Wow! You’re popping out a lot of killer soundtrack analysis’! I love this show so much. I ALSO love Sky: Children of the Light, a game with amazing music!!
@@denisblack9897 Real, though I'd say "a major part of anime songs". Big reason why I love Japanese music (not just anime smh) is because so much of it is packed with jazz, the deeper you can appreciate music, especially jazz, harmonics, and beats, the *much* deeper you can appreciate Japanese music. I find that beautiful.
They do the same thing in Tokyo Venvers. I was like, wait…what the hold hell is that base line doing, and then the vocal flat tune to chordchange. Im no an official dism (sp) fan!
So the opening theme is done by a band called OFFICIAL HIGEDANDISM, and they have some of the best modern pop/rock songwriting I've heard in ages, not to mention their vocalist is amazing. They also did the title track for Tokyo Revengers called "Crybaby" that has some insanely creative sequences and modulations. Highly recommend checking out their stuff!
I WAS GOING TO SAY THE SAME THING!! Please do a video on them they are so freaking cool. They have a song called editorial that is super cool and kinda weird that you should check out
Spy X Family opening really caters to where it's 3 different individuals who are as completely different from eachother as you can get blending togeather on this chaotic miss-mashed mess of a Family much like how the opening starts and remarkebly..... it *WORKS* and we are all happy for it.
I pretty much always skip the opening credits while watching shows, including anime, but for Spy X Family I’ve always watched through the opening and closing credits. Mostly because the music is so good but also because of the animation for the closing credits. Literally every part of the show just makes you happy.
Out of all the anime I've watched, the soundtrack of Spy X Family is just on another level. I never skipped an opening and ending theme because the serotonin boost is just amazing.
Japan isn't some "amazing jazz promised land". Only thing that happened, was that instead of Beatles introducing them to 4-chord loops, after WW2, Jazz was again free to circulate among the Japanese populace after they had risked their lives to listen "enemy's music" in Imperial Japan. This fact left permanent mark on Japanese popular music for decades to come, and until quite recently, they haven't really strayed away from it. In the west, popular music got simpler, and simpler and simpler (recent 15 years being an absolute horrid mess) when music industry was finding ways to make tons of money without risk or investment and we lost the newest things in musical theory that Jazz introduced, but in Japan, the influence stayed. Japanese popular music was also shielded against western influences because internet wasn't a thing and language barrier existed, But recently, even Japan has started to go to the same direction as west after mergers in music industry has left few companies controlling most of the market. And those companies are the same as in the west. Also, internet allows all western influences to transfer and western markets are bigger, so artists and managers want piece of that pie -> they turn towards more western oriented music to appeal. So slowly, Japanese popular music is losing it's unique identity and what made it different... Luckily we have these small pieces of amazing music still coming out... Though, I dislike the op and Ending of almost all anime after 2010... they're too western and not interesting... like the ending of this anime right here...
@@Mtaalas ehh it's not really true that Japanese music didn't have lots of western influence until very recently, and it's also not true that western pop after the 40s/50s became all harmonically simple. let's take pop music from the 70s/80s. in America you have artists like Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Bill Withers, etc who employ rich harmony, fantastic arrangement, and incredible amounts of blues and soul. Modern artists like Bruno Mars carry on this tradition. In Japan in the 70s (into the 80s) you have artists like Taeko Onuki, Miki Matsubara, Yasuho and Mariya Yakeuchi, who have very clear influence from American pop and funk/soul musicians of the 70s. Also fantastic music, don't get me wrong, but there is still plenty of American pop influence. Jumping into the current age, Japanese music absolutely sounds incredibly unique. A lot of jpop and especially vocaloid music fuses various music traditions, from electronic music, to jazz (harmony), to rock, to the pentatonic melodies of Japan's traditional music. Groups like Wagakki Band take this a step further by using all traditional Japanese instrumentation. Groups like Official Huge Dandism produce insanely popular hits that use incredibly rich and interesting harmony and song structure and well as fantastic melodic writing and incredible singing. Even the outro of this anime that you have decried employs jazz harmony and has a fantastic RnB influenced groove, and is more musically complex than most of what you would see on the top charts in any other country. Japanese music has in modern history always taken great influence from a very wide range of musical cultures, and combined them with its own tradition to make something very unique. Sincerely, a jazz musician (who majored in Jazz Performance)
@@Mtaalas also, to challenge your comment on the modern American music industry, just listen to groups like Silk Sonic, Kendrick Lamar (especially with thundercat), Erykah Badu, and Steve Lacy and tell me that American popular music is completely devoid of musical complexity
KNOW NAME (the artists who composed the soundtrack including the song STRIX) is just insane for creating theme-matching soundtracks for different shows, they also did the music for Dorohedoro which had industrial and breakcore vibes. They are so talented, with a great singer as well. Simply astonishing.
Love this wholesome, just some weirdos living as a totally normal human family show and the music is always on point. I love the first ending done by Gen Hoshino, I was obsessed for almost a whole month, Comedy/Kigeki is such a beautiful song.
You’re right, how the song is paced and* how it’s played reflects the show thematically. Like- It’s chaos and all-new experiences but it’s coherent and works well together.
How is it that this show just... exists? And Charles is all over it?! The entire OST (on many streaming services) is amazing to listen to. Great analysis as always Charles!
Ending credit song is just a complete and utter vibe that tickles your ear and makes your brain groove with a head bop dance to boot. P.s.Didn't think the description would be so colorful.
A spy, an assassin and a telepath walk into a bar. The spy says: "Did the enemy notice us?" The assassin says: "I will kill the enemy." The telepath says: "WAKU WAKU."
@@TheCatnipCinema It's a joke about the Forgers. Twilight is the spy, Yor is the assassin, and Anya is the telepath. In the subbed version, Anya says "WAKU WAKU" whenever she's excited about something the other two are doing. Also in case you're asking about Mayuri's reply, it's Japanese for "I love peanuts".
I really love the band that made the opening. They are the "Official Hige Dandism" and their songs are just amazing. You should go through their songs and some of them are crazier than this one :D
The ending song is one my favourites and I love your and your channel along with your genuine passion for music. This video was a real treat, thank you! 😊
I feel like the Spy theme makes me realize how close the soundtrack and the sounds of Spy X Family and The Incredibles are. Both are set in the 60s-70s with one having a faux Cold War-esque theme and the other a more Bondsian with a super power twist.
I have an observation on your surprise of the ending theme. The opening is loud, brash, spy music. This represents the principals of the anime at the start of the anime. Loid is a spy (danger!). Anya is a troubled child from a broken environment (sadness). Yor is an assassin (risk). And even Bond is a research animal (ouch). The ultra high tempo represents the lives of these at the beginning. But the ending theme is calm, warm and inviting. This represents the safe and comfortable lives the family is settling into. I think the selection of music represents the progression of their lives.
Official Hige Dandism, who did the opening theme "Mixed Nuts" is the current leader in Japanese popular music in my opinion. Everything they do is so finely crafted and interesting to a trained ear. Their latest album "Editorial" has so much interesting stuff in terms of Performance, Production, Songwriting, melody, and specifically, chord progression and Key Modulation. Its not just "Mixed nuts", its all their music. None of it is instrumented like this song, but the same writing principles apply. I am so glad they are so popular. Their newest song "Subtitle" is at the top of the Japanese charts at the moment, and for good reason.
The reason you can have different music direction between the intro, the outro and the background music in an anime is because they usually have different artists. The intro is from Official Hige Dandism, the outro is from Gen Hoshino and the BGM has a different composer as well.
I knew you HAD to do this one. When I first watched the anime I was surprised on how much jazz elements this anime had. Pretty much the whole ost is composed of jazz (even the op and ed have massive jazz inspiration which is rare in anime this day and age). Been quite a while I’ve watched anime that had THIS much jazz in the sound track. I’m going to love this video
I've been waiting for the day that Charles listens to Higedan. If he listens to their song "Crybaby" (Tokyo Revengers Opening) and breaks down the modulations, that would be so GOOD
Oh hell yeah I thought you were gonna cover only the in-show OST but didn't expect the comment over Hoshino Gen's Kigeki (ending theme), such a great song , I hope you one day give listen to the rest of his work!
I'm SOOO glad you did this! When you made sense of song #2 (The OP to the anime) my mind was blown! You ADDED to the beauty of the song! Thank you for your work Charles.
interesting thing is. the japanese language is the big reason why bird blues is so popular. the tones just match really well to the language flows compared to english language. you see it in chinese and korean r&b as well
@@voicelessuvularplosive english is one of the weird ones. its like if you say something like "I don't want to take out the trash" in a monotone voice vs snarky attitude, but with asian languages, specifically chinese, japanese, cantonese, instead of saying "four" in chinese with a downward tone, you can accidentally say "death" with a down to up tone. So the chord progression goes with the lyrics in certain aspects. this doesn't apply to the instrumental pieces but they do however inspire them in more of an unconscious way. Who knows? Maybe I'm crazy and have been trying to solve this puzzle on why asian genre music sounds so different chord progression wise. I may be wrong but this is what I have noticed.
@@abborith partly due to Asian languages (CJK, mainly) being tonal the same romanisation word could have several "meaning". and sometime you can sound like you are cursing the hell up the other guy's mother, accidentally.
Gotta give it to Hige Dandism for the OP! I tried learning Mixed Nuts by ear a few months back and I can say I had some of the same reactions as Charles in the process lol. So glad you got to check it out and share how good it is!
The whole sound track is amazing, but the first season’s OP is always gonna be special to me cause it’s the first anime I ever watched and I just sat there and binged it with my partner
Naur... the second season is too basic. There is not much diversity.. both OP and ED are too loud. Unlike the first half which is very diverse and complex the second half just like any anime song out there. Although gotta admit the OP in second half is far better than ED
I’d like to see a break down of the version of Comedy with Gen Hoshino & DJ Jazzy Jeff. That’s a very different version. Great video by the way. 👍🏼🇯🇵🇺🇸
Honestly, songs like these from the anime I watch or stuff I randomly see in my recommendations either here or on Spotify made me try to dive deeper with this music theory thing. Like it's a nice balance between jazz songs' intricacies and pop songs' "ear candiness", just feels so good to listen to while also trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
If you like VGM and jazz just for listening (no analysis!), you might like to check out The Consouls - it's my ear candy 24/7 - Their Radio #24 from last month is stunning
makes me so happy that you went over the soundtrack to this! I love the anime, I love the soundtrack, and now I know why it's so fire thanks to your breakdown!
Had this proud and excited smile on my face the whole video. I love that Charles reviewed this anime while it's still fresh, all of these songs and others from the show have been playing on repeat for me and I was hoping he would make a video about them eventually, never imagined it would be so soon though! What a treat :D
My kids and love watching this show together… and as soon as I heard all of the music (intro and outro), I was crossing my fingers for you to cover it. Thanks!
Same and also hoping The Consouls would do some music covers too even though they focus mostly on vgm. Their anime covers are so good even if there are only a few.
The opening reminds me so much of the time around when "West side story" was written. Maestro Bernstein and his Symphonic Dance vibing the same colour as this! Now I'm sooo in love with both of the songs.
Please go over Japanese 80s City pop, it is phenomenal and some of the best jazz artists have worked on a lot of the city pop songs. Junko Yagami, Miki Mitsubara, Yurie Kokubu (Taxi Man), there's so many absolutely phenomenal artists who were light years ahead of other countries in music, and in my opinion still extremely far ahead, we still haven't reached that level of music.
I love this opening theme of Spy Family and never missed it whenever I see this anime. When the lyrics overlap with the story and you realize why the song is titled "Mixed Nuts", it always grabs my heart! Speaking of a Japanese singer, how about "Shinunogaiiwa" by Fujii Kaze? He sings with a piano like DISM. His music/sound is quite unique and kind of addictive.
While in the west jazz slowly became either an underground niche, elevator music or movie scores, Japan just ran with it and embraced it in all kinds of mainstream songs.
The band that sang the opening theme is Official Hige Dandism. They're really talented and quite good at putting curve balls on what initially sounds like typical anime song
7:26 I think that bass/guitar part represents the character os Yor, an assassin with a pretty agressive tone, or it can be Anya as a joker card on the game
Same with vgm - some very clever composing and I never realised until I heard The Consouls play their vgm jazz covers how good a lot of vgm actually is.
Not a music expert, but I'm an avid listener of Japanese pop. I hear a lot of jazz related tunes in their music and that's one reason why I love the genre so much
I love the “Spy X Family” soundtrack! It is amazing! It has so much feeling and emotion to it! My favorite piece from the soundtrack is “Forever and Ever”! That one is so beautiful! It consists of strings, piano, woodwinds, suspended cymbal, and timpani! “Forever and Ever” has a very rejoicing feeling to it in the key of C major! “Strix” is also very epic! It brings out the feeling of action and sounds very spy-like, hints the name, “Spy X Family”! I have most of the soundtrack on my playlist! The soundtrack to “Spy X Family” is amazing!
Hey Charles, speaking of recent soundtracks, how do you find Yonezu Kenshi's KICKBACK? I adore his music writing skills and I'm so in love with this one.
I'd be interested to see your take on the different styles of jazz spy x family has! In my listening, I've obviously heard big band, but there's some bebop and cool jazz in there as well!
Started watching this anime not knowing anything about it other than people liked it and the soundtrack blew me away. Not the main reason I fell in love with it but definitely a big part. Got way more than I bargained for and I couldn't be happier!
I got to find out about this track when watching the anime and I was just so blown away that needed to go search for it. But the first thing that came to my mind was a reaction from Charles and I can say this is the best Christmas gift I could get. Thanks Charles 🙌🙌
bit of a shot in the dark, but i HIGHLY recommend you make Gurren Lagann's soundtrack the next anime soundtrack you check out. So much going on there that im sure youd enjoy breaking down
The 2nd opening is the best I've seen in years. It's so good I've sent it to a few people that have never really watched anime and they are interested in the show now.
Great video as always! Love the ending theme you covered. One show I know you might be interested in covering its soundtrack is SSSS. Dynazenon by Shiro Sagisu (composer for Evangelion series). It essentially is one track molded into a bunch of different genres and sounds. Would love to see your take on it.
HOW HOW HOW DID I KNOW THIS VIDEO EXISTED TILL NOW?! I was just thinking today that "I wish Charles would make a video on SxF music!" And there it is, over a year ago?!
Now that he has done Spies i would love him to take a look at a thieves themed game like that one series named Sly Cooper it actually take inspirations from big hit movies like ocean's eleven or Italian job the music in Sly 2 is very on point too !
A fair bit of insight, though you can have instances where genres can align (and that can be intended), (unless otherwise stated) performing artists for opening and ending songs of anime are different from the composers of the anime’s original soundtrack. It’s often the anime itself is a big advertisement for 3rd party artists and their songs when they get those slots. Regardless, Official Hige Dandism’s “Mixed Nuts” fits very well when it stirs up excitement for starting every episode. And I’m glad you went out of your way to cover it regardless.
I didn't know what the show was and I'd figure the video would be interesting except I don't know anything to do with piano so I'm just chillin' here while you speak in the 4th dimension.
If you want more spy stuff and want to look at more anime, look at the music from Baccano, and also Read Or Die. Both are excellent, and the music is really right on the money for it.
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Wow! You’re popping out a lot of killer soundtrack analysis’! I love this show so much. I ALSO love Sky: Children of the Light, a game with amazing music!!
Im second on verified omg
I hope Charles does a video on Touhou music, especially from 6
Video 4 plz react to On the coast from Hades and Hades music plz
PLS CHECK UR INSTAGRAM I CANT FIND AN EMAIL ANYWH3RE
I am shocked you are covering such a recent show’s soundtrack quite the last thing I expected but I’m here for it
yes
Such a great show!
His formula is working so let's hope he does George's theme now.
I love Spy Family so much lol
Chainsaw Man next!!
Epic moment
You now have jazz and anime on your side, you are truly unstoppable. Proud of you 😌
anime is 50% made of jazz btw
@@denisblack9897 Jazz is huge in Japan
He also covered Cowboy Bebop a while back. Highly recommended!
@@denisblack9897 uhhhhh how do we break it to this guy that hes souting bullshit
@@denisblack9897 Real, though I'd say "a major part of anime songs". Big reason why I love Japanese music (not just anime smh) is because so much of it is packed with jazz, the deeper you can appreciate music, especially jazz, harmonics, and beats, the *much* deeper you can appreciate Japanese music. I find that beautiful.
The opening theme is absurdly nuts, jpop vocal with a walking bassline 💣
mixed nuts one could say
@@danzirvine accurate
@@danzirvine 😂
They do the same thing in Tokyo Venvers. I was like, wait…what the hold hell is that base line doing, and then the vocal flat tune to chordchange.
Im no an official dism (sp) fan!
Nuts, the peanut variety.
The Jazz right at the very start IMMEDIATELY gave me "The incredibles" vibes. Even that little trumpet wiggle in "The good old days" track
YES!
So the opening theme is done by a band called OFFICIAL HIGEDANDISM, and they have some of the best modern pop/rock songwriting I've heard in ages, not to mention their vocalist is amazing. They also did the title track for Tokyo Revengers called "Crybaby" that has some insanely creative sequences and modulations. Highly recommend checking out their stuff!
Yesss agreeed!!!!!
I WAS GOING TO SAY THE SAME THING!! Please do a video on them they are so freaking cool. They have a song called editorial that is super cool and kinda weird that you should check out
Yeah the OP for Spy x Family is pretty hard to sing :/
Pretender, filament, editorial, I love, stand by me, apoptosis and more. Love them. All good songs.
oh god id absolutely love a video about cry baby that song is something else
Spy X Family opening really caters to where it's 3 different individuals who are as completely different from eachother as you can get blending togeather on this chaotic miss-mashed mess of a Family much like how the opening starts and remarkebly..... it *WORKS* and we are all happy for it.
I pretty much always skip the opening credits while watching shows, including anime, but for Spy X Family I’ve always watched through the opening and closing credits. Mostly because the music is so good but also because of the animation for the closing credits. Literally every part of the show just makes you happy.
same, basically it only happens for 1/50 shows I watch, I watch the OP/ED, it’s just so wholesome and fun
You my dude, are... ELEGANTEEEE
This show and going back to the Tank! open for Cowboy Bebop. Never skip these.
SO DO I
Closing credits are SO good!
Out of all the anime I've watched, the soundtrack of Spy X Family is just on another level. I never skipped an opening and ending theme because the serotonin boost is just amazing.
Also, the second part of mixed nuts is also insane. The whole song is one rollercoaster ride in itself
That's why The Consouls fans had to include Kigeki in Radio #30 - two sets of anime jazz cover brilliance - LIVE!
Then the show has to pull the ol’ switcheroo on us halfway through
Honestly the moments where Charles “geeks out” is such a treat. Especially as a fan of many of the anime series he has covered. Great video!
many* ??
Japanese put colours in jazz for years.
They just level up the jazz to such a point
Yeah japanese jazz tradition
Japan isn't some "amazing jazz promised land". Only thing that happened, was that instead of Beatles introducing them to 4-chord loops, after WW2, Jazz was again free to circulate among the Japanese populace after they had risked their lives to listen "enemy's music" in Imperial Japan.
This fact left permanent mark on Japanese popular music for decades to come, and until quite recently, they haven't really strayed away from it.
In the west, popular music got simpler, and simpler and simpler (recent 15 years being an absolute horrid mess) when music industry was finding ways to make tons of money without risk or investment and we lost the newest things in musical theory that Jazz introduced, but in Japan, the influence stayed. Japanese popular music was also shielded against western influences because internet wasn't a thing and language barrier existed,
But recently, even Japan has started to go to the same direction as west after mergers in music industry has left few companies controlling most of the market. And those companies are the same as in the west. Also, internet allows all western influences to transfer and western markets are bigger, so artists and managers want piece of that pie -> they turn towards more western oriented music to appeal.
So slowly, Japanese popular music is losing it's unique identity and what made it different...
Luckily we have these small pieces of amazing music still coming out... Though, I dislike the op and Ending of almost all anime after 2010... they're too western and not interesting... like the ending of this anime right here...
@@Mtaalas …are you trying to talk about jazz or pop
@@Mtaalas ehh it's not really true that Japanese music didn't have lots of western influence until very recently, and it's also not true that western pop after the 40s/50s became all harmonically simple. let's take pop music from the 70s/80s. in America you have artists like Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Bill Withers, etc who employ rich harmony, fantastic arrangement, and incredible amounts of blues and soul. Modern artists like Bruno Mars carry on this tradition. In Japan in the 70s (into the 80s) you have artists like Taeko Onuki, Miki Matsubara, Yasuho and Mariya Yakeuchi, who have very clear influence from American pop and funk/soul musicians of the 70s. Also fantastic music, don't get me wrong, but there is still plenty of American pop influence. Jumping into the current age, Japanese music absolutely sounds incredibly unique. A lot of jpop and especially vocaloid music fuses various music traditions, from electronic music, to jazz (harmony), to rock, to the pentatonic melodies of Japan's traditional music. Groups like Wagakki Band take this a step further by using all traditional Japanese instrumentation. Groups like Official Huge Dandism produce insanely popular hits that use incredibly rich and interesting harmony and song structure and well as fantastic melodic writing and incredible singing. Even the outro of this anime that you have decried employs jazz harmony and has a fantastic RnB influenced groove, and is more musically complex than most of what you would see on the top charts in any other country. Japanese music has in modern history always taken great influence from a very wide range of musical cultures, and combined them with its own tradition to make something very unique. Sincerely, a jazz musician (who majored in Jazz Performance)
@@Mtaalas also, to challenge your comment on the modern American music industry, just listen to groups like Silk Sonic, Kendrick Lamar (especially with thundercat), Erykah Badu, and Steve Lacy and tell me that American popular music is completely devoid of musical complexity
KNOW NAME (the artists who composed the soundtrack including the song STRIX) is just insane for creating theme-matching soundtracks for different shows, they also did the music for Dorohedoro which had industrial and breakcore vibes. They are so talented, with a great singer as well. Simply astonishing.
highly recommend Dorohedoro's OP which is Welcome to Chaos.
They also did Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash which was awesome, ranging from chill piano or acoustic guitar to metal to beatboxing
Japanese Jazz is so good.
Their fusion stuff is nice too (stuff like T-Square, Cassiopeia and what not.)
check out maoki Yamamoto! he is a modern jazz fusion musician and is fantastic!
For some recent stuff, Penthouse has a few good tunes. Cateen on keys is always a good thing.
Yes! Casiopea is such a great rabbit hole of fantastic music
i love t-square's stuff
Ayo I didn't know people knew about Cassiopeia. I just found them on a random blogspot. Check out Flower Top too.
Love this wholesome, just some weirdos living as a totally normal human family show and the music is always on point.
I love the first ending done by Gen Hoshino, I was obsessed for almost a whole month, Comedy/Kigeki is such a beautiful song.
You’re right, how the song is paced and* how it’s played reflects the show thematically. Like- It’s chaos and all-new experiences but it’s coherent and works well together.
Gen Hoshino dont miss, literally ever
How is it that this show just... exists? And Charles is all over it?!
The entire OST (on many streaming services) is amazing to listen to.
Great analysis as always Charles!
Ending credit song is just a complete and utter vibe that tickles your ear and makes your brain groove with a head bop dance to boot.
P.s.Didn't think the description would be so colorful.
I really love the outro it's a very good r&b track with jazz inspirations and the vocality was perfect for the tone of the anime
That ending song, my friends and I have been talking about it since the artist, Gen Hoshino, dropped it.
A spy, an assassin and a telepath walk into a bar.
The spy says: "Did the enemy notice us?"
The assassin says: "I will kill the enemy."
The telepath says: "WAKU WAKU."
PINATSU GA SUKI
Explain please
@@TheCatnipCinema Watch the show. It's on Hulu, both subbed and dubbed (for a few eps at least).
@@zhenka37 I watched it already. I still don't get it 😂
@@TheCatnipCinema It's a joke about the Forgers. Twilight is the spy, Yor is the assassin, and Anya is the telepath. In the subbed version, Anya says "WAKU WAKU" whenever she's excited about something the other two are doing.
Also in case you're asking about Mayuri's reply, it's Japanese for "I love peanuts".
I really love the band that made the opening. They are the "Official Hige Dandism" and their songs are just amazing. You should go through their songs and some of them are crazier than this one :D
“Strix” - 0:08
“Mixed Nuts”(Opening Theme) - 7:24
“Comedy”(Ending Theme) - 14:52
🎉thank you
The ending song is one my favourites and I love your and your channel along with your genuine passion for music. This video was a real treat, thank you! 😊
I feel like the Spy theme makes me realize how close the soundtrack and the sounds of Spy X Family and The Incredibles are. Both are set in the 60s-70s with one having a faux Cold War-esque theme and the other a more Bondsian with a super power twist.
Same, that's what i thought the moment they played the strix theme in the first episode. It got the incredibles vibe in it.
It's just big band jazz
I have an observation on your surprise of the ending theme. The opening is loud, brash, spy music. This represents the principals of the anime at the start of the anime. Loid is a spy (danger!). Anya is a troubled child from a broken environment (sadness). Yor is an assassin (risk). And even Bond is a research animal (ouch). The ultra high tempo represents the lives of these at the beginning. But the ending theme is calm, warm and inviting. This represents the safe and comfortable lives the family is settling into. I think the selection of music represents the progression of their lives.
Official Hige Dandism, who did the opening theme "Mixed Nuts" is the current leader in Japanese popular music in my opinion. Everything they do is so finely crafted and interesting to a trained ear. Their latest album "Editorial" has so much interesting stuff in terms of Performance, Production, Songwriting, melody, and specifically, chord progression and Key Modulation. Its not just "Mixed nuts", its all their music. None of it is instrumented like this song, but the same writing principles apply. I am so glad they are so popular. Their newest song "Subtitle" is at the top of the Japanese charts at the moment, and for good reason.
The reason you can have different music direction between the intro, the outro and the background music in an anime is because they usually have different artists. The intro is from Official Hige Dandism, the outro is from Gen Hoshino and the BGM has a different composer as well.
The thing is the ending theme "Comedy" is completely written, composed by the singer himself. Melody, lyrics, arrangement, the jazz and all
He is such a genius.
I knew you HAD to do this one. When I first watched the anime I was surprised on how much jazz elements this anime had. Pretty much the whole ost is composed of jazz (even the op and ed have massive jazz inspiration which is rare in anime this day and age). Been quite a while I’ve watched anime that had THIS much jazz in the sound track. I’m going to love this video
I've been waiting for the day that Charles listens to Higedan. If he listens to their song "Crybaby" (Tokyo Revengers Opening) and breaks down the modulations, that would be so GOOD
Oh hell yeah I thought you were gonna cover only the in-show OST but didn't expect the comment over Hoshino Gen's Kigeki (ending theme), such a great song , I hope you one day give listen to the rest of his work!
Fckn legend that Gen Hoshino
Yeah, Gen is blessed, his music is so good.
I'm SOOO glad you did this! When you made sense of song #2 (The OP to the anime) my mind was blown! You ADDED to the beauty of the song! Thank you for your work Charles.
interesting thing is. the japanese language is the big reason why bird blues is so popular. the tones just match really well to the language flows compared to english language. you see it in chinese and korean r&b as well
how would that work? I don't see any correlation between any language to any specific chord progressions
@@voicelessuvularplosive english is one of the weird ones. its like if you say something like "I don't want to take out the trash" in a monotone voice vs snarky attitude, but with asian languages, specifically chinese, japanese, cantonese, instead of saying "four" in chinese with a downward tone, you can accidentally say "death" with a down to up tone. So the chord progression goes with the lyrics in certain aspects. this doesn't apply to the instrumental pieces but they do however inspire them in more of an unconscious way.
Who knows? Maybe I'm crazy and have been trying to solve this puzzle on why asian genre music sounds so different chord progression wise. I may be wrong but this is what I have noticed.
@@abborith partly due to Asian languages (CJK, mainly) being tonal the same romanisation word could have several "meaning". and sometime you can sound like you are cursing the hell up the other guy's mother, accidentally.
Gotta give it to Hige Dandism for the OP!
I tried learning Mixed Nuts by ear a few months back and I can say I had some of the same reactions as Charles in the process lol.
So glad you got to check it out and share how good it is!
Comedy, the ending of the first part of Spy X Family, is one of the best song I've heard this year. So nice you're covering it here! 👏🏿✨👌🏿❣
I have no idea what this guy is talking about but his improvisations sound cool as f
The ending is the coolest notes together you’re heard in your life and it encapsulates that j-pop vibe of “we sad, but we also gon be aight”
As you can hear, japanese voice actor on yor forger she is a former singer from blue drops duo japanese singer
Just wait till he hears the second season's Opening and Ending songs.
The whole sound track is amazing, but the first season’s OP is always gonna be special to me cause it’s the first anime I ever watched and I just sat there and binged it with my partner
The second season OP kinda underwhelming unfortunately
@@johnmichaelmaala4782 Imo I think season2 opening sounds better than the S2 credits, but neither match the original op and ed
Naur... the second season is too basic. There is not much diversity.. both OP and ED are too loud. Unlike the first half which is very diverse and complex the second half just like any anime song out there. Although gotta admit the OP in second half is far better than ED
Gen Hoshino is amazing. Would love to see you break down others songs of his. "I Wanna Be Your Ghost" is another one of my favorites.
I second this!! Gen Hoshino has some of the funkiest tunes out there!!
can't agree more!!
that ending song [comedy] always made me cry, especially the lyrics but obvs the arrangement has a lot to it too
That ending song is a lullaby for me. its so relaxing.
I’d like to see a break down of the version of Comedy with Gen Hoshino & DJ Jazzy Jeff. That’s a very different version. Great video by the way. 👍🏼🇯🇵🇺🇸
He goes over the ending theme at 14:50
"Eclectic mix" really sums up this family, so it's a very fitting soundtrack.
i’ve been listening to comedy on repeat for so long! so happy that you reviewed it 🤩 it’s such a bop omg
Honestly, songs like these from the anime I watch or stuff I randomly see in my recommendations either here or on Spotify made me try to dive deeper with this music theory thing. Like it's a nice balance between jazz songs' intricacies and pop songs' "ear candiness", just feels so good to listen to while also trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
If you like VGM and jazz just for listening (no analysis!), you might like to check out The Consouls - it's my ear candy 24/7 - Their Radio #24 from last month is stunning
makes me so happy that you went over the soundtrack to this! I love the anime, I love the soundtrack, and now I know why it's so fire thanks to your breakdown!
Had this proud and excited smile on my face the whole video. I love that Charles reviewed this anime while it's still fresh, all of these songs and others from the show have been playing on repeat for me and I was hoping he would make a video about them eventually, never imagined it would be so soon though! What a treat :D
My kids and love watching this show together… and as soon as I heard all of the music (intro and outro), I was crossing my fingers for you to cover it. Thanks!
Same and also hoping The Consouls would do some music covers too even though they focus mostly on vgm. Their anime covers are so good even if there are only a few.
The opening reminds me so much of the time around when "West side story" was written. Maestro Bernstein and his Symphonic Dance vibing the same colour as this! Now I'm sooo in love with both of the songs.
Please go over Japanese 80s City pop, it is phenomenal and some of the best jazz artists have worked on a lot of the city pop songs. Junko Yagami, Miki Mitsubara, Yurie Kokubu (Taxi Man), there's so many absolutely phenomenal artists who were light years ahead of other countries in music, and in my opinion still extremely far ahead, we still haven't reached that level of music.
YES YES YES I LOVE CITYPOP
I love this opening theme of Spy Family and never missed it whenever I see this anime. When the lyrics overlap with the story and you realize why the song is titled "Mixed Nuts", it always grabs my heart! Speaking of a Japanese singer, how about "Shinunogaiiwa" by Fujii Kaze? He sings with a piano like DISM. His music/sound is quite unique and kind of addictive.
Spy x Family is probably my first anime that I never skipped the credits because I just love the EP
I rec'd this one a while back. I'm sure many other folks did too. So glad you're covering this one! Mixed Nuts is so noteworthy.
Love the show, love the breakdown of the music. Thanks for this.
Kigeki (the ending song) is by far my favorite anime ending. I have been vibing to it for the past couple of months now
While in the west jazz slowly became either an underground niche, elevator music or movie scores, Japan just ran with it and embraced it in all kinds of mainstream songs.
He needs to listen to the Love is War OP's next for sure
Thank you for wonderful music analysis as always!
I love hishino gen and watching the show, the outro theme kinda caught me by surprise ..i was smiling from ear to ear lol
The band that sang the opening theme is Official Hige Dandism. They're really talented and quite good at putting curve balls on what initially sounds like typical anime song
7:26 I think that bass/guitar part represents the character os Yor, an assassin with a pretty agressive tone, or it can be Anya as a joker card on the game
I hope he does Kaguya Sama music next. The 3 OPs are 🔥!
everytime i watch ur vids i am blown away by ur knowledge!!!
You just helped me understand a fundamental 251 concept. well in.
Absolutely love it when you analyze anime tracks. Incredible to see how elements of American jazz are often borrowed and adapted.
Same with vgm - some very clever composing and I never realised until I heard The Consouls play their vgm jazz covers how good a lot of vgm actually is.
Gen Hoshino's music in general is just super dope
Man I love how diverse the soundtrack is, also yor's theme is very cool
Not a music expert, but I'm an avid listener of Japanese pop. I hear a lot of jazz related tunes in their music and that's one reason why I love the genre so much
Great show! Great music!!
I love the “Spy X Family” soundtrack! It is amazing! It has so much feeling and emotion to it! My favorite piece from the soundtrack is “Forever and Ever”! That one is so beautiful! It consists of strings, piano, woodwinds, suspended cymbal, and timpani! “Forever and Ever” has a very rejoicing feeling to it in the key of C major! “Strix” is also very epic! It brings out the feeling of action and sounds very spy-like, hints the name, “Spy X Family”! I have most of the soundtrack on my playlist! The soundtrack to “Spy X Family” is amazing!
Now I want to see a breakdown of the S2 opening cause it sounds crazy in the best way
Hey Charles, speaking of recent soundtracks, how do you find Yonezu Kenshi's KICKBACK? I adore his music writing skills and I'm so in love with this one.
Yeah, his music is great too.
I'd be interested to see your take on the different styles of jazz spy x family has! In my listening, I've obviously heard big band, but there's some bebop and cool jazz in there as well!
Started watching this anime not knowing anything about it other than people liked it and the soundtrack blew me away. Not the main reason I fell in love with it but definitely a big part. Got way more than I bargained for and I couldn't be happier!
I got to find out about this track when watching the anime and I was just so blown away that needed to go search for it. But the first thing that came to my mind was a reaction from Charles and I can say this is the best Christmas gift I could get. Thanks Charles 🙌🙌
bit of a shot in the dark, but i HIGHLY recommend you make Gurren Lagann's soundtrack the next anime soundtrack you check out. So much going on there that im sure youd enjoy breaking down
The 2nd opening is the best I've seen in years. It's so good I've sent it to a few people that have never really watched anime and they are interested in the show now.
yeeee
Souvenir>Mixed nuts fite me
Great video as always! Love the ending theme you covered. One show I know you might be interested in covering its soundtrack is SSSS. Dynazenon by Shiro Sagisu (composer for Evangelion series). It essentially is one track molded into a bunch of different genres and sounds. Would love to see your take on it.
Man how I love the ED theme.
I would love a reaction to city pop and how it connects to modern japanese music!
HOW HOW HOW DID I KNOW THIS VIDEO EXISTED TILL NOW?! I was just thinking today that "I wish Charles would make a video on SxF music!" And there it is, over a year ago?!
Dude I've been wanting him to listen to the opening theme ever since I first heard it 😩 it's SO GOOD
Now that he has done Spies i would love him to take a look at a thieves themed game like that one series named Sly Cooper
it actually take inspirations from big hit movies like ocean's eleven or Italian job the music in Sly 2 is very on point too !
THIS!!! I love me some Thieving Racoons!
It all has that “pink panther” essence to me.
THANK YOU CHARLES OMG
AAAHHHHH!!!! Been waiting for you to react/ explain SxF soundtrack! Especially the OP..huhu
A fair bit of insight, though you can have instances where genres can align (and that can be intended), (unless otherwise stated) performing artists for opening and ending songs of anime are different from the composers of the anime’s original soundtrack. It’s often the anime itself is a big advertisement for 3rd party artists and their songs when they get those slots. Regardless, Official Hige Dandism’s “Mixed Nuts” fits very well when it stirs up excitement for starting every episode. And I’m glad you went out of your way to cover it regardless.
SpyxFamily has the most unexpected OST. Do Made in Abyss: The Golden City in the Scorching Sun - that is the OST
I have actually wanted this for a while
I didn't know what the show was and I'd figure the video would be interesting except I don't know anything to do with piano so I'm just chillin' here while you speak in the 4th dimension.
This is Elegant!!!
If you want more spy stuff and want to look at more anime, look at the music from Baccano, and also Read Or Die. Both are excellent, and the music is really right on the money for it.
When I watch a show and go, "Man, I'd love to see Charles' reaction to this opening" and Charles is like "I anticipated this".
I'd recommend listening to the soundtracks of Made in Abyss. Brilliantly composed
You should see Baccano!
Not as jazz influenced i think, but the second seasons opening is very rythmic based and i love it. Would like to hear you thoughts on it too!
It reminds me a lot of Tank (theme from Cowboy Bebop) full of vigor and artistic flair. A vibrant jazz theme, wrapped in classic spy theme tones.
i know nothing about music theory but this sound track makes me feel so happy and this video was so cool
I geeked out the same way about the ending theme. That hemiola in the middle murdered me.