Therefore, let's just move right on!
"Kesenai Tsumi～raw "breath" track～" by Nana Kitade
(Fullmetal Alchemist [2003] ED1)
Just like Part 1, let's start Part 2 with a theme from a pretty notable & popular anime, in this case the original TV anime adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist. A true-blue gateway anime for many, including yours truly, the original 2003 series featured an extremely strong selection of 4 OPs & 4 EDs, and what we'll be focusing on is the first ED. Ever since the 80s, anime has been a reliable way for new singers & bands to get some exposure, and the same is true for Nana Kitade, whose debut single "Kesenai Tsumi" became a bit of an instant classic by being associated with FMA, which was airing on the very lucrative Saturday 6PM time slot on MBS. Seeing as the first quarter of the anime often blended together dramatic moments with lighthearted comedy, it was appropriate for those episodes to end with an upbeat pop song, though the staff at BONES wasn't against using the song's unassuming nature to essentially troll viewers at the end of one particularly infamous episode, which ended with a real heart-wrencher.
One month after the song's single release in Japan, though, came another single release, this time for a remix. Titled "Kesenai Tsumi~raw "breath" track~", the remix is easily one of the most drastic types of remixes you can find, replacing the peppy J-pop beat with an all acoustic beat. Similar to "MOVIN!! (Acoustic Version)" from last time, "Kesenai Tsumi~raw "breath" track~" almost feels like a completely different song because of these changes, changing the feel from that of an upbeat & happy song to that of a more personal & impassioned performance, though where this differs from Takacha's song is that the message of the lyrics essentially is altered much more. Whereas "MOVIN!!" is an upbeat song about keeping your chin up, "Kesenai Tsumi" is a J-pop song about the pains of love & how one sometimes hides within them their own personal sins just so that the one they currently love can remain happy & protected; the upbeat outer sound is merely hiding the downbeat & hurt lyrics. By replacing the J-pop style with an acoustic one, the lyrics now take complete control, showing the song's true colors, resulting in an infinitely more powerful & impactful song; this is Nana Kitade's "raw breath" in action, & need I remind you that she was only 16 at the time! This is such a powerful remix that it actually resulted in "Kesenai Tsumi" ranking on Japan's Weekly Oricon charts twice, as the original song reached #14, while "raw 'breath' track" made it to #87. Not only that, but this remix even saw use for Arakawa's series, as it played during the Elric Brothers' fight against Roy Mustang & Alex Louis Armstrong in the climax of the Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel video game for PS2, giving that fight more of an emotional core to it, at least in the original Japanese version; I don't know if it was kept for the English release.
Unsurprisingly, I almost refuse to listen to this song in its original form, as while it's a fun pop song I feel as though it was really nothing more than a red herring to allow the "raw 'breath' track" to sneak by & surprise people. Truly, this remix is the final form of "Kesenai Tsumi", and is simply outstanding.
"Take My Soul Forever" [Duet Version] by Psychic Lover & Hironobu Kageyama
(Ring ni Kakero 1 ED)
OK, since we imitated the start of Part 1 just now, let's follow that up & do another Kurumada anime theme song! This pick, however, is unique from all the others, & that's because this is NOT something that ever saw release via single or album. Rather, this is from a live performance! But let's first start at the beginning, which brings us to Psychic Lover, a rock duo comprised of singer Yoshiyuki "Yoffy" Wada & guitarist Tatsuhiro Imajo formed in 1998 that has since made its name doing theme songs for various anime, video games, & tokusatsu. In 2004, the same year they made songs for Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, Psychic Lover contributed to a song to the anime Ring ni Kakero 1, based on the classic 70s Shonen Jump manga by Masami Kurumada. In particular, "Take My Soul Forever" is the anime's first ending theme, and it's true to Psychic Lover form by being a high-energy & inspirational anthem, which makes for an interesting counterpart to the OP theme, which is pretty much just as bombastic & exciting a song; I guess the concept was for the OP to psych the viewer up, while the ED inspires them. What makes this song all the more interesting is that it's actually the only theme song for RnK1 not done by Marina del ray, as the OP theme stays the same throughout all four seasons (Season 3 uses the second verse, though), while Marina del ray also does all the other EDs.
As for the remix that might actually be better, we head over to a now-defunct Japanese show called Anipara Ongakukan. Originally a spin-off of anisong info shows Animex Club & Anime Paradise!, Anipara ran from 2001 to the end of 2017 & was a mix between a live show & a talk show. Hosted by Hironobu Kageyama (with Masaaki Endoh being his primary co-host), every episode would feature live performances of various anime & tokusatsu theme songs by Kageyama (& Endoh), followed by a guest to interview, and then both performances by the guest as well as a one-off session performance between the host & the guest. That brings us to Episode 197, which from my guess had to have taken place some time in 2005, which featured Psychic Lover as the guests; the duo actually made their debut on the show in 2001 & would be regular performers on it until 2014. The session performance here is of "Take My Soul Forever", but alongside Yoffy & Imajo is Hironobu Kageyama, with Yoffy & Kageyama splitting lyrics between them pretty evenly. Yoffy takes the first verse while Kageyama takes the second, & the two trade between halves of the bridges before uniting for the chorus. The end result is a cool mix of a remix & cover, as the live session performance gives it a unique sound compared to the studio-recorded original, while Kageyama's iconic singing voice gives his portions of the song a completely different feel. Plus, fans of Saint Seiya can find some fun in hearing Kageyama (who sang the second OP to that anime) sing a song from a different Kurumada anime.
While this is no doubt a pick that likely I only really care about, there's no doubt that Anipara Ongakukan was filled with tons of unique anisong performances, and a simple search on YouTube shows that a bunch of them were at least ripped & uploaded, as they'd likely be lost to time, otherwise. I definitely recommend giving a bunch a listen, at the very least.
"Wings of Words (alas de palabras)" by Chemistry.
(Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny OP4)
While most anime OPs tend to be matched well to the show that they're attached to, thematically, it's not always the case, and the more of a gap there is the more notorious it can become. This happened to Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny in 2005 as the series entered its final quarter. The first three OPs were either synth-heavy pop or straight-up rock songs by T.M. Revolution, High and Mighty Color, & Hitomi Takahashi... And then came "Wings of Words" by Chemistry. For whatever reason, the producers decided that fourth & final OP to Seed Destiny would be the complete & absolute opposite of everything that came before it. Whereas all of the previous OPs, even going back to the original Gundam Seed, all had a similar theme of having either fast or intense beats to them, "Wings of Words" was a relaxed, jazzy, & orchestral R&B ballad. Now don't mistake this as me crapping over the song, because I really enjoy it, and it peaked at #2 on the Oricon charts for good reason... But it absolutely has no reason being the theme song to an anime about the horrors & senselessness of war, let alone be the theme song leading into the climax of it! I'm not saying that the people in charge of this decision should have been sacked, but they really should have been given a stern talking to.
Still, as cool as the original song is, Chemistry actually had a better remix as an alternate track on the same single, though bizarrely only in the "Normal Edition", as it wasn't included in the "Special Edition". True to its full title, "Wings of Words (alas de palabras)" (which is just Spanish for "wings of words") transforms the song from a jazzy & orcheatral R&B song into something more akin to iconic guitarist Carlos Santana's oeuvre. Starting off with just a guitar accompanying the duo of Yoshikuni Dochin & Kaname Kawabata, this version eventually adds in maracas for the choruses, and the obvious Santana influence gives it a totally different feel from other acoustic remixes I've brought up before. Rather than give more of an intimate & personal feel to the song, "alas de palabras" simply comes off of as the more enjoyable & catchy version to listen to. While the original version has its appeal in its grander feel through its fuller accompaniment, this remix just feels like two guys sitting down & singing, and you want to sing along with them, in turn. I guess, in the grand scheme of things, I simply prefer this song sounding more along the lines of "Black Magic Woman" or "Oye Como Va", rather than as a grand R&B ballad.
All that being said, "Wings of Words (alas de palabras)" would have been an even worse version to use as the final OP for Gundam Seed Destiny. Still the superior version of the song, though.
"Pale Ale" [Sawayaka Version] by Kenichi Kurosawa
(Hunter x Hunter OVA OP)
Madhouse's 2011 anime reboot of Hunter x Hunter is now a celebrated classic, helping bring Yoshihiro Togashi's (technically) still-running Shonen Jump manga to a wider worldwide audience. Likewise, its singular OP theme, "Departure" by Masatoshi Ono, is an addictive earworm of a song... But it's constant upbeat nature does sometimes clash with some of the manga's darker storylines. In comparison, the 1999 anime adaptation by Nippon Animation, which is excellent in its own ways, changed things up with various OP themes as it went on, from TV to OVAs. This is especially true for the York New Arc, which exchanged open-eyed wonderment with a bleak & dangerous mood, as it focused on dealing with the deadly Phantom Troupe, a.k.a. the Spiders. Whereas Madhouse's anime simply used the second verse of "Departure", though still keeping the upbeat feel, Nippon completely changed the style of the OP, replacing similarly upbeat "Ohayou" by Keno with the harsh sounding (though lyrically hopeful) "Taiyou wa Yoru mo Kagayaku" by Wino; on a personal note, Wino's song is one of my all-time favorite anime OPs, and the full version is just beautiful.
Nippon's TV series ended in 2001 while in the middle of the York New Arc, though, so in 2002 an 8-episode OVA came out that finished the arc; no joke, it was literally titled Hunter x Hunter Original Video Animation. Anyway, OVA continued where Wino left off with its OP theme, "Pale Ale" by Kenichi Kurosawa, which was even harsher in its sound & filled with lyrics about hiding your true motives while learning to simply look cool, drink some pale ale, & huddle together in a cold "echo room". Without a doubt, "Pale Ale" was a standout theme song for the original Hunter x Hunter anime, but in 2015 it would return. One year before he died of a brain tumor at only 48, Kenichi Kurosawa released LIFETIME BEST"BEST VALUE", a "self-cover" album he made with American music producer Eric Rosse in which Kurosawa re-imagined a bunch of his songs in new ways; this would be Kurosawa's last album during his life. One of those was "Pale Ale", and while it wasn't given an official alternate title, this version has come to be known as the "Sawayaka/Refreshing Version", because that's exactly what it is. In place of the harsh rock style is this, for lack of a better word, refreshing & ephemeral feel that lets the entire song simply wash over you, as if your entire essence is being cleansed by it. It's an absolute transformation of the song, and while the original rock version is a classic, I pretty much instantly came to prefer this remix the moment I first heard it a few years ago. Sure, the meaning behind the lyrics don't really get any new feel to them (if anything, Kurosawa might sound more sure of his advice now), but it's simply the way the song goes from sounding harsh & dark to loose & refreshing that makes it such an amazing remix of an already great song; if anything, it's a testament to the skills of Eric Rosse as a producer.
Rest in Peace, Kenichi Kurosawa
"Kokoro e" by Triplane
(Major [Season 6] OP)
The stigma sports anime has outside of Japan, particularly in "North of Mexico", has resulted in many iconic series being lost to time in the region, with a more recent example being Major. Originally debuting in mid-1994 in the pages of Shonen Sunday, Takuya Mitsuda's baseball manga followed the life of Goro Honda, the son of a promising pitcher in Japan's minor & major leagues who has to retire after an arm injury, as he goes from kindergarten all the way to becoming an adult himself & eventually getting to play for the MLB! The series wouldn't really become known internationally, though, until late 2004, when a TV anime adaptation debuted on NHK-E, the educational spin-off of Japan's equivalent to PBS. After two cours the show ended, only to return over & over again for another two-cour season at a time, before eventually adapting all 78 volumes with the 154th episode ending Season 6 in September 2010, just two months after Mitsuda ended the manga. While the entire anime did get fansubbed, it never saw any official English release, which meant that many anime fans didn't learn of "Kokoro e", the addictive OP theme for the first season by Road of Major, a group that would also contribute themes for some of the later seasons. Just to clarify, the group wasn't named after the anime, but rather was formed for a documentary of the same name for the show Hamaraja; the fact that Road of Major got mainly associated with the Major anime is just amusing coincidence.
When Season 6, titled Full Throttle! Field of Dreams Chapter ("field" is not the right word, but it's too perfect a title, I feel) for the DVD release, started up in April 2010 it was decided to bring back "Kokoro e" for the OP, as a way to pay homage to where it all started. However, instead of bringing back Road of Major, which had broken up in 2007, the final season instead got a cover by the group Triplane (which is still around)... And, to be perfectly honest, Triplane did better. The original song by ROM is fun, energetic, & fitting for a series technically aimed at kids, but Triplane's cover feels like an actual evolution of the song. Similar to how Goro first started off in little league as a kid who didn't know better & may have been a bit rambunctious before eventually becoming an adult with his own experiences & knowledge, "Kokoro e" had gone from Road of Major's fun & excited early days to Triplane's more grandiose & experienced adult days; it's no doubt fun to go back to those days of old & have fun, but everyone has to grow up & be better. That's how I feel about Triplane's cover, and it makes for a truly outstanding OP to the final season of Major. That being said, the final episode does finish off with Road of Major's original version, so no foul there. In another fun note, Triplane's cover was also used as the theme song for the 91st National High School Baseball Championship, East/West Tokyo Tournament, so props for that.
Eventually, Takuya Mitsuda would return to his hit manga, debuting Major 2nd, which follows the lives of Goro's kids playing baseball, in 2015 & is still running in Shonen Sunday. Similarly, an anime adaptation of Major 2nd debuted in 2018, & is currently in its second season, but at least this series is available to watch officially in English via Crunchyroll. No "Kokoro e" to be found yet, however, & don't get hoping for a physical release at any point; to be cynical for a moment, there are no pretty boys to be found here, so no one will buy it.
"Great Days (Units Ver.)" by JO☆UNITED
(JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Diamond is Unbreakable ED2)
We end this entire list of superior remixes & covers with the most recent of them all, and it comes from a most "bizarre" source. In 2012, Hirohiko Araki's iconic manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure finally made it to TV, and has since gone on to adapt the first five parts (of eight, currently) of the multi-generational (& later multi-timeline) tales of various members of the Joestar lineage. In 2016 we saw the first ever adaptation of Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable, a personal favorite of Araki's, which adapted the entire 18-volume story from 1992 to 1995 across 39 episodes. This series featured three different OP themes, with each matching the general mood & feel of each of the three portions of the story. "Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town" by The DU was a stylish & jazzy introduction that fit the wild beginning. Meanwhile, "chase" by batta was the most straightforward in being a fast-paced action anthem that fit the need to hunt down serial killer Kira Yoshikage who's somewhere in the town of Morio. Finally, we have "Great Days" by Daisuke Hasegawa & Karen Aoki, an upbeat & hopeful theme that gave the viewer the feeling that things will finally work out fine, & that Kira will be brought to justice. Meanwhile, all across the show was a singular ED theme, "I Want You" by Savage Garden, that matched the general aesthetic of all JoJo TV EDs, i.e. "a western song Araki was a fan of at the time he was doing the corresponding part of the manga".
However, when all was said & done, "I Want You" would not be the way to end off the entire story. Like other episodes throughout the show, mainly in an attempt to cram more manga content into an episode, "Great Days" did not play at the start of the final episode. Instead, the Diamond is Unbreakable anime ended things with a remix named "Great Days (Units Ver.)", which pays homage to the entire history of the JoJo TV anime up to that point. The adaptation of Phantom Blood had an OP sung by Hiroaki "Tommy" Tominaga, while Battle Tendency's OP was sung by Kazusou "coda" Oda (who'd also return for Part 5: Golden Wind's OP), & the first Stardust Crusaders season had Jin Hashimoto perform that OP. For the second season of Stardust Crusaders, however, Tommy, coda, & Hashimoto united to form JO☆STARS, and together would perform the OP for that anime. Now with yet another three acts for Diamond is Unbreakable, it was decided to follow what came before & form JO☆UNITED... Which has everyone uniting together for a remix of "Great Days" that more than surpasses the original. Tommy sings the first line, followed by coda, and then Hashimoto finishes the first verse. The bridge is then batta, with The DU singing backup, followed by the chorus seeing Tommy, coda, Hashimoto, batta, The DU, Hasegawa, & Aoki all singing together, and it takes an already hopeful & celebratory song into one that truly feels like a celebration of the entire franchise; the rest of the full version of the song sees various combinations of everyone tackling various parts.
I couldn't think of a better remix to end this entire list off with than this one, because it's truly one of the greatest anime theme remixes of all time.
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And that brings an end to a list that I've honestly been wanting to do for years, but always put off for no real reason. These twelve songs are proof that, while not common, there are sometimes moments where your favorite anime OP or ED might honestly have a better version out there to discover, and that it's more than worth exploring & seeing what else could be done with an iconic song.
As for what comes next, 2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II, so throughout this summer we'll be taking a look at three pieces of anime related to that period of time. Up first is a look at Japan's first theatrical-length animated feature... One that was made as literal propaganda during wartime. Just remember, as "Great Days" says, let the voice of love take you higher and, with that gathered power in hand, go beyond time.
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