Sunday Serenade is one of our Periodicals here at GTG, which we decided to start up because of our love for Asian music.
What we do for Sunday Serenade is simple: we recommend music videos for you to watch (three at a time). Our main goal is to develop everyone’s
vocabulary in Asian music, showcasing videos from all over (including Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, etc). We will show videos both new and old. Basically, we want to make an Asian music fan out of you.
That being said, let’s get jamming!
This week’s Sunday Serenade theme: Aliens and Samurais, Oh My!
What is an anime without its opening and ending songs? They set the mood of the show and leave the viewer with a lasting memory. Many shows have begun to use well-known musicians and composers to create the music in their original sound tracks (OST). But it’s often that these musicians actually rise to fame through being featured in the opening and ending themes of anime.
Gintama is not only a hilarious show that shatters, steps on, and crushes the fourth wall, but because of its long time on the air, it has built up a selection of opening and ending themes that has become one of my favourites. Though their songs range from quirky to serious, here are just a few of them to start you off for this week’s Sunday Serenade.
Tommy Heavenly6 – “Pray”
Genre: Pop / Punk Rock
Country: Japan
Year: 2006
Tommy Heavenly6 sang the very first opening of Gintama. Even from such an early stage the anime was already pushing out catchy music for their viewers. Tommy Heavenly6 is just one of Kawase Tomoko’s personas. The singer, songwriter, producer, and model is also known as Tommy February6 and lead-singer of The Brilliant Green. Through her solo productions she shows off a playfully dark side of her personality.
Does – “Shura”
Genre: Rock
Country: Japan
Year: 2007
Does has done four songs for the series now: “Shura”, “Donten”, “Bokutachi no Kisetsu”, and “Bakutachi Dancer”. You can say that they represent some of the more serious themes of the show. Can we expect to see even more of them in the future? Most likely, but for now here’s the fifth ending, “Shura” (“Carnage”).
SPYAIR – “Samurai Heart”
Genre: Alternative Rock
Country: Japan
Year: 2011
The 17th ending to Gintama and 4th single of Spyair, “Samurai Heart (Some like it hot)” has become one of the favourites of the anime’s ending themes. The title plays with the Japanese pronunciation so that “Samurai Heart” becomes “Some Like It Hot” and vice versa. All of the emotions and passions of the story are wrapped up into this song, and every time I listen to it I can’t help but remember the misunderstandings, the broken friendship, and the struggle to a happy ending.
Stay tuned next week for more tunes!