Kick Back (song)
Opening theme for the anime series Chainsaw Man.
Kenshi Yonezu's "Kick Back," written in all capital letters, is the opening theme for the anime Chainsaw Man. Sony Music Records released it as a digital single on October 12, 2022, and also made it available in three physical formats: a regular CD, a video edition, and a chainsaw edition.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Kenshi Yonezu
- Album
- Lost Corner
- B-side
- Hazukashikutte Shōganē
- Released
- 12 October 2022
- Genre
- Rock
- Length
- 3:13
- Label
- Sony Japan
- Producer
- Kenshi Yonezu; Daiki Tsuneta
Facts from the source article.
Track listing
CD single / digital download / streaming
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kick Back | 3:13 |
| 2 | Hazukashikutte Shōganē (恥ずかしくってしょうがねえ; "I Can't Help Being Embarrassed") | 3:41 |
| 3 | Kick Back (anime edit) | 1:27 |
| Total length | 8:21 | |
Limited edition DVD
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TV Anime Chainsaw Man Non-Credit Opening Movie | 1:39 |
| 2 | M87 (music video) | 4:46 |
| Total length | 14:46 | |
Track listing from the source article.
Background and release
Kenshi Yonezu, who previously handled the first opening of the second season for My Hero Academia about five years after Peace Sign, took charge of the Chainsaw Man opening theme. Daiki Tsuneta of King Gnu and Millennium Parade collaborated on production and arrangement. The song samples Morning Musume's 2002 track Sōda! We're Alive.
A preview for Chainsaw Man released on September 19, 2022, featured Kick Back. Yonezu first performed it live on September 23 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium during the 2022 Tour / Henshin; Tsuneta appeared at the tour final at Saitama Super Arena on October 27. The CD single came in chainsaw, video, and regular editions, each including an advance lottery code for the 2023 Tour / Fantasy and a corporate privilege sticker. Milan Records handled the United States release. Kick Back became the first Japanese-lyric song certified gold (2023) and platinum (2025) by the RIAA.
Music video
The music video premiered on October 25, before the song's release, featuring Yonezu and Daiki Tsuneta. Yoshiyuki Okuyama, who directed the Kanden video and Yonezu's promotional photos, directed it. In the video, Yonezu trains in a gym with Tsuneta; after a montage of vigorous exercise and Yonezu with large muscular arms, he runs off a treadmill into a field and onto a road, where a truck hits him, launching him into parkour across shipping containers and city buildings.
A group of similarly dressed men run alongside him through an industrial site and a quarry. The video ends with Yonezu back on a treadmill beside Tsuneta, but a security camera reveals Tsuneta is not actually there. The Chainsaw Man opening sequence, directed and storyboarded by Shingo Yamashita, pays tribute to films including Reservoir Dogs, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Pulp Fiction, and others, as well as the manga Goodbye, Eri and Fire Punch, the song Sōda! We're Alive, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
More in Characters & Devils
Elsewhere in Chainsaw Man
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