Lawyers have contacted the popular Japanese artist Yoshiki of the rock band X JAPAN following the release of the song, “Hunting Soul, featured in DAN DA DAN Episode 18 (Season 2, Episode 6), according to Yoshiki himself on X (formerly Twitter).
In a series of X posts, Yoshiki expressed his surprise at the song, which was a clear reference to the group. The homage was confirmed by Marty Friedman, responsible for the guitar and arrangement (alongside Seiichi Nagai), which was performed by the fictional HAYASii band depicted in the episode. You can check out the DAN DA DAN performance, which was incredibly popular with both manga readers and anime-onlys, as well as further details, below.
ALSO READ:
WurtS Releases New DAN DA DAN Collaboration Music Video Featuring “Doukashiteru”
HAYASii members and their counterparts in X JAPAN:
- Toshiro (bass): Toshi
- Yoshikichi (drum): Yoshiki
- Hideji (vocal): Hide
- Patarson (guitar): Pata
Yoshiki’s first post on the topic was “What’s this.. Doesn’t that sound like X JAPAN? 😱,” before expressing concern. “Huh? I don’t know anything about this,” he said, adding, “Is this okay to do? My dear Fans, please tell me what’s going on.” He also tagged relevant parties, such as his international X (Twitter) page, X JAPAN’s page, and the DAN DA DAN anime’s English and Japanese X accounts. In a further post, he alerted the X accounts of Netflix and Hulu, which both stream the anime series. Captioning a further post with “😱,” he shared an X JAPAN performance of “Kurenai” from 12 years ago that was seemingly a reference for the DAN DA DAN episode.
You can listen to “Kurenai” below:
Yoshiki added, “When I first learned about this, I found it kind of funny and was laughing, but then I got contacted by lawyers 😱 They said there’s a possibility of copyright infringement, so I wonder what’s going to happen 🤔 Everyone, for this kind of thing, it’s probably best to contact the relevant people first.” In response to posts celebrating past anime homages to X JAPAN, Yoshiki said, “The other ones, as far as I know, they contacted management / record label beforehand about clearance.“
Yoshiki on prior anime homages:
Yoshiki says that Sony Music Publishing handles the copyright for X JAPAN’s “Kurenai.” Sony Music’s subsidiary Aniplex is a co-producer of the series. Nevertheless, it’s unclear whether permission was obtained through proper channels, where Yoshiki was not informed.
Yoshiki’s latest comment on the matter is that he’s now interested in watching DAN DA DAN and is exploring inviting someone onto his YouTube channel to discuss the homage. You can check out the English version of DAN DA DAN‘s “Hunting Soul” here, performed by Marc Hudson at Bang Zoom! Studios, which dubs the anime series.
Source: Yoshiki’s X (formerly Twitter)
©Yukinobu Tatsu/SHUEISHA, DANDADAN Production Committee
Participate In Discussions