"Never Gonna Give You Up" achieves its anime theme song final form

Of course Rick Astley's viral mainstay fits the opening credits to a Japanese anime too well

By Andrew Paul  |  September 9, 2021 | 8:30pm
Music Features Never Gonna Give You Up
“Kesshite yuzuranai / Shitsubo o sasenai” Screenshot: YouTube

The meta-meme of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and its seemingly infinite permutations feel somewhat like the Internet’s own cosmic background radiation—a static synth-pop hiss playing on repeat against all the other chaos. Pausing long enough to consider the dynamics at play in the cyclical nature of Rickrolling references and new creative spins on the 1987 song could easily send us into a long-overdue, online existential tailspin… so instead let’s just bask in the odd glory that is “Never Gonna Give You Up” reimagined as the intro theme song to a Japanese anime series.

Sure, perhaps it’s not entirely surprising to hear just how perfectly the late-80's American pop vibe meshes with the extremely earnest J-pop stylings found in anime credit sequences… but that doesn’t mean “Kesshite Yuzuranai” isn’t a perfect banger that we wish actually preceded a cartoon about some psychic kid and their attachment to, like, a giant mecha-cat. Or something similar.

Okay, so obviously the author of this piece isn’t the most versed on anime, but give us some time. A few more reworkings of familiar cultural touchstones to fit the Japanese medium, and they just might finally be convinced to leave the comfort of their pop cultural bubble and try out some new stuff for once, instead of rewatching Deadwood for the 103th time.

In any case, the only thing that could honestly improve the latest “Never Gonna Give You Up” take is someone actually creating a fake anime sequence to compliment the song. Hell, develop an entire Rick Astley anime show, while you’re at it. Please make it so, Internet. In the meantime, we’ll just have to settle for adding “Kesshite Yuzuranai” to our End of Summer playlist for the time being.

[via Digg]

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