Details of the theme song "Jupiter feat. Inaba Koshi" for the movie "The Last Man -FIRST LOVE-" (directed by Hirano Shunichi, scheduled for release on December 24th), starring singer and actor Fukuyama Masaharu, were announced on December 11th. A 90-second trailer featuring the song has also been released.
For Fukuyama, Koshi Inaba is someone he loves dearly, both as an artist and as a person. In 2014, Fukuyama appeared as a guest on Inaba's official website, "en-zine," in a "UFC (Mixed Martial Arts) Talk," a segment in which they are both big fans. The two have also had a long relationship, with Inaba appearing in a YouTube talk show celebrating Fukuyama's 30th anniversary since his debut in 2020.
In January of this year, when Fukuyama received an offer from the producer to write the theme song for the film "The Last Man -First Love-," in which he stars, he readily agreed to provide the song after being told, "Like KOH+'s 'Saiai,' the film and the theme song are seamlessly connected because it is expressed by the people behind the scenes. That's the ideal feeling." As the film's story unfolds as "an invincible buddy takes on a new difficult case," he wanted to reach out to Inaba as "the strongest musical buddy."
Although Fukuyama could have asked Inaba directly, he decided to go through the official route of each other's record companies, saying, "I don't want to make it difficult for Inaba to refuse even if he wanted to." Inaba responded to Fukuyama's request, saying, "It's an interesting project," and readily accepted the offer. Inaba understood the worldview of "The Last Man," which was being roughly edited at the time, and wrote lyrics to Fukuyama's melody, which had already been created.
While both were busy with work overseas and their own individual activities, Fukuyama first went to his own recording studio to confirm the key of Inaba's vocals. This miraculous session was realized, with Fukuyama playing a single acoustic guitar and Inaba singing a demo to find the key of the song. From there, they worked meticulously, exchanging data and sharing the worldview of the lyrics, and the song was completed in October, resulting in the birth of the "ultimate love song" in which the voices of these two "strongest musical buddies" resonate with each other. The digital release of Fukuyama's song, "Jupiter feat. Inaba Koshi," is scheduled for December 24th, the same day as the film's release.
"The Last Man: The Blind Investigator" is a TV drama series that aired on TBS in April 2023. Fukuyama plays Hiromi Minami, a blind FBI special agent who is a people-pleaser, and Oizumi Yo plays Shintaro Godo, a detective who will stop at nothing to arrest the culprit, as they team up to tackle difficult cases.
The film follows Minami and Shintaro as they travel to Hokkaido to investigate a certain case. There, they meet Minami's first love, Nagisa Ivanova (Miyazawa), a world-renowned engineer genius who is being pursued by a mysterious organization. Pursued by the mysterious organization, Nagisa feels his life is in danger and seeks asylum in the United States. Minami and Shintaro tackle the case together with Izumi Godou (Nagase), newly dispatched FBI officer Clyde Yun (Rowoon), and a joint team of the CIA and Hokkaido Prefectural Police, but information is leaked by an insider and they are attacked... and so the story unfolds.
Comments from Fukuyama, Inaba, and others are as follows:
◇Comment from Masaharu Fukuyama
Minami has solved many difficult cases together with Godou, played by Oizumi. What if I were to form the ultimate musical buddy team with Minami in my heart? It was a bold choice and an unwavering intuition that the only person I could think of was Inaba Koshi, the greatest rock vocalist Japan has ever produced.
I can only think that the reason we were able to make this bold offer is because the Minami in me rushed ahead and said, "Let's ask Inaba-san!" I had the opportunity to see him perform at the Tokyo Dome the other day, and seeing him singing with all his heart and soul at every moment, constantly stimulating the instincts of the audience, I found myself quietly freaking out about having made the offer to Inaba-san.
This latest release, "Jupiter feat. Inaba Koshi," features lyrics that pierce the heart of the film "The Last Man -FIRST LOVE-," and a powerful yet deeply inclusive vocal performance. Guided by Inaba's expressiveness, the recording was like a "creative pressure point push." Various ideas for melodies, key changes, arrangements, jackets, music videos, and more, all of which I couldn't come up with on my own songwriting, just kept flowing.
Now that our collaborative work with Inaba-san, which I never wanted to end, has come to an end, I am truly happy and sad to be able to deliver this song to everyone. I hope that this song will be a "light that illuminates your hearts."
◇Comment from Koshi Inaba
I enjoyed the journey to completion with Fukuyama-san, feeling the joy of making music and communicating with him at a furious pace.
What a luxurious time it was.
We hope that "Jupiter," filled with our thoughts, will gently color the world of Last Man.
Comment from Keigo Higashinaka (Planner and producer of "The Last Man -First Love")
The "strongest and most amazing theme song" that will color the movie The Last Man has finally been announced.
I previously heard from the lead actor, Fukuyama, that "the song that ends the film marks the end of the work and is truly a part of it."
That's why the offer to sing the theme song came about out of a strong desire to ask Masaharu Fukuyama, who plays Minami, to do it himself.
What Fukuyama proposed was an unexpected surprise that far exceeded our expectations.
The lyrics are soul-stirring and were written by Koshi Inaba, who had seen the film and deeply understood the worldview of the work. The song was written with all his heart by Masaharu Fukuyama, who poured all his passion into the work.
I am confident that the ultimate "final piece" that will complete the story of the film "The Last Man" has now been completed.
Please come and experience this excitement on the big screen in the theater and with your own ears!
