is the 6th single by Zard released on 27 January 1993 under B-Gram Records label.

Background

According to the song's composer Tetsurō Oda, Izumi Sakai was singing "strangely," but it proved to be good. The single reached #1 rank, the first time a Zard single had done so. It charted for 18 weeks and it sold over 1.64 million copies and became the highest-selling song for Zard. When she died, it was elected as the best song by Zard on the Oricon polls. It was a song that greatly appealed to the Japanese public. Released at a time that is now seen as the beginning of Japan's post economic bubble era when the

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Index had shrunk in value by a third in only three years, "Makenaide" (Don't Give Up) became known as the theme song of the country's " Lost Decade." While Sakai commented on the television show ''Music Station'' that it would encourage men taking examinations, many people said this song helped them cope with difficult issues such as school bullying. Zard fans’ favorite phrase, "Run through until the End," was originally "Do Not Give Up until the End." "Makenaide" has been used as a theme song for the

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

program ''24-hour TV'', an annual charity program hosted live by celebrities for a day. Sakai said that she was honored and looked forward to watching ''24-hour TV.'' The song was also adopted by

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Track list

All songs are written by Izumi Sakai # #*composer: Tetsurō Oda/arrangement: Takeshi Hayama #Stray Love #*composer: Daria Kawashima/arrangement: Masao Akashi # (original karaoke) #Stray Love (original karaoke)

Cover

The song was covered by Emiri Katō as the ending song to episode 12 of the

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

adaptation of '' Lucky Star'', in a tribute to the late Izumi Sakai. Junior from the same music company, Mai Kuraki performed the cover on 1 February 2019 on music television program

Music Station , stylised in all caps, is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently sy ...

. The duet received positive feedbacks from both the Mai Kuraki and Zard fans, the recording will be included in limited edition of studio album '' Let's Goal!: Barairo no Jinsei''. The cover has been produced and arranged by Hiroshi Asai from instrumental fusion band Sensation.

References

{{authority control 1993 singles Zard songs Songs written by Tetsurō Oda Oricon Weekly number-one singles Songs in Japanese Japanese television drama theme songs Songs written by Izumi Sakai 1993 songs Song recordings produced by Daiko Nagato B Zone singles