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I know that some songs in anime openings or endings come from popular J-Pop
singers/albums (such as the Bleach opening Rolling Star by Yui). However, some
opening songs seem to show up during the show, such as themes appearing during
final battles. Are opening or ending themes generally written specifically for
the show or are they taken from popular Japanese songs.


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2013-03-28T03:17:49.023
3070
2013-04-02T09:07:13.920
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question
theme-song
Are songs written for anime openings or endings?


**In most cases, yes.**

A popular example of this is the anime
[K-On!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-On!). All the openings, endings and
insert songs are written for the anime itself. They use the anime to advertise
it and to sell more. Here is the
[list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_K-On!_albums) of the anime's
albums which if you observe, are really dedicated for the anime itself. It
even had two live concerts, [Let's
Go!](http://k-on.wikia.com/wiki/K-ON!_Live_Concert%3a_Let%27s_Go!) and [Come
With Me](http://k-on.wikia.com/wiki/K-ON!!_Live_Concert%3a_Come_With_Me!!)
where the seiyuu of each character actually played their character's
instrument. Well K-On! has a plot that revolves around band members so it
would be just appropriate to focus more on creating songs specifically for the
anime's plot.

To prove that most anime theme songs (opening, ending, insert songs) are
written for the anime itself is the existence of [Image
Song](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImageSong) or[Character
Song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_song).

> An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often
> called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, dorama, manga,
> or commercial product that is usually sung by the voice actor or actor of a
> character, _in character_. It is meant to give a sense of the personality of
> the character.

So it would be more appropriate to write character song depending on the anime
character's personalities and his/her situation on the anime he/she belongs
to.

This [article](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeThemeSong)
explains further about it and it also sites more detailed examples.


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answer