Lotus Juice

“

It’s huge in Japan, and the author — Hirohiko Araki — is amazing. He’s like… his ideas are just out there, y’know? And when you see him on TV… he’s 50, but he looks like he’s in his 30s. But yeah, I love JoJo.

”

—Lotus Juice, Otaku USA Magazine Interview (2013)

Lotus Juice is a Japanese musician and one of the pioneers in rap for official Japanese anime and video game music. He is well known for performing in various tracks of the Persona series.

In regards to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, he was the vocalist for "Overdrive" and "Oh please..." in the Battle Tendency [Musik] soundtrack.

Biography

Early life

Kenji Nakamura was born in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of eight, he moved to the United States with his family. He was raised in New Jersey and New York. After graduating from high school in the US, he moved back to Japan for university.^[1]

Nakamura had already been into music since he was young because his dad loved bluegrass music and played the banjo. When he was fourteen, he bought his first hip-hop album, Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest. From then on, he got into hip-hop music and would blast songs while at his friend's house or when playing basketball.^[2]

Professional Work

Around 2006, Shoji Meguro found somebody who then found Lotus Juice. Lotus Juice had a friend in the industry who called him and mentioned that Meguro was looking for a rap artist who could do game music. Lotus Juice was sent "Burn My Dread -Last Battle-" as a sample track and thought it was amazing, so the two began working together for Persona 3's soundtrack. They got very good feedback from fans, and the original soundtrack sold a lot of copies.^[2]

He has been traveling around the world to various countries such as Argentina, Mexico, and USA, performing at anime and game conventions in front of his international fans. His unique flow caught attention from Taku Iwasaki, and their collaboration has gained substantial recognition.^[1]

Lotus Juice has collaborated with Iwasaki in several different series, such as Soul Eater, Black Butler, and Katanagatari.

In 2018, Lotus Juice teamed up with Jack Westwood (stage name of Japanese voice actor, Shunsuke Takeuchi). The two release music together as "AMADEUS".^[3]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Lotus Juice is a big fan of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. While living in New York, he would buy Weekly Shonen Jump at Books Kinokuniya and read it all the time.^[4] His favorite part is Stardust Crusaders,^[5] and he has played Heritage for the Future.^[6]

In 2012, he was contacted by Taku Iwasaki to work with him for two songs in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation. Lotus Juice was very careful about the lyrics of Overdrive and tried to incorporate JoJo quotes into it.^[4] It took him about fifteen minutes to write after listening to Iwasaki's track.^[7] As for Oh please..., he managed to write all of the lyrics in thirty minutes due to his love for the series.^[8]

If he could have a Stand, he would love to have Jotaro Kujo's Star Platinum because he thinks it's the coolest and would let him stop time. He would also love if Araki named a Stand after him and thought of sending Araki his album, but as of 2013, he hasn't yet.^[2]

In 2020, Lotus Juice was the host of Warner Bros. Japan's "Stay Connected with Anime" live stream, which included a program dedicated to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. He was thrilled to see Yugo Kanno perform il vento d'oro live.^[9]

JoJo Discography

#	Cover	Album / Single Name	Artist	Use	Release Date
1		Battle Tendency [Musik] (Oh please... and Overdrive)	Taku Iwasaki / Lotus Juice	Battle Tendency	March 29, 2013

Extended Discography

Only A Test - May 17, 2006
PERSONA 3 Original Soundtrack - July 19, 2006
PERSONA 3 FES ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - May 2, 2007
PERSONA -trinity soul- ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - July 2, 2008
Soul Eater Original Soundtrack 1 - August 27, 2008
Soul Eater Original Soundtrack 2 - March 18, 2009
Kuroshitsuji Sound Complete Black Box - August 26, 2009
PERSONA 3 PORTABLE Original Soundtrack - November 25, 2009
Katanagatari Original Soundtrack Vol.1 - June 23, 2010
Katanagatari Original Soundtrack Vol.2 - December 22, 2010
PERSONA 2 INNOCENT SIN. ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK - April 27, 2011
Persona 4 the ANIMATION Special Soundtrack - January 25, 2012
CARPE DIEM - April 10, 2012
JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE O.S.T Battle Tendency [Musik] - March 29, 2013
NORAGAMI Original Soundtrack - February 19, 2014
PERSONA Q SHADOW OF THE LABYRINTH ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - July 16, 2014
MAGIC KAITO KID Original Soundtrack - April 22, 2015
BUNGO STRAY DOGS Original Soundtrack - June 29, 2016
Catch Me If You Can - July 7, 2016
More Juice - October 17, 2017
NATSU NO NANICA - August 17, 2018
City Hunter the Movie: Shinjuku PRIVATE EYES ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - February 6, 2019
PERSONA 5 ROYAL THE SOUNDTRACK - March 31, 2020
PERSONA DANCING P3D&P5D SOUND TRACKS -ADVANCED CD- - June 24, 2020
Enma-do Sala no Suiri Kitan Original Soundtrack - December 11, 2020
The irregular at magic high school: Visitor Arc Original Soundtrack - December 16, 2020
Bungo Stray Dogs the Movie BEAST Original Soundtrack - January 7, 2022
PERSONA5 THE ROYAL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - February 22, 2022
PERSONA5 SCRAMBLE The Phantom Strikers Original Soundtrack - February 22, 2022
Shin Kamen Rider Music Collection - April 12, 2023
PERSONA SUPER LIVE P-SOUND WISH 2022 ~Kosasuru Tabiji~ - May 24, 2023
PERSONA3 RELOAD LIMITED BOX Original Sound Track - Feburary 2, 2024