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anime hardstyle

Anime Hardstyle

Japan · 2010s
IntenseDancingHappyEpicSentimental

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Description

Anime hardstyle is a hard dance microgenre that fuses the tonal kicks, tempo, and arrangement of hardstyle with melodies, motifs, and vocal material drawn from anime songs (anison), J‑pop, and otaku culture.

Typically around 150 BPM, it combines reverse‑bass or modern pitched hardstyle kicks with bright euphoric leads, supersaws, and screeches. Producers frequently sample or re‑sing anime opening/ending themes, chop Japanese vocals, or write original melodies in the anison/J‑pop idiom, then stage them in hardstyle drops and climaxes.

The style emerged online through doujin circles and platforms like Niconico/YouTube/SoundCloud, overlapping with J‑core, nightcore, Vocaloid, and the broader Japanese hard dance scene. Its identity is as much aesthetic as sonic: pop‑anime hooks framed by festival‑ready hardstyle energy.


Sources: Spotify, Wikipedia, Discogs, Rate Your Music, MusicBrainz, and other online sources

History

Precursors (2000s)

Hardstyle matured in Europe in the 2000s, developing reverse‑bass grooves, pitched tonal kicks, and big-room climaxes. In parallel, Japan’s doujin and J‑core scenes popularized anime remixes and otaku-focused hard dance, with upload culture on Niconico and early YouTube normalizing anime‑centric bootlegs.

Emergence (2010s)

By the early–mid 2010s, producers began explicitly grafting anison/J‑pop melodies and voice chops onto hardstyle frameworks. Doujin circles and events fostered cross‑pollination between J‑core/Vocaloid and hardstyle creators, while online communities spread “anime hardstyle” edits, mashups, and originals beyond Japan.

Online codification (late 2010s–2020s)

SoundCloud, YouTube, and DJ pools helped consolidate the tag “anime hardstyle.” Festivals and club nights focused on Japanese hard dance started programming euphoric hardstyle alongside anime-flavored edits, and producers refined a recognizable formula: anison chord writing, bright supersaws, and dramatic hardstyle climaxes with either reverse‑bass or modern punch‑and‑tail kicks.

Aesthetic and scene

Cover art, MV visuals, and VJ loops borrow anime iconography, VTuber aesthetics, and doujin design. The genre remains internet‑native and collaborative: bootlegs, unofficial remixes, and community compilations continue to shape its repertoire.

How to make a track in this genre

Tempo, groove, and structure
•   Set the tempo around 150 BPM (±2). Use a 4/4 kick-on-every-beat pattern. •   Choose either classic reverse‑bass (rolling, offbeat bass movement) or modern pitched hardstyle kicks (tone-swept tail tuned to the track’s key). •   Structure like euphoric hardstyle: intro → buildup → drop → breakdown (melodic/anison focus) → climax/drop → outro.
Sound design and drums
•   Craft a tonal kick: layer a clean punch (transient), a saturated body, and a long, pitched tail; drive with distortion, saturation, and clipper; align the tail to the root note. •   Add tight offbeat hats, clap/snare on 2 and 4, ride cymbals in the climax, and occasional gated screeches for accents. •   Build supersaw leads (multiple detuned saws), supporting plucks, and bright pads; sidechain aggressively to the kick.
Melody, harmony, and hooks
•   Write melodies in the anison/J‑pop tradition: catchy, major‑leaning hooks, swift modulations, and expressive pre‑chorus lifts. •   Use diatonic progressions with pop color (e.g., I–V–vi–IV, IV–V–iii–vi) and chromatic approach tones for anime flair. •   Counterpoint with call‑and‑response between lead and vocal chops; reserve a soaring “climax lead” layer for the final drop.
Vocals and sampling
•   Sample anime OP/ED phrases, Vocaloid lines, or record Japanese/English anison-style vocals. Chop, time‑stretch, and formant-shift to taste. •   When using copyrighted material, secure clearance or recreate vocals/melodies. Layer ad‑libs and crowd shouts for energy.
Arrangement and transitions
•   Use risers, snare rolls, and pitch‑rising noise sweeps into impacts. Employ short silence or tape‑stop before drops. •   Contrast a lyric/melodic breakdown with a harder, kick‑driven climax to maximize payoff.
Mixing and finishing
•   Sidechain most musical elements to the kick. Carve 150–300 Hz to avoid kick‑bass mud; keep lead presence around 2–8 kHz. •   Limit/clip the master to achieve competitive loudness, preserving kick transient punch.
Visual and performance cues
•   Embrace anime/VTuber aesthetics in artwork and visuals. For live/DJ sets, interleave familiar anison motifs with original drops to connect with the crowd.

Best playlists

The Sound of Anime Hardstyle
The Sound of Anime Hardstyle
Every Noise at Once
Anime Hardstyle
Anime Hardstyle
Chosic
Anime Hardstyle Mix
Anime Hardstyle Mix
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Influenced by
Hardstyle
Hardstyle is a high-energy form of electronic dance music built around a hard, four‑on‑the‑floor kick, tempos around 150 BPM, and a signature "reverse bass" that drives the groove. Sound design centers on heavily distorted, layered kicks that are pitched melodically, alongside harsh screeches and bright supersaw leads. Emerging at the turn of the millennium from the Netherlands with parallel scenes in Belgium and Italy, hardstyle fuses elements of techno, new beat, and hardcore/gabber with the euphoric breakdowns of trance. Over time it split into distinct currents, from euphoric, melody‑forward anthems to raw, industrial‑edged variations that emphasize aggression and texture.
Euphoric Hardstyle
Euphoric hardstyle is a melodic, uplifting branch of hardstyle that emphasizes anthemic supersaw leads, emotional chord progressions, and sing-along vocals while retaining the genre’s trademark distorted, punchy kick at around 150 BPM. It typically features long, trance-like breakdowns that build into powerful climaxes where pitched hardstyle kicks follow the lead’s melody, creating an ecstatic, festival-ready feel. Compared with rawstyle, euphoric hardstyle prioritizes warmth, harmony, and positive energy over aggression and dissonance.
Early Hardstyle
Early hardstyle is the formative, rawer phase of the hardstyle movement that emerged around 2001–2004, primarily in the Netherlands with a strong parallel scene in Italy. Sitting between hard trance and hardcore (gabber), it is defined by reverse‑bass basslines, punchy but not heavily pitched kicks, and gritty synth stabs and screeches. Tracks typically run at 142–150 BPM, emphasize driving 4/4 grooves, and use minimal but catchy riffs rather than the large, euphoric melodies of later variants. Sound design leans on distorted 909/808 drums, gated/supersaw leads, and short vocal stabs or MC shouts. Arrangements are DJ‑friendly with long intro/outro sections for mixing and a focus on club energy over radio‑style songwriting.
J-Core
J-core is a Japanese take on hardcore techno that fuses high-BPM club structures with otaku culture, game/anime sampling, and brightly melodic writing. It typically sits in the 160–200+ BPM range, using pounding four-on-the-floor kicks, gabber-style distorted low-end, or layered breakbeats. The style is defined by hyper-melodic leads (often supersaws), euphoric trance harmonies, and chopped/processed voice clips from anime, games, denpa songs, or Vocaloid. Aesthetically it leans kawaii/cute but can swing toward intense, chaotic, or even speedcore extremes. J-core flourished in Japan’s doujin scene and rhythm-game ecosystem, with circles and labels releasing compilations and event-driven tracks.
Nightcore
Nightcore is an internet-born editing style that speeds up and pitch‑raises existing songs—typically by around a third in speed—so the vocals become brighter and more youthful and the groove turns more urgent. Practically, a classic nightcore edit accelerates a pop, Eurodance, or trance source by roughly 20–35% (the canonical meme is ~35%), which also lifts the pitch by about five and a half semitones—similar to playing a 33⅓‑rpm record at 45 rpm. The result is euphoric, hook‑forward, and highly kinetic, and it is often presented with anime or fan‑art visuals that emphasize its internet‑native identity.
J-Pop
J-pop (Japanese pop) is a broad umbrella for mainstream Japanese popular music that blends Western pop/rock, dance, and R&B with distinctly Japanese songwriting, vocal delivery, and industry practices. It is characterized by strong hooks, polished production, bright synths and guitars, frequent key changes and modulatory bridges, and chorus-first or chorus-centric structures. J-pop spans idol groups, singer-songwriters, band-oriented pop-rock, electronic dance-pop, and R&B ballads, while remaining closely tied to television, advertising, video games, and anime tie-ins (anisong).
Denpa-Kei
Denpa-kei is a hyper-cute, high-energy style of Japanese pop associated with otaku culture, Akihabara, and the aesthetic of "moe." The music is intentionally maximalist and slightly surreal, often featuring rapid-fire melodies, childlike or high-pitched vocals, dense layers of synths, and sudden key or tempo shifts that heighten a sugar-rush mood. Arrangements commonly draw on chiptune timbres, toy-like sound effects, and catchy, call-and-response hooks. Lyrics lean into absurd humor, onomatopoeia, and otaku in-jokes, referencing maids, anime tropes, visual novels, and games. While playful on the surface, the style is highly crafted, using advanced modulation, tight vocal stacking, and brisk BPMs to create an over-the-top, euphoric impact.
Happy Hardcore
Happy hardcore is a fast, euphoric branch of the early UK rave continuum characterized by brisk tempos, 4/4 kicks, bright piano stabs, supersaw leads, and pitched-up “chipmunk” vocals. It emphasizes major-key harmony, catchy melodies, and ecstatic breakdowns, aiming for maximum uplift on the dancefloor. Compared to darker hardcore and gabber, happy hardcore favors feel-good hooks, singalong choruses, and sentimental atmospheres while retaining the relentless energy and drive of hardcore techno.
Hands Up
Hands up is a high-energy, melodic European dance style characterized by four-on-the-floor beats, bright supersaw leads, and euphoric, singalong choruses. Tracks typically sit around 140–145 BPM and emphasize catchy toplines, uplifting chord progressions in major keys, and festival-friendly builds with snare rolls, risers, and pitch-lifted transitions. The genre thrives on polished, radio-ready production and often features female vocals with simple, feel-good lyrics about love, escapism, and partying. Its sound occupies a sweet spot between Eurodance and trance: more pop-forward than classic trance, but more anthemic and faster than most Eurodance, making it ideal for both clubs and mainstream airplay in the mid-to-late 2000s.
Vocaloid
Vocaloid is a music genre and production culture centered on songs performed by synthesized singing voices, most famously the virtual singer Hatsune Miku. Producers compose and arrange tracks, then program lyrics and melodies into voicebanks to create lead vocals that sound like human singers. While the repertoire spans many styles, Vocaloid is strongly associated with Japanese pop, rock, and electronic dance music aesthetics. Songs are often released online with striking illustrated artwork and animated "PV" videos, and they are disseminated through platforms such as Nico Nico Douga and YouTube by independent creators and labels. The genre’s hallmark is the combination of catchy, hyper-bright melodies, energetic rhythm sections, and expressive vocal programming (tuning) that leverages timbral artifacts unique to synthesized voices. A vibrant fan community drives remixes, covers, live concerts with virtual avatars, and continual evolution of stylistic norms.
Trance
Trance is a form of electronic dance music characterized by steady four-on-the-floor beats, long build‑ups and breakdowns, and euphoric, melodic progressions designed to induce a hypnotic or “trance‑like” state. Typical tempos range from about 130 to 142 BPM, with arrangements often stretching 7–10 minutes to allow DJs room for tension, release, and seamless mixing. The sound palette emphasizes shimmering pads, arpeggiated synth motifs, supersaw leads, and wide, reverberant spaces. Harmonically, trance tends to favor minor keys, modal mixture, and extended suspense before cathartic drops. Production hallmarks include sidechain compression (“pumping”), off‑beat open hi‑hats, rolling basslines, and lush delay/reverb tails. While largely instrumental, a major branch—vocal trance—features lyrical toplines and pop‑leaning structures without losing its club‑centric dynamics.
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