Part 1
Part 2

Before we get into the final installment of his talk, I just wanted to note that Alex did put up a post listing all of the OP/EDs that he had used for the Anime Expo presentation. And according to his schedule, he’ll be at Otakon from July 17-19 where he’ll be giving the same presentation so even though you’re reading this, I’d definitely encourage you all to attend since he’s a very enthusiastic speaker and presenter. So with that out of the way, here’s part 3 of his presentation:

I don’t think it’s a secret that OP/EDs have long been used as a way to promote artists by using their music during the OP/ED sequence to allow viewers to listen to the artists’ music and hopefully get them to try out other works by the artist in question. It’s a trait that I notice with more popular shows like Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, and Naruto. Heck, I’m sure you can think of a few OP/ED sequences that had a marketing motive rather than trying to articulate the show’s core themes. The example Alex used to illustrate this concept was an interview with Anna Tsuchiya that appeared at the end of a Nana episode. During that sequence, she took us through the song and what she was trying to describe the overall tone of the song. I didn’t really pay attention too much to the music though, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about it though.

But that made for a short aside as we moved back into some of the better-known OP/ED sequences. Like with Haruhi’s “Hare Hare Yukai” in the previous post, there’s no way a presentation on this subject is complete without talking about Cowboy Bebop’s OP, “Tank!” This piece should be familiar with most people since it’s been touted as one of the most memorable OPs out there with its attention-grabbing jazz and animation. As a bonus, Alex played the complete version of “Tank!” (as opposed to just the TV-size version) to demonstrate just how much more complete the full version feels since the artists are able to develop the song further by giving them the chance to bring out interesting jazz rhythms and melodies unto the listener without being constrained by time.

Next up is Gurren Lagaan’s OP “Sorairo Days” which does an excellent job of infusing that whole “boy seeks and finds destiny” atmosphere into the viewer through Shoko Nagawa’s performance. While that song is fairly enjoyable, I found this choice more compelling from the animation standpoint. That also seemed to be what Alex was gunning after since he talked briefly about how some shows set it up so that the opening animation changes as the show progresses and with Gurren Lagaan, it was the way a certain character was removed entirely as the show went on. Another thing to note was that the OP would use “Sorairo Days’” second verse for the second half of the show. It’s not an unusual step, but it’s not exactly common either so it’s something to note while you’re watching a show.

And sometimes, anime just imitates life and another anime will imitate the anime imitating life. Did you get that? Well, Alex drew a comparison between The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?’s ED and the idol phenomenon that was prevalent during that time period. Just watch the ED and watch the animated singer’s (Lynn Minmay’s) movements which capture the sort of performance that one would expect from an idol performance. Decades later, Kannagi’s OP “motto☆Hade ni ne!,” would follow suit and Alex thought it did a decent job in the way it functioned as a tribute to Macross: DYRL’s ED. Although the similarities with Kannagi are rather striking, I’m still not convinced that Kannagi’s OP is a tribute so much as a parody of the idol culture, but Alex’s thoughts do have some merit, especially if you look at Nagi’s hand movements and compare them to Lynn Minmay’s. Alex also touched a bit on the Macross franchise which he affectionately described it as a sci-fi anime series with an intergalatic war backdrop where the war would come to a halt with the appearance of a singer whose songs are capable of bringing about an era of peace. Silly as it is, Macross fans will tell you that it works and works really well.

Before moving on to the next OP/ED, Alex briefly sidetracked into a discussion of some OPs that he felt misrepresented the show as a whole. His example here was Noir, which had a very enjoyable OP that was undone by the anime’s poor pacing. While the first episode had a decent dose of action, including that scene when one of the protagonists kills a man by strangling him with his own necktie, everything else just went downhill after that as the series plodded on at a sluggish pace. But that’s Bee Train for you, so nothing more needs to be said here.

Anyways, the next example that he trotted out was none other than the infamous One Piece opening and that was used to illustrate the sorry state of how OPs would get butchered when they were licensed and shown on Western TV. The original OP wasn’t horrid (but not my cup of tea) because it possessed a good amount of energy that made the show feel fun and exciting. It also had good usage of sound effects to help the audience connect with the characters. So when the show got brought to the US, the marketing executives decided in their infinite wisdom to replace the OP with a hip hop song that was hilariously bad in its attempt to sound badass. Gone is the dosage of fun that went into the show and instead, we get a rap song that tries too hard to be cool and ends up failing hard. As you might have expected, the audience was groaning pretty hard by the end because of how unbelievably bad it was. And to add more pain to the mix, Alex kindly reminded us how badly Escaflowne was butchered when it was transported to the States. Let us cease speaking about such evils lest they come back to haunt us someday.

Everything that took place after this point was just a bonus because of the time extension and Alex remarked about the OPs that interested him because they didn’t use any animation from the series itself. Before going into the samples, he did talk a bit about some false expectations to come out of OPs, pointing out to an incredibly badass fight in one particular Full Metal Alchemists OP that unfortunately never happened even though it got the audience psyched up for the encounter. The fact that it never transpired was a letdown to say the least. So the next few OP/EDs that he showed us don’t use footage from the show, but they’re not misleading either. Honey and Clover, as you can see, uses that artsy animation that doesn’t have much to do with the show, but it sure catches your attention through its clever execution. It also doesn’t hurt that the claw thing at the end never ceases to amuse me, at least, after catching me by surprise the first time through. Nodame Cantabile’s OP struck Alex in the same way Honey and Clover’s did, particularly in the way the musical instruments were synced to the music. Finally, Eden of the East’s ED was notable for making creative use of animated paper art to convey a small portion of Eden’s main plot and I think many people (myself included) who saw that when Eden ran found it to be very well-executed.

And because Eden of the East was brought out, the audience got Alex to show the OP. Like the previous three, this one also doesn’t use any footage from the anime series though this one gets the distinction for using Oasis’s music. Although music by Westerners isn’t an uncommon occurrence, it doesn’t happen all that often either, which is enough for people to take note of “Falling Down.” Alex also mentioned something about Production I.G. doing a music video set to this song, but like him, I’m not actually sure whether that’s been released yet, so if anyone can confirm its status, that’d be nice to know.

That pretty much concluded the presentation. Hopefully by reading this, you were able to get a feel for how his presentation ran and that you got something out of this. Like I said at the beginning, he’ll be at Otakon, so for those attending, even if you’ve read this, I highly encourage you to go since he might throw a few things into the mix now that these posts have been written. All thoughts on this series of posts as well as Alex’s presentation are most welcome and I’ll try to answer any questions about the panel for those who have questions (assuming my brain can recall the finer points). Hope you all enjoyed this is much as I enjoyed writing this!

The second installment. As you can probably tell, the first part of the talk and by extension, the post, focused more on older series and this post will move into some of the newer stuff. The previous post also had the effect of getting the Cutey Honey OP stuck in my head, partly because I was listening to it while looking for their respective OPs on YouTube. Anyways, here’s the continuation of my thoughts with regard to Alex Leavitt’s panel:

Up until this point, the samples Alex showed us were from anime series aired before 2000 (I’m not going to count Re: Cutey Honey) and so, the next sample, Honey and Clover’s ED song “Waltz” is the first to break the millennial barrier in this panel. My memory is a bit fuzzy at this point about the significance of this particular ED aside from how it sparked a personal connection since it reminded him of his days as an avid biker, a connection that was strengthened further during that segment in Honey and Clover where Takemoto undertook that journey of self-discovery on bicycle. On my end, one of the things that “Waltz” does well is the way it channels that journey in search of one’s identity in the face of expectations that society places upon you. Not a surprise that it remains a regular feature on my playlist because of its mellow, wistful melody.

Next up is the OP to Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory which was shown as an example of an opening sequence in which sound effects from the animation are used in conjunction with the music. Alex’s take on it was that the use of sound effects help get the audience involved in the show. This is where my memory gets a little hazy since I don’t recall whether he mentioned that it forges a bond between viewer and the characters or if it was some other factor. If the former, I think this was a weak example since the sound effects came from various spacecraft, which aren’t objects one could find oneself empathizing with unless one is a total mechaphile. Of course, I could have misheard what he said and that the sound effects give the audience an adrenaline rush because of the expectation that the episode will be packed to the brim with action. As for the music, I’m not all too fond of its pronounced beat nor do I think the singer puts forth that emphatic a delivery for me to be totally hooked.

We then make a short detour into the land of parody OP/EDs that deal with subculture references and what better of a choice than Lucky Star’s karaoke ED which uses Dragonball Z’s OP “Cha-La Head-Cha-La.” Given Lucky Star’s aim of being a show targeted towards an audience made up of mostly anime fans, the inclusion of “Cha-La Head-Cha-La” makes for a wonderful tribute that will resonate with most viewers. The only issue with this detour is that there aren’t that many parody OP/EDs that come to mind immediately, so bringing up this topic at all doesn’t yield a whole lot of material that one can cover. Somehow, I get the feeling that someone will comment up a list of shows that use a parody OP/ED, and I’d like to hear of any other titles that meet this criteria for the sole purpose of expanding my body of knowledge in this subject.

Neon Genesis Evangelion’s OP “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” is almost too big to ignore, and so, I wasn’t too surprised to see that one come up. According to Alex, one of the positives that OP/EDs have is that unless the music is absolutely horrid, one will inevitably come around to liking it after hearing it play for 24-26 episodes, and even then, “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” still sticks out in a class of its own, given how 2ch denizens rated it as the best OP/ED song in the most recent vote. Even now, after so many OP/EDs have come and gone, that song still manages to bring upon a wave of nostalgia whenever most anime fans hear it.

That he picked that song was no surprise, but what was interesting about this choice was when he showed us the last episode of Evangelion and you get to that scene where Shinji begins summoning up his strength of character and discards his sense of self-loathing. During that segment, the background music uses a version of “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” that starts off sad, but gradually grows to become more inspirational and confident by speeding the tempo up a bit until it reaches a breakthrough where it lingers before coming to a definite close as the screen shows all of Evangelion’s characters praising him. I’d say the use of the OP’s arrangement helps deliver that strong impact that lelangir refers to in his post about the use of the sadder arrangement of Kannagi’s OP “motto☆Hade ni ne!”

And speaking of Evangelion and by extension, Gainax, we’re treated to a bit of a history lesson in the form of the opening animation to DAICON IV which featured excellent animation work by the soon-to-be studio Gainax. The music channels that futuristic vibe through the electronica and the synthesized voice which befits the image of how people expected the future to turn out. For those not in the know, DAICON is a Japanese sci-fi convention and while what happened during that convention is largely forgotten, the animation sequence still remains memorable as a tribute to nerd culture as the sequence incorporates superheroes, spacecraft like the Yamato, and all sorts of sci-fi/nerd icons.

And since we’re still talking somewhat about OP/EDs that one must include in a presentation on OP/EDs, Haruhi’s “Hare Hare Yukai” was a no-brainer given its ability to permeate throughout the anime community, bringing in many curious onlookers and turning the show into a phenomenon. Even now, I still find its spread to be a marvel and with the second season, the excitement doesn’t seem to be abating (though the Endless Eight arc is wearing thin on quite a few out there). Alex addressed its viral tendencies and illustrated that by showing us a video of the Hare Hare Yukai live performance at Akihabara. One of the more interesting remarks he made was a comparison of how the anime subculture in Japan and the West differ. In the West, the biggest display that one might see is of people doing the dance at anime conventions, but you’ll rarely see it a performance that is out in the public sphere like the one in Akihabara. So while the West hasn’t had an otaku-related display like what we saw in Japan, you could almost say that it’s lying dormant for now, mostly restricted to posts on blogs and anime forums. Once anime becomes more accepted, it’s not hard to imagine such a performance duplicated here once the next anime with Haruhi-like levels of viralness makes its appearance.

Anyhow, this is starting to become just somewhat lengthy, so I’ll cut it off here. I should have the final installment of his talk before the week’s over. The fact that this post required 3 entries should indicate how awesome the talk was and I hope that you’ve been able to get something out of these posts.

As I wrote in my Anime Expo itinerary, one of the events that I had been looking forwards to seeing was Alex Leavitt’s panel covering anime OPs and EDs since I was interested in listening what he had to say about the music and the animation behind that. Alex started things off by giving a bit of background information and how he had already given this talk over at Anime Boston. I didn’t recall a post discussing his talk in great detail from any of the Anime Boston goers, so I think I might as well throw my two cents into the mix. But before I go any further, let me say this: the panel was conducted really well and Alex definitely demonstrated a good amount of knowledge on the subject, especially the history behind the various OP/EDs as well as doing a good comparative analysis on how OP/EDs have evolved over time. The material managed to hit that sweet spot between breadth and depth given the audience makeup, and judging from the crowd reactions, most people were enthusiastic and enjoyed the talk a lot. The only issue was that it was too short (you could seriously make a semester-long lecture series seeing just how much material one can cover). So with that in mind, here were the thoughts that went through my head during that talk:

Alex started things off by talking about the OP to Astro Boy, which I thought matched the core ideas of the show by using a children’s chorus singing in a way that clearly lauds the title character and puts him on a heroic pedestal and showed how well-liked he was by the general populace. The animation itself mostly showed him doing heroic deeds which complemented the message of the music rather well. It definitely showed its age though and Alex talks about that later (and so will I).

Next up was the OP to Space Battleship Yamato, which used a song that brings to mind the image of a long odyssey. The use of a male chorus during this segment gave it a grand atmosphere, conveying a sort of boldness that channels that age-old mantra “where no man has gone before.” I don’t think the OP’s grandiosity is something that Yamato pioneered since people back then did view space as that final frontier to be explored by the brave and the ambitious and even though we’ve advanced pretty far since the 1970s, I could almost swear that modern shows like Tytania take its cue from Yamato, insofar as OPs are concerned.

Rounding out the OPs of older shows is none other than Mazinger Z which was technically the first super robot show to grace the TV screen. As is expected, the OP uses a heroic, glorifying theme and the accompanying animation shows the robot Mazinger Z (I can safely assume that’s the robot shown in the OP) doing what I’ll simplify into “cool stuff” like shooting its arm to do a long range punch, having the head unite with the torso, and so on. After taking us through this OP, Alex then went on to show the American version, which was nothing short of cheesy. The vocals were pretty bad, but what made the piece hilariously awful was that squeal/scream at the very end, which really took the cake. Sadly, this wouldn’t be the only OP that would be used as an example of how things fell apart when brought over to the States. More on that later.

The OP to The Big O left me a bit puzzled though since I wasn’t quite sure what the stated purpose of that particular OP was. I think it had to do with the fact that the OP animation gave us very little idea of what the series is about (I think I saw a robot here and there) and the music itself gives off that generic 1970s spy music except the lyrics served no purpose other than to hit the audience over the head by telling them that they were, indeed, watching The Big O. You know, just in case they thought they were watching a James Bond movie which, from my standpoint, seemed like what the OP animation was trying to emulate.

At this point, Alex begins talking about how OPs have begun to evolve. That is, they were no longer just music overlaid on the animation sequence; a concentrated effort was made to have the two complement each other. The first example he used to highlight that was the OP to Serial Experiments Lain and the whole mysterious vibe you get from the animation captures what the show was all about. As for the music, “Duvet” remains one of my favorite OP/EDs with its melancholy, lamenting feel. The match here between the music and the animation isn’t perfect, and the next example that he uses much better illustrates this.

The three iterations of Cutie Honey serves as his example, and the interesting thing to note about it is the way he uses the same piece in all three iterations even if the effect is a bit different in each one. The original Cutie Honey’s animation had that 1970s feel to it, both in the animation and the music, though the striking thing was the animation, which, for that time period, was pretty risque given all the fanservice elements they threw around. Cutie Honey Flash, which aired in 1997, was toned down a whole lot given its target audience. The music followed suit by delivering a performance that doesn’t have quite the energy of the original song (I guess the difference in the performers had something to do with that). Finally, with the Re: Cutie Honey OVA, we saw a return to the fanservice elements, appropriately aged to fit the mores of the twenty first century and though the music for this one had a more pop-ish flavor to it, you could still feel the old version of the song just lurking beneath the surface. Unlike most of the earlier samples he showed us, Cutie Honey’s animation and music meshed together really well and that one step effectively brings us closer to the OP/EDs of today.

This would be about the halfway point of his talk. Obviously, there’s more coming, but I figure that people might want to search these OPs out and digest them so to speak. There’s a lot of history to go through and I’d highly encourage exploring the examples that Alex used to get a feel for how things have changed since the 1970s. Anyhow, you can expect Part 2 sometime tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!

Part 2 is up!