JRock Revolution,
I was kind of expecting it to be more along the lines of this:

I got some info that Bento Beatbox is doing really well on Anime Network and one of the top draws in recent weeks.

I hope this means there might be potentially more coming?

Would this be the wrong place to ask if the show is going to be available in full on the site? I was looking for an alternative since my programming package doesn’t carry Anime Network and though I’ve seen the preview trailer available here and on JrockRevolution.com, I’ve been so so hoping to see the full show.

Edit: I was a registered user and bought the Premium (6.95/mo) package with the hopes of seeing this one show. Though, I noticed there’s Saiyuki available too, and I haven’t finished the series, so I’d still be able to enjoy the month I bought :laugh:

Sure you can ask about here. Welcome to the forums! I’ve read your blog posts at JRR before. :slight_smile:

I have not heard word about that, I’ll ask the Anime Network employees and hopefully have an answer soon.

Unfortunately, you can only catch the full show on TV, as we dont currently have the digital rights to a lot of the songs we show. Sorry dude, but for now it looks like you’ll only be able to watch it on VOD.

Oh the humanity! Time to see which friends still have Comcast then hehe

At least I have an answer. Thank you very much for finding that out! I appreciate it =]

AliW wrote:

[quote]Oh the humanity! Time to see which friends still have Comcast then hehe

At least I have an answer. Thank you very much for finding that out! I appreciate it =][/quote]

Unfortunately as of a few days ago Anime Network is not available on Comcast.

Here’s a full list of all the cable and satellite providers that carry Anime Network: http://www.theanimenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_schedules&view=schedules&Itemid=63

Well that is good to hear, I want to see more music videos, glad to see alot of people watched, I did my part.

The next Bento Beatbox is scheduled for next week!

They even sent out a press release for it.

http://www.theanimenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=The-Return-of-Bento-Beatbox-.html&Itemid=64

[quote]Following the success of the first Bento Beatbox television program on Anime Network, JrockRevolution.com is thrilled to announce our next episode’s airdate of July 15, 2009. The premiere show, which aired April 15, 2009 and featured legendary musical guests Gackt, Angelo, Luna Sea, VAMPS, and newcomers Deluhi, was recently rated as the sixth most viewed program on Anime Network. It is also being aired on the United Television Broadcasting System (UTB), which is the leading Asian Network in Southern California, reaching 6.2 million homes and 95% of all cable households in Southern California. JrockRevolution.com and Anime Network teamed up to create the ultimate Jrock video show, featuring a combination of Jrock’s iconic artists along with newer up and coming Visual Kei bands who are getting a lot of buzz throughout the Jrock fan community! Hosted by Xion, from the L.A. based Jrock band VAEIDOS, with Jrock news hosted by JrockRevolution.com’s Ai Aota, Bento Beatbox provides a platform for Jrock and Visual Kei artists to showcase their music videos, along with live concert performances, Jrock news, and interviews. Finally, the demand from Jrock fans for more access to their favorite bands has become a reality! Says Jonathan Platt, Bento Beat Box Producer and Founder of JrockRevolution.com

JrockRevolution.com is proud to be associated with Anime Network and AnimeNetwork.com, which is one of the leading anime sites providing programming schedules, forums and previews of upcoming anime as well as webcasting the new Bento Beatbox program. Stacy Dodson, Vice President of Anime Network, explains the program’s impact on Anime Network, “Anime Network takes its ties with Japanese culture a step further, partnering with JrockRevolution.com to bring viewers the latest music videos from Japan through the hit series Bento Beatbox.”

About JrockRevolution.com

JrockRevolution.com (JRR.com) is the leading Jrock community website outside of Japan featuring exclusive articles, interviews, forums, and several social networking sites promoting and exposing Jrock and Visual Kei. JrockRevolution.com will also be webcasting Bento Beatbox on Anime Corner each month. Jonathan Platt, Bento Beatbox Producer (along with Neu Bauhaus) and JrockRevolution.com’s founder says “We are proud to be able to provide a TV show featuring the hottest Visual Kei and Jrock artists as well as new and upcoming bands.” Along with the 30-minute program, Bento Beatbox will also feature 10-minute webcast editions on both www.jrockrevolution.com and anime network’s website for fans who do not have access to the television stations. More information about the artists and upcoming shows can be accessed on www.jrockrevolution.com.

About Anime Network

Anime Network is America’s #1 Anime Channel, reaching more than 42 million cable and satellite households with thousands of hours of exciting, eye-catching serialized programming. Launched in North America in late 2002, Anime Network is the nation’s top video-on-demand (VOD) offering. Complementing its cable service, Anime Network Online brings over 300 hours of network programming to the internet. For more information, visit www.theanimenetwork.com.

For more information and news about Anime Network’s Bento Beatbox presented by JrockRevolution.com visit www.jrockrevolution.com and www.TheAnimeNetwork.com. [/quote]

OK… I just got around to watching the second installation of Bento Beat Box. (Finally) I wasn’t putting it off, I actually forgot about it since it was on the wrong date on my schedule.

“Redeemer” by D’espairsRay - Mostly a band video with them singing and then dressing up in rags or chained up. I liked this song a lot, I seriously wish I could understand what they’re saying. I found my foot tapping along with the beat all the way through this.

“Love Addict” by VAMPS - I gotta say, I liked this one also, but what’s up with the vampire theme? Also, I couldn’t help but wonder, are these guys always this bouncy? I was really into the sound, but was distracted a lot by the antics of the band.

“Punky Heart” by LM.C - Ugh. 80s punk. Pink-clad guys trying to look like girls. Enough said.

“Jesus” by Gackt - This one struck me from the get-go. A man trying to commit suicide by pistol. He struggles with it all through the video and finally succeeds at the end. I was surprised at how real it looked the first time and had to rewind it and look again. At first, I thought the song was too strong for the subject matter, but then I listened to it again and decided that it was not. It seemed to capture the overwhelming emotions perfectly. I am deeply impressed with this song.

“Flashback Flag” by Uchusentai NOIZ - I’m… confused. Again, this seems to be a throwback to the '80s. Didn’t like the look of the band. Didn’t really like the song. And please explain to me what the deal was with the guy eating and looking like he was in pain?

Again, I’ll say that my taste in music is very narrow, but I am trying to broaden it. But there are certain aspects that I just don’t care for at all. :lol:
I’ll try again next time!