Summary
When it comes to music and anime, the two go together like peanut butter and jelly. Anyone who has watched even a few anime knows that a great opening song with well-animated visuals can have enough emotion in it to last for years and years. In fact, most people who watch anime can recall their favorite music and/or opening from the first couple of anime they watched with ease.
But what about isekai? Yes, the isekai subgenre of anime is pretty oversaturated (everyone’s making an isekai at this point), but how many of them manage to nail their musical selection? Well, let’s take a look at some of the isekai anime that have some truly memorable music.
Both of the openings fromTsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasyare great, but the one calledGambleis especially amazing. Not only that, but the show has a fair bit of nice musical effects for certain moments in the show such as those wooden ‘clacking’ instruments typically used in Kabuki shows or the Taiko drums they use in certain moments.
In general while one might not immediately think ofTsukimichias a very ‘musical’ show, the series and storytelling ofTsukimichias a whole is obviously inspired by Japanese Theater, so having well-integrated musical elements in it only makes sense.
At the time of writing this, the 3rd season ofThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slimewill be coming out in just about a month (April 5th, 2024). And, in the two seasons that have already aired (as well as a movie and some additional extra episodes), there’s been a lot of great music.
In particular, the show’s first opening withNameless Storyand its second opening calledLike Flames(the singer of which actually originally started out as a YouTube artist) are seen in a lot of ‘best isekai openings’ YouTube videos and lists.
This next entry is a unique one, as it involves an IP that has multiple unique anime series as well as movies. TheDigimonfranchise has had a lot of different anime series made for it such asDigimon Tamers,Digimon Adventure, or evenDigimon Adventure Tri. And, depending on which series (or movie) each person grew up with, they’ll have a different music moment in their head when thinking aboutDigimon. Personally, for us, it has to be the climax ofDigimon: The Movieback in 2000 withHere We Go.
But, for others, it could beKick It UporButterflythat brings them immediate fond memories of these digital monsters. Regardless, the point is that theDigimonfranchise is one that’s well-known for having a large catalog of amazing music, which is exactly why it deserves to be on this list.
KonoSuba: God’s Blessing On This Wonderful Worldis a comedy anime like no other. While a lot ofother comedy anime may come close to itin terms of their style of humor, nothing can quite capture the chaos that is Kazuma’s party of incompetent misfits.
And, the music (and general background musical accompaniment) for this show is also fantastic. The second opening of the series calledTomorrowis the one the anime community as a whole seems to reference the most. Whether this popularity is due to the catchy chorus of the song, the hilarious animation of their adventure hijinks during the song, or just that wiggle and thumbs up ‘dance’ the party does multiple times throughout the opening, every part of it comes together to make something absolutely amazing.
Out of all the isekai series in recent years,Overlordis probably referenced the most often with regard to its music. The openings of all four seasons of this anime are all absolute ‘bops’, and all of them have a very unique style to the music that separates them from the rest of the pack. The opening eachOverlordviewer prefers can vastly differ, but in general, the first opening calledClattanoia,and the third openingVoracityare the ones that are referenced most often.
Not only that, butOverlordalso integrates other music into the actual events of the anime quite well, such as Princess Renner’s solo song in the last episode of season 4 or the foreboding music that plays whenever Ainz is doing something that’ll have massive effects across the world.
Next up is another incredibly well-known series,Re: Zero - Starting Life in Another World.This isekai seriesdoes a whole lot different from other isekai storieswhether that’s the way its protagonist grows, the time travel mechanics, the brutality of the violence in the show, or even the music.
Of course, the openings for this show are great, with the first opening, calledRedo,being the most iconic example. However, that’s far from the only music used in the show, and it’s almost always used for dramatic effect, as anyone who has seen the very shocking ending of episode 15 can verify.
The Rising of the Shield Herois another isekaithat adds a whole lot of new ideas to the isekai subgenre. Not only are the heroes of this story not really worth the title of being called heroes, but the royalty of this world (save for one Matriarch) is downright deplorable in their behavior. It’s no wonder that Naofumi came away from the whole affair incredibly traumatized. And, this strife is commonly shown in the music for the show as well, though the openings do split the more emotional moments of the song with the more energetic moments, such as in the first opening Rise where it goes from Naofumi (and Raphtalia’s) darker moments to the other three heroes doing action poses.
Again, this isn’t the only musical accompaniment in the show, and there are also multiple opening and ending songs that are incredibly memorable. In general,The Rising of the Shield Herois just an example of an isekai series that has great music all around.
The animeNo Game No Lifehas a lot of unique things going for it. The series has a very unique art style, a very unique cast of characters, it uses a very unique color palette, and its music is also very unique. There’s a lot of background music utilized in this show, typically to highlight the most emotional, hype, or beautiful moments of the series, such as when Sora does his iconic ‘Imanity is weak’ speech.
But, the song almost everybody knows this show for has to be its opening calledThis Game,and if the singer in this opening sounds familiar that’s because Konomi Suzuki also did the opening mentioned above inRe: Zero.This Gameis probably one of the more iconic anime openings of the last decade, andwhenever a season 2 for this anime is mentioned, people typically jokingly reply that it’ll come when the studio manages to get an opening better than the first one (implying it never will).
As far as unique anime openings go, this next series has one of the more unique ones in recent memory.Driftersis another incredibly fresh take on the standard isekai story in a ton of ways, in particular, the style and general setting of the series stand out the most.
And, this style is used to an even greater effect in its openingGospel of the Throttle. Not only is this rock song such an ambitious choice for an anime opening, but the integration of the song and the animation of the opening is also incredibly innovative. Having the characters on screen mouth the ‘na na nas’ along with the song is such a simple but incredibly effective idea that instantly makes this opening stick in the minds of anyone who sees it.
And last upis another isekai series that’s commonly mentionedalongsideOverlordandRe: Zerowhen people bring up isekai with great music,The Saga of Tanya the Evil. This is another case of artist overlap, as the opening that the series is known for the most,Jingo Jungle, was also made by the same people asOverlord’sthird opening.
In general,The Saga of Tanya the Evilhas a lot of very action-heavy scenes,as Tanya is often directly in the middle of battle, and music matters a lot here to try and match the energy of the battle. And, typically, this show manages to hit the mark and even exceed it with the music it uses in the show whether that’s for the openings, the endings, or in the background of the show itself.
