EPTKazeHydra’s Guide to Anime Music
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Anime music is severely underappreciated in the world because it is immediately associated with anime, which is generally not looked at fondly. Anime music gets plenty of hate from people who refuse to give foreign music a try but also from those who refuse to accept anime music as being a form of “real” music. While in the early days of anime, it is true that anime producers did not always have the best music, its popularity as well as quality has grown a lot, especially in the past decade, with the growth of anime itself.
Seiyuu Singers
The most common form of anime music, seiyuu singers are the voice actors or actresses for the anime characters who are chosen to sing an opening or ending of that anime. Sometimes they will sing an inserted song as well. These singers, on average, are not that great of singers but still better than your average person. Regardless of skill, there are plenty of fans who are usually blinded by their love for the seiyuu and will praise the music as amazing and perfect and subsequently will buy their singles or albums. This is not to say that all seiyuu singers are bad as some are pretty amazing and worth looking into.
Aya Hirano
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Aya Hirano is the perfect example of a seiyuu singer with no talent. Why am I writing about her then? To show you exactly what not to think anime music is. Aya is a great seiyuu who has performed in a ton of roles. With her performance as Haruhi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, praised by some as “the greatest anime of all time” (it is not), Aya gained a huge fan base for her singing. Despite releasing several albums, she never made it big, and most of the hype for her as “the best seiyuu singer in the world” has died down.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Aya Hirano…as a seiyuu but not as a singer. Her live singing is in fact pretty bad, although her recordings can sometimes be pretty catchy and entertaining. There are plenty of talentless seiyuu singers (Aya included) that I would listen to, but this is usually just 1 or 2 songs that I enjoy. If I had to rate their albums as a whole, it wouldn't be very good. If this is what you imagine anime music and seiyuu singers to be like, you could not be more wrong. Furthermore, even if the singing is not great, the music itself can still be enjoyable. When it comes to seiyuu singers, you have to find out their talent yourself rather than judge the entire group as a whole.
God Knows – Insert Song to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 12
Chiwa Saito
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Chiwa Saito is another huge seiyuu in the voice acting world. Her voice can be really amazing and beautiful when the role calls for it. In conjunction with this, she has also produced a small number of songs. However, singers like Chiwa are different from Aya Hirano because they never actually get into the music industry. Generally, their songs will be catchy and simple because of the lack of singing talent or ability. However, while the seiyuu may not be a gifted singer, the song fits their voice and is simple enough to produce an enjoyable song.
Notice how simple the song below is and yet if you listen to it a few times, it grows on you. There are hardly any difficult parts to sing and the vocal range required is very small. Despite being a seiyuu for years, Chiwa has sung less than 10 openings or endings. Although it can be said her talent for singing is still unknown, her only real career is an established and talented seiyuu. The downside is that songs like this are near impossible to find if you’re just looking for good music because these people get essentially zero publicity as singers.
Staple Stable – Opening Theme 1 to Bakemonogatari
Composers
Obviously, there must be composers for the music that is truly great. Putting the singing aside for a moment, the music and instruments used are universal, so it’s pretty ignorant and naïve to hate on the music just for being in anime. In reality, these composers are just as talented as any other composers, but they lack the recognition that others have. These composers will also write the music for professional singers to sing in the anime. This is different from seiyuu singers as these people will undoubtedly have some measure of talent and usually have already had success in the music industry. The opposite of seiyuu singers, these singers are using anime as a medium to advertise themselves to the anime population.
Yuki Kajiura and Kalafina
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Everything about Yuki Kajiura’s music is amazing. I had a ton of music from her before I even knew it was all composed by the same person. Once she’s given the storyboard, she is just able to make the perfect music to set the mood for any scene – from happy and pleasant to dark and scary. She has written so much music in her career; I’m sure there’s something for everyone. As for the vocals, the most notable group who sings for her would have to be Kalafina.
I had the honor of listening to and meeting them live a month ago and they were unbelievably astounding. Meeting and talking to them, though very short, was so surreal. They talked like the most normal people with no delusions of grandeur, which is all too common in today's society. Regardless of what you think of their music, for me, I can't help but want to support them for their personalities and open relationship with their fans.
What is especially great about them comes from Kaijura’s ability to use each member’s individual vocal range to produce several different kinds of songs. While the Kalafina members may be great singers, they don't have the knowledge of composing to be able to make songs that would incorporate their different vocal ranges very well. It is only when Kajiura composes the music that they are able to sing to the group's fullest potential.
Lacrimosa – Ending Theme 2 to Kuroshitsuji
Tenmon and ELISA
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Tenmon, though a far less accomplished composer than Kaijura, nonetheless is a genius in his own right. He works most closely with the anime film direct Makoto Shinkai, and everything he composes is stunningly beautiful. His use of string instruments, especially the violin, is amazing, the music is always incredibly soothing and calm or sometimes sad but incredibly moving. Furthermore, it is only by realizing how perfect his music represents the contextual anime that one can truly appreciate his work.
Although not an official pairing like Kajiura and Kalafina, Tenmon and ELISA make an amazing combination. Elisa’s singing voice is angelic and beautiful by nature, the perfect voice for Tenmon’s music. Her debut song Euphoric Field was written by Tenmon and I'd have to say it's thanks to his composition that she had such a great start to her singing career. Less than a year later, she was invited to and performed in Animelo, the largest annual anime music concert, which is a very impressive accomplishment for a new anime singer. Although she has only sung a few of Tenmon’s songs, every single one of them are indescribable pieces of work. While she has had moderate success on her own, I feel that her voice shines the most when singing something composed by Tenmon.
Euphoric Field – Opening Theme to Ef – A Tale of Memories
Tie-Up Singers
Anime singers involved in tie-up marketing are not really related to anime in any way. Similar to Kalafina and ELISA, where their music is used in anime to advertise themselves, except not even their music composers are related. Sometimes they are asked to create a song to fit the anime while other times the anime chooses the song because it already exists and fits the anime. Either way, these singers are usually popular but not too popular. This is because the advertising works both ways: the singers get their name out through the anime while the anime gets its name out through the singer. However, as this strategy has been employed over time, it has evolved to the point where many singers unrelated to anime now sing the themes on a regular basis and often note their enjoyment in doing so. In this way, these singers have really become a part of the anime music industry.
May’n
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One of the best singers in the anime music field, May’n is truly a talented singer with a unique voice. Her singing in Macross Frontier was when she started gathering fans from the anime community and has since only become more talented and popular. She is one of the few tie-up singers who is consistently invited to anime concerts and has even gone overseas to do so multiple times. Most impressive about her is her age: currently at 21, she has already enjoyed a ton of success and gained a very large fan base. I look forward to seeing her continue to grow and improve as her career has only just begun. What I love most about her is very recognizable and unique voice. When I hear a new song from her, I'll spend a few seconds thinking I know the voice and then I remember: May'n.
Northern Cross - Ending Theme 5 to Macross Frontier
Nana Mizuki: The Goddess
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I’ve saved the best for last: Nana Mizuki. A princess? An angel? A goddess? Perfection, the peak of human evolution? Probably all of the above and more. Nana Mizuki is a woman who has completely single-handedly redefined the meaning and standard of being a seiyuu singer. She has become the face and voice of all seiyuu singers and is the only seiyuu singer to have performed in every Animelo since its inception in 2005. As a seiyuu, she is known for being cursed with either terrible roles in a good anime or major roles in a terrible anime. While her singing started off to a slow start just over 10 years ago, she gained huge momentum with her songs in the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha series (and interestingly, an anime where she held a main role in a good series). Since then, her fan base has grown exponentially to the point where calling her a mere seiyuu singer would be an insult. In the last couple years, she has proven to all doubters that she is far beyond all other seiyuu singers in terms of talent and deserves her spot as one of the greatest J-pop singers of all time. This year is especially amazing as she will have performed in 18 live concerts this year alone. Her accomplishments have literally made history.
June 2009 – Her 7th album Ultimate Diamond ranked #1 on the weekly Oricon, a first for a seiyuu singer.
January 2010 – Her 21st single Phantom Minds ranked #1 on the weekly Oricon, a first for a seiyuu singer.
Over 1 billion yen in CD sales in the year 2010, more than 4 times as much as the 2nd place seiyuu singer sales.
April 2011 – Her 23rd and 24th singles Scarlet Knight and Pop Master ranked #2 and #3 in the weekly Oricon, the 4th female of all time to achieve 2 singles in the weekly top 3.
December 2011 – She will be performing in Tokyo Dome, the dream stage of any Japanese performer, again, a first for a seiyuu singer.
Nana’s vocal range is huge and her voice can become incredibly powerful, meaning she can sing all kinds of songs – from cutesy and high-pitched or serious and low-pitched and everything in between. Furthermore, her live singing is far better than her recordings, the mark of true talent. She is truly an amazing singer who has come a long way and is only just recently knowing true success. Some would argue she’s at the peak of her career, but I for one would love to see her expand internationally and only continue to become greater and more popular. With her 25th single Junketsu Paradox being released next week, I can only hope she makes history yet again. Also, Nana found the secret to eternal youth.
Shin Ai – Opening Theme 2 to White Album
Brave Phoenix – Insert Song in Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s Episode 12
An awesome video of 12 different live versions of Power Gate, really showcasing both her consistency across ~7 years and incredible stage presence at the end.
I hope this guide and examples have taught you one thing or another about anime music, or that you have at least learned to appreciate anime music as "real" music. There really is such a huge variety and many talented singers that it would not be possible to write about all of them in this blog, especially when you consider the countless number of tie-up artists. Here’s a short list of some other anime musicians if you are interested.
Yukari Tamura
Ayane
Minori Chihara
Yui Horie
Masami Okui
JAM Project
Fripside
If you want some easy exposure to some anime music, I hear this pretty cool KawaiiRice guy streams with plenty of it. You can also youtube search for any animelo videos; however, performers in animelo are generally chosen by popularity rather than talent, except for the big ones.
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