The decade of the 1990s saw an explosion of anime culture, to the delight of the impressionable youths of that era. And alongside the story, another significant part of the anime experience was listening to the theme songs that accompanied them. There were a lot of memorable ones, but if I had to pick my favorite among them, it would be Koji Wada's Butter-Fly. It was the soundtrack to the original Digimon Adventure series. For those who weren't around, here's what kids like me were treated with while our eyes were glued to the TV screens:
Butter-Fly is a very upbeat and energetic song. And with knowing just the title and listening to the Japanese lyrics, you'd get a good grasp of what the song tries to convey, to accept change and fly towards achieving your dreams. It would also play towards the anime's climactic moments, making it more memorable.
Digimon is a direct competitor to Pokemon. And between the two, story-wise, I would say Digimon is better. Pokemon was more of an episodic adventure, similar to the Western cartoon shows. Digimon stays true to what a shonen anime is about, which is to impart life lessons to their young audience. And with Digimon, they focus on friendship.
But there's a different side to the Butter-Fly song. I mentioned that it is also played in some scenes in the anime. They used the ballad version for those and it really hits you right in the heart. Here's the ballad version of Butter-Fly:
From the upbeat tunes of an anime opening song, it suddenly turns into a soulful melody that conveys strong emotions. This is definitely my favorite version. I often listen to it whenever I feel sentimental and I want to reminisce about my childhood days. Unfortunately, the original performer, Koji Wada, passed away last 2016 due to cancer. But his legacy goes on through his songs. Butter-Fly is a masterpiece and I would rank it highly among the top anime theme songs of all time.
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