List of Anime Bands & Their Real Life Counterparts

In the west, when you watch a cartoon, you take a theme song as it is: just a theme song. Any people or actions within the show are simply fictional. But that isn’t always the case in Japanese anime.

As opposed to just creating a short catchy theme song, the majority of openings are actual songs created by real bands, and they were just adopted for the show. If you keep your eyes peeled, the name and artist usually flashes at the beginning of the chorus.

But on that of that, if the show actually features singers or bands, someone had to perform their songs. Sometimes, it is just a voice actress taking on a vocal role, sometimes it is a producer who directs the full soundtrack, and sometimes it’s an active band is brought in to create the songs for the show.

Point is, you don’t have to put on the show everytime you want to hear a song. Chances are, the full song is uploaded on Youtube or Spotify under the real artists name.

Who is the real artist though? Well, here’s a list to help you find out! 🙂

And if you’re interested in learning more vocabulary and kanji so you can watch anime and dramas, read manga, sing J-pop at karaoke, or play raw Japanese video games, check out my 250+ Kanji for Japanese Media (+Sentences) article and my Japanese Study Guide!

K-ON!!

Anime Band Name: Ho-kago Tea Time (HTT)
Real Band Name: Ho-kago Tea Time

Fun Fact: During the filming of the show, the voice actors were simply voice actors. However, after the show, they all took the time to learn their respective instruments to perform live. You have to love the dedication to Japanese voice actors for their fans!

GIVEN

Anime Band Name: The Seasons
Real Band Name: Centimillimental

Fun Fact: Centimillimental (aka Atsushi) is a singer-songwriter and composer who created the songs for the series. For their live videos, the voice actor for Mafuyu (Shogo Yano) makes a guest appearance. For the live action, the band Panorama Panama Town were brought in, and they played different songs (Fuyu no Hanashi was replaced with Melody Lane)

NANA

Anime Band Name: Black Stones (BLAST)
Real Artist Name: Anna Tsuchiya

Fun Fact: Anna Tsuchiya is just as edgy as the character she portrays. Before Nana, she played a biker-gang girl in the drama Kamikaze Girls and got many awards for her character. Rose was her 2nd studio album and soundtrack for the show, but it cannot be determined if the songs were made for the show or adopted afterwards.

ANGEL BEATS

Anime Band Name: Girls Dead Monster
Real Band Name: Girls Dead Monster Feat. LiSA

Fun Fact: While some may know LiSA for the openings Crossing Field and Gurenge, she actually made her debut as a voice actor in this anime in 2010! Her character, Yui, takes on the role as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist after the previous leader ‘moves on’. This is why you can find 2 versions of the show’s soundtrack. Check out her interview here!

BANG DREAM

Anime Band Name: Poppin Party
Real Band Name: Poppin Party

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Anime Band Name: Roselia
Real Band Name: Roselia

HARUHI SUZUMIYA

Anime Band Name: ENOZ
Real Artist Name: ENOZ/Aya Hirano (Voice Actor)

Fun Fact: The name ENOZ came from the real Japanese band ZONE! Zone created the original version of Secret Base, which was remade for the anime series Anohana. A cover of the song was also done by Scandal.

FUUKA

Anime Band Name: The Fallen Moon/The Hedgehogs
Real Artist Name: Manami Numakura (Voice Actor)

Fun Fact: Even if you don’t know this show, you have more likely heard this voice actor somewhere! Since her debut in 2009, she has been in over 50 animes, some of which include: Attack on Titan (Pieck), Fairytail (Brandish μ), Dr. Stone (Kohaku), and Assassination Classroom (Rio).

DETROIT METAL CITY

Anime Band Name: Detroit Metal City (DMC)
Real Band Name: Detroit Metal City

GRAVITATION

Anime Band Name: Bad Luck
Real Artist Name: Kotani Kinya

MACROSS 7

Anime Band Name: Fire Bomber
Real Band Name: Fire Bomber

Fun Fact: This band has been active and performing irregularly since 1994!

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad

Anime Band Name: Beck
Real Band Name: Beat Crusaders

Fun Fact: Despite being active for 13 years (1997-2010), Beat Crusaders doesn’t have much of a discography. However, outside of “Beat In The USA” from Beck, you may know them for “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” which was the 4th opening of Bleach!

Bocchi The Rock!

Anime Band Name: Kessoku Band
Real Band Name: Possibly “SSL” which includes Kita’s voice actor and has recorded a couple studio covers

I know a lot of people are inquiring about the band since it’s a hot topic and they have released a full album, but as far as we know, this was a group project which included the voice actors of the show along with session musicians. But who knows! Maybe in the future, the voice actors will come together, learn their respective instruments, and make a new real band like K-On or Bang Dream did! Especially if their albums take off and there is a high enough demand for concerts. Fingers crossed!

Fun Fact: It looks like a lot of big Japanese composers and lyricists worked on the songs for this show, such as Ai Higuchi who made an ending for Attack on Titan, ZAQ, a couple Kana-Boon members, Yuho Kitazawa from The Peggies, Kayoko Kuzano who writes a lot for LiSA, and much more! I’m not surprised that many people have been blown away by the tracks!

Charlotte

Anime Band Name: ZHIEND (Singer: Sala Shane)
Real Artist Name: ZHIEND (Singer: Marina)

Girls Band Cry

Anime Band Name: Girls Band Cry
Real Band Name: Girls Band Cry

Fun Fact: As opposed to shows turning voice actors into musicians so they can host concerts and make more money, it seems like this series decided to do auditions for real musicians and make them into voice actors for this series! They auditioned over 1000 people over a 1.5 year time span to figure out the final line up.