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J-pop superstar Kenshi Yonezu teams up with global icon Hikaru Utada for “Jane Doe”

September 24, 2025

New track is the official ending theme of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc

 

Chart-topping J-pop superstar KENSHI YONEZU teams up with global icon HIKARU UTADA for a new collaborative track “JANE DOE,” the ending theme to the hugely anticipated CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC. “JANE DOE” marks the first collaboration between the two iconic Japanese artists and was written and composed by Yonezu with Utada joining in on vocals. Also making its debut today is the track’s official music video directed by Tomokazu Yamada and featuring both artists. Today’s news follows a massive couple of weeks for Yonezu, who recently released the theme to the CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC “IRIS OUT,” debuted on Spotify's Top Songs Debut Global Chart at #2, and made history as his CHAINSAW MAN TV anime series theme “KICK BACK” became the first-ever Japanese language song to reach RIAA-Platinum certification.  

 

The “JANE DOE” music video features the two artists, dressed entirely in black, sitting apart on benches on a train station platform. It depicts a station platform where passengers heading in different directions briefly cross paths only during boarding and getting off. While waiting for the next train, two passengers who happen to sit on the same bench exert a light gravitational pull on each other, like invisible, large circles. Directed by Tomokazu Yamada, known for music videos including Kenshi Yonezu's “Lemon,” “Uma to Shika,” and “Sayonara, Mata Itsuka! – Sayonara.” Hikaru Utada’s “Mine or Yours,” “A Flower of No Color,” and “Gold -Mata Au Hi Made-,” as well as directing last year’s “SCIENCE FICTION TOUR 2024.”

 

Of the track, KENSHI YONEZU says, “I started working on the song without giving too much thought to who would sing it. However, as the song began to take shape, it became evident that no one was better suited to it than Utada-san, so I reached out to them. The moment Utada-san’s voice—melancholic, yet sweeping like a gust of wind—came in over the track, I remember being so moved that I let out a sharp gasp. As a songwriter, I feel truly honored to have been given this opportunity.”

 

HIKARU UTADA adds, “I knew I had to give it a go when I received this offer. Both of us being uncompromising singer-songwriters, we knew better than anybody else where the other comes from, but also faced the challenge of meeting halfway where our styles, as we found in the process, contrast. I hope everyone can feel the new sides that were brought out in us, as we remained true to ourselves and each other.”

 

Music video director TOMOKAZU YAMADA says, “We spin endlessly in the darkness of the universe, exerting light gravitational pull upon one another. Even when we are close enough to touch, we are all distant stars. Each with its own rotation, each gazing upon its own night. This is truly a collision of galaxies. A moment that is like an eternity, in a place that is neither light nor darkness.”

 

“IRIS OUT” is already setting another record on the Spotify Japan Daily Chart, achieving the “highest daily play count ever recorded” for six days in a row. “IRIS OUT” debuted on Spotify's Top Songs Debut Global Chart at #2, is also currently at #3 on Apple Music's Global Daily Top 100 chart. The music video for “IRIS OUT” was also released on September 15 and has already surpassed 10 million views on YouTube, generating significant buzz as earning #4 on the Global YouTube Daily Music Videos Charts. Available to watch now.

 

CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC will be hitting theatres in United States on October 24, 2025from Sony Pictures Entertainment, who has acquired the worldwide distribution rights for the film. The theatrical release of CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC opened on Friday, September 19th in Japan. Rocket started with a huge hit, topping the weekend box office rankings exceeding the sales of the smash-hit Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.

 

ABOUT CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC

The film version of CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC is set after the final episode of the Chainsaw Man TV anime series. It depicts the main character, Denji, who is thrown into an unpredictable destiny by a girl he meets by chance, Reze, alongside the fast-paced action scenes for which MAPPA studio is renowned. The film will be released in more than 50 countries and regions, beginning with Japan on Friday, September 19.CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC will be hitting theatres in United States on Oct 24, 2025. Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired the worldwide distribution rights for the film and will be releasing it in the country.

 

The original CHAINSAW MAN series has sold more than 30 million copies and is currently being serialized in the popular Shonen Jump+ magazines. The author is Tatsuki Fujimoto, a genius manga artist who has created a series of high-profile works including Fire Punch, Look Back, and Sayonara Eri. In 2022, the anime series was broadcast by the animation production studio MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan: The Final Season, etc.), and high acclaim was won not only in Japan but also around the world. The anime series has been streamed in over 200 countries and regions.

 

 

ABOUT KENSHI YONEZU

After gaining success with Vocaloid music under the stage name HACHI, Kenshi Yonezu began producing under his real name in 2012. In addition to music, he has attracted attention for his album cover illustrations and video productions. The video for his hit single “Lemon”, the long-running theme song for the TV series Unnatural, is the most-viewed music video in Japan, and topped Billboard Japan’s year-end charts for two consecutive years, leaving a mark on music history both in Japan and abroad.

 

His 2020 album STRAY SHEEP set a record of 1.9 million copies sold with the highest-placing Japanese artist ever to appear on the IFPI year-end global ranking chart. He continued to work tirelessly during the COVID-19 pandemic, including performing as the first Asian in a virtual concert hosted by the online game Fortnite. Collaborated globally with UNIQLO on their UT collection with the storefront collaboration displays in NY and other 8 UNIQLO stores worldwide. He was awarded an AAC Award, listed in Forbes’ 100 Asian Digital Stars, and received the Minister of NEWS RELEASE Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists.

 

In 2022, he released “M87” as the theme song for the film Shin Ultraman, and “POP SONG” as the theme song for a PlayStation commercial. His single “KICK BACK,” the opening theme for the TV anime CHAINSAW MAN, made Spotify’s Global Top 50, and became the first Japanese-language song certified Gold by RIAA®. He was also selected as the first and only Japanese artist to be a part of the “RIAA Class of 2023”, with which the association summarized the artists who had flourished in the year.

 

In 2023, Yonezu released “Tsuki Wo Miteita - Moongazing” as the theme song for the RPG game Final Fantasy XVI, and “Chikyugi - Spinning Globe” – the theme song Studio Ghibli’s animated film The Boy and the Heron (Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Feature, 2024), directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

 

In August 2024, Yonezu wrote “Garakuta – JUNK”, the theme song of the movie LAST MILE, and released his sixth studio album, LOST CORNER. In September, Yonezu released an exclusive line of graphic tees in collaboration with Uniqlo, as part of their ongoing UT series celebrating pop culture from around the world. After 11 years, Hachi (Kenshi Yonezu) himself created a new illustration for the VOCALOID song “Donut Hole”, and a fully animated music video based on the illustration. Original chocolate was also released from Godiva Japan as the “GODIVA x HACHI Donut Hole Collection” from October as the first time for Godiva worldwide to create a chocolate collection lineup in collaboration with an artist. In November Yonezu released “Azalea”, a song written as the theme song for the global Netflix series Beyond Goodbye. For the first time in 6 years, appeared at Kohaku Uta Gassen.

 

In 2025, Yonezu released “Plazma”, a theme to the film Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- and also the theme to its anime series Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-. He then released the theme to the anime series Medalist with a collaboration music video between Kenshi Yonezu and the Winter Olympics gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu. Yonezu kicked off his largest-scaled world tour, KENSHI YONEZU 2025 WORLD TOUR / JUNK after performing domes in Japan, toured Asia, Europe, and the U.S., drew a total of 440,000 people. Kenshi Yonezu has just recently announced his new tour, KENSHI YONEZU 2026 TOUR / GHOST— a 6-city, 14-show arena headliner across Japan. The tour will kick off in Nagano on November 6, 2026, and will travel through Osaka, Aichi, Fukuoka, Miyagi, and Kanagawa, concluding on December 17. In September, he dropped his latest track, “IRIS OUT”, the official theme for the new film CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC, and its ending theme "JANE DOE" on 9/22.

 

As for Yonezu’s music videos, “Lemon” has surpassed 930 million views, continuing to break the records of Japanese artists.  It is one of the 16 music videos of his songs that garnered him a commanding record of surpassing 100 million views each (“Lemon,” “Eine Kleine,” “LOSER,” “Peace Sign,” “Haiirotoao (+Masaki Suda),” “orion,” “Flamingo,” “Kanden,” “Fireworks,” “Paprika,” “Shunrai,” “Uma to Shika,” “Spirits of the Sea,” “KICK BACK,” Foorin’s “Paprika” and Masaki Suda’s “Machigaisagashi”). He has over 7.89 million subscribers on his official YouTube channel.

 

 

CONNECT WITH KENSHI YONEZU

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | X | TIKTOK | YOUTUBE

 

 

ABOUT HIKARU UTADA

A Japanese singer-songwriter and producer Hikaru Utada debuted with the single ‘Automatic/time will tell’ on December 9, 1998. Their first album First Love remains the best-selling Japanese album of all time. In 2024, they released their first greatest hits album SCIENCE FICTIONto commemorate their 25th anniversary of their debut, followed by their first tour in six years ―the nationwide HIKARU UTADA SCIENCE FICTION TOUR 2024. In 2025, continuing a dynamic run of creative output, Utada’s latest digital single “Mine or Yours” has captured attention as the theme for the Ayataka green tea commercial, marking the second consecutive year of Utada’s collaboration with the brand. Electricity Remixes, a limited-edition vinyl released on July 9 featuring three remixes by internationally recognized artists Karen Nyame KG, Arca and salute, has already generated excitement among music fans in Japan and around the world following the earlier digital releases.

 

CONNECT WITH HIKARU UTADA

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | X | YOUTUBE

 

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Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit https://lnk.to/milanrecords.

In DailySam Tags pr, lifestyleblogger, music
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