Anime opening songs: Vanitas VS Pretty Boys!

In recent years opening and closing credits of TV series and movies have become almost as entertaining as the content itself. Gone are the days when an opening credit song was a piece of shrieking hard rock music with incomprehensible lyrics and a few poorly played guitar riffs by a no-name artist or at best a horribly over used piece of classical-ish music. Now opening credit scenes often feature chart topping songs by equally famous singers and song writers. The Marvel universe has made the closing credits (something no one used to watch) into one of the most anticipated parts of a feature film. And the closing credit songs to accompany them are equally as prestigious.

pink haired girl listening to music. The text next to her says "without music life would be a mistake." — Music for life!

The elevation of opening and closing songs hasn’t been lost on the anime world. Some anime have become just as famous for their sound tracks as for there story or animation. Though some anime seasons or even years have been better than others, recent anime releases haven’t been lacking in their stylish sound tracks. The two that have really perked up my ears recently have been the opening songs for Pretty Boy Detective Club (a song that I’ve mentioned before) and now the opening song for The Case Study of Vanitas.

white haired girl with green eyes wearing a fancy golden headphones — Golden headphone princess

Both series have very strong closing songs that are more than worth the listen, but it’s really their opening songs that grab you and have you humming along. And, yes, both opening songs have found their way on to my Youtube favorites playlist. Both are fast paced, up beat, and feature cheerful male vocals. Both match the anime they have been paired with. And both are very appropriate for the rather down trodden era they have debuted in. Honestly, after the year and a half that most people have experienced we could all use a little pick-me-up!

white haired boy wearing hoody that says "Make some noise". — Make some noise!

The opening of Pretty Boy Detective Club (Shake and Shake by Sumika) has a wonderful Big Band boisterous sound that is very brassy and Broadway-ish. It has an infectious tempo that will put a bounce in your step and has certainly pulled me through some overly fast pace days at work. I think the only thing I would ever count against this cheerful song is that it can be a bit of an ear worm, so you end up thinking of it even when you really would rather not. I often have a hard time getting to sleep and this is the last song I want to be thinking about at two in the morning when I’m desperately to get some sleep before having to get up at four in the morning for work.

girl with long black hair listening to headphone with a guitar next to her. — listening to music with guitar

The opening song for The Case Study of Vanitas (Sora to Usturo by Sasanomaly) has only a slightly less fast tempo than Shake and Shake, and feels a little more inspirational rather than just cheerful. When the chorus of the song comes around and the singer declares that he “Loves the world!” it’s kind of hard to not smile. And it just fits the anime so well. I can definitely imagine Noe, the adorable country bumpkin from the series, singing this as he wonders around Paris gazing at everything in wonder. This song also suffers from the ear worm effect, but other than that, I could listen to this song all day.

DJ girl with long blue hair in pigtails, colorful lights all around her. — DJ at her craft

But which one is the best opening song of the summer? That’s a trickier question. Honestly which one is my favorite flip flops every few minutes and sometimes it just changes based on which one I am currently listening to at the time. Can I declare a tie? With two songs that are this joyful to listen to, I would say that anyone that hears them is the winner!