Best Anime Song Contest
 

Hey fans,

As you might know, there's currently a "Best VGM Song contest" being hold. So what do you think, should there be an Animespot equivalent once the VGM song contest is finished? Of course, there wouldn't be as many tracks as in the VGM contest, maybe 64 or 128 at the most. The main problem I see is that there are not too many good Anime tracks, but that shouldn't stop us. Or are you tired of song contests?

Just wanted to collect some opinions :)

I'm up for this. Theres still plenty of great tracks around, as long as you include any tracks from anime, vocal or not.

Does someone of you remember if there has been a contest like this one before the crash? I think there has been some Best OP/ED song contest last year, but I am not sure. If someone could share any info about that, that would be helpful.

I'd mentioned this to an admin once and he said he was always in the process of starting it but never got around to it. That said, I think it's a wonderful idea.

A Best OP/ED contest was started, some time ago. But as far as I can remember it never got any further than the nomination round.

There should be enough support to atleast pull of a smaller contest (64 or 128 sounds good), even though anime music tends to be less memorable than game music.

Skate was in the middle of organizing one before his computer troubles started.

And nonsense, there are plenty of memorable anime tracks =p 128 candidates sounds good to me.

Yeah definitely nonsense, I was kinda thinking 128 is too little if you want to give all of them a fair chance. There's the currently popular series, but then everyone has at least 5 of their personal favorites they'd like to get in. But the more songs get accepted, the more difficult it is for the arranger :(

Anyway, I'm all for this, ret's do diis!

Hmm I just thought it wouldn't be too great to have such a large contest again; people could lose interest. So maybe we should limit it to OP/ED tracks only?!

Sounds good to me, but even then everyone can still whip up a huge amount of nominations.

It seems like you might want to think about 2 contests -- one for Op/Eds, and one for BGM.

Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea.

So what would you guys like to see first? OP/ED or BGM? I prefer OP/ED, but there's still time for some discussion.

No, dude, if you make a contest, then make it for all anime music. 80% of anime openings and endings are boring j-pop, so it wouldn't be very exciting for me. I think 128 spots should be enough for both OPs/EDs and other music.

OPs/EDs are probably more accessible to most of the people here since those are a lot easier to recall than something like "First Love Final Love" from Sousei no Aquarion OST #2. Furthermore, the last time a thread popped up for "Guess the Anime from the Music," the vast majority of pieces posted for guessing were OPs/EDs.

Based on accessibility alone, I'd vote in favor of restricting it to just OPs/EDs. There are plenty of good OPs/EDs to fill out all 128 slots.

If the field does open up to other tracks however, be prepared for a massive onslaught of Kanno, Iwasaki, and Hisaishi nominations from me. :p

I can't say that I'm a big fan of anime or J-Pop, but I'd definitely check a contest like this out (and increase my exposure to the art form) if instrumental BGM from both televised shows and films were allowed.

There'll be a lot of J-Pop no matter what, of course--but allowing--or even encouraging--instrumental tracks might increase the appeal and bring new folks into the Animespot.

Naturally, only music made specifically for the series/film in question should be allowed. Just like in the game music contest.

This sounds like a great idea. One question though, what would insert vocal songs (Vocal songs not used as an OP/ED during a series) count as?

I think this is a good idea, and although I can't participate (my nomination for another best song contest was disqualified because I didn't have enough posts so I am assuming the same rules hold true here) I'd still like to see this happen.

I would like to see OP/ED/Image songs myself...This contest would be good because I listen to a lot of the more "classic" OP/ED/Image songs (since larger series' breed more songs), but I'm woefully behind anything past 2002, outside of the Galaxy Angel series. Good excuse to get caught up. And I wouldn't mind BGM being worked as well.

GO FOR 256! Or 128 + prelims.

I agree, although the most memorable tracks are usually OP/ED themes because you are exposed to them every single episode.

Honestly, I would be all for it, if we decided not to make it exclusively consist of OP/ED themes. Personally, I find the OP/ED themes to be the weak point of a majority of anime soundtracks (mainly because they all sound so similar) while the remainder of the tracks can be really creative. So I would not participate based on the fact that we would get 128 nominations that all sounded pretty much the same (jrock/pop with upbeat female vocals.)

Sweet! ;D I prodded at this idea a few months ago and let it gather dust as the Best VGM Song contest came up.

OP/ED's sound dandy to me. I could go scrounge up some lovely candidates... ;D 128, 256, it don't matter~ The folks here have fantastic taste in JPOP & such, so I'll be impressed I'm sure!

Well, you could make a 128 with OP/ED's, 128 with BGM, and have the final results run off against eachother.

Actually, that's what I'm afraid of: the people of Animespot like J-pop entirely too much. There are some great anime songs, OPs and EDs included, however, based on the Animespot soundtrack last year, I got the feeling that people mostly just enjoy the bubblegum music, not the more interesting and original tracks. Maybe something has changed now; I hope so.

Hmm. We'll see D; I've got a hefty number of OP/EDs I could nominate that all sound incredibly different. But we'll see I suppose. If folks are so picky, the OP/ED bracket could be narrowed down to 64 instead, but that'd make nominations a bit of a mess due to the few slots. But that's assuming this'd rival the Best Song Contest for VGM on popularity.

Well, I don't see anything wrong with having just OP/EDs (or insert songs/image songs, etc) since, well, they tend to be the most identifiable themes of a series. Try to think of the music of any series and a vocal song of some sort probably comes to mind quickly.

On the other hand, there are (as mentioned) some great instrumental tracks which have just as big an impact on the viewer as the vocal songs. It'd be a shame not to include them.

My only concern is that it's going to be hard making one single nomination list for both vocal songs and instrumental tracks. :(

This is a pretty good idea, I'm up for it.

If instrumental songs can be chosen as well, it's even better. There will be quite a lot of nominees. =D

Do we only nominate VGM title tracks in the BSC because they are more memorable to people? In fact, we tend to nominate tracks from really obscure albums that most people aren't even familiar with so a melody being identifiable to the listener isn’t an issue there. I was under the impression that these types of contests were about comparing the musical merit of each track, and being introduced to new music; not the popularity of the series they were written for. I know I wouldn’t like to participate in a contest where I will only hear tracks from series I am already familiar with, it just wouldn’t be interesting.

So basically, I don't see why we should be enforcing a double standard when it comes to Anime soundtracks.

I wouldn't mind a best song contest on just OP/ENs from anime, but I think Secret Squirrel's idea will work too. I just hope there is enough interest to start a BGM version of the contest.

Anyway, expect alot of J-Rock from me =D.

You're taking me the wrong way. I'm not saying we should nominate only OP/ED tracks because they're easily identifiable -- rather, because they are easily identifiable, it's easy to nominate them. Isn't greater accessibility a good thing?

Furthermore, I never mentioned anything about a series' popularity so I am unsure where you pulled that out from.

So the whole point of going OP/ED only is to nominate tracks most people will know/identify with? That kind of defeats the purpose of creating an interesting, varied contest and emphasizes series popularity over quality. As casual participants will recognize and nominate only what they are most familiar with, it will consist mainly of Bebop, Fullmetal, Eureka 7, etc.

But of course I could just be the only one who doesn't go with the grain.

I'm thinking we should go with SS' idea and split it into 2 categories -- one for vocals (OP/ED/insert/image/etc), and one for BGM. They're too different to be judged side by side.

The downside of this is that the BGM contest will be inundated with Yoko Kanno and Yuki Kajiura nominations =p

Double Post:
That is not the whole point. But it is pretty inevitable, considering the calibre of Animespot. Not to mention that GFF's collective library of anime music is nowhere as expansive and varied as its VGM stash. Have you heard of Tsuneyoshi Saito? Mina Kubota? Kei Wakakusa?

As with any other contest, the more popular and familiar tracks will always win out. The most you can do is to throw in some of the more obscure compositions to give them exposure.

Look, I'm not really sure how you keep inferring from my statements that "IF IT'S POPULAR IT MUST BE GOOD," but I will say this: identifiability and being able to place the particular piece to a scene definitely accounts for something. Some songs only have as great an impact on you because you are able to recall the scene in which it was used, and thus you remember the various emotions you felt then as well.

Also, don't flatter yourself about not going "with the grain." There are a great many diverse arrangement of tastes here -- I doubt you'd find a single regular poster whose playlist consists solely of tracks from just the big-name series.

Insofar as "going against the grain" goes, I remember similar concerns being brought up when Skate held the contest, namely, that Tank! and Cruel Angel's Thesis will be the top seeds in the first round brackets. Instead, popular sentiment went towards Sore Ga Ai Deshou (FMP Fumoffu) as the top song.

I wouldn't worry too much about only the popular series getting the nominations. I'm sure there will be a great deal of diversity if the last attempt at the contest is of any indication.

Which is a great song by the way.

I'm not too worried about the diversity aspect of it. I'm sure there are plenty of people who realize it might be a "top anime" centered deal and purposefully nominate more obscure songs.

Yeah, I definitely remember there was a diverse selection last time. I only really recognized maybe 20 or so of the songs and there weren't too many series dupes. I think seeing a lot of songs from the same series is much more unlikely than it would be for the VGM contest...Unless someone decided to go nuts with various Inuyasha/Naruto/Conan songs.

I see where both Excrono/Sakabadger are coming from. On one hand, diversity is good and tracks definitely need to stand alone to be considered good. On the other hand...A lot of OP/ED songs do lose something for me without the proper opening/closing sequence (much moreso than game music, since the music is timed with the animation). Obviously, more people have seen the more popular ones.

Maybe a solution would be to link to the actual OP/ED as a video (in addition to the main track). Through Youtube or something? Maybe do the same for BGM tracks (just show a scene where it plays). Just a thought.

Hell yes! I already know what my nom would be...

I think it's a good idea, and I agree with Saka about identifiable OP/ED. There are too much BGM that can be glossed over in series, and I'm afraid of the Yoko Kanno flood (although I wouldn't mind listening to her works). Although the OP/ED consists of Jpop, at the same time most people who watch these series have heard it 26 times through (unless they skip it) or have downloaded it. However a drawback to an OP/ED only contest is that there are unoriginal tracks like Franz Ferdinand's Do You Want To? (Paradise Kiss ED). Although the band is greatness themselves, we can't nominate songs like that, in my opinion.

One of the things I'm afraid of myself is nominating not so new series, simply because I'm not up to date with anime as I used to. :(

I still think that there shouldn't be any restrictions to OP/ED. In addition to pretty much eliminating any chance of finding some good instrumental music (which would be of prime interest to me), there are some other factors to consider.

Take a look at the BSC. There's a lot of relatively unkown stuff circulating there, often side-by side with more popular material. People are re-exposed to songs they're familiar with, yes, but also to new and obscure tunes.

Restricting entrants to "recognizable" OP/ED would be like decreeing that only Squeenix music is eligible in the BSC. There's plenty of Squeenix anyway, despite no such rule (some of it very good), just as there'd be plenty of OP/ED in an anime contest, but to impose that limit seems like a bad idea.

Look, maybe I need to explain myself further. I am not saying we should or should not restrict a contest to OP/EDs or whatnot, or that only popular music should get in. Anyone who knows me realizes that the stuff I listen to is reasonably diverse in terms of popularity or obscurity.

What I am saying is chill out. People seem to be getting offended at the idea of a popular song making it, which I have no problem with. It's usually popular for a reason, right? All you have to do is nominate that which you like, and all will be fine.

Here's another nod in approval of separate OP/ED and instrumental track contests.

Well even if we allowed both OP/ED and BGM music, I am pretty sure 80-90% of the nominated tracks would be OP/ED tracks anyway. Or at least that's what I think it will result in. When I'm looking in my ANIME folder which contains about 150 MP3s, I can only see a couple of BGM tracks.

I am still prefering SS's idea of splitting the contest, but I heard some pretty valuable arguments against that idea as well.

However, I don't think that another contest with 256 entries would be a good idea. That would just be too enormeous; I don't have anything against large contests, but I don't want people to lose interest in it, which will probably happen if we take the contest over two months.

I like the idea, but I don't think we should split it into two contests. Making seperate contests for OP/ED and BGM is kind of like making two seperate contests for Main Themes and BGM in the Best Video-Game Song contest. Any song from an anime series should be fair game. If 80% of the nominations are OP/ED, then that's fine, it speaks for the community. The contest will reflect the ratio of OP/ED to BGM tracks according to their popularity anyway. Also, I think there are enough of us who are familiar with composers other than Yoko Kanno to include some lesser-known stuff.

You know Mush, maybe one contest with 64 songs that are OP/ED/insert/etc and the other 64 with BGM would be ideal, or regulate the number at your taste; that way there's only one contest with two categories. I think that would be a good choice, and would definitely save you some trouble.

If that's not possible, count with my approval for separate contests.

Hopefully my suggestion helped. O=

Yeah...YUki Kajiura and Yoko Kanno would indeed flood the contest. Then we'd need to pupm that all out, and it's messy @_@

Anyone want to say Toshihiko Sahashi?

I'm sorry but I have my nominations ready if this ever comes. Some of them will be a nice shocker =)

Nah not really, I mean, who would have thought that the Best Videogame Song Contest wouldn't be dominated by Uematsu, Hamauzu and Shimomura tracks? And, I mean, even if it's going to be the way you describe it, where's the big deal, see, if Yoko Kanno is considered the best anime music composed, then it's nothing but okay that her tracks are going to dominate the contest. Well, at least I do not really have a problem with that.

Well I think we should start nominations when the best videogame song contest is about to finish not to confuse people with too many contests ;) We still have to figure out who's gonna organize this contest, though =/

It's more a question of people not knowing of a lot of music beyond the basics than a question of whether Kanno's music is considered the best there is. This is the way it is though and it's to be expected that there will be more music by Kanno or Kajiura than by, for example Yuji Ohno, in the contest.

Ah well now that's not true. Everyone who's going to participate in this contest should know at least a few tracks beside the "basics". Maybe I am being too optimistic right here, but we'll see.

If I'm wrong, well, then I'm sorry you guys need to tell me what we can do about that. I mean, setting a limit of tracks by the same composer seems pretty much retarded to me.

I'm actually surprised Joe Hisaishi's name hasn't been mentioned as a potential dominator here.

I'll be curious to see how a typical Kanno/Kajiura track does against a typical JPOP OP/ED.

Fine: heres a list of decent anime composers:

Taku Iwasaki, Mark Mancina (one), Kotaro Nakagawa, Kou Otani (I know he spells it Kow, but that looks funny), Kohei Tanaka, ALI PROJECT (who is just weird sometimes), Tsuneyoshi Saito, Nagaoka Seikou, Naoki Sato

With already mentioned: Yuki Kajiura, Yoko Kanno, Joe Hisaishi, Toshiro Matsuda

And don't get me wrong, but I'm SURE you've never heard of some of those

Tons of vocalists who are good... and I mean tons (who did anime jpop):

angela, Sae, eufonius, kotoko, Porno Graffiti, Koda Kumi, Miyuki Hashimoto, yozuca, Mikuni Shimokawa, Asami Abe, Akino Arai, Mikio Sakai, Chihiro Yonekura, FLOW, Tatsuo Suzuki, Asami Izawa, Rie Tanaka, COACH, Yoko Ishida, Aya Hirano, Do as Infinity, Chihiro Onitsuka, Nami Tamaki, tiaraway, Eri Kawai, KEY, FictionJunction YUUKA (and the other small groups w/ Kajiura), See-Saw, AKINO, Kinya Kotani, Hitomi Takahashi, UVERworld, Mami Kawada, Romi Paku, Hoshi Souichiro, Asian Kung Fu Generation, Orange Range, TM Revolution, Every Little Thing, Younha, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, Michihiro Kuroda, savage genius...

Those are just quickly off my head...

By the way, I'm still looking for a quality anime music hub (VBR or CBR320). I find that WAY too often anime music is either ripped in 192kbps and 128kbps, and I like to keep my archive collection as high quality as possible. Anyone have some suggestions?

Agreed. I mean, going through this thread, most of the posts has either been "I know all these other composers" or "I'm worried that there's going to be a skew in the amount of music by Kajiura and Kanno". Thus, I think it's safe to say that the people that are going to nominate already knows "a few tracks besides the basics", as Mush puts it. I mean, if you didn't care about this contest, you wouldn't be posting in this thread to bounce ideas around, right?

What is "weird" about their music?

I think we've pretty much established that getting an ample amount of vocal tracks isn't going to be a problem, so you don't need to worry about that.

I think i've already named a huge list of perfect composers but anyway:


I always thought of Ali Project to be a little bit unique and different. I wasn't really a fan of Coppelia's Coffin but after that crap, they did a great job.

.hack//Roots (TV) : Music, Theme Song Performance (ED)
Avenger (TV) : Music, Theme Song Performance
Clamp School (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP)
Maria-sama ga Miteru ~Haru~ (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP)
Noir (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP)
Rozen Maiden (TV) : Theme Song Vocals (OP)
Rozen Maiden: Träumend (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP)
St. Luminous Mission High School (TV) : Theme Song Performance (ED)
Wish (special) : Theme Song Performance

They aren't that bad in the end. I usually see them and Kaijira working together. Its a good mix anyway.

If quality is your primary concern, shouldn't you be getting lossless? ;(

Nope, because lossless and VBR are pretty much undistinguishable. the difference is 128kbps enters territory when your ears can easily hear the compression on songs that have a ton of instruments.

Of course!!! Anime music is even wealthier and more interesting than VGM. Although... I think Yoko Kanno would dominate the entire contest... but there are others like Seisouhen or Gundam.

Basic thing is I just want to get to know the best anime music there is and a contest is the means to get it. Just like a world war is a good thing for getting new technology.

And another thing. I don't know much about anime music and maybe there are others who are similar to me. So you could see it as a recommendation contest for people like me.

Also, in my opinion people don't have to know the basics of anime music, they just have to nominate what they know. The idea of instrumental anime music together with sung music is better than only sung music because it's more flexible and will have a bigger spectrum in getting to know good music. Don't confine yourself in vocal music... this means also: don't confine yourself to the Op/End themes.

If the Op/End themes are really, really good, they will automatically appear in the contest, you don't need to make an Op/End contest. The basic thing is: all anime music should be accounted for, whether it's memorable or not, beautiful music is the most important factor.