Ask John: How Popular is Music Themed Anime?

Question:
Is there a large fanbase for musical or musician-themed anime? Every now and then I see an anime that’s all about a rock band or something similar and I just scratch my head. Is anyone watching these anime and what is the most popular one today?

Answer:
Just because anime covers such a wide range of subjects, naturally there would be anime focused on music or musicians. However, the musical, as its known in film lexicons, is not a genre typically covered by anime. I wouldn’t say that either musicals and anime with music as a main theme are particularly influential or distinguished in the anime field. They’re basically just one topic for anime among many.

The Walt Disney animation company is probably best known in the world for producing animated musicals- the traditional, characteristic genre of film in which characters spontaneously break out in song at frequent intervals. It’s perhaps because Disney is so known for this type of film, and so singularly dominates the form, that I can’t think of a Japanese animated film that distinctly fits the “musical” mold. It’s also possible that the particular artifice of the musical just doesn’t appeal to Japanese viewers, or seems too un-natural for anime, which typically emphasizes believability, even within fantastic settings. Ironically, it’s easier to accept the reality of aliens and giant robots than accept people suddenly singing and dancing in unified chorus.

The singer as central character may have originated with Lynn Minmei of 1982’s Superdimensional Fortress Macross, who was followed up by Eve Tokimatsuri in 1985’s Megazone 23. The first rock band in anime that I can think of comes from the April 1987 Red Photon Zillion TV series in which the “White Nuts” were a rock band moonlighting as laser pistol wielding defenders against alien invasion. The first anime I know of that actually told the story of a rock band was the TO-Y OVA from October 1987. However, non-musician characters from earlier shows like Borgman & Orange Road had brief stints as band mates.

Musicians and idol singers have continued to appear in anime through the 1980s and onward in titles such as Bubblegum Crisis, Sentimental Journey, Idol Defense Force Hummingbird, Macross 7, Chance! Triangle Session, Perfect Blue, Sakura Taisen, and Legendary Idol Eriko. Programs specifically about bands, though, seem to be less common. The only recent examples I can think of are the Gravitation OAV series from 1999 and its 2000 TV series, and its contemporary, the 1999 Kaikan Phrase TV series; and there’s the upcoming TV series Beck. The 2002 Aquarian Age TV series had an independent rock band as its core cast, and dealt with the Japanese recording industry, but music and the band were not the main focus of the series. The 2003 movie Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem also related the story of an intergalactic rock band, but the film was more of a sci-fi action adventure than a story about the daily lives of band members.

With the relatively small number of anime titles specifically devoted to musical groups, it would seem that such anime don’t really reflect a massive interest or strong popularity among viewers. Also, because there are so few anime series about musical groups, the ones that do exist make more of an impression because they’re unusual. With music being so essential and interconnected to film, and the anime art form so diverse in its themes and topics, it’s natural to expect some anime to focus on music and musicians. But I don’t think that there’s a specific genre for “musical” anime, nor an identified fan base for such anime.