“Otaku are everywhere, all around the world! Thankfully, I can do this huge North America tour, and I can stand on this stage in front of you guys,” exclaimed VK Blanka at 2025 FanimeCon’s MusicFest, to which the crowd cheered with great enthusiasm. During the one-hour performance, the singer-songwriter bounded freely across the stage and grooved to the music, all while engaging the audience with his infectious energy.
While on his second North America tour, VK Blanka appeared at FanimeCon to perform his self-written anime songs and greet convention attendees. Many anime fans know him for his tracks for the Black Clover anime series, “Black Rover” and “Black Catcher.” Three years into his career, the opportunity to write for the series came by chance, according to the artist. “I read all the manga and watched the anime series to try and understand what the characters are feeling,” he started. “I just let myself dive into the story, and then it was easy to write the song and lyrics.” He credited these two songs for taking him around the world, allowing him to play shows across the Americas and Europe. “I never imagined this could happen. I’m a really lucky guy.” A fan of anime and manga himself, VK Blanka hopes to write more anime theme songs in the future. A few on his wishlist include Kaiju No. 8, DAN DA DAN, Marriagetoxin, and even older manga like Liar Game.
In addition to his anime songs, he also performed other original tracks at the show. Going with the flow, the singer asked attendees whether they were in the mood to “chill or get high,” and the audience resoundingly chose the latter option. He played pop songs like “Sad in Saudi Arabia” and “Daddy (Dying in NY)” with upbeat melodies that encouraged the crowd to dance along. VK Blanka often writes music inspired by his travels. On a song about San Jose, he mused, “I feel the atmosphere of San Jose is very open minded and happy. There are palm trees here, so maybe it would have a very tropical feeling.”
Reminiscing on his first overseas tour, he recounted a memorable moment that was something he had never experienced in Japan. “I was in Mexico and did a gig. The crowd passed me a bottle of tequila and they started to chant, ‘Shot, shot, shot,’ I thought they were just joking, but no, they were serious,” he said while chuckling. “The call never stopped until I took two shots on stage. That was a crazy moment.”
This time around he’s doing things a little different: swapping his guitar for a laptop and pad controller. While there’s a practical reason he isn’t bringing his guitar for his second tour (poor handling of his guitar during air travel last tour), he shared that using his devices allows him to make thousands of sounds and he can freestyle more easily with all these options at his fingertips. For example, during a performance he played the sound of a bat striking a baseball while swinging an imaginary bat that really amped the crowd’s energy. Interestingly enough, VK Blanka had no recollection of doing this, but that goes to show how improvisatory his performances can be.
Attendees at his second tour were treated to a live performance of VK Blanka’s upcoming track, “xLxCxA,” set to drop on June 4. “It’s an acronym for lights, camera, action,” he began. “The story behind the song is that there are three characters battling each other. It’s like they’re each saying they’re the best on the stage, so they fight each other through lyrics and rhythm.”
As for what else is next, VK Blanka has his sights set on an even larger world tour with more shows in more countries. To all his supporters, he said, “Thank you for all of your support. Thanks to everyone who kept listening to my music on Spotify and other music streaming services. That’s how this great opportunity came to me. Thank you so much, and I hope to write more great songs and one day come to your town for a gig. Let’s keep in touch!”
