Few anime acts have crossed from fiction onto the real charts as convincingly as Walküre. Created inside Macross Delta as a “tactical sound unit”, a group whose songs are part of the plot, the five singers stepped off the screen and became a genuine arena draw, topping the charts and collecting a Japan Gold Disc Award along the way. When they wrapped up with a farewell arena tour, it looked like a clean ending. It wasn’t. Walküre are back, and the comeback single is called “Walküre wa Makerarenai”, roughly “Walküre can’t afford to lose”.

The return was unveiled during a SHOWROOM livestream celebrating the anniversary of the series, and FlyingDog, the label behind the franchise’s music, is building a campaign around it: full versions of the show’s music videos will roll out weekly on its official YouTube channel, starting with the first opening theme, “Ichido Dake no Koi Nara”.

The single carries four new recordings. The title track, written and arranged by Yusuke Kato, leans into the classic kayōkyoku sound that the announcement calls the essence of Walküre. “No Limit! No Brake!”, by Aira, is a club anthem pitched as a new direction for the comeback. “Ka·i·ka·n” fuses Showa-era pop with techno, and “Ikenai Borderline ~Perfect 5 Mix~” re-records the unit’s signature song with added strings, sung this time by all five members.

Jacket illustration by Chisato Mita showing the five Walküre characters in flight suits leaping through space — Jacket illustration by Chisato Mita (CAPCOM). Image: ©2015 BIGWEST/MACROSS DELTA PROJECT

There is a reason the songs sound like they belong to a story: they do. All four were created for a new audio drama, “Kyousou no Walküre”, which fills the second disc of the first-press edition. It is written by Toshizo Nemoto, who handled series composition across Macross Delta, and the label’s special site credits Macross creator Shoji Kawamori as director. The plot puts the five members in a race against one another to promote a new Micro Variable Fighter. The site frames it as Walküre’s long-held rule: no music that has nothing to do with the story. Chisato Mita of Capcom, the series’ original character designer, drew the new jacket.

Since their 2016 debut, Walküre have topped the Oricon weekly singles and albums charts and the Billboard Japan weekly singles chart, and their first album, Walküre Attack!, won Animation Album of the Year at the Japan Gold Disc Awards. Their last outing, the Final Live Tour 2023 “Last Mission”, played six arena shows to roughly 74,000 people. The line-up is unchanged: JUNNA (the singing voice of Mikumo), Minori Suzuki (Freyja), Kiyono Yasuno (Kaname), Nao Toyama (Reina) and Nozomi Nishida (Makina).

Release announcement for the Walküre single Walküre wa Makerarenai with the tracklist and jacket art — Image: FlyingDog / ©2015 BIGWEST/MACROSS DELTA PROJECT

“Walküre wa Makerarenai” arrives on March 24, 2027, as a first-press 2CD edition (¥3,520) and a standard CD (¥1,980). The songs reach Spotify, Apple Music and other services the same day; the drama disc stays offline. The video series starts on November 5 at midnight Japan time with “Ichido Dake no Koi Nara”, whose music video has passed 23 million views, followed by “Zettai Reido Θ Novatick”, “Walküre ga Tomaranai”, “Walküre wa Uragiranai” and “Mirai wa Onna no Tame ni Aru”.

A band invented to win battles with songs, returning on a single that insists it can’t lose: the franchise knows exactly what it is. Whether this is a one-off anniversary encore or a second act is the real question.

Tags: FlyingDog, Macross, Shoji Kawamori, anime songs, JUNNA, Macross Delta