Anime Theme Songs: How To Create An Absolute Banger According To A J
Anime theme songs are the best theme tunes on the small screen. Sorry, Breaking Bad. Sorry, The Simpsons. Sorry, Dickinsons Real Deal . Actually, anime themes are probably among the best to be found on the big screen too, come to that. Sorry, Superman. Sacrilegious to say so? Maybe, but hear us out.
Anime themes tell a tale like no other, and are integral to the overall message, feel and narrative of the animation; they add an extra dimension beyond that of more standard screen music. Often foregoing muted instrumentals in favour of catchy rock tunes and karaoke-ready vocals set to bombastic highlights reels of scenes from the show theres no other way to describe anime theme songs than as Absolute. Bangers.
Fans agree. When we polled Fandoms anime community about which theme song was the best, the vote was split across countless different anime titles. At the time of writing, this is how the poll was looking :
Pokémon 25%
Attack on Titan 22%
Cowboy Bebop 15%
Dragon Ball Z 14%
Akira 1%
Other 23%
And people are so passionate about their choices, they argued vociferously in favour of their selections in the comments section beneath the poll. Weve included some of the communitys thoughts throughout this article to give a fuller picture of the impact of animes music.
Japan’s Recent History In Favor Of Anime
The increase of anime all over the world has been speedy in recent years. However, the industry has somewhat tangled recent history with Japan.
Anime was popular in Japan long before American institutes started teaching how to draw anime. It also pre-dated the progression of the modern Japanese film industry.
In fact, this animated art was the first-ever form of media broadcasting in the country.
During the period of Meiji, there was a notable exchange in the cultures of the US, Japan, and Europe. Nonetheless, the first-ever time manga was made for commercial consumption was in Japan, published in 1917. This ancient piece was named ‘Makzo Imokawa, The Doorman.’
But the first anime film came in 1945; the Japanese Imperial Navy majorly funded this feature movie. The sole purpose behind this was to uplift the spirits of Japanese children.
It was developed to primarily target the youth alongside the adolescents, compelling them to be more courageous, mainly because they grew up during the war.
A Disclaimer About Learning Japanese With Anime
Japanese is an honorific language with different ways of speaking. Think about it this way: You speak differently with your superiors at work than you do with close friends and family, right?
Japanese takes this to another level.
You have to change the way you speak to someone depending on your relationship, but it transcends the straightforward distinction between formal and casual. Your language will change between talking to a friend, family member, work colleague, manager or customer.
Meanwhile, anime characters live in their own universe where everyone tends to use slang, casual language, informal pronouns and even made-up words.
Too often, Japanese teachers encounter eager anime fans who were inspired to learn Japanese from their favorite programs. They sit on the edges of their seats, bursting with excitement to show off the words and phrases they learned while watching anime.
Imitating anime characters can leave you speaking like a child or a rude street punk, but you might never know the true meaning of your words and tone. This can be frustrating for both teachers and peers.
The bottom line here is that you need to be aware of the kind of Japanese youll absorb in anime-world. As long as you dont lose sight of your ultimate Japanese language goalto speak fluently and properly in any situationanime Japanese definitely has a place in your language learning progress.
Read Also: Which Anime Girl Are You Buzzfeed
Ways To Learn More About Your Conversation Partner
After youve greeted your new conversation partner, its likely that youll need to know more about them. Keep it rollingyouve got this.
- #9;Namae wa nan desu ka? Whats your name?
- #10 Watashi no namae wa _____ desu My name is ______
- #11 Doko kara kimashita ka? Where are you from?
- #12 Watashi wa ______ kara kimashita Im from __________.
- #13 Sou desu ka? Is that so?/Really?/I see
If you want to keep the conversation going and need some more expressions to help you out, check out these 28 Japanese conversation starters.
My Jewelry Box Of Words
As my Japanese improved, I gradually came to feel that J-Pop and ordinary anime songs were no longer meeting my needs. The lyrics of J-Pop songs all seemed to consist of the same repeated words and phrases, as if they had been assembled by template from the same limited stock. The grammatical structures were limited too, mostly drawing on sentence patterns that a student would be expected to master before reaching level 3 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test . I wanted to enrich my vocabulary, and these songs with their meager lexicon started to lose their appeal. It was around this time that I encountered Sound Horizon.
The groups music exposed me for the first time to the full riches of Japanese vocabulary. Their lyrics contained many new kanji and terms, and regularly featured the sentence patterns I was studying at levels 2 and 1 of the JLPT. With every song I heard, I experienced the joy of immersing myself in a flood of new words, and my vocabulary soon became richer and far more nuanced.
I have my own little theory about writing. People often claim that the best writers are those who can express deep ideas in simple language that anyone can understand. I am not sure I agree. A writer is like a deep-sea fish, a dweller of the deep who swims freely across wide oceans of words; if that fish is confined to a small, shallow pond, it will be stifled for air and quickly die. The more linguistic tools a writer has at her disposal, the better, as far as I am concerned.
Don’t Miss: How To Draw Yourself As An Anime Character
Now Youre Ready To Start Learning Japanese Online
Follow the tips in this article and youll be speaking Japanese in no time!
Ive provided you with a roadmap and resources to help you on the way, and now the rest is up to you!
Be patient and dont be discouraged by your mistakes early on. In fact, the more mistakes you make, the faster youll find yourself improving.
The study of Japanese is a long journey, but the results are truly worth it.
Japanese has so many hidden treasures to offer learners. Not only does it offer deeper knowledge of Japan and its culture, it also provides possibilities for broadening your own horizons through travel and employment opportunities.
Even more so, learning Japanese will improve you as a person. It will expand your perspective on language, challenge the way you think about your own native language, test your memory and self-discipline, and make you think about things in ways you never have before!
And if you can learn Japanese, you can learn almost any other language! Youll also have a significant advantage in learning other East Asian languages such as Chinese or Korean. As you can see, learning Japanese comes with plenty of benefits and ways to enrich your life as a whole.
Japanese may seem like an impossible task at first, but I hope you can see that its not as hard as you might have thought.
The truth is that you dont have to be a genius to learn Japaneseyou just have to stay motivated, challenge yourself, and practice every day! Time will take care of the rest.
Getting To Know Each Other In Japanese
Perfect! Youve been talking with someone for a few minutes now, introducing yourself and asking any questions you need to know. Maybe youve found out your speaking partners name and youre walking to a coffee shop together.
Nows the perfect time to find out more about each other and maybe become friends. Try out some of these phrases to open up a whole new avenue of conversation!
- #36 Ima nanji desu ka? What time is it right now?
- #37 Ima Now
- #38 Ato de Later
- #39 Kyou Today
- #43 Nansai desu ka? How old are you?
- #44 Doko ni sundeimasu ka? Where do you live?
- #45 Kyoudai ga imasu ka? Do you have siblings?
- #46 Ikura desu ka? How much does that cost?
- #47 Kore wa nan desu ka? What is this?
- #48 Sore wa nan desu ka? What is that?
- #49 Are we nan desu ka? What is that?
- #50 Toire wa doko desu ka? Wheres the toilet?
Read Also: What Anime Personality Do You Have
Learning Japanese By Singing Anime Songs
Otaku culture has been a constant companion on my path to learning Japanese. I grew up in a provincial town where there werent any Japanese teachers, so took my first steps in learning the language on my own when I was about 13 or 14. The first kana syllabary I learned was not hiragana but katakana. That was the script the Pokémon characters names were written in. My knowledge of English helped me here, as a lot of the Japanese names were inspired by English words.
My biggest help in learning hiragana came from anime songs. As a digital native, my first step was to go online, where I found a chart showing the 50 sounds of the hiragana syllabary with their pronunciation given in alphabetical romanization. I downloaded the video for the Pokémon theme song and typed the Japanese lyrics into a Word file as they showed up on screen, looking them up on the chart and matching them against the rmaji pronunciations.
Whenever a kanji came up, I would type it in Chinese. Then I printed out my homemade lyrics sheet and started singing along. Before long, I had memorized most of the hiragana characters. I picked up the Japanese pronunciations for some of the kanji in the lyrics, learning words like kimi , suki , shnen and monogatari . I started to watch anime in the original version rather than dubbed into Chinese, and fell in love with the sounds of the Japanese words.
Anime Essay Topic Ideas
People often ask me for help with choosing topics for essays and thesis assignments. Anime gives us many, many topics to write about. Sometimes too many. So here is a list of ideas and links to articles Ive written that have sources you may find useful.
1.Manga and American Comics
Contrast the different themes found in Manga and American Comics. Manga features heroes who overcome their challenges with help from friends. American comics have heroes who overcome challenges through their personal grit and ability. Discuss this difference.
You can also compare art styles: the muscles of American heroes and impossible poses against manga styled bodies. Compare the fixation of bust size in American female heroes and manga. Speaking of bust size this may help.; Anime Breasts looks at the relationship of breast size and character personalities.
2. Goku vs. Superman
Look at the cultural differences between these two iconic heroes. Compare how each represents the ideals of their respective societies. This will let you write about Japanese Confucian ideals and American Judaeo-Christian ideals. For an idea, check out my article about this topic.
3. Anime and Homosexual/Transgender Concerns.
Look at how anime explores homosexuality and transgender concerns. Anime often features transgender and ambiguously gendered characters. Look into how these characters hurt and/or help homosexual and transgender identity.
These articles will help:
Also Check: Which Anime Character Am I Buzzfeed
How Do You Write Weeb In Japanese
Whatever manuscript is needed, I want a tattoo that says “weeb shit” and I was hoping someone here could help.
I tried my best to find a good translation but it doesnt really exist
Thanks, getting it ink’d today
Probably be written in katakana since ‘weeb’ is a western word. I doubt a Japanese equivalent exists
Closest I can come up with is “”
“Weeb” in the US means almost the same thing “Otaku” does in Japanese.
IIRC, in Japan itself, Otaku is not a complimentary or favorable term like it tends to be in the West, it signifies a detrimental level of obsession, although weeb usually has more annoying than obsessive connotations.
came from r/weeabotales to laugh at pathetic weebs… actually decent info here, I’m surprised.
But I just wanna point out otaku is not at all favorable, at least not in my country. And neither is on japan.
Also laughing at weeb op falling for the baka gaijin shit on the top.
Really needed that explanation, there…
So if “otaku” means something different in vs out of Japan, then you can’t really say “weeb” means the same thing as “otaku” if the cultural context is different…
It’s fine to appropriate the word “otaku”, but in their native context they are not equivalent. At all.
A weeb is just an enthusiast. An otaku has a dysfunctional problem with their lives.
Aspire To The Greatest Anime Theme Of All Time
However, the distinguished honour of Greatest Anime Theme Song Ever, says Johnny, goes to Requiem from the soundtrack of iconic 1988 post-apocalyptic classic,;Akira. The GOAT of anime themes, if you like. Interestingly, the music on the Akira soundtrack, and this theme which plays at the end of the film specifically, are different to anything else referenced so far in this article. And that is arguably where its power lies.
The tribal, instrumental song at the end. It just gives me the goosebumps and chills and makes me feel;on at the same time. It has no lyrics, but it just somehow expresses everything of the story, he explains. And thats the key to its success according to Johnnys checklist of requirements for a stonking anime theme.
The ending of Akira was like a masterpiece to me, says Johnny, No lyrics. No explaining. But explains a lot more than words.
A picture may paint a thousand words, and an animated series made up of countless pictures may paint many, many more. But the music of an anime theme can tell a story just as evocatively.
Now, its surely only a matter of time before a Man With A Mission anime series ABOUT the larger-than-life band comes to a streaming service near you. Perhaps Professor Jimi Hendrix has already scored the theme.
- To catch Man With A Mission live or to find out more about the band, visit their official website.
Don’t Miss: Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Animation
Understanding Japanese Sound Words
With all that in mind, lets look at how Japanese onomatopoeia work. There are 3 families and 5 classes.; Families group words together by what sounds they mimic. Classes group words by their structure, how the words themselves look and sound.; English sound words have the same families and classes. Lets look at the families before we get into the more technical classes :
Giseigo: These words mimic voices of people and animals.
- wanwan ;
Giongo: Words that imitate sounds.
- zaazaa;
- baki
Gitaigo: words that represent something visual or a feeling.
- niyaniaya
We will look more into gitaigo later. These are not true sound words but they appear in both anime and manga. I will use katakana for sound words, but you may also see them in hiragana and kanji. Onomatopoeia are mostly written in katakana. Katakana is used to write loanwords like television, and to make words stand out.
Okay, so lets go into the classes. There are 5 classes that categorizes word structure .
Bare stem this is the root of the word. Think of the word study. Stud is the stem. Study becomes studied in the past tense. Studying;is the present perfect tense.; A word stem is the basic version of the verb.
For example:
hanasu =>hana =>hanashimasu
Japanese sound words in this class use the stem like hana
Altered Reduplication repeats the first word with a slight change. Think bow-wow. gasa-goso .
Doubled Base repeats the base sound of the word. Think rattattat.
Reasons Why Anime Is Popular In Japan
Out of numerous reasons, one reason that anime and manga have stood the test of time is their potential to influence viewers.
The storylines and characters are real, and so are their problems. And because of its visual freedom, producers can make these narratives seem larger than life.
In the words of a famous anime expert, Takamasa Sakurai: the unique genre is loved due to its unconventional nature. Hence, anime has killed the idea that only kids watch cartoons.
Anime is not just targeted at kids; it is made for older viewers. And this is highlighted by the heady narratives, nudity , gore, violence, and distressing themes.
Most international viewers and fans love anime because of its hard to predict endings that come with captivating storylines.
Other than that, a few more reasons make anime so significantly important in Japanese Culture. But you will only understand them when you start watching.
Also Check: Where To Train Durability In Anime Fighting Simulator
Use The Accompanying Manga To Aid With Comprehension
Manga refers to graphic novels and many anime are based on manga. One fun approach is to buy the manga version of your new favorite anime program and read it first.
While you may be tempted to cheat and buy the English manga, Japanese manga generally always have;hiragana;written over;kanji ,;allowing for easy comprehension. If youre at an intermediate level or above, challenging yourself with Japanese manga is a great way to strengthen your reading skills!
Some anime follows the manga dialogue relatively closely, so youll basically have a script to follow along with while watching the show. Other anime completely deviates from the source, and comparing the two can be another fun way to test your comprehension.
