How to get into Japanese rock and pop by listening to Tales series music

By Jenni Lada // 1.22.191.22.19

Lots of great Japanese games have major Japanese rock and pop singers providing the theme songs for them. The Final Fantasy series had Gackt providing “Redemption” for Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus and Hikaru Utada always provides the theme song for each Kingdom Hearts game. But if there is one series that reliably brings out the best singers and songs, it is Bandai Namco’s Tales series. It routinely brings the bangers.

But, how often do you explore beyond those opening notes? The thing is, each game is great about introducing us to an artist. After that, it is up to you to keep going to see why this singer or group is so amazing. But hey, that’s why we’re here. We’re going to go over some of the more notable songs and help you find your way into more of each performer’s music.

Tales of Vesperia: Bonnie Pink

Known for “Ring a Bell”
I’m not just starting with Bonnie Pink because Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition was just released. There are plenty of reasons why her music is a great way to start getting into Japanese pop and rock.

One is because this artist sings in a number of other languages, most notably English. “Just a Girl” and “Sweet” are both completely in English, which might help if you are more comfortable listening to songs in your native language.

Bonnie Pink is also a great first step, because a lot of her music is used for anime series and video games. Tales of Asteria uses her “We Belong” as its opening theme. “Last Kiss” appeared in Gantz. Other songs she performed that appeared in shows were “It’s Gonna Rain,” “Cotton Candy” and “Love is Bubble.” Not to mention, if Kingdom Hearts got you into Hikaru Utada’s music, you might appreciate the cover Bonnie Pink and tofubeats did of Utada’s “Time Will Tell.”

Tales of Xillia: Ayumi Hamasaki

Known for “Progress”
Just like Bonnie Pink, Ayumi Hamasaki has been around forever. She’s an established pop singer and icon. If Tales of Xillia is one of your favorite installment in the series, then you probably love two of her songs. “Progress” was the theme for the original game, and she performed “Song 4 U” for Tales of Xillia 2. The former was a little more rock and the latter more pop, which helps give you a better idea of her range.

Since she has been around for so long, odds are you have heard her tracks in the background of anime and games for years. Thousand Arms featured her songs “Depend on You” and “Two of Us.” “Startin'” and “Rainy Day” appeared in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams. If you happened to watch Inuyasha, then you may have heard her sing “Dearest” or “No More Words.” One of her more recent game-related releases was for Clash of Queens, a mobile game released in 2016. That sing is called “We are Queens.”

There’s another good reason to get into Ayumi Hamasaki music now. She just celebrated her 20th anniversary in 2018. There was a special concert and she released a new EP called Trouble. It has “We are Queens” on it, alongside four other amazing songs.

Tales of Graces: BoA

Known for “Mamoritai: White Wishes”

It seems like something of a theme for the Tales series to have major women in music, people who are just incredible performers and writers, in charge of the theme songs. Tales of Graces was no exception. It brought in BoA, who is famous for both her Jpop and Kpop songs. Not to mention, she also had an album released in English in the United States.

You’re a lot less likely to happen across BoA songs in anime or games. Not that her music wasn’t used in such things. Ninety-Nine Nights has “Your Color” as its theme song. If you watched some anime shows, you may have heard “Every Heart: Minna no Kimochi” in Inuyasha or “Masayume Chasing” in Fairy Tail.

While her U.S. debut didn’t take off, she did have some really great songs! Her album here was called BoA and featured “Eat You Up” and “Energetic.” It wasn’t one of the major tracks, but I was always partial to “Scream.” Also, she released a really great English song in 2016 called “Make Me Complete” that you may want to check out.

Tales of Berseria: Flow

Known for “Burn”

Time for a rock group! Tales of Berseria was a darker game, and it had a rocking theme from Flow called “Burn.” Why is it featured here? Because you have definitely heard this group’s music before. I guarantee it. They have been responsible for so many game and anime themes that you just have to see all of the tracks listed in one place to realize, “Okay, maybe I need to start listening to their other songs too.”

In fact, let’s just go ahead and list all of the songs you may have heard, thanks to Flow being everywhere.

“7: seven” is in The Seven Deadly Sins
“Cha-La Head-Cha-La” is in Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
“Go” is in Naruto
“Kaze no Uta” is in Tales of Zestiria the X
“Niji no Sora” is in Naruto Shippuden
“Realize” is in Eureka Seven (the anime and game!)
“Re:member” is in Naruto
“Sign” is in Naruto Shippuden
“Word of the Voice” is in Persona: Trinity Soul

The group has so many anime themes, it even has two albums of songs just from shows called Anime Best and Flow Anime Best Kiwami.

So, which Flow songs should you listen to next? I would say starting with the group’s first album, Game, is a good start. “Blaster” and “Ryusei / Sharirara” are both on it and are amazing tracks. Plus, it lets you see where the group has been. Once you’ve listened to that, go with #10. “Steppin’ Out” and “World Symphony” are very good, and you also have the familiar “Niji no Sora” on it.