Anime and metal are no strangers to each other. Shows like Trigun and Death Note have OPs you can easily headbang to, some like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Bastard!! have plenty of shoutouts to metal bands, and Detroit Metal City is more or less the Japanese equivalent to Metalocalypse. Hell, former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman, who lives in and is extremely popular in Japan, has composed music for Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals and Maria Watches Over Us. But what about the more extreme ends of each medium?

JapariGate by Fucked, an album inspired by Kemono Friends, couldn’t be any more different from the show. Cute voice lines sampled from the anime give way to furious riffs, insane blast beats and inhuman screeched vocals. This type of music definitely isn’t for everyone, but for those that can hack it there’s something weirdly cathartic about the juxtaposition of the kawaii and the brutal.

Fucked is just one of many anime-themed extreme metal bands signed to underground label Toxic Loli Records. I got in touch with Diana, current owner of TLR, to find out more about the label and the emerging extreme anime metal scene.

Yung_Namahage: What made you want to create the label in the first place?

Diana: I think the big spur to do this was when Cheerleader Concubine started picking up with the release of Bukkake Birthday Party and we got a message from the sole member of Schoolgirl Upon thy Corpse praising us and showing off her project's latest release at the time. Like I knew artists like us existed, Go-Zen, Jig-Ai, Chainsaw Harakiri, etc. But overall the scene was incredibly niche and didn't really have much of a home, minus the bigger bands like Jig-Ai of course, but they always seemed to be in their own lane.

Cheerleader Concubine grew and over that time I started catching wind of other anime/hentai-based music projects and that was when I was like “yeah, this is awesome, I think there should be a place for this sorta stuff.”

Yung_Namahage: Metal and anime, while both having their own cult followings, could not be more different from one another. What would you say is the appeal in merging the two?

Diana: Well, metal's had this stigma I guess as being something for, like, nerds, outcasts, rejects, whatever. Lots of metal bands use goofy and nerdy themes in their lyrics and aesthetic so it only made sense since anime is often seen as being a nerd interest as well. Despite both anime and metal reaching bigger audiences than ever, the two combined is still pretty underground.

Yung_Namahage: When did this "scene" begin? What do you think the future holds for anime themed extreme metal bands?

Diana: If we're talking like underground death metal/grind, Jig-Ai I think paved the way for a bunch of bands. But there's definitely anime-themed metal outside of the outrageous gore scene too and I think that has a bigger chance of reaching a wider audience. Rise of the Northstar's seen a bunch of success and as far as more underground goes, Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship has been attracting some attention. I'd love to see the scene grow; obviously as somebody in the grind/death scene I'd like that to evolve but I think in general seeing more of any metal with the anime/hentai aesthetic would be super cool.

Metal Archives currently list 22 bands all over the world that cite anime as a lyrical theme, but I’m sure the real number Is much higher. Metal and anime are slowly becoming more accessible and mainstream, so there is a chance for the microgenre to have an upsurge in the near future. That doesn’t include niche stuff like guro based brutal slamming death metal, but surely even that will find its home on Toxic Loli Records.

If this has you intrigued, check out some more extreme anime metal on TLR’s Bandcamp, and why not give them a like on Facebook while you’re at it.