Captain (TV)

This is the second part of a collection of articles where I aim to explore the evolution of anime related music. This part of the list attempts to collect a list of most iconic performances on the "New Age" of anime music.

The term "New Age" used in this list refers to a phase after the "Anime Songs" phase. During this phase there started being more "tie-up songs" that that essentially were "tied" to the animated series in order to gain more exposure and market reach to the song itself. This was an interesting approach for many as it opened a new model on how to sell these products to the market.

The theme songs essentially dropped that strong connection to the series demonstrated by their lyrics and the emotion invoked by the song related to the series. Instead of that the song and the lyrics talk about the series or the characters with an indirect manner forming a supposed link between the performance and the series in question.

The supposed link consists of "the spirit" of the performance which refers to the indirect nature of the performance in relation to the series itself, and "the product" which refers to the stand alone nature of the performance itself as observed without the supposed connection to the initial series. The root of "the spirit" can be said originating from the earlier phase.

These types of theme songs were more common and popular after 1980s. The defining moment that can be said had influence on changing the theme songs away from this model is the popularity of the series "Urusei Yatsura" and how it used to promote a several "tie-up" songs that in contrast to "Anime Songs" by their nature don't necessarily have anything to do with the series, story or the characters as far as the direct approach goes.

I will write my thoughts on each of the entries on this list to further explain why I think the series and the theme songs included as a combined package have attained "iconic" status when it comes to the scene of "New Age" anime music in contrast to the "Anime Songs". I will also give a score related on how well "the spirit" and the "product" perform parallel to each other while complimenting the series as a whole. The series are ordered based on that score.

The term "iconic" in this list is defined by the popularity and how deeply established the spirit and the elements of the performance relating to the spirit establishing the product are in addition of them being supposedly intertwined with the series as a whole experience.

Related stacks:

Chapter 1 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24451
Chapter 2 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24454
Chapter 3 - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/24455