Kenshi Yonezu approaches each project with focus, and “JANE DOE” is no exception. Written as the ending theme for Chainsaw Man: The Movie – Reze Arc, the song contrasts the adrenaline of “IRIS OUT” with something much softer and more vulnerable.
From the beginning, Yonezu didn’t imagine himself as the main voice of the song. He felt instinctively that the Reze Arc needed a female-led vocal to land the emotional weight of its final scenes. As he worked on the song, he explored versions that felt nostalgic or youthful, but each attempt drifted too far from the mood he wanted. Eventually, he realized the song needed to lean into melancholy: something soft, haunting, and tinged with darkness.
That clarity led him to Hikaru Utada. According to Yonezu, the decision emerged naturally during the writing process. As soon as the piano riff and early vocal lines took shape, he began to hear Utada’s voice in the melody. The duality in the song was essential, he felt, because the song itself lived in the tension between presence and disappearance, closely matching the emotional tone of the Reze Arc.
Once Utada became the imagined counterpart, the song found its center. “JANE DOE” blends piano, strings, and understated electronic textures into a slow-burning duet. The effect is intimate and atmospheric, as if the song is holding the final moments of the film in its hands. It carries the story’s heartbreak, allowing its weight to settle into gentle notes.
The music video deepens the feeling of longing and loneliness. The two singers are seen occupying the same world, however, they never fully get the chance to reach each other. Though they move closer frame by frame, their worlds never quite overlap. Their gestures pass through the air like signals that can’t find their receiver. In the final shot, Hikaru Utada sits alone, as if the figure beside her existed only in the quiet corners of her imagination. The looped ending returns to the beginning, echoing the idea of a love that circles endlessly without ever settling into reality.
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