Wolf's Rain OST 2 Details
The official Wolf's Rain site has been updated with a full track list for OST 2. There's two Maaya songs listed, one of them being "Tell Me What The Rain Knows". The other track is titled "cloud 9". I'm guessing this is the insert song in episode 17. Here's the quick and dirty info on WR OST 2.

• Title: Wolf's Rain OST 2
• Catalog #: VICL-61280
• Release Date: 1/21/04
• Price: ¥2,900

03 Cross Info & the Power of Maaya
I watched my copy of 03 Cross today and noticed a couple things I didn't know about before. For starters, the dvd is Region 0, meaning that any dvd player / dvd-rom drive can play the disc. There's also two versions of the movie on the dvd. There's the original, uncut version and also an "international version" which is shorter and includes hard subtitles. The subtitles actually aren't that helpful, the movie has very little dialogue. 03 Cross is quite short in general, the original version is 26 minutes long and the international one is 10 minutes.

By the way, is it just me, or does Maaya look like a bum in 03 Cross?  Oh well, she's still cute in the movie.

To follow-up on my story yesterday about CD Japan screwing up my order, I found out whose cds I got. A site reader e-mailed me about having the same problem with CD Japan, and it turns out this person also has my cds. If things work out, we can probably just mail each other's switched cds. Now that's what I call the *power of Maaya*.
 

Shounen Alice Page Up
I received my copy of Maaya's new album in the mail today along with the 03 Cross dvd. CD Japan actually messed up my order by shipping some of the wrong cds. I'm just thankful that they didn't leave out Shounen Alice, otherwise I would be a very, very sad Maaya fan right now. I've encoded sample mp3s of all the tracks and uploaded them to my (currently) bare bones Shounen Alice page.

In other Maaya related news, her official site and new album contain information about her new fanclub in Japan that's starting in January. I won't bother to post the details here since it's only eligible for people living in Japan (I imagine most people reading this fansite do not live there). For those that are just curious and/or actually live in Japan, here's a page by roxfan with the details (which I saw linked on The Yoko Kanno Database). Maaya's official site also has been updated with Liner Notes for Shounen Alice and Production Notes for 03 Cross.

Wolf's Rain OST 2 Up For Preorder
Both CD Japan and Amazon.co.jp have Wolf's Rain OST 2 available for preorder. CD Japan's listing also confirms that the soundtrack will include Maaya's "Tell Me What The Rain Knows" song in episode 26.

Shounen Alice Audio Clips
Maaya's official site has finally been updated with audio samples of her new album (which is out in a week). The concept page is also available now. As usual, I've grabbed the audio clips and converted them into mp3s for people that don't use Real software.

See Shounen Alice page for mp3s

Wolf's Rain OST 2
The official Wolf's Rain site now lists that the second soundtrack cd for the anime will be coming out on 1/21/04. No other details have been posted, but this is good news for Maaya fans. Even though the track list hasn't been announced, I think there is a good chance that song from last episode ("Tell Me What The Rain Knows") will be on OST 2.

Tracklist for Shounen Alice
Maaya's official site still doesn't have a track list up for her upcoming album, however, I spotted a list on the Yoko Kanno Database web site. There's a total of 14 tracks, here's the full list.

Shounen Alice Track List:

1. Uchuu Hikoushi no Uta
2. Sora wo Miro
3. Sukurappu~Wakare no Shi
4. Makiba Alice!
5. Mahiru ga Yuki
6. KINGFISHER GIRL (The Song of "Wish You Were Here")
7. Hero
8. Yoru
9. CALL TO ME
10. Hikari Are
11. Chibikko Fooku
12. park amsterdam (the whole story)
13. 03
14. Okitegami

Official Maaya Site Updates
With just a month away from the release of Maaya's "Shounen Alice" album and "03 Cross" movie, Victor Entertainment just launched a new section on her official site dedicated to the upcoming album and movie. There's lots of new content including a flash intro, cd cover pic and a trailer (in Real format) for 03 Cross. The trailer is definitely worth checking out since it uses one of Maaya's new songs. I'm guessing it's the theme song for the movie. For those people who don't want to deal with Real software, I've managed to capture the trailer audio and encode it into an mp3.

>>Click here for the mp3<<

Here's a translation of the info on the movie story page (thanks Kazara):

A strange and mysterious girl, dressed in black, suddenly appears in front of a boy shrouded by a black, shadowy illusion and little by little, fills the gaping holes in his heart. Their own world with just the two of them, which spreads throughout the city of Tokyo, smells like wet concrete after a rain.

Taking place inside the vast atmosphere of Tokyo, this is a modern children's story. The theme song, sung by Maaya Sakamoto, is also in her 4th album, "Shounen Alice," which will have a simultaneous release.

Shonen Alice Info
Maaya's official site now confirms the title of her upcoming album as "Shonen Arisu" (Shonen Alice). The site also lists the following information: "Recorded in Japan and England, audio mastered in the Untied States, and the cover art is being shot in Scotland!" Maaya's site also mentions that the "03 Cross" movie theme song will be included on album.

Title of Maaya's 4th Album
According to Natsume Maya's web site, Maaya's upcoming album will be titled "Shonen Arisu". A rough English translation might be "Shonen Alice". Maaya's official site has not been updated with the title, so I can not confirm this information. I imagine her site will be updated soon since there's only 2 months left till the album's release.