Hikaru Utada will sing ‘One Last Kiss,’ the theme song for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time. The Evangelion staff announced Utada’s return to the franchise early Wednesday morning (Japan time).
The song will be available in several versions. Japanese iTunes already has its digital version available for pre-order. The digital single will be released for download on 24 January, the day after the anime film comes out. It includes other songs that Utada produced for the Evangelion movie series, although two of the tracks are currently listed as ‘Track 2’ and ‘Track 8.’
Sony Music will have two versions. The CD will feature Shinji’s face on the cover and have the same tracks as the iTunes release. The 12-inch analog LP version will feature Rei Ayanami. The LP tracklist looks the same as the CD’s. Both of these will be available on 27 January, but they can be pre-ordered now.
Utada and Evangelion
It has been generally assumed that 3.0+1.0 will be the absolute last Neon Genesis Evangelion-related anime movie ever. (Although it’s hard to tell with a cash cow series like Evangelion.)
At the very least, we know that it will be the final part of the Shin Evangelion (Rebuild of Evangelion) film series. So, it is appropriate that the final theme song for the series would evoke the idea of a ‘last kiss’ in its title.
Hikaru Utada has been previously involved with the Shin Evangelion film series. She sang ‘Beautiful World,’ the theme song for Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. She also created a new version of the song for the second film in the series. For the third film, she recorded the theme song ‘Sakura Nagashi.’ In addition, she also remixed a version of ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ from the original anime series.