Who Sings Jiro's Song In My Hero Academia's Festival Concert?
"My Hero Academia" is one of the biggest anime franchises in the world. With five seasons on the air and three movies under its belt, the superhero-themed series has succeeded by mashing western audiences' obsessive love for comic book properties with the gorgeous production of Japanese studio Toho Animation. It's a winning combination and one that's seen the series' viewership numbers reach an all-time high with Season 5 (via Comic Book).
Though "My Hero Academia" has several serious arcs throughout the series, it tends to balance these out with more low-key arcs that allow the members of Class 1-A to hang out and get to know each other or compete against one another. One of these arcs unfolds in the second part of Season 4, where the classmates put together a school festival.
One of the big stars of this arc is Kyoka Jiro (Kei Shindo/Trina Nishimura), who headlines the festival as the lead singer of its band. However, that wasn't her voice actor you heard when she finally sang her big number but instead a major musician you might be familiar with.
Chrissy Costanza sings for Jiro in My Hero Academia
Chrissy Costanza provides Kyoka Jiro's dubbed singing voice in Season 4 of "My Hero Academia." Costanza is best known as the lead singer of the pop-rock band Against the Current, but she also occasionally records songs on her own (via IMDb). The performer sang two songs as Jiro for Season 4 of "My Hero Academia," which were "Each Goal" and "Hero Too."
Costanza spoke to RockSound about the experience and how it came together. "I think that came through our Japanese label. They knew that I'm learning Japanese, and I love being in Japan," Costanza said. "It's one of my favorite places ever. It just felt like a really natural collab."
Since the artist has also collaborated with the competitive video game series "League of Legends" (via Sports Keeda), it certainly makes sense for her to do an anime song, as the two mediums are very much in the same wheelhouse. "It was such a cool little thing. Because she's in a band and playing at a school show, it felt appropriate," Costanza went on.
Translating the lyrics to English was a bit of a challenge
However, the process of translating the lyrics for the two "My Hero Academia" songs from Japanese to English was another matter entirely, as Chrissy Costanza went on to explain to RockSound. "The funniest part was definitely retranslating some of the lyrics because they already translated them, but it was more of an interpretation," the artist said.
"It was written in Japanese and then basically interpreted into English, and some of the lyrics were just not what anyone would ever say," Costanza continued. Anyone who's familiar with translations can definitely back her up, as games like "Final Fantasy VII" famously shipped with several awkward translations that broke the game's immersion for players (via Kotaku).
Costanza also pointed out that the process itself was a bit intimidating, being that she was being watched by many Japanese executives while she recorded. "I've never had so many people watching me track audio before," Costanza said. "It was quite intimidating. Just 11 Japanese men sitting in the control room, and I was just like 'Sup guys.'"
When she puts it that way, it definitely sounds like the pressure was on. Either way, Costanza nailed the songs, and the proof is in the pudding because they sounded great on "My Hero Academia." You can see more of the singer on her personal YouTube page, where she posts vlogs, make-up videos, and also some gaming-related stuff.