Perfume’s “Meguri Loop” to feature as the theme song for TV drama Chihayafuru -Meguri-

Perfume are flinging out Nebula Romance: Part 2 songs to every and anybody, just like how Oprah was handing out cars that one time. It feels like only a few weeks ago that we got the release of “Nebula Romance” and the announcement of a song which will be used for Gundam Card Game. And already we have the announcement that a new Perfume song will feature in a live action TV series adaptation of the popular manga series, Chihayafuru — which was first adapted into live-action for a film in 2016.

The announcement of this song came with a clip of Perfume visiting the set of the show, where we got to hear a snippet of the song. And I’mma tell you now. I don’t like it. It sounds like some “Hold Your Hand” cutesy bullshit and I was really hoping Perfume were done with songs like this.

Perfume continuing to be a part of the Chihayafuru franchise is cool. First becoming a part of it with “Flash” for the first Chihayafuru movie. Then “Mugen Mirai” for the third film. And now “Meguri Loop” for the live action TV series — which shares the same continuity as the films, being set 10 years after.

And of course upon seeing the song title “Meguri Loop”, us fans were all like that meme of Leonard DiCaprio pointing at the TV. ‘THE NAME OF THE SONG IS SIMILAR TO “MUGEN LOOP”!’. Yes it is. “‘MEGURI’ SOUNDS SIMILAR TO ‘MUGEN’, AND “MUGEN MIRAI” WAS A SONG FOR CHIHAYAFURU’. Yes it does and yes it is.

I do sometimes wonder how intentional Yasutaka Nakata is with shit like this. But oftentimes what we think are callbacks and references, end up being coincidences. Perfume are asked about instances such as this, which seem so obviously connected, and they’re like ‘Oh, we didn’t even realise! We wonder if Nakata-san meant to do that...’ And then Nakata is asked about it, and he is just like ‘LOL. I guess.’

Over time I have come to realise that Nakata’s sphere of creativity is kinda small and it doesn’t help that he always works alone, does everything by himself and wants everybody singing his songs in such a specific way which robs acts of their individuality. Crystal Kay, Charli XCX and Sheena Ringo are the only few who said ‘Yeah, I ain’t doing that flat monotone shit you make them other bitches do.’ This is why Meg’s Step, Perfume’s Triangle and Ami Suzuki Supreme Show — all released in the same year — wound up sounding so similar. And why we ended up with that period circa 2017, where Kyary and Perfume’s music sounded interchangeable. And I also think it’s why Perfume’s music hasn’t really grown at the rate that it should have and why so many of their songs end up being about the same damn thing. So, with this considered, it’s kinda inevitable that some sounds, themes and vocab will get revisited for Perfume’s songs. Nakata likes circling them blocks — some blocks more than others. Nakata likes what he knows. So to him and Perfume, recurring themes and sounds is probably just normal and not as self-referential to them as it is to us, because they’re in that sphere and it’s just normal to them. And it’s probably the same with Mikiko and Perfume’s choreography too.

So, the TV series is titled Chihayafuru -Meguri-, hence the song title “Meguri Loop”. This kinda flies in the face of what I thought was Perfume and Nakata’s approach from “Polygon Wave” — not making songs specifically for tie-ins. But I ain’t mad at it. When Kodansha bows and slides a big-ass cheque across the table for a song, you’d be silly to turn it down. I just think it’s a shame that the whole sci-fi shtick and narrative of Nebula Romance is just an aesthetic for the album covers, tours and music videos. It has absolutely nothing to do with the music, aside from name drops of things associated with space and sci-fi. I was really hoping Perfume would pull a Renaissance or a Cowboy Carter and really build these worlds and experiences with these albums — but, nope.

“Meguri Loop” really should get itself a music video, but it probably won’t, which is a shame. In fact, all of these damn tie-in songs Perfume have done should be released as promotional singles with music videos. I like that Perfume is trying something different with their releases these days, but whatever this shit is that they’re doing — it isn’t really working. And I just can’t tell what the strategy is behind it. They are still bagging high profile tie-ins for their songs and are a known name in Japan, which is great. But these tie-ins are not doing much for the sales of their music or the growth of their fan base — because none of these songs have big campaigns behind them and none of them are being pushed as singles. And once again, I feel that opportunities to really sell the concept of Nebula Romance, that it’s a two part album, and position Perfume as a group trying something different are all being unexplored.

Give it another couple of weeks and we’ll get an announcement that some other song is the tie-in for something else. And before we know it, we’ll have 75% of the Nebula Romance - Part 2 tracklist. I thought the whole plan was to…not do that. But again, I have no idea what the strategy or plan is with the Nebula Romance releases.

Chihayafuru -Meguri- debuts on 6 July, 2025. And it’s highly likely that “Meguri Loop” will be released the same day.

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