News ► TWEWY -The Animation- opening theme to be replaced following scandal

[Sign]

Update April 9 2021: We have confirmed that the new opening song for The World Ends With You -The Animation- is Calling -Animation Opening Ver.-

Update April 9 2021: According to investigators, Shirai was arrested as a suspect of communications fraud and theft after withdrawing hundreds of thousands of yen in cash last month from an account tied to a scam. The victim of the scam had been improperly billed for medical expenses and told to deposit money into said account. (via NHK)

Square Enix has announced a sudden change with The World Ends With You -The Animation-'s opening theme song, just one day before the show begins airing. Following the recent scandal and arrest of ALI's drummer, Kahadio (real name: Kadio Shirai) Sony Music Labels has requested that the anime suspend use of the band's music, leading the production committee to replace the original OP, "TEENAGE CITY RIOT", with another song.

The World Ends With you -The Animation- begins airing in Japan on April 9th on 28 MBS/TBS stations during the "Super Animeism" block, and will be available for streaming worldwide on a variety of platforms.

Follow Kingdom Hearts Insider on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates on Kingdom Hearts Union χ [Cross], Kingdom Hearts Dark Road, Kingdom Hearts III, Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, and all things Kingdom Hearts and The World Ends With You!

 

[AegisXIII]

Wow. Cancel culture in Japan is something else.
Poor animators. They won't have a peaceful night that's for sure.

 

[Light&Darkness]

Wait. What happened? What scandal!?!

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Well.. that’s disappointing. I actually kinda liked the song. But who knows, maybe they plan to use Twister in its place, at least for the first episode We‘ll see what they pick when the time comes.

Wow. Cancel culture in Japan is something else.
Poor animators. They won't have a peaceful night that's for sure.

The animation for the opening is well done at this stage, or at least it should be. They just need to find a new song to match its visuals

 

[okhi12]

ALI is a band, right? So basically they are neglecting the work of the other members as well because the drummer was involved in some unspecified scandal? It must have been something serious, but I kinda feel bad for the rest of the band.
The song was OK to me at first but the hype for the anime and watching the trailer like a hundred times made it grow on me. At least we won't have to wait much to see -or listen- what the replacement song is like.
I tried to find some info about the scandal, to no avail. If I had to guess it probably has something to do with drugs because Japan usually takes that kind of measures whenever an artist or voice actor is found with drugs, but that's just my speculation. I hope it's not something worse than that.

 

[AegisXIII]

ALI is a band, right? So basically they are neglecting the work of the other members as well because the drummer was involved in some unspecified scandal? It must have been something serious, but I kinda feel bad for the rest of the band.
The song was OK to me at first but the hype for the anime and watching the trailer like a hundred times made it grow on me. At least we won't have to wait much to see -or listen- what the replacement song is like.
I tried to find some info about the scandal, to no avail. If I had to guess it probably has something to do with drugs because Japan usually takes that kind of measures whenever an artist or voice actor is found with drugs, but that's just my speculation. I hope it's not something worse than that.

I remember the japanese voice of Olaf was erased from the game retroactively because of cocaine use as well as sentenced to 18 months in prison. They are taking drug issues very seriously, so I would assume it is something like that. Maybe the drummer got a tatoo in the weekend. (Sorry )

 

[okhi12]

I remember the japanese voice of Olaf was erased from the game retroactively because of cocaine use as well as sentenced to 18 months in prison. They are taking drug issues very seriously, so I would assume it is something like that. Maybe the drummer got a tatoo in the weekend. (Sorry )

That's exactly why I said it. I remembered it happened with a KH3 voice actor but didn't remember who and I was too lazy to check it out, lol

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Must be a drug charge. Anything else and they wouldn’t give a shit.

They got it easy for episode 1, but I’m sure they are having to work hard to redo the opening in time for episode 2.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Just to add, the music page on the official TWEWY Anime website has completely scrubbed any mention of ALI

 

[U.N. Owen]

Would it be wrong for me to assume it was a drug charge arrest? It really wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Would it be wrong for me to assume it was a drug charge arrest? It really wouldn't surprise me.

No, it’s one of the few things Japan is super vigilant about and views as a taboo.

 

[AegisXIII]

No, it’s one of the few things Japan is super vigilant about and views as a taboo.

And yet all of these people are high as f*ck.

 

[Sign]

SE has also set all videos using the song on their Youtube channel to private. Still a bunch of reuploads floating around, thankfully.

 

[2 quid is good]

I thought it was a drug charge myself, super disappointing because I really liked the song, plus they did the first ending for Jujutsu Kaisen which was great. I don't think it's fair at all to be so disregarded over drugs but it is what is

 

[bobgoesw00t]

And yet all of these people are high as f*ck.

View attachment 13762

LOLOL, true story!!! But it HAD to be some kind of drug related charge otherwise this wouldn't have happened. This is exactly what happened with the Pikachu and Pichu short that was shown before the third Pokemon movie. The narrator was arrested and convicted on a drug felony charge some time after the movie's release and because of that, OLM and The Pokemon Company ended up retconning the entire anime timeline so the events of it never took place. Which is the real reason why Satoshi IS STILL TEN YEARS OLD AFTER 20 YEARS...that and his Pikachu probably is some sort of reverse chi vampire that just sucks the age out of his human xD

 

[Somnus cealum]

GUYS IM SO SAD!!! i loved that song!! im crying!!! maybe it would be a new version of twsiter? i hope so

 

[Sign]

Good news: it's not drugs.
Bad news: it's fraud.

バンド「ALI」のメンバー 逮捕 特殊詐欺の現金引き出した疑い | NHKニュース

【NHK】人気アニメ「呪術廻戦」のエンディングテーマを担当したことなどで知られるバンドのメンバーが、都内の男性が特殊詐欺でだまし取…

www3.nhk.or.jp

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Ah, the other big one.

This scam sounds crazy

 

[WaltK]

Ah, the other big one.

This scam sounds crazy

I wouldn’t know, I can’t read Japanese...

 

[Sign]

I wouldn’t know, I can’t read Japanese...

Update 4/8/2021: According to investigators, Shirai was arrested as a suspect of communications fraud and theft after withdrawing hundreds of thousands of yen in cash last month from an account tied to a scam. The victim of the scam had been improperly billed for medical expenses and told to deposit money into said account. (via NHK)