An image song or character song is a song on a
tie-in
A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original pr ...
single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
,
game
A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (su ...
, ''
dorama
, also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thrill ...
'',
manga
Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...
, or commercial product that is sometimes sung by the
voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...
or
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...
of a character, in character with backing vocals. It is meant to give a sense of the personality of the character.
Character songs are considered an important part of an anime or ''dorama''s success, as they often provide insights to a character that may otherwise go unexplored on the program itself. The series' creators may also include details about a particular character's design stages and evolution, and on occasion even design sketches so fans can see for themselves how a character changed. There may also be comments from the voice actors or actors on how they feel about playing their characters. Sometimes character songs are incorporated into the anime itself, such as ''
Kyōran Kazoku Nikki
is a light novel series by Akira (日日日), with illustrations by x6suke. A 26-episode anime adaptation was broadcast in 2008.
Plot summary
A thousand years ago, Enka (閻禍), the god of destruction, died saying that its "child" would ...
'', which has each of its main characters sing a character song as the ending theme, each with its own animation. Another example is ''
Prince of Tennis
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in forty-two ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...
'', which has the openings and ending songs for the OVA episodes sung by characters in the anime.
Character songs are not restricted to anime protagonists. Antagonists such as
Zechs Merquise
This is a list of characters from the Japanese anime television series ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'', known in Japan as , and subsequent spin-offs. The codes after the characters' names indicate which series and manga the characters appear in:
* ...
,
Master Asia
This is a list of characters featured in the Japanese anime television series and subsequent spin-offs.
Shuffle Alliance
The Shuffle Alliance is a public team composed of five members: Domon Kasshu, Chibodee Crocket, Georges de Sand, Tsai T ...
,
Sailor Galaxia
are a group of fictional characters in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. They are the villains of the series' fifth and final story arc, called ''Stars'' in the manga, '' Sailor Moon Sailor Stars'' in the first anime ad ...
, and some of the villains (such as
Devimon and
Sōsuke Aizen) also have their own character songs. In some cases, these are regarded as more interesting than those of the protagonists as they often provide the only glimpse into a villain's character.
In addition, fans are known to buy character song albums based solely on the voice actor or actor. An example of this is
Megumi Hayashibara
is a Japanese voice actress, singer, lyricist and radio personality from Kita ward in Tokyo and is affiliated with self-founded Woodpark Office. One of the most prominent Japanese voice actresses since the 1990s, Hayashibara is best known for ...
, a well-known voice actress who has released many CDs and albums over her career, including character songs of her characters.
The first anime character song album to reach No. 1 in the Japanese
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...
weekly charts is , performed by the characters from ''
K-On!
is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Kakifly serialized in Houbunsha's '' Manga Time Kirara'' magazine between the May 2007 and October 2010 issues, and also serialized in Houbunsha's '' Manga Time Kirara C ...
'' in 2009, debuting at No. 1 with the sales of 67,000 copies in its first week. The ''K-On!'' characters later became the first anime image group to reach No. 1 in the Oricon singles chart in 2010, with the opening theme for the second season of the show, "Go! Go! Maniac!", which debuted at No. 1 with the sales of over 83,000 copies in its first week.
Character version
A related sub-type is a character version, where a voice actor or actor sings a song from the series as the character. A famous example of this are the various versions of
''Neon Genesis Evangelion''s theme songs, redone by the voice actresses of
Rei Ayanami,
Asuka Langley Soryu and
Misato Katsuragi
is a fictional character from the Gainax-created media franchise ''Neon Genesis Evangelion''. In the eponymous anime television series, Misato is head of the operations department of the special agency Nerv, and is in charge of directing and ...
. They are usually identified by a ''version'' tag at the end of the name (e.g. "
Cruel Angel's Thesis, Ayanami Version").
Character song
Similarly, a character song can also be a song about a character, but not necessarily sung by the character's portrayer. For example, while ''
Mazinger Z
is a Japanese super robot manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later was reissued in Kodansha ''TV Magazi ...
'' includes songs about
Kouji Kabuto and his friends, they are not sung by their voice actors. Nevertheless, they still provide some insight into the character's persona.
In the
''Pokémon'' anime, Dawn and Serena's image song were not sung by their voice actors originally either, although later introduced their voice actors' version.
See also
*
Leitmotif
A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglic ...
References
{{reflist
Song forms
Anime and manga terminology