Why Are Anime Theme Songs So Good?

If you're a fan of anime like me - or even if you're not - you may have noticed that anime theme songs totally rock. Or "slap," as the kids say. Do they still say that? Or is that a Millenial term, supplanted by another word that Gen Z uses? (to an old Gen Xer like me, Millenials and Gen Z are all lumped together in the "kids" category.) 

Tonikaku ("anyway"), what was I saying? Oh yeah, anime theme songs: SO GOOD. I enjoy them so much, often playing YouTube mixes of them while I do chores, that at one point I decided to try to figure out why they are so good. This reverse-engineering process led me to a couple of interesting discoveries:

1. A lot of anime theme songs (and just J-Pop/Rock songs in general) tend to use a similar structure that goes something like this:

- Instrumental or vocal introduction

- First verse

- Pre-chorus that increases the tension

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental or vocal break (usually 1/2 of the original intro)

- Second verse, usually with an additional element that differentiates it from the first verse

- Pre-chorus

- HUGE CHORUS

- Instrumental solo

- Bridge

- HUGE CHORUS

- Outro (usually a reprise of the intro)

Two songs that are good examples of this structure (and are personal favorites of mine) are "Shunkan Sentimental" by Scandal (from Full Metal Alchemist) and "Zankyou Sanka" by Aimer (from Demon Slayer).

2. Anime theme songs tend to have vocal melodies that "tell a story" in the chorus, as opposed to a lot of western-hemisphere songs that rely on the "repeat the same line 4 or 8 times" method. A classic example of the "tell a story" melody is the "Happy Birthday" song (sing it to yourself and you'll see what I mean):

- Happy birthday to you (introduction, like you're setting out on a journey)

- Happy birthday to you (rising action)

- Happy birthday, dear Brian (climax)

- Happy birthday to you (resolution)

A couple of good examples of this are "Blue Bird" by Ikimono-Gakari (from Naruto: Shippuden) and "Gurenge" by LiSA (also from Demon Slayer). These songs also utilize variations of the song structure I went over in point #1 above.

In addition to making them rock/slap/whatever, utilizing these techniques allows these songs to be shortened down without diluting their effectiveness into the one-minute-or-so range that animes will use over their intro or closing credits. So keep them in mind if you want to write a song that would make a good theme for an anime (and optionally, maybe also consider learning Japanese)!