Anime opening/closing music that works as a song in its own right
Post anime opening/closing themes that you'd listen to normally as if you heard them on the radio. I'll start
"Sky Hurricane" by Casey Rankin was the opening Orguss. "Sky Hurricane" was regularly played as the show moved on. Casey Rankin is pretty interesting in the sense he was an American musician trying to make it in Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW_SSGnbk7Q [Play]
"Pegasus Fantasy" by Make-Up was the opening for Saint Seiya. What makes it so great is that it matches how cool Saint Seiya the show is.
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Edit
I think the most obvious example would be lain's opening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM8RufZr5lw [Play]
I think it's one of the most memorable parts of the show and it definitively holds up on its own as a song, even though it fits lain perfectly.
The best ending I've heard's gotta be the samurai champloo one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNplZrRSjeI [Play]
An earlier version of this song was in fact included in one of nujabes' albums, but it's for the show that the singing was added and it became exceptional, imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLV0vt7O-jo [Play]
ushio and toras seson one theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5iwfYxLRPk [Play]
bleu genders opening "set me free"
ergo proxys opening and closing theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlgc3_4WL0M [Play]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DExBeFCx3mQ [Play]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnkxOqMfxt0 [Play]
I just had to post this, simply the best version!
German speaking kids of the 90's like me were blessed, it was a great time for anime.
I don't know if it really counts since it already was its own song, but I like this one from Gunslinger Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg0k18F2Fkg [Play]
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ac4HinM7Sdo [Play]
GREAT soundtrack, found it on a whim, haven't watched the anime yet.
Kind of unrelated, but when I'm listening to music I'm feeling luke warm on, I tend to imagine it in the context of an anime op or ed and it usually helps to make me appreciate it more...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPDWuip1k5o [Play]
This is probably my favorite op. It works for me since I mostly listen to instrumentals.