Anime and Music Pairings that Need to Happen - Part One

I’ve decided to kick off the new year with something fun. You know how movies have songs integrated into important plot moments or during the credits? Well, I was thinking about some anime series I have seen and what English language songs out there could possibly be played during the opening or end credits while staying true to the spirit of the anime. Usually anime series use songs by Japanese artists that match the tone of the show, but I think using songs in other languages might be a fun concept to explore every once in a while. There is a thriving culture of fan made anime music videos (AMVs) that are regularly showcased at anime conventions around the world. I wish I had the skills to make AMVs of my own, but until then, here are two of my favorite anime paired with a song that embodies a core theme played out over the course of the series. Look for Part Two on this blog later this month. 

School Rumble with Swimming with Dolphins – “Silhouettes”

Let’s begin with my favorite anime series of all time. School Rumble is a slice of life romantic comedy centered on a love triangle between the bubbly Tenma Tsukamoto, delinquent Kenji Harima, and the eccentric Oji Karasuma. Tenma is hopelessly in love with Karasuma despite him being more or less oblivious to her feelings. Meanwhile Harima developed feelings for Tenma after he saved her from a thug one year prior to the start of the series. The incident caused Tenma to pass out, and Harima took her to his place to recover. When Tenma wakes up in Harima’s bed, she accuses Harima of being a pervert. While Tenma has since forgotten the incident, Harima starts wearing sunglasses and grows facial hair to hide his identity from her in case she ever remembers. He tries his best throughout the series to win Tenma’s heart despite numerous setbacks ranging from laugh out loud hilarious to almost bringing a tear to my eye. Harima embodies every high school boy who has ever chased after the girl of his dreams. You root for him through his attempts to win Tenma’s heart and feel his anguish when he learns about Tenma’s feelings for Karasuma. 

“When I can’t bear the resistance, I bend in shapes in ways that I never knew.” 

Harima's emotional breakdown leads to one of the greatest character arcs I have ever seen in a romance anime. Harima channels his frustration into drawing a manga with himself as the hero, Tenma as the damsel, and Karasuma as the villain. When he is done, he tries to get his work published for the same manga magazine for which his favorite artist, Jou Nijou, draws. During the interview, Harima is horrified to learn that Nijou is the pen name for none other than Karasuma. Furious, Harima tears his manga in half and leaves before the interview can finish. He falls into a depression and quits school. After a while Harima decides to go to school one last time to tell Tenma his true feelings and to hand in his official resignation. Due to a mix up though, Tenma accidently receives the resignation letter, and she personally asks Harima to stay in school. Rejuvenated, Harima comes back to school and renews his focus on developing his manga and staying close to Tenma.

“You found comfort with my distance, but you will never let me stray out of your view.”

For the rest of the series, Harima refuses to give up entirely on Tenma even though Tenma’s love for Karasuma is unshakable. However, regular interactions between Tenma and Harima lead them to becoming pretty good friends. Harima joins Tenma and her friends on trips to the beach and the countryside, and they discover that they both like the same TV shows.

The series ends with Harima coming to terms that he may never be a romantic equal to Karasuma in Tenma’s eyes, but that shouldn’t mean that he and Tenma can’t continue to have good times together. I guess that is what makes School Rumble so great and so relatable. It’s a series for anyone who’s thrown everything they have at getting a crush to notice them. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but even rejections can have happy endings for both parties.

“I’ll stop my heart and then I’ll wait for you.”

Swimming with Dolphins was formed by Minneapolis friends Austin Tofte and future Owl City frontman Adam Young. “Silhouettes” is one of the songs released on the band’s debut EP, Ambient Blue, in 2008 and is sung as a duet by Tofte and fellow Minnesotan Breanne Duren. The upbeat, electropop nature of "Silhouettes" would blend in nicely with any anime series, but lyrical themes of moving on from an unfulfilled relationship make this a perfect companion piece for School Rumble.

One-Punch Man with Five for Fighting – “Superman (It’s Not Easy)”

This one is kind of a no-brainer. Any number of superhero themed songs could work well with this critically acclaimed action series. I’ve actually seen a few AMVs on YouTube with scenes from One-Punch Man set to 3 Doors Down’s “Kryptonite.” In the end I have chosen the 2001 song “Superman” by Los Angeles singer and songwriter John Ondrasik, who goes by the stage name Five for Fighting. According to Ondrasik, “Superman” reflects how he personally felt down on his luck after his first album failed to meet sales expectations. I’ve covered One-Punch Man thoroughly in a previous blog, so I’ll cut to the basics. Saitama was once a salaryman unable to find a job. After saving a child from a monster, he decided to become a hero for fun. Through a strict training regimen and an indomitable will, Saitama achieved such a high level of power that he can defeat any foe with a single punch.

“I’m more than a bird. I’m more than a plane. I’m more than some pretty face beside a train. And it’s not easy to be me.”

“Superman” and One-Punch Man are thematically similar in several ways. The lyrics of the song make a case that Superman’s life isn’t easy in spite of all his power. For instance, one verse insists that Superman is troubled that he will never know his true home, Krypton. It also appears that Superman would rather be normal and not have the ability to fly. After all, Superman is an alien here on Earth. He may look human and have human emotions, but he will never truly be one of us. 

“I’m only a man in a funny red sheet. I’m only a man looking for a dream.”

Saitama faces problems of his own throughout the course of One-Punch Man. Although he enjoys being a hero and saving people from monsters, he is bothered that no single enemy can give him a truly exhilarating fight. He comes close to finding a worthy foe by the final episode of the first season, but even that fight ends with Saitama barely getting more than a few scratches and the villain admitting that he was never even close to beating Saitama. As the second season of One-Punch Man prepares to air later this spring, viewers will be eager to see if Saitama will ever meet his match.

You’d think that a series with a hero who can’t be defeated would grow stale pretty quickly, but One-Punch Man remains extremely popular. A lot of this is due to the satirical nature of the series in a culture currently flooded with superheroes. Saitama isn’t driven by revenge, or lust, or any other emotion. He’s just a hero because he wants to. There is also the fact that hero work in this universe is managed by an austere, bureaucratic governing body. Inter-competition and obsession over rank turns the heroes into jaded individuals who care about their personal status as much as or more than actually doing heroic things. And then there's Saitama—a guy who completely bucks the system and doesn’t give a rat’s backside about the politics surrounding him. It’s his outstanding moral fiber in a morally bankrupt system that makes him so likable that you want him to get the recognition and the respect he fully deserves no matter how many enemies he has to fight. Add in beautiful animation courtesy of Madhouse studio, and you have an anime that will undoubtedly become a future classic.   

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for Part Two of this two-part blog series. In the meantime, feel free to let me know in the comments which songs you would like to see paired with a particular anime series. Happy New Year everyone!