SUGIZO, who has wielded both guitar and violin in LUNA SEA and X JAPAN, has taken on anime scoring for the first time. The original TV anime DARK MACHINE THE ANIMATION began airing on October 13, and its complete "Original Soundtrack" has been announced for December 9, 2026 (Wed.) from Victor on 2CD, 2LP and digital. As the Pia headline puts it, this is SUGIZO's "first challenge in anime music."

What does someone who has spent more than 30 years at the front line of rock bring to the world of weekly half-hour TV animation, where music must serve the scene? Just looking at the announced specs reveals a lot.

eSports, Robots and a Near-Future Chiba

DARK MACHINE is a brand-new original anime born from a cross-media project that develops an eSports game and an anime together (original work: Project Carbuncle). It is set in a near-future Japan where rising sea levels have cut Chiba off from the rest of Kanto, and follows protagonist Kairi (voiced by Kensho Ono), who enters the world of the eSports title "Dark Machine" after his late grandfather's will.

The staff is stacked: director Kazuo Terada, creative producer Goro Taniguchi, mecha designer Hidetaka Tenjin, and animation by Production +h. Tenjin commented that it is "probably the work in which I have created the most robots in my career." SUGIZO joins as composer (music production: Flying Dog). The announcement described his music as "a heavy sound and delicate melodies" — wording that evokes both heavy guitar and the singing tone of his other weapon, the violin.

40 Tracks on 2CD, and an LP That Shows Another Face

There are three formats.

  • Regular edition (2CD): VTCL-60711–60712 / ¥4,400 (tax incl.). 40 tracks including score, theme songs and an insert song
  • Analog edition (2LP): VTJL-63–64 / ¥6,600 (tax incl.). Tracks selected by SUGIZO himself from the 40
  • VICTOR ONLINE STORE limited set: 2CD + 2LP + original record bag / ¥13,200 (tax incl.)

The LP is the one to watch. Anime soundtracks tend to treat "everything included" as the ideal, but here the composer himself reselects from 40 tracks and restructures them across two discs. The CD becomes a record of what sounded in the show, while the LP becomes the score as a SUGIZO album. The jacket is newly drawn by mecha designer Hidetaka Tenjin, and robots at 12-inch size are a collector's temptation on their own.

BUCK∞TICK, Sandaime JSB, TAKU INOUE — A Wide-Ranging Album

The vocal tracks are telling, too. The opening is BUCK∞TICK's "Sonzai Riyu Kai," and the ending is Sandaime J SOUL BROTHERS' "Galaxy Mode" (both TV size). The insert song "Pitch Black," sung by the in-story unit STELLATUS, is written by TAKU INOUE and will be released digitally in advance at midnight on November 11. A band that carries Japanese rock history, a dance and vocal group, and a creator at the cutting edge of game and anime music: how SUGIZO's score bridges these three is likely to be the core listening point of the 2CD.

When rock musicians write scores, the "band song" feel can sometimes stand out too much and float above the picture; conversely, matching the scenes too closely can erase the composer's personality. eSports matches, robot battles, team friendship and growth — the sheer number of elements Director Terada says he "packed in" also tests how deep a composer's stylistic drawers go. Forty tracks is enough to open all of them at once.

On Release Night, the Behind-the-Scenes Story at Tower Records Shibuya

On release day, December 9, a "Talk & Signing" event will be held from 19:00 at the 5F event space of Tower Records Shibuya, with SUGIZO and Director Kazuo Terada discussing the production. In his first anime score, what did he and the director talk about while building the sound? How did he read the music menu, and how did he divide roles between guitar and violin? Score fans will have plenty of questions.

The broadcast has only just begun (Kansai TV from October 15, BS Fuji from October 20). Get your ears used to it week by week until December, and you can enjoy it in two stages: the full picture on the 2CD, and "the story the composer chose" on the 2LP. What happens when a rock musician scores an anime? The answer arrives at the start of winter.