Da-iCE’s Sota Hanamura and GENIC’s Ryuki Koike Join Forces for Emotional New Ballad
Sota Hanamura created more than 10 songs for Da-iCE’s first theme song for a Fuji TV drama. The one that made it, “Uraraka,” is a mid-tempo ballad he co-wrote with GENIC’s Ryuki Koike about a love that outlasts every era.
Da-iCE released “Uraraka” digitally on Friday, Oct. 16. It is the theme for the sequel to the Fuji TV series “A Calm Sea and Beautiful Days with You,” which premiered Thursday, Oct. 15, in the network’s Thursday Theatre slot.
Hanamura and Koike Co-Write Da-iCE’s Ballad
Hanamura and Koike wrote both the lyrics and the music. Hanamura has written Da-iCE hits including “CITRUS,” “I wonder” and “Nonfictions,” while Koike has written songs for =LOVE, the group produced by Rino Sashihara.
The message is simple. No matter how much the times change, the urge to care for someone stays the same, along with the hope that the feeling will last another 100 years. Da-iCE delivers it through the group’s vocals.
Arrangement is credited to ha-j and Koike. A Dance Performance Video premiered on YouTube at 9 p.m. JST on Oct. 16, the day of release.
Sequel Drama Returns to Fuji TV’s Thursday Theatre
The drama is based on the manga by Hachi Nishika, serialized on Kodansha’s Comic Days. The sequel airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. JST on Fuji TV, with Kyoko Yoshine in the lead role.
The story begins in 1936, when a young woman enters an arranged marriage with a lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The newlyweds must learn to understand each other without modern conveniences, a slow-building bond that echoes the song’s message.
The original series aired in 2025. Hanamura said he would name the first season’s theme song as his favorite song of that year.
