Best OPs and EDs of Fall 2020 – Special Guest Lauren
We made it together to the final week of my special guest spot on BAYOG. I appreciate anyone who has followed me since the beginning!! If you’re new and would like to see the beginning, please head [here] to go back to my first article of this series. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas or are starting a happy Kwanzaa!! I am so thankful for everyone at BAYOG’s support and friendship, and their trust that I wouldn’t write something stupid. Thank you all!! This year could’ve been a lot harder if I didn’t have the support group I have now. Things won’t magically be better starting 2021 obviously but we can all make it one more week at least, lol.
This Winter season had a plethora of exceptionally good music. I’m so glad that I found aniplaylist.com because without their work compiling all these songs I would have missed out on tons of great music from shows I didn’t have time to watch this season. I will try to fit in as many mentions as I can in this article, but you should really listen to aniplaylist’s public playlist with all of the songs available on spotify. Thank you aniplaylist for your service!! Let’s dive in one last time for my favorite anime OPs and EDs from the Fall 2020 season.
Where do I even start honestly? There is so much I want to talk about for this one. And by virtue of being the current season I’m having a bigger connection to this music, opposed to earlier in the year where my memories have faded a bit. There are five specific shows I watched that I’d like to talk about so I will start with these:
The fingernail scene from the 2006 adaptation of the Higurashi series is one of the only things I knew about the series going into the latest adaptation: Higurashi When They Cry – New. so I was basically going in blind. The latest and ninth episode has really set the actual tone for the series and slapped my ass from out of left field in terms of cliffhangers. I am so anxious to see how this show will end, partly so I can go back and watch/play the prior adaptations (as of publishing this post I am now knee deep in Kai and am constantly losing it with every new revelation), but also so I can search for fanart without fear of getting spoiled, honestly. The OST by Kenji Kawai is phenomenal in how unsettling it becomes when combined with new context.. I also think its ED, “God’s Syndrome” by Ayane, is one of the best anisongs to come out this year, next to Kakushigoto’s “Chiisana Hibi” and Kaguya-sama’s “DADDY ! DADDY ! DO!“.
I am in full conspiracy theory mode that The Gymnastic Samurai was created to help MAPPA practice for the new Yuri on Ice movie, and I highly believe you should watch it. It’s a good anime simply because it has a good bird mascot. Just like ToraDora and Tamako Market, I am especially susceptible to bird propaganda and I will like an anime solely because it has a good bird in it. But back to the music, Gymnastic Samurai’s OP and ED are amazingly fun with great animation to match them. The theme song is actually a cover of Orange Range’s “Shanghai Honey”, performed by Daisuke Namikawa, Kensho Ono & Yuuki Kaji who voice leading men Jotaro, Leonardo, and Tetsuo respectively. The cute tracksuits they wear in the OP are perfect sunday cosplays for when cons are safe to go to again as well. Please hit me up if you know where to get a good red tracksuit!!
Gal & Dino is one of my favorite animes this year that had their production halted due to COVID, but thankfully it’s back now to finish the remainder of the story. My first ‘big kid’ anime was SuperGALS! and ever since I have loved to check out any gyaru based anime that comes out. Kaede, the titular Gal, is stuck in a similar situation to Kobayashi from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. Gets drunk, invites an unnatural life form to live with her, and ends up enriched in life because of them. The show is actually done by the same crew who made the Pop Team Epic adaptation, and Gal & Dino is full of the same wacky shorts. I especially love it’s OP, which mixes beautiful gyaru-themed photography with animation and live action to the song “Kyouryuu Agemisawa” by Kyouruu Friends (Miyuri Shimabukuro, Yuko Natsuyoshi, Youki Kudo, Seiichiro Yamashita who voice Kaede, Yamada, Kaede’s Sempai, and Shota respectively). It’s ED, “Peaceful Days” by Ryuuko Takahashi is a beautiful animation made with needle felted characters. I really encourage you to watch this loveable, goofy show when you need a pick-me-up.
King Records recently put out playlists for both Kaede and Dino that are pretty fire. I’ve been playing them regularly since they came out, they’re actually very excellent compilations. I especially love that Dino’s playlist has “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.
Another of my first ‘big kid’ anime I got into (pretty heavily I might add, my best friend from middle school and I had a whole comic we were doing with our self-insert OCs) was Inuyasha, so you know I have to talk about Yashahime. Sesshoumaru’s baby momma aside, I am pleased with how the anime is going. I also love the OP and ED they chose. I think both “New Era” by SixTONES and “Break” by Uru match the intensity of the original series first OP and ED, “Change the World” by V6 and “My Will” by dream. I doubt it was intentional but I think it is still a very cool coincidence.
You KNOW I had to pick Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima for my musically themed anime to review. My first interaction with HypMic was when I helped my friend Blanca sell at AX 2019 where she sold posters of Fling Posse. I never chose to get into the mobile game but as soon as the anime was announced I pledged to watch it.
I love it so much, it’s exactly the type of bullshit I needed to lighten up my year. I especially want to give a HUGE shout out to the team who translated the lyrics. They are always featured at the end of each episode and I don’t think the show would be as good as it is if not for their hard work. Please give this show a watch, even if it’s a hate watch, just to see how well the raps were translated. Oh and if you must know, Mad Trigger Crew is my favorite group and “Bayside Suicide” is my favorite song, please let them say fuck the police in the blurays.
HypMic may have gotten the Aniplex Advantage. but there’s another stellar music anime this season I want to rave about: D4DJ First Mix! I originally wrote this off but after being bored one day I sat down to watch it and was really surprised and how well it was animated. I think a lot of my enjoyment comes from how prominent pretty vtubers and 3D animation like BEASTARS is. Done are the days of looking down on 3D animation, especially with sakuga like this. I also love the OP; As “eclectic” as it is it does a great job of showing off the musical stylings of the main groups. If you have the time and you’re into electronic music or just the idol wave, please check out this show.
There are some shows I haven’t gotten to watch yet but totally have bangers, so I’ll go ahead and pay tribute to them here:
Noblesse’s ED, “Etoile“, is by one of the best kpop groups, OH MY GIRL. They also provided an ending song for the Kekkai Sensen & Beyond OVA, a track called “Eternalism“. I think it may be my favorite anisongs that is by a Korean artist or group since “Masayume Chasing” by my one true love BoA, which was an OP to Fairy Tail.
The OP for Magatsu Wahrheit -Zuerst- literally gave me goosebumps as I was listening to it. Actually in the Fall 2020 playlist that aniplaylist compiled, there’s a full chunk of amazing songs, starting from this OP and ending with “Carpe Diem” by Chinese cosplayer and singer Liyuu, who sang the ED for I’m Standing on a Million Lives.
Well, that’s a wrap. Thank you for checking out my favorite OPs and EDs from the current Fall 2020 anime season! If you’d like to hear my other favorites that didn’t make this article, please check out my public Spotify playlist that features all the songs I enjoyed from this season!
Thank you to aniplaylist.com for the inspiration and means to create this article aeries. Without their hard work these articles would have been a lot harder to do. Please check out their website and consider donating to them so that we may keep using their services in the future.
Do you like my choices? I would love to hear what your favorite songs from the Fall 2020 anime season were. Also, if there are any shows you think I absolutely must watch this season, let me know by commenting or tweeting me at https://twitter.com/Necara. I am slowly getting through Akudama Drive because I’m watching the english dub and I need to start on Magatsu Wahrheit -Zuerst- while waiting for the Winter 2021 season. If you like this series and would like to see me come back for more guest articles, please feel free to let the BAYOG crew know! Their new twitter is https://twitter.com/WeAreBAYOG, so be sure to follow them for more great articles~!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me. Until next time, goodbye!
