Anime, Aesthetics & Lo-fi Beats: A Chilled Harmony

Lo-fi beats have been getting more love these days. Whether you’re listening to them on a sunny, rainy, or cloudy day, you’re guaranteed to stay chill, productive, and focused alongside the rhythmic beats. 

The success of lo-fi hip-hop artists is noteworthy, given the genre’s DIY and self-contained approach to commercial success. ChilledCow and Chillhop, for instance, have developed their own music industry bubbles of label, brand, and merchandise that function almost totally outside of the mainstream music industry.

But have you ever noticed how lo-fi songs are almost always associated with anime backgrounds or loops of anime clips? Today, the majority of lo-fi YouTube videos feature anime themes that make us subconsciously link the two together. Even Spotify playlists use retro anime backgrounds or motifs! 

But before diving into the whys, let’s first focus on the how — how exactly did lo-fi and anime come together?

Lo-Fi Aesthetics Feature Anime Visuals

Lo-fi, or low fidelity, aesthetics usually feature anime visuals by using elements with pastel, desaturated, and retro-like filters and drawings. To match the flawed and distorted sounds that make lo-fi low fidelity, the images drawn are toned down and intentionally reduced in quality, as if adding visible noise to the visuals that complement the distorted sounds. 

Lo-fi beats add a nostalgic and cozy atmosphere that helps you relax. Some sounds considered as flaws, such as mild coughing, page-turning, car noises, and occasional hisses, give lo-fi a compelling and realistic sense that feels engaging and genuine. Incorporating anime backgrounds that feel equally sentimental, dreamy, and warm yet cool at the same time adds to the overall charm of listening to the chill audio of lo-fi beats.

As lo-fi aesthetics draw upon Vaporwave and anime imagery, other aesthetics such as Cartooncore, Glowwave, Pastel Academia, Spiritcore, as well as Indie aesthetics may seem similar to lo-fi.

Anime Clips Match the Mood of Lo-Fi Beats

Lo-fi music, playlists, and YouTube channels are designed to blend into the background, essentially as music with use designed for a specific context or lifestyle. In listening to the background sounds of lo-fi, listeners today want music to be contextualized to their mood, surroundings, and activity.

Hence, lo-fi beats use anime background images and aesthetics to complement the same vibe that helps set a mood or atmosphere, as both complement one another in the mood and feel they set in music and imagery.

Both Anime and Chill Beats Create a Safe Space

Lo-fi beats and anime also create a safe haven for listeners. This is not just from a reflective standpoint, but it can also be seen in chat boxes and live streams on YouTube to explore. 

People hanging out in lo-fi stream chats often talk about the hardships they are going through. These lo-fi chats have become safe places for anyone to openly discuss their trials and to explore topics or emotions that they want to engage with. While listening to the lo-fi beats that make them feel safe, they are able to connect with others that may experience the same as they do, hence providing and receiving comfort from one another.

Moreover, because people now spend less time at work and more time at home, new ways to be efficient, upbeat, and consistent prove to be necessary. That is why while working or doing school works, people watch lo-fi live broadcasts with anime clips playing in the background to be productive yet comfortable at the same time. With more individuals spending time at home, such streams are becoming more frequent and appreciated.

Both Anime and Chillhop are Huge Sources of Nostalgia

Anime and lo-fi hip-hop produce feelings of nostalgia, as well. The familiarity and sentimentality brought about by familiar aesthetics and imagery create the powerful effect of nostalgia, and researchers are finding that nostalgia can be an enormously beneficial and potentially life-saving emotion.

Nostalgia is a nuanced emotion tinged with melancholy and triggered by a recollection or sensation of something that has passed. However, melancholy is often accompanied and overshadowed by happiness. It is because of this positive emotion that nostalgia can be such a helpful feeling.

Being sources of nostalgia, anime and lo-fi hip-hop can easily make you daydream. Not only that, but the lack of verbal lyrics in lo-fi emphasize its nostalgia, making lo-fi hip-hop almost dream-like as if you could stay inside your thoughts for hours. Similarly, because of the vast worldbuilding in anime, you may be inspired to conceptualize scenarios that best fit your own desires, leaving yourself as the master of your own alternate realities. 

Lo-fi Beats Increase Concentration & Productivity

Just as how lo-fi can help you meditate, relax, and be mindful, anime can make you feel the same. While it may seem counterintuitive because some may consider music and anime to be distracting, both can help you concentrate on your work. 

Lo-fi study music encourages the listener not only to feel at peace but also to be productive. As you listen to the downtempo, repetitive beats of lo-fi, you’ll be able to stay focused and undisturbed while working. The anime clips project the same feel as the song, and it gives the sentiment of homeyness and comfort in watching ChilledCow’s Anime lo-fi girl working on screen with her cat on her laptop. This not only encourages us to make something out of our time but to approach it in a calm, measured, and steady way.

Additionally, lo-fi music engages areas of the brain that involve cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and consciousness. It drains distractions by allowing the brain to subconsciously selectively focus on a task while sounds are playing in the background. Thus, the predictable non-lyrical background music overall increases mood and concentration and reduces anxiety.

Nujabes & Samurai Champloo

Just as how lo-fi can help you meditate, relax, and be mindful, anime can make you feel the same. While it may seem counterintuitive because some may consider music and anime to be distracting, both can help you concentrate on your work. 

Lo-fi study music encourages the listener not only to feel at peace but also to be productive. As you listen to the downtempo, repetitive beats of lo-fi, you’ll be able to stay focused and undisturbed while working. The anime clips project the same feel as the song, and it gives the sentiment of homeyness and comfort in watching ChilledCow’s Anime lo-fi girl working on screen with her cat on her laptop. This not only encourages us to make something out of our time but to approach it in a calm, measured, and steady way.

Additionally, lo-fi music engages areas of the brain that involve cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and consciousness. It drains distractions by allowing the brain to subconsciously selectively focus on a task while sounds are playing in the background. Thus, the predictable non-lyrical background music overall increases mood and concentration and reduces anxiety.