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Top Ten InuYasha Theme Songs
One of the cool things about anime (at least to an otaku like me) is the music. My favorite is InuYasha (I’m hardly alone), which has some good opening and closing themes, often by some of the bigger names in Japanese pop (J-Pop), though some are formulaic crap. I will stick to the TV themes; most of the movie themes aren’t as memorable (although “Rakuen” (“Paradise”) by Do As Infinity is fairly catchy [hear a 30-second excerpt here]). Finding legal links for these songs basically means YouTube videos of the opening/closing credits, which aren’t the highest fidelity and are shorter than the commercial versions of the songs. There is a website with MP3s, should you be so inclined (11/25/10 note: only the first series, 2000-04, not InuYasha: The Final Act, 2009-10). You can buy individual artists’ CDs on the CDJapan website. (11/25/10 note: Japanese record labels often make YouTube delete postings their material, and by this date all the original links were gone. I’ve gone through and replaced them with what’s available. It’s not all official, but at least you can hear the songs again.)
As I’ve written here before, this has a great chorus melody and an effective arrangement, and Amuro (the one-time “Queen of J-Pop”) sings the hell out of this cover of a song by Sophie Monk (ex-Bardot).
DAI, as the trio is known (and yes, their acronym is the leader’s name) has had the greatest identification with InuYasha of any group. They are tied with Every Little Thing for most theme songs, but DAI also co-wrote two theme songs with Ayumi Hamasaki that are performed by her, and soulful vocalist Tomiko Van and guitarist Ryo Owatari had parts in the fourth InuYasha movie. Most importantly, leader Dai Nagao is a pretty good songwriter with a real talent for hooks. On this song, mixing in some traditional Japanese instruments adds great flavor.
Do As Infinity – “Fukai mori” (“Deep Forest”)
One of DAI’s early hits.
Total bubblegum, and I’m not complaining.
This pretty ballad is co-written with DAI, and sounds like their playing too. This is a J-Pop style of singing less influenced by recent American music than some of the other theme songs.
BoA is Boa Kwon, a Korean singer who was 15 years old when this was released. This is a sugary, wimpy ballad featuring tremulous singing – I say that as a category designation, not a criticism.
More bubblegum.
Perfectly proportioned.
A bit formulaic, with somewhat cheesy production, but it builds well and I like the little instrumental bit.
The verse and bridge are nothing special, but I like the chorus.
