Better look fast before Youtube takes half of these down
Yoshiko posted this grammatically dubious meme on her LJ, and even though she cheated like a dirty rotten cheater, I thought it seemed like fun. That was before I realized how much WORK was involved in getting Youtube to spit out the results you actually want from it. Google, stop trying to guess what I want or show me playlist results. It's not helpful. ::sigh::
The meme, cleaned up to reflect proper grammar and the fact that I didn't waste several hours to just post five measly openings when you know at least one's going to be One Piece anyway:
What are your favorite anime openings/endings and insert songs and why?
Honorable Mention: Jyu-Oh-Sei, "Deep in Your Heart" (Opening)
While it didn't crack the top 10, Jyu-Oh-Sei gets an honorable mention for managing to fit its entire cast and plot into its opening without a single spoiler. Seriously. If you go back and watch it after you've seen the show you're like O_O
#10: Fruits Basket, "For Fruits Basket" (Opening)
I love this song so much I can actually sing it. In Japanese. Without looking at the lyrics. And own a legitimate copy of the soundtrack and everything. The only reason it didn't place higher is because, while fitting for the story, the animation's really not all that exciting, is it?
#9: Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, "Love, Just on my Love" (Opening)
Old-school jazz and exciting action are the hallmark of this swinging Orphen opening. Looks like a great show, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the opening promises a bit more than the series ever managed to deliver (though it was still quite enjoyable). Still, it's one of my favorites anyway, if only for Orphen's triple-lutz cannonball twist while fighting a giant bug and the way the opening has nothing better to do than focus on his pants for a good 10 seconds.
#8: xxxHolic, "19sai" (Opening)
This opening was responsible for turning me on to the music of Suga Shikao, a feat which alone would have earned it a spot. However, it is also about as good a translation as I think you're ever going to get of the tricky art style Clamp used for xxxHolic on the small screen, and I love the way it, like the manga, manages to be ominous while doing nothing more than showing unpresuming character shots.
#7: Saber Marionette J, "Successful Mission" (Opening)
Is Saber Marionette a ridiculously silly show? Yes. Is that a Megumi Hashibara opening? Yes. Is it totally fun to sing along to, and does it make even Otaru look like he's capable of being awesome? Yes and yes. It also scores bonus points for its random use of the Fuji Wave.
Fun fact: this was the first anime in which I discovered that Takehito Koyasu can and apparently does make a living playing every ambiguously (and not so ambiguously) gay character his agent can find. May be tangentially related to the fact that he's in just about every anime ever (not even kidding), so cherry-picking roles to support my previous statement is not difficult.
#6: Gokusen, "Feel Your Breeze" (Opening-as-Ending)
The only JDrama on this list, Gokusen earns its spot by not only featuring a hugely catchy song by V6 (making me feel less bad about not including Inu Yasha's Change the World), but by featuring the whole cast running around a field and playing kick the can and having a fantastic time. I am such a sucker for group endings like that.
#5: Kodomo no Omocha, "Seven o'clock News" (Opening)
I have so much nostalgia for this opening like you would not believe. Kodocha was one of my very first non-Kids WB or Cartoon Network anime, and it had this crazy opening number in which the whole cast danced! And Hayama couldn't be bothered to keep the beat, while Babbit played drums! Oh, the memories. I can still sing most of this one, too.
Sad fact: this Youtube clip is higher quality then the Real Media files (I know!) that I originally had of the show.
#4: Dear Boys, "Sound of Bounce" (Opening)
Oh, god. I still remember when I first saw this opening, and immediately rushed to tell Vicki that I had discovered the crackiest thing Japan had done yet. Matrix basketballs, Japanese rap, bad engrish, and terrible hentai-style character designs, all a desperate attempt to be cool. We loved it. Every now and then I still dig out my copy of the soundtrack.
#3: Full Metal Alchemist, "Rewrite" (Opening)
I know, I know. Not Ready Steady Go? Rewrite wasn't as popular as L'arc en Ciel's mega-hit (possibly because it simply didn't have time, since it was the fourth and last ending), but the song's full of just as much energy while the visuals are full of both desperate action and poignant reminders to match the rollercoaster ride that was the last 13 episodes of FMA. And besides, I really love the shot of Ed jumping over the cliff.
#2: Romeo x Juliet, "Inori ~ You Raise Me Up" (Opening)
Romeo x Juliet wasn't even remotely on my radar - it was by Gonzo, a studio I had little interest in, and it was based on one of my least-favorite plays - until a co-worker of mine found the series' promotional website while doing some research and told me to come watch the opening. Just like that, I was hooked. Super-pretty, emotional, and promising all kinds of action and drama, there's no way this one wasn't making the list.
#1: One Piece, "We Are - Mugiwara Version" (Opening)
What a surprise, eh? You know how sometimes people get an Oscar, and it's not so much for that particular performance as their body of work as a whole? Consider this win like that. There hasn't been a single One Piece opening that I didn't love and didn't get me all pumped and excited about that day's adventures on the high seas, and most of the endings were just as good. I've chosen the special version of the original opening they did recently, with the cast singing the infamous We Are, but it could just as easily have been Crazy Rainbow Star or Believe or even that one-time ending where they used Family to close out the Alabasta arc.
Fun fact: for many years, One Piece was the undisputed king of my anime OST folder, and only very recently lost that crown (and by less than three megabytes) to Junjo's ten million drama CDs. It still makes up a full 6% of my anime music collection, and I don't even have all the soundtracks. What gets played the most? Any song in which the cast sings in character. And there are a lot. ^-^
And now, the insert songs. If you missed the warning text on the LJ cut, some of these contain SPOILERS, though not too many big ones (exception: Fushigi Yuugi). If you're worried about it, just scroll past anything that you're planning to watch later.
Honorable Mention: One Piece, "Zombie Night" (Episode 344)
Despite my above declarations of One Piece love, I'm actually not that enamored of this song. However, its placement - right in the middle of an arc with no warning whatsoever and no reference after the fact - and complete WTF factor garner it an honorable mention.
#10: Sailor Moon, "She's Got the Power" (English Episode 68)
I am not ashamed to admit that I religiously taped Sailor Moon every afternoon (clandestinely marathoning the week's episodes on Saturday night, when no one else was awake to see my incredibly girly choice of programming), nor am I ashamed to admit that I bought both of the English soundtracks. For songs like the above. Which I then memorized. "She's got the power" indeed.
#9: Kiki's Delivery Service, "Ryuuju No Dengon"
I love Japanese sock-hop music, yes I do. And paired with Miyazaki's whimsical visuals, how can you go wrong? It only didn't place higher because Kiki's not nearly as good as, say, Howl's Moving Castle.
#8: Fushigi Yuugi, "Winner" (Episode 33)
I remember absolutely bawling when I first saw this. Nuriko was the first of the cast to die, and I wasn't expecting it at all. On top of that, he'd been steadily working his way up from annoying comic relief character to near-favorite (I even cosplayed him), and the whole montage is all about things he's never gonna get to do set to the 80s synth "Winner," which doubled as his theme. Nuriko. ;_;
#7: Gravitation, "Seven Days" (Episode 11)
This was one of my favorite songs out of a number of favorite songs from Gravitation. Happy and fast-paced with Engrish decent enough to sing along to, it would have been a winner anyway, but as the soundtrack to Shuichi and Yuki's one and only date (in the series, anyway) while they have a good time and Yuki shows off his prowess at shooting zombies or whatever? <3
#6: Trigun, "Sound Life" (Episode 7)
This was Rem's theme song in Trigun. Apparently she wandered around singing it all the time? I don't know, but I really liked it, and any scene with her and Vash and that song was always a good one. It also usually presaged or came on the heels of total doom for Vash, but we won't get into that right now.
#5: Wolf's Rain, "Tell Me What the Rain Knows" (Episode 26)
Wolf's Rain insert songs turn out to be incredibly difficult to find on Youtube, even though the whole series is up, and in both English and Japanese no less. So while Tell Me What the Rain Knows isn't my favorite of the many, many pretty songs in Wolf's Rain (that would be Strangers, or maybe Run, Wolf Warrior, or...), it is emblematic of the series' beautiful score and is used in conjunction with episodes 26's happy ending (as opposed to, well, later...), so here it is.
#4: Full Moon wo Sagashite, "Smile" (Episode 37)
Not all of Full Moon's music worked for me, but when it clicked it clicked, and Smile ended up in heavy rotation on Winamp for quite some time. Here, it's playing over a Christmas montage. Do you know how much I love Christmas montages? A lot. And look! Kitty Takuto in a santa outfit! D'awww.
Speaking of Takuto, his rendition of Eternal Snow was a close second choice for Full Moon's spot on this list, but Smile + Christmas had it locked up.
#3: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, "You Are My Love" (Episode 20)
Things I love in Tsubasa (among others): beautiful music, flashbacks to when Sakura and Syaoran were kids, cameos of characters totally dead in their own series, and anything dealing with the bittersweet loss of Sakura's memories and Syaoran's devotion to her. Awwwwww. I was lamenting that towards the end of the series I'd gotten so wrapped up in what was going on with Fai and Kurogane that it took some effort to get back into Sakura and Syaoran. Obviously I should have just dug up this clip sooner.
#2: The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, "Funanori Sailor" (An Exceptional Episode)
While singing probably wouldn't really cause a ceasefire in real life (and shouldn't even in the Tylor universe - note Yamamoto's stunned disbelief), I love this scene all to pieces, and played this song over and over. Even my mom could recognize it. It's another group song, where everyone gets to show off their personalities; it was the end of the OVA, which I absolutely loved; it was pretty; and Tylor was my very first subtitled anime. It is any surprise this made number two?
#1: Initial D, "Supersonic Fire" (Episode 1?)
I don't like Initial D. I think the plot is dull, the characters are ugly, and the 3D animation is bad. Hell, I can't even figure out if the above clip is from one of the games or the show itself and am not going to bother trying. That said, at every anime club meeting it was shown I looked forward to the inevitable downhill races, because that's when the crazy Eurobeat soundtrack would kick in and Takumi would be racing down those mountains to the pounding beat of songs that made no sense despite being in my native tongue. ("No One Sleep in Tokyo"? Is that a command? A statement of fact? What?) Whenever I need to really get to work on something, I pull out my trusty Initial D megamixes and suddenly that all-nighter doesn't sound quite as bad.
Congratulations, Initial D. You've found a way to make me focus while you babble on about inertia drift using the street gutter or whatever. A notable accomplishment.
The meme, cleaned up to reflect proper grammar and the fact that I didn't waste several hours to just post five measly openings when you know at least one's going to be One Piece anyway:
What are your favorite anime openings/endings and insert songs and why?
Honorable Mention: Jyu-Oh-Sei, "Deep in Your Heart" (Opening)
While it didn't crack the top 10, Jyu-Oh-Sei gets an honorable mention for managing to fit its entire cast and plot into its opening without a single spoiler. Seriously. If you go back and watch it after you've seen the show you're like O_O
#10: Fruits Basket, "For Fruits Basket" (Opening)
I love this song so much I can actually sing it. In Japanese. Without looking at the lyrics. And own a legitimate copy of the soundtrack and everything. The only reason it didn't place higher is because, while fitting for the story, the animation's really not all that exciting, is it?
#9: Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, "Love, Just on my Love" (Opening)
Old-school jazz and exciting action are the hallmark of this swinging Orphen opening. Looks like a great show, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the opening promises a bit more than the series ever managed to deliver (though it was still quite enjoyable). Still, it's one of my favorites anyway, if only for Orphen's triple-lutz cannonball twist while fighting a giant bug and the way the opening has nothing better to do than focus on his pants for a good 10 seconds.
#8: xxxHolic, "19sai" (Opening)
This opening was responsible for turning me on to the music of Suga Shikao, a feat which alone would have earned it a spot. However, it is also about as good a translation as I think you're ever going to get of the tricky art style Clamp used for xxxHolic on the small screen, and I love the way it, like the manga, manages to be ominous while doing nothing more than showing unpresuming character shots.
#7: Saber Marionette J, "Successful Mission" (Opening)
Is Saber Marionette a ridiculously silly show? Yes. Is that a Megumi Hashibara opening? Yes. Is it totally fun to sing along to, and does it make even Otaru look like he's capable of being awesome? Yes and yes. It also scores bonus points for its random use of the Fuji Wave.
Fun fact: this was the first anime in which I discovered that Takehito Koyasu can and apparently does make a living playing every ambiguously (and not so ambiguously) gay character his agent can find. May be tangentially related to the fact that he's in just about every anime ever (not even kidding), so cherry-picking roles to support my previous statement is not difficult.
#6: Gokusen, "Feel Your Breeze" (Opening-as-Ending)
The only JDrama on this list, Gokusen earns its spot by not only featuring a hugely catchy song by V6 (making me feel less bad about not including Inu Yasha's Change the World), but by featuring the whole cast running around a field and playing kick the can and having a fantastic time. I am such a sucker for group endings like that.
#5: Kodomo no Omocha, "Seven o'clock News" (Opening)
I have so much nostalgia for this opening like you would not believe. Kodocha was one of my very first non-Kids WB or Cartoon Network anime, and it had this crazy opening number in which the whole cast danced! And Hayama couldn't be bothered to keep the beat, while Babbit played drums! Oh, the memories. I can still sing most of this one, too.
Sad fact: this Youtube clip is higher quality then the Real Media files (I know!) that I originally had of the show.
#4: Dear Boys, "Sound of Bounce" (Opening)
Oh, god. I still remember when I first saw this opening, and immediately rushed to tell Vicki that I had discovered the crackiest thing Japan had done yet. Matrix basketballs, Japanese rap, bad engrish, and terrible hentai-style character designs, all a desperate attempt to be cool. We loved it. Every now and then I still dig out my copy of the soundtrack.
#3: Full Metal Alchemist, "Rewrite" (Opening)
I know, I know. Not Ready Steady Go? Rewrite wasn't as popular as L'arc en Ciel's mega-hit (possibly because it simply didn't have time, since it was the fourth and last ending), but the song's full of just as much energy while the visuals are full of both desperate action and poignant reminders to match the rollercoaster ride that was the last 13 episodes of FMA. And besides, I really love the shot of Ed jumping over the cliff.
#2: Romeo x Juliet, "Inori ~ You Raise Me Up" (Opening)
Romeo x Juliet wasn't even remotely on my radar - it was by Gonzo, a studio I had little interest in, and it was based on one of my least-favorite plays - until a co-worker of mine found the series' promotional website while doing some research and told me to come watch the opening. Just like that, I was hooked. Super-pretty, emotional, and promising all kinds of action and drama, there's no way this one wasn't making the list.
#1: One Piece, "We Are - Mugiwara Version" (Opening)
What a surprise, eh? You know how sometimes people get an Oscar, and it's not so much for that particular performance as their body of work as a whole? Consider this win like that. There hasn't been a single One Piece opening that I didn't love and didn't get me all pumped and excited about that day's adventures on the high seas, and most of the endings were just as good. I've chosen the special version of the original opening they did recently, with the cast singing the infamous We Are, but it could just as easily have been Crazy Rainbow Star or Believe or even that one-time ending where they used Family to close out the Alabasta arc.
Fun fact: for many years, One Piece was the undisputed king of my anime OST folder, and only very recently lost that crown (and by less than three megabytes) to Junjo's ten million drama CDs. It still makes up a full 6% of my anime music collection, and I don't even have all the soundtracks. What gets played the most? Any song in which the cast sings in character. And there are a lot. ^-^
And now, the insert songs. If you missed the warning text on the LJ cut, some of these contain SPOILERS, though not too many big ones (exception: Fushigi Yuugi). If you're worried about it, just scroll past anything that you're planning to watch later.
Honorable Mention: One Piece, "Zombie Night" (Episode 344)
Despite my above declarations of One Piece love, I'm actually not that enamored of this song. However, its placement - right in the middle of an arc with no warning whatsoever and no reference after the fact - and complete WTF factor garner it an honorable mention.
#10: Sailor Moon, "She's Got the Power" (English Episode 68)
I am not ashamed to admit that I religiously taped Sailor Moon every afternoon (clandestinely marathoning the week's episodes on Saturday night, when no one else was awake to see my incredibly girly choice of programming), nor am I ashamed to admit that I bought both of the English soundtracks. For songs like the above. Which I then memorized. "She's got the power" indeed.
#9: Kiki's Delivery Service, "Ryuuju No Dengon"
I love Japanese sock-hop music, yes I do. And paired with Miyazaki's whimsical visuals, how can you go wrong? It only didn't place higher because Kiki's not nearly as good as, say, Howl's Moving Castle.
#8: Fushigi Yuugi, "Winner" (Episode 33)
I remember absolutely bawling when I first saw this. Nuriko was the first of the cast to die, and I wasn't expecting it at all. On top of that, he'd been steadily working his way up from annoying comic relief character to near-favorite (I even cosplayed him), and the whole montage is all about things he's never gonna get to do set to the 80s synth "Winner," which doubled as his theme. Nuriko. ;_;
#7: Gravitation, "Seven Days" (Episode 11)
This was one of my favorite songs out of a number of favorite songs from Gravitation. Happy and fast-paced with Engrish decent enough to sing along to, it would have been a winner anyway, but as the soundtrack to Shuichi and Yuki's one and only date (in the series, anyway) while they have a good time and Yuki shows off his prowess at shooting zombies or whatever? <3
#6: Trigun, "Sound Life" (Episode 7)
This was Rem's theme song in Trigun. Apparently she wandered around singing it all the time? I don't know, but I really liked it, and any scene with her and Vash and that song was always a good one. It also usually presaged or came on the heels of total doom for Vash, but we won't get into that right now.
#5: Wolf's Rain, "Tell Me What the Rain Knows" (Episode 26)
Wolf's Rain insert songs turn out to be incredibly difficult to find on Youtube, even though the whole series is up, and in both English and Japanese no less. So while Tell Me What the Rain Knows isn't my favorite of the many, many pretty songs in Wolf's Rain (that would be Strangers, or maybe Run, Wolf Warrior, or...), it is emblematic of the series' beautiful score and is used in conjunction with episodes 26's happy ending (as opposed to, well, later...), so here it is.
#4: Full Moon wo Sagashite, "Smile" (Episode 37)
Not all of Full Moon's music worked for me, but when it clicked it clicked, and Smile ended up in heavy rotation on Winamp for quite some time. Here, it's playing over a Christmas montage. Do you know how much I love Christmas montages? A lot. And look! Kitty Takuto in a santa outfit! D'awww.
Speaking of Takuto, his rendition of Eternal Snow was a close second choice for Full Moon's spot on this list, but Smile + Christmas had it locked up.
#3: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, "You Are My Love" (Episode 20)
Things I love in Tsubasa (among others): beautiful music, flashbacks to when Sakura and Syaoran were kids, cameos of characters totally dead in their own series, and anything dealing with the bittersweet loss of Sakura's memories and Syaoran's devotion to her. Awwwwww. I was lamenting that towards the end of the series I'd gotten so wrapped up in what was going on with Fai and Kurogane that it took some effort to get back into Sakura and Syaoran. Obviously I should have just dug up this clip sooner.
#2: The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, "Funanori Sailor" (An Exceptional Episode)
While singing probably wouldn't really cause a ceasefire in real life (and shouldn't even in the Tylor universe - note Yamamoto's stunned disbelief), I love this scene all to pieces, and played this song over and over. Even my mom could recognize it. It's another group song, where everyone gets to show off their personalities; it was the end of the OVA, which I absolutely loved; it was pretty; and Tylor was my very first subtitled anime. It is any surprise this made number two?
#1: Initial D, "Supersonic Fire" (Episode 1?)
I don't like Initial D. I think the plot is dull, the characters are ugly, and the 3D animation is bad. Hell, I can't even figure out if the above clip is from one of the games or the show itself and am not going to bother trying. That said, at every anime club meeting it was shown I looked forward to the inevitable downhill races, because that's when the crazy Eurobeat soundtrack would kick in and Takumi would be racing down those mountains to the pounding beat of songs that made no sense despite being in my native tongue. ("No One Sleep in Tokyo"? Is that a command? A statement of fact? What?) Whenever I need to really get to work on something, I pull out my trusty Initial D megamixes and suddenly that all-nighter doesn't sound quite as bad.
Congratulations, Initial D. You've found a way to make me focus while you babble on about inertia drift using the street gutter or whatever. A notable accomplishment.