80's TV anime -- America intros vs the original Japanese

[danth]

In the 80's, anime that got shown on US television typically had their theme songs, if not their whole sound tracks, replaced. For the most part, I've found the US music to be far more "epic" than the original Japanese. Or maybe just more soundtracky.

Here are some examples:

Dragon Warrior. The link has the US intro followed by the Japanese (Dragon Quest) version.

Then you have Robotech. Here is the US version. Robotech was made of three Japanese shows including Macross and Mospeada (you can find the Southern Cross opening if you really want to).

Voltron versus GoLion

Macron One versus GoShogun and Srungle (Gotta love that MISSION OUTER SPACE).

In all cases the US versions are all or mostly instrumental and sound like epic soundtrack music (think Star wars or Superman), while the Japanese versions sound more like Rock, Disco, Blues, or whatever. Not that this is a new insight; Japanese shows have always had more pop-influenced opening music, from what I can tell.

Now I like a lot of anime music, but in these cases I think the US versions are improvements. The Robotech and Dragon Warrior songs are so amazing that I can't really put into words. They just sound like adventure and excitement. Voltron sounds like deep space mystery and the majestic nobility of giant mechanical lions (and yes I know how cheesy that sounds). The singing in Macron One is stupid, but I think it beats MISSION OUTER SPACE! :p

What do you guys think?

[greg]

I'll always have a nostalgic soft spot for the openings to Voltron and Robotech. Even now as I type this, I can clearly remember how those themes went. I'm a bit preferential to a more epic, adventurous anthem, although I still like the Japanese opening themes too.

I'd never seen the Starblazers anime since that was a few years ahead of my time (I was born in '76), so I was surprised when I watched a clip of the Starblazers theme on YouTube. It was the same song as the Yamato theme, but with changed words. The same goes for the Speed Racer show. However, neither of these were '80s shows in America.

Thanks for those links! I never did see any of the Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior shows when it aired on TV.

[llj]

I prefer the OP to Teknoman over the 1st Tekkaman Blade opening (I think the second opening rocks, though)

I dig the Robotech theme over Macross and Southern Cross' OPs, but I have a soft spot for Mospeada's cheesy "Lonely Soldier Boy" theme, though. In fact, out of the three shows, Mospeada is the only show I prefer the original BGM.

[davemerrill]

I think Star Blazers counts as an 80s show; the first airing was in September of 1979, but it was shown in numerous markets throughout the 80s.

The Hoyt Curtin Battle Of The Planets theme is well-done, in my opinion, but I also like the original Gatchaman theme music as well; the compilation film has a great orchestral score, and the second Gatchaman OP song is unbeatable.

Thunderbirds 2086 (back to the 80s) used an instrumental of the Japanese theme song, but also got a lot of mileage out of the orchestral Technovoyager music, which is terrific music.

I was never that impressed with the Robotech theme music; Ulpio Minucci has a keyboard and he's gonna use it! The music for "Captain Harlock & The Queen Of 1000 Years" is even worse; maybe with a real orchestra it would have sounded better, but coming out of a tinny synthesizer, no way. It's a shame too; the original Harlock BGM is fantastic.

Srungle's second OP has a better song ("Fighting On"), though I will give "Mission Outer Space" credit for trying something interesting in the way of chord & time changes. The Macron 1 theme song is horrifying.

I can't even remember what the "Bismarck" theme song sounds like, so props to "Saber Rider", I guess.

The Force Five series took the easy way out and used instrumental versions of each show's theme songs, and that worked really well for the most part. I can remember trying to figure out the brass parts for the "Grandizer" theme song in band class.

[davemerrill]

Oh yeah, when they brought SAINT SEIYA to the United States as "Knights Of The Zodiac", somebody figured the way to sell it was to replace the kick-ass hair metal theme song with a cover of Flock Of Seagulls "I Ran". That's 80s in a bad way.

[danth]

I can't even remember what the "Bismarck" theme song sounds like, so props to "Saber Rider", I guess.

Whaaa? The Bismarck theme song is awesome!

[greg]

I never saw Macron One back in the day. I probably would've been ecstatic to discover it, but I never heard of it back then. I've never seen it until I just watched the link above. So Peter Cullen did the intro narration to that show too, huh? So aside from Optimus Prime in Transformers, he did voice work for Voltron and Macron One. He couldn't stay away from giant robots, it seems!

Oh yeah, when they brought SAINT SEIYA to the United States as "Knights Of The Zodiac", somebody figured the way to sell it was to replace the kick-ass hair metal theme song with a cover of Flock Of Seagulls "I Ran". That's 80s in a bad way.

Oh my crap, Dave, you aren't kidding! That's another one I missed out on. I used to watch Ronin Warriors (Samurai Troopers), which I often got confused with Zodiac/Saint Seiya (I also kept wanting to call that show Shogun Warriors, too, adding more to my confusion).

I hear that Mike Score has come to hate the song "I Ran" because it overshadowed everything else he wrote. That's a shame, because I thought that "Space Age Love Song" was the best song by Flock of Seagulls.

[davemerrill]

I like Flock Of Seagulls fine, but as a OP to Saint Seiya the song just didn't fit.

Danth: Oh yeah, "Call Me". Totally forgot about that!

llj: I love that first Tekkaman Blade OP. The album version has this totally cheesy gunshot effect that goes from one channel to the other; it fits the show perfectly. It's as if the song itself has a mullet and a bad attitude.

The original OP to the second series of Jungle Emperor has some great Isao Tomita music that segues into some not-as-successful vocals. The American version uses the animation from Kimba and has an amazingly terrible, overly processed theme song. The ED for "Leo", on the other hand, is nothing BUT industrial-sounding synthesizer, uses the original Japanese OP animation, and is kinda cool.