Music In Anime

I wouldn't go so far as to say an anime's opening theme can make or break the series, but a lot of work is still put into one. Music careers have been launched from them. The essence of what the show is all about needs to be captured in usually a minute and a half. The most successful themes achieve this, and make you look forward to seeing what the show has to offer. Ending themes compliment this effect, bringing the episode to its emotional close, sometimes reflecting undercurrents of the story.

If I were to throw together a random selection of anime opening and ending themes that I think really stand out, it would include these titles (in no particular order):

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, "Bouken Desho Desho?". Haruhi Suzumiya is an iconic anime character, with a forceful personality derived from a great boredom with everyday life; this is a girl who announces on the first day of school that she's only interested in meeting time travelers, aliens, or ESPers - everyone else is of little concern. Her enthusiasm for not just wanting but needing to prove these things exist make her a tornado through the lives of people around her. This song is pretty mainstream, but Aya Hirano's voice is great here. The refrain especially stands out, in that it succeeds in conveying the sense of headfirst-charging into the unknown adventure that the title character possesses.

Rozen Maiden Ouverture, "Baragoku Otome". The Rozen Maiden series was a strange bird. Two seasons of fairly straightforward, almost one-dimensional protagonists competing against a villain for a prize (in this case, we're talking about a group of sentient Victorianesque dolls that are locked in a game of kill-or-be-killed, with each other, with the one who wins getting to become a real girl). But then, right in the middle of the second season, the producers release this two-episode back story on the villain, Suigintou, that portrays her as a complex character, born good but turned evil by the circumstances of her coming into the world. This song's mournful Middle Eastern-sounding vocals and low key match the pain Suigintou is carrying through this memorable detour in the second season.

Ika Musume, "Metamerism". This light-hearted comedy isn't something you watch for anything but the amount of jokes you can get out of a squid girl deciding to invade humanity, only to get tricked into working at a beachside restaurant. This came out last fall, but of course takes place in the summer. This ending theme suits it well then; there's a bittersweet, saying goodbye to vacation feeling to it. You can quite well imagine it being strum by a campfire on the beach.

Kuragehime, "Koko Dake no Hanashi" and "Kimi no Kirei ni Kizuite Okure". Kuragehime was a nice surprise last fall, where the opening and the ending themes both revolve around the main character, Tsukimi Kurashita, a painfully shy girl with a geek's enthusiasm for jellyfish. Her story is the discovery of her own beauty, which she stumbles into charmingly with the help of a friend that Tsukimi considers beautiful herself. The opening theme has a great indie sound, and conveys both tenderness and power. The ending, with male vocals, could be said to be her friend, as the singer implores a woman to realize her beauty.

Haibane Renmei, "Free Bird". I've often thought that if Haruki Murakami were asked to script an anime series, that it would be something quite like this. There are some parallels between this anime's plot and Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - a walled, otherworldly city, the border between the interior self and the outside world, the afterlife. Slow-paced but always fascinating, we follow a new arrival to the city, Rakka, who has no memory of where she came from, as she comes to terms with her new home. This opening theme is a rare bird, having no vocals, but is a simple acoustic arrangement in 3/4 time. It suits the environment of the city, as well as the innocence of the protagonist.

Welcome to the NHK, "Odoru Akachan Ningen". This series follows a hikkikomori, Tatsuhiro Satō, in his struggle to break out of his shell of paranoia and anxiety, and maybe leave his room every once in a while. It's a fast-paced ride as we follow his emotional rollercoaster through fear, despair, rage, and occasional joy. This ending theme, which to me sounds like a rock opera on crack, does a pretty good job of letting us listen to the music of his mind.

Soredemo Machi Wa Mawatteiru, "Down Town" and "Meizu Sanjou!". Normally the words "maid café anime" would make me wince, but this series was a nice discovery. Each episode is two separate stories about the small staff of a languishing maid café, their lives away from work, and the people who know them. There is no overarching plot through these twenty-two stories - just the subtly absurd and sometimes supernatural events of the daily lives of the cast. The opener, I recently learned, was originally released in 1975 by a short-lived band called Sugar Babe, the song itself composed by Tatsuro Yamashita (here's the original). The version used for this series is a cheerful and uplifting mix of horns and strings, song joyously by Maaya Sakamoto. The ending theme is just hilarious, and the line up is related to one of the stories in the series. No one has rocked an accordion harder.

Again, these aren't in any particular order, and there are quite a few other themes that are also worth having a listen, that work very well. But I think these are some great examples of a theme fitting the series, as well as being able to stand on its own.