September 25 should have been a glorious moment for fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. After months of waiting, the anime adaptation of Steel Ball Run finally returned to streaming on a weekly schedule in a massive coup that proved the power of collective organization and rampant social media campaigning. It wasn’t long, however, until a certain ending song poured oil on the fire once again.
“Live or Die” by Yuki Chiba is currently the punching bag of the internet, with one unusually pointed Japanese comment on the music video calling it “The best advert for the ‘Skip Ending’ button yet.” This isn’t exactly unfounded: not only does the track mark a major departure from tradition, its usage feels like the result of corporate synergy over any creative inspirations. Other anime producers would do well to learn the lessons, especially as the medium becomes more and more global.
Up until now, David Productions’ anime series has always used an English-language song for its credits theme. This started with a bang all the way back in 2012 when the iconic notes of “Roundabout” by Yes first crept into the dramatic reveal that Dio Brando had killed Jonathan Joestar’s dog in Phantom Blood, continued with the hilariously on the nose “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles for Stardust Crusaders, and eventually capped off in Stone Ocean with Duffy’s “Distant Dreamer.” It's part of what makes the adaptation so special.
Contrary to popular belief, none of this was mandated by original creator Hirohiko Araki. In a 2021 interview, series producer Hiroyuki Omori explained that “Roundabout” was chosen for the first ending when Araki offered it as a suggestion for the kind of song he wanted. Even though this wasn’t an order to use the track outright, Omori concluded that it would be difficult to make something in the same prog rock style, so he opted to use Warner Bros.’s considerable clout to license it for use in the show instead.
The fact that the JoJo anime would continue to use English-language songs is no doubt because of how popular “Roundabout” became. At the same time, you could argue that it made some kind of sense to divert from this tradition with Steel Ball Run: all parts after Stone Ocean technically take place in a new timeline with new characters, making it the perfect time for reinvention. Omori also passed away in 2024, leaving the project without his influence for the very first time.
With this in mind, why has “Live or Die” proven so polarizing? Putting aside any subjective criticisms of the track, one production credit does bring with it a certain kind of controversy: Dr. Luke. In 2014, Kesha filed a civil complaint against the producer for sexual, physical, and verbal assault over the course of a decade ever since she signed with his Kemosabe Records label as a teenager. The pair later settled out of court in 2023 for an undisclosed amount, but the weight of public opinion was almost always entirely on Kesha’s side.
Secondly, much ink has been spilled online about the status of Yuki Chiba as a so-called “industry plant.” On the one hand, this is completely ridiculous: Chiba was the face of underground hip-hop in Japan for years as Kohh and “Team Tomodachi” was the sound of the summer in 2024, but it is equally true that he signed a record deal with Warner Music Japan in 2025 to pursue a more global career. A feature on one of the most popular anime series overseas right now certainly might have seemed like a good way to do that.
Given that artists signed to Sony Music such as Yoasobi and Creepy Nuts get away with the same kind of thing scot free every year, the unique reception to Chiba’s placement on JoJo seems to come down to a combination of the factors outlined above. If it didn’t have the Dr. Luke credit, if it didn’t mark a huge departure from series tradition, who knows if anyone would have taken any real notice. The song certainly isn’t bad enough in terms of production and performance to warrant the sheer amount of hate.
In any case, Warner Bros. must take the lion’s share of the blame. As industry observer Ryuichi Sumikawa noted on the Anime Music Journal podcast, by prioritizing a Warner Music artist over an English-language song, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has essentially been forced into the same music pipeline as other anime series without much consideration to the work itself. It was also a faux pas that came at the tail end of a series of blunders stretching from the decision to release Stone Ocean in batches rather than episodically all the way to the lack of information surrounding Steel Ball Run’s premiere… none of which had anything to do with Yuki Chiba.
Clarification: Warner Bros. Japan and Warner Music Japan are entirely separate entities. They used to both belong to Time Warner, but Warner Music was sold off in 2004. Any pipeline here is purely metaphorical and does not suggest any kind of corporate mandate.
One thing to note here is the difference in opinion between the domestic audience and international fans. While some Japanese criticism of the track does exist, this pales in comparison to the amount of English comments and does not come with the context of repeated controversies. At the same time, JoJo is made more and more for an overseas viewership, evidenced by Netflix’s interest in securing exclusive broadcast rights in the very first place.
If anime is going to be an international medium, more care and attention needs to be paid to these issues. Simply doing business as usual might work, but it might also end up causing further headaches down the line. Luckily, here is a perfect case study.
