Nothing beats the original opening song, We Are!, by Hiroshi Kitadani. While One Piece has many great opening and ending songs, this is the only one that sounds apart from mainstream J-music, and more like something specifically written for the show (it was composed by Kouhei Tanaka, after all). It's cheery, upbeat, and has a great singer, and the accompanying animation is impressive. And if you've been a fan of the series for so long and look back upon it, it's bound to strike a few chords in your heart.
It even makes it into an instrumental, one of the best in the series. It usually plays after the Big Bad is taken down, and everyone's having a good time in the aftermath. Fittingly it's called, "We did it-Party!"
What about the version of the song that plays when something sad is happening? Hearing that during the scene where Zoro decides he'll fight for his and Kuina's dream actually made me cry.
Is it the same as the soft version use in some of the more tender moments? Example: early in episode 84, when it flashes back to Dr. Kureha and Chopper first triaging Luffy, Sanji and Nami, with Kureha realizing how grave Nami's condition is, and Luffy weakly grabbing her arm, telling her they're his nakama.
I would like to add the ten year anniversary remix of "We Are", because knowing that an anime has lasted for ten years and is still going strong is definitely a triumphant moment for fans.
Share The World continues One Piece's legacy of having great openings.
The 12th opening, "Kaze wo Sagashite" ("Search for the Wind") definitely upholds the standard for great One Piece music. In addition, the TV version is accompanied with epic animation to set up for the Marineford Arc.
An awesome sort of Easter Egg is that, Marineford Arc animations aside, many of the scenes at the beginning of the animation with the Straw Hat group are actually animations of color spreads found in the manga.
If we must speak of the new One Piece songs, we must not soon forget the 13th opening: "One Day" by The ROOTLESS. It fits the epic and tense feel of the Marineford saga perfectly, and also describes the brotherly relationship between Luffy and Ace quite nicely.
"Karakuri Castle Transform is arguably one of the most intense, fast-paced fight themes in any show, and especially by anime's standards. Played often through the series, KCT makes any scene that much more thrilling.
"Overtaken" makes any scene in which it's played instantaniously awesomer, because it's usually when the Straw Hats have decided that, no matter how much punishment they've taken already, no matter how hopeless the situation has become, no matter how powerful the Big Bad is, these guys will not back down, they will not surrender, they will pull out all the stops and won't quit until they're dead or have put the villains in their place.
It's not Dvorak, but the piece that plays during that scene's recreation in Movie 8 (and later on in the actual anime for Rob Lucci's defeat), "I Will Keep On Surpassing You!", has a wonderful build-up of pain and sorrow before exploding in a triumphant and furious climax as Luffy puts everything he has into his last move to defeat the Big Bad.
This troper would like to nominate "Straw Hat Pirates Fight". It's just perfect when Luffy and all of his friends are working together and kicking ass.
It may have come from a filler movie but this track has quickly become the new favorite for climactic action sequences: Ace's final battle with Blackbeard and Luffy's epic punching of the Celestial Dragon just to name a few.
This tune that usually plays during an intense action scene is this tropers favorite.
While it started out as a funny gag song, (warning, clip arguably has some spoiler material prior to Enies Lobby) "The Man from the Island of Snipers" becomes a Crowning Music of Awesome when Usopp gets dangerous. After all, this is a series about fulfilling one's dreams - so what is more badass in context than a song about one's dream self?
Arguably the most terrifying combination of music when played to the presence of someone like Bartholomew Kuma has to be Desperate Situation at 2:17 and Difficult until 1:50. If either one of those pieces are playing, it's usually a sign that shit has hit the fan.
Both versions of Brook's Fight. Both fast-paced, heart pumping pieces. Unfortunately both are wasted, since I can't remember either of them actually being used in any episode.
Might as well say every Anime Theme Song One Piece has is awesome.
Movie 10 introduces a whole brand new slew of awesome music. First there's Run Luffy! which fits the rough, wild nature of the movie's setting perfectly, as well as To East Blue?, which starts out majestically, befitting the Scenery Porn of Merveille's introduction before abruptly shifting gears along with the plot. Next we have Begin the Operation for when the Big Bad's plan goes into motion, and the sad Nami's Message. Then we get Baby Dance, Nami Escapes, Sanji and Usopp, and Sanji's Leg of Wind (the latter apparently having become Boa Hancock's Leitmotif), all catchy, jazz swing pieces. Rounding out the battle music are Zoro's Nine Blades (actually a rearrangement of the much earlier "Gomu Gomu vs. Goe Goe" piece mentioned above), and the appropriately climatic The Final Battle. Finally, there's Message of Faith, showing the return to normalcy for the Straw Hats as well as underscoring the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming that the film ends on.
Um, I hate to break it to you, but those links no longer work.
To my knowledge, there isn't an official soundtrack out for it, but the music in the OVADefeat the Pirate Ganzack is all kinds of awesome. A shame that none of those tracks were reused for the actual show when it came out.
The second half of most one Piece openings such as the 5th opening.
While I'm not sure if it's out yet (or the name for that fact), the music at the end of the most recent episodes as Oars, dying, reaches out to Ace is the most amazing, heart-rending piece the recent episodes.
It is out in fact, as this troper recently found out. It's called "Dokuro ga Shinnen no Shouchou", and is from the 9th Movie Soundtrack.
This song always does it for this troper. It gives off the sense of joy and adventure the series loves.
Dokuro wa Shinnen no Shouchou from the 9th Movie. Notable moments when this song played during the anime includes the part in Impel Down where Luffy tells Iva that he's going to Marineford to rescue Ace and, more memorably, the scene where Whitebeard makes an epic Last Stand against the marines.
The second part from The World's Number One Oden Store is an amazingly beautiful track, and does a great job of getting across the great things that tend to happen in One Piece flashbacks (Saul's betrayal of the marines and Roger/Rayleigh's first meetings stand out to me the most). It's a shame that so many tracks don't get their own names, because I felt like this one really deserved it.
Karakuri Defense System, Deploy is the kind of theme that makes any dramatic scene twice as intense. Usually played whenever the bad guy has the upper hand in a fight, or when there's impending doom.
Character Singles
"We're not acquaintances. We're not friends. We are a Family!"
