Jyukai

Related Tags: Jyukai Extras

Vocals: Manami Watanabe (愛未 real name, 渡辺 愛未)
Guitar / programmer / composer: Yoshiaki Dewa (出羽 良彰)

Jyukai (樹海, Jyukai) was formed in 2004 and is sometimes referred as Jukai.

Dewa grew up learning to play piano and his older brother recruited him to a cover band where Dewa grew to be a creative force, but after three years the band disbanded. He decided to search for a vocalist he could recruit to his group and realise his vision of how music should be: eternal, heart-touching and soulful.

There's a popular but unverified story about how Manami and Dewa decided to start a band together:-

During his search he attended a karaoke session with friends. It was there when friend Manami's singing impressed him enough to recruit her.

Jyukai roughly translates to 'tree sea' (forest), which is commonly referring to a forest at base of Mount Fuji and the forest is locally known as 'Suicide Forest' because it's a popular spot for those who choose to end their lives. But Dewa strongly believes Jyukai is a place of birth, spiritual force and purity where one can create songs that touch hearts.

Jyukai has written several songs for various anime series including:

'Hikari' (ヒカリ) and 'Anata ga Ita Mori' (あなたがいた森 ) for 'Fate/Stay Night'(フェイト／ステイナイト )
'Hoshi Akari' for anime series 'Busou Renkin'(武装錬金)
'Koibito Doshi' for 'Ah! My Goddess: Everyone Has Wings'(ああっ女神さまっ それぞれの翼)

These contributions won them a small but strong cult following.