Update: YOSHIKI has quote-retweeted the statement, saying:
“I appreciate the sincere response from the Dandadan production committee. Although there was some surprise, I am grateful for all of your voices. Through positive conversations with the producers, including the possibility of future collaborations, I feel we can build a wonderful future together with all the fans!”
Original: The DAN DA DAN anime’s production committee has issued a statement on the song “Hunting Soul,” which was featured in Episode 6 of Season 2 as part of the fictional visual kei rock band HAYASii‘s performance. The song recently experienced an apparent spot of copyright trouble in Japan as those in the country noticed its disappearance from streaming platforms some time after its initial debut (this seems to have been reversed at the time of writing), and the statement offers an apology and states that “constructive” talks with the relevant parties are progressing.
The statement also mentioned that the thought of explaining matters to the singer and musician YOSHIKI and visual kei band X JAPAN (which YOSHIKI co-founded) in advance had not come to mind. There were apparently similarities between “Hunting Soul” and X JAPAN’s 1989 single “Kurenai.”
In a now-deleted tweet, YOSHIKI said that he was amused when he first learned about the song, but lawyers contacted him afterwards as there was a possibility of copyright infringement. The tweet ended with YOSHIKI noting that contacting the relevant parties in advance — as the DAN DA DAN production committee statement mentions — was the advisable move to take in this kind of scenario.
The only still-available tweet that YOSHIKI left on the matter (this was posted on August 18 JST) said, “I will leave this matter to the people involved.”
“Hunting Soul” was written, composed, and arranged by Seiichi Nagai and produced by the anime’s music composer Kensuke Ushio. The Japanese version had vocals from Kisho Taniyama, while the English version was sung by DragonForce’s Marc Hudson.
“Hunting Soul” was the number one song in Billboard Japan’s Japan Songs (Brazil) Top 10, Japan Songs (America) Top 10, and Japan Songs (Germany) Top 10 charts for the August 8 to August 14 week. The Japanese version’s official lyric video has hit more than 7.7 million views since its August 7 JST premiere.
Source: @anime_dandadan
