"The Beyond" is the twenty-first single by Japanese rock band

Luna Sea Luna Sea (stylized as LUNA SEA) is a Japanese Rock music, rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of make-up and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most success ...

, released on April 29, 2020. Despite receiving a limited production amount, it became the band's first in over 20 years to top the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

Overview

Like several other songs that would be included on the December 2019 album ''

Cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

'', "The Beyond" is related to the ''

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...

'' media franchise. It was used as the official theme of the franchise's 40th anniversary. This was announced at a press conference on November 21, 2018, where

Sugizo , born and better known by his stage name Sugizo, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and violinist of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. Sugizo started his solo care ...

performed the song on violin. At co-producer

Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Big ...

's suggestion, Sugizo added a

counter-melody In music, a counter-melody (often countermelody) is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody. In other words, it is a secondary melody played in counterpoint with the prima ...

at the song's second chorus for

Inoran , better known exclusively by his stage name Inoran, is a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Luna Sea since 1986. He started his solo career in 1997. Luna Sea disba ...

to play. A music video for the song was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on May 29, 2020, as the start of one of the band's 30th anniversary projects that saw them upload one music video a day for 30 days. Luna Sea performed "The Beyond" at the December 18, 2020 opening ceremony of the

Gundam Factory Yokohama Gundam Factory Yokohama is an entertainment complex located at Yamashita Pier in Yokohama, Japan. Its main feature is a moving Gundam, an 18-metre tall pilot-operated "mech" (a large mechanical automaton with a human operator inside) from the Jap ...

, which was broadcast live on TV. It marked their first performance in about 10 months since their tour was postponed due to the

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Release

The single's official full title is "The Beyond Gunpla 40th Edition The Beyond x MS-06 Zaku II Ver. Luna Sea" and it was released as a box that contains a CD of the song "The Beyond" and a custom Luna Sea version

Zaku The is a fictional line of manned robots (mecha) from ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', part of the Universal Century fictional universe, where they are the Principality of Zeon's most commonly fielded Mobile Suits. The most widely known model is the M ...

Gundam model Gundam models, or , are model kits depicting the vehicles and characters of the fictional ''Gundam'' multiverse by Bandai. These kits became popular among mecha anime fans and model enthusiasts in Japan and nearby Asian countries beginning in th ...

, or Gunpla. The model commemorates the 40th anniversary of ''Gundam'' and the 30th anniversary of the band. Due to Sugizo's eco-consciousness, it was the first in the Master Grade series to use recycled eco-friendly plastic. The single was released on April 29, 2020, and sold exclusively at Tsutaya Records and the

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

Store. Its cover art features the Luna Sea Gundam drawn by

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is a Japanese animator, manga artist, and anime director. He is best known for being the character designer and animation director of the original ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime, which began in 1979. That same year, he began working as a manga art ...

, character designer of the franchise. In addition to being previously included on Luna Sea's album ''Cross'', "The Beyond" was later included in June 2020's ''Mobile Suit Gundam 40th Anniversary Album ~Beyond~''.

Chart performance

"The Beyond" became Luna Sea's first single in 20 years and one month, since "

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

" (2000), to top the

. This marks the second-longest interval between number ones for a music act in the chart's history, behind only

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Regarded as an influential figure in the city pop genre, she is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan, having sold over 16 million records, and has received several accolades. Her husband is Tatsu ...

's 21 years and one month, which took place just a few months earlier. It also topped Oricon's new Rock Singles Chart, and came in twentieth on their combined digital download and streaming singles chart.

Track listing

''All songs written and composed by Luna Sea.'' #"The Beyond" - 5:33
Originally composed by

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beyond 2020 singles 2019 songs Luna Sea songs Gundam songs Japanese-language songs Universal Music Group singles Oricon Weekly number-one singles Song recordings produced by Steve Lillywhite