The "Thirst for Live Music" & "How to Listen to Music Now." The 10 latest anime songs you should listen to now! Hiroyuki Deguchi's "Just Shut Up and Listen to Anime Songs! in 2021 Winter" by Hiroyuki Deguchi!

Hello to all 10 million anime song fans in Japan. I am Hiroyuki Deguchi, a wandering bassist and DJ of anime songs and special effects music. It's the turn of the season, and soon after the new season's anime works start airing, it's time for my overly subjective column, "Just Shut Up and Listen to Anime Songs! The new coronavirus has taken the world by storm.

It has been almost a year since the world was transformed by the new coronavirus.

Since spring last year, almost every industry, not just animation, has been hit hard by the new corona virus. The animation industry was unable to continue production, and for a while the number of broadcasts plummeted, but now the number of works being broadcast is the same as in previous years. People have become somewhat accustomed to the new way of life and are starting to get back to "business as usual," but there is one thing that continues to be a severe constraint: events. That is various events.

It is difficult to hold in-store sales events, talk events by voice actors, live performances by artists in charge of theme songs, in-store events, etc. as before. Some events are held in compliance with government guidelines and with thorough infection prevention measures, but unfortunately they do not have the "air of closeness" that only a live concert can provide.

With such a craving for "live performances," there seemed to be a lot of "anime about people going on stage" this season. Just to name a few, "Aikatsu Planet! Ai Chuu," "IDOLY PRIDE," "Idols! WIXOSS DIVA(A)LIVE, Gekidolls, SHOW BY ROCK! STARS!" Should we also include "Skate Reading Stars" in terms of performance? It may be a coincidence, but I can't help but feel a sense of coincidence that in an era of the most intense headwinds the entertainment industry has ever experienced, there are so many stories about "people who stand on stage in front of people as performers," such as idols, which are right in the middle of the entertainment industry.

I hope that one day soon, we will be able to visit live concerts and events as before.

For my part, I would like to thank ......

I wish I could go to a live concert in a packed house!

That's all I can say.

So, with that in mind (I don't know what it's like), I'm going to choose 10 songs from this season's anime works!

Here are the 10 songs of this season!

Idols!

ED "Yumemite Samesamemo/Ideals!

The hidden dungeon that only I can enter

ED "Nemophila/Koala mode.

Spider desu dakara, nanika?

ED "Ganbare! Spider Girl / I (CV. Yuuki Aoi)" ED "Ganbare!

Tenchi Souzou Design Department

OP "Give It Up?

2.43 Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club

OP "Paralysis/yama

Hataraku Cell BLACK

OP "Run! with Yamasaki Seiya(Kyusoneko-Kami)/POLYSICS

BEASTARS(2nd season)

OP "Monster/YOASOBI

・PLEITER'S WOUNDS

ED "BUSTLING SHOW/Ryosuke Kojima

HORIMIYA

OP "Color Perfume/Kamiyamayagi

YAKISHIMAI (8th season)

ED "Twilight feat.

The OP and ED were about half and half. As usual, the songs that I think "I love this song! but when I try to narrow it down to 10 songs, it takes a long time.

It would be an overstatement to say that I was desperate, but there are always interesting and cool points in every song! Let's put them all on the page! I'll put them all on there!

Well, it would be hard to write about all the songs if that were to happen, so I decided that about 10 songs would be a good number, but anyway, I had a lot of trouble again. In the end, the decision was based on very intuitive factors such as "the instruments are cool" or "the sound image is cool," so I hope you will take that into consideration as you read this.

Idols! ED
Yumemite saememo/Idols!"

Since I wrote about idol anime works at the beginning of this article, I started with "Idols! ED song "Yumemite Samesemo" first.

In the past, most of the songs of idol anime works have been about "energy," "brightness," and "fast pace," but recently there seems to be more and more songs that are conscious of the individuality of the works instead of the fast pace, such as "cuteness" or "sadness. Especially in the EDs, the individuality of each work is strongly expressed, and in "Yumemite Samesemo", a kind of "hard work" is expressed.

Although the work itself has a loose atmosphere, it has a hard "realism" that is not found in other idol anime works that focus on large-scale activities on a glamorous stage, such as the situation at the very bottom of the scale where "the turnout at the anniversary live is in the single digits," and the down-to-earth activities to increase the turnout. The story is about 100 people who are mobilized to increase the number of idols even in difficult circumstances.

The girls are working hard to reach the goal of 100 mobilizers despite the difficult situation as idols, and the light drum pattern of "Atama-uchi," in which the snare from the middle of the B melody to the chorus and after the chorus becomes the head of the night, is perfectly synchronized and very good. Very good.

Perhaps the hard work is closer to the "kekkei" part, but this song makes you feel like cheering hard for those who are trying their best in a straightforward manner.

Also, the bells do an outstanding job, so it's very instructive (I'm a musician who is terrible at using bells in arrangements).

Scars of Playita ED
BUSTLING SHOW/Ryosuke Kojima

This is an instrumental piece with no singing. The genre of this song is jazz, but it is a highbrow jazz-rock song with a deep nostalgic and sophisticated arrangement based on jazz that incorporates various kinds of music. For our generation (the generation of the elderly), the most impressive jazz instrumental anime song is the OP song "Tank!

It may be an exaggeration to say that most jazz-based anime songs are under the influence of "Lupin III Theme," but it is also true that the music of most anime works with a picaresque chromatic touch is jazz. Strictly speaking, it would be reasonable to say that gangster films and film noir (most of the films with Humphrey Bogart) from the 1930s to 1950s or so are the progenitors of this style. Beyond that context, "Lupin III" influenced later generations, leading to the "BUSTLING SHOW" in 2021, I guess.

The hidden dungeon that only I can enter ED.
Nemophila/Koala Mode."

At first listen, the song gives the impression that it is a safe and comfortable song, right in the middle of the "royal road of ED songs for anime works. However, if you listen to it carefully, it is a song with a strong sense of "snarky presence," in a good sense of the word, a mass of individuality. The voice, sound image, and lyrics are fresh, transparent, and pop, but somehow a disturbing shadow seems to stick to the song.

The reason for this is probably the melody. The melodies are unique, with distinctive inflections and lines, yet they are easy to listen to. It is easy to hear, but in a sense it is also difficult to understand, so that when you try to sing along with it, for example, the melody escapes from the end of the song. The melody is visible, but the listener cannot follow it and cannot grasp its reality, which is the true nature of the discomfort.

I feel that this is similar to the atmosphere of "four-and-a-half-tatami-mat folk" around the 1970s. The legitimate heirs of folk songs (please forgive me for saying so myself) will be singing anime songs in 2021.

It's quite interesting, don't you think? (Folk song, so I'm quoting Yosui Inoue)

2.43 Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club OP
Paralysis/yama

The song's overwhelming centripetal force and appealing power at the start of the song may be the best of this season, or perhaps of this year. The song's persuasive power makes you think "Oh, this is definitely a cool song" the moment you hear it, and immediately after that, it explodes with coolness that far surpasses your expectations! The song is overkill right from the start. It's so cool.

The combination of soft electric piano and soulful vocals at the beginning of the song is stylish, and when the band enters the song, the song suddenly starts to run at a high speed. Musically speaking, the chord progression makes heavy use of major sevens, giving the overall sound a unique lingering quality. Simply put, it has a "fashionable sound," and an easy song to understand is Ringo Shiina's "Marunouchi Sadistic" with that feeling. To take it a bit further, the sound of Grover Washington Jr.'s "Just the Two of Us".

Why is the sound of major sevens so unique? Why is the Major Seventh sound so fashionable?

To explain very simply, major sevens is a chord with a minor chord (a chord with a dark atmosphere) on top of a major chord (a chord with a bright atmosphere). In other words, a chord with a dark sound on a bright foundation. It sounds ennui, or somewhat shadowy, or in any case, it has a complex sound with a unique aftertaste, so when this chord is added, it creates a very fashionable atmosphere.

The ensemble is super aggressive despite the fashionable sound. I think this song is put together with a hybrid feeling.

Hataraku Cell BLACK OP
Run! with Yamasaki Seiya (Kyusoneko-Kami)/POLYSICS"

The balance between the punkish, sharp-edged groove that is typical of POLYSICS and the pop melody line that in some ways gives a different impression from the usual POLYSICS is very thrilling and cool.

The reason for this unprecedentedly energetic and pop song is that it features Seya Yamasaki (Vo/Gt), vocalist of Kyusoneko-Kami, as guest vocalist, and was created with a focus on the "anime theme song" part (from the liner notes by Hiroyuki Hayashi himself), which strengthens the connection with the work The result is a synergistic effect that makes the song highly penetrating.

POLYSICS, the legitimate heirs of New Wave, are the legitimate heirs of the New Wave gene, and the band evolved the gene they inherited from the original to move ahead of the times. Just as the genes and cells in the body seem to be constantly repeating the same thing but are actually evolving, music and bands are also evolving on a daily basis.

It is monstrous that POLYSICS, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, has reached its greatest popness here, and bands are the best! I think. I can't wait to hear this song live and at festivals.