How Are Anime Songs Chosen? Here Are 4 Ways (+Interviews)

Ever got curious of how anime songs are chosen? Are they made for the show? Do they recruit artists ahead of time? Do they just choose songs that are in production? How does it work?

Whether we want to admit it or not, the opening of a series carries a lot of weight for a viewer. It not only gives you some visuals and teasers into what’s to come, but a boring or bad song may cause one to lose interest. The opening sets the tone for the series, so if you were looking for something exciting, a slow cute song may make you turn back and look for something else.

The anime studios and producers are aware of just how important an opening song is, so they will seek, hire, or create what they feel is best for their show that is about to go on air. It may cost a lot of money for the song and the additional visuals for the theme, but it is worth it if the series is a hit.

There isn’t a whole lot of information out there, but combing what I’ve heard along with some logical thinking after watching anime forever, I could think of 4 ways as to how anime songs are chosen:

1. A Song Is Chosen From An In-Production List

The music business in Japan is booming. They have had the 2nd biggest music industry in the world for ages, and new groups and bands are still coming out. Thus new songs and albums are being created and released everyday.

For quite a few animes, the studio working on the series would reach out to labels to see what songs are currently in production. If they see a song they would like to use, and the teams will work together. If so, it’s a win-win for both parties. The animation production team gets a new song for their show with minimal effort and money, and the artist and label will get a lot more attention when their song is used in an anime.

Now, some songs are easy to determine if this was the route that was taken. For shows like Naruto, Bleach, Gintama, and Detective Conan that had many openings and closings, it’s clear that the song wasn’t made for the show and they would just be creative with the graphics to make it fit a little better.

But then there are other times where, the song seems like a really good fit for the show, but it was still by chance.

For example “HALF” by Queen Bee that was used in Tokyo Ghoul:re. Just by the name, it would seem like a perfect fit since Kaneki, the main character, is half human/half ghoul, however, Queen Bee made this song because, as a half Japanese/half black individual, he (and many other mixed individuals) was always referred to as “haafu” in Japan.

Even though he was born Japanese and speaks Japanese, he will always be treated differently and people always questioned his heritage and background due to his skin. Thus, that was his real inspiration for the song, and not the show Tokyo Ghoul.

To end this section off, here’s a video by Joe Inoue sharing his experience on how he got his song, “Closer” was chosen for Naruto. In his case, there was a competition for a Naruto opening and he submitted a song that he was already working on. His song was chosen, ‘as simple as that’ as he puts it.

2. An Artist/Band Is Chosen To Create An Opening

If you’ve ever heard an opening that is from a real artist but the song sounds a little too perfect for the anime, chances are, the anime production team reached out to the artists/band and requested that they make a song for the series.

Of course, this would cost more money than the above, but if the producers are planning to use a song for the whole series, for example, “Departure” for HunterxHunter or “Smile Bomb” for Yu Yu Hakusho, then it is definitely worth the investment. Since animes take a while to produce, the artist has time to read the manga, run through ideas, and create the perfect song that encapsulates the feelings and themes of the series.

A great series you’ll see this in is Attack on Titan since every opening and closing relates to the series in some way and comes in at the right time.

Linked Horizon, who created most of the openings, have been an active musical group way before the show making songs for Final Fantasy and Bravely Default. Out of the many artists out there, their style of music probably fit what the director was looking for the most, so he requested that they work on openings for the show, and continued to work with them over the years.

Below is the interview with REVO, the creator, composer, and songwriter of Linked Horizon. He talks about his thoughts and process into creating a song for the anime.

The final season of AoT had a shift in themes and goals so Linked Horizon’s majestic and patriotic songs about fighting for humanity no longer suited the show. Thus, the production team reached out to Shinsei Kamattechan as they liked their previous songs and sound, and requested they make the next opening.

Below includes a video by the member of the band who was the brains behind the song, “My War/Boku no Sensou”. He shares what the director requested and his thought process when creating it.

Same with the following opening, “The Rumbling” which was made by longtime alternative metal artists SiM. The name of the song only makes sense in context with the show and the lyrics is pretty much Eren’s thoughts at this point in time. You can read their interview about creating a song for the show here.

Let’s also look at Haikyuu. There are a few artists who made more than one opening or closing for the show, like Spyair, Tacica, and Nico Touches The Wall. While not every song fits the show perfectly, the tone of the song or the lyrics contain elements that still make it sound like it fits. Like “this sounds like a Haikyuu opening”

One artist that has been a great partner to the series is Burnout Syndromes, who created Phoenix, Fly High, and Hikari Are. All these songs really bring home the emotions and feelings of the characters. Burnout Syndroms have also made other openings for other animes, one notable one being “Blizzard” for Those Snow White Notes, and you could not have ‘picked’ a better opening.

In this interview with Burnout Syndromes, they mention that they started off as a school band but have grown to the point where they get a lot of offers to make anime openings. They acknowledge how they would not be where they are if it wasn’t for anime, and how their rock tracks like “Good Morning World” from Dr. Stone, has been super popular worldwide, which is great as they would love to do an international tour one day. They are hoping fans would also check out their other songs and creative tracks that aren’t in shows though!

Now, it’s still good to note that not all Japanese artists care to make songs for animes. Some have a simple and traditional sound suited for radios and local fans. With the 2nd biggest music market in the world, there isn’t really a need to go global, so most are fine with the fame the get at home. However, there are also artists who love anime, who enjoy create big and bold music with inspirational messages, and they are especially ecstatic to gain international fans, hoping to tour worldwide one day.

In Vickeblanka‘s interview, he mentions, “All the important lessons and things in life, I learned through anime. I have an enormous amount of anime favorites, such as Kimetsu no Yaiba, Durarara!!, Black Clover, Fruits Basket, Fist of the North Star, Chūka Ichiban!, etc.!!!!! Give all the anime music gigs to me!!!”

When the interviewer mentioned that he thinks his music can do well internationally and if he has plans to tour, he replies “To hear words about my international success makes me very happy. I’ll be waiting for offers from any country in the world.” You can also see here how excited Mrs. Green Apple is about global fans wearing merch and listening to their music.

Definitely check out the interview below. ALL OFF shares the writing process, along with reading the manga, lyric change suggestions, differences between TV size and full, and so on. All in English too 🙂

3. Songs Are Written For A Voice Actor/Anisong Singer

If the animation studio wants to take things further when it comes to expressing the emotion of a series, they may reach out to an anisong singer. An anisong singer does not write their music and may not even be signed under a label, they simply sing for animated series.

While they may not be selling their own albums, their voice is usually something special and has the capability of feeding the right message with emotion to the viewers. Since an anisong singer only sings songs for animes, they’ll have more free time than a signed artist under a label who is constantly working, creating, promoting, and performing.

For example, let’s look at Kouji Wada who sang the majority of openings, along with some evolution songs and endings for Digimon. He made his first big debut when he sang “Butterfly”, the original opening, and since then until his passing in 2016, he continued to sing mainly for the series. While he did have a few other songs outside the show, his nickname was literally the “Immortal Butterfly Anisong Singer”, and “Butterfly” was pretty much tied to Digimon.

Since he is only noted to be a “Singer” online, and not a songwriter or composer, it’s safe to assume he didn’t write the songs he sang for the show. The production team more likely had a team of songwriters (the series has over 100 songs!) and they would call Kouji in when they had a song for him.

I don’t doubt that he was happy to work with them since the internet states his net worth was in the millions, one site even quoting $13 Million, which is much more than many regular artists would make. Anime is a big thing, and he’d also get some royalties for every replay and cover made. So not only did he get to sing and reach people’s hearts, but he and his songs will forever be immortalized thanks to Digimon.

In the majority of cases, however, anisong singers are actually voice actors who landed a singing role in the show they were working on, and just kept on singing.

One of the biggest anisong singers today is LiSA. She had her start as a character in Angel Beats who ends up taking over as the main singer and guitarist of the band, Girls Dead Monster, in the show. Thus, while there is a full album with the original singer, you can find a –Yui Version– for all the songs as well.

She then went on to sing openings for other animes, like Sword Art Online and Demon Slayer. If you check her discography, pretty much all her songs are tied to an anime, thus why she is labelled an anisong artist.

We can also look at band animes like K-ON!, Bang! Dream, and Fuuka! where the voice actors of the characters will sing the openings and endings, often working with a label to produce a full soundtrack that can be sold for even more money.

In K-On!‘s case, after the show was finished, the voice actors went the distance and spent time learning to play their respective instruments so they could put on a real concert for the fans of the series. Again, anisong singers have a bit more free time than signed artists, so they can go on to promote their songs and the series.

There are also other animes like Assassination Classroom where, although the characters don’t sing in the show, they still came together to sing all the openings. Since the show focuses on the class and how their feelings change throughout, it was an amazing idea.

Other notable examples of voice actors singing the opening or endings of a series would be The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, Toradora, Madoka Magica, and the Monogatari series.

I will note though, that there is still the option for an anison artist or group to create their own music for a series, the most famous being JAM Project, who’s name literally stands for “Japanese Animationsong Makers”. Since their start in 2000, they have created over 70 songs for shows and movies, their most popular being “The Hero” from One Punch Man.

4. An Older Song Is Chosen Or Remade

Finally, older songs that were already released may be used for an anime. At times, they’ll keep the song as it is, other times, they may have it remastered, or covered by a new group. This doesn’t happen as often as the top three on the list, but it is still an option for the studio.

One songs that come to mind is the English song “Fly Me To The Moon”, which was created by Bart Howard in 1954, but has been covered by countless artists over the years, like Frank Sinatra. For Evangelion, Claire Littley and Megumi Hayashibara sand it for the ending, and later, Hikaru Utada covered their version for the Evangelion films.

Another example would be the famous Dragon Ball Z opening, Chala Head Chala. It was originally performed by Hironobu Kageyama in 1989, and he was called back to re-record it in 2005. In 2013, FLOW covered the same song and it was released with the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie.

I’d also like to bring up the anime ReLIFE. They had a different ending for every episode. While the show was released in 2016, the songs chosen were released in the late 1990s or early/mid 2000s. This may be intentional since the characters in the show are reverted into their younger selves, so it’s a little nostalgic in a way.

Conclusion

There isn’t a whole lot of information out there on how songs are chosen or the process, but from research and estimated guesses from observations, these seem to be the 4 most common ways on how anime songs are chosen or created.

This article took me some time as I had to think of anime and musical examples first and then look for additional evidence or interviews. Some of it is still based on assumptions since the internet doesn’t always say if a song was chosen/adopted or if it was made for a series, so if I missed something or came to wrong conclusion, please let me know!

And I’m sure there are many other ways for songs being chosen as well. One example is Buono! I’ve been a fan of the group for a decade, but I discovered them through their dance videos. I was aware that this was a project group formed by members of the established idol groups Berryz and C-ute, but I only found out now that the subgroup was created with sole purpose of making songs for the anime, Shugo Chara. Since they were already established entertainers, it could fit into #2, but they were also formed just for the show, so it’s kind of #3 as well.

All in all, I don’t have all the answers living abroad, but I hope I have given you enough insight into the world of Anime music. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out my other Japanese and anime music articles, and if you’d like to support this blog, please feel free to subscribe and/or leave me a tip on Ko-fi!

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, definitely check out my Japanese Study Guide!

To end this off, here’s a video of the process that goes behind an anime series and it’s OP 🙂