I’ve noticed that, for a handful of recent anime, a trend has been going on in which the openings and/or the endings are changed more frequently than usual. I’m curious if this is just a coincidence or if it’s pointing to something more…
Typically, one season of anime (about 13 episodes) uses just one OP and ED. Sometimes the OPs and/or EDs are tweaked a little to add something new, like a new character, as was the case in the K-ON! opening for example, but basically they remain the same. Two seasons of anime (about 26 episodes) have one or two OPs and EDs, with the second OP and ED being used midway through the series. The only anime that usually have more than that are the ones that run for 50 or more episodes. However, a number of anime have come out within the past year that are not following this tradition…
In only 12 episodes, Bakemonogatari has used four different openings. The most common one is “staple staple” for episodes 2, 6-7, and 11-12. Three unique openings are used for episodes 4, 8, and 10, featuring those episodes’ starring characters (there was no opening for episode 1). Each of the four openings uses a different animation style and a different song.
The first episode of Sora no Woto used completely different animation in its opening than the animation used for episode 2 and onward. The song, however, remains the same.
Though not quite as relevant since its a longer series, the new Fullmetal Alchemist anime that’s been airing since April has already used four different openings and four different endings. This is about the same as the original 51-episode anime, but because this new series will be longer than that, it seems like they’re making new OPs and EDs faster than necessary.
The new Inuyasha anime that started airing in October has already used three different endings in less than 20 episodes, which is already more than is typical for its 26-episode count. What’s strange is that, while the ending has been changed three times, the opening still hasn’t been changed.
And lastly, the newest and most prominent example is Hanamaru Kindergarten, which has been using a new ending for ALL of its currently 6 episodes. Whether it will keep this up for episode 7 and onward has yet to be seen.
These are the examples I know about, but if you can think of any other recent anime that have changed their OPs and/or EDs more frequently than usual, I’d like to know.
I honestly don’t know whether this really is a new trend or whether I’m simply making a false generalization based on only a few anime. Any thoughts on this?
The one other prominent example – and where I started thinking that it could become a trend – would be Sora no Otoshimono, with its flying pantsu and whatnot. I don’t know if it’ll become a sustainable trend, but I love seeing the variety and think it’d be great to see it become more prevalent. And honestly, it’s probably the best way to promote a character song/album.
I don’t mind if a series frequently changes it’s OP and ED. As long as they offer a good song, it’s fine. Like FMA and Bakemonogatari. And I even wish that there’s a new OP/ED EVERY episode. lol
@ RP
Yeah, it is a good way to promote certain characters, as is the case with Bakemonogatari. And in the case of Hanamaru Kindergarten, maybe it’s just extra fan omake the studio is throwing in to make the show even more appealing.
@ Kairu
I like it too and I wouldn’t mind if more anime changed their OPs and/or EDs frequently. I don’t need it to be every episode unless there’s a reason, like to promote the starring character, like in Bakemonogatari. But I wonder if it’s a lot more costly to do so and if only certain studios would be able to afford it.
Basically, this is all part of the promotion/marketing strategy for the shows in question. Shows that air in primetime generally have slightly bigger-name artists and are sponsored by larger labels (like Sony/BMG for example), so they change the OP/ED at least once a cour so they can put out more CDs. Some of these shows actually make more money from CD sales than DVD sales to begin with. Late-night shows might do this either as part of the DVD promotion strategy (like Bakemonogatari, where a CD is included in the Limited Edition DVD/BD releases), or so that they can sell a “Ending Theme Collection CD” for a bit more money (like what Lantis did back in the day with School Days, and may very well happen with Starchild for Hanamaru Kindergarten). Other times shows do this as a way to sell Character Song Singles (like Avex with Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka, or Geneon with the ef anime series).
I think the main reason for this is basically that physical CD sales in general are down around the world, so they’re trying to find other ways of packaging songs that will appeal to people. Having a variety of different tracks to choose from means more CDs and/or more individual tracks available online on sites like iTunes and so on. People might also be more willing to buy a compilation album than a bunch of individual tracks. So having all these different OPs/EDs is an opportunity to get more music out there in general, giving more opportunities for the fans to purchase.
The only one on here that really doesn’t sound like it’s about CDs is the Sora no Woto example, and that’s probably more of a production issue/decision, and possibly not entirely by design. A lot of shows have a problem with falling behind schedule in the first few episodes so end up having to do funny things with the OP/ED until it’s fully ready to go.
@ relentlessflame
Wow, thanks so much for all the info! You certainly know a lot more about it than I do so I’m glad you took the time to explain it =)
I was sort of thinking it might be costly to make many different OPs and/or EDs, but then I had a second thought that it might actually be worth it because of all the music sales and not just because fans like it. Guess it’s the case that it’s more profitable to do so or they probably wouldn’t do it.
It’s free exposure for what would otherwise be marketed as “image songs.” I know I would have never volunteered to listen to a “Hiiragi image CD,” but I’m a big fan of Hanamaru Kindergarten’s second ED. Know what I mean?
We are talking about different changes here. A good example of what Relentless Flame was discussing is Naruto, which started rotate OPs and EDs and half-season after the success of Haruka Kanata, Fighting Dreamers, etc. Funnily enough, the new entrants were rather so-so. Maybe their management paid their way into the coveted OP slot.
There’s also a change like the one the original article mentioned (the insert of Azusa). Yet another style of it would be Sekirei ED which has a special place where a different character was inserted in each episode, rather lazily animated…
@ 2DT
Yeah, making fans listen to certain character songs that they would otherwise not listen to by making those songs the OP or ED is a good advertising strategy. And if the profit from the music sales is greater than the cost for extra animation and song production, it all works out fine.
@ Author
Naruto and Bleach seem to change OPs and EDs more than other long-running series, like One Piece and Pokemon. For these kinds of shows, I think it might be different because they have more episodes, thus they warrant more OPs and EDs because their plots are always changing. But yeah, they don’t need to change the OPs and/or EDs as often as they do its a good marketing strategy for the songs. They’ve used popular artists like FLOW and Uverworld more than once.
That reminds me, for the current Pokemon ending “Dotchi~Nyo,” four different versions of it will be included on an upcoming CD, with the only difference being the last line (saying a direction, either “up,” “down,” “left,” or “right”). Pokemon OPs and EDs are usually made specifically for the show and not for the artist’s single (hence all the Pokemon terminology in the songs) so I think that’s connected to the fact that Pokemon OPs and EDs change infrequently, sometimes using the same one for over 50 episodes with only slight changes, like adding new pokemon to the animation or making a remix of the song.
Didn’t know about Sekirei. Thanks for pointing it out.
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I know it’s not anime, but another genre that started me getting interesed in Japanese television was tokusatsu. Their shows remain with the same OP for the show, with a couple of exceptions (Kamen Riders Blade and Hibiki had two, but they’re the only Heisei series to have two). Instead of changing both, they’ve changed their EDs (if it’s played during the show (and in one case BEFORE the OP) could you really call it an ED?) for Kamen Rider, but kept the same true ED for Super Sentai. Kamen Rider’s been pretty bad lately with ending themes starting with Den-O. Den-O had a mini-album just with half of the ending themes they used. My last count for that show had 9 ending themes used during the series’ 49 episodes and movie. Then another one for each of the three additional movies (and there’s three more movies coming out this summer (with at least one new song)). It’s not just limited to anime.
One interesting tale is that of Tomica Hero Rescue Force. Unlike one of your earlier posts that stated the songs for shows generally are chosen for those shows and made specially for that show, Rescue Force’s OP was adapted by changing one line from the original song that was released not as a single, but as part of camino’s next album. The newer version of that show Rescue Fire has the songs made for it like the others do, but I think that one was more interesting.
I think tokusatsu’s sales are getting stronger as there are more overseas fans purchasing the singles/albums. Each year for all the series I know of, they release collections of singles (and for Kamen Rider a box set including every song and BGM). The openings for the last four Kamen Rider shows have debuted in the top five for the week on the Oricon rankings, so they’re getting up there. The last show had GACKT to sing the OP and both movie songs, so they’re signing some big names too.
Once again, not really anime-related, but I thought since there some overlap (especially with the Pokemon/Pretty Cure audience) it may be nice to have some additional information.
You have an interesting point. You also could’ve compared those to older animes, like Sailor Moon (one of my favorites). The first two seasons had the same theme, but different animation depending on what was going on in the story. The third and fourth seasons did this as well with a different version of that same song (Moonlight Densetsu). The opening theme song, however, didn’t completely change until the last season.
Sora no Otoshimono and Bakemonogatari set the “trend” last year with their ED and OP differences respectively. Since others have already given plausible reasons, I will just say that other than it being a marketing tactic, it could also be a tactic to try and instill more interest in the anime. The different OP or ED animations could also be used to provide bonus material for the episodes themselves individually.
By the way Bakemonogatari episode 12 had no OP at all, gg fansubs added it in because they wanted to.
@ ultimatemegax
Thanks for the info. It’s interesting to know that the same music marketing strategy is used for other Japanese shows besides anime.
@ Kyoizumi
Yeah, Sailor Moon is a good example of an older series that’s done this.
@ Panther
Right, novelty always gets people’s interest, so making new OPs or EDs more frequently is one way to go. And yeah, the many different OPs and EDs can be used as bonus material/omake that fans can eat up.
Really, there was no OP in episode 12? I did watch the gg fansub and since ANN and MAL both had episode 12 listed with the “staple staple” opening, I had no reason to think otherwise. So thanks for pointing that out.
It does seem that anime OP are changing more frequently. I’m not sure if this counts as a trend yet though.
I do appreciate having more different OPs/ EDs.