Anime culture has garnered a wide audience of faithful followers as its popularity has grown in recent decades, encompassing fanbases well beyond the borders of its native Japan. Spanning comic books, TV series, and feature films, anime has touched upon just about every possible form of popular artistic media-including, not surprisingly, music. While so much of anime's worldwide appeal does indeed derive from its uniquely stunning visuals and fast-paced editing, the music is probably an equally critical element to anime film and television, giving breath and depth to an already lush optic canvas. While one without the other might seem somehow incomplete or a betrayal of the full anime experience, the music, at least, surprisingly carries enough associative weight to attract a sizable listener community. And to quench all those late-night anime urges, Anime NFo Radio is here.
Founded in 2003, Anime NFo spends its days shuffling through a diverse bag of pop, both in Japanese and English-think ending credits or montage for a Cowboy Bebop episode or something. Like other Internet anime forums, Anime NFo supports a pretty large and loquacious online community, where registered users can rate and request songs, and even add album art for tracks that may be missing it. Make no mistake, though, the music is the main attraction here. And for good reason. Even if you're not a hardcore anime animal, this kind of ebullient Japanese pop is nearly impossible not to like. It may not automatically evoke fantastical landscapes or cuddly creatures for the anime novice, but both the sweeping ballads and the more bouncy, electronic fare combine basic, universal music appeal with that extra dash of peculiar intrigue that nearly everything Japanese holds for the Western listener. So next time you're at work, stuck in the quicksand of that seemingly endless 9-5 saga, flip on Anime NFo, close your eyes, and explore the outer reaches of your imagination. You can find Anime NFo Radio in the anime genre of the SHOUTcast Radio Directory.
We tuned in on a mundane Monday, and here's a bit of what we heard:
Playlist Snapshot - Thursday 10.29.2009
| Artist | Song |
|---|---|
| ZTS | Summer's Here |
| Asian Kung Fu Generation | Myakuutsu Seimei |
| Beat Crusaders | Hit in the DMC |
| Access | Doubt & Trust |
| Angela | Shangri-La |
| Yuuki Aira | Koishi Kanakatta |
| Shinji Orito | Dear Old Home |
| T.M. Revolution | Soul's Crossing |
| OLIVIA | Cut Me Free |
| Abingdon Boys School | Nephilum |
1. i completely agree with this review.
i've been into anime for about 6 years now and i've long since lost count of how many anime's i've watched.
in animenfo radio i've find alot of new music and lets me listen to songs that you dont often hear. baring in mind, there is no radio station i know in the UK that braudcasts japanese music even though alot of it would go well with the mainstream here given the chance.
and i still get the satsfaction of putting something that makes every one smile like IKE IKE every once in a while. i normaly try to tune in during the request sections because thats when the better songs are played more often but, like now, i'm listening to a randomly genorated playlist.
AnimeNFO has become such a normal part of my PC gaming /Uni work time that i barely listen to my 6K+ personal music collection
Posted at 1:06PM on Jan 15th 2010 by Alistair (aka himaro)