With all of the music discussion going on right now in this category, there has to be one of those that falling into the more “degeneracy” side of things.
Welp, since no one gonna takes that role, I gonna humbly accept this.
This thread is about Japanese music, be it Anime OST, Commercial J-Pop, Virtual Youtubers music… all are welcome for discussion.
It would be great if you could post some tracks or albums for those of us who are curious and might like to try something new.
EDIT 3: feel free to watch this one first. I actually forgot to include a song I still listen to regularly. I just love the mood of it, and the show is an old fave though it’s aged poorly:
shadow skill op born legend (full version) - YouTube
Angel Beats has some good music, as do the other shows by P.A. Works like Shirobako, Charlotte, and Nagi no Asakura. I’m unironically fond of a lot of the material by the fictional band “Girls Dead Monster”, such as the following two:
Girls Dead Monster - Last Song - YouTube
God Bless You - Angel Beats (4K) - YouTube
Plus the Macross Delta songs are hype, though I’ve never actually watched the show somehow. Idol anime isn’t my thing:
Some old favourites that come to mind are the following:
Aikoi - Tsubasa Chronicle - YouTube
God knows… ‘‘The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’’ 【涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱】Kadokawa公認MAD【ﾍﾞｰｽ 演奏】 - YouTube
Yuu - Legend of Condor Hero - YouTube
Black Cat Opening Daia no Hana with Lyrics - YouTube
Dusk maiden of Amnesia Opening Full [ Konomi Suzuki - Choir Jail ] - YouTube
Saiyuki - Still Time - YouTube
Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure (TV) (1999) CLEAN ENDING - YouTube
Gundam Wing Opening 1 JUST COMMUNICATION + LYRICS - YouTube
Yu Yu Hakusho Ending 3 full Unbalanced Kiss - YouTube
Love this one, though the anime itself is kinda forgettable. Haven’t seen it since I was in primary school:
Strange Dawn intro music - Sora E (Full Version) - YouTube
And a properly iconic one (IMO):
Vision of Escaflowne Opening HD - YouTube
New take on an old fave:
OPENING DIGIMON ALL CAST VERSION「Butterfly」Full - YouTube
Can’t avoid including this:
Lain opening [Full] - YouTube
magic knight rayearth opening full - YouTube
INNOCENT SORROW - D.Gray-man OP 1 (Eng Sub) - YouTube
Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X) All Openings Full Version (1-3) - YouTube
I’m deliberately avoiding more popular recommendations like Cowboy Bebop or Ghost in the Shell (specifically the Origa tracks) on account of how those are kinda easy to come across organically. Definitely forgetting to include loads of tracks I genuinely love, but these are mostly off the top of my head.
All the Fullmetal Alchemist OP and ED songs (the older adaptation and Brotherhood) are amazing.
Was busy typing review so I forgot to compose a list, though now I can post one song. Since I am more focused in the Doujin Music industry so…
Here comes one of my favorite piece from ABSOLUTE CASTAWAY. I am a sucker for Japanese Traditional Rock and this song has all of it from the get go. Mitsuki Nakae voice is simply so addicting and since her solo circle has been going on since 2007, it’s a damn big rabbit hole to get into. Even considering collecting her discography would take you a fortune.
I estimated somewhat over 1500$ for a full discography work of this group, and its really hurting my wallet right now :'D.
There is also an acoustic version which is released in their anniversary album:
Excellent.
I am a big anime consumer and will wander through these selections. I have always been impressed by the soundtracks and audio engineering on a lot of anime. Puts most other media to shame really. Something like Made in Abyss - next level that one. I’ll be interested to hear if there are any deviations between anime OST and non anime Japanese music of a similar variety.
Anime is really the only thing I watch where I am acutely aware of the audio goings on. For most western shows and movies the audio is more just background or an annoyance if I cant hear the bloody dialogue without turning the volume up and then having the loud parts blow up my house.
This reminds me that there should be an off topic anime thread in here. I sometimes post on the SBAF anime thread but I tend to frequent this forum more.
Haha, reverse for me since I kinda just pop in here regularly and to check and lurk. Still, while the SBAF anime thread is pretty cool I think it’s somehow bookending my fave era between the proper old school fans and the ones who are more into newer shows— not been watching as much lately so I’m a bit out of the loop as far as new stuff goes, even for franchises I followed before.
I’m with you on being more aware of audio in anime and the like. One random example would be how the distorted voices in Rising of the Shield Hero ep 8 was far more effective and chilling than loads of “HURR DURR GRRRR” you get in most films and shows from outside the weeb homeland. Properly emotional, that made me.
Oh warning, some of the videos I linked to are boiled potato quality and compressed to pancakes. Might be best to keep the volume down to start with!
Not sure in terms of commercial stuff, I have heard a lot of Japanese music over the year and I can say some of them are less than ideal. Some like Made in Abyss as you said are one of the few ones that have decent engineering going into.
Though, what I like about Japanese music is they LOVES EXPERIMENT. There is a lot of work that I have listened to that was inspired by another country. It’s a mixed bag of culture but with a twist of their own when it comes to Japanese music, to be honest.
Take a look at this piece of work which was released in Japan but technically is a Chinese vocal song.
Another example that is more Japanese would be something like this.
Where the first song is basically a Japanese vocal song with Chinese Oriental style
Oh there has to be garbage out there but general trend is that anime makes much better use of sound than comparable western AV media. At least for the anime I watch.
I’ve noted the two schools on that thread: OG vs current wave. I’m a newer anime convert so I’m more up on newer shows but am slowly making my way through well regarded shows of the last decade or so. Stuff previous to that, outside of things I watched like DBZ, are probably going to be getting little of my attention, even if warranted, due to limited access and time.
I should look into that service that I think YMO linked to for those shows but I don’t know enough about what I should try. Shouldnt be difficult to find out. Not sure if I can access it in Canada.
And thanks for the warning, I’ll keep the pot turned low to start.
Were if I want to pass a show, I would recommend giving Gintama a go. It’s a legendary gem that should not be ignored. Some of the OP/ED on there is also quite nice. Here is one of them.
Gintama is one I’m aware of and I watched part of the first episode and it seemed like something I may enjoy but the number of episodes makes it a bit daunting to commit to given all the other shows I watch. I keep eyeballing it though.
Same reason why I haven’t started One Piece. Maybe 1000+ episodes by now? Although a friend of mine started it a few months ago and is now in the 500s but he skips the recaps and jumps past filler episodes.
It’s actually something that I recommend to binge randomly into a filler episode (in fact, I started watching in the middle rather than the start back in the day) unless you want to get into some serious arc. The show is deadly random with humor throwing everywhere. It never gets boring.
Music from “Girl’s Last Tour”, where my avatar comes from.
Show features a lot of just plain good music.
Mark Gosdin
Oh no! It has started!! 
Please keep this thread civilized, sfw, and on-topic. 
Alright question for all you anime and jpop listeners…
Where do you buy your music?
I go to mainly recochoku, cdjapan, and qobuz store.
Here’s an album I use frequently while critical listening. I can’t get enough of this composer, Sawano Hiroyuki. He’s done OSTs for popular anime such as Attack on Titan; his tracks sport an almagation of orchestra, electronic, and rock. While I enjoy most of his tracks, I do find myself gravitating towards the ones that use vocalists. I’m no musician, but they use a similar chord “progression” of sorts with exciting “drops” that build off of one another, keeping you itching for the next one. And a lot of times, just when you think it’s over, there’s one extra bridge and subsequent chorus.
The tracks themselves, particularly the re-mastered ones, are quite useful for my critical listening process. A lot of them play with staging and I use them when testing image distinction:
You know I love Sawano as well! But this release of the remastered ones I find very bad-sounding. There’s something I hear in the high frequencies and they just sound weird to me. I have all the regular versions of the songs in this album as well and they sounded better.
Don’t forget the sound of rain track! It’s not on this ost though but I was able to find one for purchase on recochoku.
Great thread! I agree about the experiment bit (though obviously other musicians around the world experiment as well) and what first comes to mind for me is a band called Boris. They’re not bound to genres and made bangers such as this https://youtu.be/c3SSplgES-Y or whatever this is https://youtu.be/14QTrpdjoiY. I was lucky enough to catch their gig in a live house in Tokyo before the Covid-19 Pandemic hit. Sorry about formatting I am new to the forums 
I had “God Bless You” by Girls Dead Monster come on the other day while doing work around the house and man, I had to stop what I was doing during that last leg of the song. Very moving.
I sometimes buy them on mora.jp with a VPN, although you’ll have to make a Japanese Amazon account and pay via Amazon.jp for Mora or at least that’s what I had to do.
By the way, I forgot how to quote multiple posts in one reply. Can someone remind me? Edit: Nevermind, I remembered.
