Welcome to MaayaSakamoto.net!

New Single for Tamayura TV Season 2
The sequel anime Tamayura - More Aggressive is airing in Japan this summer, and Maaya is performing the opening theme song. This should be no surprise to fans since she has performed the opening songs for all previous installments of the Tamayura anime. The new song is titled "Hajimari no Umi" and will be out in July. The limited edition will include a dvd with the PV and digest video of last year's Mitsubachi Concert. Here are the details.

Hajimari no Umi Regular Edition

• Catalog #: VTCL-35160
• Release Date: 7/31/13
• Price: ¥1,300
• Preorder from CD Japan

Hajimari no Umi Limited Edition w/ DVD

• Catalog #: VTZL-68
• Release Date: 7/31/13
• Price: ¥1,900
• Preorder from CD Japan

Track List:

1. Hajimari no Umi
• Composition & Lyrics: Taeko Oonuki
• Arrangement: Toshiyuki Mori
2. ** untitled **
• Lyrics: Maaya Sakamoto
• Composition & Arrangement: Katsutoshi Kitagawa
3. Okaerinasai (acoustic version)
• Lyrics: Maaya Sakamoto
• Composition: Yumi Matsutouya
• Arrangement: Shigeharu Sasago
4. Medley "Roots of SSW" (LIVE)

SSW Sample Clips & CD Japan Sale
Victor Ent. / flying dog has finally joined the 21st century by adding a Flash based media player to Maaya's site. You can listen to sample clips from her upcoming album on the SSW mini-site.

On a different note, CD Japan is currently running a clearance sale and Driving in the Silence LE is discounted by 50%. So right now it's ¥1,450 on there. The sale lasts till 4/11/13, but CD Japan lists only 11 copies in stock. Here are some links.

Driving in the Silence LE

All Clearance Items on CD Japan

SSW Mini-site and Documentary Clip
Victor Ent. / flying dog put up a special site for Singer-Songwriter last week. Not too much to see on the site, but there is a weekly web radio series. They also posted a Youtube clip from the "Roots of SSW" documentary that will be included on the album LE dvd. You can hear 4 of the album's songs in the clip.

Mitsubachi Concert Video out in June
Maaya has been doing a lot more concerts over the past few years. In fact, at least 1 tour per year and Victor Ent. / flying dog has been pretty good at releasing a concert video for each one. For her Mitsubachi tour last year, Maaya performed the last concert on New Year's Eve. Victor Ent. plans to release a video of that concert on both dvd and blu-ray. The release will include a documentary of the tour that shows the various concert locations and rehearsals. Here are the details including set list.

Countdown Live 2012→2013 - Tour "Mitsubachi" Final [DVD]

• Catalog #: VTBL-26
• Release Date: 6/12/13
• Price: ¥5,800
• Preorder from CD Japan

Countdown Live 2012→2013 - Tour "Mitsubachi" Final [Blu-ray]

• Catalog #: VTXL-16
• Release Date: 6/12/13
• Price: ¥6,800
• Preorder from CD Japan

Set List:

1. Triangler
2. Down Town
3. Spica
4. MC1
5. Ame ga furu
6. Okaerinasai
7. More Than Words
8. Praline
9. MC2
10. Kimi ni ai ni ikou
11. Pilot
12. Saigo no Kajitsu
13. Bike
14. Buddy
15. MC3
16. Yasashisa ni tsutsumareta nara
17. Mitsubachi to Kagakusha
18. Shima Shima
19. MC4
20. Action!
21. Private Sky
22. Get No Satisfaction!
23. Magic Number - Countdown Edition
24. Eternal Return
25. MC5
26. Kazamachi Jet - Mitsubachi edition
27. Nekoze
28. MC6
29. Loop
30. Poketto wo Kara ni Shite

-- Encore --
31. A Happy New Year
32. MC6
33. Yakusoku wa iranai
34. MC7
35. Dekoboko March (Tairetsu wa Kimi ni Tsuzuku)

Singer-Songwriter Track List and PV
Victor Ent / flying dog recently posted the track list and cover art for both editions of Maaya's upcoming 8th album. They also uploaded a short clip of a promotional video for the track "Nicola". You can find more info about the new album in my post from last month.

CD Track List:

1. Tooku
2. Sunshine
3. everywhere~HAL mix
4. Nicola
5. Ask
6. Naritai
7. Kaminari
8. Chikai~ssw edition
9. Boku no Hanbun
10. Singer-Songwriter

Limited Edition DVD Track List:

1. Recording Documentary "Road to SSW"
2. "Nicola" Music Video

Maaya Returns in Ghost in the Shell Arise
At a press event in Japan on Tuesday, Bandai Visual announced details of their upcoming Ghost in the Shell Arise OAV anime. Maaya will be voicing the main character, Motoko Kusanagi. Maaya has been getting some very large voice acting roles over the past few years, but this may be her biggest one to date. She actually voiced a young version of Kusanagi in the original GitS movie. Perhaps its karma that Maaya reprises the same character so many years later. Anyways, Arise will be a 4 part OAV series with the first installment coming out in June/July in Japan. You can read more details about the anime here. Here's also the announcement trailer.

8th Album out in March, 2013
Happy New Year everyone! And to celebrate the year 2013, Maaya is releasing a new album in March. I was expecting an album this month since her last two full albums were both released in January (You Can't Catch Me in 2011 and Kazeyomi in 2009), but apparently we have to wait a little longer. Victor Ent / flying dog posted the announcement today with some details. The new album with have 8 new tracks and 2 new versions of older songs (Everywhere and Chikai). Maaya composed and wrote lyrics for all songs, which is the first time she's done both for an entire album and makes the title Singer-Songwriter quite appropriate.

As usual the new album will be released in both regular and limited editions. The LE will include a dvd featuring a music video and documentary. Here's a summary of release info with preorder links.

Singer-Songwriter Regular Edition

• Catalog #: VTCL-60340
• Release Date: 3/27/13
• Price: ¥2,800
• Preorder from CD Japan

Singer-Songwriter Limited Ed. w/ DVD

• Catalog #: VTZL-60
• Release Date: 3/27/13
• Price: ¥3,400
• Preorder from CD Japan