As much as I looooooove Japanese music and the original Japanese theme songs for some animes, that doesn’t mean English did a horrible job at creating some nostalgic tracks for kids like me.
Even nowadays, I will find myself revisiting a playlist for these songs or playing the tracks I have on my external harddrive. It’s so sad how underrated these songs are because they go hard. I really don’t care what anyone says, yall are missing out.
The first 3 in this list are soundtracks I’ve been listening to for over 10 years, but it had me wondering…what other dubbed anime series has awesome soundtracks too? Us kids didn’t know about it, and it’s not like we all the freedom or money to hang out in CD stores to actually discover them.
So here’s a first and possibly only shoutout to the soundtracks that didn’t get much love <3
Pokemon Movie Soundtrack
I didn’t even know this existed until about 2008 when my best friend from middle school borrowed me her CD and then allowed me to burn it (good times, good times).
This soundtrack contains a mix of quirky upbeat songs like “Catch Me If You Can” and “Soda Pop”, along with sentimental songs like “It was You” and ” Brother My Brother” which was featured in the movie. My personal favourite was Making My Way Anyway That I Can, which is self explanatory.
All in all, definitely a solid track containing some great songs from big and small artists. It has something for everyone and a good compilation of 90s nostalgia.
Digimon The Movie Soundtrack
Underrated. Actually, not even underrated since people didn’t know it existed. Unlike the Pokemon soundtrack, quite a bit of the songs on this CD was actually played in the English movie.
It was my real introduction to Barenaked Ladies (One Week), and it contained some really big hits including All Star (before it was featured in Shrek), The Rockafellar Skank, Kids In America, and The Impression That I Get. I didn’t even know how popular most of these songs were, but the last three showed up on Just Dance.
Paul Gordon and Jasan Radford are what you would consider the Kouji Wada of the dubbed franchise, and it contained many epic original songs such as “Let’s Kick It Up”, “Going Digital”, “Hey Digimon” and of course “The Digi Rap”.
The whole CD is all about good vibes, good laughs, and is generally a good track for the summer. Something the whole family could enjoy, assuming they are into more rock.
Beyblade: Let It Rip Soundtrack
Out of all the theme songs from my childhood, I would say Beyblade was definitely in the top 3. It has epic catchy riffs and lyrics that inspire you, like Pokemon, but just a little more rock. These traits carry on to the rest of their soundtrack.
Unlike Pokemon and Digimon that have a lot of songs from bigger artists, none of the names on here stood out to me, and I couldn’t even find tabs which shows a lack of popularity.
However, this is definitely the kinda of motivating soundtrack you need sometimes. These songs are about grinding, fighting hard, never giving up, and how the path may be lonely if you’re serious.
There are a few more poppy and light hearted songs like “Never Gonna Take Me Down”, “Let’s Go Beybladers” and “All Across The Nation” which are actually featured in the show regularly, but then there are some darker tracks like “Underdog” and “Switchblade” (my favs) that I don’t recall hearing as they may have only showed up once or twice at the most intense moments of the show.
Cardcaptors TV Soundtrack
This is a very chill, simplistic soundtrack. Lyrics are kind of predictable as it was clearly meant for children. However, what I find kinda cool is that, while the songs are all original and made for the series, if you heard this in the past, you wouldn’t even know it was made for an anime. The songs are just so western and 90s sounding, similar to the Pokemon Soundtrack.
Sailormoon
Another original soundtrack made for the show. It started off pretty soft and light like Cardcaptors, but I was suprised to hear a real rock song “Carry On” midway through with an epic guitar solo later on.
Dragon Ball Z American Soundtrack
Finally, I’m adding a soundtrack with no lyrics but one that seems beloved by many western fans. The Dragon Ball Z American Soundtrack has quite a few songs, a lot of which were played throughout the show, and of course, highlighted during fight scenes.
Comments on this video mention it being one of it’s kind, along with nostalgic and emotional. If you watched the show, I’m sure it will bring back a lot of memories. I watched it, but I was like 6 when it came on, so excuse me haha If it didn’t have words, I probably wasn’t paying attention.