Breaking Down 15 Anime Song’s Chord Progressions

Have you been listening to anime music and trying to figure out why it sounds the way it does? Why it riles you up or makes you feel nostalgic? Perhaps you’re a musician trying to make sense of the music theory behind Japanese music, but you just can’t figure out what is going on.

This article was a long time coming. If you’re new to my blog, welcome! If you’re a musician or producer who loves Japanese music and wants to create similar sounding music, my Japanese Music Resources Page has many amazing articles, such as Why Japanese Music Sounds Different, Japanese Song Structure, Japanese Lyric Dictionary, 15 Anime Songs with Odd Time Signatures, and much, MUCH, more!

If you’re more interested in general Japanese music, as opposed to anime-specific music, I just published Breaking Down 15 Jpop Song Chord Progressions! Definitely check it out as well!

And if you’d like to learn more about music theory and Japanese chord progressions for the sake of creating Japanese inspired music, check out my eBook and Course!

More recently, I released my first official song “Be Courageous” which I wrote in 4 days using Japanese chord progressions and inspiration. I also used modulation (key changes) and I got an article sharing 15+ anime songs that uses that as well! I love breaking down songs so you can understand how it works and utilize it in your own way.

In this article, I’ve chosen 15 very popular anime songs to break down. I will include the key, chords, and the degree of the chords, along with notes on what is happening. If you’re new to music theory or want a refresher, please check out my beginner series that starts with how scales and modes are made, followed by how chords are made, and finally, chord progressions and functions.

If you don’t know what the “stereotypical anime chord progression” is, it is IV-V-vi or IV-V-iii-vi. If you’re not super familiar with it, please watch this video that shares many examples along with examples and some changes. A handful of songs below will have this progression included, but that only makes up a section of it. This article will look at the whole chorus to see what exactly is going on.

And lastly, I highly recommend having my Why Japanese Music Sounds Different article open in another tab as you go through this article. I will be using music theory terms like Borrowed Chords, Secondary Dominants and Cadences, which I won’t be going into detail on this article. That article explains these concepts and also has supplementary Youtube videos so you can hear these chords and progressions more clearly.

Note: An Astericks (*) will be used to represent all non-diatonic/borrowed chords. In general, every key has 7 chords that naturally belong to the key as they are built off the scale of the home note. Anything outside of those 7 chords don’t belong to the key, but can be used to change the feel of a song as you will hear in these songs.

Disclaimer: While I have a long history with music, most of my years was spent reading music and playing melodic instruments. I only started studying chord progressions and analyzing songs when I picked up guitar a couple years ago, thus, I can’t guarantee everything below is 100% accurate. I’ve used various references for chords and double checked them myself. Some only had chords with a capo so I had to transpose them. They keys are hard to find and sites that use scanners aren’t always accurate, so I picked what I thought made the most sense. I did my best, but if there is a better way to interpret a song, please let me know in the comments! Let’s help each other answer figure out how Japanese songs work ^_^

Let’s get to it!!

“Again” from Fullmetal Alchemist

Artist: Yui
Release Year: 2004

Key of Song: Em

Chord Progression:

C D	Em A	C D	Em	C D	Em A	C D	Em
VI VII	i IV*	VI VII	i	VI VII	i IV*	VI VII	i

Notes: This is pretty simply minor chord progression, but what makes it sound so melancholic and dramatic is the IV borrowed chord. Em would normally have Am (iv), but this song uses A (IV) instead. Also note that if this song was written in it’s major key of G, it would be pretty much fit the anime progression (IV-V-iii-VI).

“Unravel” from Tokyo Ghoul

Artist: Ling Tosite Sigure
Release Year: 2014

Key of Song: Gm

Chord Progression:

Eb F	Gm Dm	Eb F	Gm Bb	Eb F	Gm Dm	Eb Fsus4	F
VI VII	i v	VI VII	i III	VI VII	i v	VI VIIsus4	VII

Notes: Here’s another classic. Due to the tone of the song, it is undeniable that it is in a minor key. But like the song above, if we were to look at it at it’s relative major key, which would be Bb in this case, it also has a bit of the anime progression in it, rising from IV (Eb) to V (F) to vi (Gm), but then falling to iii (Dm) or I (Bb).

“Gurenge” from Demon Slayer

Artist: LiSA
Release Year: 2020

Key of Song: Em

Chord Progression:

C

D

Em

Bm

C

D♯dim

Em D Em D

Bm A Bm A

C

D

D♯dim

Em

C

D

VI

VII

i

v

VI

VII♯dim*

i VII i VII

v IV* v IV*

VI

VII

VII♯dim*

i

VI

VII

Notes: I was tempted to analyze this song from the key of G (Em’s relative major) as C-D-Em is IV-V-vi, which is the stereotypical anime progression, but I couldn’t. Why? Because G never shows up in the whole song, thus Em works as the home chord.

As for this chorus, it’s still not too complicated. All it does is play with rising tones. VI-VII-i, and v-VI-VII♯dim-I. You will see ♯dim chords used a few more times in this list. If you’ve never used dim chords in your own music and wasn’t sure how to, definitely use the ♯dim as a transition chord and see magic happen!

“Blue Bird” from Naruto

Artist: Ikimono-Gakari
Release Year: 2008

Key of Song: F♯m

Chord Progression:

Dmaj7 C♯m7	F♯m7	Bm7 E	A	Dmaj7 C♯m7	F♯m7	Bm7 E	F♯m7
VI7 v7	i7	iv7 VII	III	VI7 v7	i7	iv7 VII	i7

Notes: I think this songs a lot easier to look at from the minor key. A couple phrases resolve downwards into I, while others take a bit of a detour. All in all, they make use of the F♯m chord and it is clear that is is the home chord for this song.

“Peace Sign” from My Hero Academia

Artist: Kenshi Yonezu
Release Year: 2017

Key of Song: Eb

Chord Progression:

Ab Bb	Cm Eb	Ab Bdim	Cm Eb	Ab Bb Bdim Cm	B Db Eb
IV V	vi I	IV V♯dim*	vi I	IV V V♯dim* vi	VI♭* VII♭* I

Notes: The first 4 bars repeat twice before the pre-chorus. This too starts with a version of the anime progression, IV-V-vi, but resolves to I. It then uses a ♯dim transition chord like Gurenge above. The last bar is actually a popular (but unique to Western music) cadence. It uses two borrowed major chords and walks up, resolving to the I. You’ll see this “VI♭-VII♭-I Cadence” again when we look at Butterfly from Digimon.

“Inferno” from Fire Force

Artist: Mrs. Green Apple
Release Year: 2019

Key of Song: E

Chord Progression:

C♯m F♯m	B E B	C♯m A	B E G♯7	C♯m F♯m	B E	C♯m A	B E Cdim	C♯m A	B E
vi ii	V I V	vi ii	V I III7*	vi ii	V I	vi IV	V I V♯dim	vi IV	V I

Notes: Because every section of this song starts on C♯m, I understand why some sites would think that’s the key, but it is clear that the E major chord feels like home, and thus ends most sections.

vi-ii-V-I is both a unique and familiar progression. vi works as a secondary dominant to ii, the same way V does to I. But also, if you take out the vi, you get the usual ii-V-I jazz progression. We then get the borrowed chord III7, which is very common in Japanese music, and is another secondary dominant which takes us back naturally to the vi chord. And to end it off, we get the beautiful and very common IV-V-I progression, using all the natural major chords to go from subdominant to dominant to tonic.

“Butterfly” from Digimon

Artist: Kouji Wada
Release Year: 1999

Key of Song: E

Chord Progression:

E B	C♯m G♯m	A E C♯m	A B	E B	C♯m G♯m	A G♯m C♯m	C D E
I V	vi iii	IV I vi	IV V	I V	vi iii	IV iii vi	VI♭* VII♭* I

Notes: This was the first real Japanese song I heard way back in 2006 and it’s what made me curious about Jmusic. Over the last couple years, thanks to it’s immortal popularity (They actually nicknamed Kouji Wada the “Immortal Butterfly Singer” before he passed. RIP <3), I’ve gotten to learn more things about the song.

This song actually uses the Canon (Pachelbel’s Canon) progression of I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V, with just a random vi passing chord near the end. While not as common in anime music, there are a lot of Japanese pop songs that uses the canon progressions. And as mentioned in Peace Sign above, it also uses borrowed chords to create the epic rising VI♭-VII♭-I cadence at the end.

“A Cruel Angels Thesis” from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Artist: Yoko Takahashi
Release Year: 1997

Key of Song: Cm

Chord Progression:

Cm Fm	B♭ E♭	Cm Fm	B♭ Cm
i iv	VII III	i iv	VII i

Notes: This progression looks simple, but what’s cool about it is that it uses the Circle of Fifths for the progression. I’ve heard of the Circle of Fifths but haven’t noticed it being used until now. I found this video that explains the progression well. It also ironically uses the Cm key for their example.

“Hikaru Nara” from Your Lie In April

Artist: Goose House
Release Year: 2015

Key of Song: A

Chord Progression:

D E	F♯m	D E	F♯m	D E	Fdim F♯m	D E	F♯m
IV V	vi	IV V	vi	IV V	V♯dim* vi	IV V	vi

Notes: Here’s another song that sticks pretty close to the anime progression with IV-V-vi. Only part that differs is the 3rd line which uses the ♯dim chord to transition between V and vi as we have seen a couple times above.

“Kawaki wo Ameku” from Domestic Girlfriend

Artist: Minami
Release Year: 2019

Key of Song: A

Chord Progression:

D	E	F♯m	B7	D E	C♯7	D	E	F♯m B7	D	E
IV	V	vi	II7*	IV V	III7*	IV	V	vi II7*	IV	V

Notes: This song uses the stereotypical anime progression (IV-V-vi), but also mixes things up with a handful of borrowed chords, which helps change up the mood. At times, it sounds happy and exciting, but then those unnatural dominants make you feel a little uneasy, which is what the song was going for. I can’t even call them ‘secondary’ dominants, because the following chord is not what the dominant would naturally resolve to (B7 would beautifully resolve to E, but instead, it goes to D).

“Crossing Field” from Sword Art Online

Artist: LiSA
Release Year: 2013

Key of Song: Dm

Chord Progression:

Dm Am	Bb C	Bb	Edim A	Dm Am	D C/E F	Gm B	C Dm
i v	VI VII	VI	iidim V*	i v	I* VII III	iv VI♯*	VII i

Note: For this progression, it has a rising feeling with v-VI-VII, and is followed by the popular 2-5-1 Jazz cadence at the end with Edim-A-Dm. RaynChan has a great video explaining how this chord plays with harmonies and melodies by using the D minor key for chords, but using it’s relative F major key for the melody.

“Departure” from Hunter x Hunter

Artist: Masatoshi Ono
Release Year: 2011

Key of Song: Bb

Chord Progression:

Bb	D	Gm	Fm Bb	Eb C	F G	Cm Fsus4	Bb
I	III*	vi	v* I	IV II*	V VI*	ii Vsus4	I

Notes: This song has a lot of borrowed chords, but it is clear Bb is the home chord since it starts and ends with that. It’s rare to see a progression where I go into III/iii, but it’s best to think of it as an extension of I. III is a tonic chord that shares 2 notes with I (you can learn more in my chord function article).

The next line is also super unique and stands out. IV-II-V-VI uses all major chords, two of which are borrowed chords. By landing on a major VI, it creates such a bold sound because it’s out of place and rarely ever heard in music. Even in Japanese music, it’s usually the iii which is changed instead. The chorus then ends with a 2-5-1 Jazz cadence.

“Black Catcher” from Black Clover

Artist: Vickeblanka
Release Year: 2020

Key of Song: Em (Verse) and D / Bm (Chorus)

Chord Progression:

Bm	D	A A♯dim G	F♯7	Bm	D	A A♯dim G	A
vi	I	V V♯dim* IV	III7*	vi	I	V V♯dim* IV	V

Notes: This song was a bit harder to tell the key. Some places said B minor, some said D major, which is it’s relative major…but one site even said Em. If you look at this song in it’s entirety though, they’re all right. This song utilizes modulation, which is a temporary key change, usually done between sections of a song.

Instead of just going up a key as many Western songs do the raise the energy near the end of the song, Japanese music tends to play around with keys that have many similar chords, so it’s very subtle if you’re not paying attention. One anime song where the modulation shift is more obvious is Akuma no Ko from Attack on Titan. Here’s also a great video by 12Tone that talks about the 3 types of Modulation.

As for the chorus, while it does have an eerie minior tone to it, I decided to look at it from D major because there are some elements that I can compare and contrast to other progressions on this list. We do get the V-V♯dim here again, which we saw above in Peace Sign and Hikaru Nara, but what I love is that it decides to go down into G instead of continuing up to Bm. It then continues downwards, but uses the borrowed chord/secondary dominant III7, which resolves nicely back to the vi we started with.

“Again” from Fruits Basket

Artist: Beverly
Release Year: 2019

Key of Song: E

Chord Progression:

E B	C♯m Bm E	A G♯m	F♯m B	G♯m C♯m	F♯m B	G♯ C♯m	F♯m7 B	Am B
I V	vi v* I	IV iii	ii7 V	iii vi	ii V	III* vi	ii V	vi* V

Notes: This is a slower ballad song which is so beautiful. This is a great example of an extended chord progression. After the first bar, we don’t go back to I. We go down IV-iii-ii, then back to V. We have ii-V a couple places which would make one suspect the usual ii-V-I jazz cadence, but that also doesn’t happen. So this song creates a floating feeling where we are so eagerly waiting for that resolution again, and we are expecting it since it is a soft, slow, happy sounding sound…but it doesn’t give us that. It’s a great teaser, but which I think works so well for a romance series like this one. (There are a few missing transition chords, but I couldn’t find a reference for them).

“God Knows” from Haruhi Suzumiya

Artist: Aya Hirano
Release Year: 2009

Key of Song: E

Chord Progression:

A B	G♯m C♯m	F♯m G♯m	C♯m B	A B	G♯m C♯m	F♯m G♯m	A B	C♯m
IV V	iii vi	ii iii	vi V	IV V	iii vi	ii iii	IV V	vi

Note: To end this article of, I’ve added one of the biggest insert songs. Despite being super popular, it is actually a pretty simple progression with no borrowed chords or unusual cadences. The next part, ii-iii-vi-V, isn’t super common in the west but I’ve seen it a few times in Japanese music. The last part has a continual rise of chords ii-iii-IV-V-vi, and leaves you feeling unresolved. The instrumental and bridge both start back on A and continues the anime loop. The only time we get the home chord E major is a couple times in the verses.

Conclusion

I hope this article has given you some insight into what some songs are doing. If you’re looking for more progression breakdowns, check out this article where I Break Down 15 Jpop Song Progressions.

If you’re interested in more progressions and tips that you can adopt into making your music sound more Japanese, check out my Japanese Music Progressions eBook or The Complete Japanese Music Theory Course!

I write a lot about Japan and Japanese music, along with beginner guitar tips and more, so definitely check out my other articles on my blog, and consider liking my Facebook page for alerts on future articles.

Happy playing! ^_^