Deeper and Core! 10 ani-songs from the summer anime of 2021 that are full of musical highlights! Hiroyuki Deguchi's "Just Shut Up and Listen to Anime Songs! In Summer 2021".

Hello to all 10 million anime fans in Japan. I am Hiroyuki Deguchi, a wandering bassist and DJ who plays a lot of anime and special effects songs.

Every season, when all the new anime titles have come out and the stories are getting more and more exciting, I come out of nowhere with my overly subjective column, "Just Shut Up and Listen to Anime Songs! The summer issue of 2021 is here!

I know some of you are reading this column for the first time, so let me give you a brief explanation of this column.

This is a column in which I listen to all the opening and ending songs of each season's anime and choose 10 songs based on my own subjective judgment. I listened to all the opening and closing songs of each anime series, and selected 10 songs based on my own subjective judgment. You didn't include this song! Redo it!" I know some of you may say, "Oh, there's another way to listen to these songs," so I hope you enjoy reading this column.

In the summer season of 2021, I felt that many of the works had a clear direction and it was easy to understand who they were aimed at. They seem to have been created with the viewer's face first and foremost in mind, as if to say, "Yes! This is what I wanted to see! For example, "Getter Robo Arc" and "Sonny Boy" were works that made viewers of a certain age group think "This is an anime for us! and "Sonny Boy" has a list of creators whose names are enough to make people of a certain age feel a special attachment to the series. This trend is also evident in the music, with lyrics and sound design carefully incorporating the worldview of the anime work, giving the impression that many of the songs were "made for the anime work.

At the same time, from a musical point of view, some of the songs were more into core genres, and I felt that there were songs that stood out for their ability to appeal to deep and core music fans.

In other words, all of the songs were worth listening to, and all of them were so good that it was very difficult for me to choose 10 songs!

Here are the 10 gems of anime songs for the summer of 2021!

Vanitas no Teki

OP "Sora to Kukai / Sasanomarii" (Sky and Emptiness / Sasanomarii)

Kagekishoujo

OP "Hoshi no orchestra / saji

Kanojo mo kanojo

ED "Pinky Hook / Momo Asakura

Getter Robo Arc

OP "Bloodlines~Bloodlines of Fate~/JAM Project

Valkyrie of the End

ED "Inevitable / Shimaji

Labyrinth Black Company

OP "Stain/HOWL BE QUIET

I've been reincarnated as a villainous daughter with nothing but doom flags in an Otome game... X

OP "Fall in love with Andante! /angela

Uramichi Ojisan

OP "ABC Gymnastics/Ikeeteru Ojisan(CV. Mamoru Miyano)Uta no Ojisan(CV. Nana Mizuki)

Magical High School Honor Student

ED "Double Standard/Dance of Philosophy

The Moon Leads the Way in Another World

ED "Beautiful Dreamer/Ezoshika Gourmet Club

Looking at the 10 songs selected again, it became clear that live instruments, or rather, band sound, occupies a large weight in my mind.

I will now go on to the explanation of each of them.

Memoirs of Vanitas

OP "Sora to Kuu to Kuu / Sasanomarii" (Sky and Emptiness / Sasanomarii)

I think the persuasiveness and penetrating power of "good music" released from the first note of the intro is the top of this season. Very cool. There is a melancholy hidden in the urban sound, and it is stylish and advanced, yet somehow nostalgic. The worldview of the music, which mixes a strange floating sensation with a realistic perspective, has the feel of a raw slice of the atmosphere of the year 2021.

Turning to the musical aspects, the song is characterized by its decomposition of "Just The Two of Us Progression," a type of chord progression that has become a standard in recent years, and its incorporation into its own unique worldview. Some of you may have noticed that we have picked up anime songs in the past that seem to have their roots in "Just The Two of Us Progression" or songs created under the influence of this chord progression, but most of the songs that catch our attention upon first listen are "good songs! It is usually songs with this chord progression that catch my attention. This may be an extreme overstatement, but there is no doubt that at least many of today's hit songs are under the influence of this chord progression.

However, this does not mean that you can make a hit song by using this chord progression.

The "Just The Two of Us Progression" (and others like it) is neither too bright nor too dark musically, and it has the power to maximize the world view of the melody with a stylish atmosphere and a good sense of floating. However, its power can only be realized with a good melody and the sound of the words. In other words, the chord progression is only a "device" and will not function unless the melody, the essence of the music, is good.

In other words, this song has a strong melody and a unique sense of language, which makes a standard chord progression into something full of originality.

...Kageki Shoujyo

OP "Hoshi no orchestra / saji

The melody is just wonderful. I think this line was created as a result of stoically pursuing the strength and penetrating power of the melody from the front, without trying to be eccentric. A good melody is one that is easy to remember, one that sticks in your ears after you hear it once. In other words, simplicity is a requirement for a good melody.

However, simple does not mean that anyone can create a good melody because it has a small number of notes or because the inflection of the melody is simple.

It is not a great landscape painting with hundreds of colors of paint, but a landscape painting that impresses everyone who sees it with only three colors, red, blue, and yellow. This is an extreme analogy, but this is how simple melodies are usually structured.

Bands that can create simple and strong melodies have a timeless universality. This song, too, seems to have a universality that anyone can understand. It is simply a very good song.

Kanojo wa kanojo mo kanojo

ED "Pinky Hook / Momo Asakura

Cool! Everything is cool!

While most anime songs nowadays tend to use a lot of instruments to build up a wall of sound, this song is the complete opposite. The arrangement is designed to bring out the best of the melody with a minimum of unnecessary instruments, and it is easy to hear that all the instruments have a musical role to play.

The arrangement is seamless from every angle, including the construction of the rhythm instruments, the way the uwamono are distributed, and the delicious phrases of each instrument, and I think it is the best example for those who are composing or doing DTM and are struggling with the arrangement.

The same goes for those who play instruments: drums, bass, guitar, and keys, all of them would do well to make this song their assignment and work on practicing.

It's a sample of phrases that I want to make a habit of, so I'm going to start practicing it today too!

Cool!

Getter Robo Arc

OP "Bloodlines~Bloodlines of Fate~/JAM Project

Our Getter Robo! Our JAM Project! Winner!

End of explanation!

I'm going to write a little bit more, because I'm sure you're going to get angry and say, "Do your job properly! I'll write a little more, but to be honest, I think I may have said everything I need to say. When Getter Robo and JAM Project come together, there's no way my soul won't tremble. Cool is cool! Winner!

If we calm down a bit and focus on the point of the song, which will happen soon, the complexity of JAM Project's unique composition stands out: JAM Project is a super unit of vocalists with strong personalities, so each one of them always has their own showcase in the song. Therefore, the orthodox song structure (A, B, chorus, etc.) does not allow for the optimal allocation of parts, so the songs are often arranged in modulations and from static to dynamic extremes.

The rapid changes in arrangement can lead to inconsistencies in the music, but JAM Project, with its expertise in many battles, has adopted a progressive rock mindset and converted the extreme arrangements into rock dynamism.

Like a transforming Getter robot! Hot! Winner!

The main character changes in each section, which means that the coolest chorus goes on forever, and after the chorus goes on forever, JAM Project explodes at the end with an outrageous super chorus that exceeds the chorus.

This song shows it off the most. Winner!