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One Piece Film Red Theme Song Showcases at 2022 Kōhaku Song Contest

NHK revealed the lineup for the 73rd Kōhaku Uta Gassen ("Red and White Song Contest"), Japan's most-watched music television program, on Wednesday. "Shinjidai" ("New Genesis"), the theme song of One Piece Film Red, will feature in the prestigious program. Ado, the singing voice of Uta, will perform behind a 3D avatar of Uta.

One Piece's official YouTube channel began streaming a video of Uta announcing the anime's collaboration with the program. She also teased that there will be "many announcements" at the performance.

Another notable debut at this year's program is Aimer, whose theme song for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc (Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yūkaku-hen) television anime ranked #1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart for seven consecutive weeks.

The yearly New Year's Eve contest pits two teams of female singers (the red team) and male singers (the white team) against each other. This year's program will take place on December 31 at 7:20 p.m. JST.

The full lineup for the 73rd Kōhaku Uta Gassen includes:

(Note: The number in parenthesis represents how many times the singer/group has appeared on the program, including this year.)

RED TEAM

• IVE (debut)
• Aimyon (4)
• Sayuri Ishikawa (45)
• Uta (debut)
• Aimer (debut)
• Shizuka Kudo (9)
• Fuyumi Sakamoto (34)
• Ryōko Shinohara (2)
• Superfly (6)
• SEKAI NO OWARI (6)
• Yoshimi Tendo (27)
• TWICE (4)
• NiziU (2)
• Nogizaka46 (8)
• Perfume (15)
• Hinatazaka46 (4)
• MISIA (7)
• Kaori Mizumori (20)
• milet (3)
• Ryoku Oushoku Shakai (debut)
• LE SSERAFIM (debut)

WHITE TEAM

• Official HiGE DANdism (3)
• KANJANI∞ (11)
• KinKi Kids (2)
• King & Prince (5)
• King Gnu (2)
• Hiromi Gō (35)
• Saucy Dog (debut)
• JO1 (debut)
• Junretsu (5)
• Masayuki Suzuki (5)
• SixTONES (3)
• Snow Man (2)
• Naniwa Danshi (debut)
• Vaundy (debut)
• BE:FIRST (debut)
• Masaharu Fukuyama (15)
• Gen Hoshino (8)
• Daichi Miura (4)
• Hiroshi Miyama (8)
• Keisuke Yamauchi (8)
• YUZU (13)

In this year's contest, actress Kanna Hashimoto (Kaguya-sama: Love is War live-action film actress) is leading the red team, and TV personality Yō Ōizumi is leading the white team. NHK newscaster Maho Kuwako is announcing. The theme this year is "Love & Peace."

Last year, "U," the theme song of Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's BELLE anime film featured in the prestigious program.

Sources: Comic Natalie, NHK