Anime has had its fair share of pop and rock tunes over the past few decades. Some have become karaoke classics, others popular internet memes. Sometimes music can be the entire premise of the show, like the classic Macross series. Occasionally, even tunes from other genres like jazz can become iconic in their own right, such as the intro to Cowboy Bebop.
Yet the combo of rap and anime feels relatively recent. Like it didn’t start appearing in intros or soundtracks regularly until the turn of the Millennium. But since then, studios have delved further into hip-hop, Rn’B, and rap to give their shows more flavor and appeal to new audiences. Sometimes it’s for laughs, or to chase trends. Other times, it’s used seriously. Here are seven such examples, from the chuckle-some to the emotional.
7 One Piece: 4Kids Intro
The 4Kids localization of One Piece is increasingly becoming a rough memory. The tweaks, censoring, and other alterations have faded year by year. Except for a certain generation of anime fans who can still recall how Luffy became rubber (“Yo-ho-ho, he took a bite of gum-gum!”).
The cheesy lyrics and rhymes are a definite step-down from the Japanese soundtrack, or even from the English version of the classic ‘We Are’ theme that was used in another studio’s localization pitch. Nonetheless, when the words ‘anime’ and ‘rap’ are put together, someone somewhere will recall when “Usopp’s doin’ that marksman thing. Sanji’s cookin’. Chopper’s doctorin’”.
6 Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War: Chika Fujiwara Wants To Beat A Rhythm
This tale of a boy and a girl too prideful to admit their feelings to one another turned battle anime on its head. Sure, it’s still about using tactics to open up an opponent’s defenses. Only instead of exploiting said opening for strikes, it’s for love. It’s in the name after all. In episode 5 of the 3rd season, two of the side characters have a little interaction.
A boy called Miyuki asks Chika for help expressing his feelings to a girl. Instead of doing typical things like writing a letter or making a daring confession, he wants to do it in a rap. After making some cutting remarks to him to a beat, the two end up making a duet in the park to their haters. The scene even uses a fish-eye lens at one point like a 1990s Hype Williams video. Miyuki’s not only come out of his shell, but he can also rock a rhyme as well.
5 Zombieland Saga: I Love Hip-Hop
Ever had an argument that randomly turned into a song? Probably not unless Broadway has become real life. Yet that’s what happens in Episode 2 of the first season of Zombieland Saga. Under threat of their secret being exposed, the recently zombified Sakura picks up the mike and gives her fellow undead bandmate Saki a piece of her mind. Saki retorts, and the argument gets increasingly melodic.
Cue their friends Lily and Yugiri stepping in to provide a beat, and the fight becomes a full-on rap battle. It has a nice, bouncy beat with a traditional flavor via its shamisen chords. Despite Sakura not considering it ‘idol-like behavior’, it entertained the crowd and kept the band’s secret safe for another episode.
4 Gintama: The Most Exciting Part Of A Group Date Is Before It Starts
Gintama’s never been one to shy away from a running joke. One of them involves Katsura Kotarou, a master escapist with a laundry list of different aliases and disguises. When he wasn’t the ‘Fruits Punch Samurai G’, or the ‘Yellow Curry Ninja’, he was trying his hand at hip-hop as DJ Ozura, usually with a giant duck creature called Elizabeth by his side.
In Episode 88, DJ Ozura arrives for a group date and sets the mood by performing a new rap called ‘Joui is Joy’. When Gintoki rips into him for it, he corrects him by saying he’s not Katsura, he’s Katzurap. He keeps trying nonetheless, but to little success. Not even when he tries mixing it with rock at the group date itself. Yet it manages to linger in the mind. Perhaps Joui is Joy after all.
3 Samurai Champloo: Lullabies Of The Lost, Verse 1
After twiddling with jazz in Cowboy Bebop, Shinichiro Watanabe’s samurai counterpart went with hip-hop. Just in case the intro rap ‘Battlecry’ didn’t give the game away. It’s even there in the title, with ‘champloo’ meaning a mix or something stirred together in the Okinawan dialect. In this case, it’s mixing a feudal Japanese setting with Western culture like hip-hop beats.
In the 16th episode, ‘Lullabies of the Lost, Verse 1’, the leads Mugen, Jin, and Fuu are on the trail of the ‘samurai who smells of sunflowers’ when they enter the woods. They pass by three lumberjacks, who expand upon the local rumors of a monster in the area in rap. It ends up leaving the trio confused as they talk about the monster being a 7ft+ giant while also being the ghost of Yoshitune Minamoto. For a show with plenty of rap to spare, this intro is one of the more random uses of the genre.
2 Megalo Box: Leap Over The Edge Of Death
While Megalo Box was made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its predecessor Ashita no Joe, it manages to follow its own path. While it’s still about boxing, and still has a protagonist called Joe, he’s a different guy to his forebear. Set in the late 21st century, ‘Junk Dog’ Joe makes his name in the Megaloboxing circuit by fighting without wearing a ‘Gear’, a metal exoskeleton that boosts the fighter’s attacks. Despite this disadvantage, he manages to beat his Geared-up opponents one by one.
It wouldn’t be a sports show without a training montage. As Joe and his rival Yuri train for their rematch, a rap called ‘The Beast’ plays over the scene. It sets the scene for the duo’s final battle, with Yuri aiming to retire undefeated after he beats Joe at his own game: fighting without a Gear. While Joe aims to grab the title and go from a pretender to holding the crown. Different as they are, the rap also goes into their similarities, as they’re both “a pair of predators, about to be set free”. It caps off the 12th episode nicely, while getting the audience ready for the season finale in the next one.
1 Devilman: Crybaby: Demons Is As Demons Do
The most recent update to Go Nagai’s violent tale of devils and demons introduced the Wamu Gang. Throughout the series, they pep the proceedings up with the odd freestyle rap. They’ll describe the grotty riverside and the crappy city they live in with nothing but rhymes and beatboxing. It adds to the grim setting and oppressive atmosphere the Devilman series works with.
The pinnacle is their last freestyle rap, ‘Demons Is as Demons Do’, where they describe what’s happened to society after demons turn out to be real. People get accused of being demons in disguise on social media, with gangs roaming the streets searching for them. The rap describes it in detail, lamenting “the first to grab (weapons) are the worst of us. Shots pop off, the first to die are the best of us”. As funny as the earlier entries are, media in general could do with more mood-setting tunes like this one.