Hikaru Utada to Perform New "Chibi Maruko-chan" Ending Theme

Singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada's new song Pappa Paradise will serve as the next ending theme song for the long-running anime TV series "Chibi Maruko-chan", beginning on March 29th.

Written by Utada themself based on an outline from Fuji TV's anime production department, Pappa Paradise will be only the thirteenth ending theme in "Chibi Maruko-chan"'s 32 years on air. Details for the song's release will be announced at a later date.

Elsewhere, on March 9th, American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth digitally released Home, a duet featuring Utada, as a pre-release single from his forthcoming album Whatever's Clever.

Utada said of the song: "[It was] a very fun challenge to contribute Japanese lyrics to an English song, from creating rhyme in languages that have such different phonetics, to being surprised by Charlie’s beautiful Japanese chorus work. I hope everyone enjoys this bilingual song and its universal message."

The music video for Home (feat. Hikaru Utada) can be watched below.