By Alana Grant
On April 26th, Lotus Juice mounted a mid-day performance at Castle Point Anime Convention, marking his first 2026 USA Performance. Wall to wall, fans waved their penlights to songs from the video game “Persona 3,” and other favorites.
Lotus Juice walked onto a bare stage with only a microphone and a turntable, and turned the partitioned main stage area of the convention from a minimalist room into a party for his 1 pm performance, directly in the middle of the final day of Castle Point Anime Convention, in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Just the night before, he had taken the stage to talk about moving from Japan to Jersey as a young boy in the 90’s with minimal English skills. Lotus Juice returned to Tokyo for college, and got roped into rapping in a way he described as “poorly… bad with a mic,” at a gig, which got him invited to a rap crew. After performing with them and creating his own songs, the rest is history.
He was signed with an agency, and published a song that was poorly received by the public. That same song reached the composer behind Persona 3, and the rest is history, as he shot to stardom soon after. His setlist was framed by the songs of Persona, which resonated both with new listeners and active players alike.
A highlight of Lotus Juice’s set arrived in the form of “Overdrive,” a song utilized in part two of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure as the main character, Joseph’s, theme. With its refrain of “Coming through, coming through now, watch me going overdrive,” fans jumped in sync to the fierce beats of the song. Shortly after, Lotus Juice slowed down the energy with “Color Your Night,” another song from the Persona 3 soundtrack. While the crowd had time to cool down, he engaged with some of the biggest fans toward the front.
This lull in energy didn’t last long, with “Deep Breath Deep Breath,” another Persona 3 staple song, bringing Lotus Juice’s signature sound back into concert attendees’ ears and heartbeats. “It’s Going Down Now” preceded “Mass Destruction,” as the final two songs, raising the energy in the room with only the interruption by his announcement of “Mass Destruction” as the most streamed song by a Japanese artist in the USA during 2025.
The energy in the room did not stop with the end of his initial set, as fans cheered for an encore. His encore consisted of two of his earlier songs: “Beyond the Clouds” and “Feels Right,” both of which instantly re-engaged fans as they raised their penlights, hands, and banners for the final time. Lotus Juice’s performance goes to show that it’s one thing to appear on stage, and it’s a complete other thing to put on a performance!