For those not in the know, Kōhaku Uta Gassen is an annual New Year's Eve television special featuring many of the year's top musical artists. This year featured many anime song artists, including LiSA, Kenshi Yonezu, and AiNA THE END, as "anisongs" break out more and more into the mainstream music scene.
Rustyrbb2026-01-04 18:54
Dandadan got Creepy Nuts in my playlist
ObiMikenobi772026-01-04 23:33
It was ‘Call of the Night’ that first did it for me.
sensual_rustle2026-01-05 13:54
shit is so goated
SippyTurtle2026-01-05 16:39
Also their Bling-Bang-Bang-Born from Mashle.
Chishuu2026-01-08 01:19
Emmanuelle is vibes
ProfessionalRandom212026-01-04 19:36
isn’t anime song Alway main stream in japan? i used to pay attention Oricon chart, all the famous anime song of that seasons is chart toppers. unless its idol/otaku song that get ignore
WANNFH2026-01-04 20:10
Not really, the main shift happened only around early 2010's - before Kohaku always filled with popular idol stuff or dorama songs, outside very few cases like Nana Mizuki or very popular among the mainstream audience stuff.
Waylornic2026-01-05 00:34
Functionally, yes. Ever since I started watching anime back in the 90's, my entry point into Japanese culture was actually music. Japanese labels have been pushing artists on their related anime platforms for a long long time. Pony Canyon and SPE Visual Works (which later became Aniplex) are two examples of production companies with heavy ties back to the music industry and the Openings and Endings were always from labeled artists.
L'Arc\~en\~Ciel, Porno Graffitti, Zard, and Wands are all examples of bands/singers that were popular and main stream and also had anime songs.
Kohaku has also always had anime songs in the show, but usually back in the day, it was more a showcase of the anime that they'd put a couple in there. Recently, more and more anime songs are more consistently in the Oricon top charts that more than just one or two token songs are on the show.
So, yes, top bands have always had mainstream successful songs that were anime openings and endings, but also yes, there are more songs and artists than ever with extremely popular songs that are anime openings and endings.
Xpolonia2026-01-05 00:35
>as "anisongs" break out more and more into the mainstream music scene
I could be very wrong about this, I'm thinking it's more of anime producers finding more mainstream singers and groups for anisongs nowadays. It's a situation of "a mainstream song happens to be an OP/ED of an anime" rather than "anisongs going mainstream" the other way around.
WANNFH2026-01-05 12:57
It's a bit of both nowadays.
Yeah, the mainstream song also being the opening is a thing (same goes with dorama opening stuff) - but there is also decent chunk of modern mainstream Japanese singers that came from anime/utaite culture (Kenshi Yonezu, YOASOBI, Ado, Vaundy) or the hit songs specifically made as anime themes in mind because of the production involvement (LiSA) or the artists clearly thinking writing the song with the anime theme in mind (like Sakanaction with "Kaiju" for Orb, which also was on this Kohaku) - so the actual tie-in between anime popularity and mainstream recognition of the song is way more common than in the earlier days when it was indeed just the popular artists songs just being a featured theme for anime (and sometimes not even quite belong).
Deriniel2026-01-08 14:51
agreed,i wouldn't call them "mainstream" but they definitely are picking higher quality songs
nezeta2026-01-05 04:39
Sakanaction was also there.
lasiv2026-01-04 18:36
That was pretty cool.
mikesusername12026-01-04 20:16
Damn I love this song :)
Cofta2026-01-04 20:25
She also performed this [on The First Take](https://youtu.be/XQPBf64jW9E) if you'd like to see the full song performed.
AdmirHiddleston2026-01-04 22:26
I love Aina been a fan of her since BiSH
KHlover2026-01-05 15:48
Since WfM for me, Red:Birthmark 🙏
CertifiedBedophile2026-01-06 06:46
my face when I found out its her in the Heavenly Delusion OP
Chishuu2026-01-08 01:19
I had no idea
ObiMikenobi772026-01-04 23:31
That’s a superb performance, great song too.
shockwave12112026-01-05 00:33
her voice and vocal range is insane
lasiv2026-01-05 01:02
In all honesty, this is almost as good as hells paradise intro. Love it.
runevault2026-01-05 01:21
Every time she goes from her cutsey high voice down into the lower register scream I get shivers. First time I listened to the song I was like "I dig the voice but I'm not sure how I feel about the song." Every listen I've liked it more and more.
The version she did for First Take (which includes English subtitles for everything) is incredible, and she also did an acoustic duo with Yuuri that's only flaw is it takes away some of the shivers I mentioned since they use at least some of those moments as singer swaps but is still amazing if you like the song.
Javonetor2026-01-05 03:21
> Every time she goes from her cutsey high voice down into the lower register scream I get shivers. First time I listened to the song I was like "I dig the voice but I'm not sure how I feel about the song." Every listen I've liked it more and more.
same, ended up liking it more than otonoke
> The version she did for First Take (which includes English subtitles for everything) is incredible
thank you for that
runevault2026-01-05 03:29
Fully agreed on it passing Otonoke for me. Still like Creepy Nuts OP1 but On the Way is such an incredible song.
RPO7772026-01-06 06:15
The growl she does when she does the "Ahhhh Unaru-ze" line (at 1:20) give me shivers lol.
FYI, this is from Kohaku Utagassen, which is the end of the year Singing Show on NHK which remains the most pretigious singing show in Japan. Being invited to sing on it is basically like an acknowledgement of an artist being a main stream success.
Here's also Yonezu Kenshi performing CSM: Reze Arc's IRIS OUT also on Kohaku.
30 years ago, the idea that artists would perform Anime-songs on Kohaku wasn't really a thing, it shows how anime songs have become a lot more mainstream in Japan as well, as main stream artists performing on anime OP/EDs have become basically the default for high budget shows.
steelersrg82026-01-05 02:05
Love the song. But wtf is fashion these days. She literally looks like she has a trash bag on.
y3kman2026-01-05 07:50
>these days
My man. I guess you're too young to remember Elton John, David Bowie, Bjork, Sia, and other musicians who dress like this.
TheBigIdiotSalami2026-01-05 03:17
It's like James Bond, every artist has to get the title into the song
Commercial-Youth01192026-01-05 06:34
this op grew on me and am super glad the band/group got more publicity. the song and vocals are very good
Commentaires
L'Arc\~en\~Ciel, Porno Graffitti, Zard, and Wands are all examples of bands/singers that were popular and main stream and also had anime songs.
Kohaku has also always had anime songs in the show, but usually back in the day, it was more a showcase of the anime that they'd put a couple in there. Recently, more and more anime songs are more consistently in the Oricon top charts that more than just one or two token songs are on the show.
So, yes, top bands have always had mainstream successful songs that were anime openings and endings, but also yes, there are more songs and artists than ever with extremely popular songs that are anime openings and endings.
I could be very wrong about this, I'm thinking it's more of anime producers finding more mainstream singers and groups for anisongs nowadays. It's a situation of "a mainstream song happens to be an OP/ED of an anime" rather than "anisongs going mainstream" the other way around.
Yeah, the mainstream song also being the opening is a thing (same goes with dorama opening stuff) - but there is also decent chunk of modern mainstream Japanese singers that came from anime/utaite culture (Kenshi Yonezu, YOASOBI, Ado, Vaundy) or the hit songs specifically made as anime themes in mind because of the production involvement (LiSA) or the artists clearly thinking writing the song with the anime theme in mind (like Sakanaction with "Kaiju" for Orb, which also was on this Kohaku) - so the actual tie-in between anime popularity and mainstream recognition of the song is way more common than in the earlier days when it was indeed just the popular artists songs just being a featured theme for anime (and sometimes not even quite belong).
The version she did for First Take (which includes English subtitles for everything) is incredible, and she also did an acoustic duo with Yuuri that's only flaw is it takes away some of the shivers I mentioned since they use at least some of those moments as singer swaps but is still amazing if you like the song.
same, ended up liking it more than otonoke
> The version she did for First Take (which includes English subtitles for everything) is incredible
thank you for that
FYI, this is from Kohaku Utagassen, which is the end of the year Singing Show on NHK which remains the most pretigious singing show in Japan. Being invited to sing on it is basically like an acknowledgement of an artist being a main stream success.
Here's also Yonezu Kenshi performing CSM: Reze Arc's IRIS OUT also on Kohaku.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_PVaE-tu1-0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PVaE-tu1-0)
30 years ago, the idea that artists would perform Anime-songs on Kohaku wasn't really a thing, it shows how anime songs have become a lot more mainstream in Japan as well, as main stream artists performing on anime OP/EDs have become basically the default for high budget shows.
My man. I guess you're too young to remember Elton John, David Bowie, Bjork, Sia, and other musicians who dress like this.