My Top 10 Fav Anime Ending Themes

10. Mr Deja Vu by Naja (Get Backers 3rd Ed)

It's a good song, I especially like the verse at the beginning. I find the song to be sad yet hopeful at the same time. It's the kind of song I like to listen to during rainy days.

9. Over Night by Aya (Le Chevalier d'Eon)

I love the mood of this song. The melody is haunting and peaceful at the same time; love the line "wandering the everlasting way", and the way Aya sings "forever..." so melancholic :)

8. Taiyou no Hana by Okui Masami (Cyber Team in Akihabara)

I have never seen the anime, I only like the ending song; I think the chorus is intense.

7. Real Folk Blues by The Seatbelts ft. Mai Yamane (Cowboy Bebop)

Cowboy Bebop is the only anime with opening and ending theme both in my top 10 lists. Honestly, every single track being played in the anime is worthy of praise and attention. This is another ending theme with captivating intro and opening lines. The vocalist has powerful voice too. I like that the song evokes the mixed moods of sadness, regret, and anger; very much Spike-Vicious-Julia triangle.

6. Kyou Kara Asuhe by Yumi Matsuzawa (Gatekeepers)

A long time fav! I really like the opening lines of the theme, and the way Yumi Matsuzawa emotionally sings during the pre-chorus part. This ending theme is the best thing about Gatekeepers; not because Gatekeepers is that bad, but simply because this ending theme is so good.

5. Love Is by Miliyah Kato (Toward the Terra)

One of the few ending themes where the beginning tunes can really hold my attention and urge me to listen to the whole song right after an episode. I strongly associate this song with Shiroe and Peter Pan; it's like the song was made especially for him because of the sad and mellow tune. The episode where the ending theme plays with flashback of Shiroe moments is quite sad; I think the ending theme with Shiroe clips is my fav moment of the series.

4. Kemuri by Maki Chang (Himitsu: Revelations)

The singer has good voice, great opening lines as well. There's a big contrast in the mood between the chorus and pre-chorus. I like how the song gradually moves from being timid and sad to desperate and yearning. It's another ending theme in the list with intense chorus; I always find that I have to increase the volume at the beginning of the song and lower the volume during chorus :).

3. Tsukiakari by Rie Fu (Darker Than Black)

The best part of this song is the bridge which contains the line "Kono tsukiakari no shita de watashi no namae wo yonde" without music. I have to admit that the first time I heard this song it didn't do much for me until sometime later that I've heard the bridge, and it's the part during the final minutes of the tv-size version.

2. Namida Wa Shitteru by Suzukaze Mayo (Ruouni Kenshin 2nd Ed)

Although my fav part of the song is the beginning verses, this song is perfect from start to end. Great verse, good chorus, nice vocals. It's always been my fav among all the Rurouni Kenshin songs; it doesn't hurt that the video has the most beautiful artwork in the anime series as well. I love Kaoru and Kenshin's facial expressions and the watercolor in the video. This song has been by far my fav ending theme for many years until I've just recently discovered a better ending theme..

1. Haru No Katami by Chitose Hajime (Ayakashi)

The moment I first heard the drum intro when the first episode is about to end, I was already anticipating the ending theme to be quite good. The moment the opening lines were sang, I've already decided that the song is sure to be one of my favorites. The final moment of the song where the lines 貴方の胸に この身を任せ, 私は死んで行こう (against your chest i'll rest my body, that is how i wish to die) were sang, I realized that this has got to be the best anime song I've heard so far (even better than Taiyou Wa Yoru Mo Kagayaku, but only slightly better; it's hard to compare the two anyway because their genre are different). The way Chitose Hajime sings is so tranquil and soothing; moreover, I like the main theme of the song being about holding on to the memories of the past. The English translation of the title means "Keepsake of Spring". I just love the lines 儚い春のかたみには いちばん綺麗なわたしを(this fleeting keepsake of spring is the most beautiful thing I have). Oh, and coincidentally, both my #1 Op and Ed songs (in their full-size ver.) have the words 幻 (illusion) and 踊る (dance)! Great, after all, I love the combination and image of illusion and dance together.


Honorable Mentions:
*Fushigi Yugi Ed
*Saiyuki "Alone" Ed
*.Hack//SIGN Ed
*Nana "Little Pain" Ed
*Flame of Recca 2nd Ed

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My Top 10 Fav Anime Opening Themes

10. Shell by Bana (Witch Hunter Robin)

I was considering having Hellsing or Boys Be's opening for the tenth spot. It's hard to decide which one I like better but for now, my mood prefers Shell so I have it on my tenth spot. I could say this song is the clearest thing I remember about this anime. I thought the anime, especially the last half, was disappointing. However, unlike the easily forgotten series, the opening theme kicks ass.

9. Ashita ni Todoke by Like Uncolored Velvet (Power Stone 2nd Op)

I still remember we had this VHS recording of various anime opening and ending themes, and I probably shortened the lifetime of the VHS and the player by rewinding this song all over again once it was done playing. Good thing there's youtube now.

8. We Were Lovers by Jean Jacques Burnel (Count of Monte Cristo)

The only English language opening theme in my list. Very very nice opening theme. I think it captures the mood which the count must have felt towards the "lover". The song is full of yearning and nostalgic thoughts, and I especially love the piano theme. The song was inspired by Chopin's Etude Op.10 No.3, one of my personal favorite Chopin piano pieces.

7. You Get To Burning by Yumi Matsuzawa (Nadesico)

I don't even like Nadesico. Yet I absolutely love this song. The only song also that has "tsu~uto tsu~uto.." as the most memorable line of a song for me.

6. Cruel Angel's Thesis by Yoko Takahashi (Evangelion)

I never fast forward this opening theme. Never. To me this theme is essentially the 90's anime theme. I prefer the Evangelion manga over the anime series, but this opening theme is one of the really good things the anime has that the manga can't provide.

5. Born Legend by Kasumi (Shadow Skill)

Very memorable and catchy tune. From the beginning to the end, the song evokes feelings of power and survival. The opening video at the beginning with the scene of Elle and Gau in black and white along with the tune of the chorus playing is just epic. I like the continuity of the tune in the chorus, it easily leaves Born Legend as my last song syndrome right after listening to it.

4. Rhythm Emotion by Two-Mix (Gundam Wing 2nd Op)

Easily the best Gundam theme for me (I've only seen 0079, Zeta, Wing, and G though; and I would say Zeta's English ver. opening is the second best, even better than Just Communication). This song kind of reminds me of You Get To Burning, especially since my fav part of both songs are the parts right before the chorus; both songs sounds like they belong to a mecha series as well.

3. Tank! by Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts (Cowboy Bebop)

Ah this may be the coolest opening theme ever. I love the beats and the jazz trumpet tunes right at the very beginning of the song, and I just can't stop myself from anticipating the "okay, three, two, one, let's jam!" part during the earlier seconds of the song. This is another song that I don't fast forward whenever I watch the anime. Love, love, love the part where three guns pointing towards the viewer goes off one after another in time with the beats of the song.

2. Kouya Ruten by Fiction Junction Yuuka (Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto)

Eh I suddenly ran out of words to say with this one, but i fell in love with the song the moment the first few lines of the song was played wherein Kakunojo does her kabuki movements with her fan.

1. Taiyou Wa Yoru Mo Kagayaku by WINO (Hunter X Hunter 2nd Op)

Oh this is it. Translated into English, the title means "The Sun Also Shines at Night". More than six years ago, the first time I heard it I thought it was very unique; the first few lines of the song sounds like the vocalist is trying to scare the listener or something and I thought it was amusing and interesting. The more I listened to the song the more I grew fond of it until not only is it my fav Hunter X Hunter song, but has also been my fav anime song even up until now. Heck I even memorized the lyrics of the song simply by listening to it over and over again even though I didn't understand a thing the song says then. I even recall without checking (as I am sure of it) that the song is the 4th track of the Hunter X Hunter album that contains all the HxH op&ed songs. I don't understand why this opening song was never played in the local broadcast of HxH anime though. Anyway, this song is really good and my fav line in the song is 幻が踊る街に さよならの鐘が鳴る (something like "the chime of farewell echoes in the street where the illusions dance"), but the line isn't in the tv size version. The full-size version of this song is far better than the tv size version, especially since the full-size version has a long melodic bridge.


Honorable Mentions:
*all Rurouni Kenshin Op
*Hellsing Op
*Le Chevalier d'Eon Op
*Paradise Kiss Op
*Boys Be Op

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戦国Basara. I ♥ 片倉小十郎

Since college first year, I've been seeing the artwork by Makoto Tsuchibayashi of Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura and have wondered for years what Capcom game that is. Sengoku Basara becaume famous later on, and I found out more about Sengoku Basara by browsing through CreativeUncut's gallery of video game scans.

Another year or so, Sengoku Basara 3 is already out for PS3 and Wii. I saw Revoltech's release of Ishida Mitsunari figure and because I don't know much about ather Basara characters, he soon became my fav; this is based purely on looks and style; he's badass and swift, but he's also quite short-tempered and says "IEEEYASSSUUUU" and "許さない(unforgivable)!" all the time..

Ishida beating up Ieyasu army troops

Last week, I finally got to play a Sengoku Basara game! My very first Sengoku Basara Game was Sengoku Basara X. It is a fighting game, and I suck at fighting games so I moved on to Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes. SB2Heroes is in vein with the standard SB games as they are all a "beat-em-up" sort of game where the player goes around button mashing their way out of the opponent's army troops; but the cool thing is that there are lots of character customization: weapons, accessories, alt outfit, skills. I started playing with Hanbei, Mitsuhide, etc.., until I tried using Kojuro.

he'll ask "地獄が見てか?" (do you want to see hell?) when he starts to get pissed

I generally prefer the baddies over the good guys; however, Katakura Kojuro (片倉小十郎) is soo badass he'd be what locals in the Philippines would term as "siga". Well he should be, I've read that his mannerisms and his slaughter mode moves are inspired by the typified yakuza.

Although he appears and acts like a gangster boss, it's funny that he likes planting vegetables in the field during free time (in fact, his joke lvl 7 weapon is a leek, as in the one like the pokemon Farfetch'd carries). Moreover, being Date Masamune's retainer and strategist, he's extremely loyal to Date that Kojuro's nicknamed as "the right-eye of the dragon" (Date only has a left eye). It's ironic though because in the game, Kojuro is left-handed, the only one in the game at that.

Next to Kojuro, I like to use Kenshin, Mitsuhide, Fuuma, Kasuga, and Hanbei. I like how graceful Kenshin is when he fights, it's like he's dancing; his voice is really pleasant too (oh, and he has a super useful skill where he can swiftly move around while multiple-slashing enemies). Fuuma and Kasuga, two of the only three ninjas in the game are good too; Fuuma's alternate outfit has black wings :). Mitsuhide's can be pretty creepy but I really really really like his voice :D, and the way he says "痛い" or "itai (ouch)" whenever he gets hit is pretty funny, I couldn't tell if he's mocking or truly hurt or enjoying being a sadomasochist that he is. Hanbei is fine too, his combat range is good and he's kind of evil as well :), too bad he has weird violet lipstick..

Now I'm begining to want the One Coin Sengoku Basara figures..! Seeing my fav Basara characters everyday would probably bring a smile to my days :).

this is the only set with original outfit Kojuro. Mitsuhide's in the set too yay!

Oh, maybe next time I'll blog about my favorite historical Sengoku era characters when I've made up my mind. One of them is probably Kenshin, I like great tacticians and strategists, and he's written himself a beautiful death poem in anticipation of his death.

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Aoi Bungaku (青い文学)

Aoi Bungaku (青い文学) is the most recent anime I've seen. It's a series containing 6 stories adopted from Japanese novels:

(1) No Longer Human (Dazai Osamu)
(2) In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom (Ango Sakaguchi)
(3) Kokoro (Natsume Soseki)
(4) Run, Melos! (Dazai Osamu)
(5) Spider's Thread (Ryunosuke Akutagawa)
(6) Hell Screen (Ryunosuke Akutagawa)

I like Run,Melos best because of its storytelling, where the personal experience of the character (playwright) is being paralleled with the story within the story (Run Melos play); this is being done while the storytelling interchanges between scenes of the playwright's life and flashbacks with the scenes of the play. Furthermore, the whole theme and the quote about the pain burdened by the one waiting vs the one making another wait is very interesting and is a new insight for me.

No Longer Human is my second favorite. The visuals are stunning, the score is great, the main character is a troubled creep :) However, the story is actually a bit slow, was it not for the visuals and the score, it could have been dragging (No Longer Human is 4 episodes long; the others are 2 episodes long or less)

I could have really liked In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom a lot more if not for the color and artwork. I like the musical/song segment where the lady-wife sings along with the pretty backgrounds though (I'm thinking of drawing an image like that one above and placing it above my bed).

Spider Thread and Hell Screen are okay, I like Spider Thread a bit more, maybe because Hell Screen is too dark for me although I like the idea that the painter drew X (noun) then requested Y (verb) simply for the sake of painting X. The last half (hell and thread) of the Spider Thread is really familiar, it is quite similar to a story in a Chinese philosophical comic strip from a book that I used to borrow from my grade school library.

Kokoro is the most unremarkable among the 6.. though the nice thing about this one is that it shows two differing perspective ("summer"/"winter") of the same events.

Not really a fan of the guys behind Death Note, Prince of Tennis, and Bleach. Nonetheless, Takeshi Obata is involved in No Longer Human and Kokoro; Takeshi Konomi with Run, Melos!; and Tite Kubo with Spider's Thread and Hell Screen.

Oh also, Sakai Masato (I just saw him play as Yamanami in NHK's Shinsengumi) serves as the narrator appearing before every episode introducing the authors and the stories. He's also the voice actor of EVERY "main character" of each story.

Aoi Bungaku is good! I like series with several interesting short stories.

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