As previously stated, Supercell began as an independent music group in 2007. They used the Hatsune Miku Vocaloid singing synthesiser to give vocals to their original music and uploaded it to Nico Nico Douga, a widely used video sharing site in Japan. It actually began with just one man named Ryo, who made his original song “Melt” using an illustration alongside Hatsune Miku’s voice from an artist called 119 - without his permission! Luckily, 119 was really interested in “Melt,” which led to a partnership between themselves and Ryo and the beginning of the band that would go on to be called Supercell. Ryo never imagined that his original song would go so viral, and only used Miku’s voice because he didn’t know any singers personally to sing what he had written.

Clearly, though, “Melt” was a huge, albeit unexpected, success. Other members began to join the group, eventually bringing the number of those involved to 11. Continuing to use the Vocaloid voice synthesisers, Supercell began releasing other songs that went on to score millions of views on Nico Nico Douga including “World is Mine” and “Black Rock Shooter.” Some of their songs found so much success that Supercell was able to monetise them, with “Kibou no Neiro” releasing alongside a novel series called Oto x Maho in 2009. “Kibou no Neiro” was even sold at the anime megastore Animate. That same year, Supercell released their first album - also called Supercell - at Comiket (a huge convention of otaku culture, mostly related to doujinshi and light novels), with all their vocals provided by Vocaloid voices.

In 2009, Supercell signed with Sony Music Japan and their days of uploading onto Nico Nico Douga came to an end. Nagi Yanagi, a singer also well-known on Nico Nico Douga, joined the group as the lead vocalist. And while Nagi would not remain the vocals forever, this important step took Supercell to a whole new level - and into the otaku music world.

Supercell broke into the anime scene with “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari,” an ending song for Bakemonogatari in 2009. That same year, the group won the Japan Disc Gold Award for being one of the best five new artists in Japan. In 2010, Supercell was back to working with Vocaloids again, producing the main theme song for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd called “Kotchi Muite Baby / Yellow,” which used Miku for the vocals. Supercell’s older song “Black Rock Shooter” served as an inspiration for a 50-minute anime that same year, bringing the song to life in a whole new way.

In 2011, a new vocalist called Koeda (who was just 15 at the time) joined the group after winning an audition. Supercell’s next big hit for the otaku world was “Sekiranun Graffiti,” the main theme from Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend. Supercell did a few more smaller anime projects like Shakugun no Shana Final, and then scored big again in 2013 by providing the ending song for Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, “The Bravery.” The same year, Supercell also released “Hakushukassai Utaawase,” the opening theme for Katanagatari.

In 2015, Ryo was producing the music for the video game Bravely Second: End Layer. He wrote both the opening and ending theme songs for the game, called “Great Distance” and “Last Song” respectively. After gaining two new vocalists through auditions 2016, Supercell’s latest contribution to the otaku world was “#Love feat. Ann, Gaku,” the theme for the anime sci-fi film Cencoroll Connect in 2019.