http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfDR72yKmS4

Hanasaku Iroha is a series I remember being a lot better than it really was. Part of that was its fantastic final run of episodes, but another thing that stuck with me is the music. We’ll get to the lovely ladies of Sphere, who sing the the show’s first ending song, another day. For now let’s talk about nano.RIPE, whose singles were featured in the series openings and other promotional videos.

It seems less and less common to use an actual rock band for your opening or ending, let alone a quirky indie group that kind of sound like they time warped in from the 90’s. There’s certainly no doubt nano.RIPE’s jangly guitars and lead singer Kimiko’s unique voice stand out in the usual J-Pop fare and personally I love it.

Of course picking a cool band is pointless if the music doesn’t mesh with the message. Fortunately in this case they work wonderfully together. If I could only choose one word to describe Hanasaku Iroha it would be “nostalgic”, and I would probably choose the same for the series first OP, “Hana no Iro”. The feel good vibes coming off the sunny guitar work and cute but passionate vocals sends me back to happier days in the past.

The real standout in my opinion though is the series second OP, “Omokage Warp”. The more emotionally charged tone and killer guitar work help set the table for the sense of inevitable change looming over the second half. Even without knowing the connection to the anime or looking up the lyrics you’re still going to feel that, a sign they made a great choice.

If you’d like to check Hanasaku Iroha for yourself, you can watch it over at Crunchyroll. Since then, nano.RIPE has provided the OPs for last season’s Sankarea and this season’s anime I won’t shut up about, Humanity Has Declined. I’d recommend checking those out, as well as P.A. Works latest series, the suspiciously HanaIro-esque Tari Tari.