Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece has had many opening theme songs that have helped the series grow hugely. But none of the theme songs compare to the first one that introduced the One Piece story to the world. The name of the song is “We Are!” It was sung by Hiroshi Kitadani, and composed by Kohei Tanaka with lyrics by Shoko Fujibayashi.
The song marked the beginning of the East Blue Saga in One Piece and also brought a lot of fame and popularity to the singer Kitadani. And now Kitadani has returned to the One Piece world after almost 25 years with another banger for the Egghead Island arc.
The name of the theme song is “UUUUUS!” and it has also been composed by Kohei Tanaka with lyrics by Shoko Fujibayashi. According to Kitadani, One Piece saved his career by giving him a chance to sing the opening theme song of the first arc, after his record company saw no future in him.
Hiroshi Kitadani Did a Temporary Vocal Track for One Piece Opening Theme
In an interview with Billboard, singer Kitadani explained his journey and how he got the role to sing for the temporary vocal track for One Piece’s opening theme “We Are!” He talked about how he got connected with Tanaka and his agency Imagine. That was the beginning of the relationship between Tanaka and Kitadani.
Kitadani stated:
“The director I worked with when I first debuted under a previous stage name, later joined an agency called Imagine, who Kohei Tanaka was with. Because of that connection, one day I was approached and told, “They’re going to make an anime version of the most popular manga in Weekly Shonen Jump. Kohei Tanaka is going to submit a song for the opening song competition, and we’d like you to do a temporary vocal track for it.”
According to Kitadani, he was told that the agency was creating the opening theme song for the anime version of the most popular manga in the Weekly Shonen Jump and they wanted him to submit a temporary vocal track for it. Although it was a temporary track, it meant a lot for Kitadani as One Piece manga was probably the biggest name at that time.
One Piece Saved Hiroshi Kitadani’s Career
In the interview, Kitadani also explained that finally, the creators decided to go for “We Are!” but they didn’t have the perfect singer for it. Later on, the staff agreed to use the same singer who sang the temporary track, thus opening the gate of opportunity for Kitadani.
Kitadani explained:
“Then they made the decision to go with “We Are!” for the theme song, but they still hadn’t yet decided who would sing it. Due in part to Kohei’s prompting, the staff began saying “Why not just have it sung by the singer who did the temporary vocal track?” My record company had just told me that they didn’t really see a future for me with them, so I was wondering what to do, career-wise. So this “We Are!” offer came out of the blue. That was the start of my rags-to-riches story.”
According to the singer, he was in a bad place at the time because his record company had told him that they didn’t see a future for him with them, thus he had no other backup options for his career. The One Piece title track opportunity came at the right time and thus helped the singer to become one of the legends in Japan.
You can watch One Piece on Crunchyroll.
