[Discussion] What anime has the best overall soundtrack?
For me, it’s Gintama. It’s iconic, easily identifiable, and makes sense on a musical level. On the last point, I’m not knowledgeable on the theory, but the Gintama soundtrack, in general, is enjoyable to listen too. If I have to pick one favorite song there, it’s Katsura’s theme.
Cowboy Bebop!
archive.org/details/Cowboy-Bebop-OST-Collection
Kanno Yoko is cheating.
Hey, I came here to say that, how dare you do it first 😅
Great jazzy music from a band called Seatbelts
Samurai Champloo
Yep, Champloo slaps start to finish, I’d say it’s solid tie between it and Bepop.
Also gotta shout out basically any Ghibli OST, especially Howls, so damn good
Some good suggestions here already. I’ll add FLCL to the mix. The Pillows’ youthful, energetic, and sometimes wistful punk rock fits perfectly with the show’s themes of childish rebellion and the pains of growing up.
Oh yeah!
Gonna keep it to 1 per composer, otherwise this list would be full of Kajiura Yuki and Kensuke Ushio.
Honorable mentions:
Kensuke Ushio never misses. In addition to what you’ve already mentioned, OSTs from Agents of the Four Seasons, Devilman Crybaby, Journal with Witch, Dandadan were all great too. He’s so talented. His involvement with any anime project alone is enough for me to check out it out.
As for the others, that I haven’t seen mentioned yet, I really like Jujutsu Kaisen S2 OST. It has an interesting mix of electric, rock, and classical themes. Stuff like No Hesitation is fantastic
Samurai Champloo by a country mile.
Runners up are Carole and Tuesday, Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song, and Land of the Lustrous
Super tough I would say for me it is between. Cowboy bebop and initial d
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and SAG 2nd Gig which is….ok Yoko Kanno at this point this is cheating.
So instead I’ll say Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt. That thing made Jazz terrifying.
The original Hellsing anime. I love its mix of jazzy, blues rock guitar and funk.
I had the soundtrack and wore it out. Very underrated.
But it doesn’t have PARTY PARTY PARTY
I’ve found myself listening many times to the whole soundtracks of One-Punch Man and Spy x Family.
Are we talking the OPs or like, the score?
For the former, Bungo Stray Dogs and Sword Art Online are easy picks, though they both only used a couple/few artists. Fullmetal Alchemist (both of them) had more variety and a good range. My Hero Academia, too.
.hack//sign and gundam seed are both pretty iconic for me. Guilty Crown is full of bangers.
Hard to pick a “best”. Both Fullmetal Alchemist soundtracks were pretty good. I also really liked the .hack//sign soundtrack even though the show itself was boring af. Dan Da Dan and Gurren Lagann both had some inspired choices (fight the power!).
The Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA is an obvious contender; it uses exclusively classical music for its soundtrack and it works really well. I can’t hear Dvorak’s 9th Symphony 4th Movement without thinking of people dying in space now.
Someone already said Cowboy Bebop, so I’ll say Kids on the Slope.
It’s another series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe with Yoko Kanno doing a lot of the composition.
Yoko Kanno doing remixes of classic jazz songs is double cheating. 🤣️
I also agree that it’s very good!
Given that I just let a shipping company extort me just so that I could have the complete ARIA vinyl collection I’m gonna have to say ARIA for me 😅.
Gintama is also a great choice! It such a diverse anime and the OST reflects that. I love listening to it as well! Picking a favorite is hard but I think it is 昔の友人が変わらずにいるというのも悪くないものだな… It’s very OG and has such an wholesome bittersweet sensation to it. Gintama has a lot of bittersweet and I love that. Life is bittersweet after all. My favorite character theme is probably Madao’s theme.
I was surprised on the amount of Gintama songs in my library versus other anime songs after I finished the anime. That’s when I realized “Yeah, the OST’s that good.”
Made in Abyss has a phenomenal soundtrack that takes you along their adventure.
Hanezeve Caradhina is my personal favourite.
Macross Plus. Another Yoko Kanno masterpiece.
take your pick.
I enjoyed original Trigun’s guitar licks.
One that was surprisingly good to me was K Project.
So many good ones. Some already mentioned, but ones that weren’t: Shield hero has two bangers. Fate stay has a few. Re: Creators. Dimension W. Gate’s opening is really good and captures the feel of the show so well…Does Castlevania count? Cause that new bloody tears version is fire.
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, I frequently listen to the season 1 and 2 albums.
New Panty and Stocking soundtrack is wall to wall bangers, so good
Has no one watched Beck Mongolian Chop Squad? The anime is about a commercially successful rock band. The producers had to license a solid soundtrack of songs for scenes of the characters performing. The soundtrack is one banger after another.
Yet, somehow FLCL still beats it.
Blood Blockade Battlefront. So much variety!
Air Gear story is okay but the music is great
Hellsing, Darker Than Black Season 2, and Drifters.
I need a fourth anime composed by Yasushi Ishii already.