If you haven’t heard of the band Shinsei Kamattechan yet, you probably will soon. This trio of musicians has been making big waves in the Japanese music scene, and especially in the anisong industry recently. They have been slowly climbing up the popularity ladder since their start almost 15 years ago, but their name is likely to be brought up more and more in the coming months… are you curious about what we are talking about yet?
Shinsei Kamattechan has gone on to gain a lot of fame and traction in Japan and become a hot topic recently with their release of “Boku no Sensou,” the opening song for Attack on Titan: The Final Season. That’s right, this is the band behind that incredible song!
Shinsei Kamattechan got their start in a unique way in Japan, gaining fans organically through homemade music videos on the internet and live streaming, rather than starting with a label of any kind. Currently, the band is made up of three men, Noko, Mono, and Misako. Noko is the lead vocalist, plays the guitar and keyboard, and works on composition and programming. Mono is the band leader, plays the keyboard and tambourine, and handles programming. Finally, Misako has the big job of playing the drums. Let’s have a look at where Shinsei Kamattechan has come from, and what else they have contributed to the otaku scene!
Shinsei Kamattechan “Yuugure no Tori” from Attack on Titan: Season 2
The “Internet Pop Rock Band”
As we said above, Shinsei Kamattechan got their start on the internet in 2007 by creating all their own content and publishing it themselves. They were passionate about what they wanted to do, not to mention talented, and their fanbase grew even without an official label or even an album! Finally, in 2010, they were picked up by the indie label Perfect Music and released their first studio album. By the end of 2010, Shinsei Kamattechan signed a deal with the major label Warner Music Japan and released another album. Interestingly, the same day they released another album with Perfect Music as well. Shinsei Kamattechan was well on their way to being established in the Japanese music scene!
Shinsei Kamattechan is known for their unique blend of genres, describing themselves as an “internet pop-rock band.” This is because of their start online and strong social media presence (they still post a lot of live streams and pieces of their daily life online for fans), and their style of blending together dark lyrics with piano and pop melodies.
Both their distinct sound and their online presence has helped Shinsei Kamattechan gain and retain fans, growing more and more popular. In 2011, a film called Gekijōban Shinsei Kamattechan/Rock ‘n’ Roll wa Nariyamanai (its international name was Ringing in their Ears) was released, showing a dramatised version of the band’s story with the members staring at themselves. It was even shown as the New York Asian Film Festival that same year. With their continually growing popularity, Shinsei Kamattechan began to have some great chances to work in the anisong industry, too.
Let’s Talk Otaku
Shinsei Kamattechan “Boku no Sensou” from Attack on Titan: The Final Season
Shinsei Kamattechan’s anime début was in 2011 with the opening “Os-Uchuujin” for Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl. The vocals for this song were actually not done by Noko, but instead by voice actress Asuka Ougame. In 2013, Noko did some solo work in the anisong industry by contributing the vocals to the opening for The Flowers of Evil. From there, Shinsei Kamattechan released several more songs and albums together before taking a two-year break from producing anything new from 2014-2016. When they did release their next album, Shinsei Kamattechan climbed Mt Fuji in cosplay during a live stream event as a publicity stunt! That’s not something you see every day.
After this, Shinsei Kamattechan was back in the anisong industry in 2017 with “Yuugure no Tori,” the ending song for the second season of Attack on Titan. The song’s single release even had artwork by the Attack on Titan manga artist Hajime Isayama. In 2018, the manga After the Rain had a live-action film released in the cinema, and Shinsei Kamattechan’s song “After the Rain” served as the main theme, though it was covered by another singer. Noko and Mono were still directly involved in the project, though, and also helped produce some of the other music for the film.
Shinsei Kamattechan got their foot in the door, so to speak, with Attack on Titan by producing the ending song several years ago. That opportunity led to Shinsei Kamattechan’s biggest contribution to the otaku scene yet - of course, we are talking about the latest opening to Attack on Titan! Attack on Titan has been known for its unforgettable, emotional, and intense opening songs throughout the series. To be asked to produce the opening for the much-anticipated final season of the anime is a huge honour and responsibility. Luckily, Shinsei Kamattechan stepped right up to the challenge and released “Boku no Sensou,” which has been a huge hit with Attack on Titan fans all around the world. We will all be rocking out to that song every week this anime season, and probably for a long time into the future, too!
Final Thoughts
If you hadn’t heard of Shinsei Kamattechan before this article, we hope you won’t forget about them now! They haven’t done very many anisong titles yet, but with a big break like Attack on Titan, the road is paved for them to have more big opportunities in the future - especially with the global renown that song has earned them. Definitely keep them on your anisong radar, because we hope it's only a matter of time before Shinsei Kamattechan is back with another great anime opening or ending song.
Had you heard of Shinsei Kamattechan before today? Which of their songs is your favourite? Are you going to look into more of their music now? Leave us a comment below!
Author: Jet Nebula
