What’s the overall message of anime openings?

Credit to linked pixiv user

I love anime openings. When I was new to the fandom I used to collect video files of all the anime openings I liked (this was before YouTube) and would often spend a couple of hours at a time just watching one after the other. But anyone who’s seen a fair amount of anime knows that anime OPs tend to follow certain patterns and contain similar scenes, even if the anime series themselves are vastly different…

In a past post I talked about the similar themes of anime songs in terms of lyrics, but this post is focusing specifically on anime openings and their visuals. Besides the fact that most anime openings are a minute and a half long, there’s quite a bit of familiarity among them, cliches if you will, whether we’re talking about a shonen anime, a horror anime, a slice-of-life anime, or whatever genre. A favorite YouTube video of mine illustrates anime OP tropes very well:

I think the video is a really good example of this because it not only uses OPs from anime of different genres, but also both old anime from decades ago, and new anime from the mid-2000s. To reiterate (or if you didn’t feel like watching the video), here’s a quick list of all the cliches shown:

– Birds flying
– Dramatic camera pan up to the sky (sometimes with lens flare)
– Scenery going by fast (especially with forests)
– Close up of characters’ eyes
– Characters running (lots of running…)
– Characters turning around/looking up dramatically
– Slow-moving shot of characters either sitting down looking sad/serious, or standing dramatically (often with wind blowing their clothes and hair)
– A group of characters coming together (usually one character at first and then others come in from the sides)
– Two characters clashing with swords or other super powers
– Characters walking slowly and dramatically towards or away from the camera
– Characters’ silhouettes
– Characters flying in the sky
– Tears falling
– Feathers, leaves, cherry blossoms, etc., blowing prettily by
– Characters’ hands connecting
– Characters reaching out to one another (usually one lonely-looking character being comforted by others)
– More flying birds!
– Characters back to back

Of course there are exceptions, but I think it’s safe to say that most anime openings have at least one of these things in their OP. So what can we infer from this? We all know that anime stories can be so various and different from each other, so why do they all have such similarities in their openings? Is there some kind of overall message we can put together from the anime medium as a whole?

My opinion is that there are at least three major themes we can see emphasized in openings, and in varying degrees, the anime that they come from:

We all yearn for freedom: Birds flying freely through a vast sky is one of the most staple symbols of freedom. Then we have the many, many openings that show characters running for no apparent reason (or flying if they’re able to do so). Then there’s the typical OP scene of characters standing with a large expanse of scenery around them and wind blowing their hair, which to me also gives off a sense of wanting to be free. Despite being a fundamentally commercial product like any kind of media, anime definitely has artistic merit too, and I feel like that freedom for the artistic expression anime provides is reflected in the visuals of anime OPs.

Love and friendship are what’s important: Characters holding hands or reaching out to each other, a character being sad when they’re alone, a character struggling or looking pained until their friends lend them a hand…it’s obvious that love and friendship are common themes in anime, as they are in stories in general. These cliches are very often seen in shonen anime OPs, but they can just as easily be found in any other genre. Like the theme of freedom, being loved and having good friends is something we all desire and is one of the most common wish-fulfilling element of stories, so who doesn’t want to see the power of love and friendship prevail?

Keep fighting for what you believe in: Characters either standing against an expansive environment or walking steadily by, having intent, resolute looks on their faces, really give off that “I won’t stop until I achieve my goal” kind of feeling, which is again a common theme in anime OPs and anime in general. Also going along with this theme are the typical OP scenes of opposing characters exchanging blows, both fighting strongly for what they want, as well as characters facing away from the camera before suddenly turning around, as if they’ve made an important decision. Fighting for a cause and never giving up are yet other appealing themes that are common in anime and reflected in OP visuals.

What other anime opening cliches have you noticed? Do you think they reflect some kind of overall message for the anime medium, regardless of genre?

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. Kal says:

    I guess I had not really paid a lot of attention, I thought they were just trying to be “flashy” to attract audiences. What I did notice is more with the songs. Not only they usually match the visuals, but the songs tend to have 2 tones. It starts one way, and then changes to something a bit different, and the visuals match that as well. I guess there must be some formula they follow that makes the intros more attractive to our brains I guess? The energy of the people running, the thoughtfulness of the people in their “thinking” poses, etc. Whatever it is, it does make it look good. And with a good song, it’s something I can watch every time I see an episode :)

    • Yumeka says:

      Yeah, anime OPs are almost always given a bigger animation budget than regular episode footage of the same length. After all, it’s going to be shown again and again at the beginning of each episode, so it better look good to hook people in ;)

      I too notice the tone shift in many openings, where they start off slower at the beginning and then pick up speed towards the middle and end. Usually that goes together with the fact that the beginning of most OPs is made up of the first verse of the song, and then the more upbeat chorus follows.

  2. I forgot about that “Every Anime Op Ever” video! I think you’ve shown that before in a previous post. It’s a crack-up.

    I think the only recurring image/cliche image in anime that I’m really tired of is that one where: 1) one character is kneeling or sitting on the ground, and; 2) another character standing in front of them is holding out their hand to help them up. It kind of moved me the first time I saw it in an anime… the next five hundred times I saw it, well… not so much. XD

    • Yumeka says:

      Before I made this post, I actually searched through all my old posts to see where I may have talked about this video before (since I do remember posting it before, as you said). I couldn’t find it though…maybe I missed it somewhere?

      Yeah, I do see that cliche you mentioned a lot, especially in kid/shonen anime. I guess it goes along with the strong theme of friendship that series in those genres have. It doesn’t bother me that much, but yeah, after a while it loses its impact XD

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