"Butter-Fly" is a song recorded by Japanese singer

Kōji Wada was a Japanese pop singer. He was best known for performing theme songs for several installments of the ''Digimon'' anime television series, including his recording debut in 1999 with his first and most famous single, " Butter-Fly", the theme s ...

as the opening theme song to '' Digimon Adventure''. The song was released as Wada's debut single on April 23, 1999.

Background and release

"Butter-Fly" was the theme song to the 1999 film '' Digimon Adventure'', performed as a ballad. "Butter-Fly" was later re-worked as a rock song, and its rock iteration became the opening theme song to the television series of the same name. It had been the first time Wada had performed a rock song. Originally released on April 23, 1999, the single was re-released on August 1, 2004 with new CD artwork to commemorate '' Digimon Adventure's'' 5th anniversary. The success of the song gave Wada the title "Immortal Butterfly Anime Song Singer."

Other versions

"Butter-Fly (Strong Version)" was released on April 22, 2009 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the ''

Digimon , short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise, which encompasses virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films, and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures who inhabit a ...

'' franchise as well as the 10th anniversary of his debut with the song. It was his first single in three years after "Hirari" and charted on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

Weekly Singles for one week. "Butter-Fly (tri. Version)" was released on November 25, 2015 as the theme song for the Japanese version of the

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

film series ''

Digimon Adventure tri. is a Japanese adventure anime film series (sometimes referred to as OVAs) produced by Toei Animation. Celebrating the 15th anniversary of the ''Digimon'' franchise, the six-part series serves as a direct sequel to the first two television ser ...

'', and the single was his last release before his death on April 3, 2016. A second version of "Butter-Fly (tri. Version)" was released as a tribute on May 1, 2018 as the ending theme to ''Digimon Adventure tri.: Chapter 6: Future'', the final installment to the ''Digimon Adventure tri.'' film series, as well as the final part of the film. The song was performed by

AiM AIM or Aim may refer to: Computing * AIM alliance, an Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance * AIM (software), AOL Instant Messenger * Fortyfive, a Japanese software development company previously known as AIM Military * Abrams Integrated Management, an ...

Ayumi Miyazaki , also credited as , is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Miyazaki has sung several songs in the Digimon series. He sang the evolution theme song for '' Digimon Adventure'' called "Brave Heart" and its ''Digimon Adventure Tri'' and '' Digimon Adv ...

, and the eighteen main cast members of ''tri.'', along with posthumous archive audio of Wada.

Reception

"Butter-Fly" was ranked number 5 on

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

's list of Top 100 Best

Anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

Songs in 2017.

Cover versions

The cast for the male characters in '' Digimon Adventure'' performed "Butter-Fly" and released it with the ''We Love Digimon Music'' CD box on December 25, 2002. The release was to commemorate the franchise's 100th CD release. The song has also been covered by

Masaaki Endoh is a Japanese singer-songwriter who is prominent in the area of soundtracks for anime and tokusatsu productions. He is one of the founders of the Music in Japanese animation, Anison band JAM Project and has been a regular member ever since its ...

in his album ''

Enson Enson may refer to: * ''Enson'' (album), by Masaaki Endoh * Enson Inoue (born 1967), Japanese mixed martial artist * Faux d'Enson, a mountain in Switzerland * Enson, a character in ''The First'' comic book series * Enson, Staffordshire, a hamle ...

''. Halko Momoi covered "Butter-Fly" on her 2008 cover album ''More & More Quality Red: Anime Song Cover''. Nagareda Project released a cover version on their album, ''Nagareda PPP'', on August 8, 2012.

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a devotional image of a deity or saint used during puja ...

group Sea*A released an English version of "Butter-Fly" on their eponymous debut album, ''Sea*A'', on March 27, 2013. Idol group

Trefle was a Japan, Japanese project group formed by Second Shot in 2013. The group featured voice and stage actresses from various talent agencies and were promoted through the online radio program ''A&G Girls Project Trefle''. The group's original l ...

performed a cover version of "Butter-Fly" and released it as their debut single on November 18, 2015, which charted at #78 on the

Weekly Singles Chart. The song served as the opening theme song to the show ''Animemashite''. They performed the song at Anison History Japan!!. On September 2, 2019,

Vocaloid is a singing Speech synthesis, voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. The s ...

Hatsune Miku , officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Its official mascot is depicted as a sixteen-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virt ...

released a cover, as part of a collaboration event with the ''Digimon'' franchise.

Track listing

All songs arranged by Cher Watanabe.

1999 and 2004 versions

Strong version

tri. version

Charts

1999 version

Strong Version

tri. Version

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butter-Fly (Koji Wada song) 1999 singles 1999 songs 2009 singles 2015 singles Anime songs Children's television theme songs Digimon