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The World Ends With You‘s official Twitter account has announced that it will be changing the opening theme of The World Ends With You: The Animation, after the arrest of the drummer who worked on the song. The anime will still debut on April 9, 2021, however “Teenage City Riot” will no longer be used in the opening sequence. [Thanks, Game Watch!]
TVアニメ「すばらしきこのせかい The Animation」OPテーマ曲変更についてのご報告https://t.co/05V8vtVNXO
— すばらしきこのせかい The Animation 公式アカウント (@TWEWY_PR) April 8, 2021
“Teenage City Riot” was written and performed by ALI (Alien Liberty International) along with rapper R-Shitei (R-指定). A jazz-fusion band based in Tokyo, all of ALI’s members are multinational Japanese artists from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. The video for the rap version of The World Ends With You‘s opening theme song uploaded by Square Enix has since been set to private on YouTube.
The band made waves in 2019 after the first season of Beastars used their single “Wild Side” as its opening. Later, their song “Lost in Paradise” featuring rapper AKLO became the ending theme for the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen.
There is currently no further information on the arrest of Kahadio, the band’s drummer, which occurred on April 8, 2021. News of the arrest was broken via ALI’s official homepage, as well as through the band’s record label Sony Music Labels Inc. The band stated that they would “continue to monitor the ongoing investigation and handle the situation accordingly.”
The World Ends With You: The Animation will air in Japan on April 9, 2021, with Funimation handling the North American release via its streaming platform.
