Hidden Gems: The Greatest Anime Opening and Ending Song Never Heard

Yo Ho, WeRCatz here!

The first time I heard about Irish singer and songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan was when he famously changed Hip Hop forever by suing Biz Markie for Biz’s use of O’Sullivan’s song “Alone Again (Naturally).”

The 1972 hit song made its mark into certain parts of popular culture, with its cameo in the third Ice Age film where Scrat fell out of love with his cherished acorn.

However, we will talk about how two of O’Sullivan’s songs made it into the classic anime Maison Ikkoku, specifically episode 24 where they appeared only once!

The opening of episode 24 is “Alone Again (Naturally).” The first verse and pre-bridge lyrics depict exactly what the main character Kyoko Otonashi feels in her loneliness after the recent loss of her husband. The closing song “Get Down” is an upbeat song depicting the relationship between Kyoko and Yusaku Godai (the main male protagonist).

Seeing as how these two songs work beautifully with Maison Ikkoku, why did it appear in episode 24 only? Copyright issues for the English dubbed release is one major issue. Another issue is that the art style of the opening and closing animations closely resembles the original manga.

However, not everything is sour. “Alone Again (Naturally)” and “Get Down” have been used in live-action adaptations and are part of the Maison Ikkoku music catalog and rightful so.

As for Gilbert O’Sullivan himself, we’ll talk about him and his extensive career soon.