The BEST Anime Songs of Summer 2023! Artists of the After Corona Generation are emerging one after another! Hiroyuki Deguchi & Ichirokuso Samejima (BANBANBAN) talk about anime songs! Talking about Anime Songs! Anime Songs" No.3]

In the series "Talking. Anison", they will announce each other's best 3 anime songs from the summer anime of 2023 and talk about them! Anime Songs". If you read this, you will know what anime songs you should listen to now. ......
In addition, a podcast program where you can enjoy the talk and the songs together is now available on Spotify! Please enjoy it as well!

Samejima: Talking! Anison 2023 Summer!

Deguchi This series is a very peaceful anisong review, or rather, an uncle's impression, in which I, Hiroyuki Deguchi, and BANBANBANBAN Samejima Ichirokusan select three songs each from this season's anime songs and discuss what's good about them!

Samejima This is a peaceful series where we just watch the anime and say how good it was.

Deguchi: How are you doing these days, Samejima-san?

Samejima: On June 22nd, I had the opportunity to play an ani-song disco at Nakano Sunplaza, and we had a good turnout. I have been DJing here and there throughout the summer, and I feel fulfilled that I am finally making a comeback. There was a Bon Odori dance in the precincts of Nishi Honganji temple in Kyoto, and I was able to play an ani-song disco there as well, ending with fhǎna's "Supreme of Love" and burning up the place.

Deguchi: I heard that you also performed at other hospitals.

Samejima We also held an ani-song disco at a hospital in Adachi Ward, where people like new things. We gathered local people and opened the rehabilitation room. Then, an elderly lady with a cane put down her cane and stood up, saying, "I feel better now. That made me very happy. How about you, Deguchi-san?

Deguchi: It was a very fulfilling summer for me too. Thankfully, I had a lot of work to do, and I was doing it all the time. Here's what we both have been up to: ...... What do you think of this season's anime?

Samejima: There are some interesting works this season, so it's good to check them out. As for ani-songs, I don't really see a trend, so it's hard to put them under a single theme, but I think they are all good songs on their own.

Deguchi Anyway, "Idol" (YOASOBI) in the previous season was a great success, and I don't think that anime songs have become so central to the world in the past few years, so I think that people's views on anime songs are changing, or that people are paying more attention to them.

Samejima This is the time when DJ KOO plays "No Borderline. Please don't do that! I'll put it on, don't take it off! (laughs)

Deguchi: Including these factors, there is a high level of interest in ani-song, but what I have been feeling for the past few years is that the format of so-called "ani-song" that is uniquely ani-song has been disappearing rapidly. Listening to this season's ani-songs, I thought that this was a return to the original idea that ani-songs are properly connected to the works of art.

Samejima: All of the artists write their lyrics with a strong connection to their works.

Deguchi: I read a lot of the original works, and I felt that their worldview was reflected in the lyrics. So, let's decide on three songs from this season's ani-songs, one at a time, and decide on what we think are the three best songs of the season!

Song of the Dead" (Zombie 100 - 100 things I want to do before I become a zombie) KANA-BOON

Samejima: First of all, I'm "Song of the Dead", the OP of "Zombie 100"! It became my favorite of KANA-BOON's ani-songs. I could hear it at festivals, and I could picture everyone dancing to it. I choreographed the song at ani-song disco and performed it for the first time in Hokkaido. I feel that this is a festival through and through. I think this is the KANA-BOON that everyone has been waiting for.

Deguchi: It's more like festival-specific, or rather, there is a brightness and hope that comes from going through the restrictions of various coronas and stepping away from them.

Samejima: It feels like they've been crouching down and taking uppercuts all along, and the colors in the OP video pop, and even though it's a zombie story, it's not bloody. The main character is very stupid (laugh) and is happy to be in a world of zombies, so I think this kind of bright and silly song is good. This is one of my favorites of the season.

Deguchi: When KANA-BOON first started out, I had the impression that they were serious, that their songs were inward-looking, like the sound of frustration ....... But in the past few albums, I've had a strong impression of lighter songs, and they've become brighter and brighter. I mean, there are more and more fun songs.

Samejima: The response among ani-song DJs has been great, and there seems to be a battle among them (laughs). I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.

Deguchi By the way, what is the choreography like?

Samejima: We did the choreography for "Thriller" separately, so we decided not to do that, but since it is a zombie song, we added more scratching and cross cutting. I also decided to include a Chinese-like movement, which is very athletic, and I also thought of adding a Chinese Kyung-Shi, since we are zombies. It's very athletic, and you definitely shouldn't do it under the hot sun. It's fun.

PRIDE" ("The queen who is the most powerful and tragic outcast rasboro queen will do her best for her people.") (ED) Cho Kyu Mei

Deguchi This was insanely cool. Chokyumei is a band that was formed around 2020 and was active during the so-called Corona Disaster, and more specifically, they spent their school days during the period of self-restraint after the Corona.

Samejima Eh! So you formed a band as a teenager and ended up in the Corona Disaster.

Deguchi I think I mentioned before that the generation of people who started music and bands after the Corona disaster are going to create things with a different sensibility from ours and will be out in the world in the future.

Samejima They are already out there!

Deguchi: That was fast! (laughs). The music is also very borderless, with sounds and arrangements that are very different from the way we would arrange a song if it had this kind of tune and this kind of music. The newness of the music is due to the sharpness of our antenna for selecting music from various generations, such as listening to music that is genuinely "good" and "good. Specifically, there are horns in the chorus, etc., but I usually don't put them there. It has more of an atmosphere with strings or something, but then the trumpet comes in! And so on. I thought, "I've never heard anything like that before. Still, there are elements of Western music and J-Pop here and there, so it's like I know it, but the way it's combined has never been done before. That's the kind of music I feel. They are a band that is very young in their career, but people who know them already know them, and they are like they are already coming in the neighborhood.

Samejima It's amazing to get an anime song tie-in even with such a short career.

Deguchi: The process from the formation of the band to this tie-up was very fast, so I think it's a dream come true. I feel that time is not a bottleneck, or that we live in an era where music can be transmitted to the world in a short period of time.

Samejima The sense of speed is increasing. Even if you are in a rural area, you can run at the same speed as Tokyo. I think they are representative of that.

Deguchi I also think that they give hope to retirees. In other words, I think there are many people who had to give up music, or people who loved painting but gave up on their dream and got a job. If you make a work, apply for a job, someone says it's good, and then you do a live show at ......, it takes three years, if you do the math. The next development would take about two years. When you think about it like that, you have to give up on your dream. I think these people can skip that part now. The works produced must be good, but considering that those who started their activities after the Corona disaster have already made it this far in the world, even an old man can still have dreams.

Samejima It seems that every generation has a chance as long as they create good works. Age is no longer an issue. Of course, you have to be making good products, but you don't have to give up because of your age anymore, and we live in an age where you can work at various jobs while making products.

NAME" (OP of "My Favorite Girl Forgot Her Glasses") spelled out or "On Your Side" (OP of "My Happy Marriage") spelled out or "On Your Side." (OP of "Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon") Riria.

Samejima: Next, I wasn't sure which one to choose, so I gave you two songs, and while we're talking, can I narrow it down to one? I'll sort it out as we speak.

Deguchi Isn't that absurdly new?

Samejima I ' m torn between "My Favorite Girl Forgot Her Glasses" by Tsuru-san and "My Happy Marriage" by Riria. I am torn between "My Happily Married" and "My Happily Married" Riria. The reason is that both of them are ani-songs with beautiful drawings. My Happy Marriage" is very good, starting from the petals of the cherry blossoms to each and every hair. The lyrics are also linked to the work, making it a wonderful song that can be watched over and over again.

The heroine, who has poor eyesight, forgets her glasses every time she goes to school, and when the boy next to her offers to lend her his textbook, she gets very close to him and gets nervous. It is an anime that makes you wonder how much fun it would be to make a situation where the heroine forgets her glasses, but the animation of the OP is unusually good. Even a single hair is drawn in a fluffy way.

Deguchi: Is the standard of quality for you, Mr. Samejima, the hair?

Samejima Every single hair! The same goes for "Violet Evergarden! (laughs) There is a frame animation called "How to flutter your hair super-carefully. I'm going to give the one that I'm more squeamish about to the military, but the story of "My Happy Marriage" is set in the Taisho Era, so it doesn't feel realistic to me, but "My Favorite Girl Forgot Her Glasses" has a similar story, since I spent similar school days. The main character, a girl named Mie, has a very bad look in her eyes when she takes off her glasses, but at the end of the OP, she is not wearing glasses! But at the end of the OP, she doesn't wear glasses, but her eyes look better for a moment. She has my heart, so my second song was decided to be "NAME" by Tsuru from "My Favorite Girl Forgot Her Glasses" (I assure you).

Deguchi: Wahahaha (laughs). Samejima-san, I heard that you have recently come to like the romantic comedy genre, so I thought the piece I just mentioned was impressive. I think I would have passed over them a while ago.

Samejima I think I would have passed over them. I have been really liking romantic comedies lately.

Deguchi: In terms of the artwork, are these two outstanding?

Samejima In terms of drawings, "Jujutsu Kaisen (2nd season) Kaidama/Tamaori" was also very good. I also liked the OP image for "Ao no Sumika. The story is dark, but they draw comical scenes in the OP. The story is dark, but in the OP, there is a comical scene where the character's body changes, which makes the audience feel sad. I think it's hateful or unfair that they dared to include such a scene to enhance the darkness (laughs).

plan" (OP of "Tonikakukakawaii Joshi Koukouhen") Saori Hayami

Deguchi: Shark-san went the cute route, so I went in that direction too. The OP "plan" from "Tonikakukawaii: Girls' High School Arc." This was very good. It's a techno-pop song, and it's a song that leads to the recently popular kawaii future bass, a genre derived from EDM. Saori Hayami's voice is overwhelmingly cute. This is wonderful.

Samejima Yes, Ms. Hayami is cute.

2 people ahahahaha (laughs).

Deguchi: If you can only say "cute," that's the end of it. I wondered why there were so many future bass-ish songs this season, and I found out that there are a lot of songs with this taste on YouTube and other free music sources and on TikTok. So, this may be a stretch, but I thought that this is the kind of music that many people listen to, and considering that this is the kind of music that is often played on social networking sites, I thought that it is a genre that is very much in tune with the current era.

Samejima I would say that it looks good on social networking sites.

Deguchi: Yes. The sound is cute, but very musical. Most of the songs these days are gorgeous and loud, but this song has few notes and is simple, going against the trend, and has a lot of gaps. It is music that is right in the middle of entertainment. I mentioned that there are only a few notes, but if you listen carefully, you can hear that there is a lot of detailed stuff in the music, like cut-ups of voices. It's a well established technique, but it's a very stoic approach, even though it's put together in a very cute way.

Samejima (impressed) You have studied a lot, haven't you, Mr. Deguchi? All I said was "cute" (laughs).

Deguchi Mine is what was written in "Uki Pe-ae" (laughs).

Samejima Wahahaha (laughs).

Raise" (ED of "ONE PIECE") Chilli Beans

Samejima The third song is "Raise" by "ONE PIECE" Chilli Beans. It's the first ED theme for "ONE PIECE" in 17 years!

Deguchi: We got to the good part!

Samejima These girls formed in 2019, and it seems like they entered the Corona Disaster about a year after they started their activities. I thought the song was very simple and totally different from the previous "ONE PIECE" EDs, or rather, it didn't feel that much like "ONE PIECE," but I think it serves the function of cooling down the current high heat level of "ONE PIECE".

Deguchi: Where are you at now?

Samejima In the One Country Arc, Luffy became Gear 5. That's when this song started to be used. The ED image also shows flowers blooming in the flowerless Wanokuni, rice balls made of white rice, and a picture of Kid and Law about to set sail, which hints that the Wanokuni Arc is coming to an end. This is very good.

Last year, I wrote a review of the compilation album "All Star Anison Best" for Akiba Research Institute, in which I mentioned that I regretted that "One Piece" no longer has an ED.

⇒[ Disc Review] 34 anime songs representing the 21st century are included in full size! BANBANBANBAN Samejima Ichirokuso listened to the compilation CD "All Star Anison Best" which made anime fans weep!

Deguchi Joo~!

Samejima: You should at least do the ED! He said. I don't want the "Widener Show" to start right after the show ends with a bang! I don't want Koji Higashino to come on right away! (laugh) I wrote, "Let me put a cushion between the two," and maybe... ...... I guess the staff of "ONE PIECE" read my article.

Deguchi: No, it was just by chance (laughs). But there may have been others who thought so. After all, "ONE PIECE" must have an ED. Maybe there were people who said, "You can't go to the "Wide Nasho" without the cushion. This means that Mr. Samejima's thoughts were conveyed to the staff.

Samejima: That was one of the reasons we included it. The "ONE PIECE" ED is back! Incidentally, when "ONE PIECE" published the 106th volume of the original book, we uploaded an official song called "Future Island" on YouTube. Recently "ONE PIECE" seems to be getting closer to music, partly because of the hit song "Shinjidai" (the theme song of the movie "ONE PIECE FILM RED" sung by Ado) last year. The song "Future Island" is sung by a V-tuber, and his rap is very good and catchy, while the video is nostalgic.

Deguchi: I think that is the strength of a work with an original story. Original works that are exciting and unpredictable are good, but in the case of "One Piece", the viewers know that the One Piece Arc is about to end. For those who watch the anime knowing how it ends, it is a strength to have images with a clear landing point in mind. I think it's good to have a mutual understanding of the work, respect for the original work, and a sense of how far to take it and how far to go with it. One Piece" is also a big work, so the creators must be very passionate about it.

Samejima I think the love is strong. Even in the drawings, the battle scenes are drawn in such a way that you would think that this is the drawing of an anime that is done every week. The amount of calories in the recent "ONE PIECE" is insane, so I think it would be fine to do the ED properly and shorten the main story a little more (laughs).

Deguchi: Considering the role of ED, I think the ED of "ONE PIECE" is very correct. It takes on the intensity of the pressure of each episode as the tension builds up in a whoosh toward the climax.

Samejima I think it has the effect of cooling us down, so I'm all for reviving the ED.

Shekenare" ("ShadowverseF (Seven Shadows Arc)" ED) OCHA NORMA

Deguchi: Mr. Shark was quite boyish, but it turns out that I'm not so boyish myself. This is a new unit of Halopro, formed in 2020.

Samejima Wow! That's a great time to form a unit.

Deguchi: It's the stable Hallo Pro. It's funky and groovy, and the choreography is cute and easy to dance to. The melodies are great, and there's a great 90's vibe in the air, so even though they're a new group, they have the same entourage that Morning Musume。 It's a new group, but it has a lot of entertainment know-how that has been cultivated since "Morning Musume。 It's really cool. There are a lot of hand gestures and choreography. The anime itself is based on a card game, so it has a strong battle element, but there are some girls who appear in the anime and they dance in the ED. The girls are, well, cute! I'm just saying this from the outside, but I think it would go well with ani-song disco.

Samejima OCHA NORMA is a good group name (laughs). The word "ocha-noma" is a dead word now, isn't it? It's nice to be able to get together in an ocha-noma.

Deguchi: I think there is a little bit of that old-fashioned, nostalgic feeling of the Showa and Heisei eras in Halo Pro, and I think Tsunku is a big part of that.

I feel that music is not a means to an end, but an end in itself. This is not a simple comparison, but I think that Akimoto Yasushi's Sakamichi Group, for example, is the same as a girl's group, but for Akimoto-san, music is a means to an end. The reason why is because Mr. Akimoto thinks in terms of words, lyrics, titles, etc., of a man of letters. That does not mean that he neglects music, but Tsunku is a music person, so music has become an end. He used to be a performer and a listener himself, and what moved him and excited him was music. That is the root of Morning Musume。 And in the 5th period, there was a lot of disco and funk music. Young girls who saw this and said they wanted to be a part of it and came to audition for Halo Pro, they already had the background at that point. The cool thing, the thing they admire, is Morning Musume。 Of course, there are star players in the AKB and Sakamichi groups, and it is right to admire them, but in the case of Halo Pro, Tsunku's genes are in the backbone of the group. But when I listened to OCHA NORMA's "Shekenare," I realized that the backbone of Halo Pro is Tsunku's genes, and that is what has been passed on to the next generation.

Samejima OCHA NORMA's "Shekenare" (laughs). I like it.

Deguchi Even if you take it very seriously, it has a lightness to it. I would like to play this myself when I DJ. As far as Halo Pro is concerned, I didn't actively go to the shows, but there is a customer who often comes to DJs and live shows who really likes Halo Pro and gives me a CD every time I come to a show. I was grateful, so I listened to it and was surprised at how cool it was. At first, I had the image of the early Morning Musume。 I was surprised at how cool it was. Halo Pro is cool, isn't it?

Samejima It's been going on for a long time. Various units have emerged, and we used to fill Nakano Sunplaza with just the research students. I think the fans like that attitude.

Deguchi: We didn't easily lean toward popularity. I think they are strong because they fight on the back of Tsunku's love for music. People often say recently that entertainment is lackluster or that Japanese entertainment is not good enough, but I think everyone should follow the example of Halo Pro (laughs).

Samejima Rather than going down the K-POP route, Japan should have had Galapagosized music that is uniquely Japanese. After all, the most listened-to Japanese songs in the world are idols.

Deguchi: If you put it this way, Halo Pro is also a tribute to Western music, and the funk and soul that Tsunku has been listening to is mixed in with the songs. A close example is Folder, which later became Folder5, originally the Jackson 5, which was imported to Japan and became the Finger 5, which later became the Folder5. I think that is where we can see the correct evolution of entertainment in Japan.

Samejima: So, we have three songs each, and I thought there was a lot of variety this season, or rather, that all the songs had different tones.

Deguchi: There is usually some overlap, but this time we ended up with no pairing. I thought that there was such a wide variety in the works that stuck with the viewers or that they were strongly attached to.

Samejima: There were many songs like that this season. That is why it was difficult to choose.

Deguchi: Indeed. There were many more songs I wanted to choose.

Samejima I wanted to include "Hiten" from "Rurouni Kenshin" OP, and "One Room Adventure" from "Lv1 Maou to One Room Yuusha" OP. I was really torn. I also wanted to include "Fanfare" (OP of "I'm Reincarnated as a Vending Machine, Wandering in a Labyrinth") and sana's "Brand new day" (OP of "Okashi Tensei"). sana has also released "Spy Classroom 2nd season" ED "Newsunce" as sajou no hana, It's great that he's doing two works this season.

Deguchi: It was a different type of song from the previous ones, so I had to give it up as well. I thought it was a key song, but I have to give it a runner-up position this time.

Samejima All of the songs were hard to throw out, and I thought that anime songs are still very energetic. So, DJ KOO, please don't play any more ani-songs (laughs)! That's enough, we have "Survival dAnce" already!

Deguchi: Let's have DJ KOO actively come to the anime songs as well! After all, he is the one who can energize Japan. He played the most energetic music at the time when Japan was at its most energetic, so his mere presence will brighten up the world around him. In that sense, the power of that person is required, so it is not the AI problem that I mentioned last time, but it is important who does what, not just the temples.

Samejima That's right, DJ KOO's music is very persuasive. He must know a lot of different kinds of music, but his choice of music is very persuasive. I can't beat that.

Deguchi: Let's become like him!