A Paradigm Shift in Anison is Finally Happening! 10 recommended anisongs for Fall 2022 anime, which is a big success with a lot of hot topics! [Just shut up and listen to ani-song! in 2022 Autumn]

Hello to all of you 10 million anime song fans in Japan. Hiroyuki Deguchi, who is active as a bassist and DJ, presents "Just Shut Up and Listen to Anime Songs", a column in which he chooses 10 songs from this season's anime theme songs. It's time for "Just Shut Up and Listen to Anime Songs!

In this column, I, Deguchi, listen to the opening and ending songs of all anime works broadcasted in each season and choose 10 songs based on my subjective and biased taste, and then we listen to them together. I hope you will read this column as a little supplementary reading for digging deeper into this season's anime songs.

I would like to start with the 10 songs, but first, let's talk about the fall 2022 anime season.

This season was filled with a strange feverish atmosphere, with several strong works that could become the signature titles of the season airing at the same time, and when we look back on the year 2022, we will be able to say "that fall was amazing.

Among the most notable were the reboots of "Urusei Yatsura," "Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War," and others that have a large fan base. The revival of a work that we never thought we would see again is a very exciting experience. Mobile Suit Gundam: Witches of Mercury" also attracted a lot of attention before its broadcast as a work that marks a new phase in the Gundam series.

The current works such as "Chainsaw Man" and "SPY x FAMILY (2nd season)" will be the ones to greet the reboots of the Gundam series. The quality of "Censorman" is far beyond that of TV animation, and in terms of quality, it stands alone, far ahead of the other works. In terms of music, "Chesowoman" is also attracting attention for its unconventional approach, such as changing the artist in charge of the ending song for each episode, and is competing with other reboots that have attracted a great deal of attention.

In addition, there are many other works that are stable, interesting, and popular, and I think that fall 2022 has been a very fulfilling cool compared to previous years.

So, it's time to get going and select 10 songs from the Fall 2022 Anison!

Here are the songs I have chosen!

I'm a villain, so I kept the last boss.

OP "No need to be sympathetic/ Riyo Takahashi

Urusei Yatsura

OP "Aiue feat. Minami, SAKURAmoti/MAISONdes

Eternal Boys

OP "Dreamy Life/Gentlemen

Ghosts and Goblins (2nd series) (2nd series)

(2nd series) OP "Obake Bakebake Bakegacha! /BMK

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury

OP "Blessing/YOASOBI

The Raven in the Palace

OP "MYSTERIOUS/Queen Bee

CHANSO MAN

OP "KICK BACK/Yonezu Genji

I was improving my skills related to farmers, and somehow I became stronger.

ED "Rollin' Soul Happy Days/Pop Shinanai de

More than a married couple, less than lovers.

ED "Stuck on you/Nowlu

The Guild of the Immoral

OP "Never the Fever! /Sasaki Saka" OP "Never the Fever!

This season's topical works were all very good, so I included their songs without hesitation. I thought it would be too much of a stretch not to include a song from "Urusei Yatsura," "Witch of Mercury," and "Censorman," so I selected them.

Usually, in this column, I have selected songs from anime and short animations that are not actively talked about by people in the know rather than songs from popular or high-profile works. I was proactive in selecting such works because I thought they were not like anime songs in a good sense and could serve as a counter to existing anime songs, but none of the anime songs from this season's flagship titles are like traditional anime songs.

It seems to me that the songs that have been the counter to the conventional anison-like songs have become the center of this season's anime. This is the reason why we chose many songs from works in the signature title class, even though the criteria for selection remained the same.

From a different perspective, it may be an exaggeration to say that the paradigm shift in ani-song has finally begun in earnest, but compared to the speed at which ani-song has shifted over the past few years, the flow of change this season seems to be rapid. I think it is not surprising that a new era has begun, in which the values of the past are being renewed.

Here are some explanations for each piece of music!

Chainsaw Man

OP "KICK BACK/Yonezu Genji

As you can see from the lineup of "lyrics by Genshi Yonezu, arrangement by Hiroki Tsuneda," this song is at the cutting edge of Japanese music as of 2022. In other words, it is a cutting-edge ani-song, but there is little of the traditional ani-song elements that are widely accepted, such as catchy melodies and familiar arrangements.

Yet, the fact that it functions perfectly as the theme song of an anime work is both interesting and frightening at the same time.

Not so long ago, this song would have been a counter to the so-called "anison," a song with a wide appeal to all audiences, but in this season, the situation is reversed. The counter to the main song becomes the main song.

This composition is directly applicable to the original "Chainsaw Man" as well. The entire atmosphere of the work, from the theme to the style, could have been serialized in a youth magazine, but it is serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump. In other words, it is not like a conventional Jump manga.

When you consider that "Chainsaw Man" is representative of a new generation that is not bound by the sensibilities and conventions of the Showa generation and will create the future, and that "KICK BACK" was created as a result of the perfect synchronization of this mentality with the writerly style of Yonezu Genji and Tsuneda Daiki, you can see what the song's sense of foreignness really is. I think that this is the true nature of the foreignness of this song.

I think this is the first piece of music and work that is sought after in this era.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury

OP "Blessing/YOASOBI

Refining the settings other than the name and tuning it to the year 2022, "Witch of Mercury" in a sense breaks free from the curse of "Gundam.

A series of developments not seen in previous Gundam series from the prologue, such as a female protagonist and a warm family image, and the development of the first episode of the main story as a school one, gave a sense of the dawn of a new era as well as fresh surprises. Therefore, it was inevitable that a song by YOASOBI, a standard-bearer of the new generation, would be used for the theme song that would bring new life to the "Gundam" series.

The lyrics of this song are especially good. YOASOBI's ability to carefully capture the essence of the work, pass it through their filter, and connect the world of the work with the music is unparalleled in its resolution as a "unit that turns novels into music. The passage in the chorus, "The story we will create," creates an unusual catharsis because it connects Sletta Mercury's thoughts, the "Witch of Mercury," who is searching for the Gundam that should exist in the current era, and YOASOBI, who continues to run in the current era, with those of us living in the present. It is also poetic and wonderful that the sense of anticipation for the beginning of a new history and the thirst for a new era are contained in "Blessing.

Urusei Yatsura

OP "Aiue feat. Minami, SAKURAmoti/MAISONdes

It was completely unexpected that 2025 would see a remake of a 40-year-old work (and its accompanying atmosphere) in the direction of complete reproduction. While many remakes and reboots are being made, it is rare for a film to be so thoroughly close to the original. I thought that if the theme song would be so close to the original, it would be based on "Lamb's Love Song," but in fact, it is not, and the music is cluttered in a good sense, with a gargling vocal, a melody that fills in the gaps, and a piano with many hands. It is interesting that it is completely focused on the present.

This cluttered and bizarre sense of speed overlaps with the bustling atmosphere of "Urusei Yatsura. The opening image that accompanies the speedy music is also a highlight. The development that starts with Space Invaders, goes through consumer games, and lands on instagram and "Odotte-mita" (I tried dancing) videos is a comprehensive overview of youth culture from the start of this work's original "Urusei Yatsura" to 2022. This is the reason why this remake, which recreates the atmosphere of the time, is not nostalgic, but has a strong persuasive power as the latest anime work of 2022.

The sense is 2021, but the look is thoroughly 80's. This gap makes the work unique and interesting. This gap is a new possibility for a remake that makes the work uniquely interesting.

The Guild of Immorality

OP "Never the Fever! / Sasaki Saka

The roller coaster-like arrangement of the song, from the impressive A melody with skillful vocals filled to the limit with lyrics to the melody, through the B melody with all parts of the song, and finally merging into a song, is just too good to be true. The reason why there is a sense of unity despite the different directions of the song in each section is due to the effective use of chiptune (the pico-pico sound of video game music). No matter how disparate the genres may be, the chiptune plays the key phrases that are the heart of the song, creating a straight line and consistency in the music.

However, chiptune is a peculiar and unique tone, so it is a dangerous tone that can become noise if handled incorrectly.

Without a thorough knowledge of the characteristics of that tone, it cannot be handled so effectively. No matter how many times you hear this song, it's still amazing! And if you think so, that's because it was written and arranged by Hige Driver. He is a big man who has contributed a lot to the development of chiptune in Japan. He is a craftsman.

The highlight of the song is the perfect control of chiptune as a single instrument, rather than a variation of tones. Sasaki Saka's vocal expression is also a major listening point, as she sings the fast-changing music with perfection.