Yonezu Brings His Biggest Voice to Japan's Biggest Franchise
Kenshi Yonezu — whose anime credentials include "KICK BACK" for Chainsaw Man and "Peace Sign" for My Hero Academia — has written and performed "Yodaka" (夜鷹, meaning "Nighthawk") as the theme for Kingdom: Battle of Souls (キングダム 魂の決戦). The announcement from Comic Natalie arrived alongside both a full trailer and a teaser clip, each set to the new track.
The trailer gives our best look yet at the film's central conflicts: Kento Yamazaki's Shin squaring off against Shun Oguri's Riboku, the brilliant strategist whose schemes have haunted the franchise since the third film, and a brutal duel between Shin and Yuki Yamada's Man Goku, a grief-fueled general described in the source manga as one of Shin's most emotionally devastating opponents.
What Kingdom: Battle of Souls Is About
For anyone who hasn't kept up with the franchise — now five films deep — Kingdom adapts Yasuhisa Hara's manga (published by Shueisha) about Shin, a war orphan in ancient China's Warring States period who fights to become the greatest general alive, and Ei Sei, the young king of Qin determined to unite all of China under one banner.
Battle of Souls tackles the Coalition Army arc, in which six rival kingdoms set aside their differences to crush Qin in a single coordinated assault. It's the largest-scale conflict in the manga and a turning point for Shin as a commander. Director Shinsuke Satō, who has helmed all five live-action entries, returns behind the camera.
Yonezu's Comment and the Song's Impact on the Film
In a statement published by Comic Natalie, Yonezu called Kingdom a "vast, wide-open festival that clears everyone's hearts once a year," adding: "May Shin, who charges straight ahead in his own clumsy way, find happiness."
Director Satō described "Yodaka" as capturing "the same wounds, the same pain carried by enemies forced to fight each other" — the cycle of vengeance that makes the Coalition Army arc more than a simple good-vs-evil showdown. He called the nighthawk an "embodiment of a lonely soul."
Perhaps the most revealing detail: producer Shinzō Matsuhashi said the song directly influenced the film's subtitle. The team had planned to call it "The Greatest Battle in History" (史上最大の決戦), but after hearing Yonezu's completed track, they changed it to "Battle of Souls" (魂の決戦). That's a rare case of a theme song reshaping a film's identity before release.
Looking Ahead
Kingdom: Battle of Souls opens in Japanese theaters on July 17, 2026. No international distributor has been announced yet, though previous Kingdom films have seen limited theatrical runs in Asia and eventual streaming availability. The source manga is available in English from Viz Media under its original title, Kingdom — currently one of Japan's longest-running historical action series with over 70 volumes published.
The theme-song trailer is streaming now on TOHO's official YouTube channel.