coldrain Are Coming Back to Europe—Masato Opens Up About Breaking Into Anime as an English-Only Band
With their fierce post-hardcore sound and all-English lyrics, Japanese rock band coldrain has built a loyal international fanbase—and they’re heading back to Europe soon with the UK / EU TOUR 2025 to reunite with fans on stage.
We sat down with frontman Masato during the release of their hard-hitting single "Vengeance," which later became the opening theme for the anime Ninja Kamui. As the band's half-Japanese, half-American vocalist, Masato opened up about the struggles of breaking into the anime industry as an English-only act.
In this interview, Masato reflects on the story behind "Vengeance," the band’s identity as outsiders within their own scene, and what it means to be bringing coldrain’s unique sound to international stages.
You’ve performed overseas before—this isn’t your first time in Germany, right?
No, we’ve been coming overseas for about 10 years now—usually every 2 or 3 years. But this time feels different, especially since the last time we came about five years ago. It really feels like we’ve gained a lot of new fans. Even before, when we released songs or music videos online—like on YouTube—we could see in the numbers and comments that a lot of overseas people were listening and writing things like, “Come here, come here.” But we weren’t able to go until now. So now, finally being here, I can really feel how much that song resonated with everyone. We’ve definitely gained a lot more fans.
Let’s talk about your new song Vengeance. It was made for Ninja Kamui, right?
That’s right. Park-san—Sunghoo Park who directed the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen—he asked us to make a song for an anime. When we worked with him on episode 23 of Jujutsu Kaisen, we had a track used during one of the gunfight scenes. After that, he told us, “When I do a different anime next, I want coldrain to do the opening.” That’s when we made a promise. A year or so later, we got the offer for Vengeance—or rather, for Ninja Kamui.
How did you write Vengeance? Was it based on any specific scenes?
At the time, the anime wasn’t really complete yet. Park-san sent us the plot and a rough outline of what kind of anime it was going to be. The first word he gave us—the one that really stuck—was “revenge.” So we decided on the title Vengeance right away and started writing from there. We took inspiration from the words he gave us and the human relationships between the characters. It was all based just on that core feeling of revenge.
In Japan, it seems pretty typical for bands to become famous through anime collaborations. As someone who grew up in Japan and grew up with anime, how do you feel your music and anime relate now?
When I was younger, I thought of anime songs as something separate—not real artist music, you know? Like, “That’s just anime music.” But gradually I started to realize how many of those nostalgic or memorable songs from anime actually stuck with me. And since anime itself lasts forever, the music tied to it also gets remembered. Sometimes the song becomes famous even outside of the anime. That’s a really powerful thing and part of Japanese culture that I now appreciate.
In the past, as a band, we mostly focused on going overseas and getting people abroad to discover us. But now, we want people to get to know us as part of Japanese culture. So getting to work with anime teams and be part of that culture—it feels really special.
Has your anime fan base grown too?
Absolutely. A lot more anime fans have started listening to us. Some people even say things like, “If there’s a new anime, coldrain should do the opening, right?” Of course, it’s not always us, but it’s cool that fans are making edits that pair our songs with different anime scenes. You also see a lot of fan art and posts where people say, “I hope coldrain does the next anime opening.” That’s been really fun to see.
Is Vengeance becoming known in Japan even separate from the anime?
Right now, Ninja Kamui hasn’t aired in Japan yet, and we don’t even know when it will. So in Japan, we’re just calling it our new single. But overseas, it’s already being called “the Ninja Kamui song.” Still, we made the music video with the same themes in mind, so when Ninja Kamui eventually airs in Japan, people will probably start making those connections. I’m looking forward to that.
Your band sings entirely in English, and you're even a native speaker. Was it difficult to continue that path in Japan?
It was definitely tough at first. For anime songs especially, people would say, “We’d love to use your song, but it has to be in Japanese.” There were cases where we missed out on tie-in deals because our lyrics weren’t in Japanese. I used to think, “If writing in Japanese came naturally to me, maybe I’d want to do it.” But in the end, I can only write in English. And that became part of what coldrain is: a Japanese band that sings entirely in English. Over time, fans started to really respect that.
Naomi with the band in March 2024
Are there fans who actually understand your lyrics?
Yes, definitely. Our CDs always come with translations—not just direct translations, but ones that actually convey the meaning and emotion of the lyrics. And now with music being online, fans even translate the songs themselves. Getting fans to connect with the lyrics—that’s always been one of our challenges. It’s not just about the song itself, but getting them to understand the deeper message.
I really love your lyrics, and I feel like lyrics sometimes get a bit lost in Japan.
I totally get that. That’s kind of an eternal issue. But I do hope people dive into the lyrics more. That means a lot to us.
Would you ever consider writing a song in Japanese?
Maybe if we collaborated with a Japanese artist who writes in Japanese. I don’t think I could write Japanese lyrics myself, but if someone else did and I sang them, that’d be totally fine. If I ever naturally came up with Japanese lyrics, I’d sing them too. But I wouldn’t force myself to not use Japanese either. It’s just not how I naturally write.
Do you think the fan base is different in Japan vs. overseas?
For this tour, we’ve been performing alongside lots of different bands, so the fan base is really mixed. Even in Japan, we have fans who love foreign bands, fans who love Japanese bands, anime fans—it’s all blended together. The atmosphere might be different, but the people who come to our shows are drawn in by that same emotional connection. So in that sense, it’s not so different after all.
With artists like Ado and Yoasobi succeeding globally, do you feel coldrain’s influence in that space?
Well, I wouldn’t say they’re directly influenced by us. But seeing them succeed makes me realize: “Oh, it’s okay to be a Japanese band and sound like a Japanese band.” We used to think we had to sound more like Western bands to succeed abroad. But now, we’re proud to represent Japanese music as it is. If people want to call us J-pop, that’s fine too.
Do you feel like Japanese music and international music are blending more now?
Yeah, absolutely. If I were a kid today—say, in elementary or middle school—I’d definitely be influenced by artists like Ado and Yoasobi. The music you hear when you’re young really shapes you, and for a lot of Japanese kids, that’s J-pop. So even now, those influences are still with us.
Vinyl records are making a comeback in places like Germany and the U.S. Is that happening in Japan too?
Honestly, I don’t feel like it’s really taken off in Japan yet. But whenever we say we want to make a vinyl release, fans get excited and say they’d want one. So I think there’s some demand. Only a small percentage of Japanese artists are making vinyl—maybe like 10%—but there are factories in Japan that can press vinyl. We haven’t done it yet, but we’d like to release something on vinyl this year.
What kind of music do you listen to in your free time?
Surprisingly, I listen to K-pop too. Really, I listen to all kinds of stuff—J-pop, Ayase, I’ve had meals with him a few times, so I check out his work. Rock too, of course. Basically, I listen to everything.
Lastly, could you say a few words to your fans in Europe, especially Germany?
It’s been five years since we’ve been back. We want to make Europe—especially Germany—like our second home. Our goal is to tour here every single year from now on. So we’ll come back every year to see you. Thank you so much.