The Official Anime Music Thread

[Arpy 4,034]

Couldn't find any threads on Anime music, so why not start this one?

 

I've been intrigued by the music of Japanese composer Yoko Kanno's music for the last few weeks after watching the series Cowboy Bebop. It made me want to find more her music and I came across some really great cues from other anime series.

 

I haven't seen this anime, but I found the sound of this cue to be reminiscent of Williams' music for A.I. in spots.

 

Another score I love is for the series Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood:

 

Anyone else watch/listen to Anime and their scores?

[Not Mr. Big 3,521]

An A-tier anime theme song (there are some great recurring Orchestral pieces in the series too)

 

[Nick Parker 3,017]

*coughs*

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my favorite from Cowboy Bebop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheaper than live action, animation can go places any other medium can't, and Japan is perhaps one of the few places that takes animation seriously. As such, the good anime can be far more adventurous and imaginative in their scenarios, actions, and themes, giving composers a wide swing of the bat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Arpy 4,034]

Yes, animation in general is given greater creative freedom and more lively scores! A lot of the time I've noticed the music in anime plays a huge part of being able to communicate ideas with the audience - especially when it's just exposition and scenes with little to no dialogue.

 

I also love how they have an appreciation for the orchestra and the symphonic sound, but also allowing for hybridization with other styles and genres.

@Not Mr. Big I'm afraid to start One Piece as it looks like a long series! I've just started Hunter Hunter, which is in the vein of Dragon Ball and Naruto which seems to be good so far, yet it's 150 or so episodes...

 

@Nick Parker Real Folk Blues is great, I love the version from the end of the series!

[enderdrag64 68]

Wow I'm surprised this thread doesn't have more replies. I guess there really aren't that many anime fans on this forum.

 

A couple other shows with excellent music that haven't been mentioned yet are the music for Dr. STONE by Tatsuya Kato, Hiroaki Tsutsumi, and Yuki Kanesaka, and the score to Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba by Yuki Kajiura, and Go Shiina.

 

You can't really call Dr. STONE a score because very few tracks are written for specific scenes, rather most of the music was written ahead of time as a collection of cues with certain moods or feelings, and then was applied to the show later in editing. Even so, many of the tracks are absolutely beautiful, with Some Primal Survival Gourmet, The Return of Chrome, STONE WORLD, and Fantasy vs. Science coming to mind as particular standouts.

 

I made a playlist a while back with most of the music in the order it first appears in the show (like I said most cues appear in multiple episodes):

 

 

Kimetsu no Yaiba on the other hand does have a proper score with many recurring motifs and is also absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately though, as far as I know it's not legally available for streaming/purchase outside of Japan so it's rather difficult to get your hands on. Fortunately on the other hand, due to its insane popularity, nearly its entire complete score has been released across a bunch of different promo albums, assuming you can find them:

https://vgmdb.net/search?q=kimetsu+no+yaiba&type=

 

[Not Mr. Big 3,521]

Dr. Stone rules