Ask John: Is It Common for Foreign Musician’s Work to be Used in Anime?

Question:
The opening and ending theme songs for the 1985 anime series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam were composed by a famous American artist Neil Sedaka. Due to copyright disputes involving this person, Bandai was not able to include those original theme songs in its American release of the series. How is that this American was approached to write music for this anime series back in ’85, and since then, have there been other cases of American artists contributing music (whether as composers or performers) for an anime release intended for the Japanese market?

Answer:
I’m sorry to say that I don’t know the exact details on how and why American vocalist Neil Sedaka composed theme songs for the Gundam Z anime series. I vaguely recall hearing that the songs were supposed to be sung by Sedaka’s daughter Dara Sedaka, who had previously sung the theme song for the Millennium Queen anime movie. However, I’m not certain if that’s true.

As far as I know, foreign (non-Japanese) composers may be requested to contribute music for anime if the anime producers or director happens to be a personal fan. Or the employment of foreign composers may be just a matter of circumstances or opportunity. It’s not entirely unusual for music from foreign composers to be used in anime. British rock musician Keith Emerson wrote the score for the 1983 Harmagedon movie. German composer Christopher Franke was chosen to compose the score for the Tenchi Muyo in Love motion picture. American musicians and producers Joey Carbone and Richie Zito were responsible for the soundtrack to the 1986 Project A-ko movie. Composers Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Batman Begins, The Thin Red Line) and Mark Mancina (Speed, Con Air, Twister, Training Day) are responsible for the soundtrack to the current Blood+ anime television series.

Foreign pop songs are also occasionally used in anime. British band boa’s song “Duvet” was used as the opening theme for Serial Experiments Lain. A pair of Backstreet Boys songs were used as the opening and ending themes for the 2002 Hanada Shonen Shi television series. Other groups including Duran Duran, Franz Ferdinand, Mr. Big, and Radiohead have had songs licensed for use as anime themes. In many cases, these songs have been selected for use as anime opening or ending theme songs because they perfectly reflect the spirit of the anime. For example, I can’t imagine Lain without its haunting opening theme, and can’t imagine a more fitting opening theme for Speed Grapher than Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film.”