Do You Even Anime?

Hey all!

I’m back with our final community playlist. Naturally, I’m sad that it’s the end, but considering how drastically the participation has dwindled, I can’t see a valid reason to keep going. The playlists ought to be at least forty-five minutes to an hour in length, don’t you agree? If they end up significantly shorter, it doesn’t seem worthwhile.

For this one, the vote was unanimous: Anime Favorites. I must admit—not what I was expecting! However, I’m excited. This is definitely a genre I am unfamiliar with…for the most part.

I don’t watch much anime, but I’ve yet to see one that I don’t like. This is probably because my husband is well-versed in it and knows the good ones! I’ve come to realize just how great the soundtracks can be, and because I know anime has gained in popularity the past few years, why don’t you all pick a couple anime songs you like and share them here? I don’t have specifications for the type or the reason you choose it, as long as it’s something you want to be included in the playlist and would be something you’d enjoy listening to—though that goes without saying.

My choice to start us off is the Guts theme from Berserk, composed by Susumu Hirasawa. I actually added it to the “Feel the Wind” playlist we made a few months ago, so it might sound familiar. I’ve never read the graphic novel series, but I do know that the show I watched only covers the Golden Arc, a fraction of the full story, and even that isn’t finished. I so wish that Kentaro Muira had lived long enough to complete it.

Berserk was the first anime I watched. Guts’ theme is utterly haunting, almost beyond words; a perfect leitmotif. If you haven’t listened to it, please do.

Now, I don’t expect you to base your choice on this song. I don’t think it would be reasonable to try to build a themed or “vibey” anime playlist. Unless, of course, you choose to surprise me. All four of you, lol.

In starting the playlist, I vacillated between a couple other songs, namely from “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spirited Away.” I remember liking those soundtracks; they stuck in my mind. Although I’ve seen a few other anime shows, I don’t recall the music from them nearly as well as the three previously mentioned.

As to your choices, I don’t have a preference for the number of songs you want to give me. As I mentioned before, I don’t want these to be shorter than forty-five minutes, though my ideal is one hour. Send as many as you feel comfortable! I am all ears.

I look forward to your submissions. Cheers and see you in the comments!

Author’s Note

I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a challenge series for the Beat community. If you’d be interested in either continuing this series or participating in a Beat challenge of any description, I would love to know about it. Any ideas are welcome.

I do have a few playlist ideas yet to be built. You see, I’d hoped to continue this community project indefinitely, so I had ideas lined up and articles started in anticipation. I might be able to use these ideas myself—make my own playlists and share them in Beat. But I could just as easily make them into unofficial challenges, if there’s enough interest, of course.

However, I’m also down for other Beat challenge ideas. So please don’t hesitate to suggest them in the comments!