Comments on: Songs to make you feel like you’re always super special

By: Top 5 OP/ED Themes - Fall 2008 | Anime Instrumentality Staff Blog

Top 5 OP/ED Themes - Fall 2008 | Anime Instrumentality Staff Blog — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:33:33 +0000

[...] I didn’t pick this because it makes some people feel super special, but like the post I linked, there’s just something about this song that’s enjoyable, [...]

By: AC

AC — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:31:00 +0000

That’s why writing a music review is harder than writing an anime review to me; there’s nothing much to write about unless it’s at least an album. I don’t watch Chaos;Head but after listening to Super Special, erm…

I don’t really hate it, but strangely I don’t like it either. The rhythm’s nice and Seira’s voice is great, but it’s just lacking something that makes it listenable to my ears. Perhaps it lacks the lyrical coherence but I’m saying this only for this piece of music. I have nothing against music with nonsensical lyrics (I kinda like Hellsing’s Logos Naki World). Rosario’s Discotheque is pure gold and I believe SK can’t disagree with that

As far as the debate on reviewing something objectively to reviewing something on a personal level goes, whichever style one chooses, he/she must be able to reason it out in a comprehensive and persuasive manner. I tend to review something from a neutral standpoint and channel the personal praises or ranting to another place i.e. the forum. For instance, R+V is a series where I would give a low grade if I were to review it but judging from the posts I make in its thread, it’s apparent that it’s a guilty pleasure to me.

By: zzeroparticle

zzeroparticle — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:15:18 +0000

On my end, that’s the major stumbling point that I come across when writing music reviews. When talking about an anime series, you could always say things like “shallow characters,” “plot holes,” and “terrible dialogue” and people will know what you’re talking about. With music reviews, you might say things like “excellent counterpoint” and unless you’ve taken a music course or something, that sentence on its own is completely meaningless without a music clip to illustrate what I’m talking about.

So a lot of how my reviews strive to be as objective as possible by analyzing the music as well as my overall reactions. If people can see where I’m coming from even if they don’t agree with me, I think I’ve succeeded. :p

By: Sorrow-kun

Sorrow-kun — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:23:41 +0000

Akira: I thought about putting Kannagi’s OP on the list, and while it’s a good song, it just doesn’t make me feel super special.

The whole idea of bringing up “Super Special” in this article (other than my irrational attachment to it), was as an analogy for talking about watching and reviewing anime. If we assume that zzeroparticle is right and “Super Special” isn’t worthy of critical acclaim, then it becomes harder to reason just what it is about the song that I like. I guess the analogy isn’t a great one, since, in music, most of what people like isn’t rational anyway. But I suppose my final point is that, while it’s ok to like something for irrational reasons, it’s much harder to review it fairly and “objectively” if you do so, and back up why you like it with reasons that other people can share and understand.

By: gaguri

gaguri — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:08:21 +0000

I like the song. Other than that typically weird engrish lyrics, I don’t see why it’s such a horrible song. But I agree with Akira about Super Special challening, um, irrational response. I personally don’t see what’s so super special about the ED that it’s harder to rationalise one’s reaction to it compared to billion other songs.

By: Akira

Akira — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:48:50 +0000

I disapprove of the lack of Kannagi’s OP from this list. >_>

You know, I also like Super Special. It’s funny, I was just listening to it when I began to read your article. It’s a beautiful song. I’ve long grown used to nonsensical lyrics, so I don’t really mind; the music itself, though, is way too catchy for me not to like. I think that’s probably why you like Super Special so much; it’s ridiculously easy to dance to it. The beat is pounding, the melody is flowing, it’s just awesome.

RC and I often comment about how ridiculously inappropriate the song is for a show like Chaos;Head, though. I don’t know if I agree with you that it’s supposed to challenge an irrational response. Seldom do anime OPs and EDs have anything to do with the actual show.

Though, if we want to talk about nonsensical lyrics, Toradora’s “PURASU PURASU DAKEDO MAINASU” takes the cake for that one. <_<;

I do like all of the songs here; I actually listened to Discotheque on repeat at least 50 times last night. Irrationality is good, I think. Sometimes you just happen to like a show, no matter how crappy it is.

I also think you’re reading way too deeply into Super Special. It’s just a great song, and attaching any more feeling than, “Oh, I like it” and dancing along is probably not what the creators intended.