Katsu (ๅ) is a long-delayed culmination of intent, endurance, and self-reclamation. Originally conceived as Yamazakiโs finale performance for Hungaryโs Csillag Szรผletik, the track now stands liberated from competitive framingโreleased on its own terms, with its emotional and cinematic scope fully intact.
The song fades in with a mesmerizing orchestral swell. Writhing strings loom in the background while soft, deliberate drum thumps pulse like a restrained heartbeat. The soundscape pulls us into a space of introspection and tension. The vastness is filmic, where silence and restraint are just as important as volume.
Yamazaki enters cautiously, while tense and emotionally burdened, as if he is being tested before each release. This initial restraint makes the eventual vocal lift all the more powerful. As his voice begins to soar, his solitary struggle becomes collective and transcendent. The moment a lighter, high female voice enters the mix, it cuts through the dense, serious ambience like a beam of light, bringing tenderness and hope within the gravity.
Sung entirely in Japanese, Katsu carries a dual philosophical weight. The title infers to overcome, while being a Zen shout out, meant to awaken the mind, echoes throughout the composition. The track traces a deeply personal arc, with childhood loneliness, emotional confinement, and the longing to escape, gradually giving way to connection, gratitude, and self-acceptance. Even without understanding every lyric, the emotional trajectory is unmistakable, conveyed through dynamics, tone, and layered orchestration.
Musically, Yamazakiโs fusion of J-pop and J-rock with cinematic scoring and subtle rap-inflected phrasing feels deliberate and modern, yet timeless in its emotional core. His wolf persona and VR-driven aesthetic may be visually striking, but Katsu proves that the heart of his artistry lies in storytelling and emotional translation.
It closes out with the line, โEven endless tears will someday become a rainbow,โ encapsulating the essence of the song. Katsu honors pain, reframing suffering as a necessary force in transformation. In that sense, the song becomes its own awakening cry.
As a release three years in the making, Katsu ends a chapter that never reached its televised conclusion and begins a broader, more self-defined artistic journey. Yamazaki emerges here as a storyteller who understands that true triumph often happens far from the spotlight.
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Review by: Naomi Joan