cross-posted from: https://geddit.social/post/460263
I generally enjoy all anime songs but what I enjoy more are those anime songs that have a vibe similar to that of western music.
Personally I consider typical anime songs to have one or any combination of the following tones: optimistic, childish, adventurous, cheering, mischievous. This is understandable as most animes depict stories of ‘ideal’ worlds or non-existent universes with supernatural beings and/or powers.
I feel like western songs are more realistic. They sing around something that is experienced by almost everyone. They have a tone that could be incorporated as background music to certain life situations without feeling out of place. Maybe it is pretty obvious since they are not created for animated forms of media, but are different nonetheless.
I am in search for songs that have the best of both worlds. Songs from anime openings or endings (maybe even from the OST) which have a more realistic or ‘cinematic’ vibe like that of western music.
Some examples I could provide to get you the general of what I am talking about are:
- All ‘Attack on Titan’ openings except ‘Red Swan’
- Akuma no Ko (Attack on Titan Ed7)
- Mukanjyo (Vinland Saga Op1)
- CHAINSAW BLOOD (Chainsaw Man Ed1)
- First Death (Chainsaw Man Ed7)
- VIOLENCE (Chainsaw Man Ed11)
- Hydra (Overlord Ed2)
- Silent Solitude (Overlord Ed3)
- VORACITY (Overlord Op3)
- Vivid Vice (Jujustu Kaisen Op2)
Few disclaimers:
- I am not a big anime fan, so it’s reasonable that my examples are pretty limited.
- No, I don’t love rock to have majority of the above songs in that genre. I like songs by One Direction and Taylor Swift too, but I could not find an equivalent song from any anime I watched so far.
- I won’t consider what the lyrics say. They may be in Japanese or English or both and may have a completely opposite theme to the song, but the song itself is what I am looking for.
Damnit.
Also Tank, both by Seatbelts.
And, really, most of the rest of Cowboy Bebop too.
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I think the cheerful (maybe “idealist”) anime soundtrack are associated with anime that convey the same themes (highschool life, idol shows, some shounen, some isekai, etc) so you need to watch more shows that convey different themes. You’ve mentioned soundtracks from Overlord, JJK, CSM, and AoT, all of which have varying degrees of grim tone and have, frankly, a lot of “action” (which is paired with “cinematic” music).
I think a lot of 90s anime soundtrack can fit the bill. Check out the OSTs of Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiments Lain, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Beserk. Cowboy Bebop is pretty much jazz. SEL and NGE both feature songs that are in English (Duvet and Komm Susser Todd). NGE and Berserk have incredibly good “cinematic” music.
Anyway, I don’t think “Western” is the correct term here. I honestly think “realistic” is a poor descriptor for some of the soundtrack you’ve mentioned especially when you mentioned that lyrics don’t matter. There’s a lot of anime feature-length and series that have Western-like music.
I feel like you’re limiting yourself a bit by saying anime songs specifically. There are tons of great Japanese bands who’ve never been involved in anime, or maybe you could start by looking into some other songs by the bands of those you mentioned above. I’ve found some of my favorite Japanese bands by checking out other songs by anime OP/ED artists. My personal favorite being Survive Said the Prophet of Mukanjyo (Vinland Saga S1 OP1) fame.
Other artists I discovered through anime that I like, RADWIMPS, SPYAIR, MYTH & ROID, LiSA, MY FIRST STORY, EGOIST, and more. It’s just a coincidence that my favorites all like to have their names stylized in all caps.
Some that I discovered outside of anime, though may or may not have also done work in anime: The Winking Owl, Sawano Hiroyuki, ONE OK ROCK, BACK-ON, Reol, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, MAN WITH A MISSION, and too many to list, because the number of these is far larger than the ones I’ve found through anime.
I’ll admit, basically all of these are rock bands. Reol and BACK-ON stray more into hip-hop territory, though BACK-ON in particular also does rock. The idea I’m moreso getting at is, you can find a lot of great artists by exploring what you already like and being led to similar works.
The opening of Paripi Koumei is a cover of this Hungarian song. Dunno about your weird stereotype of “western” music, though.
I didn’t expect to enjoy that anime as much as I did, and it has somehow become my most rewatched.
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https://piped.video/watch?v=CRjLbePQg1o
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Samurai Champloo. Listen to the Departure soundtrack and then go down the rabbit hole of Nujabes’ work.
Under Fire - Sasha Antonis from Karas
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It’s not anime but one of the seasons of the Japanese reality show Terrace House used The New Romantics by Taylor Swift which was a bonus track for 1989 Deluxe.
It didn’t make it to the global release of the show due to licensing.
Pleasure from Fruits Basket The Final
U from Belle and really the entire score
Ninelie from Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
Underground River from Made in Abyss
Hopefully at least one of those will be along the lines of what you’re looking for lol.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=qeMj1VL5Rdw
https://piped.video/watch?v=l7yXmApyZd8
https://piped.video/watch?v=GbGzRMiwu0Y
https://piped.video/watch?v=gN24W_psMpE
https://piped.video/watch?v=BbscblCIaQk
https://piped.video/watch?v=nC6BX5niR5I
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
The OP of Guilty Crown seems to match the description. It’s really good 👍
