Kenshi Yonezu welcomed the new year with the first-ever live performance of ‘IRIS OUT’ during the 76th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, broadcast on December 31th. The appearance was Yonezu’s third on the long-running year-end programme.
‘IRIS OUT’, the theme song for Chainsaw Man: The Movie: Reze Arc, had not been performed publicly prior to the broadcast. Shot on what appeared to be the former Tokyo Expressway KK Line in Ginza, which closed earlier this year, its Kōhaku debut arrived with staging that closely referenced the film. The performance opened inside a public phone booth as ‘JANE DOE’, the film’s ending theme by Yonezu in collaboration with Hikaru Utada, played through the receiver.
Yonezu performed while riding a shark-shaped vehicle reminiscent of Beam, the Shark Devil from the series, before being joined by dancers and members of girl group HANA.
After the broadcast, NHK uploaded the performance to its official NHK MUSIC YouTube channel, where it passed 1.5 million views within 12 hours. His return to Kōhaku with ‘IRIS OUT’ followed a year in which the song became Japan’s fastest track to reach 100 million streams, bringing one of 2025’s biggest domestic hits to a primetime national audience.
The full performance is now available via the NHK MUSIC official YouTube channel.
Kenshi Yonezu
IRIS OUT / JANE DOE
Release Date: 24/09/2025
Label: Sony Music Labels
Stream: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
CD: Regular | Limited | Limited w/DVD
