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This is an archetypal anime song, which attempts to gather as many tropes from such tunes as the 2A03 possibly can. The theme can work for many animu types: mecha with cute girls, supernatural, generic isekai, romcoms, idols, you name it… Through it, let’s try to run a tutorial on how to compose a song that definitely has that weeb sound.

In a nutshell, you want to make something that sounds very emotive and heart-warming, though with an upbeat rhythm; you know, so you can play the opening in a slow tempo, preferably with solo piano, and make your audiences cry right there through the climatic tear-inducing scene.

0:00 to 0:12 - Leave room for the title of your anime to appear in all its glory. For that, shoot for a calm start for the first few seconds and then explode.

0:12 - Whoever says, “upbeat anime music” also says “palm-muted guitar”. Let’s use the DPCM channel for that.

0:12 - Abuse arpeggios and broken chords. Many anime songs add to the “upbeatness” this way, and if it’s played with chiptunes, it’s even better. Wait, we have 5 whole channels worth of chiptunes! The classic example is Kaerimichi (Hachikuji’s 1st OP) from Bakemonogatari. Other examples include Nichijou OP1, Monster Musume OP, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu OP, SSSS.Dynazenon OP, etc.

0:17 - Use the “royal road” progression and its variations: IV (or ii) | V | iii (or III) | vi is the Eastern equivalent to the Western axis progression (I | V | vi | IV). Just don’t be lazy like some Western musicians and loop the progression for the whole song ^^. Examples: Madoka Magica OP, Food Wars! OP2, Naruto OP3, Gurren Lagan OP and many, many more.

0:22 - Wanna go for that “emotive and nostalgic feeling when played slowly” effect? IV | iv is your best friend! Some people even call it “the most beautiful chord progression in the world”. Played in an upbeat fashion, it sounds very, very animesque.

0:30 - Use THE ANIME PROGRESSION®. A variation from the “Bird blues”, perhaps what makes a song sound the most anime-like is this progression: I (4 beats) | ♭vi° (2 beats) | III7 (2 beats) | vi (4 beats) | v7 (2 beats) | I7 (2 beats). Use it and abuse it. Many anime songs do it, like Nichijou OP1, Gridman and Dynazenon OPs, Monster Musume OP, We Never Learn OP1, Blend S OP (yes, the meme), Kill la Kill OP1, Spy x Family OP3, and I can go on and on. Spy x Family OP1 and Haruhi Suzumiya’s iconic ED1 even use it for both the verses AND the chorus, just like this song; so don’t hesitate to include this progression.

0:51 - Modulate, modulate, modulate. About 50% of anime songs have at least two or more tonalities. The most typical modulation is going up a minor third from the verse to the chorus, but you can modulate at will. Here, we use another variation of the “royal road” progression to change the tonality by using non-diatonic chords: ♭VI | ♭VII | v | i | ♭VII | ♭VI (notice that this is the “royal road” progression transposed up three semitones). This whole progression is repeated one minor third upwards leading to the chorus.

0:51, 1:12 and so on – Use hits. Nichijou OP1 is one of the most characteristic examples, but there are many more anime songs going "the Konami way": Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu OP, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya OP0 (the Mikuru song), the aforementioned Kaerimichi from Bakemonogatari, etc. Other common instrumentation quirks, not present in this song, include timpani and tubular bells, and they are DPCM-friendly.

1:12 – Here is the chorus with upbeat arpeggios and the anime progression®.

1:24 – A little countermelody never hurts.

1:34 – Use the “line cliché”. The line cliché is another resource to achieve the “emotive and nostalgic feeling when played slowly” effect. It simply means to move the root or the top note from your chord one semitone up or down each time. The root note is moved down in this case, leading to the transition into the second verse.

1:43 – The TV version would end here. If it’s longer (or shorter) than 1:30, be sure to adjust it with a few cuts and edits or the broadcasting chain won’t accept it four your anime ;_; .

1:45 – Mode variations are also common on anime themes. This Lydian mode passage helps making a smooth transition to the original tonality.

1:50 – Second verse. To add variety, the second time the melody is played it is raised a minor 3rd. Something like that is done in the second verse of the first Spy x Family OP.

2:33 – Anime music normally changes the lyrics a bit for the second time the chorus is played. Be sure to also do it on your anime theme if you add them.

2:54 – Though odd time signatures are not that common, they’re not unheard of. A 9 + 7/4 bridge can be heard on Sword Art Online OP2 (Innocence by Eir Aoi), as well as a 7+8/4 in Haikyuu!! OP 2 (Ah Yeah!! by Sukima) during the bridge leading to the solo. This time we have a 7/4 bridge also leading to the solo. Speaking of which…

3:04 – Add a solo! Guitar or whatever instrument you like, even pulse waves. In this song, the solo emulates an electric guitar via PWM abuse.

3:33 – If modulation is the name of the game, why not including the typical “half or one tone up” for an epic final section? As an example, almost all of YOASOBI’s songs do this, sometimes even twice in the same song, just like Bocchi the Rock! OP by Kessoku Band.

3:36 – Though not exclusive to weeb songs, many of them introduce the final chorus with a lighter instrumentation just to explode again with full accompaniment. You can also do this to add to the epicness. Sirius by Eir Aoi (Kill la Kill OP1), Ambiguous by GARNiDELiA (Kill la Kill OP2, even in a different tonality), UNION by OxT (SSSS.Gridman OP) and imPerfect by the same band (SSSS. Dynazenon OP) do this, among many others.

3:36 – If you add lyrics, the 3rd and final chorus generally repeats those from the 1st one.

General notes:

Don’t let your bass repeatedly stay in the root note. Anime music’s basses are characterized for being all over the place and never steady. We’re using mainly the tri channel for this, which shares room with the percs. This makes it rather difficult, but doable in a certain way.

Finally, “How to Make an Anime Opening” doesn’t seem like a proper title, does it? Let’s give the song a title! Contrary to anime titles themselves, anime songs’ titles tend to be a single word, most of the time in English:

• Oshi no Ko OP -> Idol
• Spy x Family OP2 -> Souvenir (French word originally)
• SSSS.Gridman OP, SSSS.Dynazenon OP and Gridman Universe ED -> UNION, imPerfect and Universe, respectively
• Sword Art Online OP2, OP3 and OP4 -> Innocence, Ignite and Courage, respectively
• Jujutsu Kaisen OP4 -> SPECIALZ
• Naruto OP1, OP4 and OP8 -> Rocks, GO!!! and Re:member, respectively
• Naruto Shippuden OPS 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10. 16 and 18 -> Distance, CLOSER, Sign, Diver, Lovers, Newsong, Silhouette and Line, respectively
• …and so on, and on.

So, it’s up to you, dear viewers, to title this song. Don’t hesitate to suggest a title in the comments. The most repeated one, wins.

Made with Dn-FamiTracker 0.4.0.1.

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