Music / Hypnosis Mic

A custom direct connection to your mind.

The dawn of the H. Era ^note The H stands for Hip-hop, Hear, Hierarchy, and Heaven.: All weaponized conflict has been eradicated.
The conflict was replaced, not by the military forces, but through the use of specialized microphones which directly affect the mind. Lyrics recited through the device can cause a variety of different effects on a target via their nervous system.
The name of this new technology: the Hypnosis Microphone.
Men are forced to live in areas outside the Central Ward ^note Also known as "Chuoku" called Divisions. One crew represents each division to battle it out and expand their territory. These men put their pride on the line as the Territory Battles begin.
In this new world where words are literally mightier than any weapon, rap is power. _{(translation by hypmic_en)}

Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle is a music franchise by Otomate, Idea Factory and King Records. Beginning in 2017, the franchise consists mostly of character song albums, with drama tracks telling most of the story. The first Battle Season began in 2018, pitting Buster Bros!!! against MAD TRIGGER CREW in WAR WAR WAR, and Fling Posse against Matenro in BATTLE BATTLE BATTLE. MAD TRIGGER CREW and Matenro won their respective battles and continued on into the final round, DEATH RESPECT. The crowned winner of the final round was Matenro.

The second Battle Season had Dotsuitare Honpo against Buster Bros!!!, Matenro against Bad Ass Temple and Fling Posse against MAD TRIGGER CREW, culminating in a three-way showdown between Buster Bros!!!, Matenro and Fling Posse. Fling Posse emerged victorious.

In addition, three different manga have been announced for the franchise, all of which will begin serializing in December 2018: one focusing on the Buster Bros!!!/MAD TRIGGER CREW rivalry, another focusing on Fling Posse/Matenro, and a prequel manga focusing on the rise and fall of The Dirty Dawg. Dotsuitare Honpo and Bad Ass Temple joined them in April 2020, while the manga were continued in 2020 and 2021 with Side BB & MTC+, Side FP & M+ and Dawn of Divisions. Side DH & BAT+ began in November 2022.

A mobile game adaptation was announced at 2018's Otomate Party, and was released in March 2020. Titled Hypnosis Mic: Alternative Rap Battle, this Rhythm Game is set in an Alternate Continuity than the main story. In April 2019, Otomate released a song, "History of Hypnosis Mic", sung by Japanese educational rapper Co.Keio, providing a brief history of the series from initial conception to the current (as of April 2019) season for newcomers.

An anime television series adaptation titled Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle: Rhyme Anima was announced on December 4, 2019. The series premiered on October 2nd, 2020 and is licensed by Aniplex of America. Season 2 was announced at AnimeJapan 2023.

All songs are available on the project's YouTube channel, although some of them just as previews.
Since October 2, 2019, all songs and most of the drama tracks were made available for streaming outside Japan on Apple Music and Spotify (new songs become available on release date depending on your time zone). In addition, King Records has an official fan club for the franchise, Hypster, for fans all over the world to join, with perks and rewards exclusive for registered members.

Discography:

• Team introduction
  • Ikebukuro Division: BUSTER BROS!!! Generation - Character song album for Buster Bros!!!
  • Yokohama Division: BAYSIDE M.T.C - Character song album for MAD TRIGGER CREW
  • Shinjuku Division: Matenro - Aural Medicine - Character song album for Matenro
  • Shibuya Division: Fling Posse-F.P.S.M- - Character song album for Fling Posse
• First Battle Season
  • Buster Bros!!! VS MAD TRIGGER CREW - Battle Season album, pitting Buster Bros!!! against MAD TRIGGER CREW, with MAD TRIGGER CREW as the winner.
  • Fling Posse VS Matenro - Battle Season album, pitting Fling Posse against Matenro with Matenro as the winner.
  • MAD TRIGGER CREW vs Matenro - Battle Season album, pitting MAD TRIGGER CREW against Matenro with Matenro as the winner. Includes remixes of the group songs from the previous albums.
  • The Champion - Single containing the winning song for Matenro and T.D.D Legend, a song by The Dirty Dawg
• Enter the Hypnosis Microphone - The first full album, containing division songs, songs from the battle season and several new songs.
• Introduction of new teams
  • Osaka Division: Aah, Osaka dreamin' night - Character song album for Dotsuitare Honpo.
  • Nagoya Division: Bad Ass Temple Funky Sounds - Character song album for Bad Ass Temple.
• Division Rap Battle+, a remake of the original to include the new divisions.
• Division Battle Anthem+, a remake of the original to include the new divisions.
• Before the second battle season
  • Buster Bros!!! -Before The 2nd D.R.B- - Second character song album for Buster Bros!!!
  • MAD TRIGGER CREW -Before The 2nd D.R.B- - Second character song album for MAD TRIGGER CREW
  • Fling Posse -Before The 2nd D.R.B- - Second character song album for Fling Posse
  • Matenro -Before The 2nd D.R.B- - Second character song album for Matenro
• Second Battle Season
  • Dotsuitare Honpo VS Buster Bros!!! - Battle Season album, pitting Dotsuitare Honpo against Buster Bros!!! with Buster Bros!!! as the winner.
  • Bad Ass Temple VS Matenro - Battle Season album, pitting Bad Ass Temple against Matenro with Matenro as the winner.
  • Fling Posse VS MAD TRIGGER CREW - Battle Season album, pitting Fling Posse against MAD TRIGGER CREW with Fling Posse as the winner.
  • SHOWDOWN, the 3-way battle song between Buster Bros!!!, Fling Posse and Matenro with Fling Posse as the winner.
  • Bonds of Friendship Born of Bonds of Pain - Single containing the winning song for Fling Posse and UNITED EMCEEZ, a song by the 6 division leaders.
• Bonus songs released with the manga
  • Wrap&Rap ～3 Minutes Vibe Cooking～ - duet by Doppo Kannonzaka and Hifumi Izanami.
  • Nausa de Zuiqu, also sometimes known as Sauna Quiz - duet by Ichiro Yamada and Samatoki Aohitsugi.
  • Private Time - duet by Riou Mason Busujima and Jyuto Iruma.
  • LESSON - duet by Jakurai Jinguji and Ramuda Amemura.
  • Naniwa☆Paradise^note It's written with the character for alcohol/sake (read "shu") as the "su" in "paradaisu" - trio^note much like a duet is two people, a trio is for 3 people by Dotsuitare Honpo.
  • RIP - trio by Bad Ass Temple.
  • Double Trouble - duet by Samatoki Aohitsugi and Sasara Nurude.
  • Murder at the Mystery Mansion - duet by Gentaro Yumeno and Dice Arisugawa.
  • Birthday - duet by Jakurai Jinguji and Ramuda Amemura.
  • We Are Untouchable - duet by Jyuto Iruma and Riou Mason Busujima.
  • Hot Game - duet by Hifumi Izanami and Doppo Kannonzaka.
• Bonus songs originally released with the Official Guidebook
  • SUMMIT OF DIVISIONS - An all-division song.
  • Femme Fatale - Team introduction song for the Central Ward Divsion.
• Songs which were unveiled for CROSS A LINE (2nd full album):
  • The title track by Division All-Stars.
  • Ikebukuro West Block Party for Buster Bros!!!.
  • Scarface for MAD TRIGGER CREW.
  • Anyway, Get on the Floor for Fling Posse.
  • Synchro City for Matenro.
  • Enishi for Dotsuitare Honpo.
  • Hella Awesome Banquet for Bad Ass Temple.
• Verbal Justice - Character song album for the Central Ward Division.
• Songs which comprise the 2 extended plays, The Block Party - Homies and Hoods:
  • Rivals!! by Dice and Doppo.
  • White and Black by Jyuto and Rei.
  • Sup, Livin’ Up, ~OSAKA Big Up~ by Sasara and Rosho.
  • Get busy by Jiro and Kuko.
  • Viva la Liberty by Ramuda and Saburo.
  • The Devil's Flower by Jyushi and Argo Kushii Orchestra^note If this song sounds familiar, part of it first appeared on the drama track Harmonious Cooperation.
  • Beyond the Dreams by Gentaro.
  • Closer by Jakurai and Hitoya.
  • Positive My Life by Hifumi with Hoods.
  • Move Your Body Til You Die! by Riou with Homies.
  • Blue Flame by Samatoki.
  • HIPHOPPIA by Ichiro^note From the lyrics, the name is presumably a mashup of "hip hop" and "utopia".
• Play House by Keitoin Honobono, the bonus song on the Homies extended play.
• Bounce Back! by Zansei and Zan'en Tobari, the bonus song on the Hoods extended play.
• Originally exclusive to the limited edition of the guidebook+^note although Bonds+ was revealed in full at the ninth live show, Zero Out, prior to this:
  • Hypnotic Summer and Bonds+ (Bonds, the ending song of the anime's first season, with Osaka and Nagoya verses), songs for Division All-Stars.
  • WINK, a song by the Central Ward Division.
• Other
  • Alternative Rap Battle, the theme song for the mobile game.
  • Survival of the Illest - a song initially exclusive to the game and featuring the 4 divisions available at the time. However, the 2nd division rap battle revealed Osaka and Nagoya parts of the song.
  • Hang Out! - another theme song for the mobile game.

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Welcome to the Division!:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Rhyme Anima uses CG for some of the rap battle scenes, having characters to move more than usuall.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Aside from references to the hypnosis microphones and Chuoku, there's barely any indication that the story takes place in the future.
  • Fashion styles remain the same, people's everyday lives seem largely unchanged, and Ichiro makes references to Neon Genesis Evangelion.
  • Gentaro and Doppo also make references to the Reiwa era (in Alternative Rap Battle and BLACK OR WHITE, respectively) as if it were present day, even though the Reiwa era should be distant history by the time the story takes place.
  • Apparently, according to the TDD manga, the world had just gotten out of World War III, which was responsible for the death of a full third of the world's population, but this major event seems to have barely had any effect on Japan, aside from the establishment of Chuoku. Host clubs still exist.
• Art Shift:
  • Many parts in the lyric video for Fling Posse's Stella use CGI imagery of outer space and planets rather than the rolling road as the background.
  • The video for Hifumi's Party wo Tomenaide uniquely uses neon animated graphics, and its title plus some lyrics are presented like a karaoke video.
  • From the trailers, White and Black looks like an old crime drama while Positive My Life looks like a video game with 8-bit pixel effects.
• Artifact of Death: A non-magical example. The True Hypnosis Microphone is a severely upgraded version of the normal Hypnosis Mic that is far more powerful than its counterpart. The True Hypnosis Mic is able to completely overwrite a target's mind, putting them in a comatose state or hijacking their mind. However, it is so unstable that it completely drains and kills its user.
• Badass Crew: The Dirty Dawg. It was a legendary rap crew formed two years prior to the story, composed of the leaders of each of the current divisions, but broke up for unknown reasons.
• Battle Rapping: The entire basis of the plot. Monthly Territory Battles are organized by the Central Ward. The representative crew from each division puts their territory on the line to fight for additional territory and a monetary prize.
• Bland-Name Product: A fast food chain called WcDonald's frequently appears in ARB.
• Call-Back:
  • Ichiro's first lines in "WAR WAR WAR" are "Ore ga Ichiro (I am Ichiro), Big Bro in da house, yo" from his first solo song, "Ore ga Ichiro".
  • In the first episode of Rhyme Anima, Ramuda hums the melody of his first solo song, "drops".
  • Rio drops "2DIE4" at the end of his verse in "Bayside-Suicide", refering to his second solo by the same name. Fittingly, both "2DIE4" and "Bayside-Suicide" were composed by the rapper ELIONE (who also used "2DIE4" in his songs).
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: It's an Otomate series, what did you expect? Though Rio leans more towards a Hunk while Jakurai, Rei, and Hitoya have Silver Fox qualities.
• Cast Herd:
  • The main characters are sorted into "Divisions" that represent a Tokyo district (or in the case of Osaka and Nagoya, a Japanese city). There's Ikebukuro/Buster Bros (Ichiro, Jiro, Saburo), Yokohama/MAD TRIGGER CREW (Samatoki, Jyuto, Rio), Shibuya/Fling Posse (Ramuda, Gentaro, Dice), Shinjuku/Matenro (Jakurai, Hifumi, Doppo), Osaka/Dotsuitare Honpo (Sasara, Rosho, Rei), and Nagoya/Bad Ass Temple (Kuko, Jyushi, Hitoya).
  • There's also the division leaders/first-liners (Ichiro, Samatoki, Ramuda, Jakurai, Sasara, Kuko), the second-liners (Jiro, Jyuto, Gentaro, Hifumi, Rosho, Jyushi), and the third-liners (Saburo, Rio, Dice, Doppo, Rei, Hitoya).
• It is also possible to split characters by shuffle team (from the drama track Mixed Up), ARB events they're featured in (e.g. one soul swap event features Jiro, Hifumi and Rosho) and also into "Homies" and "Hoods" (from The Block Party).
• Chromosome Casting: The main cast consists of all-male rap groups, with most women serving as side characters, family, or announcers.
• Clothing Damage: Apparently, rap battles fought using hypnosis microphones can cause this, as seen on the DEATH RESPECT album cover.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The four main divisions are represented by the three primary colors, plus grey. Everyone introduced after them takes from another color of the rainbow.
  • Ikebukuro is red.
  • Yokohama is blue.
  • Shibuya is yellow.
  • Shinjuku is grey.
  • Osaka is orange.
  • Nagoya is purple.
  • The Party of Words, a female-based political party of Japan, is represented by the color hot pink.
  • In the past, The Dirty Dawg was represented by the color black.
• Darker and Edgier: Plenty of the second season solo songs compared to the older ones.
  • New Star is a fairly calm Establishing Character Moment for Saburo, whereas Requiem is much more intense and has lyrics akin to Saburo developing a god complex.
  • drops is an upbeat song with cutesy lyrics, while Pink-Colored Love has a glitch aesthetic and the second half of the song mirrors Ramuda's character arc in "The Loneliness, Tears, and Hope of a Puppet."
  • Tigridia is slow and somber with depressing lyrics, while BLACK OR WHITE has Doppo outright rap about serious issues in Japan's workforce, such as power harassment.
• Establishing Character Moment: Division Rap Battle is one for all of the characters, and each division as a whole, as well.
• Excuse Plot: The premise of the franchise seems like this, as there is really no logical reason as to why battle rapping should have to do with the segregation of men and women in their world, along with a majority of the population being wiped out in a war. The franchise does do its best to gradually build up off of the initial premise with every installment that comes after, however.
• Everyone Has a Special Move: Every major character has a "Rap Ability", special powers that develop when they continue to successfully use the Hypnosis Mic over a long period of time.
  • Ichiro: "Critical Blow", which allows him to release a critical hit more powerful than standard attacks.
  • Jiro: "Rally", in which he releases a strong one-time attack by using a power from his teammates.
  • Saburo: "Delete", in which he nullifies an opponent's attack.
  • Samatoki: "Counter Blow", in which he absorbs his opponent's attacks and retaliates with increased power.
  • Jyuto: "Prison", in which he immobilizes an opponent and traps them in a "cage".
  • Riou: "Shelter", which creates a barrier that increases defense for him and his team.
  • Ramuda: "Dazzle", in which he creates illusions.
  • Gentaro: "Imitation", in which he copies an opponent's Rap Ability.
  • Dice: "Max Bet", which grants him a random ability with random effects depending on his luck.
  • Jakurai: "Medication", in which he heals his team or another person and returns them to a normal state of mind.
  • Hifumi: "Enchant", in which he causes his opponent to attack their ally instead of him.
  • Doppo: "Berserker", in which he unleashes an enormous amount of offensive (but uncontrollable) power at the cost of his energy.
  • Sasara: "Killing Joke", which makees his opponent laugh uncontrollably, which makes it hardr to rap.
  • Rosho: "Educate", which reveals all information about his opponent, including tactics and weaknesses.
  • Rei: "Fraud", which distorts an opponent's Rap Ability and redirects to their allies.
  • Kuko: "Meditate", which seals an opponent's Rap Ability, preventing its usage.
  • Jyushi: "Courage"
  • Hitoya: "Objection", deflects an opponent's attack back at them.
• First-Name Basis: Within the divisions, almost everybody calls their other teammates by their first names, with the exceptions being Saburo and Jiro calling Ichiro "Ichi-nii"/"nii-chan", and Doppo and Hifumi calling Jakurai "Sensei". The women in Chuoku also refer to Hifumi, Doppo, Dice, and Ramuda by their first names, although they refer to Gentaro as "Yumeno-sensei".
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The members of The Dirty Dawg fit this trope, with Ramuda as the Sanguine, Samatoki as the Choleric, Ichiro as the Phlegmatic, and Jakurai as the Melancholic.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: ARB has made a habit of releasing this sort of story for April Fool's Day. As of 2023, it's happened to the division leaders and the second-liners, but the results are known to be hilarious every time.
• History Repeats: In a meta sense. Banning the use of weapons and the restrictions that followed on who was felt to be the instigators really caused a lot of disaster in the years following, especially when a new weapon rose to take its place... just like the last time the most well-known weapons were banned in the country.
• "I Am" Song: As per the video example, Ore ga Ichiro is one and the most notable, although all of the first round of solo songs are this to establish what the characters are like (bar possibly Scenario Liar).
• Idol Genre: The series is marketed to idol Otaku and is referred as an "idol series" by Aniplex of America. The manga even lampshades this when Hifumi states that the division battle finalists have gained an idol-like status amongst the women in the Central Ward.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The battles between districts are voted on by women all over Japan; this goes for out of universe as well, since the rap battles are voted on using codes from CD releases and digital tickets for CGI-animated video streams.
• Lighter and Softer:
  • Matenro's song from the full-length album, Papillon, is a relaxing upbeat song about their break from their hectic lives by going to the beach, a stark contrast from their usual darker and serious songs.
  • Jiro's first solo, Sensenfukoku, is a rock song with aggressive lyrics emphasizing his Blood Knight nature, whereas School of IKB is significantly more mellow in tone.

• Mind-Control Music: It's all in the mic's name. While the usual methods are still used, they're also shown to be used as tools to convince or calm down a homicidal rampage.
• Musical Assassin: Technically, all characters fit this trope, since rap is a weapon in the Hypnosis Mic universe.
• Nested Story Reveal: Happens at least twice throughout the series.
  • In the F.P vs. M. manga, Fling Posse lose to the other team in the DRB preliminary tournament, which causes them to spend more time together and build their teamwork... Which turns out to be a story, made up by Gentaro. In reality, Fling Posse mopped the floor with their opponents in no time.
  • The bonus drama track "A Hymn For Men" features an adventure of "Jyuto" and "Rio" in the terrorist-ridden police precinct. However, "Rio" turns out to be a traitor who was been working with the terrorists and confronts his police comrade in the last stand. The actual Jyuto, who had been watching this movie, remarks that the main characters are quite similar to him and Rio.
• Power Trio: Each division's groups are comprised of three members. This is intentional, as the Block Party drama tracks reveal.
• Production Foreshadowing: As noted in the chronology above, The Devil's Flower first partially appeared on the drama track Harmonious Cooperation.
• Real After All: Episode 5 of Rhyme Anima features Fling Posse dealing with recent ghost sightings in Shibuya, although Gentaro insists that ghosts aren't real. He ends up being correct, as the sightings were engineered by a gang of frauds... that is until the very end of the episode, where Gentaro shows Ramuda and Dice a photo of them. And a ghost figure standing right behind Ramuda, which makes them both freak out.
• Sampling: Saburo's solo songs sample classical music so far, as New Star samples Air on the G String while "Requiem" samples Verdi's Dies irae from Requiem.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man:
  • Saburo and Jiro. Saburo is more intellectual and prefers spending his free time playing card or board games, and he occasionally has his cute/childish moments in spite of his snarky and haughty demeanor. Jiro is a brash, Hot-Blooded delinquent who plays soccer and is prone to picking fights.
  • Jyushi and Kuko. The former is a sensitive Visual Kei musician who's Prone to Tears and carries a stuffed pig with him, while the latter is foul-mouthed and Hot-Blooded.
• Shout-Out:
  • In Ichiro's solo, Ore ga Ichiro:
    "This neon rap genesis for a new generation,
    If it's mind-blowing flow and skill you want, that's my job."
  • IKEBUKURO WEST GAME PARK is very close to the name of an urban mystery novel and television series that takes place in Ikebukuro.
  • On April Fool's Day 2019, Buster Bros!!! performed a rap remix of the King of Prism version of EZ DO DANCE.
  • In Shinogi (Dead Pools), Rio has a line "Cash Rules subete wo My Hood" ("Cash rules everything in my hood"), which might be a reference to Wu-Tang Clan's C.R.E.A.M. ("Cash rules everything around me, C.R.E.A.M.").
  • MAD TRIGGER CREW's Scarface song is a rather obvious example. To add to the pile, Jyuto has a line "Say hello to my little friend", and the music video for a song features a "The World Is Yours" blimp.
• Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: Of the men and women being separated variant and what happens/happened to families. Men can only enter the women's district with permission. Their current world doesn't seem to be entirely built on sexism, however, as the background women observed in the Drama CDs from Chuoku so far don't seem to have a problem with Hifumi ^note outside of lustfully pursuing him or the other male characters. The same can't be said for the leaders of government itself, though it's currently unclear if every government official shares the same views as the Prime Minister.
• Smart Jerk and Nice Moron:
  • Saburo and Jiro. Saburo is book smart, likes board and card games, and is skilled with hacking, but he's very snarky and unbelievably insufferable and smug. Jiro is Book Dumb and prone to acting without thinking, but he's well-intentioned (if not brash and hot-tempered) and has a hatred for bullies.
  • Rosho and Sasara play with this trope. Rosho is cranky and irritable, and he also happens to be a teacher who usually plays the role of the Tsukkomi, but he became a teacher because he wanted to help kids reach their dreams. Sasara is an upbeat man who likes making people laugh and is prone to repeating tacky gags offstage, but he can be obnoxious at times.
• Spice Up the Subtitles: The official subs for the anime contain many gratuitous F bombs.
• Status Quo Is God: In the "When Six Colors Combine, "" Begins" drama track, the Division leaders finally squash their beef and finally talk up their issues with each other, even teaming up against Honobono. By the end of the track, all leaders conclude that they just can't get along as they used to, and go their separate ways.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Apparently Hypnosis Mics cause this to happen a lot. One notable instance of this trope is the Ignition card series from the game, which in turn was most likely inspired by the first anime opening but also extends to Dotsuitare Honpo and Bad Ass Temple.
• Token Mini-Moe: Ramuda is the shortest of the main cast and has a childlike appearance and demeanor, but he's actually 24 years old.
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: The four main divisions? Just Tokyo ^note  and Yokohama as usual.
• Villain Episode: The drama tracks "Even Intense Rain Can't Wash The Change Away", "The Wind Comes First To The House Before The Storm", and "No one lives forever" are centered around the Party of Words.
• We Used to Be Friends: The ex-members of The Dirty Dawg. The Ichiro-Samatoki and the Jakurai-Ramuda pairs don't get along anymore. Ichiro and Ramuda are shown to still be friendly with each other, and Samatoki and Jakurai also seem to be on good terms. Ramuda then gives Samatoki reason to hate him in the 2nd division rap battle.
• Wham Episode: The "No one lives forever" drama track. Otome seizes Rei's secret laboratory by taking his comatose wife hostage, and demands him to hand over the True Hypnosis Mics and the Ramuda clones. She unveils her grand plan to use the newfound resources to brainwash the population of Japan to seize the violence for good, to the point when Nemu and even Ichijiku can't approve of it. However, Rei thwarts her plan by disabling all Hypnosis Mics, turning the clones against Chuohku, and declares that the Division Rap Battles will not be held anymore.
• Wham Line: From the "Know Your Enemy side F.P VS M" drama track:
  Ramuda (over the phone): Yeah, that won't be a problem. Without any delay. If there is anything suspicious about the other divisions, I'll report it immediately. Yes, if you can.
  Ramuda: Of course, Ichijiku onee-san!

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