Posted on January 18, 2022

Music collection: Anime theme songs

Opening titles for anime shows have a unique, rarified energy. The visuals are always strong and evocative, representing the best of what you’re about to see, but the songs function as both a pitch and a lure. They tell you something about the show and grab your ears with impossibly catchy tunes that stay with you after the show’s over, encapsulating the excitement of anticipation and luring you back for the next episode. Some of them even end up being more memorable than the show they were meant to support.

That’s a lot to accomplish in just 90 seconds (the average running length for an opening), and the makers of anime are very, very good at it. You can’t always carve out time to watch something, but you can take music with you anywhere. The songs work their way into your head and take up permanent residence. The Speed Racer theme, for example, has been on a constant loop somewhere in my brain since the first time I heard it as a child. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme songs have been part of TV anime since Astro Boy. Sometimes their lyrics tell you about the hero or the story, other times they are pure poetry with only an abstract connection. Structurally, they usually present you with a verse and a chorus, then they finish. But invariably, there will be a longer version (upward of 3 minutes) that delivers more. Hearing it in “TV size” makes you want to buy it. And thus, OP/ED songs become an integral part of anime merchandising.

After the Speed Racer theme, the next one that hooked me was Star Blazers, which rewrote the Japanese lyrics of Space Battleship Yamato, but wisely left the music intact. That was the anime series that truly put OP/ED songs on the map. The show took a while to catch on, but the theme was an instant hit and went on to essentially become Japan’s second national anthem. It elevated the craft as nothing had before, using musical craftsmanship to clear the way for OP/ED songs to mature into their own art form.

When I started collecting anime in the 1980s, I slurped up soundtrack albums too, either on LP or homemade cassettes. I did what I assume everyone did, shifting the OP/ED songs onto mix tapes for the car. My friends and I listened and sang to them for hours on end when we took long road trips to cities that had anime swag in stores. It didn’t occur to me that this phenomenon was happening on the other side of the world until I stumbled across a live concert CD called Super Robot Spirits.

This was a revelation. On this 1999 recording, I heard Japanese fans cheering and singing along with the exact same songs that kept my friends and I energized on the road. Music at its best has always had the power to unite us emotionally, but this was another level entirely. It filled my heart with a feeling of international kinship that has never faded.

If you’ve heard even a few OP/ED songs, you won’t be surprised to learn that countless albums of them exist. From straight up reprints to remixes to genre-bending covers to live performances, just about everything can be found in just about any form. And they’re essentially limitless. No two collectors will have identical libraries.

Below is most of what I’ve collected since the bug bit me. Keep in mind that my jam is 80s anime, so most of this focuses on that era. But, of course, you can never stop with just one decade. I’ve left out song collections from anime I’ve already written about here at ArtValt, so take a look at the various profiles to see other entries.

Japanese titles and serial numbers are included for online search purposes. If something’s still available, I’ve added an Amazon link. You can also find plenty of full albums on Youtube and Apple Music, so go get your rock on!