I get what you’re saying, but at the same time I think it was interesting to leave the question open-ended and see how people interpreted the criteria. Plus, it can spark debate as people begin to question why certain works were nominated. But I do agree that when listing specific picks it’s helpful to explain why you think the work has merit beyond simple entertainment. Not that there’s anything wrong with works that simply aim to entertain, but I was interested in hearing what works traditionally classified as “low-brow” may actually be more high-brow than we’d usually give them credit for.

And thanks for the compliment!

I don’t know if I have enough of a sample size to say for sure, but I’m inclined to say no. Honey and Clover has insert songs in nearly every episode, but I think that’s something of an exception; the source manga series is linked to the insert songs via the series name, which references albums by Spitz and Suga Shikao. In general, I’d say anime (including those with contemporary subjects) tends to feature pop/rock music primarily in the opening and ending songs and relies on the usual instrumental score during the episode itself.

An interesting anime-rock/pop music connection is the phenomenon of “character songs”: usually singles with a few tracks sung by voice actor(s) in character.

Which leads me to another anime to add to the “sorta, but in a different way list”: Weiss Kreuz (also known as Knight Hunters) is about four bishounen who are florists by day and assassins by night. The four voice actors for the main ensemble ended up forming a boy band (in which they perform, in character, complete with costumes). From what I’ve seen/heard, neither the anime nor music is particularly good, though the former at least is often unintentionally funny. Also, hilariously, I’m told there’s another series based on the same bizarre premise, though the name escapes me right now.

I’m far enough into the Gokusen manga to be fairly sure that Uchi doesn’t play bass there—finished vol. 4 today.

I think the Gokusen manga and anime are also generally worth investigating because they offer a different characterization of Yankumi; she comes off as much less naive than she is in the drama.

That might be what gets me at least to skim the manga. I’d forgotten about the bass till seeing this post. What piques my curiosity is that Uchi is quite different visually between the manga and jdrama versions. (The jdrama got tall, pretty Oguri Shun to play a guy who looks monsterlike.)