horie yui op/eds through youtube

A brief history of Horie Yui OP/EDs through Youtube.

(Talk about obscure topics… or would you rather I toss up “my first and last epsiode of Perfect Blue SOS?”)

Hikari Hikaru (Love Hina Again)

I think Love Hina touched off the Golden Age of Harems… prior to LH, most harem series were romantic like MI, Toriyama-like in length like YU, or slice-of-life like TH. LH introduced the fast-paced comedy fanservice style that endures to this day… Magikano, Girls Bravo, Sumomomo Momomo, Maburaho, Tonagura, and their brethren.

Horie Yui nailed the role of Naru way back then, and since she’s been pretty much a solid seiyuu for any harem series to the point where it’ll be weird if she had a prime role in a Gundam series, for example. If Aya Hirano would be Liriano, Horie Yui would be Roy Halladay.

Be for Me Be for You (Love Hina Again)

I liked Kanako’s version better. The goth loli version nailed the song better, IMHO. Naru’s version is a bit too happy and sounds a bit too much like Hikari Hikaru.

Love Destiny (Sister Princess)

I originally watched Sister Princess back in the day when fansubbers cut out the OP/ED to save file space… so it wasn’t until after I finished watching Sister Princess that I saw Love Destiny. I remember back then, the OP was fantastic… but now, watching it again, it’s dated as hell. There’s hardly any movement at all during the OP sequence, and only the unintentional comedy of the twelve girls looking their stereotypes saves the visual portion of the OP. It reminds me of 90210’s OP the more I watch it.

(BTW, Narg and I had a discussion back then wondering if the “ai ai ai ai” were for love or for to meet. I remember the most useless information.)

Love Destiny (Sister Princess)

For the second half of the season, instead of recording a new song, G’s decided to cheap out and just tweak Love Destiny. They use the same stills but add zoom-in and zoom-out shots of the stills as well as adding a twirl to Aria’s umbrella and raining sakura pedals during Chikage’s scene. In other words, low budget.

Kokoro Harete Yoru mo Akete (Jubei-chan 2)

One of the few anime series that doesn’t have an OP. Madhouse did a great job with the animation of this ED, and the fact that they varied the characters who rode their bikes as the series progressed make it even better. (Note that this links to the final version of the ED, so spoilers for people who haven’t seen the series.)

Oshiete Sensei-san (Bottle Fairy)

Lolis in bottles. I don’t even have a joke here.

Scramble (School Rumble)

Fun song to secretly sing along with… guruguru maru! I liked all the spinning motifs in the animation as well as all the Eri hair tosses and Mikoto looking like Mikoto. Because Scramble was so enjoyable, Sejimeteru Generation was just dead out of the gates… it’s like whatever follows Red Fraction for Black Lagoon 2 will need to be really good to make me forget all that Engrish… “Those aren’t tears / Don’t let it trick on you”…

Shoujo Q (Pani Poni Dash)

Pantheon quality OP reigned supreme until the advent of Bouken Desho Desho.

Hikari (Inukami)

Reminds me a lot of Love Destiny (and shows how much that OP has aged) with Kaoru’s twelve inukamis. The good: no male nudity, plenty of Youko, smooth animation. The bad: disturbing lack of Nadeshiko, disturbing 80’s like clothing for most of the inukami, disturbing lack of Nadeshiko.

Horie Yui has always done a good job making her OP/EDs enjoyabe. She seems to excel in these harem-type series, and has a knack for nailing the faster paced songs in the genre. I haven’t really liked any of her less-popsy stuff. I always like the OP/EDs more when the seiyuu of a series sings them rather than some hired gun… something about really connecting back to the show has its value. Or would you rather have more Wings of Word-styled songs? When you have either Horie Yui, Maaya Sakamoto, or Aya Hirano in your cast, there’s no reason to have someone else sing the OP/ED. It’s that simple.

19 Responses to “horie yui op/eds through youtube”

  1. “When you have either Horie Yui, Maaya Sakamoto, or Aya Hirano in your cast, there’s no reason to have someone else sing the OP/ED.”

    Unless it’s Mikuni Shimokawa that is. :D Absolutely love her FMP OP/EDs.

  2. It’s funny… I’ve watched at least one episode from all these animes in the last two months. Her singing the the openings and endings is just great. :D

  3. Oshiete Sensei-san (Bottle Fairy)…. still trying to figure out what this anime is about, and I have the first 4 eps! @_@;
    ?!! I DONT GET IT!

  4. Mikuni Shimokawa is not really a seiyuu though, and her role in FMP is really a minor 1

  5. Love Destiny AI AI AI is love.. I read the official lyrics. XD

    Oshiete Sensei-san~ the only song I know 100% of the lyrics .
    XD

  6. A great bunch op OP’s if you ask me. I really like most of them.
    btw, the video’s to Jubei-chan 2 and School Rumble don’t seem to work.

  7. I actually liked the first PaniPoni OP better than Shoujo Q.

    Nonohaha kaze ni yurete
    Watashi mo kaze ni naru

  8. Sister princess looks SOOO good for a dated series! Ack, what have I been waiting for all these time…

  9. You really must include Mao-chan.

  10. >>Symmetry says:
    I actually liked the first PaniPoni OP better than Shoujo Q.

    Most. Addictive. OP. Evar.

    “Oonami ban ba ban baan…”

    To this day, the only OP I never fast-forwarded through on any first viewing. Am I the only one that bobs his head side to side like an idiot (in time with the potted flowers) during the “Nanohana~~” part? It’s like Pavlov’s dog or something. Love how they had several different versions of each of the PPD OPs (or at least for “Kiiroi Bakansu” and “Shojou Q”) with a different seiyuu singing the lead on each version.

    >>>Pantheon quality OP reigned supreme until the advent of Bouken Desho Desho.

    (notices how the YouTube screencap is of Bodysuit Rei)

    All the PPD OP’s were pantheon quality. There’s more quality fanservice in those OPs (and most of it Rei, heehee!) than in most 26 ep harem series. So help me, if ADV screws them up, in any form or fashion…

  11. Scramble >>>>>> Sentimental Generation song zzzz T_T

  12. Love Hina Again’s opening is named Kirari Takaramono, not Hikari Hikaru ^^

    I totally disapprove for Be For You Be For Me, Kanako’s version is better for the PICTURES of the goths lolis, her voice is just… Meh V_v (Oh, and Naru version sounds melancholic to me, it’s the Keitaro & Naru version which sounds really like an song for hyper hapiness xD)

  13. > (Talk about obscure topics… or would you rather I toss up “my first and last epsiode of Perfect Blue SOS?”)

    Well, now that you mention it…

    So… Mima=Mikuru, Mi-mania=Kyon…?

  14. >I think Love Hina touched off the Golden Age of Harems…

    Tenchi Muyo disagrees.

    @ultradoug:

    It’s a slice-of-life with lolified fairies in bottles.

    @Googleshng:

    >So… Mima=Mikuru, Mi-mania=Kyon…?

    …NO.

  15. “Sister Princess” definitely looks good. But that’s just about the only thing to recommend about it. I got 5 episodes in and realized I didn’t give a damn about any of the characters or what was going on with them.

    In the end there’s no substitute for a story.

  16. >>>“Sister Princess” definitely looks good. But that’s just about the only thing to recommend about it. I got 5 episodes in and realized I didn’t give a damn about any of the characters or what was going on with them.

    The animation is inconsistent enough to make it look bad.

    Yet, this is the first anime I watched to know/consider who Ayako Kawasumi, Natsuko Kuwatani, Nana Mizuki, Yumiko Kobayashi is. :(

  17. Ah Jace, I knew I liked you. Horie’s one of my favorite VAs around, and I still find it great/hilarious that she was the original Dokuro, Shana and Shinku in the audio novels. She also did a great job with EDF Mao’s OP and EDs as someone mentioned above
    OP
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MaOTVdnte4
    ED
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb5wkdD1l3E

    Not a huge fan of her Kikaider and Photon EDs though, but hey, she’ll win a Superbowl for ya, just probably not average over 4,000 yards every year.

  18. just to let you know. new evangelon=true

    eh… i personally hated Shinji way too much to like the original series.

  19. don’t forget about “Tsubasa”, which is the ending of Sister Princess.

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