The SOJ Library

Why is “Get Wild” so famous?

One song, played over the last scene of every episode, until a whole country could hear the first bar and stand up.

“Get Wild” is TM Network’s tenth single, released by Epic Records on April 8, 1987, two days after the City Hunter anime first aired. Lyrics by Mitsuko Komuro; music by the group’s leader, Tetsuya Komuro. It was written as the ending theme of the first anime series, and the way Sunrise used it made it immortal: the song’s intro starts playing under the episode’s final scene and rolls straight into the credits. The story never quite stops before the music starts; the ending arrives inside the drama.

The single reached No. 9 on the Oricon chart and sold more than 386,000 copies. It has been covered ever since, by Nami Tamaki, SMAP, Golden Bomber, globe and Megumi Ogata among many others, and a young Utada Hikaru counted it among her favourite songs. In Japan it became one of those national anime songs that everyone of a certain age can sing from the first bar.

The honours kept accumulating. April 8, the day of its release, was recognised as “Get Wild Day” in 2023. By October 2024 the song had passed 100 million cumulative streams. And when the franchise returned to screens in 2024, it closed the Netflix film in a new recording: “Get Wild Continual”.

The song’s long life

The sync

1987

That intro-over-the-final-scene device is the phenomenon: the episode hands its last emotional beat to the song, every week, until the two are fused in memory.

The covers

1989 to today

Idols, rock bands and voice actors have all recorded it; TM Network’s own leader revisited it with Hojo in 2012, when their joint Mana project video guest-starred Ryo, Kaori and Umibozu.

In the game

2026

The remastered City Hunter game builds the song into its music player, Get Wild presented as the tribute the whole franchise owes it.

The City Hunter shelf

How was the anime made?

The series the song closed, 140 times.

What are the live-action movies?

Get Wild Continual closes the Netflix film.

What games are there?

Hear the song in the 2026 remaster’s music player.