I’m very excited for my album/anime project, a series of essays, ramblings, or whatever you’d like to call the words that I type to make sentences, that advocate listening to a specific album as a companion piece to a specific anime. As I type this, I know I have over 3,000 words written on the legendary 2004 album “Funeral” by Arcade Fire as the ideal companion piece to the star of 2016 and of the greatest anime of all time, if you’re asking me, Flip Flappers. My love of the album has deepened m relationship with the anime. I’ve always been able to relate to that album, but in the essay I’m writing, and in other album/anime pieces I’ll write in the future, I can see how the protagonists of the show, in this case, Cocona, Papika and Yayaka, might be able to relate to the album on their own. This has deepened my relationship with the show and its characters as well as Funeral itself. I always enjoyed that album, but it was always one of those albums I enjoyed and listened to every once in a while, but it was never one of the first albums to pop into my head when I would ask myself what my all-time favorite albums were. It was more of an afterthought. Now that I’ve delved into this album for several listens keeping in mind the trials and tribulations of the Flip Flappers, Cocona, Papika and Yayaka, I’m coming to a greater appreciation of the album that I’m sure would have otherwise been possible.

Generally, the albums and anime that I match together for these think pieces will share similar themes and have similar moods. The purpose of this series of features is for me to have fun. I hope that, if you read these pieces and listen to these albums, you can come to a better understanding of the towns, characters and issues discussed in our favorite shows. I will also write a few features that will use albums as guides for understanding some themes or character types that tend to pop up a lot in anime. I know someone will ask, so I will promise to find an album about Tsunderes, but the recurring theme or issue I had in mind was actually depression. If you’ve been there, you get it. If you haven’t, it’s pretty tough. Cocona is one such example of a protagonist that starts her show off mired in depression. In the future, I will be writing about the album Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division and how it can help us understand our depressed anime protagonists. We’ve always had them, and they take the center stage in many of the most compelling anime out there. Shinji, Tomoya from Clannad, although I’m sure you readers all have differing opinions on that show, Kyon from Haruhi, Senjougahara, Hachiman, Houtarou, and Yukiteru from Future Diary (who is often considered a Shinji rip off) are all social outcasts and begin their stories from similar points. Last season had another show with a protagonist who was pretty blatantly depicted as depressed, Rei from March Comes in Like a Lion. Battling depression is one of the most fundamentally human struggles there are, and only a few anime are able to provide original and compelling animated accounts of those struggles. Unknown Pleasures is a static album. It’s not about overcoming depression, it’s more like a snapshot of depression mentality.