A little late to the party, as the is already completed, and the second one is about ready to finish. But I'll still keep pushing on.
BNR1P1
Rainbow - (ARIA the Animation ED)
A nice poppy number that's just different enough with the focus on guitar play from ROUND TABLE feat. NINO. It also helps that compared to other songs from the ARIA series, it's pretty upbeat. Is it strong enough to beat off other songs when compared to its competition? Iffy after the first round.
Butter-fly (Digimon Adventure OP)
An okay rock song. But it's also a dated rock song (feel those synths!), and nothing special to write home about, sadly.
WHICH DID I WANT TO WIN: Rainbow
WHICH DID I THINK WOULD WIN: Rainbow
WHY? Recency bias and familiarity. As someone who's actually seen some of the Digimon franchise (Tamers is still the best one for me, thank you very much), I actually hadn't heard the original openings and endings until now. And they haven't necessarily given me a reason to continue to do so.
BNR1P2
Making of a Cyborg (Ghost in the Shell OP)
This is another one of those "legendary" songs that many anime fans born in a certain time know of, given how influential the movie was in getting people to check out anime. Kenji Kawai uses the ancient language of Yamato in a chant-like form with a choir that provides a subtle, yet powerful climax when the group of singers get to the "chorus" of the song before tapering off intoa slow hand drum percussion solo to finish off the song. It's definitely something different compared to the usual.
Satsugai (Detroit Metal City OP)
This song is pretty good metal by itself, but taken up to eleven when associated with the opening animation sequence. It's hard not to join in with Krauser II's rousing lead into the triumphant dark chorus. But it is a bit repetitive, even though that's not necessary a problem here.
WHICH DID I WANT TO WIN: Making of a Cyborg
WHICH DID I THINK WOULD WIN: Making of a Cyborg
WHY? Nostalgia bias and song style. "Satsugai" can be a little grating on the ears if one is not a fan of metal (though there are much worse stuff out there), and it's hard for any song to beat out the feels associated with the powerful opening to the GitS movie.
BNR1P3
Dango Daikazoku (CLANNAD ED)
REMIX!
Such a simple and cute song at first glance (especially with the adorable dango-filled opening) that builds up to a nice climax as more and more instruments are added. If you watch the show, the song takes much more of an important and emotional role in the show.That being said, it's hard to separate the song from the awesome mash-up with Busta Rhymes that I linked above (this has had various modifications, but the 2010 version is my favorite one).
Mask (Bakuretsu Hunters ED)
It's so 90s. That's really about it for me. :v
WHICH DID I WANT TO WIN: Dango Daikazoku
WHICH DID I THINK WOULD WIN: Dango Daikazoku
WHY? Familiarity and song style.
BNR1P4
Maigo Inu to Ame no Beat (The Tatami Galaxy OP)
A brass-tinged soft rock song that doesn't need to do much more than go through the motions, as it's hard not to move your body to the swinging beat throughout. I just wish Masafumi Gotou's voice had more "oomph" to it though.
Innocence (Sword Art Online OP 2)
Spoilers ahoy here:
A string-filled pop song that tries to do as much as it can to highlight a sense of urgency throughout the song. Of course, it ends up being too much that it affects the flow of the song, takes away from Aoi Eir's vocals, and ends up sounding more generic than it has a right to be on set up.
WHICH DID I WANT TO WIN: Maigo Inu to Ame no Beat
WHICH DID I THINK WOULD WIN: Innocence
WHY? Popularity. But then I really should remember that what's popular to anime fans in general might not be in regards to this tournament, which to me is a good thing in this case.
BNR1P5
Vidro Moyou (Ano Natsu de Matteru ED)
There are better Nagi Yanagi songs out there, as this song doesn't show off her vocal talents to well. And to be honest, the song just doesn't do anything to me, as it sounds like everything else out there.
Futari Shizuka (Otome Youkai Zakuro ED 2)
Not often we get to see a duet here, and it's a good one. Of the three endings with the three main groupings of the show, this one was my favorite as the competing melodies of Kana Hanazawa and Satoshi Hino make for a very interesting song with the slow tango-style song present here.
WHICH DO I WANT TO WIN: Futari Shizuka
WHICH DO I THINK WILL WIN: Futari Shizuka
WHY? Song style, as this song does something "different" from the cookie-cutter pop style that suffuses "Vidro Moyou". Though, given that I think more people have watched Ano Natsu de Matteru, this will be a close one.
BNR1P6
The Real Folk Blues (Cowboy Bebop ED 1)
Nostalgia on a massive scale here. Though I prefer the version used for the general ending then the version that zzeroparticle uses here, the song in general is a chilled-out jazzy piece that definitely holds a lot of emotion in it. The last shot in the ED of Spike lying on the bench smoking is;;
Falling Down (Eden of the East OP)
And here's some Oasis for you. Seen as psychedelic rock by those in the know, this song uses a lot of differing melodies that come together under an authoritarian piano. It's a pretty good song, and would be tough to beat in other cases.
WHICH DO I WANT TO WIN: The Real Folk Blues
WHICH DO I THINK WILL WIN: The Real Folk Blues
WHY? Nostalgia bias, if anything. "Falling Down" will definitely give this song a run for the money as one of its equals. Should be fun.
BNR1P7
Gekkou Symphonia (Aquarion EVOL ED 1)
It's getting easy for me to tell a Kanno produced song, as is noted here as well. That doesn't matter as the voices and background music work together in an awesome whole, with the atmospheric electronic vibe behind a piano-driven melody melding around the duet of AKINO and AKAI that makes the song more complicated to breakdown than other tracks, but ultimately pretty nice to listen to overall. But now that I think about it, someone like Kanako Itou took AKAI's role in this song, I would probably die of happiness.
Dive in the Sky (PLANETES OP)
It was fun listening to Mikio Sakai when he sang the song with was the sorta-namesake that led to this blog title, and when I had first listened to his work for PLANETES, I was pleased as well. I'm more of a fan with the ED myself, but this song is not that bad.
WHICH DO I WANT TO WIN: Gekkou Symphonia
WHICH DO I THINK WILL WIN: Gekkou Symphonia
WHY? Song style. "Gekkou Symphonia" is just built better, or at least appeals to my sensitivities enough that I can listen to this song repeatedly, which I have been doing sing initially listening to the song.
BNR1P8
Irony (Oreimo OP)
This is actually a song that doesn't really do much for me, as I think that I've heard better from Kz's Vocaloid work before, and ClariS has sung better stuff before. But it's associated with a popular show, so
Tsumetai Heya, Hitori (K ED 1)
This is a song that would sound much more stronger if there were different vocals associated. This is totally a song where I feel like more overwrought vocals fit the almost pretentious nature of the song, even though Mikako Komatsu does a decent job here.
WHICH DO I WANT TO WIN: Tsumetai Heya, Hitori
WHICH DO I THINK WILL WIN: Irony
WHY? Familiarity. "Tsumetai Heya, Hitori" doesn't do itself any favors by it's miss match in vocal ability, however.
In the limited time left, remember to vote for who you like, as most of the latter 4 polls are pretty close now. Till next time.
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