Anime is hand drawn and computer animation originating from Japan. In Japan and in Japanese, anime (a term derived from the English word animation) describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. However, outside of Japan and in English, anime is colloquial for Japanese animation and refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. Animation produced outside of Japan with similar style to Japanese animation is referred to as anime-influenced animation.
The earliest commercial Japanese animations date to 1917. A characteristic art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of cartoonist Osamu Tezuka and spread in following decades, developing a large domestic audience. Anime is distributed theatrically, through television broadcasts, directly to home media, and over the internet. In addition to original works, anime are often adaptations of Japanese comics (manga), light novels, or video games. It is classified into numerous genres targeting various broad and niche audiences.
The opening and credits sequences of most anime television series are accompanied by J-pop or rock songs, often by reputed bands—as written with the series in mind—but are also aimed at the general music market, therefore it is often alluded once vaguely or not all to the thematic settings or plot of the series. Also, they are often used as incidental music (“insert songs”) for each episode to highlight particularly important scenes.
Theme music composed for films, anime (anison), tokusatsu (tokuso) and dorama are considered a separate music genre. While musicians and bands from all genres of Japanese popular music have recorded songs and scores for Japanese television and film, there are several prominent musical artists and groups who have spent most of their musical careers performing theme songs and composing soundtracks for visual media. Such artists include Masato Shimon (current holder of the world record for most successful single in Japan for “Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun”), Ichirou Mizuki, all of the members of JAM Project (who sang the openings for Dengeki Sentai Changeman and Dragon Ball Z),
A Japanese TV station held a poll of it’s viewers to discover the most popular anime songs.. Taking the plaudits for the best anime song of all time is ‘A Cruel Angel’s Thesis’ from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Originally sung by Yoko Takahashi, the song was released in 1995 as the theme song to the hit anime which have now both achieved cult-status. ‘Gurenge’ comes in second and is the theme song to one of the most popular animes currently Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
The ninth entry on the list is the opening music from the wonderfully titled ”The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” which itself is titled God Knows… This ends our selection for Anime Day 2021, but the list of great music from this genre is almost endless and is a very important part of the anime experience.
