Kenshi Yonezu/Hachi - Plazma & BOW AND ARROW

Natalie.mu, February 1st, 2025 (Original Article)

Releasing Two Anime Themes With a Light Heart, Feeling Like I Did Back Then

Kenshi Yonezu has released two new songs for streaming, Plazma and BOW AND ARROW, on January 20th and 27th respectively.

Plazma was created as the theme song for the prologue film Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-. Meanwhile, BOW AND ARROW was a track written for the opening of the TV anime Medalist. The exhilarating, hyper-poppy sound shared by these two songs gives a sense of a new and different mode compared to Yonezu's past style.

Yonezu has noted having a strong attachment both to the Gundam series and the original Medalist manga. Natalie.mu interviewed him for the occasion of these two songs' releases. We discussed the creation process of each song, as well as his ambitions for 2025.

— I've listened to Plazma and BOW AND ARROW. Both feel like they're in a new mode; did you make these songs around the same time?

Broadly speaking, yes. In our last interview, I mentioned how "the week after I finished recording songs for the album, I had more recording to do" - that was a recording for BOW AND ARROW's short version. About two months later, I made Plazma, and after that I made the full version of BOW AND ARROW.

— You discussed last time how after finishing your album LOST CORNER, you felt "it's fine to have a bit more lightness." Was there a change in awareness that led to the "new mode" of these two songs?

Indeed, I did have the desire to move on to my next mode now that I'd finished the album. I felt a strong will to divert the "flow" I'd been following for the past few years, no doubt about that.

— Well then, what was the impetus for the change?

Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure if I myself should be calling it "new." In my mind, it's leaning less toward "heading into another new phase" and more toward "let's go back to those days." In the past few years, I've asked others to do arrangement, seeking those people's essence. But since I'd finished my album and all, a desire welled up in me to reclaim the joy from back when I started doing music.

— I see. So then, you handled the arrangement of these two songs all by yourself?

Yes. These two songs are entirely digital, and entirely sequenced by yours truly. I was looking back at myself in middle school, when I indulged in spending time alone in my room, and thinking "this kinda thing's fun" as I made these.

— That definitely sounds like returning to your origins from before you began your career as Kenshi Yonezu - your Hachi era, or even earlier than that.

That's right. Of course, it's not as if I'm doing the exact same thing as I was then, and my thinking's changed considerably since I've gotten older.

— To analyze these two songs as a music critic, I feel they're somewhat close to trends in the 2020s Vocaloid scene, as well has having a flavor in common with overseas hyper-pop. On the other hand, if you trace back the roots, it certainly does hit on that Hachi-era essence. It can be taken as both a contemporary sound, and also a return to your own roots. That's the impression I got from how these sound.

That's right. It's a kind of style where I just pile up a whole mess of sounds and try to maximize the amount of information. For the mode I've been in the past few years, that felt like something I couldn't dare do. But the more I make music, I've come to feel an awareness that I'm a person who's always done things like that. Having the new video for Donut Hole made recently, too, served as a good time to look back and think "I came all the way from here." It felt incredibly nostalgic, yet at the same time, part of me wouldn't go back to what I was doing then. Both my senses and the times have changed, after all. Taking that into account, rather than engage in pure nostalgia, I started to think about what'd happen if, having grown older now, I went back to the way I felt back then.

— Plazma was written as the theme for the new Gundam series film Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-. What did you think when the offer came in?

At first, I was told there'd be a new Gundam that was a tag-team between Studio Khara and Sunrise. And I felt "Well, obviously I have to do that!" I was busy with all sorts of work, but if something like that comes along, then I'm doing it. It was an instant yes for me.

— It seems you've been familiar with Gundam since grade school. How did you first encounter it?

At first, it was the games. I played the PlayStation game "SD Gundam G Generation-F" a ton. It let you vicariously experience all the different Gundam series as a game, so for a long time I was in this curious state of knowing the story but not having seen the anime itself. From there, I would buy from 100-yen capsule machines, and even made Gunpla.

— Each Gundam series has its own style, but what parts of it charmed you?

When I was in grade school, they were showing ∀ (Turn A) Gundam on TV, but I was in a rural area, so it never came on. The first Gundam anime series I watched was Mobile Suit Gundam SEED in middle school. I'm not that intense of a Gundam fan, but I always looked forward to what they broadcast on TV. My favorite is the OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. I watched that when I was in my late teens or early 20s, and it was really good. I didn't really understand this as a kid, but a common theme in the Gundam series is "two people having to fight because of a twist of fate." That cruel feel, uncategorizable as merely "good beating evil," pierced right through my adolescent self.

— You've also been well-acquainted with the works of director Kazuya Tsurumaki, who's working on Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. How about that?

Saying I'm well-acquainted would again be disrespectful to the more passionate fans, but I really liked FLCL. That's another anime I found out about after leaving the countryside and experiencing all sorts of culture. At the time, the visuals had me like "What the heck is this anime?!" That showy style had a big influence on me. When I look back at my old art, too, I feel like it's going in a similar direction. In particular, the character of Haruko swinging around a Rickenbacker was foundational for me making Vocaloid songs, I feel. I think it was a major cornerstone in my development as a person.

— What sort of requests did you get for writing this song? Were you given details about the story or characters?

At first I was given detailed storyboards for the whole thing. Then I had a meeting with Tsurumaki-san, and he told me about the subject matter in considerable detail. After receiving all of that, I went "Well then, what to do?" Tsurumaki-san said that he wanted the main axis to be the relationship between the protagonists Machu and Nyaan, their two-as-one connection in Clan Battles. So I thought I'd write it like that, but I felt it probably couldn't just be that. I was worried it would lose out on something.

— Meaning?

To touch on the basis of the story a bit, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is Tsurumaki-san's original Gundam series, but it's also a followup to the original Mobile Suit Gundam that tells the story of "a world that might have been." So I thought about how I could manage this situation. It felt impossible to express that in one song. If I picked one thing, I'd be neglecting the other. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. So imagining "if this had been like this, what would've happened?", thinking about possibilities that could have been and choices you didn't choose - I put that down as the basis. The protagonists Machu, Nyaan, and Shuji are around high-school age, so I considered that it might work to fill this song with the dynamism of jumping from the confined world of children, a very limited field of view, to something much bigger.

— The song starts with the line "If only, in front of that ticket gate, I hadn't stopped but kept walking." So you decided to make it a song that makes you conscious of life's decisions.

That's right. I strictly only imagined the perspective of Machu, Nyaan, and Shuji while making this song, but I felt I should make it in a way that wasn't necessarily limited to them.

— This is the theme song for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-, but at the same time, it's a Kenshi Yonezu song. In other words, I imagine that within the theme of life choices not taken and possibilities that could've been, it reflects things that you've thought about yourself. What are your thoughts?

Right before making this song, in fact, I was thinking about things of that nature. Objectively speaking, Kenshi Yonezu is a very lucky musician with a blessed life. From a young age, I've had an environment where I could make my own music and have people hear it, and that grew larger and larger. At the same time, while I've lived happily, there are things I've let go of, and choices I wasn't able to make. To name a big one, I always wanted to be a manga artist, so I still sometimes wonder to this day what would've happened if I drew manga. Those "forks in the road" can be very trivial things. It's a common occurrence lately for me to suddenly look back at my life, and ponder about what would lie beyond a choice that fell through. I believe that's likely projected onto aspects of my current work.

— I feel that while this song is about feelings regarding choices not taken, it's also about the power of will. The chorus has the line "Fly out to the far reaches of space." You're singing about "moving forward." Of course, that overlaps with the feelings of Machu and company, but what's the reason for it becoming this sort of song?

Whenever I look back on my life, I realize I've forgotten about the times I felt exhausted. Sometimes I meet a friend I've known a long time and they say to me "You said some stuff like this back then, seemed like you were having a rough time," but I don't remember it at all. I largely forget my painful experiences. Relatedly, recently I read an article Akira Asada-san wrote about Nietzsche's "Übermensch." According to him, the strength of the Übermensch isn't that he never reflects on himself, never listens to others, and only aims to stay true to himself. That's just barbarism, and not what the Übermensch is about. Rather, the strength Nietzsche speaks of is the power to open yourself to "selflessness." In a sense, it's becoming infected by selflessness, like catching a disease. Being a disease, it stirs up pain and unease in you. But strong people will continue opening themselves to selflessness even in the face of that pain and worry, of experiences that can be traumatic if you aren't careful. He says it's people with that kind of quality who should be called "Übermensch." Saying this inevitably makes it sound like I'm calling myself "strong" or an 'Übermensch," but it definitely struck a chord. What's important is to open yourself up and move forward. And to continue making choices. I believe that's in line with the character of Machu in Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. Not excessively looking back on your life, undaunted by the difficulties that may lie ahead down the path you chose. It's a sort of haphazard "who knows what'll happen, but let's give it a try for now" feeling, and I feel like I've lived that way myself. That's why I think this song ended up with both a past perspective thinking back on things not chosen, as well as a perspective that puts that aside and moves forward.

— Let me ask about BOW AND ARROW, too. You were already a fan of the original Medalist manga, so I hear you sounded them out yourself about making the anime's theme song.

Yes. I read the manga on some whim and got absurdly sucked in. Just as I was thinking about what an interesting manga had entered the scene, I saw online they were making it into an anime. So I told them "I want to do this," and that's how it started.

— What about Medalist captivated you?

Medalist depicts the relationship between a coach and pupil, oriented around figure skating. And simply put, there were scenes that don't even particularly bring to mind something emotional that had me weeping anyway. A grade-school girl being earnest, enthusiastically putting in effort toward her goals, and also the fellowship that develops there - seeing that alone just gets to me, and it feels like something incredibly sacred. When I read this manga, I'm reading from the perspective of the coach. And yet if I'd read it when I was in my teens or 20s, I probably would've identified more with the pupil. Reading it made me notice that change in my perspective. I got a sense of having come around to being the authority figure. So it was also a manga that helped me notice that sort of thing. For reasons like that, I had this gut feeling that I was someone who could make a song about this work, both for the work and for myself.

— What sorts of things were you told by the anime team?

I asked their opinions before I started making the song, and they proposed making it something that trended toward Peace Sign. Hearing that, I decided I'd make this song a sort of answer to Peace Sign, something that extended out from it. Peace Sign, which I made for the My Hero Academia anime, was from a child perspective, moving forward with a child's intensity. I figured for this, I should write from the side of the ones who support that, who push them forward. That's where I began from.

— Let's discuss the title, "BOW AND ARROW." As should be apparent to anyone listening who knows the story of Medalist, it symbolizes the relationship between the coach Tsukasa and his pupil Inori. Did you come up with the "bow and arrow" motif right away?

Actually, I only decided the song's title after recording the short version. So in the initial stage, it wasn't a motif that was present at all. I got there going by association from the line "I let my hand go," but I suppose the root of it has to be the power gradient. I considered how to view the sort of relationship where one provides protection and one is being protected, whether it's a teacher and pupil, or a parent and child. And I thought "I let my hand go" was an important part of that.

— And where did that come from?

Sometimes parents impose a strong dependence on their children, right? This example might be a bit of a stretch, but I've heard that children of religious parents really dislike it when they passionately work hard to accomplish something only to be told "it happened because you prayed," as if it's "all thanks to God." It's not like that - I'm me. Though it may be a given that I couldn't live without my parents' protection, I'm not my parents' subordinate. I won my successes myself, and even if I failed, that's also a thing I did myself. Regardless of what the truth may be, I think an environment that lets children think that way is extremely important. And for that, it's necessary that protectors let their hand go. I am me, you are you. As my child, you'll leave my side to become independent. That's where the words "I let my hand go" came from, and I did mental association from there. Pulling back an arrow makes the bow tense. It tenses up and up, and when you suddenly release your hand, the arrow flies incredibly far. I arrived at the realization that this fit that sort of relationship very well.

— In addition, the lyrics of this song rhyme quite a bit. The verses rhyme with an "e" sound - "kutsu wa yogore," "ame," "yume," "soware." And the chorus has "e" rhymes too, with "Yuke yuke oitsukenai sokudo de." It feels like there's a driving force throughout via these "e" sounds; what sort of intentions did you have?

I decided that in order to highlight the phrases that are most important to me, I would give everything else an "e" sound. My intention was to put focus on the lines "no doubt it was to feel this moment that I was born" and "everyone should surely take notice of your radiance." The persistent rhyming creates tension like pulling back a bowstring, and then it releases with "that I was born."

— The two lines you mentioned are indeed impactful ones in the song. Why did they hold such an important position in your mind?

If this were a manga, it'd be akin to "a giant two-page panel." It's a stunning spectacle like seeing the character Tsukasa's words over a two-page spread. "No doubt it was to feel this moment that I was born" and "everyone should surely take notice of your radiance" are strictly remarks from the one who's doing the pushing. I also had this mental image of "one who's moving forward and one who's come to a halt." In Peace Sign, the perspective is of someone themselves moving rapidly, but in this song the perspective stays still and watches a subject who moves quickly. I thought it would be good if I could produce an exhilarating feeling out of that relative difference in speed.

— Let me ask about the sound as well. You mentioned at the start that Plazma and BOW AND ARROW attempted a high-information style that packs in sounds, like an update of your former self, and I think that it was a great fit for the things you're trying to express in these songs. Did you aim to do this intentionally, or did it just end up that way when you were done?

First, I had a notion of "I can't run from staying on-beat." I shackled myself with a challenge of cutting out as much syncopation or upbeats as possible, and seeing how far I could go. Listening to the result, I can't say I don't feel like I failed at that attempt, but it's true that I'd had that notion. This is where things ultimately ended up, but it was a lot of fun doing the trial and error to get there. The fact that both of these were anime theme songs put them very close to my aptitudes, I feel.

— Thinking about it, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX depicts Clan Battles where mobile suits duel, while Medalist has a theme of figure skating. So they're both anime where the protagonists are fighting by stylishly jumping around. I imagine this is purely coincidence, but I think that shared image aligned with the creative direction you're pursuing right now.

That's true. Indeed, I did say before how I wanted to be more light - I was thinking of going this direction after finishing my album. It's truly something to be grateful for that I got to work with two pieces of media that were practically ideal for expressing that sort of lightheartedness. I think of it as another bit of good fortune.

— You really are lucky.

That's true. Though I feel I'm partially reeling it in by myself.

— I think being rich in experiences is an important talent.

Still, I think just one misstep and things could have gotten really bad. I suppose this may just be hindsight talking, but early in the pandemic I sometimes felt like "have I made a mistake with my life?" Thinking back, I realize now I was living with this feeling of atonement for quite a whole. Trying to live as "a good little citizen" to atone. I had quite a lot of feelings like that.

— Atonement? In what way?

It's like, the more I live, the more remorseful I've felt toward other people. As I get bigger and further-reaching as a person who makes pop, I've felt that the potential for harm I possess is almost unbearable. I strongly felt as if my body was becoming giant, my steps like an elephant's, and that I might hurt someone by taking a step forward. I felt guilt and remorse about the fact I was becoming big, contemplating and regretting it. So I feel like for a while, I had this desire to be just a little smaller, and try to be a good little citizen. But making the album LOST CORNER largely did away with that. "Let's put an end to that oppressive, nervous mood. Let's live lightly from now on." I feel as if these two songs came out of that feeling.

— Listening to them, I do sense that lightness, but also that sensation of "reading Medalist from Tsukasa's perspective," taking on the role of one who encourages children and pushes them forward.

Right. Along with my aim to be lighthearted, my sense of responsibility has also grown as I've become more of an adult. Though once fearful of stepping on someone with my elephant steps, my mentality has gradually changed due to an increased feeling of responsibility. In a sense, you could say I've surrendered to the capacity for harm that I'd been fearing. I was convinced if there was a chance I'd step on someone that I shouldn't walk around recklessly, but being that humans are independent creatures that must also live in groups, needless to say, it's fundamentally impossible to have it so no one gets hurt. If you only aim to minimize your harm, you're also diminishing your ability to help others. I came to realize that a situation that nobody frowns at is, in fact, more unnatural than not. If you live as an individual, then of course you'll bump into other individuals sometimes. Although I follow morals, for the things important to me, I'll follow myself. It's defiant, I suppose, but I've become like "if you want to curse me, please do." That's how I'll continue living, as a person worthy of being cursed. I feel I'm in the midst of making that shift.

— Finally, let me ask one more thing. Are there any works you experienced in 2024, be they novels, movies, or music, that were stimulating to you?

2024 might have been the busiest year of my life. So I hardly remember. But to name a book I read, I was super into sociologist Yo Takeuchi-san's "The Fall of Liberal Artsism: A Changing Elite Student Culture." It analyzes how the principle of "kyouyou-shugi" that arose in the Taisho era has fallen, up to the early 2000's when the book was written, based on all sorts of data. I'm not the sort of "elite" that's featured in this book, but I found a lot that connected with me as I read.

— I think this every interview, but you really read quite a variety of books and articles for being so busy.

I haven't been drinking too much lately, and I'm setting aside that time to read articles. That's a fun mode for me right now. It's been really busy, but really fun. I may be wincing about it as I go, but it feels satisfying.

— I'll ask about 2025, too. You have a tour ahead, with dome performances and overseas concerts; what thoughts do you have on the future?

It's my first time doing a concert in Europe or America, and same for the domes, but for now I'm just making songs. Plazma and BOW AND ARROW included, I'm getting back the feelings from shortly after I started making music and accumulating them. Even I'm excited to see what direction I'll be headed in as a result.

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