Sony Music Japan Launches Hub for Remixes of Anime and Video Game Theme Songs

EDM and video games go together like peanut butter and jelly—and their relationship is about to get a whole lot cozier with the newly rebranded "Sakura Chill Beats" YouTube channel.

Launched this month by Sony Music Japan, the first-of-its-kind project will be a hub for official electronic remixes of anime and video game theme songs, with new selections available every Saturday at 1AM PT (4AM ET).

The first track released on Sakura Chill Beats was RetroVision's remix of "Ashiato -Footprints-" by the peggies, out June 19th. Bright and upbeat, the original song was the ending theme of the anime television show My Hero Academia. RetroVision transformed the indie rock anthem into an electronic banger with soaring synths and a scintillating future house drop.

Recently added to the channel was Slushii's dubstep rework of Ikimonogakari's "Blue Bird" off Naruto Shippuden, along with CORSAK's flip of Ikimonogakari's "BAKU" and James Landino's take on "Kimiga Ita Shirushi" by halca. Sakura Chill Beats is also home to a 24/7 stream of lo-fi beats, which has been live since May 16th, 2020.

With electronic versions of anime and video game songs typically hidden in the depths of Reddit and SoundCloud, Sakura Chill Beats fills a much-needed gap in access to the popular genre-bending sound. Last November, for example, Japanese video game series Kingdom Hearts released a 161-track album on Spotify that included Hikaru Utada and Skrillex's "Face My Fears."