Get Wild taikin puts a swaggering period on the end of the day, and Guren shukkin helps on the other end.

The moment you clock out of work should be a dramatic finish to that day of your professional life. If you love your job, it’s time to pat yourself on the back for spending the last few hours doing good things well, and if you hate your job, self-congratulations are similarly in order for having survived.

But in practice, most of us just murmur a “See you tomorrow” to our coworkers as we quietly gather our things and leave the workplace. It’s an anticlimactic waste of an opportunity to feel some positive emotion, but recently Japanese Twitter users have been discussing a way to put a spring in your step and fire in your heart at the end of the workday: by listening to a certain 33-year-old J-pop song as they walk out the door, specifically TM Network’s “Get Wild,” better known to many as…

…the song from anime series City Hunter.

“Get Wild” was the original ending theme for the 1987 City Hunter anime TV series, and played at the end of episodes following the adventures of private detective/bodyguard Ryo Saeba. The series featured plenty of action and danger, but each week Ryo and his friends would defeat the nefarious villains through a combination of guts, heart, and teamwork, with Ryo striding off victoriously to the opening notes of “Get Wild.”

The song has since gone on to be an anthem to the concepts of determination, confidence, and a job well done in the minds of many Japanese people, and now social media users have coined the term “Get Wild taikin” (“clocking out with Get Wild”) to describe playing the song as an end-of-the-workday pick-me-up.

▼ “Doing Get Wild taikin. Nice work today, me.”

https://twitter.com/mikeneko_rindou/status/1304514766044647426

▼ “Mood during Get Wild taikin:”

Weathercaster Airi Yamagshi posted a video example, and even vicariously, it’s hard not to get amped up as the music picks up after she says she’s going home.

▼ “Get Wild” was also brought back for 2019’s City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes anime movie.

But wait, if you’re supposed to finish the workday with “Get Wild,” how are you supposed to start it? According to online chatter that got kicked up in the disussion of Get Wild taikin, the answer given by many is “Guren shukkin,” or “clocking in with Guren no Yumiya,” the original opening theme to Attack on Titan.

Other comments about giving your workday its own opening/ending themes included

“Today, [when it was time to punch out], my boss started playing ‘Get Wild’ over the office sound system…everyone in my company has such a fun attitude.”
“Totally gonna do Get Wild taikin tomorrow.”
“Ugh, just finishing up a nine-day vacation and have to go back to work tomorrow. Totally not feeling it, so I’m going to need to give myself a Guren shukkin boost.”
“Guren clock-in and Get wild clock-out. Makes perfect sense to me.”
“I wish someone had told me about these earlier.”

If you want to try out Get Wild taikin for yourself, here’s the song’s complete version.

Oh, and as one commenter points out, if you really want to maximize its effectiveness, don’t forget to dramatically pause for a moment as you throw on your jacket before you walk out the door…but that goes without saying right?

Sources: Twitter (1, 2)
Top image: YouTube/アニプレックス
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[ Read in Japanese ]

Follow Casey on Twitter, where Bump of Chicken’s “Go” is his current personal start-of-the-day opening theme.