While the Dandadan manga had lots of references to popular culture, a nod to popular rock band X JAPAN possibly got its anime adaptation into trouble.

The Dandadan anime is currently airing its second season, and in its sixth episode featured the fictional band HAYASii, an obvious parody on X JAPAN frontman Yoshiki, whose family name is Hayashi.

The band’s style, visually and musically, are also an obvious and direct nod to X-JAPAN, going so far as featuring a song “Hunting Soul” that very closely resembles X JAPAN’s legendary tune Kurenai from 1989.

All of these similarities were immediately noticed and Yoshiki himself initially commented on the controversy in a series now-deleted posts to Twitter/X, first asking his fans “What’s this? Doesn’t it sound like X JAPAN?” asking fans if the song sounded similar to Kurenai.

At the time, Yoshiki claimed he was unaware of the anime making references to his work, hinting that it could be copyright infringement and that lawyers had contacted him. However, he later apologized and said, “I was surprised by the sudden messages and blurted it out. I apologize for the commotion. I’m sorry.”

Things seemed to have been let go but then days later Yoshiki posted again addressing the band’s name, HAYASii.

“After thinking about it, is this my last name? My father’s name who committed suicide? Copyright and Image Rights (Shozoken in Japanese) are being handled by various companies, so I’m leaving it to them, but should I discuss this case directly?”

He added, “I know everyone doesn’t mean any harm, but it hurts my feelings, and for some reason, tears came to my eyes.”

Yoshiki then said “I will leave this matter entirely to the relevant parties” in his series of now-deleted posts, but the debate continued.

To confuse things further, despite Yoshiki and other’s claims that the anime could have infringed on X JAPAN, Sony owns the rights to X JAPAN’s music and they also own the publisher/distributor of the anime in Japan, Aniplex.

Previously, the streaming of the anime’s Hunting Soul song, which was uploaded to YouTube and other platforms, was suddenly stopped. Many fans thought this was the result of Yoshiki’s posts and responses, though the song became available to stream again on August 20th:

And now compare the above song to X JAPAN’s Kurenai:

Aniplex noted the streaming interruption of the song was due to a system error, unrelated to the controversy with X JAPAN. After this, the official X account for the Dandadan anime finally posted a statement apologizing for the controversy:

“This song was created with the intention of expressing the passion of YOSHIKI and X JAPAN, whom the production team deeply respects, within the anime, as well as to enhance the musical performance to match the story and scenes of the ‘Dandadan’ anime and further elevate the quality of the work,” the statement reads.

The Dandadan production apologized for not talking with Yoshiki in advance, and said both parties have not only moved forward from the controversy, they’re even considering future collaborations.

“We have already discussed this matter with YOSHIKI, and we are currently considering future creative collaborations as a result of this incident,” the Dandadan team said while apologizing again.

After the new statement from the Dandadan team, Yoshiki gave comments to media (via Ecount), remarking on the entire ordeal.

“I was surprised, as it happened all of sudden,” Yoshiki said. “I wish I could have handled it better. I just posted my feelings quickly.” He also confessed, “I learned a lot from this experience. I received a call from the producer of the production committee, and we had a very positive discussion.” He smiled and said, “I am honored to have my work used in this way. There were various processes, but I also had a wonderful encounter.”

He continued, “My creative works are not just mine; many people hold the rights to them. From now on, I will leave everything to everyone. I will focus on being creative. We also discussed such matters. We had a very sincere and constructive conversation. On the other hand, there were various issues that caused concern for everyone, but I am grateful for that,” he commented. Finally, he apologized, saying, “I’m sorry for causing any trouble.”

Dandadan is currently streaming via Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu in the west and via MBS and TBS in Japan.