There are a lot of anime fans out there that always skip the opening, cutting the fat and going directly to the delicious meat. But then there are people like me who can’t skip the opening, who would never even dream of it. For me the intro is perhaps one of the most important parts of the show, I sometimes look forward to it even more than the show. I am an opening otaku.
So you would not imagine the pain that I feel when I come across an opening that has either a bad song, or horrible animation. I have to make the decision to either grit my teeth and withstand it, or pass over it completely. Skipping it is comparable to me cutting off my own finger with a Piccolo action figure; it’s that painful. Most people don’t understand me, but give me a moment to explain myself.
The opening is so much more than just a way to sell a new single or to show off a new dance at 45.45 frames-per-second. That may be true on the business side, but from my angle all that stuff does not matter. An opening is the essence of the anime. If you take the anime and put it in a pot and cook it, after a couple of hours you have the opening, a thick sauce that is all flavor but no substance. Example 1: A Great Opening
Now doesn’t this make you want to watch Cowboy Bebop? This is what happens when you combine good animation with good music. Usually, an opening either has good animation or good music, but we hardly ever see a great performance out of them both at the same time.
What happens when one aspect of the opening fails? It drags everything down to hell with it. See for yourself. Example 2: An opening sung by a cheap Thai prostitute
Now does this opening make you want to watch the show? Well probably not. This is extremely sad because Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a fantastic show, and doesn’t deserve this type of opening. What saved this anime from this abomination is that it isn’t the first opening, in fact it’s the fourth. Dropping the show at this point would be pointless because of one bad opening. Also, this really isn’t a big issue for the Japanese because they probably do not even notice this horrendous English singing. However, this isn’t an excuse when visuals are total trash.
Example 3: This is what happens when you run out of ideas
This isn’t anime, but it still does its job. After viewing this intro for the first time, I didn’t want to watch Kamen Rider Blade at all, it is that bad. The song was good, but the constant posing with spotlights and air punching is not flattering in any sense. Openings are here to help the series, to get the audience ready, to remind them, to get them psyched up for the upcoming show; not to detest them in any way. This is why they are so important.
What I’m saying here seems like perfect sense, but this mistake is still made to this day. Most people probably believe this doesn’t have a big effect on the anime as a whole, and they are right. But unconsciously I believe an opening can make an anime seem better or worse without the audience comprehending it. So please make good openings people.
Example 4: Repetition is a bad idea, especially if you have to watch the same sequence in the actual show. (I love this song!)
Example 5: Put me to sleep opening. (This is Gundam for fucks sake!)
Example 6: In conclusion another fantastic opening.
Agreed. I recognised Cowboy Bebop immediately without slicking the play button.
(Granted, I am on dial-up, so the idea of me pushing any play button requires a unique combination of instruments played simultaneously by a single musician)
No idea what the others were. I have heard of them, but they say "moneysuckers" to me loud and clear, so I avoided them.
I really... really didn't like the first Code Geass opening, or any of the closing songs but I thought the second OP was sweet. Just me. I don't like skipping openings either to be honest.
openings are also a great sumary for where the show is heading. =D take dgrayman for example. if youve read the manga up to the noah's ark arc, watch the opening sequence like REAL REAL closely (doubt and trust) and you see from the beginning to end, after reintroducing the characters, its a summary of basically the majority of the arc for you, or at least alot of the action
I only skip openings if the song sucks, I don't care too much for the OP animation I guess..
Do you like the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OPs? The music is good, but some of them just have a black screen with credits..
Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster, but I had to chime in on this one. I too am an opening otaku. I LOVE seeing how a new show will invoke in me the will to stay the course and come back, show me new things and stir emotions with the theme song and selected visuals. They tell me where the story is supposed to be going and what kind of place I will hopefully end up in if they do a good job. The best kind of opening for me is one that makes me want to watch it even though I've seen it a thousand times, or go out and find other music by the artist. D-Grayman put Abingdon Boys School on the map for me. Even though the anime didn't do much for me, Requiem from the Darkness got repeat business from me because of its opening "The Flame" by Keiko Lee. One of the best themes and opening sequences ever!
Of course, not all openings are created equal. While RftD got elevated by its opening in my opinion, others get dragged down. I'm totally into Gilgamesh right now but CAN'T STAND the opening...or the closing for that matter. WTF?! All them pretty boys and tight goth clothes go to waste as far as I'm concerned. Closing too. And others tease you and never really deliver. Mirage of Blaze had like a two second tease of Naoe and Takuya in a shirtless embrace and all I got was the end of episode seven and by then I already KNEW Naoe was a fucking nut! Same goes for Yami no Matsui, although the opening sequence is FANTASTIC. It just didn't deliver no horizontal bishounen action, unfortunately. Mercifully, the series was alright anyway. Can you tell I'm a yaoi lover? Huh, can ya? It's not too subtle is it? :)
Some other honorable mentions for good opening sequences: Generator Gawl, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai/and the very different one for When They Cry (both of which also have very good closing sequences), R.O.D. the OVA and the tv series--the definition of retro cool, Tenjho Tenge and Lovely Complex--who don't love dancing characters?--Haibane Renmei which does exactly what it's supposed to, though others may find it dull, and Serial Experiments Lain with the lovely "Duvet" by BOA. In Lain's case, I think the opening sequence did a better job of telling the story than the last volume of the show when it should have been wrapping up but instead left me going, whaa??? And Legend of Black Heaven which did an awful job of pimping itself for new watchers (it's just bizarre on first take) but once you get into it and understand what the anime is about, you know it totally goes with the anime. Plus the song, "Cautionary Warning," by John Sykes (sp) is off the chain.
Looking at the posted openings I have to say the only two outside of Bebop that caught my attention were Baccano which has a sort of Lupin/Bebop/L/R thing going for it and Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which, while the song sucked, gave me a warm and fuzzy shounen-ai vibe. When it involves pretty boys, pretty boy hair, and longing glances, add in some rose petals in the background, and I'm easy like Sunday morning! :)
Sorry for the long post, but love the forum. Thank you for letting me rant and please consider a future piece about closing sequences.
As one may infer from my forum habits, I too am a complete OP/ED otaku. Sometimes I'll just open up Youtube and watch openings for leisure.
And to be frank, I've been waiting for BLEACH to get a good opening since the third one, as none have been that great since.
Also, I think Stray (Wolf's Rain's opening) is one of the better ones out there.
It definitely depends on the show and the OP. I never skipped Gurren Lagann (OP or ED), DTB, Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, etc.
Even if I like the song, sometimes I'll skip it, unless it's completely awesome.
Baccano was a great op because in the middle of it, dialogue from the last episode would play so you'd know what had just happened. That helps because it's a pretty confusing show.
The only show I'm watching now that I never skip the OP of...is...Ghost Hound!
I'm 100% with you. I never skip an OP or ED. I feel like I haven't seen the whole episode if I skip them. OP's are sometimes more effective than trailers in convincing me to watch a show.
@Novakaine
I thought OP4 was really the only OP so far that was bad for Bleach (ugh the music). They just need to work on the animation, OP 7 could have been 20x better than what they turned it into. It definitely isn't what I imagined it would be. The first 3 OPs were definitely a cut above the rest though.
I loved the GITS: SAC OPs. They got me so pumped to watch the show/assassinate some infadel/start a revolution, lol jk ;>.> . The lyrics really fit with the theme of the shows. I didn't really care for the EDs though. Loved Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Hellsing, and Gungraves OPs those were some great soundtracks as well!
DGX Goggles: Well I haven't gotten to the seventh opening yet as I'm only at 155, but the HaiKara (aka the third) opening is so far my favorite for BLEACH, and the last one I liked. The fourth's Engrish was horrifying; the fifth was way too girly-rock for me; and the sixth is okay but is perhaps the weakest OP by Asian Kung-Fu Generation.
As for the second Death Note credits... ugh. I must be the only one who loathed them. Not that the song was bad, as sometimes I find myself humming it in my head--but because it was just so *out of place*. DN was a cat-and-mouse battle of wits, and Nightmare's alternative rock reflected that... and then we switch to mindless screamo. Then again, that was the point where the series in general sort of lost its appeal for me, so eh....
I lost track of the BLEACH opening credits, and stupid me, forgot I'm currently *on* the seventh OP. I forgot about the sixth one... which I also disliked.
Now that we're on the same page, I can agree they did sort of do a lazy job with the animation for it (though I loved the Arrancar bits). I mean, I'll take "After Dark" over the past three awful ones, but I wonder if Pierrot doesn't want to put the effort into the OPs like they did up until the Soul Society arc.
[quote]openings are also a great sumary for where the show is heading. [/quote]
Explains why I have such disinterest in the Naruto Shippuden series...even though I still watch the damn thing...sigh.
But yeah I'm an OP whore as well. I think an OP can set you up for everything that you are going to see in anime. The opening of Kaiji pushed me to see episode 2 which turned the entire series around for me. I probably watched way more eps of Death Note because of the sheer enjoyment that the opening video brings to the table when you sit down and watch it.
Though I have to say the lack of mention on the most popular OP of all anime (even moreso than Bebop) "Thesis of a Cruel Angel" from Evangelion makes me sad.
Speaking of Naruto (though not Shippuden), I personally adore the fifth opening and seventh ending (the ones for the start of the Sasuke retrieval arc).
I never see those two credit pieces getting any love. =(
Count me in as being an opening whore! I've been like that since my first anime watching (Ranma 1/2 the movie... on LASERDISK!). I actually enjoy some of the Naruto openings, along with favs like Gurren Lagann, witchblade (love that fucking XTC song), some Ranma intros, The Boondocks (I know, kinda halfbreed between anime & american, but hell I still love it). The second Deathnote intro song took a few viewings before I got used to it.
An intro and exit song I'm falling in love with now is Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I love that the anime is a mix between GTO &* Cromarti(s?) High School with a tiny pinch of Excel Saga for flavor.
I'd have to say that one of the ending themes for Naruto is my all time fav, Wind from Akeboshi. I love good op/ed's though, I have a strange love for the ending theme on Murder Princess too.
Great post. I agree that the openings are important, but some are really hard to sit through after a while. (naruto)Sorry naruto fans. I whole heartily agree Bebop has a great opening and thinking back i actually did watch the opening every time. In conclusion i like to watch good openings with great music and animation.
I thought I'm not normal, because somtimes I leave just one episode of anime which I dont really liked just to have its opening :)
I sometimes drop anime after few apisodes if OP is bad. Its like OP makes 30% of my decision to watch or not :D Because I watch only few in month and I'm really selective in this.
Most of my favorite ones where already mentioned in comments. But for example Blood+ Colors of the Heart (I think 3rd OP) is one of my most liked, I dont know why.
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(Granted, I am on dial-up, so the idea of me pushing any play button requires a unique combination of instruments played simultaneously by a single musician)
No idea what the others were. I have heard of them, but they say "moneysuckers" to me loud and clear, so I avoided them.