Anime Playlist – Recovery of an MMO Junkie

Haven’t posted anything about my anime playlist in a bit, so I guess it’s time to update with my latest additions and thoughts.

Recent Additions:

Recovery of an MMO Junkie
Net-juu no Susume / “Recommendation of the Wonderful Virtual Life”
Saturday Night Question – Megumi Nakajima

Rewatched MMO Junkie a couple of months back – and realized that I watched and listened to the OP every time.  Maybe I didn’t fall in love the first time around, but I certainly did this time.

Runner-ups:

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
(Eizōken ni wa Te o Dasu na!)
Chelmico – Easy Breezy

I watched the OP every single week, and loved it. But when I listened to the complete song, I didn’t like it so much. Still, wanted to share it because it’s a fun tune.  And an anime very much worth watching if you haven’t.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
Otome Gēmu no Hametsu Furagu Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shite Shimatta
angela – There’s More Than Just One Route For a Maiden!

Another song that fell into the “great OP, didn’t like the full song” category…  I think I liked the OP because of how neatly the music and animation were integrated.  You don’t often see it so very well done.

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Visit the Anime Playlist Index  (an ongoing work-in-progress) to see the entire series and my whole playlist.
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What OP’s have you enjoyed recently?  Bought any new anime music?  Drop a comment and let’s chat.

8 thoughts on “Anime Playlist – Recovery of an MMO Junkie”

  1. I’m a bit interested in music, in my typical jack-of-all-trades manner; not really an expert, but hobby enough that I can say a thing or two about it. And what you said about the Villainess OP interested me. I usually don’t check out the fulls of openings, and at the point of writing this, I haven’t yet listened to the full.

    You’re right that the music and video go well together, but even if you don’t have video, the song (OP version) has a clear dramatic structure, with lots of mood changes and little quirks in a very short amount of time, then an obivous climax and resolution. The song is complete. If you were to hire me to make a “full” out of the song, I’d be stumped. I wouldn’t know what to do. You’d have to either insert stuff, or play the finish of the OP-tune as a false ending. And then you’d have the problem that you’d either continue the strucural madness and overwhelm people, or settle down into a groove (say on the main theme), and risk the contrast making the actual tune sound dull. So keeping that particular, already complete-sounding tune interesting is a tall order, and if the only reason you do this is a book-keeper’s idea of “single-time”, then there’s a good chance you’ll fail.

    Compare this to another opening I quite liked this season: Shin Sakura Taisen. Here we have a typical intro-verse-bridge-chorus structure and the very ending of the song very easily lends itself to functioning as a lead in to verse 2. Basically, if you want more, you buy the single. The repetition leads into a typical song (a chorus that isn’t repeated isn’t a chorus…). The full version was actually the first youtube result, and it runs for about 2 1/2 minutes, which suggests a single repetition, which sounds about perfect for a fast paced song like this.

    As it happens, there’s another interesting example this season. In season 1 of Jasshin-chan Dropkick, Yurine, our sadist summoner is sick, and Jasshin, usually trying to kill her, takes care of her. She then suddenly bursts into an enka tune, which wakes up Yurine and interrupts the song. I’m not sure I remember this correctly, but apparently the song was popular enough that the producers said that in case of a successful kickstarter they’ll make a 10 minute version. Well… true or not, Season 2 ends with this 10 minute version, laid over a clip of best-of season 2, then mixes in some best of season 1, and then mixed in scenes I didn’t recognise. (It’s perfectly in keeping with the show, that I couldn’t tell whether I’d just forgotten scenes, whether they’re unused clips, unseen specials, eastereggs for manga readers, or a sly hint at season 3.) Jinbocho Elegy. So, this is a 10 minute epic that keeps repeating the same tune again and again. So where’s the variation? Instrumentation and vocals, an acoustic guitar solo, an electric guitar solo. But the vocals are the star here. It’s sung completely straight as a sappy enka tune, but it’s also sung in character with ironic distance, which gets more and more obvious as the song progresses. There’s the part, after the acoustic guitar solo, where Jasshin shifts into a higher vocal register, more cutesy, and it sounds like a parody of the song so far, but settles into the new normal eventually. Suzuki Aina’s vocal control on this song is off the chart, the way she weaves in and out of comedy, here.

    And just to finish off this post: I also really liked this season’s ending of Woodpecker’s Detective Office. I wish the show had been as good. (And, once again, this lends itself fairly well to a full, I think, but I haven’t heard it.

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    1. You’re right that the music and video go well together, but even if you don’t have video, the song (OP version) has a clear dramatic structure

      It does… but to me, it falls apart without the animation to accompany it. I suspect that’s 100% because I don’t speak Japanese and can’t hear what they lyrics are actually saying and understand the story they’re telling. Without that, the constant shifts in voice just grate.

      And just to finish off this post: I also really liked this season’s ending of Woodpecker’s Detective Office.

      I usually only listen to the ED once or twice, so it has to hit me pretty hard to keep watching it. I think there’s only one or two ED’s on my playlist.

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      1. Ah, I didn’t consider the lack of lyrics. Makes perfect sense. Personally, it doesn’t bother me. I like, for example, this 8bit cover.

        Endings would probably make up form a quarter to about half of my credits-theme list, but I don’t have a playlist at all.

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  2. I really liked all three of those!

    An OP that slowly grew on me was Tower of God’s. I didn’t like it at first, but by the end of the season, I really liked how the music and images flowed.

    I just bought the Zombieland Saga soundtrack. I was surprised it took them so long to release it! Absolutely loved it.

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    1. Sounds like your experience with Tower of God was like mine with Otome Game… I too draw a line between “the OP” (soundtrack + animation) and “the OP tune” (soundtrack).

      I don’t think I’ve ever been tempted to buy a full soundtrack. I did back in the physical media days (all the way back to vinyl), and put up with having to listen to the songs I didn’t like to get to the ones I did. (Otherwise, you had to put in significant effort to skip around.) Nowadays, I just buy the one or two tunes that I like.

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    1. Interesting list! I love the AoT S1 & S2 openings too. I don’t know that I’d call them rock, but they do ‘rock’. (Sorry bad pun.)

      Thanks for stopping by!

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