One thing I like about albums that consist of the artiste singing their versions of songs done by other artistes is the exposure to songs from the past which you might not have heard of.
An example was Shimokawa Mikuni’s Reprise album released last December, with half of it featuring many classic anime theme songs. Although most of them were brought over from her 2003 Review album, there are a couple of new cover songs.
I loved most, if not all of the cover songs featured in the album. In fact, I searched around for more information related to some of the song titles, and even ended up watching some of the series which the songs were related to.
If not for listening to the album, I would still not know of the ever-classical 愛・おぼえていますか and probably wouldn’t have gotten interested in and watched the original Macross TV series and its movie counterpart. Also, Macross Frontier wouldn’t be on my must-watch list, and I’d be missing out on awesome sound and stunning graphics.
Another song from the album that influenced me to start a series was 想いでがいっぱい, which was the ED of Miyuki, which spun off from the manga. The series was really old, all the way back in the 1980s. Hence, I couldn’t find the entire anime series anywhere and turned to the manga instead. This somewhat introduced me to other of Adachi Mitsuru’s works too.
One of my favourite songs on the album is 輪舞 -revolution-, the OP of Revolutionary Girl Utena. I’ve yet to watch the anime, but I’ll do so as soon as I get some free time after my assignments, probably in August, during my study week. After all, I hate it when I have to study for over an hour, so this will be great stress relief.
I wonder if it’s strange if one watches an anime just because of being influenced by theme song. I’m one who’s really particular about theme songs, so I’ll watch just about anything that has a theme song that emits the right vibes. My way of thinking is that if a series can obtain exceptional music for its theme songs, its overall production should be at least of somewhat decent standards. Strange logic, I know.
So, am I just one of those weird people who will start on a series that I’m a total stranger to, with only music as the reason? Or are there actually like-minded people lurking out there?
You are not alone. Because sometimes, music is coke.
Y’know I started Nanoha ’cause Innocent starter was so frickin’ catchy…..
Sometimes, I pick up series for no particular reason at all ^^; But I have started some series based on the theme song alone.. one of them would be Mahou tsukai ni taisetsu na koto.
I didn’t even know from what anime Omoide ga ippai was only that it was one of my favorites, but when I finished reading Miyuki I was shocked that the song they used has the same title. Further googling shows that it’s the same song and that the manga had an anime. Now I know from what anime that song was from. Although I have yet to see the anime
For me, most of the time I will probably watch the series first then would get hook up on the series. Though there are execption. I really love the song ‘The garden of everything’ though I never watch RahXhepon before.
Oh wow, another cover version of Rinbu Revolution? *goes to look for it*
I think I decided to watch Karin and Soul Link because I liked the theme songs they played in the their trailers… (the trailers themselves really didn’t factor in). Karin was okay, Soul Link… *urgh*
It would probably serve as an impetus to give the show a try, but more often than not, I find myself just liking the songs at most. Erementar Gerad was a prime example; Great OP, Awful Show.
There are like-minded people out there. In fact, it does not even have to be the OP - it could very well be an insert song or a character song. I was introduced to Mai HiME through one of its character song. I got hooked on “ef ~a tale of memories~” through its music as well, not to mention its beautiful animations.
The Sojourner > And anime is root beer?
C.I. > I’ve never watched Nanoha before…
Mizunaga > Random is always good. That’s why I love the math.random() function when I was learning Java programming last year. Oops, I just sidetracked.
deadguy > The anime’s so old that even the popular video streaming sites don’t have the complete series. But the manga’s really good ^^
lanie-emon > Speaking of which, I have to watch Rahxephon asap.
issa-sa > YAY! Another person who likes Rinbu -revolution-!
Shin > I thought that Erementar Gerad was pretty decent. Maybe it was because I watched it just after the semester’s final exams…
Stifler > I’ve never been influenced to start on an anime series due to the character songs.
I actually tried episode 1 of “Nabari no Ou” because of “Hikari”. I wonder who’s the one who introduced me to the song? XD Another would be Nijuu Mensou no Musume, I got attracted by the OP and is still following the series now.
Usually, I’ll fall for the OPs and EDs after watching a series for some time (eg: Claymore, Blood+) but there are few cases where it’s the opposite. (eg: Nijuu mensou no musume and Nabari no Ou)