JYOCHO Drops New EP and Music Video of ‘Banished from the Hero’s Party Season 2’ Theme Song

Japanese progressive pop, indie rock band JYOCHO has digitally released their newest EP, Guide and Devote e.p via No Big Deal Records on January 10th.

The four-track project was written and produced by founding member of the band Daijiro Nakagawa and recorded at StudioSHIKARI in Kyoto, Japan.

The EP’s self-titled track “Guide and Devote” (released Dec 20th, 2023) is chosen as the ending theme song for the Japanese TV anime series “Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside Season 2” started airing on January 7th 2024.

The original story is a Japanese light novel series written by Zappon and illustrated by Yasumo. The story depicts the peaceful and happy daily lives of Red, Rit, Ruty and their friends in the city of Zoltan after Red got banished from a Hero’s party.

Here are the comments from Daijiro from JYOCHO:

“The story is about Ruty’s new life as she grows up, and while the main focus is on Ruty and Van. On the other hand, I like Red’s role as a “Guide” in the series.

That is why I chose the title of this work as Guide and Devote.

I think there are days when you have to make a detour to a station where you are born with a predetermined fate and ties.

I want to go forward believing in the direction of my own prayer and hope, even if it is not beautiful to the people around me! This is what I wanted to express in the song. 

It is a bright, pop song of hope, and I hope you will enjoy it.”

-Daijiro from JYOCHO

The “Guide and Devote” music video was premiered on YouTube at 10:00p.m. on January 14th.

The video was filmed and directed by Ryoji Aoki who had also directed JYOCHO’s signature music videos in the early days such as the videos of “A Life with the Sun” and “A Glass of Night.” The new song’s music video produced by the team from early-days was shot on the Mount Kirigamine in Nagano, Japan and in the video, the members appear as if they lived a quiet lives in the countryside just as Red, Rit and Ruty do.

JYOCHO played an ending theme song for the 1st season of the animation as well and the song “All the Same”(released on Nov 10, 2021) was praised by Anime News Network (8/30/21) as “…an impressive acoustic guitar melody and flute tone…The song’s technical yet spacious and majestic sound adds beautiful colors to the ending.”

Their 2nd full-length album “Let’s Promise to be Happy,” which has “All the Same” as its leading track, was released worldwide on vinyl and cassette formats by Topshelf Records and Porter Robinson shares a quote, for the obi strip coming with the vinyl, saying “JYOCHO make music that is one-of-a-kind. Daijiro Nakagawa’s projects always feel so wistful and effortlessly beautiful, never getting lost in their own complexity but instead always enriched by it…”

The LP is now available.

https://www.topshelfrecords.com/products/720962-jyocho-lets-promise-to-be-happy

The previous “Banished from the Hero’s Party” song and album were highly acclaimed by music lovers and anime fans and the 2nd season’s song and EP are now gathering attentions not only in Japan but worldwide.

The band will be having two performances in Japan: February 24th at Spotify O-nest in Tokyo with mekakushe(band set) and March 24th at Live House Anima in Osaka with mol-74.