Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Does Anime Occasionally Use English Songs?
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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In my other hobby of High Fidelity Audio it is quite common to run onto CD's pressed in Japan and, Yes, those often times have a different order of tracks, or number of tracks, than their Western counterparts. Japanese pressings of Western Music CD's are often preferred due to a more meticulous approach to production.
Mark Gosdin |
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Great Rumbler
 Posts: 335 Location: Oklahoma |
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It may apply to other directors, as well, but I'm pretty sure I remember the director of Mushishi saying this regarding his use of English-language music for that series. Even if the primary audience couldn't understand the lyrics, the mood created by the music and lyrics was easily understood and fit with the feel of the show. Also, if you want to see Japanese people going crazy over Western music, watch Cheap Trick at Budokan. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15631 |
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For some reason, this song just came to mind. Surprised it hasn't been used in an anime yet, either.
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Scalfin
Posts: 249 |
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Jim Reeves is huge in Nigeria and Dire Straits inspired the distinctive Tuareg guitar style.
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jdnation
Posts: 2144 |
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Hey we listen to music in a lot of other languages too.
A great majority of American films will have chorale pieces in Latin for example, as do a lot of Japanese games and Square Enix loves their Latin. That's what one does when you want to go epic. Though of course these are BGM and not main opening/closing credits music where it'd be noticed more. Of course let's not forget the most famous example of 'Fly Me to the Moon' from Evangelion and particular piece from End of Evangelion! In fact all the chorale pieces of the Evangelion Rebuild films are in English. Many people listen to foreign music for the mood that the sound itself creates without necessarily understanding any of the lyrics. So it makes sense. Of course the majority of the music that is more universal tends to be the pop/rock stuff or pieces more akin to Western Classical. Other more traditional foreign music from India or Japan like enka etc. are typically used to emphasize being in those settings or to purposely evoke that culture. |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Don't forget the fact that Warner Bros. was in charge of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This means they get to pick from Warner Music's catalog and thus get access to the western music that Hirohiko Araki is really into. If Bleach, which was also full of music references (though more hidden), got access to a western record label's library like that, I'll bet they would've done it too.
In a way, that's become true worldwide now, thanks to social media and the pervasiveness of the Internet in general. People who are geographically scattered about can form communities around very specific, niche interests. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1685 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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That's not how that works. Sync rights for each piece of music must be licensed individually. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Huh, all right then. I was always seeing in the credits that it was owned by Warner Music. They still have to get the license from themselves? |
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Dop.L
Posts: 727 Location: London |
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The second season of Mushishi was my introduction to Lucy Rose, who I'd not been previously aware of but i went straight on 'fruit-related online music purchasing system' and bought the album.
Have to admit I do wonder if members of YES were wondering why they were getting so many royalties from Japan when Jojo's Bizarre Adventure came out. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3994 |
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Maison Ikkoku had Gilbert O'Sullivan's song, "Alone Again, (Naturally)" as an opening song for just one episode. Even so the song still appears on the soundtracks for that series.
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jr240483
 Posts: 4498 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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if that is the case, then does it mean that the japaneese division of WB have to ask the license from the american counterpart? or do they have to ask the artist herself? i cant even imagine the amount of yen they had to cough off just to get most of those english end songs for both seasons one and two of jojo's bizarre adventure. especially the one used for stardust crusaders. at least there wont be any complaints from die hard sub only elitists who tend to gripe and complain when a company like funi had the habbit of having some of their VAs sing the opening and closing themes for those series. specifically past popular series like yu yu hakusho and current series like one piece. |
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varmintx
 Posts: 1243 Location: Covington, KY |
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Same. Never heard of her before, but went straight to the top of my must listen list. What has since become one of my all-time favorite bands was also introduced to me through Gunslinger Girl's OP: The Delgados. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2267 |
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I'm really curious about this, can you be more specific? Is it a matter of quantity of music within diverse styles in English to choose a mood from or is it that some moods/qualities are avoided or limited in Japanese music? It just seems odd to say that it would be hard to create a certain mood for music in Japanese. I don't speak Japanese and am not a Japanophile so if I'm missing something cultural I'd really like to know. |
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Mhora
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Geez, what kind of a question is that? I guess most of the readers of this site are American teens, right?
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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"Girls on Film" by Duran Duran was a fantastic opening for Speed Grapher that I've watched countless times (but never the actual show, because...reasons? I dunno). For a while, I only listened to the OP-length edit of that song.
The English Eden of the East opening ("Falling Down") is also great and did actually get me to watch the show. It's a shame that neither of these shows got to keep their original OPs for their home video releases outside of Japan (though Eden of the East at least got to use it on the first episode). |
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