The Elusive Samurai: Three Gruff Generals Cover the Heroine's Love Song, and Japan Can't Cope
逃げ上手の若君 三大将が“恋の歌”を熱唱、日本ファン「公式なんだよなぁ」
Aniplex released a full cover single for The Elusive Samurai Season 2, sung not by the heroine but by three of the show's gruffest adult characters — Suwa Shinto's Three Great Generals — taking on the cutesy love song “If You Want Some Romance.” Across 497 comments, the top comment (1,519 likes) is someone half-jokingly claiming credit (or blame) for directing the vocals, and most of the thread is united in disbelief that a network greenlit three war generals belting out lyrics written for a teen idol — before more than a few admit the singing is actually good. By the end, fans have stopped being surprised and started requesting a sequel with the show's other side characters.
This titleJapanese reactions to The Elusive SamuraiRead all 3 roundups on the title pageAniplex's channel for The Elusive Samurai posted a full cover single for one of the Season 2 ending themes, “If You Want Some Romance” — except it isn't sung by the heroine. It's performed by Suwa Shinto's Three Great Generals, Umino Koyasu, Netsu Yorinao, and Mochizuki Shigenobu: three grizzled adult samurai retainers doing a full vocal cover of a cutesy love song. 497 comments in, almost nobody's talking about the plot. They're talking about how three men with the voices of war generals ended up singing lines written for a teenage idol.
“I was the vocal director on this?!?!?!?!?!?!”
ボーカルディレクションさせていただきました！！！！！！！！！！？
That's the top comment on the whole video, and nobody's sure if it's a real staff credit or just someone taking the blame for what happened next. Either way, it sets the tone: total disbelief that this is what got made.
“I cracked up at the low, gravelly ‘L-O-V-E.’”
野太い「L・O・V・E」で大爆笑した
“My stomach hurts from laughing so hard — it's hilarious that the old men got their cover out before the heroine did.”
笑いすぎて腹が痛い ヒロインより先にジジイたちがカバーしてるのおもろすぎる
That last one's pointing at something specific. The show usually saves a bonus alternate ending for the heroine to sing herself — so watching three side-character generals claim that slot instead landed as its own kind of prank.
“I figured we'd get the heroine's special alternate ED — Heisei-era otaku know this trope!!! — but nope, the old guys got the alternate ED instead of her 😺🌌”
ヒロインが歌う特殊ED来るやつでしょ？平成のオタクは知ってるぞ！！！って思ってたらヒロイン差し置いておじさん達の特殊ED来て😺🌌
Once the actual singing starts, the lyrics do the rest of the work on their own. A song called “If You Want Some Romance,” delivered by men who canonically decapitate people for a living, reads a little differently than intended.
““If You Want Some Romance” more like “I f Y o u W a n t T o K e e p Y o u r L i f e””
「ロマンティックがほしいなら」 というより 「 命 が 惜 し い な ら 」
Underneath the joke, there's a real vocal performance happening, and more than one commenter singled out the same guy for it — grudgingly impressed despite themselves.
“Lord Netsu's vibrato is beautiful — it's unreal.”
祢津殿が美しビブラートでヤバい。
“The 1:07 mark, Netsu Yorinao's vibrato — that's what wrecked me laughing.”
1:07 祢津頼直のビブラートでドカ笑いしてしまう
That same performance is also why the video doesn't stay purely comedic all the way through. A few people admitted, almost against their will, that one part actually got to them.
“I was laughing my head off, and then Lord Umino's part at 0:39 actually got me a little. Annoying.”
めちゃくちゃ笑ってたのにここでちょっと海野さまにメロついてしまって悔しい 0:39
For anyone who scrolled into this cold — no context, just three intimidating faces on a thumbnail — the first reaction was pure bewilderment before the laughing even started.
- “Found the culprit! Seize them! (dead-eyed stare)”👍140
- “I nearly went into mild respiratory distress from laughing. What are you DOING to me?!”👍80
- “I thought it was fan art. It's official. (bewildered)”👍149
More than one person needed a second reply just to confirm this wasn't some fan edit that slipped into their recommendations.
“Whoa, that scared me... I thought this was official.”
あーびっくりした… 公式かと思った
“It is official, though...”
公式なんだよなぁ⋯
“They're 100% going to drop a Sadamune / Ichikawa / Kokushi version too lol”
絶対貞宗、市河、国司のバージョンも出すだろw
By the end, the thread stops being surprised and starts placing bets on the sequel. If the studio was willing to put three named side characters through a full vocal cover once, everyone's betting they'll do it again — and honestly, most of the comment section is already asking for it.
FAQ
- Who is actually singing this Elusive Samurai ED cover?
- Suwa Shinto's Three Great Generals — Umino Koyasu, Netsu Yorinao, and Mochizuki Shigenobu — three of the show's adult samurai retainers, covering the ending theme “If You Want Some Romance” in full.
- Is this cover actually official, or fan-made?
- It's official — posted on Aniplex's own channel. Commenters (like @Rfisher15 and @unirice603, in a short back-and-forth in the thread) initially assumed it had to be a fan edit before confirming it wasn't.
- Why are Japanese fans finding this so funny?
- The joke is the mismatch: “If You Want Some Romance” is a cutesy pop love song, normally set up as a special alternate ED for the heroine to sing, but instead it's belted out by three gruff, battle-hardened generals — with lyrics that land very differently coming from men who kill people for a living.
The Elusive Samurai Season 2 Episode 1: Live-Action Takauji Scene Splits Fans
“Live-action evil-god Takauji is way too scary — I'm watching this live at night, please stop doing that 😭 It's genuinely bad for my heart.”
Read this roundupThis is one of 3 Japanese-reaction roundups for The Elusive Samurai. See them all →
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