Favourite Anime Openings

[Level 7 Dragon]

Salutations, fellow Escapists.

Recently I've been re-watching old anime I used to enjoy as a teen. Mostly Ghost in the Shell, Lain, Ergo Proxy and other shows of the same caliber. One thing I noticed is that all of them have rather high quality intros that manage to incapsulate the tone and the message of the stories they are trying to bring across. Here's probably my favourite anime OP:


Notice how much attention is payed to the space around the titular character, the director seems to create a feeling of distance between Lain and the camera to contrast with the rather intimate scenes of her interacting with people though the wired. The song seems further to exxagerate the already melancholic atmosphere and link back to the existential and identiterian themes of the show.

Spoiler

And you don't seem to understand
A shame you seemed an honest man
And all the fears you hold so dear
Will turn to whisper in your ear
And you know what they say might hurt you
And you know that it means so much
And you don't even feel a thing

I am falling, I am fading
I have lost it all

And you don't seem the lying kind
A shame then I can read your mind
And all the things that I read there
Candle lit smile that we both share
and you know I don't mean to hurt you
But you know that it means so much
And you don't even feel a thing

I am falling, I am fading, I am drowning
Help me to breathe
I am hurting, I have lost it all
I am losing
Help me to breathe

Anyway, Escapist, what is your favourite anime OP and why?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Mostly I love the ones I watched in High School on Toonami.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

The most Metal Anime intro:

 

[Fox12]

Goddamnit, Dragon, you seem to ninja me in every thread. And now you've done it in the OP! Lain probably has my favorite opening of all time. I like how surreal it is. The way the camera forces your attention on her face, and the way everything freezes in place when she's walking across the bridge. The unnerving introduction. I normally fast forward through openings, but I watch the Lain opening every. Single. Time. It doesn't hurt that I love that song. Go listen to the acoustic version, it's painfully beautiful.

I was always partial towards the Elfen Lied opening. The show had its flaws, mostly with writing and fanservice, but the direction was top notch.

 

[Phasmal]

I think you always have a soft spot for your first anime. Recently I've been watching Inuyasha with a friend who has never seen it. I'm a bit older than her and I got into it when I was about 13/14. The first opening was the best.


I feel so old watching it now. Hahaha.

 

[balladbird]

Tough to put in just one category. DX

I'm as big a sucker for nostalgia as they come, but looking back on the old anime of the nineties that got me started on the stuff, I have to say that openings as a whole have come a long way since then, to the point where, of all the nostalgic shows I used to love, the only one I would still regard as having an OP that's among my favorites would be Escaflowne:


I love the way the music and the imagery flows, even looking back on it from twenty years later.


Fast-forward time to the new 00s, and you start hitting a lot of my all-time favorite anime themes. It's not fair to compare some of them to others, because different opening try to evoke different emotions, so I'll try to mention my favorites based on the intended effect.

First off, for the shonen/sports anime OP that basically exists for the purpose of "make the audience HYPED ABOUT PLAYING SPORTS/BOARD GAMES!" My favorite, bar none, is the third opening theme to Hajime no Ippo: Tumbling Dice


To this day, I can't watch it without getting pumped for some boxing, but I also enjoy how it focuses on action while also taking moments here and there to breath and reference Ippo's growth as the series has gone on.


For the best use of a licensed song from another country in an opening theme, my money's on Speed Grapher, featuring the song "Girls on film", by Duran Duran:


Speed Grapher is a tragically overlooked Seinen series that I only found an excuse to talk about once before, during the fanservice thread. This is one of the few series with a serious tone for whom the fanservice doesn't detract from its core thesis. A cynical, dark look into hedonism and the corrupting power of money, it manages to do for sexuality what robocop did for violence, in my opinion, and the OP definitely sets the mood for it.



Next up, shonen battle anime... they have a style all their own, so they kinda have to have their own category. Naruto and One Piece are probably the most popular of them, but it's their special-needs younger brother, Bleach, who typically has the best OPs of the lot... kinda sad, considering they're getting you hyped for a pretty subpar series. Most turn to asterisk as an example for this, which makes sense, as Asterisk is awesome, but my favorite of Bleach's openings is actually the very last one before the series faced cancellation:


It flows from image to image stylishly, and a lot of it is designed to celebrate how far the series had gone, since they knew it was going to be the last one. Lots of fond memories attached to it.


Winding down, now, my favorite dramatic opening comes from a series that was super hyped in its heyday, but since somewhat forgotten: Gankutsuo: the count of monte cristo, and it's opening, the hauntingly beautiful "We were lovers":


The lineart is divisive, I find, but I think it helps create a ghostly feeling to the opening. It's clear that what we're looking at is a happiness that has long since vanished, and the lyrics give us the titular character's state of mind right upfront, though we don't realize how well it syncs until near the end.


Rounding out, we have the OP that, if someone pointed a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I would eventually concede to probably being my favorite. Just... everything about it. I love the bewitching, mellow tone of the song, which belies the ridiculous, over-the-top lyrics, which in turn fit very well with the ridiculous, over-the-top animation of the OP.

My more-or-less favorite of all openings for all time, ever. From the parody series "Cromartie High School", "Jun"... though, sadly, since an unaltered version of it seems to have vanished from youtube in its entirety, I can't link to it... but believe me... it's awesome. XD

 

[Casual Shinji]

I was always partial towards the Elfen Lied opening. The show had its flaws, mostly with writing and fanservice, but the direction was top notch.

I don't think I've skipped this opening once anytime I watched an episode. It was primarily the music though.

 

[Fox12]

I was always partial towards the Elfen Lied opening. The show had its flaws, mostly with writing and fanservice, but the direction was top notch.

I don't think I've skipped this opening once anytime I watched an episode. It was primarily the music though.

I liked the gustav klimt shout out, but there wasn't much going on animation wise. The music is incredible, though. Heck, the whole soundtrack was surprisingly good.

 

[Saelune]

Gundam Seed's 3rd Opening. Its my favorite song of them all, but I also like how Seed has a bunch of openings that change depending on where the plot is at. This is near the end, but not quite, so its alot of dramatic stuff, and Seed is very emotionally wrenching, though Gundam was Games of Throneing before Martin was.

 

[madwarper]

Since Cowboy Bebop was already mentioned, so I'll just add Big O and Outlaw Star.

Spoiler

 

[Scarim Coral]

Let see-

Spoiler: Naruto Shippuden openning 13

I just love the feel of state of emergency since it was take place during Pain Invasion arc. The situation look dire and it awesome seeing Naruto coming to the recuse at the end!

Spoiler: One Piece openning 11

Ok there are a few more One Piece opennings I loved but this one kinda stood out abit. I just loved in my view, the song used before this one and after the one I embed fitted well together with the arcs it was playing (the preclude to Whitebeard War and the aftermath). Anyway this one stood out due to the way they displayed the rousters of Whitebeard crew, the escaped convits and the might of the marines!

Spoiler: Bleach Openning 1

Says what you want about Bleach especially when it start to decline but you cannot denine it has one hell of an openning at the very start!
The song is great and I loved the red, white and blue and other colours they had going and the clothing it wear despite it didn't repersent the anime too well! Oh well!

Spoiler: Ghost in the Shell SAC 2nd

I loved the top notch animation went into this intro! I definitely prefered it over the first cgi openning!

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Drawing upon the limited selection of those I was able to watch on actual TV...

Spoiler: Eureka Seven Opening 4

As with Gundam Seed mentioned above, it changed openings depending on where the plot was, and the last was undoubtedly the most uplifting without being overly bombastic (like the 3rd opening). That seems to be the case for a number of Animes which change their opening, trying to psych you back up for the final curtain. Even Yu Gi Oh GX had a good one for Season 4.

Spoiler: Witch Hunter Robin

This one didn't change, but the series wasn't exactly long. I prefer the slower-paced ones sometimes.

I was about to put Legend of Calamity Jane on here, but that's not technically an Anime. It looks like one but was produced by Canadaian animators... so it's a 'Canadame'.

Oh, what the heck:

Spoiler: Legend of Calamity Jane

Without a doubt the darkest show to ever air on Teletoon.

 

[Saltyk]

Well, allow me to suggest a few great openings.

I'm mostly wanting people to even hear of this series. The budget limited it a bit, but it's a fun show. And the opening helps get that across.​

 

[Worgen]

Lets see
Xam'd intro

Log Horizon

Angel Beats

Death Parade

Baccano

GunSmith Cats (The guy who did it also did the opening for Cowboy Beebop.)

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I can think of a couple of anime themes that I really like...

Spoiler: Spinning World

...OK, I could have sworn that was an opening theme...uh...redo [sub][sub][sub]not obsessed with that singer, not obsessed with that singer, not obsessed with that singer...[/sub][/sub][/sub]

From Outlaw Star: This one has been an earworm living with me since about...what was it, 2003 or 2004 when Toonami first showed this? High energy and really enjoyable to me.

Luna by Gackt, the opening of the 3-part Shin Hokuto no Ken. I'm not a huge Gackt fan (I preferred Tetsu and Klaha if we're going by Malice Mizer) but what I like by him is usually heavier like this and Redemption. I mostly liked this mini-series too even if Ken did seem kinda underpowered.

[youtube.com=h6Op4g9T-M0]
Suga Shigeo's Evening Shower is the mellow, really cool opening track that you get to enjoy before Boogiepop Phantom mind-fucks you. I recall Boogiepop Phantom being what the hipsters who were too cool for Serial Experiments Lain watched instead...mainly because I was one of those hipsters who didn't watch SEL...chill song, great show but if you're interested in Boogiepop watch it all from the beginning, the timeline isn't linear and, everything is connected.

I'm cheating with this one: I knew this was an anime but I know Petshop of Horrors as the best manga mini-series of all time. It had a 4-episode run (probably more, the US got 4 episodes on a VHS collection) and I've never actually watched that...I do like this opening though and if it were at all possible to find the collection on tape I'd probably watch it a few times a year.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

Death Parade

Spoiler

Baccano

Spoiler

Toss up between these two and these two:
Clannad AF

Beck

 

[Mechamorph]

Some of my own favourites

Spoiler: Read Or Die OAV Opening

An excellent song to open what is essentially a spy thriller. Reminds me of a more energetic James Bond opening.

Spoiler: Dirty Pair TV Opening, Russian Roulette

A blast from the past, Russian Roulette is basically an expositionary tune for the Lovely Angels.

Spoiler: Kimagure Orange Road Opening 1, Night of Summer Side

A song that is so 80s that if cut, it would bleed big hair and shoulder pads.

Spoiler: MariaHolic Opening, Hanaji

Another high energy song that has lyrics that fit the show perfectly about a person trapped in a relationship because they are that attracted to someone who is essentially a bad person.

Spoiler: Cutey Honey Opening

If a song has been use since the 70s, it has got to be doing something right.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Lets see
Xam'd intro

Spoiler

Is this by the same team that did Eureka Seven, because it looks almost like a spritial sequel to that series; Similar style in character design with a lot of distinction, and taking place in a setting that's sort of, but not at all, like Earth.

 

[Worgen]

Lets see
Xam'd intro

Spoiler

Is this by the same team that did Eureka Seven, because it looks almost like a spritial sequel to that series; Similar style in character design with a lot of distinction, and taking place in a setting that's sort of, but not at all, like Earth.

Yeah, both were done by Bones and directed by Masayuki Miyaji. Nothing else really matches that style.

 

[MiskWisk]

Lot of good openings mentioned here so to avoid repetition here's one that hasn't been brought up yet.