Best Anime 2008: Music
December 14, 2008
The year 2008 is almost over – it is time to pause and reflect. I would like to mention some of the anime that I enjoyed the most this year, but keep in mind that this list is highly subjective 
The focus of this first post in the series is music. I will cover 14 categories 
When it comes to music in anime 2008, you have Macross Frontier, and then you have everything else, but let’s looks at each category. I’ll list my favorites with links to videos and will embed those that I liked the most.
Best OP Song
Soul Eater – “Resonance” by T.M.Revolution
To Love Ru – “Forever We Can Make It!” by THYME
Xam’d: Lost Memories – “Shut Up and Explode” by Boom Boom Satellites
Macross Frontier – “Lion” by May’n and Megumi Nakajima
Rosario to Vampire 2 – “DISCOTHEQUE” by Nana Mizuki
“Resonance” and “Forever We Can Make It!” are nice upbeat songs. “Shut Up and Explode” is very dangerous because it can stuck in your head 
“Lion” is one of my favorite songs from Macross Frontier. I really liked “Discotheque”, but the opening song that fit content of the series best was from Tytania in my opinion.
Tytania – “Ano Sora wo, Ike” by Ken Nishikiori
Best OP Art
Antique Bakery
Yozakura Quartet
Clannad ~ After Story
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Antique Bakery featured an interesting opening with rotating camera over realistic looking settings filled with cut-out characters. I liked use of color in Yozakura Quartet opening, and Clannad just looks all shiny I really liked Zetsubou Sensei opening for the creative presentation, but Ef looks the best with wonderful animation set in mostly black and white colors with numerous transformations and sketches.
Ef: A Tale of Melodies
Most Bizarre OP
The creators must have been high making this…
Kemeko Deluxe!
Cutest OP
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Best OP
Kannagi – “Motto☆Hade ni ne! (motto☆派手にね！)” by Haruka Tomatsu
Wagaya no Oinari-sama – “KI-ZU-NA ~Haruka Naru Mono e 「KI-ZU-NA 〜遥かなる者へ」” by Hitomi Sora
Skip Beat! – “Dream Star” by the Generous
Toradora – “Pre-Parade (プレパレード)” by Rie Kugimiya, Eri Kitamura, and Yui Horie
Kannagi opening speaks for itself Presence of a fox definitely improves the overall quality of Wagaya no Oinari-sama opening and character spam was nice, but I liked the last part the most with the foxy running Skip Beat has an interesting sequence: Kyoko chases her dreams as she tries to catch a blue bird Toradora has a nice song with shots of the characters that present their personality well. While I can’t say that the song is great, Kaiba opening depicted one of main themes in this anime very well. As people change their bodies, their essences remains the same and they hold hands
Kaiba – “Never” by Seira
Best ED Song
I have not seen many endings that impressed me. I like the retro style Sunred song, but Maaya Sakamoto is much better
Kurogane no Linebarrels – “Ame ga Furu” by Maaya Sakamoto
Best ED Art
Again, not many endings impressed me, but Tytania ending featured a variety of beautiful scenery and creative character presentation
Tytania
Most Bizarre ED
Kitties…
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki
Cutest ED
You can’t resist a dancing chibi kitsune
Wagaya no Oinari-sama
Best ED
Xam’d ending featured shots with interesting perspective and some nice flying scenes, but I didn’t like the song.
Xam’d: Lost Memories
My favorite ending was “Romance Romanesque” because I love the song, and the scenes conveyed a sense of loneliness and melancholy quite well, fitting to the series. Also it contained one surprising moment lol
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei – “Romance Romanesque” Asuka Tanii, Asami Sanada, Miyuki Sawashiro, Yuko Goto and Miyu Matsuki
I would like to mention a wonderful sequence that is not a stand alone ending, but rather an end of an episode.
Macross Frontier – Episode 10: Aimo ~ Tori no Hito (アイモ～鳥のひと, Aimo ~Bird Human) Music: Yoko Kanno, Singer: Megumi Nakajima
Best Background Melody
While this composition might not sound that impressive as a stand alone piece, it was used very effectively in Kaiba to communicate the atmosphere.
Kaiba – “Memories” by Kiyoshi Yoshida
Best Song of the Year 2008
My favorite song in anime this years is Diamond Crevasse not only because the changes in intensity along with well-timed pauses in May’n's passionate performance are great, but because the anime associated many emotions with this song as well…
“Diamond Crevasse (ダイアモンド クレバス)” by Sheryl Nome starring May’n
Best Performance
Sheryl Nome (May’n) “Don’t Be Late” and “Northern Cross” in Episodes 24 and 25
“There are no more nagging thoughts. All that’s left is to go out in a blaze of glory. Now there is only music and me. Listen to my song!”
“Northern Cross” from Episode 25
Best Music
Xam’d: Lost Memories – Michiru Oshima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Gokusen, Magic User’s Club)
Kaiba - Kiyoshi Yoshida (Kurozuka, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)
Kuroshitsuji - Taku Iwasaki (Gurren Lagann, Now and Then, Here and There, ROD TV, Ruroni Kenshin OVA, Soul Eater)
Macross Frontier – Yoko Kanno (Macross, Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Wolf Rain)
I enjoyed music in Xam’d, but music in Kaiba was especially appropriate for that anime. It is hard to beat Yoko Kanno, but Taku Iwasaki came very close. You can find a wide veriety of plasant music in Kuroshitsuji: Gregorian chants, opera, waltz, jazz, and others. I loved Yoko Kanno‘s music in Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus and now she produced another great collection for Macross Frontier. Aimo was especially memorable, but not as good as Voices though. I like this version of Aimo the most because Maaya Sakamoto sings the beginning of the song
Related Posts:
Best Anime 2008: Seiyū
Best Anime 2008: Characters
Best Anime 2008: Shows
Choices of Other Bloggers for Top Anime 2008:
- The Null Set: Part 1, Part 2
- Metanorn: Best OP, Best ED, Anime Guys,
Anime Girls Part 1, Anime Girls Part 2 - Yoroshiku Anime Blog: Best OP/ED, Characters
- Undercover: Best OP/ED Themes
- THAT Anime Blog: Memorable Individual Episodes of 2008, Reverse Vampire’s Top 10 Anime Shows
- Ogiue Maniax: Best Characters
Curse Toradora and that OP, it so insidious the way you catch yourself singing to it.
YAY for T.M Revolution, he has a number of songs for animes that I love.
I totally adored abingdon boys schools Howling for Darker Than Black
[***Macross Frontier SPOILERS***]
Macross Frontier was a total win for music. Diamond Crevasse makes me think of my beloved Michel-kun… SOB.
The tribute to him on the 2nd album is just beautiful :sniff:
Oh Michel-kun you were taken too soon (all out bawls)
Nice list ^_^. Macross Frontier, hands down, gets my vote for the best OP and ED this year. Add along the best overall soundtrack ^_^.
Other favorites of mine includes OP for Kannagi, Spice and Wolf, Xam’d Lost Memories, Kaiba and CLANNAD After Story
. For my other favorite EDs, I’ll go for ToraDora, Kuroshitsuji and Vampire Knight ^_^.
Sakura,
Toradora OP was quite nice
I have not seen Darker Than Black, but I found the intro on youtube and it sounded fun and similar to Soul Eater opening.
***Macross Frontier Spoilers***
Yes, it is very sad… This is one of my favorite tracks of the Macross Frontier OSTs.
- – -
Kanzeon,
Oh, what is your favorite Macross OP and ED? There were so many…
Well, it looks like we liked similar anime openings
WOW, Props for Kaiba! I’m glad someone else thinks Kaiba has some of the sexiest anime music in a LONG time.
Also i’m glad i’m not the only one who thought the To-love-ru opening was catchy as hell. I felt alone for a second there.
Yes, Kaiba has some great music, and To Love Ru opening was catchy
You are not alone 
@Kitsune: I love Lion for the OP and Aimo, Diamond Crevasse, Neko Nikki, Northern Cross and Ai Oboete Imasu ka for the ED ^_^ Well, I basically like all of them ^_^
Indeed, all of them are quite good
You should add a ‘Worst OP/ED of 08′
HAHA OH WOW.
I prefer to focus on the positive aspects of anime
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@ Kitsune, Shadow of Michael was the track I was trying to think of, its just beautiful.
Innocent Green was quite a pretty tune too.
Yes, that was the track, and Innocent Green was good too
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Nice list! I got to listen to other themes that slipped me.ZSZS GoGo OP is adorable. I loved Nozomu’s mask from Darker than Black! ^_^
A few from my list: Toshokan Sensou’s ED is my favorite this year. Toradora’s OP and ED are pretty catchy, though I prefer the ED. THYME rocks. I love Tokyo et Paris. Yozakura Quartet has really good BGM and insert songs.
Yes, GoGo OP was very cute
Oh, so that mask comes from Darker than Black! Thanks for mentioning it
You have a nice list of songs
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Kaiba’s memories is good. But I personally would go for Tree Song. Absolutely beautiful.
Yes, Tree Song is good, but it is a song
In that category I wanted to highlight the melody.
Tree song has three versions. Which one do you prefer?
Ha, totally forgot about this post. Silly me. Anyway, I prefer the original version. I think the woman’s voice is absolutely gorgeous and captures that ‘lonely tree’ spirit better than other versions.
Yes, I prefer the original version as well.
Hey, I want that Zetsubou Sensei piture thing. Is it available on wallpaper size? 1024×768 or 1280×800?
You can find some high-resolution art here
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