Hiroshi Kitadani, the iconic Japanese singer who earned fame from performing the first opening theme song of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece has returned to the One Piece world with a theme song for the ongoing Egghead Island arc. The last song he sang for the series was “Over The Top” which was featured in the Wano arc in 2019.
However, after singing the first One Piece opening theme song in 1999, Kitadani took a break from the series for some years. He did return to One Piece in the year 2011, 12 years after his first song. He performed the song for the Fishman Island arc, one of the most popular arcs in One Piece history.
But making a comeback to the One Piece world was not so easy for Kitadani as returning after so long brought with him the fear of One Piece fans. He believed that the fans wouldn’t accept him as the singer for One Piece’s track anymore and would hate his song.
Hiroshi Kitadani Was Afraid of One Piece Fans
In an interview with Billboard, Kitadani talked about how he got the chance to sing for the most popular manga in the Weekly Shonen Jump. Along with that Kitadani also explained how it helped him gain success in his career. When asked about the other songs he did for One Piece, Kitadani shared his experience about leaving One Piece and returning 12 years later.
Kitadani stated:
“Kohei wrote “We Go!” as a response song to “We Are!” At the time, I was really concerned with what people thought about me, so I was reading a lot of 2channel (laughs). I was worried I’d go on there and see people saying “Hiroshi Kitadani is back, but this song is terrible.”
Kitadani returned to sing the opening theme track of the Fishman Island arc in One Piece called “We Go!” which was written by Kohei Tanaka. However, Kitadani was concerned about what people would think and this led him to believe that he might get a negative response from the One Piece fans for the track.
One Piece Fans Loved Hiroshi Kitadani’s Return to the Series
Talking about the response of One Piece fans to the title track of the Fishman Island arc, Kitadani stated that when the opening theme song was broadcast, he received the opposite response of what he was fearing. Fans loved his performance in We Go! and this made Kitadani emotional to the point where he cried.
Kitadani stated:
But, instead, when “We Go!” was broadcast, there were a lot of comments like “Dani’s back!” and “Cool!” and “That’s the One Piece sound!” I was so happy I cried.”
Kitadani wrote 5 songs for One Piece and all of them have been loved by fans. These opening tracks are generally skipped by fans but they still have a huge impact on the success and fame of the series. This has been evident with One Piece. Fans love its opening theme tracks as much as its storyline, as they not only provide great tunes but also foreshadow the upcoming events of the arcs.
You can watch One Piece on Crunchyroll.
