"Gekkō" (月光, Moonlight) is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Chihiro Onitsuka from her debut album Insomnia (2000). It was released on August 9, 2000 as the album's second single.[1] The song is mostly known for serving as a theme song to the Japanese television drama series Trick. The single peaked at number eleven on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart and remains as Onitsuka's best-selling single.[2]

"Gekkō"
Single by Chihiro Onitsuka
from the album Insomnia
ReleasedAugust 9, 2000 (2000-08-09)
Recorded2000
Genre
Length5:09
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Takefumi Haketa
Chihiro Onitsuka singles chronology
"Shine"
(2000)
"Gekkō"
(2000)
"Cage"
(2000)
Music video
"Gekkō" on YouTube

Commercial performance

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"Gekkō" debuted at number thirty on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart and peaked at number eleven, due to the unexpected hit of the television drama series Trick.[2] The single spent thirty-seven weeks within top 100 on the chart and have sold than 561,000 physical copies and 500,000 digital copies in Japan alone.

In January 2014, the song charted at number fifty-eight on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, as the song was used in television commercial for the Japanese film Trick The Movie: Last Stage, the last installment of the Trick series.[3]

Music video

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The music video was released on June 24, 2011 via Onitsuka's Vevo account.[4] It was directed by Tsuyoshi Inoue and primarily features Onitsuka singing in front of a Christian cross. As of August 2018, it has received over 40 million views.

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"Gekkō" served as the theme song to the Japanese comedy crime drama television series Trick and later used in the two films based on the series, Trick: the Movie (2002) and Trick The Movie: Last Stage (2014).[5] Also, the song was used as the Japanese theme song to the American science-fiction romance television series Journeyman and used in some Japanese Variety shows. The song was later covered by the Japanese singer-songwriter Hideaki Tokunaga, on his fourth cover album Vocalist 4, which has sold over 250,000 copies.

"Arrow of Pain" served as the theme song to the Japanese road movie Glowing Glowing (2002).[6]

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Arranger(s)Length
1."Gekkō"Takefumi Haketa5:09
2."Arrow of Pain"
  • Onitsuka
Haketa5:15
3."Gekkō" (Instrumental)
  • Onitsuka
Haketa5:09
Total length:15:33

Charts

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Certification and sales

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ) Platinum 561,000 (physical sales)
2×Platinum 500,000+ (digital sale)

Release history

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Region Date Format Label Ref.
Japan August 9, 2000 CD single [1]
December 3, 2003 digital download [8]

References

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  1. ^ a b "月光 – 鬼束ちひろ / J-POP / 音楽". Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "鬼束ちひろのシングル売上ランキング". Oricon. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Billboard Japan Hot 100". Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  4. ^ "鬼束ちひろ – 月光". Retrieved August 6, 2018 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ "鬼束ちひろ「月光」、14年を経て『トリック』最後の主題歌に". Oricon. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  6. ^ "glowing glowing グローウィン グローウィン:作品情報". 映画.com. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  7. ^ "オリコン2000年TOP100". Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  8. ^ "『月光』鬼束ちひろ". Recochoku. Retrieved August 6, 2018.