Musings Archive

3-4-02: Anime Music: the fun, the joy, and the misunderstandings (Posted from 3-4-02 to 9-1-02)

I love anime music. I think it's wonderful. No matter your taste in music, you can find an anime song that fits your genre. Pop, jazz, classical, hard rock, techno, Eurobeat, alternative, hip-hop, soul, blues, country, rap, even opera. How many other types of music cover such a wide spectrum??? But one thing about anime music really frustrates me:

So many people out there just don't get it.

First, a bit of explanation about me, which sheds some light on what I have to say about anime music. I first admitted how much I enjoyed it when I recorded the Sailor Moon op: Moonlight Densetsu, and the Fushigi Yuugi tv op: Ishooshi Hito no Tame ni, onto my current mix tape back in 1996. AMP was the inevitible result, but something unexpected happened as well. In short, I lost my taste for "normal" music.

My abandonment of conventional music didn't happen overnight. As I slowly watched more and more anime, naturally I heard more and more music. But I didn't love all the music just because the songs appealed to me. I loved it because when I listened to them in my car or from my stereo, it reminded me of the episodes, and thinking of the anime I loved made me happy, and it still does. Anime music was precious, a thing sacred and above anything I could find on my radio. As something so dear to me, I refused to associate it with anything I didn't like. So when I drove to college classes (45 minutes one way) I didn't want to ruin my music with the experience, so I listened to the radio. And I also listened to the radio when I came home from class. But to go shopping, or to the movies, or to see a friend, or even to work (earn money for more anime, you know), I had my anime music blaring. ^^

I know it's strange that I only mention listening to the radio in my car, but it has a good explanation. My family lived 70 miles from the closest "normal" music station that I wanted to listen to. Our house was built down in a low river valley, and to top it all off, our house was underground. In other words, there was four feet of dirt and steel over my head at all times, and my room did not have a window to the outside. So receiving a radio signal in my room pretty much never worked. ^^ Hence, when I listened to music, it was on CD or cassette.

Then in summer 1998, I moved to Arizona for college. Of course, I lost the "normal" music radio stations I half-way liked, and I tried the ones in my new city. But none of them appealed to me. They played music I didn't care for, or their DJs were incredibly annoying, etc etc etc. So I stopped changing the station, and just played anime music all the time. Hell with being normal!! I had great music I loved, it was on whenever I wanted, no commercials, and certainly no annoying DJs! Waiiii!

So for almost two and a half years, the only time I heard "normal" music was when I was at a friend's place or in public. I completely lost touch with the conventional music world. People around me would talk about Britany Spears, or Ricky Martin, or the Dixie Chicks, and I would reply with, "Who's that?" The funny thing is that it didn't bother me in the least, and it still doesn't. ^^

When I am in the company of others, I always let them select the music we listen to, simply because I am polite and do not impose my strange tastes on those I know will not enjoy them. Or worse, those who will be full of jokes and insults about it. They put in some CD or chose a station, and the songs play. They all sound alike to me now. And as the singers are screaming about girlfriends who dumped them and making their instruments shriek, I'm left sitting there with a huge sweatdrop on my face, thinking "And they consider MY music weird?!"

These days, I still listen to anime music 85% of the time. The other 15% is devoted to movie soundtracks, which are the only non-anime CDs that I ever buy. I suppose this makes me a complete anime geek, but I still don't mind. I know what I like, and THAT is what I chose to listen to!

But unfortunately....almost no one else gets it. I dread conversations about favorite music with non-anime fans. I am left with either telling a lie and naming some normal singers and groups, or I can be honest and have everyone take a giant step away from me, litterally AND figuratively. I don't like lying, so I almost always just tell the truth, and prepare for the inevitable long explanation of why I like music that the vast majority of America sees as weird.

The thing that they REALLY have a hard time grasping is why I could enjoy music that I can't understand. I mean, that's always the first thing I'm asked. "Do you know what they're saying?" Yeah, sure, I catch words quite often, sometimes entire lines, and I almost always know the title translation, but I only know word-for-word the meanings of the three songs I've translated myself. I explain that it's the rhythm of the music, and the sound of the singer's voice and the melody that I love. If I happen to know what they are singing about, then that's icing on the cake. I love anime music for the sound of the music itself, not merely for what the singer is saying.

Yet it's not just the fact that almost all anime music is in a Japanese. I have an uncle who just loves Tejano (Mexican) music, and he speaks no Spanish whatsoever. He listens to it at work, in his car, everywhere, and this man is every bit as white as I am! He's married to a Korean woman (as in really from Korea, not born here in the States), but as far as he's concerned, *I'M* the one who listens to the disturbing muisc! He can't understand the vast majority of his music either, but at HIS songs were written on the same continent, and listen to by thousands of others in this country right???? Grrrrr!!!!

Occasionally, once every twenty people or so, one of them will ask if they can hear a few songs, just to see why I like it so much. I always oblige with a big smile on my face, and I try to play a good song, like the Slayers Next tv op: Give a Reason, or the Lodoss tv op: Kiseki no Umi, or some other upbeat or lovely tune that is very popular in the anime community. And what shocks everyone the most??? Their eyes get very big, and they stammer out, "But--it's ROCK!" *rolls eyes* It's like they expect any music from Japan simply MUST sound like it belongs in the background at a Japanese restaurant. Your average American seems to believe that only music from English-speaking countries could possibly be upbeat. To them, everything else simply must be mindless noise or steeped in Meaningful Native Culture. Who could imagine that someone from Asia knows how to play an electric guitar?? Oh, the shock!!!! --;;;;;;;;;;;

And the next thing that blows them away is when I start explaining who the singers are. "Okay, this song is sung by Hayashibara Megumi, a wonderful singer and voice actress. You know, she does voices in anime. Anime. Japanese cartoons." They just stare at me in shock, especially as I prattle off names. "Other great singers I really like are Okui Masami, L'Arc~en~Ciel, Ishihara Shin'ichi, Mizushima Yasuhiro, and the group X Japan, who unfortunately have broken up." They just can't believe that a white girl like me can say such foreign names so effortlessly...but the idea that I actually KNOW this kind of stuff is what really creeps them out.

*sighs*

As I re-read this, I wonder if part of the reason I usually admit what kind of music I like is simply because of the shock value. I do enjoy blowing minds, but at the same time, I wish that explaining WHY I like anime music did not take so much effort, and despite all of it that I invest, it nearly always fails anway.

But all the people who like "normal" music ARE slowly learning. I was abosolutely delighted when I learned that the Final Fantasy movie had a L'Arc~en~Ciel song as the 2nd ending. And it was on the soundtrack, too! I'll be damned! The only way that could be topped was if his song contained some Japanese. ^^ Of course the whole thing was in English (one of these days I'll add it to AMP) but it's one step closer to enlightenment for the rest of my fellow Americans. Until they see the light, it's their loss. ^^

I hardly expect that one day every person here will rush out and start importing CDs from Japan, but it would be very VERY nice to have people just accept what kind of music I like without the disbelief or the insistence that I am cracking a joke. Yeah, my music is a far cry from "normal" for America, but I like it because I like it. And that should be all the explanation needed, ne?

3-4-02