A song themed around being divorced once. A breakup song.

aloneNakajima Mika

Mika Nakashima “Hitori” MUSIC VIDEO Shorts ver.

Released as a single in 2005, it was chosen as the main theme for Square Enix’s game Drakengard 2: Seal of Red, Pact of Black.

The song explores the gap between ideals and reality, and the loneliness of realizing you’ve ended up all alone.

Sunny day HolidayMatsutōya Yumi

Narita Divorce

This is a song by the well-known Yuming that was used as the theme song for the drama Narita Rikon, which starred Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, formerly of SMAP.

The drama itself is fairly mainstream and widely known, and since it’s a Yuming song, many people likely remember it.

It could be considered one of the classics for songs dealing with breakups or being divorced once.

People of the pastHY

[A Tearjerker] A Song That Makes Everyone Remember the Past: “To People of the Past” by HY

The person who was supposed to vow eternity with you has gone on to find happiness without you.

This HY song captures that bittersweet reality.

Even though you’ve decided to “fall in love with someone else,” you still find yourself drifting into “what ifs” in quiet moments, clinging to the hope that maybe you could still go back.

Many of us have been there.

The track was included on the album GLOCAL, released in February 2014, and was performed on a nationwide tour covering 22 locations that same year.

When you’ve been through a divorce and your ex-partner’s happiness unsettles you, the harder you try to forget, the more vivid the memories become.

Perhaps letting yourself sink fully into the melancholy while listening to this song might actually become the very push you need to face forward.

At HomeNakajima Miyuki

At Home

This is a work by Miyuki Nakajima that portrays the resolve to sever ties with the place one ought to return to and to live in the place one stands now.

Watching the last train bound for her hometown depart, the protagonist deliberately chooses not to go back—an image that overlaps with the loneliness and determination of someone breaking away from their past life to walk a new path alone.

The piece was included on the acclaimed 1977 June release “A-RI-GA-TO-U” and is also widely known as the B-side to the smash single “Wakare Uta.” It has been cherished as a song that colors the world of dramas crafted by So Kuramoto as well.

The warm folk sound seems to gently envelop both the loneliness that follows a major decision and the strength to keep looking forward despite it.

ShipwreckNakamori Akina

Nanpasen (2014 Remaster)

This song was written and composed by Tokiko Kato and provided to Akina Nakamori.

Released in 1987 as her 19th single, the cover came to fruition because Kato herself ardently wished for Nakamori to sing it.

It likens a heart that has lost love and has nowhere to go to a ship stranded by a storm.

For those who have gone through the profound parting of divorce and feel their hearts on the verge of breaking from an unbearable loneliness, the depth of this sorrow will resonate painfully.

It stays close on nights when you don’t want to put on a brave face and instead want to confront your feelings head-on.

Perhaps shedding tears while listening to this song will make your heart feel just a little lighter.

MetronomeYonezu Kenshi

Kenshi Yonezu – Metronome

A song by Kenshi Yonezu that portrays how two hearts that once looked toward the same future gradually drift apart.

This track is included on the album “Bremen,” released in October 2015.

Comparing the couple’s relationship to the tempo marked by a metronome, it describes the bittersweet feeling of their steps, once in sync, slowly falling out of rhythm.

It mirrors the emotional rift that can slowly develop in a marriage, doesn’t it? Even after parting, the wish to keep living in the same rhythm and perhaps meet again someday is something that resonates with those who have faced a major decision.

Doesn’t this song make you feel that you don’t have to force yourself to forget the past, and that it’s okay to embrace the time you walked together and keep living on?

divorced (once)Suzumura Kenichi

Neither-here-nor-there ~ Divorced (once) by Team DT & ED

It’s an insert song used in the 2012 anime Ixion Saga DT, sung by the character voiced by voice actor Kenichi Suzumura.

A song whose title is straightforwardly “Batsuichi” (literally “once divorced”) is actually pretty rare, so it might be a valuable find.