this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
25 points (82.1% liked)

Asklemmy

43917 readers
1163 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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:

  1. All 'Attack on Titan' openings except 'Red Swan'
  2. Akuma no Ko (Attack on Titan Ed7)
  3. Mukanjyo (Vinland Saga Op1)
  4. CHAINSAW BLOOD (Chainsaw Man Ed1)
  5. First Death (Chainsaw Man Ed7)
  6. VIOLENCE (Chainsaw Man Ed11)
  7. Hydra (Overlord Ed2)
  8. Silent Solitude (Overlord Ed3)
  9. VORACITY (Overlord Op3)
  10. Vivid Vice (Jujustu Kaisen Op2)

Few disclaimers:

  1. I am not a big anime fan, so it's reasonable that my examples are pretty limited.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
top 16 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Damnit.

Also Tank, both by Seatbelts.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And, really, most of the rest of Cowboy Bebop too.

"Waltz for Zizi"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=Qbip5oZVL94

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The opening of Paripi Koumei is a cover of this Hungarian song. Dunno about your weird stereotype of "western" music, though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I didn't expect to enjoy that anime as much as I did, and it has somehow become my most rewatched.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=gNn9NxZH2Vo

https://piped.video/watch?v=CRjLbePQg1o

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Samurai Champloo. Listen to the Departure soundtrack and then go down the rabbit hole of Nujabes’ work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The OP of Guilty Crown seems to match the description. It's really good πŸ‘

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/PBD6s3VuVDM

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

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.