This is a photo of Frieren: beyond journey's end, Billie Eilish, and Kyoko Koizumi.

Stories about overcoming various trials on the way to a goal are portrayed in many forms of entertainment, and in real life, we are probably all somewhere along that kind of journey too. But the joy of reaching the goal is only momentary. To distract ourselves from the loneliness that follows, or as if being driven by something, we set new goals and continue heading toward something without end.

Frieren’s story begins after the end. With no grand purpose, she continues her journey while receiving mostly useless spells as rewards, like magic that makes flowers bloom.

Perhaps it is exactly because her life feels “withered” and lacking a clear direction that she finds joy in such a useless spell.

I think music can be the same. After the emotional climax of a song with rich expression and soaring feelings, there may come a “withered song” that follows. That might be what we hear in Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” or in the emotionless voice of Kyoko Koizumi singing in Koizumi In The House, produced by Haruo Chikada.

These voices offer no emotional reward. But maybe, through that hollow sound, we as humans can finally begin to seek the eternal love we have always been searching for, beyond the endless journey that repeats until we die.

That’s what I think about as I listen to their songs, while I too keep striving toward something today, as if being chased by something.
If you’re interested in Frieren: beyond journey's end, I highly recommend watching the original Japanese version.

The 4th single from Anime Hop will be released on August 20, 2025.

Please look forward to this void rap that lies beyond the end of hip-hop, stripped of any emotional reward.

The 4th single from the upgraded Anime Hop, "Frieren: Beyond HipHop's Rap" is out today on Spotify and more. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2v8KT87PvquJuViqJeljng

About ten years ago, I saw music fans and hip-hop critics dismiss vocaloid rap as “not real rap.” That made me decide I would someday create a fake rap song that would make them furious.
Two years ago, while listening to Billie Eilish’s "Bad Guy," I wondered what it would be like if Billie Eilish-style rap, produced by Haruo Chikada, were done by Xinlisupreme. I’ve always loved the music Haruo Chikada produced for Kyoko Koizumi, and I wanted to bring that spirit into the present by replacing Kyoko Koizumi’s singing with Billie Eilish’s voice and rap. I even finished a backing track inspired by this idea, but of course, a superstar like Billie Eilish would never know Xinlisupreme, so I abandoned the plan and put the project on hold.
I considered inviting a real rapper as a guest, but that would go against my decision to reject the rules of “real rap,” so I gave up on that idea.  I came across a Korean Xinlisupreme fan, and as a thank-you, I decided to create a rap performed by an anime superhero. That was the beginning of Anime Hop. I took inspiration from anime audio dramas I heard as a kid and made a rap from short phrases.The essence of anime is stylization. Just like a thumbs-up is instantly recognized around the world as “Good!”, I inserted the phrase “Yo YoYo Hey men!”between spoken lines as a symbolic verbal gesture for rap. By doing so, I made sure the following spoken lines were recognized as rap. In other words, I turned rap into anime. It’s not about following the rules of “real rap.” It’s just to be free.
I’d like to create a Billie Eilish-voiced version someday if possible. Every time I release a song, it feels like parting ways with it. And then I think of Frieren, an elf with an almost eternal lifespan, and how she must have felt when saying goodbye to her human companions who had shared both joy and hardship.