'Light-Keeper' Theme Song Goes to Yuki Shirase — 'Lending My Voice to Someone Who Lights Things Up'

Tomoshibi Animation announced on the 26th that singer Yuki Shirase, 31, will sing the theme for its upcoming anime "The Light-Keeper," set to air on TCT next spring. As previously reported on September 10, the show follows a boy who inherits, generation after generation, the work of lighting things up, and on the 25th its lead voice actor, Hayate Ashihara, 24, previously reported, was formally announced. Shirase's casting had been planned for release alongside an advance stream of the theme song early next month, but word of it came out early, on the 26th.

■ The Singer of 'the Shore Lullaby' Lights This Story

As previously reported, Shirase is a ballad singer known for her cover of "the Shore Lullaby." Director Kureha said, "For a motif about lighting things up, I needed the quiet, continuing warmth in Shirase's voice specifically. It took half a year to win her over." Shirase herself said, "This is the first time I've sung for someone on the lighting side of things. I'm feeling the difficulty of putting into song something that keeps going without going out, something that gets handed down."

■ Shirase and Ashihara Meet for the First Time

On the 26th, Shirase and Ashihara met in person for the first time at the production studio. Ashihara, previously reported on the 25th as having studied this paper's Dimensional Survey pages to build his role, reportedly told Shirase, "Teach me, through your voice, what it feels like to be the one lighting things." Shirase replied, "There's still room for Hayate's voice to grow, and that youth actually suits the role." According to the production team, recording for the theme song is expected to take place in December.

■ A Convergence With Other Reported News

The casting lands around the same time as the previously reported (October 21) announcement of Shirase's additional December 12 performance at Kyobashi Hall. "It's the first time an additional performance and a recording session have landed this close together, and it'll be busy," Shirase said, "but if I think of both as work that sings about things that keep going, they connect in a strange sort of way." Tomoshibi Animation, as previously reported, is known as a studio strong in stories built around exogenous techniques, and production of "The Light-Keeper" is now moving into full swing ahead of its spring broadcast.

■ The Prop: "A Single Candle"

According to the production team, part of the storyboard was shown ahead of the recording session at the 26th's meeting — a scene in which the lead character passes a flame, handed down through generations, onto a single candle, explained to Shirase and Ashihara in person. Shirase said, "The whole idea of that prop, never letting the candle's flame go out, felt like exactly the theme I want to put into the lyrics." Director Kureha added, "Now that the theme song's direction is settled, I feel confident about laying music over that scene near the end."

■ Fan Reaction: "Unexpected, But It Makes Sense"

Reaction came in from a somewhat different crowd than the previously reported Kishibe Seven fan base, with comments on streaming sites noting things like, "Shirase doing the theme song was unexpected, but once you hear it's a song about light, it makes total sense." The production team plans an advance stream of the theme song early next month, with supporting cast announcements to follow.