Japanese super-idol group, AKB48, breaks records by surpassing 560,000 sales of its 18th single on the first day alone. This is the most sales the group has been able to amass on a single on the first day and will mark this single as the third to surpass half a million in its first week. The single, titled "Beginner," was released on October 27 and an estimated 1,030,000 copies of the single were shipped out to stores in preparation for Beginner's release.

One of the world's largest annual anime themed concerts, Animelo Summer Live happened last week. The first day of the concert was broadcasted live on the popular Japanese video site, Nico Nico Douga. For people who missed the live stream, various clips have appeared online and we have included some inside. We will continue to update this post as we find more. Animelo Summer Live gathers some of the most popular anime related singers together with an attendance record of 50,000 people in 2009.

It's not a secret that Japanese musical group supercell has grown significantly in fame within the last year. Since our last interview with the group's lead composer ryo, and vocalist nagi, supercell's music has recently appeared as an ending song for the popular anime adaptation of Naruto. Another song titled Hoshi ga matataku konna Yoru ni, will appear in Type-Moon's upcoming game Witch on the Holy Night (Mahotsukai no Yoru). Type-Moon is probably best known for creating the Fate/stay night series. Both songs will be available in their third major album slated to be released in Japan on August 25, 2010. Interested fans can get their copies of the CD at PlayAsia.