King Gnu

Biography

King Gnu is a Japanese band formed in 2013. It consists of Daiki Tsuneta (vocalist and guitarist), Satoru Iguchi (vocalist and keyboardist), Kazuki Arai (bassist) and Yu Seki (drummer). The band's main songwriter is Daiki Tsuneta, who also performs as part of the creative collective Millennium Parade.

Career

In 2013, Mrs.Vinci was formed, later going by Srv.Vinci. Their first song was "ABUKU(泡)" released under the creative label Perimetron.
In 2017, they renamed themselves to King Gnu. They then performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2017 and 2018. On October 25, 2017, the band released their first album under the name King Gnu, Tokyo Rendez-Vous. The track "Vinyl×Vinyl27 September 2017 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Vinyl4:54" was used in a Persol Tempstaff advertisement released on January 25 the next year.
In January 2019, the band released Sympa, their first release under a major label after signing to Ariola Japan. The following month, King Gnu released hit song "Hakujitsu", which ranked No.4 in the year-end chart of Billboard Japan Hot 100. In October, they released "Kasa" and achieved their first No.1 on the Billboard Japan Download Chart. On December 31, King Gnu performed "Hakujitsu" at the 70th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, their debut performance on the program.
Their third album Ceremony×CEREMONY15 January 2020 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1開会式0:492どろん3:033Teenager Forever3:094ユーモア3:275白日4:366幕間0:567飛行艇4:218小さな惑星2:329Overflow3:2110傘3:2311壇上5:4012閉会式1:30, released on January 15, 2020, was a commercial success, peaking atop the Japanese Oricon albums chart, the Billboard Japan albums chart, and was one of the 10 best-selling albums of 2020 worldwide by selling over one million copies. A nationwide tour for the album was scheduled but all performances were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band held their first online live concert in August. On September 8, it was announced that King Gnu would be the first Japanese artist to sign a partnership agreement with Red Bull.
In August 2021, it was announced that King Gnu would perform the opening theme song "Boy" for the anime adaptation of Ranking of Kings; the song was released in October. In December, MAPPA released a few movie trailers promoting the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 anime film adaptation, which King Gnu have made 2 new songs for the film. The songs are "Ichizu" (一途; "The Only Way") and "Sakayume" (逆夢; "Contradictory Dream"), which are the opening and ending themes for the Jujutsu Kaisen movie. The two songs were released together as Ichizu/Sakayume. In March 2022, they released "Chameleon" (カメレオン, Kamereon), which is the theme for Japanese television drama Don't Call It Mystery, adapted from the manga of the same name. In November 2022, they played one of the biggest concerts of their career, performed in two days concerts with attended more than 100,000 fans at Tokyo Dome.
King Gnu held their biggest tour ever in Japan "Closing Ceremony" on May and June 2023, which saw them play at stadiums five years after their debut for the first time in Nagai Stadium and Yokohama Nissan Stadium. They released "Specialz×SPECIALZ1 September 2023 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1SPECIALZ3:58" as the opening theme for the Shibuya Incident Arc, the second part of the second season of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime on September 1.
In March 2025, it was announced that King Gnu would perform the ending theme for Detective Conan: One-eyed Flashback, "Twilight!!!×TWILIGHT!!!18 April 2025 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1TWILIGHT!!!3:37".
In September 2025, King Gnu released the song "So Bad×SO BAD5 September 2025 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1SO BAD4:00", created as the exclusive official theme for Universal Studios Japan’s Zombie de Dance: Halloween Horror Nights event.
On January 9, 2026, King Gnu released their single "Aizo", to serve as the opening theme for Jujutsu Kaisen's Culling Game Arc. On July 29, they released their single "Go Ghost×GO GHOST29 July 2026 · Single · SoundtrackSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 1 track1GO GHOST2:50", to serve as the opening theme for The Ghost in the Shell.