Japanese dance-and-vocal group Da-iCE released its new single Uraraka (うららか) on Friday, 16 October 2026, and it’s streaming now through the group’s official listening link. It’s the theme song for the sequel to a drama about an arranged marriage in 1936.
The song is a mid-tempo ballad, sung in Japanese and filed under ballad and pop. It was released as a digital single, with no physical CD announced. Avex lists the release time as midnight local store time, so it went live at 12am wherever it’s distributed.
A Wedding Before the First Hello
The drama is Fuji TV’s A Calm Sea and Beautiful Days with You (波うららかに、めおと日和), adapted from Hachi Nishika’s manga. The story opens in the spring of 1936. Natsumi Sekiya is engaged through an arranged marriage to Takimasa Ebata, a lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the wedding day comes before the two have even met. Takimasa is called away for training, so the bride sits beside his photograph instead. That’s a rough way to start a marriage!
When they finally meet two weeks later, neither knows much about romance. Natsumi has barely spoken with men, while Takimasa is reserved and hard to read. There are no phones and no conveniences to bridge the gap, so the newlyweds have to work out each other’s habits the long way. They figure out how to talk, how to read a silence and how to build a home with someone who was a stranger a fortnight ago.
Japanese fans have a word for the show’s appeal: ubukyun, roughly “innocent heart-flutter”. Holding hands is a big deal in this drama.
10 Songs to Land One
The track comes from Da-iCE vocalist Sota Hanamura and Ryuki Koike of the group GENIC. Avex credits Hanamura with some of Da-iCE’s best-known songs, including I wonder, Nonfictions and Unlimited. Koike has written for artists such as =LOVE, the idol group produced by Rino Sashihara.
Hanamura wanted this job badly enough to write more than 10 songs for it, according to his comments in the theme-song announcement. Uraraka was picked because it felt the most full of happiness. The production team asked for a wedding song, but Hanamura deliberately avoided writing lyrics that only work at a wedding. He wanted them to fit new couples, people about to marry, long-married pairs, friends and family too.
That choice is the smartest thing about the song. A track pinned to one wedding scene would fade with the series. A song about wanting to look after someone can follow a listener well past the finale.
Hanamura also spoke about taking the “baton” from Muchu. He wanted the new theme to feel connected to the first season’s song through its sounds and phrases, while leaning on Da-iCE’s twin-vocal identity. He aimed for a melody that would hold up with only a piano or a guitar behind it.
The arrangement is by ha-j, whose credits include Snow Man, Nogizaka46 and Ryokuoushoku Shakai. Avex says it mixes a solid base with warmth and adds wedding-inspired touches that suit the drama.
What the Leads Heard
Kyoko Yoshine said the song’s opening phrase won her over immediately. She also said it reflects the time the couple have spent together and their more grown-up relationship this season. Kyoya Honda, who plays Takimasa, called it a track for repeated, everyday listening as the weather turns colder.
Honda’s point lands even in Singapore, where cold is a two-week rumour every December. This is a song for the commute and the late-night playlist, built for slow, repeat listens over a single dramatic moment.
Who Is Da-iCE?
Newcomers should know Da-iCE is a five-member group known for twin vocals spanning four octaves. Yudai Ohno and Hanamura sing, while Taiki Kudo, Toru Iwaoka and Hayate Wada are the group’s performers.
Their 2020 single CITRUS won the 63rd Japan Record Award in 2021. Avex says it was the first song by a Japanese male dance and vocal group to pass 100 million streams. I wonder followed with the Excellence Award at the 66th Japan Record Awards. It would have fit right in among the earworms of 2024. Fuji TV describes Uraraka as Da-iCE’s first theme song for one of its terrestrial dramas, which gives the group a fresh audience on Thursday nights.
Natsumi and Takimasa had a photograph and a two-week wait, and you’ve got a whole phone in your pocket, so use it for something gentle tonight. Stream Uraraka through Da-iCE’s official listening link, follow the group on Spotify, and follow the group on Da-iCE’s TikTok. Then send it to the person you’d marry before your first proper conversation!
Visuals courtesy of Da-iCE.
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