As a long time fan of both Japanese anime and Western rock, it’s inevitable that sometimes the two fandoms coalesce into a single entity inside my admittedly cluttered mind.

The ability to understand Japanese songs and my appreciation for original soundtrack albums notwithstanding, I sometimes rearrange tracks from artists such as Thursday, Kasabian, and The Smashing Pumpkins into a fanmix for a particular fandom I am in to at the mo.

A fanmix is, for want of a better definition — a mixed “tape” of music from many different artists, genres, styles, and nationalities, arranged in such a way that it complements the look and feel of a particular anime, manga, video game, novel, movie, tv series, or just about any fandom you can think of. Many fanmixers liken the activity to scoring a soundtrack for their fandom — or simply “Listen to this and do not tell me it does not remind you of (insert fandom here)!!!”.

The activity (I am reluctant to use the word phenomenon) has been around for as long as there have been other fandom activities such as fanfiction, fanart, and fanvids. However, what I find unique and liberating about fanmixing is the relative of ease of execution; you don’t need to be crazy talented to do a fanmix — all you need is good taste in music and a vast music collection.

The ease with which fans can create mixes however, belies the intricacies of going about making one: just because it’s easy does not mean everyone is good at it. You still have to think your selections through, and you have to be merciless in your editing — one “perfect” track not in sync with the others deserves to be cut, even if it is the best thing since sliced bread.

And there are plenty of examples of bad fanmixes. I still remember being part of a fanmix sharing community on LiveJournal, and one member submitted a mix for CARDCAPTOR SAKURA made up entirely of songs with the word “sakura” in the title (never mind that it did not make any sense whatsoever). Another time, somebody submitted a seventy-track “triple-album” for ONE PIECE; I didn’t even attempt to listen to that monstrosity.

Here’s a thought: what would be your fanmix for your favorite fandom? Share a list of songs in the comments section, or if you’re feeling particularly generous, a sampler of your compilation (fifteen seconds for every song should do it). Surprise me, guys! I’m really looking forward to what everyone’ll cook up ❤