About

"Sugar Song and Bitter Step" (シュガーソングとビターステップ; Shugaa Songu to Bitaa Suteppu) is the ending theme song for the anime adaptation of the shonen manga series Kekkai Sensen, known as Blood Blockade Battlefront outside Japan. The theme and dance number during the ending credits has gained widespread popularity among anime fans, inspiring many tributes, remixes, and parodies.

Origin

The song was written and performed by the Japanese alt-rock trio UNISON SQUARE GARDEN^[1] for the ending theme song of Kekkai Sensen, which premiered in Japan on April 4th, 2015. The full song was later released on May 20th as the band's tenth single.^[2] The theme made its debut during the second episode with the ending credits featuring the main character cast performing improvised dance routines.

Spread

The cheerful song and ending dance sequences struck a chord with anime fans upon its debut. After it's release, the song became the band's most successful single, reaching number 1 on Billboard Japan's Hot 100^[3] and at number 5 on Oricon's weekly singles chart.^[4] Meanwhile, singers and musicians on Nico Nico Douga^[5] began sharing their own covers of the song before it's full release. An early example was a step-remix uploaded to Niconico^[6] on April 21st while the most notable cover was performed by Niconico singer Maruguri (まるぐり) (shown below, left) on June 18th. The cover would go on to become one of the most popular within the Utattemita (歌ってみた; I tried to sing) movement, attaining over 6.7 million views as of April 2017. The dance number during the ending credits also became popular with those in the Odottemita (踊ってみた; I tried to dance) circle with many trying the recreate it in live action. The earliest to gain popularity was a low-budget parody uploaded to Niconico (shown below, right) on June 12th, where it would be watched more than 1.6 million times.

Additionally, amateur animators on Niconico also began trying their hands in creating parodies of the ending credits with characters from various anime and video games series, where many of these animations garnering over half a million views.^[7]

Notable Examples

Covers

Parodies

Search Interest

External References

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