Kizu’s haunting music video for “Oni” will give you goosebumps

Visual kei band Kizu premiered the music video for “Oni” on May 16. “Oni” is the band’s 15th single, with the digital release becoming available for streaming just a few days earlier on May 13.

The video is appropriately atmospheric, fitting for the song, which starts with LiME’s vocals accompanied only by a somber piano melody. On-screen we see visuals of what may be the oni or “demon”—a woman with black, clawed hands holding a light that drifts away, and the fruit of a lantern plant lying on fabric stained with red.

The slow and ballad-like singing picks up the pace with a whispered, even tempo that resembles a chant. Then the rest of the band jumps in, shadow hands reaching for them as they play, and the piano notes drifting higher while the music continues to build, increasing the tension all the way up until the chorus.

As is the case with many of the band’s recent releases, the theme is quite dark and emotional. The lyrics of the song speak to wanting to live and breathe and love, even if you’re no good, even if you feel darui—that is, tired and weighed down.

A detail that you might miss if you don’t read Japanese; at 2:31 in the video, LiME sings in Japanese, “For your sake, you die. As flashy as you can, you die. And then die…”. But if you look at the lyrics written on the right side, the kanji character for “die” is faded out, and what is actually written is “For your sake, you live. As flashy as you can, you live. And then live…”.

Kizu always seems to be coming up with creative new looks tailored to each of their singles and this time is no different. Check out their “Oni” style below: