The rock band Sakanaction appeared on the 76th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen(General and other channels), which aired on December 31st. This was the band's second appearance on Kouhaku, their first in 12 years since their first appearance in 2013, and they performed "Kaiju" and "Shin Takarajima."
Vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi developed depression in 2022. "Kaiju" is the first song he has written since returning from a two-year hiatus. Host Haruka Ayase said, "I'm happy that Yamaguchi has overcome his illness and returned to this stage."
During "Kaiju," monitors were used to project the lyrics in manga-style speech bubbles. After singing the song, Yamaguchi, accompanied by dancers dressed as Schoolmates, greeted the audience, saying, "Good evening, everyone. We are Sakanaction. Thank you for your hard work in 2025!", and then passionately sang their signature song, "Shin Takarajima."
The comedy duo Diane, who provided the audio commentary, were delighted with Sakanaction's performance, exclaiming, "So cool!" and "Yay!" They seemed extremely excited, singing along to "Shin Takarajima."
Sakanaction's first performance in 12 years caused a stir, with "Sakanaction is the best" briefly trending on X. Comments on social media included, "What a divine performance," "I wonder if the monsters with speech bubbles and eggs were the same people who appeared in the music video?", "It connected to the music video and gave me goosebumps," "I can't believe we get to see the rest of the music video...," "I was moved to tears," "I was so happy to see Ichiro's smile," "Diane's audio commentary was super hot," and "Diane loves Sakanaction!"
The theme of the 76th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen was "Connecting, Connecting, New Year's Eve," and the event was hosted by Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Haruka Ayase, Mio Imada, and announcer Naoko Suzuki.
