As the Christmas music starts pumping into my eardrums almost everywhere I go, it reminds me that music can push memory you might have stored, deep in the back of you mind, right back to the front. Of course I want to focus more on the anime flavor of this with the opening and ending music, which makes me remember the anime vaguely or even with some detail to the story.
It's a nice reminder of the anime I've watched if I enjoyed the music and the anime itself or even just the music, when the song pops up when I decide to listen to music, during times that need my focus and I don't want people to bother me.
I always wonder if the joy it brings back is from remembering the anime specifically, or because I like the song and anime was just a distant memory never to be tapped again. I guess its not so bad, since the anime music I don't have probably won't even be remember, but I want to discuss the difference between thinking of the music rather than the anime, and vise-versa.
Remember the Music
The one anime that comes as a top contributor for only remembering the music of the anime is K-On. K-On has a bunch of wonderful songs, but not much of a story to look back on. I did enjoy the first season, but rehashing on the same slice-of-life tone without any conflict or any real problems, made it quickly become bland and an easy anime to forget.
It actually comes to no surprise that a music anime would be mostly remembered by the music. It had quite the repertoire of songs compared to any other anime. However, music alone can't really save them from what the are absent of and thats the flaw of their focusing on music.
Remember the Anime
An anime that is the opposite would be The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I vaguely remember the series despite how long it has been since I've watch it, with some parts that I want to forgotten, Endless Eight, as soon as possible.
I still do enjoy the songs that came from the series, but this is one of those anime most anime fans can say they have watched. With a good set of unique characters and a nice spin on the slice-of-life genre, it does stick out quite a bit. It even has a pretty decent dub version for the people that prefer watching their anime this way.
Conclusion
Having a some good music to complement an anime helps contribute to the extended lifespan of the anime. Even if the anime have a mediocre plot or character, a lot of times music helps spread the name recognition of the series fairly easily.