One of the things that hit me early on as an anime fan were the great opening and closing songs for anime series.
It was my introduction to J-pop music. Since then, through the years, I’ve had too many favorite opening/closing songs to count.
I read somewhere that the songs used for anime opening or closing numbers are actually popular hit songs in Japan. I don’t know if they are popular first and then get licensed for anime series, or if it’s the other way around – they become hits after people watch the anime.
In any event – the music used for anime opening/closing credit sequences is an added source of pleasure for me when I watch anime. The right song, along with a credit sequence that captures the series’ atmosphere, can put me in a mood that lingers long after I’ve finished watching the episodes.
Here are a few of my favorites.
Number 5:
Naruto Shippuuden – Opening 1
Song: Hero’s Come Back
Band: Nobody Knows
You Tube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1hz_dnQWvs
Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden had a lot of great opening and closing songs. This one, “Hero’s Come Back,” was perfect for the start of Naruto Shippuuden, which takes place after a three-year time skip when Naruto is away from the village training with his ninja master Jiraiya.
The song and credit sequence truly set up the theme of a hero’s return. I remember watching the first episode of Shippuuden and being excited to see what the characters looked like now that they were teenagers and no longer children.
I especially like the confident look in Naruto’s eyes at the end as he strides forward to join Sakura and Kakashi. That look tells you everything about how much he matured when he was away.
Number 4:
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed – Ending 1
Song: “Anna ni Isshodattanoni”
Band: See-Saw
You Tube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYcERWBQCXA
Gundam Seed remains my favorite Gundam series (though Gundam 00 is a pretty close second).
Most American fans list Wing as their entry point to the Gundam universe, but for me it was Seed. Seed was the first Gundam series I saw, and I watched it early on as an anime fan, so all the typical themes found in shonen mecha anime were unfamiliar to me: the violence, the harsh treatment of the young pilots, the horrors of war.
I recall being riveted... and at the same time aghast at how graphic many of the scenes were. At that time I still had the bias that anime was just another form of “animated entertainment” – which for me as an American meant Disney and kid’s stuff. Gundam Seed made my jaw drop many times and changed my mind about that pretty quickly.
I love the haunting tones of this song. They often started playing the opening notes of it during the final scene of each episode, and it was a great way to finish the episode while maintaining the melancholic mood.
Number 3:
Kuroko’s Basketball – Ending 3
Song: “Walk”
Band: Old Codex
You Tube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBA48XcpcV8
J-pop music is sometimes compared to 1970s American bubblegum pop music – a comparison that seemingly condemns both as being something that’s inferior.
There’s absolutely a place in life for happy upbeat music. I always looked forward to hearing “Walk” at the end of Kuroko no Basuke’s second season episodes because it never failed to lift my mood. The driving rhythmic beat, the group harmonies in the chorus, the music playing over still shots of the characters that captured their unique personalities – “Walk” is just pure fun in music form.
Number 2:
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – Opening 2
Song: “Ash Like Snow”
Band: The Brilliant Green
You Tube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d_for2jnQ0&list=PLXDqpIyz4Nl03V9d9ItqJbTOZl-yZeYh_
Something I realized when I became an anime fan was just how much awesome music there was in anime – not just the opening and closing songs, but the soundtrack and incidental music in each episode.
I’ve never made a study of J-pop, but then – I don’t have to. It’s music that does the only thing music is supposed to: it makes you feel things. It does that very well, and when it’s used effectively to complement the action on the screen, it adds another dimensional layer to the experience of watching anime.
“Ash Like Snow” is an example of a great rock song, period. If it had English lyrics instead of Japanese lyrics it would be a hit here in the west. Listening to it makes me realize there are countless J-pop songs like it that I’ll never hear because they’re not attached to any anime series, and that kind of makes me sad.
The song fits the Gundam meta theme of the futility of war, “ash like snow” invoking images of nuclear winter:
Ash like snow
It’s falling down from your sky
Ash like snow
Ash like snow
Ash like snow
Let me hear why I have to fight
... And finally, Number 1:
This was my favorite opening song for this series, and here it accompanies one of the best AMVs I’ve ever seen.
That’s my opinion... and the opinion of over twenty million others.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Opening 4
Song: “Period”
Band: Chemistry
You Tube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vx69Pe7Ncs
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood remains number one on a lot of fans’ top ten lists even now, and for good reasons. If you’ve seen the anime—you know why.
Hiromu Arakawa’s manga story received a beautiful execution in anime form. When non-anime fans ask me what the best anime series is in my opinion—Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is still my answer, ten years after it came out.
As of today, this AMV has logged a staggering 20,067,325 views on You Tube. Cut together from the opening credit sequences, it’s a fan masterpiece, evoking feels and chills (especially the final shot).
If you’re an FMA:B fan, I hope it does for you what it does for me: bring alive the genius that is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood all over again.
