Japan Rings in New Year with Live Performance of Dragon Ball Super Anthem

For all of us in North America, the new year has not yet come to pass. There are just hours left of 2019 over here, but the new decade has come for much of the world already. In Japan, audiences welcomed 2020 to the stage with all sorts of TV programs, and Dragon Ball Super was not going to be left out.

Not long ago, Japan ushered in the new year with a slew of year-end programs. One of them was NHK Kouhaku, one of the country’s largest networks. The event brought out tons of J-pop stars to perform, but Kiyoshi Hikawa did not take a sugary route for 2020.

No, the artist came out on stage riding a giant golden dragon and rocked out to the second opening theme of Dragon Ball Super.

As you can see above, the artist kicked off his performance in the most epic fashion. Hikawa was ushered in through a cloud of smoke before a live audience. In the background, a few screens played footage of Dragon Ball Super while fans took in the singer’s tight leather ensemble.

Once the performance begins, you can feel the energy of Hikawa. The artist belted out “Limitbreak x Survivor” with all the right inflections and even got approval from Goku. After all, the Saiyan’s voice actress Masako Nozawa was seen in the crowd jamming out, so you know Goku would have given his approval to the stage.

For fans, this surprise performance only proves the popularity of Dragon Ball Super, but they do find it strange that this song was selected. In the last year, there was no new releases from Dragon Ball Super as the anime’s film dropped in 2018. With no plans set for a revival, Dragon Ball Super seems to have wrapped, but that doesn’t mean it cannot come back on a whim to usher in a new decade!

Will you be ringing in the new year with this song…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

The Japanese-language and English dub releases of Dragon Ball Super are now complete and available to stream with FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. Viz Media is releasing new chapters of the manga at a monthly rate that can be read entirely for free through the Shonen Jump digital library, and Dragon Ball Super’s big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Fans in Japan are also able to enjoy fresh non-canon adventures from the franchise with new episodes of Super Dragon Ball Heroes‘ promotional anime series.