Japan's Anime-Dance Scene Is Merging Pop Culture With EDM

Ryo Inoue's DJ sets don't really get going until he brings out the glow stick cross. Before that, he stands behind his laptop wearing a white suit, often playing a mix of American pop music (Destiny's Child, Michael Jackson) and more frantic UK cuts (Rustie). Soon enough though, Inoue strips naked to the waist and breaks out the yellow sticks, which he arranges into a cross. He might take a moment to break-dance, but then he's back behind his laptop, selecting songs from popular Japanese cartoons.

Inoue performs under the name DJ Evangelion, a reference to the still-hyper-popular-in-Japan 1990s program Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the ending theme for which is a staple of his gigs. He's one of the best showmen in Japan's burgeoning anime-dance music scene; a corner of Japanese club culture featuring DJs spinning music from cartoons to an eager audience ready to dance along - with glow-sticks in hand. Yet, this isn't a geeky novelty. The producers and DJs in this world are just as hip to contemporary electronic styles, and they transform cutesy anime theme songs into trance, or brostep numbers. More and more, prominent artists from the anime dance world are crossing over to more mainstream side. What was once considered deeply nerdy, and kept far away from regular club culture, is starting to bleed over.

Japanese anime has been a staple of the country's culture since after World War II, and popular cartoons like Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon (among others) have become hot cultural exports. Still, Yamada Masayuki, the manager of anime-centric club Mogra in Tokyo's Akihabara district, says events devoted to just music from cartoons have long been hard to find. "Events of this sort used to happen in community centres or public halls rather than clubs."