{"id":62957,"date":"2026-03-14T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=62957"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T09:28:27","slug":"j-pop-hits-that-dont-rely-on-anime-tie-ins-are-a-dying-breed-nowadays-famous-japanese-critic-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/j-pop-hits-that-dont-rely-on-anime-tie-ins-are-a-dying-breed-nowadays-famous-japanese-critic-suggests\/","title":{"rendered":"J-Pop hits that don&#8217;t rely on anime tie-ins are a &#8220;dying breed&#8221; nowadays,\u00a0famous Japanese critic suggests\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Popular Japanese content creator and music critic Mino<a href=\"https:\/\/note.com\/lucaspoulshock\/n\/nd03ec04b9acb#00fc5835-b658-4640-881d-ae4c5e3370f1\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/note.com\/lucaspoulshock\/n\/nd03ec04b9acb#00fc5835-b658-4640-881d-ae4c5e3370f1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> recently published<\/a> an online essay titled <strong>Has J-Pop become just a subcontractor of anime?<\/strong>, in which he discusses how the Japanese anime industry has been influencing recent trends in the domestic pop music scene. The essay comes as an extension of Mino\u2019s YouTube music critique series in which he reviews some of the biggest hits of the 2020s. It was written to address backlash from viewers claiming that \u201cthe music can\u2019t be viewed separately from the anime\u201d (arguing that, in order to critique the songs, you need to understand the context of the anime as well). While analyzing the relationship between anime and J-Pop tie-ins, Mino concludes that pop singles which are \u201cself-contained\u201d and don\u2019t rely on being tied in with an anime or a TV series, are now practically a \u201cdying breed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IExisfpryk\">https:\/\/t.co\/IExisfpryk<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u307f\u306e (@lucaspoulshock) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lucaspoulshock\/status\/2031317971126333503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We know that many of the J-pop songs that become hits in the West also often serve as anime openings or endings (or rather, they become popular<em> because <\/em>they are used as theme songs in anime), but is it the same for Japan? To illustrate his points on how the Japanese music industry has changed throughout the years, Mino cites the top 10 singles in Billboard JAPAN\u2019s Hot 100 year-end list for 2025:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list has-palette-color-5-background-color has-background\">\n<li>Mrs. GREEN APPLE \u201cLilac\u201d (opening theme for the anime Oblivion Battery)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mrs. GREEN APPLE \u201cDarling\u201d (theme song for NHK\u2019s 18fes special program)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rose &amp; Bruno Mars \u201cAPT.\u201d (no tie-in)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kenshi Yonezu \u201cIRIS OUT\u201d (theme song for Chainsaw Man \u2013 The Movie: Reze Arc)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mrs. GREEN APPLE \u201cKusushiki\u201d (opening theme for the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> season of the anime The Apothecary Diaries)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>HANA \u201cRose\u201d (no tie-in)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sakanaction \u201cKaijuu\u201d (opening theme for the anime Orb: On the Movements of the Earth)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mrs. GREEN APPLE \u201cQue Sera Sera\u201d (theme song for TV series At Least on Sunday Night)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mrs. GREEN APPLE \u201cBitter Vacances\u201d (theme song for Saint Young Men The Movie)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kenshi Yonezu \u201cPlazma\u201d (theme song for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX )<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at the chart, only two songs in the top 10 are \u201cindependent\u201d from tie-ins, and out of the two, only one is by a domestic artist (HANA \u2013 \u201cRose\u201d). \u201cNo song can climb to the top of the charts without being associated with other media forms. That\u2019s what Billboard JAPAN\u2019s 2025 lineup seems to be proclaiming,\u201d Mino concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The critic then takes a look at some of the recently popular albums in the scene, singling out King Gnu\u2019s THE GREATEST UNKNOWN as an example of an album having 93% of its tracks (13 out of 14, excluding intros and transitions), used as anime and drama theme songs and commercials. Some of the notable tracks on the album include two theme songs for the Jujutsu Kaisen series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260313-629570001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-62960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260313-629570001.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260313-629570001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260313-629570001-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking back at the history of Japanese pop music throughout the 20th century, Mino points out that \u201cEver since its birth, the Japanese music industry\u2019s connection with visual media has been ingrained in its DNA.\u201d However, he argues that music back then was \u201cclearly separate in meaning\u201d from the visual media it was tied with. Modern J-pop songs that serve as anime openings, on the other hand, are \u201cexpected to be subordinate to the original work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, having your songs tied to popular anime is huge for breaking through, and can even help expand your music overseas, but as Mino argues, this framework also puts pressure on artistic expression and individuality. One biggest example he gives is the \u201c89-second rule,\u201d where a song has all of its most memorable moments packed in a 89-second-long format, to fit the length of a regular anime opening. According to Mino, in many cases, songs are intentionally made to fit this format, even those that failed to get picked up as anime theme songs \u2013 causing the market to get oversaturated. \u201cEven before being inserted into the medium, the music is already optimized to be used in the context of that medium,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can read the full essay on Mino\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/note.com\/lucaspoulshock\/n\/nd03ec04b9acb#00fc5835-b658-4640-881d-ae4c5e3370f1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">note<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/lucaspoulshock\/status\/2031317971126333503?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X <\/a>pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese music critic proposes theory that &#8220;J-pop might be becoming subordinate to anime,&#8221; pointing to recent industry trends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":62959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,17,66],"class_list":["post-62957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news","tag-non-gaming-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>J-Pop hits that don&#039;t rely on anime tie-ins are a &quot;dying breed&quot; nowadays,\u00a0famous Japanese critic suggests\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japanese music critic proposes theory that &quot;J-pop might be becoming subordinate to anime,&quot; pointing to recent industry trends.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/j-pop-hits-that-dont-rely-on-anime-tie-ins-are-a-dying-breed-nowadays-famous-japanese-critic-suggests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"J-Pop hits that don&#039;t rely on anime tie-ins are a &quot;dying breed&quot; nowadays,\u00a0famous Japanese critic suggests\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Japanese music critic proposes theory that &quot;J-pop might be becoming subordinate to anime,&quot; 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