The common themes of anime songs

One (of many) things about anime that’s always stood out to me since I became a fan is the songs. No matter what the nature of the anime in question is, with relatively few exceptions, the majority of anime opening and ending songs, more often than not, have common themes…

Back in my early days of fandom when I first started listening to anime songs in Japanese and looking up English translations on sites like AnimeLyrics.com, right away I was intrigued by how different they are than the kinds of American TV show theme songs I was used to. Not only that, but gradually I began to notice that even anime series that are very different from each other shared similarities in their songs.

To illustrate my point, I feel it would be helpful to start with a comparison of English dubbed anime songs with their Japanese counterparts – so here’s lyrics to the dubbed version of the Sailor Moon and Cardcaptors theme songs.

As you can see, both songs are basically about the story/plot of the show – female superheros in Sailor Moon, and the task of collecting magical cards in Cardcaptors.

Now let’s look at their original Japanese lyrics, Sailor Moon here and Cardcaptor Sakura here.

The difference is quite notable. While the English songs reflect what the show is about, the Japanese songs reflect the feelings of the characters. Nothing about plot points such as fighting evil or magical cards is mentioned in the Japanese songs, only the romantic feelings and thoughts of the heroines.

With the exception of a few kid/family anime like Doraemon, Pokemon, and Chi’s Sweet Home, and some light slice-of-life shows like Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star, this phenomena in anime songs is something that’s been carried on to most (but not all) anime I’ve come across. In short, anime opening and ending songs are rarely about the show itself – they almost never mention the names of characters or plot elements. Instead, they’re about the feelings of the characters and the intangible themes of the show, most commonly friendship, love, and self-reflection.


One Piece OP4 single cover, “Bon Voyage”

One Piece is an interesting example in that most of its opening songs reflect one of the plot points, traveling on an ocean voyage, and the actual term “One Piece” is mentioned in a couple of them. But usually that’s as far as it goes. The majority of the openings are comprised of themes of friendship, endurance, cooperation, and discovery.

I can think of numerous anime songs from a variety of series that incorporate these themes, the most common being self-reflection songs that convey the feelings, thoughts, uncertainties, and optimism/pessimism of the characters. Series including Fullmetal Alchemist, Digimon, Kare Kano, Nana, Naruto, Magic Knight Rayearth, and even comedies like Slayers, all have these kinds of introspective opening songs. Friendship themed songs are present in anime from Gundam 00 to Yu-Gi-Oh!, and love songs can be found in Seirei no Moribito, Clannad, and Tokyo Mew Mew. None of the aforementioned series, or most other anime, mention character names or plot terminology in their opening and ending songs.

Despite being an action show, Bleach has love/friendship themed songs like ED10, “Sakura Biyori”

Not only are so many anime from a variety of genres united by similar themes in their songs, even specific imagery in their songs is similar. For example, some of the most common imagery that I’ve come across in many different anime songs is “believing in tomorrow/the future,” “having someone precious to you,” “feeling helpless or uncertain,” “finding the light,” etc,. Even a number of specific words are very common in many anime songs, for example, “heart,” “feelings,” “friend,” “light,” “dark,” “pain/grief,” “believe,” “tomorrow,” “protect,” “sky,” “dreams,” and “future.”

Because most anime songs reflect deep, universal messages like these, this helps support the notion that fans have about anime being more mature and intelligent than other TV shows or cartoons. But there is an least one explanation for it, as Brian mentioned on one of ANN’s recent Hey Answerman! columns:

“Unlike with most western shows, the opening is actually animated from the get-go to specifically match the particular J-Pop single that’s been chosen for the show. Cartoons here (U.S.) have approximately two minutes less screen-time on air than in Japan, so there’s really no time to cram in an opening title sequence that’s more than maybe 30 seconds long. So they’re generally just a random collection of clips from the show spliced together with some forgettable incidental music. Again, in Japan the record labels have a tightly-knit connection to the show’s production, so those extra two minutes are wisely used to promote whatever artist they feel would be a good fit for the show. It’s not a cultural preference, per se; it’s a business-minded practice.”

So a valid reason, at least for why anime opening and ending songs rarely mention any character names or story terminology, is because the songs usually come out before the anime and are used to promote their respective Japanese singer/band. The animation is molded to fit the song of the music company that’s sponsoring the show, though this is not the case for all anime songs.

In conclusion, whatever reason Japan has for providing most of its anime opening and endings songs with common themes of love, friendship, and self-reflection, I think it’s pretty safe to say that they’re a big part of the fandom and are major contributors to anime’s universal appeal. I wonder, if every anime opening song were instead specifically about the story/plot of that anime, much like American cartoons, would the fandom be significantly different? Something to ponder, I suppose.

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. Dragonliger says:

    I really think they play a good part, a really good part of the anime. because even inside the anime sometimes other music is promoted, mostly in significant episodes or final episodes, like in soukyuu no fafner episode 15 and the last one.

  2. Panther says:

    OP and ED songs are also really important for me, they not only reflect the characters’ feelings as you said, but can be really good too at times. The added flavor comes from you relating the song to the anime and/or a character within.

  3. Yumeka says:

    @ Panther

    You’re right, even though most anime use already existing Japanese songs for their OPs and EDs, much of the appeal comes from fans finding the connections and similarities in the song lyrics to the characters/themes of the anime. Even though most anime songs were not made first and foremost for the anime, I think most companies do a good job finding an appropriate j-pop/j-rock song that fits at least one theme of the show, and creating good complementing animation.

  4. You got most of them, but forgot dreams or yume and sky or sora. Anime theme song lyricists love working those ones in there too. “Follow the dream to the sky; cherish the memories and believe in a better tomorrow”. Something like that.

    In fact so much do they seem to have a particular love for Dream and Believe that I’ve seen quite a few songs that simply have the title of “Dreams” or “Believe”. And by quite a few I mean like 5 or 6 at least.

    Anyway is it just me or is Ranka wearing a Jackie Kennedy style pillbox hat in that first picture?

  5. Yumeka says:

    @ Kaioshin

    I added “dreams” and “sky” to that paragraph. Thanks, I can’t believe I forgot “dreams” considering the Japanese word, “yume,” is part of my blog’s name (and mine =P)

    When I go to karaoke and sing Japanese songs, one of the most common words I notice is “tomorrow” – there’s literally like, over a couple pages worth of song title listings in the book beginning with that word, either in English or Japanese. Guess some words have established a certain significance in Japanese pop music over the years.

    And sorry, don’t know about that hat thing.

  6. I think you hit it right on the nail when you said that the songs are all about emotions and feelings. I’ve noticed not just in anime, but in some dramas that I’ve seen (and the corresponding manga for Liar Game) that Japanese culture really stresses the emotional side of life moreso than the popular America drama-type show. The example that’s coming to my mind is the movie Chushingura. The plot of that movie can easily be summed up in one sentence: 47 samurai avenge the death of their lord. The movie is over three hours long and details the emotional struggle of the samurai as their inner conflict of duty conflicts with their anger and impatience. Eventually one that becomes sick commits suicide because he wasn’t able to fulfill his duty. It’s one of the better movies I’ve watched because of the pure emotional aspect of it.

  7. Yumeka says:

    @ ultimatemegax

    Yeah, I often wonder why Japanese pop culture places so much emphasis on feelings and emotions in their TV shows, movies, songs, etc,. I’m sure we can all think of a number of anime and manga where a character’s feelings and willpower were major contributors to the plot and conflict. “Your will decides everything” was a big plot point in the 90s anime Magic Knight Rayearth, and I think it still sticks today with many other anime.

    Japanese culture places a big emphasis on formality and “tatemae” (keeping one’s true feelings suppressed while acting in the way that society dictates). So perhaps anime and other entertainment, being escapist mediums, convey the opposite, with characters having overflowing, sometimes exaggerated emotions – emotions that can often help them overcome personal struggles (shojo) and win against impossible odds (shonen).

  8. Kazuda_Shiraishi says:

    (TωT) we have the same thought about the difference of Anime songs,
    but now, I can say that, I can now clearly understand the BIG difference!! Thank you for explaining it into your blog,(>v<)
    ah! yeah, (9o9) anime songs also expresses the feeling of wanting to help someone even though they're complete strangers, something like the One in Katekyo Hitman Reborn, the Drawing Days,(^.^)

    ne, Yumeka-san, would you mind if I take some ideas in your blog for my home work? my Topic is also Anime Songs, (n_n),

    Domo arigatou guzaimasu!!! (^o^)

  9. Yumeka says:

    @ Kazuda_Shiraishi

    Sure, you can use some of the ideas from my blog on your homework. It’d be great if you could credit me but I’ll have no way of knowing whether you do or not =P

  10. Kazuda_Shiraishi says:

    Arigatou!!! I’ll put some screen shots to let you know, (^-^),
    I’ll upload it in my photobucket account, thanks again, (^o^)

  11. Kazuda_Shiraishi says:

    It’s done!!! I’ve submitted it early today!!! (^o^)
    I pasted the URL above, dunno if I did it right, (^-^)

    but, anyway, I really am thankful to you,
    something might have happened to my home work if you’re not there, XD
    you’re my “SAVIOUR!!!” XDDD

    oh yeah,
    hope you liked the picture, (^.^)

    Thanks again!! X)

  12. Yumeka says:

    @ Kazuda Shiraishi

    Thanks for the pic, but that link won’t show up. Want to try copying and pasting it again?

  13. Kazuda_Shiraishi says:

    http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww352/Soul_Lawliet/Special_Thanks_to_Yumeka-sanXD.png?t=1268923090

    sorry for the late response, we just finished school, X)

    I copied and paste as a comment, dunno if it’ll appear as a link :Ɩ

  14. [tlr] says:

    nice observations!

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