I’ve made a lot of anime favorites lists over the years, but I was recently reminded that I have yet to make a list of favorite openings, a list that many bloggers have already done. Although there’s a reason for why I’ve been avoiding such a list, I finally managed to come up with a top 10…
The reason I was putting off making a list of favorite openings is because they’re comprised of two things – visuals and music – and I was having difficultly deciding how I should judge them. What if I loved the song but not so much the visuals? What if I love the visuals but not the song? Should I choose an opening that has good overall visuals and music or one that’s good in just one or the other?
Finally today, I decided that I’m going to make my list of favorite openings based mostly on visuals, with music being judged secondary. Since I already made a list of my favorite anime songs, I figured it’d be better to judge this list of favorite openings based more on visuals.
And just to note, it was more difficult for me to pick favorite anime openings than favorite anime titles because there’s just so many of them – for every one anime title there could be multiple openings! 0_o I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make a list of favorite anime openings I’m 100% satisfied with, but below is the best I could do:
10. Air OP “Tori no Shi”
A beautiful opening for a beautiful anime. “Tori no Shi” is a song that’s both pretty and intense, just like Air itself. The visuals are gorgeous and flow with the song perfectly.
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*Sorry about the French subs*
9. Seirei no Moribito OP “Shine”
“Shine” made it onto my top 10 favorite anime songs too. It’s such a bright, uplifting song and really brings out the splendor of the visuals in this OP. I’m a sucker for pretty nature scenery, and the birds flying at the beginning and ending of this OP create a powerful effect. I also like how the OP gives us subtle yet endearing scenes of Balsa and Chagum’s relationship. I especially like the scene where they’re racing across the fields on a horse (even though they only had that horse for like, one episode =P)
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8. One Piece OP 5 “Kokoro no Chizu”
“Kokoro no Chizu” is also one of my top 10 anime songs. I think the lyrics capture the themes of One Piece more than any other, and along with the visuals in this OP, really give a good impression of the show. I like how the OP seems to be two “acts,” with the first half featuring the Straw Hats doing their usual stuff at sea, and the second half flashing scenes of the darker events that happen in this story arc.
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7. Fullmetal Alchemist OP 2 “Ready Steady Go!”
Out of all the FMA openings, this one has always gotten me the most “pulled” into wanting to watch the show. The intense song and visuals really work well together in getting me psyched.
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*Sorry the video is flipped. I couldn’t find a better one*
6. Kannagi OP “Motto Hade ni ne!”
The Kannagi OP not only has great animation, but what’s so memorable about it is that the visuals are actually parodying what the series is about, something you wouldn’t know unless you actually watched it XD Yet despite this, all the characters are featured in the OP in an amusing and clever way that goes along with the parodying.
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5. Inuyasha OP 4 “Grip!”
Even though I’m not into Inuyasha much anymore, I still adore this OP. The animation is lush and detailed, and all of the important characters make an appearance in a “natural” way, especially the seven main villains of this particular arc, rather than the typical pan over of all of them together. I also like how this OP showcases both the dark/dramatic side of Inuyasha as well as the beautiful, cute side, ending with a peaceful scene of Inuyasha a co. walking through a pretty field with butterflies and then cute lil’ Shippou and Kirara at play.
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*Sorry about the disclaimer at the beginning of the video*
4. Pokemon Diamond & Pearl OP 3 “Saikou Everyday!”
For years, “Ready Go” was my favorite Pokemon opening, but once “Saikou Everyday!” came out, I found that it just gets me a bit more pumped ;) That’s really its main appeal – it gets any Pokemon fan pumped up with fast-paced visuals and the fact that it features every single legendary pokemon up to that point in the franchise. I also like how the ending goes through all of Ash/Satoshi’s pokemon looking quite confident XD The actual song for this OP isn’t all that great, but with the visuals it could easily make it on a list of favorites for any Pokemon fan.
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3. Slayers Next OP “Give a reason”
“Give a reason” got the #1 spot on my list of favorite anime songs, and it’s also one of my favorite openings =) The visuals in this OP capture the great mix of fun, fantasy, and drama that the Slayers series encompasses. They go great with the song and the lyrics are fantastic to boot.
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2. Evangelion OP “Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze”
Chalk up another list of favorite anime OPs that has this classic on it ^^ I have a feeling that much of this OP’s worth comes from how memorable the anime itself is, but it’s still a great one none the less. It has an incredible song that starts out gentle, introducing the characters and showing silhouettes, before picking up speed in the latter half and quickly flashing images of other characters and everything else related to Evnagelion, before finally going back to Shinji. I like how it ends on Shinji smiling, perhaps an indication that despite all the horror in the series, there’s always that glimmer of hope left.
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1. Magic Knight Rayearth OP 3 “Hikari to Kage wo Dakishimeta Mama”
I’ve loved this OP for almost ten years and I can’t really explain why. I don’t even like Rayearth that much…but the visuals in this opening are just so pretty and actually quite stunning when you consider the fact that this is an anime TV series from 1995. It could just me by personal taste of course, but there’s something in the tone of the song together with the visuals that make this OP draw me in every time.
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To summarize, I prefer openings that get me “pumped up” for the upcoming show rather than openings that are just unique. But there are other times where something else about the opening will capture my fancy. Not knowing when I’ll find another favorite OP is part of the fun =D
Again, there are many more OPs that I love as much as these but I had to narrow it down for the sake of this list. If I ever do a list of favorite endings, it should be a lot easier since there aren’t as many of those that I like XD
Ah, I really love the idea for this post since I’ve never considered listing favorite openings myself. I only recognize 5 of the openings you list (AIR, Moribito, One Piece, FMA, Kannagi), but of them, Moribito’s OP has got to be my favorite. I’m definitely making a biased decision here since it’s also one of my top 30 anime.
To quickly list a couple favorites off the top of my head, I would have to say Spice & Wolf’s OP (gorgeous visuals and music) and the unique openings of all three seasons to Aria. Aria’s is fun because though the music is the same, you can’t skip the opening because the visuals are always different and open up each episode’s story.
Watched S&W recently. Great OP.
Kannagi isn’t one of my favorite series, but it does have an interesting OP sequence. I love when characters sing the OP or ED lyrics.
I love when characters sing the OPs and EDs too =D I have a feeling that the success of Haruhi’s “Hare Hare Yukai” inspired this.
Thanks, glad I’ve given you a good idea for a post ^^
The Spice and Wolf and Aria OPs are indeed nice. The songs are just a little too slow for my taste but they’re certainly appropriate for the mood of their respective anime.
I love your 1st pick :) That Rayearth opening is really good. Both visuals and music.
I have to agree the Kannagi one has really great animation. I imagine it’s not easy to animate a character dancing, but they do it really, really well. The anime itself was so-so, but the opening was great!
I specially like where they try to fit the opening to the music. It’s done pretty often, but some are really great and it helps a lot.
Clannad: After story.
Awesome song and great visuals! Also opening fits quite well with the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klUfRsd20gE
There are so many more! Valkyria Chronicles 1st opening, Soul eater 2nd opening, lots of good stuff. But my all time favorite, which brings so many good memories, is one where the opening fits really well with the song, the song is great as well, and the visuals are also good. Plus, it’s from one of my all-time favorite anime:
Saber Marionette J:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTHMH_O_42g
Ah, I was almost gonna put the Clannad After Story OP on my list – if I did a top 20, it would be on it :3 The visuals are lovely and flow with the song and mood of the anime really well.
The Saber Marionette J OP is cool…but I suppose it would be a lot cooler to me if I was familiar with the series ^^,,,
Thank you so much for linking to me! <333 (I'll be posting my favorite endings within the next couple of days, too, and I hope to see yours!)
The AIR one was definitely nice, but nothing too special for me. Same goes for the song. The middle part reminded me of CLANNAD, but they're both animated by the same studio, right?
I've only seen between 3-5 episodes of Moribito on Adult Swim, but I know that I really liked it. The opening is lovely as well! Again, song is okay for me.
The One Piece opening was really fun, I enjoyed it. Song is just okay again.
I remember that FMA opening! I loved that one. Although my favorite song for the first series would be Melissa :)
I didn't watch Kannagi, but this opening was really fun and adorable and I"m a little tempted to learn that dance now. Catchy song, too!
Love the Inuyasha one, I figured Saikou Everyday was going to be on here, and yay Slayers!! I haven't watched the entire series yet, just the majority of the first season and two episodes of NEXT, but I love it! For me, the song gets better at the chorus. Love the chorus. And yesssss Evangelion! I'm glad we have one opening in common ^^
MKR! I wasn't a big fan of it either. But this song was another early Japanese song I've heard because I found it on your site! XD Good stuff.
Our lists are really really different, I'm a little surprised Cowboy Bebop didn't make it.
Yes, Air, Clannad, and Kanon are all made by Kyoto Animation and based on visual novels by Visual Art’s/Key. All their OPs seem to keep the tradition of having a sequence of images that shows each of the main heroines and their names XD
FMA has so many great OPs I honestly had trouble picking one. I decided to go with “Ready Steady Go” because it was the first one I loved :3
If I continued with the list, I think Cowboy Bebop would in the 11th or 12th spot XD
I need to start doing some lists of my own, I swear.
As for this list of yours–I wholeheartedly support the inclusion of Air. I loved all of the music from that series, and the OP was so, so, SO pretty. Although watching it now makes me want to cry. Everything to do with Air now makes me want to cry after I watched the series.
And Ready, Steady, Go! has always been one of my favorite things. I used to really not like male vocalists in Japanese music, but L’arc is one of the artists that manage to help change that. Now I’m pretty even, but RSG is just so…up! Get up, jump around with it, all that good stuff. So much fun.
Air makes me cry too 8_8 Misuzu is one of my favorite characters but also one of the saddest.
“Ready Stead Go” was the first L’arc song I heard and I’ve continued to enjoy all the anime songs they’ve done. My favorite song of theirs would be “Shine,” which is both on this list and my list of top 10 anime songs. I’ve also gotten to like other bands that remind me of them such as FLOW and UverWorld.
I really like the FMA “Ready Steady Go” and the Kannnagi openings. They have little touches in there that add so much flavor, like Ed stumbling slightly as he’s doing the obligatory “running in place” sequence, and Kannagi’s funny arms-like-squid-tentacles sequence (I still haven’t figured out what she’s doing after all this time?!).
The Seirei no Moribito opening really makes me want to watch it now; it’s been near the top of the my “to-watch” list for a while (it’s a Production IG work, after all!).Love the bit near the end where the eagle soars into the sky.
Time to get to work on my own (and first) top 10 list.
I certainly think you’d like Seirei no Moribito. It’s one of those anime that’s very serious and has no fan pandering whatsoever, but it still has its subtle moments of beauty, cuteness, and humor. Kinda slow-paced but that’s its only fault. I watched the series in anime club and it was great :3 We all loved the OP too~
Cool, can’t wait to see your top 10 list!
Air Op is one of my favorites too. I love Lia! and Tori no Shi is one of her best. As a side note, I remember hearing once that anime tends to have more energetic OPs to pump watchers up and relaxing EDs to wind them down. I guess there’s some truth in that.
i love all of this openings.
i have a question i have been looking for a cartoon that i only saw like twice and all i can remember is that it is about a boy who wears a glove with like some kind of jewel on it and is supposed to have magical powers if you can answer this question if you know what im talking about please ill be eternally greatful