There is something special about anime theme songs. The bests ones fit perfectly with the shows they represent in music, lyrics and animations, but what marks the truly iconic ones is that they're go-to staples at the karaoke bar. The theme song to Hideaki Anno's classic anime Neon Genesis Evangelion fits the bill and now “Cruel Angel Thesis” tops a list in Japan of all-time anime theme songs over the past 30 years.
TV Asahi crowned the Evangelion Theme during the television show "Anisong General Election 2020" that counted the 30 best anime theme songs of all time. Among the other notable songs to make the list is the theme to Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba “Gurenge” by LiSA, The Digimon Adventure theme song “Butter-Fly” by Kouji Wada, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon theme song "Moonlight Densetsu" by DALI and the Fire Force theme song "Inferno" by Mrs. Green Apple.
Crunchyroll recently released a list of the top ending theme songs for Naruto and this all-time list hits very similar emotional beats as that one. The difference is that opening theme songs are energetic, hard-driving and catchy as hell. “Cruel Angel Thesis” is all of those things without a single word of english and when combined with the intense and often emotional anime it's supposed to introduce it makes for the perfect theme.
Among the older songs on the anisong list, the Sailor Moon theme song “Moonlight Densetsu” comes close to equalling Evangelion. Sailor Moon is also a well-known anime in the west and those that grew up watching it could place the theme almost immediately after hearing it. The list isn't just older anime titles and it's worth mentioning some of the newer songs to get voted in.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba first came out in 2019 with the movie releasing this fall and enjoys a theme song by popular Japanese Pop Star by LiSA. Nearly all the anime theme songs she has sung have gone platinum in Japan including the hard-rock inspired song she sang for Demon Slayer “Gurenge.” Fire Force is also a show that made its debut in 2019 and the theme by Tokyo rock band Mrs. Green Apple is an earworm that is hard to get rid of the first time it's played.
There are many other theme songs on the Anisong top 30 list worth mentioning, so just pick a recognizable name from the list and go listen. Below is the full list of songs:
"Cruel Angel's Thesis" by Yoko Takahashi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
"Gurenge" by LiSA (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)
"Uchū Senkan Yamato" by Isao Sasaki (Space Battleship Yamato)
"Butter-Fly" by Kouji Wada (Digimon Adventure)
"Touch" by Yoshimi Iwasaki (Touch)
"only my railgun" by fripSide (A Certain Scientific Railgun)
"Guren no Yumiya" by Linked Horizon (Attack on Titan)
"Get Wild" by TM NETWORK (City Hunter)
"God knows…" by Aya Hirano (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
"Inferno" by Mrs. Green Apple (Fire Force)
"Sazae-san" by Yuko Uno (Sazae-san)
"Moonlight Densetsu" by DALI (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon)
"Maji LOVE 1000%" by ST☆RISH (Uta no Prince-sama - Maji Love 1000%)
"Sekai ga Owaru Made wa" by WANDS (Slam Dunk)
"Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari" by supercell (Bakemonogatari)
""Ginga Tetsudō 999" by Isao Sasaki and the Suginami Children's Choir (Galaxy Express 999)
"CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" by Hironobu Kageyama (Dragon Ball Z)
"Snow halation" by μ's (Love Live!)
"Tetsuwan Atom" by Atoms (Astro Boy)
"Donten" by DOES (Gintama)
"Orion wo Nazoru" by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Tiger & Bunny)
"Odoru Ponpokorin" by B.B.Queens (Chibi Maruko-chan)
"Connect" by ClariS (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
"Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete" by Hiroko Moriguchi (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)
"Lupin the 3rd Theme" by Yuji Ōno (Lupin the 3rd)
"Mazinger Z" by Ichiro Mizuki (Mazinger Z)
"RAY OF LIGHT" by Shoko Nakagawa (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
"Catch the Moment" by LiSA (Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale)
"Stories" by Snow Man (Black Clover)
"Hare Hare Yukai" by Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Yuko Goto (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)