Support Squad Felicity Posted August 20, 2015 Support Squad Share Posted August 20, 2015 Opening and ending songs are common additions to a show in most forms of media, game, films, tv shows and, of course, anime. They're iconic songs or jingles that serve a variety of purposes, be it to act as a catchy jingle that hangs in someone's head to bring their mind back to the show or to reflect what the show is about as a whole. However, these songs are arguably far more important in the realm of animation, western or eastern regardless. Very often creative use of clips and music are used to give a far greater impression of the show and even provide hints as to what happens in the show or have an emotional impact all on it's own. Personally an opening or ending song can be the greatest take away from an anime. "But how is this different from films and western tv shows? Don't they do this too?" You may be asking. This can be the case for some live action shows or films but the main difference is this, Western shows use this time more to credit the actors and actresses who act within the show and then within the credits normally a song is played at the end of the show... and that's it. Animated openings and endings talk to the audience a lot more for those with a perceptive eye. "So why are you writing out all of this like a mini essay?" I really just wanted to feel somewhat academic whilst creating a Favourite opening and ending thread by pondering the significance of these segments. As meh as I found most of the show, one opening that has stuck with me as one of my favourites is the first opening of SAO. Here's an english version Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkhi Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 I can't think of much to say other than what's already been said. These themes provide another angle from which the anime can be seen- whether it's a fight that never actually occurred or an event that is yet to come, as Dobby said, openings can provide insight and set the stage for a show to be just absolutely brilliant. On that note, here's my favorite opening and closing. This one's just awesome. We're introduced to the characters as they're actually portrayed in the show- especially Daryun. Not being the main character, he still does all the important fighting. That says a lot about the plot. We're also given a rather exclusive look at the battling skills of The Silver Mask. For a show that can be deceptively dark, this opening never fails to make me smile. It's probably the trumpets or Welf's stupidly happy face or the warm colors or- I just don't know what it is. Everything's just upbeat about this closing theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss4iiEjajig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Squad Felicity Posted August 21, 2015 Author Support Squad Share Posted August 21, 2015 Ended up really liking the angel beats songs never skipped them when watching the episodes And the Black Rock Shooter song stuck with me to :3 The Ending for Angel Beats is a prime example of how an Ending can have emotional impact. In the final episode, when every character has moved on and left, what do we see? The normal ending animation of every character fading in to join yureppi is subverted and one by one they all fade and leave us until finally, they're all gone with that beautiful music playing in the background. Dammit if that didn't break open everyone's tear ducts. It's also fun to note that the opening changes too according to events, each character being included and excluded as they come and go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiss13 Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 (edited) Gonna give a special mention here to the last OP and ED of Index season 2 See Visions Memories Last https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI9uhUaBR-U These were honestly some of my all time favorites. Edited August 21, 2015 by Hiss13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Squad Felicity Posted August 21, 2015 Author Support Squad Share Posted August 21, 2015 I also gotta include this incredibly happy song GO WATCH THE FUGGIN SHOW, BINBOUGAMI GA, HAS A P DECENT DUB APPARENTLY IF THAT'S YOUR THING, NO REASON NOT TO ARRRRG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meruem Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 eventually, I'm going to do a massive list on my favorite openings/endings (about 20 of each), but I'm lazy, so for now, here are my favorites of this season :]] 1 - Rokka no Yuusha not only is this my favorite anime of the summer season, but the openings are also some of my favorite songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj9XAfLFFGE (full song) the first one matches the initial setting really well and even tricks you into thinking this show will be a pretty standard fantasy/action anime with historical backgrounds. it is a great song by itself, but that alone wouldnt make me like this show at all. enter the twist, and the second opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6rg3mIZL-Q ive been listening to this shit non fucking stop ever since episode 5 aired, because damn, it is so good. not only that, but it matches the show so much better than the first opening does. there is also a major difference between both of them in the action scenes around 0:55, specifically, who they are fighting against . the endings are also pretty damn good, my favorite being the third one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMM0d4tnFeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHIWtJ1DHUA 2 - Shimoneta ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) I'LL ADMIT, THIS IS ONE OPENING I CAN NEVER SKIP. the song is okay, but combined with the animation and the quick preview they always give on every episode, i cant help but sit back and enjoy it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1am3-x0Kbg the ending is also a pretty fun song to listen to EPISODE 6 ENDING THO. im probably the only one, but i especially have fun guessing who's the third character they're going to show naked on each episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai9SucsRhEw 3 - Gangsta the opening for this is just so fucking badass. it's simply great and extremely different from what im used to. i really like the song, and paired with a pretty unique animation style, this is one opening i always enjoy watching and almost never skip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHkULgQtdYA (full) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7-MtCDiqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q61qqaDG3CU the ending, on the other hand, is much more heart-warming, and thus still enjoyable to watch. it matches the way most episodes end and the voice is just beautiful, always reminds me of nagi yanagi. 4 - Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace this show isn't very good, at least i'm not enjoying it that much. but at least, one of the qualities it might have (even if the only) are the opening/ending theme songs. the opening sounds great and looks pretty neat too. i really like the lyrics, especially the part around 0:35. like gangsta (and most shows, for that matter), ending is more soft, yet still a great song with a very unique art style. (full) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw0JBuiQc-8 5 - Overlord again, another show which disappointed me this season but WHO CARES THE OPENING AND ENDING ARE FUCKING GREAT. seriously though, both of these songs are SO damn good. i wont say anything else, just listen to them. didnt find a good version of the actual ending, but it's just pictures of albedo anyway. the song is MUCH better imo 6 - Charlotte overall, the vocals and animation are great for both the opening and endings. i especially like the opening which i usually don't skip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MtFVJtazqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if9oAi6UdtI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ToWs2S-JI 7 - Prison School much like shimoneta, the song isnt particularly great but this is still so much fun to watch every single time. another opening i never skip. ending is okay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nIDRCml5k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkyJAR0l_68 8 - Gakkou Gurashi! what a brilliant fucking bait of an opening. i always love openings like these that are totally not what the anime is like. anyway, ill just leave this here. the ending songs are pretty nice to listen to, especially the most recent one. 9 - Gate i personally dropped this anime, since it didnt interest me much, but the opening was still an extremely good song, reminded me of hotd and strike the blood, since its the same band/vocalist. really wish this group made more openings because they're damn good at it. i never really cared much about the ending for this, tho. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPVVTSof-_k 10 - Chaos Dragon i shouldnt even put this here because of how garbage this show was. really, it was so bad, yet the opening theme is so fucking great, especially the full version which was released recently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuStFO2p0HE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu1Ci8CnDOw ending was also pretty nice, from what i remember. also, some honorable mentions: Shokugeki no Soma (OP 2) only didnt include this because i preferred to make a newly airing anime, rather than summer anime + spring leftovers, but this is still a pretty damn good song. matches this show's second half extremely well. the second ending is kinda crap comparing to the first one though. Fairy Tail (OP 20) i stopped watching fairy tail at episode 20 because i found it to be pretty average, but this opening is so damn good. so far ive loved every single song that had konomi suzuki in it, and this is another. ive listened to it so many times ever since i came across it. also, even if the show is just an average shounen, this opening at least makes it seem like it's an awesome one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgtdUilP3ic Symphogear GX (OP 1) STILL havent had the time to watch this SPARE ME HISS, but this song is fucking badass as shit. havent stopped listening to the full version the moment it was released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX1C8k80D4 To LOVE-ru Darkness 2nd (OP & ED) yet again i havent even watched this one (or the prequels, for that matter), but this vocalist is pretty good. she also did nagi no asukara's first opening as well as the first to love-ru darkness season's opening, which i really enjoy listening to. the ending is also pretty good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFfnEq3mv4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1hCR7SfZ9Y God Eater (OP 1) this season's trend seems to be "let's give amazing opening themes to the shittiest shows airing". seriously though, god eater, despite being pretty disappointing, has a pretty solid opening theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jFTApaQn58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelloverbecca Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 The Ending for Angel Beats is a prime example of how an Ending can have emotional impact. In the final episode, when every character has moved on and left, what do we see? The normal ending animation of every character fading in to join yureppi is subverted and one by one they all fade and leave us until finally, they're all gone with that beautiful music playing in the background. Dammit if that didn't break open everyone's tear ducts. It's also fun to note that the opening changes too according to events, each character being included and excluded as they come and go. I agree that endings can have a big emotional impact, even if I didn't cry at the end of Angel Beats. I did bawl my eyes out when Yui disappeared. However I think alternate ending sequences for particularly emotional scenes like in Madoka, Ano Hana, Angel Beats, and Yuuki Yuuna cause just as big as an emotional response. Just as long as they're not pulling the bullshit that Free! Eternal Summer pulled. Which is playing a very up beat ending right after some very emotional and heavy scenes. This ends up ruining the mood partially because the episode before the ending sequence was way too serious to have this absolutely upbeat ending, which is a major problem that the first season didn't have. Sure the first season also had an upbeat ending but all of the episodes were balanced with comedy and drama so the ending never felt out of place. It could end on a dramatic note but I wouldn't feel pissed off that they played an upbeat ending right after because the rest of the episode was able to balance it out with comedy. Eternal Summer however should've had an alternate ending sequence to well compliment the emotionally charged scenes and allow it to settle in and hopefully make us cry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelstrom Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 As much as I like that translation and interpretation of crossing field better than the first google result for translated lyrics (http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/sao/crossingfield.htm), I prefer the original japanese voice. Aesthetically, it just sounds better to me. I just wanted to put this in before I crash out for the night and before I swamped you guys with musics. But for a good hint, you can search for Mael's Japanese playlist for a good chunk of 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flux Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 If the Japanese version of Crossing Field hadn't already been mentioned, that would have been my first pick. I'm also a fan of these two SAO openings: Courage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHfc6EeC2k8 Innocence (Bit of an intro before the opening, but it's the only video I could find that still had sound.) Also, I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet: And finally, I LOVE the ending song of .Hack//Quantum. There's no animation, but the song is beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monochrome_Complex Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 (edited) No thread on anime openings would complete without JOOOOOJOOOOOOOOOOO! There's some spoilers on the last opening, but a lot of it won't make sense anyway unless you know the context, plus it's just freakin awesome either way. Stand Proud and Bloody Stream are my favorites overall though. Star Platinum punching the screen to the beat is just too sick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge1cbrvPDYE&feature=iv&src_vid=n4jo_3HrXdU&annotation_id=annotation_1831992069 Outlaw Star. One of the hypest opening songs IMO for probably my favorite sci-fi adventure anime. Ergo Proxy. Beautiful song, and in English(not Engrish) too! Also well sung! I love this opening a lot, even if the show is a bit pretentious and not for everyone(but interesting nevertheless). Serial Experiments Lain, this actually got me liking Boa somewhat and is another beautiful piece. It's a theme that really sticks with you. Late 90s/early 2000s had some incredible music in anime I notice. Hellsing. Ah the opening that will terrify any Christian granny. While fans agree Hellsing Ultimate blows the old anime out of the water in most ways, one thing the original DOES do better is the killer soundtrack(i'd argue atmosphere and early pacing as well), which is one of my favorite soundtracks and remains distinct even today. In fact, Ultimate realized this midway through and even used an old soundtrack for one of its endings. And it's awesome Record of Lodoss War white knight chronicles. The anime is generally considered inferior to the OVA(which is pretty good) but the opening is quite wonderful. Better than the actual show itself! Air Gear is probably the closest thing you can get to Jet Set Radio anime. The original anime itself is decent if not fun, although it ends before the manga's best parts(but then again also ends before the manga's worst parts so eh) on on a rather unsatisfying cliffhanger. That said the opening while not fantastically animated still has great music, in fact the entire show's soundtrack is definitely similar to Jet Set Radio and rumor has it the composer is one and the same. Peacemaker Kurogane isn't the best adaptation and is decent at best but the opening song is pretty hype. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVeFojaz0vE Street Fighter V(American) okay usually I'm not a fan of removing vocals for instrumental themes during localization but this one is definitely a change I can forgive. Like despite being basically a glorified AMV in a way, this theme works in a way the original doesn't. It feels more natural to the show itself, it's in your face and intense, it syncs well with the visual, and gets you pumped for the show. It sounds pretty badass and for a street fighter anime, that's what you should aim for. Last Exile TBH I thought this show was boring but this opening is incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUjiXriGFbo Blood+ op 1. I never watched the show that much(weird since I actually saw the original movie beforehand) but this opening stuck with me anyway. It's incredible, the singing, the music, the animation, just really gets you interested in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ninDMO1gE Beck opening is really fun, and very catchy too. It's kind of cheesy but in a fun way Michiko to Hatchin op is marvelous and the colors are just beautiful. It oozes soul and really embodies the show's personality. Noir is another show I never watched but whose opening absolutely entrances me. I hear it's pretty good, or was at least back when it was out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch8QLdBiDqI Endings I'll cover in another post. But seriously, I love watching anime opneings/endings. Unlike most people I usually don't skip them unless they're terrible like new HxH(2nd ending was cool though) or Berserk's which is like one of the worst openings ever IMO. Tells you nothing about the show except it has a big man with a big sword coupled with horrid engrish and terrible guitar playing. PUT YUR GRASSES ON NOTHING WILL BE WONG. BTW, Berserk is a legend manga, and the original anime has one of the most emotionally wrenching ends EVER. 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4_dXmsdreM HxH madhouse's op is pretty divisive as you seem to either love it or hate it(like me) but at least the animation kicks butt. But the Greed Island old OVA(which is the worst HxH animated adaptation yet BTW, so QUALITY it hurts) opening is HILARIOUSLY bad. It's made on a budget of like 12 yen or something because my god it's the ugliest, shoddiest opening I've ever seen. Worst part is, it's entirely accurate to the OVA itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLGhqvAdQrs Thankfully they got a second version that actually looks really good for early digital anime. I think it's one of HxH's best ones actually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gV5ARAuNq4 Edited August 27, 2015 by Monochrome_Complex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helios2 Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 (edited) Here, are some of my favourites, without any special reasons for them.^^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIPp1Zhg2gU Nearly forgot this one shame on me (it´s one of the best ED´s I ever got to hear), ED to tales of Symphonia: United World Edited August 29, 2015 by Helios2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Gore may have linked the opening. but I think the ending as also worth mentioning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVcm5AGyrE8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shing Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 One of my favourite anime ending ost. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAt9paR-kkM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoeticxTeikoku Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Oh dear lord, I have too many op songs that I love to the point that I ended up just following a few bands. Examples of this are Naitomea/Nightmare (Death Note, Majin Tentei Nougami Neuro, CLaymore) Yousei Teikoku (Mirai Nikki, Ga-Rei: Zero) and Ali Project (Rozen Maiden, Linebarrels of Iron). Then again, I like my darkness a little bit? So warning, I'll probably have more heavy/loud openings in this post!Anime openings, imo, tend to set the pace of the anime in it's own way. If you have a really, really dark anime, if the opening is as dark and gloomy, then it gets you into the mindset of the series. Some animes tend to play this for laughs (Dokuro-chan anyone?) and some openings are damn cool, but just disapoint you about the series' content.But for example which is Nobunagun's OP, is both fitting and unfitting. It's unfitting at first, but later it just... synchronizes super well with the entire series. I just love this op to death!Some really interesting openings are One Reason from Deadman Wonderland, from Phantom ~ Requiem for the Phantom ~, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni by the same titled series and a classic, Lilium from elfen lied. Each of these openings are powerful in their own way, and if not a bit mind bending once you realize what the series is about.I know there's so many more openings that I am skipping but jeez, there's just so many! I should compile a really big list, but these are the ones that just come off the top of my head because they mean so much to me and just connected me to the series so much that I loved it.As for EDs, I generally don't like many. Some are by the bands I've named above and those I tend to watch but... eeeeh. EDs tend to bore me 90% of the time. Although, speaking of emotionally tangling EDs, anyone that gets feels from Key (Angel Beats, Air, CLANNAD, Rewrite) will probably curse me right about now. Because always remember the Dangon Daikazoku! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 technically a game opening but it still counts as animation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meruem Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 i love every single nagi no asukara song so damn much. the feeling they give off is just so calm and melancholic, such beautiful vocals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIAUGOyDEuM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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