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Jun 04 2004

Categories: anime, commentary, jpop

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This post inducts Dotabata AngeLoop, the second ending to the third season of Galaxy Angels, into the pantheon of excellent op/eds. To join the pantheon, the op/ed must be a catchy song, feature some sort of memorable animation (so I won’t skip it everytime… so fanservice helps), and the two must gel together well. Dotabata AngeLoop, sung by the Angel-tai, does this extraordinarily well. The song itself is an upbeat, fun song full of fanfare, which pretty much defines the series. The animation matches up extremely well with the girls doing their best Idol impersonations in their cutest costumes ever. Then there’s the transparent skirts…

What else is in the pantheon of great op/ed?

OP

• Everlasting Love, Aquarian Age (SeYUN)… nakkid chix0r animation with slow, emotional song = win!
• Love Destiny, Sister Princess (Horie Yui)… seemed inappropriate at first. After all, it’s a catchy and fast-tempo song with a funky chorus for a rather sad topic. But, it does fit the show well, and it’s extremely well-synced with the animation. I can picture Aria’s umbrella twirl as I listen to it.
• Maico wa Odoru, Maico 2010 (Tange Sakura)… world’s second best song consisting of only “do re mi fa so la ti”.
• Promises Not Necessary, Escaflowne (Yoko Kanno and Maaya Sakamoto)… despite featuring bishounen, it’s a very beautiful song with a memorable chorus. The bells and chorus makes it sound more in line with a fantasy setting.
• Rise, Stand Alone Complex 2 (Origa, Tim Jensen, Yoko Kanno)… excellent song composition– don’t remember Russian/English eletronica working this well– combined with Origa’s vocals and slick animation. Top notch stuff.
• Sorega Aideshou, Fumoffu (Mikuni Shimokawa)… exceedingly happy song. Shimokawa has a great voice, and the animation reminded me of a dating game rather than a dreary giant robot killfest. Most excellent. Only if Bonta-kun showed up could this be more awesome… ok, maybe if Chidori were nakkid, like in the season 1 opening.
• So-Re-I-Yu, Mahoromatic 2 (Ayako Kawasumi)… lyrics fit the show well, and then there’s Mahoro doing that finger wag thing that pushes it ahead of the season 1 song.

ED

• Anata no Kokoro ni, Abenobashi (Megumi Hayashibara)… really non-traditional for an anime to use still, live photos and an almost folk-like song. But it works, if not on the strength of Hayashibara’s voice.
• Asu Kara Kyo He, Gatekeepers (Yumi Matsuzawa)… I like the soft, nasal tone of the song. Underscored the less than happy nature of the show.
• Be For You, Be For Me, Love Hina Again (Various)… I like them all, but probably lean more towards Kanako’s version. Really goth so fits her well… and everyone in the ED looks so cute.
• Kokoro Harete Yoru mo Akete, Jubei-chan 2 (Horie Yui)… biking up a hill is forever a Jubei-chan trademark, and I like how they change the animation sequence slightly at the very end. The song is also the strongest on Horie Yui’s fourth album. Yeah, I definitely have a Horie Yui-bias here.

Then there’s a few songs that are not OP/ED but deserve mentioning:

• Belldandy’s Cake Song, Aa! Megami-sama (Belldandy, duh!)… do I need an explaination here?
• Dancing, Initial D (Vicky Vale)… probably the best song in the whole series, and it’s not by move. Hehehe. Great song to drive to, and Vicky Vale does a competent job on English vocals. Extremely catchy… would be great for a fighting game.
• Green Bird, Cowboy Bebop (—–)… after seeing episode five of Bebop, you either will love anime forever or be condemned to watch dumb American sitcoms forever. This is the song that turns people onto anime.
• Katakota no Koi, Chobits (Rie Tanaka)… it was like an anthem that some fanservice was going to happen soon.
• Rinbu Revolution La La La Mix, Utena (—–)… I like this version more than the standard Rinbu Revolution. Only used as the ED of the last episode sadly.

Notes:

• Tried to keep it on an one song per series basis. Jubei-chan has solid bgm all around, and Forever is a good ED. Just that Horie Yui’s Kokoro is better. Aa! Megami-sama was easy. Inoue was only asked to perform one song at AX, and it was the cake song. Take that My Heart, Your Heart. Mahoro was a hard choice between Kaerimichi (good, but no finger wag) , Mambo de Mahoro, (good song, but animation is, uh, cheap), and Otsuki-sama (extremely emotional song, especially with the events of episode twelve).
• Crystal Key’s Motherland takes the prize of most inappropriate ED. People are dying left and right with morality shaken to its core, and the ED has Winry prancing around like a West Virginian. Seriously, is that the only reason Winry is in the show?
• Kibouhou from Spiral is the only OP that mathematically impresses me.
• Full Moon probably deserves a song on the list, but I can’t tell them apart.
• Lithium Flower makes me wonder if Tim Jensen is seriously a native English speaker. “She’s incredible math”… great… ok, I’m getting off-topic now.
• I’m probably forgetting a few songs… maybe add in the future. Got a suggestion? Let me know.

Wow. Ended up being a more involved post than I originally intended.