This breaking news was first spotted by Sesshy on Back-on’s official blog, and it was subsequently posted onto their official Myspace in English. They were both accompanied by a picture of the band with the cast and Hitomi Shimatani at the press conference that was held by the production team of Keitai Sousakan 7 to launch the show.

We will be covering the drama in more depth in another post. For a quick low-down of the facts (info courtesy of August Ragone, The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla 続・夕陽の呉爾羅):

The 51-episode series revolves around Kieta, a high school freshman who joins “Anchor” (the digital-crime-fighting organisation) and is given the transformer-phone, Phonebraver 7, to help thwart the plans of an internet-based crime organisation.

The main role is played by 19 year-old Masataka Kubota, and is supported by actors Mickey Curtis (Agitator), Yuko Ito (Bubble Fiction), Kanji Tsuda (Japan Sink), Natsuki Okamoto (Arch Angels), Satoshi Matsuda (Kamen Rider Ryuki), and Nao Nagasawa (Hurricanger).

From left: Takashi Miike, Nao Nagasawa, Yuko Ito, Masataka Kubota,
Kanji Tsuda, Satoshi Matsuda, Natsuki Okamoto (Source: Nippon Cinema)

Some big names are involved with the project, including:

• Takashi Miike (三池崇史), the supervising director for KS7 who is famous for directing Great Yokai War and the Alive or Dead series.
• Mamoru Oshii (押井守), the director behind Ghost in the Shell.
• Shusuke Kaneko (金子修介), a well known director who most recently worked on the live movie version of Death Note.

In addition to the ‘all-star’ director group, TV Tokyo also recruited Hitomi Shimatani to sing the opening theme song. Apparently the new song is called WAKE YOU UP. There are reports that the singer may even guest-star in the series as well. (Author’s note: Will Back-on guest-star too?)

Alas we can’t see very much of the band from the photo posted on their blogs, but with a big thanks to bebekjelek, we can share some really good closeups of the band from the press conference that you can see below:

As a super-special bonus, we’ve kindly been given permission to post even more photos from the event that were taken by David Michaud of LeJapon.fr, a freelance photographer who hails from France and is based in Japan. The full-sized versions of the thumbnails (and more photos) can all been seen in the BOO Gallery – KS7 Press Conference, and aside from the excellent group photos, there are also individual pictures (closeups!) of Kenji03 and Teeda! I would really encourage everyone to view the photos in full, since thumbnails really don’t do them enough justice!

The commercial ‘tie-in’, or the transformer-robot-phone(s) Phonebraver (the Toshiba 815T PB) is actually receiving a tonne of attention in its own right, as it is probably the first ‘hybrid’ toy transformer and phone. The initial report on Gizmodo Japan was swiftly picked up by the US Gizmodo, before Akihabara News posted their report from the press conference.

With all this promotion going on, it is quite unbelievable that all the blogs and news site (such as Variety Japan, Tokyograph etc.) never actually mentioned that Back-on are singing the ending theme for the drama. I’m guessing that this is because of all the big names that have dominated the headlines, but as a fellow fan, I’m sure you find this rather disappointing as well!

However, (even if I am biased!) I think their music will speak for itself when the drama is premiered on April 2nd 2008. This is the second time that Back-on‘s music will feature as main theme for a J-drama (the first being Shinjuku Swan) but given the wide ranging publicity given to Keitai Sousakan 7 and the fact that it is a prime-time kid-friendly show (contrasting especially with Shinjuku Swan) it is more than likely to be a major breakthrough for Back-on reaching the mainstream. Let’s keep our fingers crossed! :)

We mentioned before that Back-on‘s song 鼓動 (Kodou) featured as the main theme for TV Tokyo’s Mayokara (マヨカラ). Now, according to Back-on‘s website, the programme has chosen another Back-on song for their new theme tune, “Colours” which Back-on describes as a fast song with a “hot message“.

It is due to be aired with the episode on Thursday, April 5th 2007 at 2:00am. You can read more about the forthcoming episode on the Tokyo Mayokara website. Unfortunately I can’t find any clips of the show online at the moment but the website is worth visiting as it seems like a fun programme. ^^

Back-on has also updated their schedule of live events to include a Back-on only appearance at Shibuya O-Crest (which apparently fits 200 people) on July 4th 2007. It seems this performance is in celebration of Back-on returning from America!

Tickets will officially be on-sale from the ticket office from May 19th, but Back-on will be selling tickets at almost all of their forthcoming live performances starting from April 18th. These advanced tickets will retail at ¥2,500, which is more than the usual ¥1,800 – ¥2,000. As Back-on usually performs with 2-3 other bands at gigs, this is a step forward!

I should also add that their website states that their April 18th 2007 gig at 柏ZaX for 「ZaX 3MAN LIVE!!」 will apparently be recorded and Back-on will be performing lots of songs as its their main show before their trip to Anime Matsuri! The Events page will be updated with more details information soon. :)

p/s: I would add links to the official venue websites for e.g. Shibuya but for some reason they are IE (Internet Explorer) only.

In the meantime, a few page updates have been made to:

• Band Members – Kenji03′s profile has been added. We’ve also added a couple of comments after some intensive internet research but more details will be added later.
• Discography – The details for New World and Chain have been added, again with some comments from Back-on Online. It was interesting to find that 鼓動 (Kodou… which is supposed to mean pulsating according to one source)  is actually the main theme for the programme ‘Mayokara‘.

Most of the factual information was sourced directly from the band’s official website, but other information has been compiled from multiple internet sources by this site.  More content will be added in the next few days.