Emo songs recommended for junior high school students: A roundup of classic and popular Japanese tracks!

SunnyThe Back Horn

THE BACK HORN “Sunny” Music Video

As you move through junior high and high school, I think you start becoming more aware of those around you.

There will be times when you can’t accept society’s rules or can’t reconcile things with yourself, and times when you can’t make good use of time alone.

I hope you listen to this song during your school years and remember it from time to time after you become an adult.

Bengal Tiger and Whiskey ~ everything is my guitarandymori

Bengal Tiger and Whiskey ~ everything is my guitar

A song I recommend to help people realize that we’re being put into a box called “school” every day.

Do you feel like you’re not allowed to have your own opinions because you’re bound by school rules and unspoken norms? I believe the world is more than just “school,” and that it’s a place where self-expression is recognized.

This is a track filled with the rebellious spirit of youth.

SAYONARA BABY BLUEumino te

Uminote – SAYONARA BABY BLUE (MV)

A song I want to listen to with someone by the seaside at the end of summer.

It feels like it captures that slight loneliness at the moment the seasons change in an otherwise uneventful everyday life.

The song itself is aimed at working adults.

A band with high-level, if somewhat niche, performance technique and expressive power.

I hope that someday, when you’ve grown up, you’ll stumble into a live house by chance and encounter a song like this.

It might be a train.tama

Toshiyaki Chiku – Soul Experiments – It Might Be a Train

Friends in the same box will probably be on the same train until graduation.

That said, our destinations will change quite a lot while we’re still in school.

Do we really exist? What if the moment comes when the scenery we’re seeing stops being true? It’s a song that makes me feel like I’m being asked questions from a modern literature class.

Denden Passiondenpagumi.inc

Dempagumi.inc “Denden Passion” MV [Isn’t it silly if there’s nothing fun!?]

An uplifting song from an eccentric, on-the-brink idol group.

There are times when you might feel like giving up on your goals, but listening to this track lifts your spirits and makes you think, “Maybe I can try again tomorrow.” Standing before their bright, high-spirited voices, you’ll start to feel that brooding over things is just pointless.

Deliberately not resistingyurayura teikoku

Yura Yura Teikoku live at RSR 2008

Unreasonable homework from cram school, blatantly unachievable goals from club activities, unfair demands from parents, sudden calls from friends.

What do they even think I am!? When you’re burdened with a feeling that’s neither anger nor sadness—something suspended in midair—why not try raising your hands and choosing not to resist, unbound by anything? It might help you avoid the risk of getting shot.

If I can’t use magic, I want to die.Omori Seiko

Seiko Oomori “If I Can’t Use Magic” PV

A song I want to listen to when everything feels hopeless.

On those unbearable days when I end up staying up late, and even when I try to sleep, I can’t.

Isn’t this the kind of song you put on repeat a few times to console yourself? The magic of a school uniform only lasts for six years, you know.