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The fall season is just around the corner (and it looks fairly promising to me), but it’s time for our writers to make their final assessments of Summer 2019 in anime. There are still some finales to come of course, but as this is our last “Up to Snuff” of the season, the poll reflects our assessment of the entire season, not just the last two weeks.
This week’s “Ask the Writers” question comes courtesy of Choya. And as ever we get some interesting answers (and non-answers). Thanks for looking!
Weekly Staff Poll
Vinland Saga – 15 points, 3 first place votes
Enen no Shouboutai – 15
Fruits Basket 2019 – 9, 1
Dr. Stone – 9, 1
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 2 – 7, 1
Kanata no Astra – 7
Ask The Writers
Which OP/ED would legitimately make you tear up if you attended a live performance of it?
- Guardian Enzo: “Koi Kogarette Mita Yume” (Cross Game ED1). Hell, it doesn’t even have to be live. Trivia – the only OP/ED I’ve ever seen live is “Ride on Shooting Star”
- Zaiden: “Toki O Kizamu Uta” (Clannad After Story OP), “Dango Daikazoku” (Clannad ED), “Koi O Shita No Wa” (Koe no Katachi ED), “Philosophyz” (Rewrite OP), “The Light Before We Land” (Gunslinger Girl OP), “Ashitaka Sekki” (Princess Mononoke ED), “Inochi no Namae” (Spirited Away ED). (Editor’s note: Zaiden’s nickname is now officially “Chidi”)
- Takaii: I’ve been to a good amount of anisong concerts now and I don’t think I’d ever tear up during a concert. That said, I REALLY enjoyed watching PERFUME and LiSA perform live and would die to see them perform live again.
- Choya: There are plenty I’d choose from, but I recently stumbled across an Instagram video of Kana Hanazawa performing “Renai Circulation” live. To be honest, I got a little emotional because it brought back fond memories of being a young weeb digging into subs for the first time and the audience interaction really hammered home how catchy and beloved the song is to so many others. I loved “Platinum Disco” the most, but I could see myself getting hyped up and teary-eyed along with the uber-fans if I were there.
- Pancakes: And skipping the question because none have made me tear up, so far at least 🙂
- Stars: “Departures” by Egoist, the first ED for Guilty Crown. The series itself kind of fell apart towards the second half, but the soundtrack was consistently evocative and tragic. As for the OP, probably Steins Gate. And the runner-up would be the Final Ed of Kagerou Days. “Summertime Record” by Jin.
- Stilts: “DAYS of DASH” by Suzuki Konomi, the first ED of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo. Close second: “Koko Kara, Koko Kara”, Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho’s ED, and/or either of that show’s insert songs (“Haru Ka Tooku” and “Sora Wo Miagete”), all of which get me every single time.
Angel Beats episode 10 ED.
Even to this day, I feel a tightness in my throat when I hear it. The way it fades in
is just so well artfully directed. I can’t imagine that point of the story without that
song, and when I hear that song, I am reminded of that scene so powerfully and clear.
You know, it’s a general misconception that the artist makes the artist. It’s really
the engineers and director(s) who bring out the full potential of the artist, and that
series, while not the most amazing of storytelling, has no peer as far as amazing music
in an Anime (that I’m familiar) series across quite a few genres from episode to episode
(another close second is Sora no Otoshimono OPs/EDs).
I’m not a big fan of all of LiSA’s work, but LiSA’s rendering of Ichiban no Takaramono
(Yui final ver.) sets her place in history.
I’m not really sure tbh.
Though there’s a theme in Nier Automata when you fail a quest in Pascal’s village which is probably the most depressing theme I’ve ever heard in a Japan works before. Like good grief I died and failed the escort mission, I just figured I could return and redo at a later time, but nope, the game just throws a super tragic theme atcha LOL.
Though to answer the question more directly I’m of the same opinion as Takaii & Pancakes if you go by their answers above.
Honestly, if I had to pick one… “For You”, Hourou Musuko’s ED, would probably completely wreck me, haha. That’s in part because of the song itself, yeah, but also because I have a lot of emotional attachment to the manga/anime in general, and that’s pretty much the piece of music that I associate with it.
That’s a solid pick for sure.
Am with Takaii and Pancakes. If I were to tear up it’d be because one of my absolute favorites started up and I’m hyped as hell as opposed to the song being emotional
I have seen “Kataritsugu koto” (Blood +) by Chitose Hajime and “Love story wa totsuzen ni” (Tokyo Love Story) by Kazumasa Oda, with a brilliant violin accompaniment by Taro Hakase, performed live in 2011 and it was absolutely breathtaking.
It would have to be Yamada Tamaru’s version of Scarborough Fair from SukaSuka. Damn thing tears my heart out every time I hear it.
Shiki no Uta, the ED from Samurai Champloo. That song makes me so happy! I would be crying tears of joy if I heard it live.
I cry very easily, so this is hard to answer because I would cry with a lot of them XD but the ones that come to mind are “Secret Base – Kimi ga Kureta Mono” (Ano Hana ED), “My Soul, Your Beats (Angel Beats OP), “Wa Cycle” (Mahoutsukai no Yome OP), “Lucky Ending” and “One Step Closer” (both Fruits Basket 2019 EDs) and the one who would probably make me cry more would be “Rain” (FMA Brotherhood OP).
ED2 from the first season of Fruits Basket (2019) One Step Closer; gets me on the first few notes every time. They’re mostly happy tears though
Also the first ED of Shigatsu wa kimi no Uso Kirameki. Certainly the full version in the final episode. These are definitly not happy tears, they’re sad ones.
Disclaimer: I don’t know if I will actually tear up if I hear them live. At home when I’m alone I do, that’s for sure.
my most emotion-impressive anime songs? too many to count
off the top of my head:
https://youtu.be/oWZh3tK6zkw Black Lagoon ending… sad, requiem-like and ending with savage burst
https://youtu.be/yvS0Sr-2RH0 Only my Railgun… high-voltage energetic like Misaka herself
https://youtu.be/coEd6Lx_-cY Slayers first opening, my first love in anime music
https://youtu.be/ajTAnMqhZB8 belay that, actually before Slayers I had run in with Bubblegum Crisis on German sat tv circa 1990… boy I am so old
https://youtu.be/EFavYPUalJ4 probably my fave of all Inuyasha openings
https://youtu.be/KPxSS1zHWwQ not op/ed but insert song but never fails to touch my heart…
I felt it before clicking the link, it would be Konya wa Hurricane, it just had to. Such an excellent timeless tune. The ED for Bubblegum Crisis (Mister Dandy) would’ve been a good 2nd best pick from those OVAs though.
And because no one specified that we had to stick with anime: N’s Farewell (Pokemon Black/White ED), Why (FF7 Crisis Core ED), New World (FXIII-2 ED), Ending Ballade (Fire Emblem 4: Genealogy of the Holy War).
Thanks, Chidi.