Bevan Beats #19 – Anime Antics

by Ciaran Marchant

Welcome to Bevan Beats! This is a fortnightly article and accompanying playlist from us at the Explosion Network. It aims to enable us the ability to share the music we love, discuss a certain theme, or share what we are simply listening to in our everyday lives. You’ll be able to find the playlist on Spotify.

I have my moments of pure passion for Anime. Days or weeks where I will binge watch as much of a series as I can before i fall off and return to my Competitive Video Games, but I know that eventually I will return to watch more and catch up on my favourite shows. I recently started watching Rooster Teeth’s new star studded anime series, Gen:Lock. I was unsure about this show going in and even during the first episode I was on the fence until I heard the theme music, the moment the music began it had already pulled me in.

For me, Anime theme music is such an important aspect of the presentation, so for this Bevan Beats I thought I would take you on an Anime Adventure through my favourite themes and music from the shows I loved.

Belgrade – Battle Tapes (Gen:Lock)

Gen:Lock inspired this playlist as I have already mentioned. With a star studded cast featuring Michael B. Jordan, Maisie Williams and David Tennant just to name a few, Rooster Teeth is capitalising on the success of RWBY to bring the best talent to their latest series. The theme sets the tone for an action packed series that brings you into a world filled with Mechs.

The Day – Porno Graffitti (My Hero Academia)

My Hero Academia brought back my love of Anime after some time of not watching the genre. It came with a great story, fantastic characters and a whole soundtrack filled with hype music.

*Asterisks – Orange Range (Bleach)

Despite some of the poor decisions that were made around the story of Bleach, there was always something about the characters that drew me back in each time. Give me a moment where the hero (In Bleach’s case Ichigo) arrives on the scene with epic music and some new costume, you’ll have me hook line and sinker. Sadly i could not find Ichigo’s Main Theme on Spotify so here’s the shows Original Theme song.

The Hero – Tsuko G. (One Punch Man)

Who could ever have thought a hero that could win every fight with one punch could ever be interesting? Considering i dislike Superman, it’s surprising how much I love this show. The moment you hear that powerful “ONE PUNNNNNNCH!!!!” ring out through the song you are instantly ready for epic battles.

Sign – FLOW (Naruto)

Naruto is truly one of the shows that got me into Anime. Yes the show is goofy and somewhat predictable but I loved every moment of it. Naruto shows how storytelling can flow with it’s music choices. “Sign” reminds me of so many things within the series and it just a great song.

Crossing Field – LiSA (Sword Art Online)

I only found SAO a couple years ago, but Itruly fell in love with the characters of the show and their relationships. Yes its Arcs can be disappointing but it has so many moments I truly felt were great. “Crossing Field” was a fantastic and memorable song for the show to begin its run with.

Rock The Dragon – Coded Chanel (Dragon Ball Z)

Only one other song makes me feel like a kid again (which follows shortly). If you grew up with the English dub of Dragon Ball Z, you will know this song and want to rock out each and every time to its limited lyrics and heavy guitar.

Gotta Catch Em All – 50.Grind (Pokemon)

Yes, you probably guessed this, and I can guess you know each and every lyric. You have never felt the true feeling of a community until you have played this song amongst a group of people in their early 20s. Ash may never grow old but the fans of the show have, but there is still some youth each time the song is played.

Again – Shiroku (Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood)

This was a relatively recent watch for me which you may find surprising. The story of Brotherhood is really something special and i urge you to watch this or even re-watch this if you already have. The music makes me smile each time i hear it so lets hope it leaves you with one as well.

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If you have any particular problems with any song choices you can Tweet @ExplosionPod or, ideally, just the author of this article.

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Bevan Beats is a fun project about sharing and curating songs to share with one another. If you’d like to put together a playlist and article for Bevan Beats you can contact mail@explosionnetwork.com