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Some anime used their seiyuu (voice actor/actress) for their opening or ending
song, I know there's some anime that used their seiyuu to sing OP/ED like The
World God Only Knows, Monogatari Series, or Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.

Is it common for them to sing OP/ED?


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2014-05-12T23:33:10.813
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2014-05-13T02:29:02.770
2014-05-13T00:34:58.417
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question
theme-song
Is it common for a character to sing in OP/ED?


Yes, it is common for most of anime to user their seiyu to sing the opening
and/or ending theme.

_Why?_

According to this [link which explains why Anime Theme Songs are
created](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeThemeSong):

  * > **Another reason this is done is because many anime voice actors are  
>  also singers, often the more successful ones. It's not unknown for
> production companies to organize some of their principal cast members into
> groups for recording CDs. Either way, it's usually to a voice actor's
> advantage — they perform theme songs (as well as additional "character"
> songs), receiving a double benefit from exposure in two different markets
> (and the additional profit).**
>
So, to summarize why anime production mostly use their seiyu to sing opening
and/or ending theme is for their market strategy and to maximize their profit.


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2014-05-12T23:50:51.077
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answer


Depends what kind of anime you normally watch. There are anime that use
professional bands songs as OP/ED (case point Black★Rock Shooter and FMA) with
modifications but original singers, others reuse a pre-existing song for the
Seiyuu to sing, and others more where the singer/producer of the song is also
the Seiyuu. Is the industry. They are trying to maximize profit. So, it's
common? Yes, it is. It applies to all cases? No, there are exceptions.


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2014-05-13T00:03:43.303
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answer


The simplest way to answer this question is to take a look at a sample of
anime and see how many of them have OPs/EDs sung by the show's voice actors.

For the sake of argument, I will look at all shows with at least 10 episodes
that began airing in winter 2014, excluding children's shows. I will only
examine those OPs and EDs that were aired at some point between January and
March 2014.

  * **Buddy Complex** \- neither
  * **Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren** \- ED by VAs
  * **D-Frag** \- ED by VAs
  * **Go! Go! 575** \- OP by VAs; no ED
  * **Hamatora** \- neither
  * **Hoozuki no Reitetsu** \- OP and ED3 ("Caramel Peach Jam") by VAs; ED2 ("Parallax View") features a VA
  * **ImoCho** \- OP and ED by VAs
  * **Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha.** \- episode 9 ED by a VA
  * **Mahou Sensou** \- neither
  * **Maken-ki! Two** \- OP by idol group that includes some of the VAs
  * **Mikakunin de Shinkoukei** \- OP and ED by VAs
  * **Minna Atsumare! Falcom Gakuen** \- [note: no ED]
  * **Nisekoi** \- ED1 ("Heart Pattern"), ED2 ("Recover Decoration") by VAs
  * **Nobunaga the Fool** \- OP by a VA
  * **Nobunagun** \- ED by VAs
  * **Noragami** \- neither
  * **No-Rin** \- all OPs/EDs by VAs
  * **Onee-chan ga Kita** \- no OP; ED by a VA
  * **Pupa** \- OP by VAs
  * **Pupipo!** \- [note: no ED]
  * **Robot Girls Z** \- OP and ED by VAs
  * **Saki: Zenkoku-hen** \- ED3, ED4, ED5 ("Kono Te ga Kiseki..."; eps 3-6, 8) by VAs
  * **Sakura Trick** \- OP and ED by VAs
  * **Seitokai Yakuindomo 2** \- OP and ED by VAs
  * **Silver Spoon (2014)** \- neither
  * **SoniAni: Super Sonico The Animation** \- all OPs and EDs by VAs
  * **Space Dandy** \- neither
  * **Strange+** \- OP by a VA; no ED
  * **To Aru Hikuushi e no Koiuta** \- OP by VAs
  * **Tonari no Seki-kun** \- OP by a VA
  * **Wake Up, Girls!** \- both OPs and ED by VAs
  * **Witch Craft Works** \- ED by VAs
  * **Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil** \- ED by a VA
  * **Wooser no Sono Higurashi 2** \- [note: no OP]
  * **World Conquest Zvezda Plot** \- OP by a VA
  * **Z/X: Ignition** \- OP and ED by a VA

Counting episodes with both an OP and an ED as worth 2 theme songs and
episodes with only one of them as worth 1 theme song (and giving full-length
episodes and short episodes equal weight), we find that **_roughly_ 50%
(±5-10%, say)** of all theme songs for winter 2014 shows were sung by one or
more voice actors of the same show. My sense is that this is more or less what
you would expect if you picked a random season from the past 3-4 years.

* * *

However, it is important not to be misled by these data, which don't tell the
whole story. A number of these theme songs are sung by voice actors who _also_
have an independent musical career. The best example is Sakamoto Maaya (
_Zvezda_ OP), but there's a few others in there, too, e.g. "petit milady",
which is a new idol unit consisting of Aoi Yuuki and Taketatsu Ayana,
initially formed to do the OP for _Koiuta_ (in which they both voice-acted),
but which now does other things as well.

What I'm getting at here is that there's a qualitative difference between
Sakamoto Maaya's OP for _Zvezda_ on the one hand, and the ED for _Chuunibyou
Ren_ on the other, which is sung by the four female leads of the show, only
one of whom (Maaya Uchida) has an independent musical career.

I basically don't know anything about how anime producers arrange for theme
songs to be sung, but I strongly suspect that there are factors that suggest
the use of a proper singer from the VA cast (a la Sakamoto Maaya) in some
cases, and just glomming all the lead VAs together and having them crank out a
song (a la _Chuunibyou_ ) in other cases. (And of course, there are still
other cases in which you'll bring in an otherwise-uninvolved band or artist,
but that goes without saying.)

I haven't gone back and collected any numbers, but in my experience, I have
found that shows with primarily-female casts that are targeted at men (e.g.
moe shows like _Kiniro Mosaic_ and harem shows like _Infinite Stratos_ ) and
shows with primarily-male casts that are targeted at women (e.g. otome game
adaptations like _Diabolik Lovers_ ) are far more likely to follow the glom-
all-the-VAs-together-and-have-them-sing model than other shows.


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