Japanese Fans Share Their Top Anime Songs Across Different Eras

On October 7th, 2023 TV Asahi aired a program tallying votes of 10,000 people who chose their favorite anime songs from Reiwa, Heisei, and Showa, giving international fans a sense of Japanese tastes across different ages and generations.

TV Asahi is one of the largest broadcasters in Japan, and if the scale of the survey wasn’t seismic enough, the program ended up being a gathering of legends and some of the most iconic people in anime. Pitting the Showa era (25 Dec 1926 – 7 Jan 1989), Heisei era (8 Jan 1989 – 30 Apr 2019), and Reiwa era (May 1, 2019 — present) against each other, voices like Akira Kamiya (Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star), Yuko Miyamura (Asuka, Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Kikunosuke Toya (Denji, Chainsaw Man) were in attendance.

Pictured above and from the top left are Yurie Igoma (Ruby, Oshi no Ko), Kento Ito (Hirotaka Nifuji, Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku), Miyu Tomita (Chuchu, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, and Kikunosuke Toya (Denji, Chainsaw Man). From the bottom left are Akira Kamiya (Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star), Yuko Miyamura (Asuka, Neon Genesis Evangelion) Shiori Izawa (Pochita, Chainsaw Man), and Yuki Iwai (writer from the comedy duo, Haraichi).

Hiroko Moriguchi, performer of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam OP 2, “For Us to Decide”

The ranking from the Showa era (1926 – 1989) was as follows:

	Year	Song	Anime	Performer
1	1985	“Touch”	Touch	Yoshimi Iwasaki
2	1979	“The Galaxy Express 999”	Galaxy Express 999	Godiego
3	1974	“Space Battleship Yamato”	Space Battleship Yamato	Isao Sasaki
4	1987	“Get Wild”	City Hunter	TM Network
5	1972	“Mazinger Z”	Mazinger Z	Ichiro Mizuki
6	1969	“Sazae-san”	Sazae-san	Yuko Uno
7	1984	“Ai wo Torimodose!!”	Fist of the North Star	Crystal King
8	1963	“Astro Boy”	Astro Boy	Kamitakada Boys’ Choir
9	1977	“Lupin the 3rd Theme”	Lupin the 3rd Part II	Yuji Ono
10	1988	“Anpanman’s March”	Let’s Go! Anpanman	Dreaming
11	1981	“Lum’s Love Song”	Urusei Yatsura	Yuko Matsutani
12	1983	“Cat’s Eye”	Cat’s Eye	Anri
13	1984	“Do you remember love?”	Macross: Do You Remember Love	Mari Iijima
=14	1986	“Makafushigi Adventure!”	Dragon Ball	Hiroki Takahashi, Ushio Hashimoto
=14	1979	“I’m Doraemon”	Doraemon	Fujiko F. Fujio
=14	1973	“Cutie Honey”	Cutie Honey	Yoko Maekawa
17	1976	“Candy Candy”	Candy Candy	Mitsuko Horie, The Chirps
18	1979	“Fly! Gundam!”	Mobile Suit Gundam	Ko Ikeda
19	1985	“For Us to Decide”	Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam	Hiroko Moriguchi
20	1983	“Omoidegaippai/10% no Ameyohou)	Miyuki	H2O

The ranking from the Heisei era (1989 – 2019) was as follows:

	Year	Song	Anime	Performer
1	1995	“A Cruel Angel’s Thesis”	Neon Genesis Evangelion	Yoko Takahashi
2	1989	“Cha-La Head Cha-La”	Dragon Ball Z	Hironobu Kageyama
3	1990	“Odoru Ponpokorin”	Chibi Maruko-chan	B.B. Queens
4	1994	“Sekai ga owaru made wa…”	SLAM DUNK	WANDS
5	1992	“Moonlight Legend”	Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon	DALI, Sakura Sakura
6	1974	“Yasashisa ni tsutsumareta nara”	Kiki’s Delivery Service	Yumi Matsutoya
7	1999	“We Are!”	One Piece	Hiroshi Kitadani
8	1997	“Mezase Pokemon Master”	Pokemon	Rica Matsumoto
9	1996	“Sobakasu”	Rurouni Kenshin	JUDY AND MARY
10	1993	“Kimi ga suki da to sakebitai”	SLAM DUNK	BAAD
11	1997	“Princess Mononoke”	Princess Mononoke	Yoshikazu Mera
12	1999	“Butter-Fly”	Digimon Adventure	Koji Wada
13	1993	“Anata dake mitsumeteru”	SLAM DUNK	Maki Oguro
14	1975	“Rouge no Dengon”	Kiki’s Delivery Service	Yumi Matsutoya
15	2016	“Zenzenzenzense”	Your Name.	RADWIMPS
16	1996	“DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku”	Dragon Ball GT	FIELD OF VIEW
17	1999	“Magical Carnival”	Magical Doremi	MAHO-do
18	2001	“Itsou nandodemo/Inochi no Namae”	Spirited Away	Yumi Kimura
19	2000	“Secret of my heart”	Detective Conan	Mai Kuraki
20	2013	“Guren no Yumiya”	Attack on Titan	Linked Horizon

The ranking from the Reiwa era (2019 – present) was as follows:

	Year	Song	Anime	Performer
1	2023	“Idol”	Oshi no Ko	YOASOBI
2	2019	“Gurenge”	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba	LiSA
3	2020	“Homura”	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Train	LiSA
4	2022	“Mixed Nuts”	SPY x FAMILY	Official Hige Dandism
5	2021	“Zankyosanka”	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Entertainment District Arc	Aimer
6	2022	“KICK BACK”	Chainsaw Man	Kenshi Yonezu
7	2023	“Utsukushihire”	Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine	Spitz
8	2022	“New Genesis”	One Piece: Film Red	ADO
9	2020	“Niji”	Stand by Me Doraemon 2	Masaki Suda
10	2019	“Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do?”	Weathering With You	RADWIMPS
11	2021	“Cry Baby”	Tokyo Revengers	Official Hige Dandism
12	2022	“Dai Zero Kan”	The First Slam Dunk	10-FEET
13	2020	“Kaikai Kitan”	Jujutsu Kaisen	Eve
14	2021	“One Last Kiss”	Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time	Hikaru Utada
15	2022	“The Blessing”	Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury	YOASOBI
16	2023	“Where Our Blue Is”	Jujutsu Kaisen	Tatsuya Kitani
17	2019	“Inferno”	Fire Force	Mrs. GREEN APPLE
18	2023	“Kizuna no Kiseki”	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba	Man with a Mission, milet
19	2023	“Mephisto”	Oshi no Ko	Queen Bee
20	2021	“Kaibutsu”	BEASTARS	YOASOBI

Many of the current Reiwa era inclusions are unsurprising, as hits such as YOASOBI’s “Idol,” Man With A Mission & milet’s “Kizuna no Kiseki,” and QUEEN BEE’s “Mephisto” all ranked in Anime Corner’s first-ever Best Opening and Ending Theme Songs of Anime Spring 2023 poll. Additionally, “Where Our Blue Is” topped the recent Summer 2023 edition which dropped on October 9. Despite this, there were notable omissions throughout the eras. Some of the most popular anime adaptations, such as Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Ranking of Kings, and Mob Psycho didn’t feature at all, while One Piece‘s only inclusions are its first and more recent theme songs.

To document international differences, TV Asahi also conducted a random street poll of 151 foreigners in Japan about their favorite anime songs, and the top 8 were quite surprising when compared to their Japanese counterparts:

	Year	Title	Anime	Song
1	2008	“Blue Bird”	Naruto Shippuden	Ikimonogatari
2	1999	“We Are!”	One Piece	Hiroshi Kitadani
3	2023	“Idol”	Oshi no Ko	YOASOBI
4	1995	“A Cruel Angel’s Thesis”	Neon Genesis Evangelion	Yoko Takahashi
5	2019	“Gurenge”	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba	LiSA
6	2014	“unravel”	Tokyo Ghoul	TK from Ling tosite sigure
=7	2022	“KICK BACK”	Chainsaw Man	Kenshi Yonezu
=7	2004	“Go!!!”	Naruto	Flow

YOASOBI’s “Idol” quickly went viral both Japan and in abroad, owing greatly to the easy accessibility to anime that fans now have. The Deputy-in-Chief at Shonen Jump+ shared this sentiment in his statement via X (formerly Twitter) while announcing recent overhauls of their international MANGA Plus platform:
“Instead of a series gaining popularity abroad only after becoming popular in Japan, or a manga becoming recognized after an anime adaptation, we are entering an era where when an interesting new serialization starts, readers around the world can enjoy it in their preferred language, leading to worldwide popularity right from the beginning.“

The success of “Idol” meant that YOASOBI quickly put out an English version of the song which soon topped the charts. Like newer anime, such as Oshi no Ko and Chainsaw Man, Naruto served as one of the earliest introductions to anime for many abroad, suggesting that while things can and often do go viral at the same time, what remains iconic to viewers, and the subcultures of anime that grow as a result of separate histories may slightly differ.

Source: TV Asahi, Oricon
Featured image: Oshi no Ko © Akasaka Aka x Mengo Yokoyari / Shueisha / Oshi no Ko Production Committee

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