KARA appears in Japanese anime, Doraemon?

Sung Shi Kyung and KARA who are both making comebacks appeared on the September 29th broadcast of Mnet‘s ‘Beatles Code‘.

Based on Sung Shi Kyung’s history of singing the OST for ‘My Beautiful Girl, Mari‘ and KARA’s OST for ‘Naruto Shippuden‘, parallels were drawn between KARA’s appearance in ‘Doraemon’ and Sung Shi Kyung’s similarity to ‘Aisen Sosuke‘ in the manga ‘Bleach‘.

Park Gyuri, the leader of KARA, explained “Our dance appeared on TV in ‘Doraemon’.” Just like Gyuri explained, the characters in ‘Doraemon’ danced to a parody of KARA’s ‘Mister‘, showing KARA’s popularity in Japan.

When asked the question, “If you even appeared in the comic, then you’re a representative icon. Don’t you think you’re the best Korean girl group in Japan?”

Gyuri responded modestly, “Wouldn’t we probably be among the top 3?”

Sung Shi Kyung also proved the ‘KARA Boom’ in Japan as he explained, “When I went to a performance in Japan, it’s not the Hallyu Wave that we speak of since it’s just KARA. Spending two weeks in Japan and watching the TV, you know it isn’t just a joke.”

KARA’s Gyuri expresses regret on leaving ‘Shimshimtapa’

KARA‘s Gyuri expressed her disappointment on having to depart from her radio program, MBC‘s ‘Shimshimtapa‘.

Gyuri wrote on her Twitter, “Now that I think about it, whenever I was going through something troubling or upsetting, I realized that I always felt healed after being on the radio.”

The idol recently revealed that she’d be leaving the show due to her commitments with KARA overseas. Since she didn’t want to affect the program’s scheduling, she decided to voluntarily withdraw on her own.

October 2nd will be her last episode on the show. Since there hasn’t been a replacement named yet, Gyuri’s co-DJ Shindong will run the show solo for the time being.

Source + Photos: Mydaily via Naver

Sung Shi Kyung compliments KARA on their overseas fame

On September 29th’s episode of Mnet’s ‘Beatles Code‘, singer Sung Shi Kyung praised KARA on their outstanding fame overseas.

“KARA is dominating in Japan. During the two weeks I was there, I saw them everytime I turned on the TV or walked outside,” he said.

KARA recently made a Korean comeback with their fresh new track, “Step“, and amazingly, it reached the top of Japan’s Oricon chart as soon as the song was released. They are currently the most sought-after idols for endorsements, living up to their title as one of the forefront celebrities of the current Hallyu wave. They were also chosen as the ‘most loved Korean artist’ by Japanese K-Pop fans.

“It’s as if a Japanese artist were to be chosen as #1 on M! Countdown here in Korea. KARA’s fame in Japan is phenomenal,” Sung Sikyung continued.

His strong relationship with the girls was obvious, as he continued to talk about how professional KARA’s maknae Kang Jiyoung was. “She’s such a cute and innocent girl, but no one can emulate that attitude and charisma she has on stage. She’s worked really hard to become this kind of performer. She’s a pro.”

Source & Image : Sports Seoul via Nate

The maturation of SNSD, KARA, and Brown Eyed Girls

Girl groups SNSD, KARA, and Brown Eyed Girls have matured and transformed into more confident and defined women.

These three groups have recently been preparing and making comebacks in Korea. They have shed their cute and sexy images and now have a fierce and edgy look, concepts that fit in line with the Fall Season. They have also matured visually and the focus seems to be more on their vocals.

KARA made their comeback in the beginning of this month with their third album, ‘STEP‘, showing off their enduring fame and popularity. Unlike their cute image from past songs such as “Pretty Girl” and “Honey“, KARA has been displaying a more matured and sophisticated concept for this album.

The Brown Eyed Girls made their first comeback in two years with “Sixth Sense” and have shed off their idol image. Instead of putting much of the focus on the hip shaking or fan choreography like they did with “Abracadabra” and “Sign“, they have been showing off their more powerful and charismatic vocals.

SNSD, who will be making their long awaited comeback with “The Boys” on October 4th, have been receiving attention for their new concept as well. Unlike their usual pure, soft and innocent look, the girls’ new teaser photos portray images of alluring regal women.

The music scale seems to have gotten higher as well. It was announced that famous producer, Teddy Riley worked with SM Entertainment on SNSD’s new upcoming album.

Source + image via Naver

KARA reaches #1 on Japanese chart with Korean song

KARA selling a large quantity of albums and seizing #1 on the Japanese charts is not new news, as every song they’ve released in Japan has performed well. Their previous release, “Go Go Summer” was certified Gold by the RIAJ and topped Recochoku’s monthly chart of July. But they’ve recently achieved something unique in Japan.

KARA’s “Step” has reached the #1 spot on the Recochoku chart in Japan from the 21st to the 27th , as well as on a few different Japanese charts. What makes this Recochoku win more meaningful, however, is that the track was Korean. Having a K-pop song written in Korean and reaching the top of the charts in the Japanese market all the while competing with Japanese artists is extremely noteworthy.

Congratulations to KARA on this achievement. KARA is preparing to end their promotions in Korea to begin their upcoming promotions in Japan. Their new single, “Winter Magic” is scheduled to be released in Japan sometime in October.

Source & Image : Newsen via Nate

KARA’s Gyuri studies hard for her ’200 Pound Beauty’ musical

Park Gyuri has been spending busy days going back and forth between activities for her musical, as well as for KARA‘s ”Step” promotions. It seems she’ll use whatever spare moment she has to go over her script for ‘200 Pound Beauty‘, as seen by this photo taken backstage at ‘Music Bank‘.

Representatives on scene revealed that Gyuri was always seen with her script in her hands, even while waiting for the live broadcast to start.

KARA had an exhausting schedule in the morning, but despite that, Gyuri quietly sat in the corner of the room with a pencil and her script. While her other members caught up on some much needed sleep, Gyuri dove into her rehearsal. It’s said that she was so focused on her review that her script became almost unrecognizable because of the notes scribbled all over the text.

She stated, “I’m glad to be able to focus on KARA’s promotions with good results. But I am the leading role for this musical and it begins right after KARA’s promotions come to an end so I can’t help but rehearse every chance I get in our waiting room.  I’m going to cut back on my sleep and work hard so that we can achieve great results on our promotions as well as my musical.”

Source + Photos: OSEN via Naver

Kara’s “Winter Magic” jacket covers released

Via tokyohive:

With their fifth Japanese single “Winter Magic“ coming up, Kara has begun revealing bits and pieces of the impending release, starting with a variety of jacket covers and solo photos that fans will be sure to love!

The album’s tracklist has been confirmed to feature four tracks in total: “Winter Magic”, “Whisper” and the instrumental tracks for both. The physical release will be sold in three different sets with three different jacket covers: A has a CD & DVD, B has a CD & photo book, and C has a CD with a “Christmas version” of “Winter Magic” as a bonus track.

In edition, solo photos of each member were revealed online, showing off the ladies’ elegant beauty.

Source: Universal Music

KARA’s Gyuri was the first person to wish Super Junior’s Shindong a happy birthday

On September 28th, KARA‘s Park Gyuri celebrated Shindong‘s birthday with a sweet cake and a message! The two are co-DJs on popular radio program, ’Shimshimtapa‘.

Gyuri had tweeted, “Shindong oppa’s birthday is today, September 28th!  Happy birthday, Dongie oppa!  Everyone, please wish him a happy birthday!”

The Super Junior member replied, “Gyuri was the very first person to wish me a happy birthday!  She’s definitely an amazing woman.”

The ‘Shimshimtapa’ official Twitter shared a picture of the two posing before Gyuri’s birthday cake. Shindong celebrated Gyuri’s birthday back in May by giving her a watch made out of Legos, so netizens were happy to see Gyuri return the kind gesture with a cake.

Netizens commented, “I can feel Gyuri’s feelings in her words”, “First person to congratulate him! Wow!”, and “I can really sense their close friendship.”

Source + Photos: X Sports News via Naver