Anime Opening Sequences that BLEW YOUR MIND!

[Sword Breaker]

Basiclly what it sounds like, what OPs have you seen that really make you go "Wow, that was incredible! Hope the anime is that good!"?? OPs, they can make or break a series, they're what make you want to stay to watch the EP, so, what's yuor favourite? (And, of course, WHY!)

I have two favourites, really.

One: SunaBouizu! It is a realitivly new Anime, it was frankly breathtaking! They did somthing no one else has done, they did the OP in live action, which was simply incredible. (The show is also awsom, a recommended DL)

Two: BECK: Magnorion Chop Squad, it is another realitivly new series. the tihng thast made it so good was the fact that the series is about a rock band, and they had them singing the song (HIT IN THE USA, by the BEat Crusaders, a recommended DL) and it was just put together so well! You'd really have to see it, but once you do you'll understand it is reallly good!

[Dagger]

The first episode of SunaBouzo completely ruined my appetite for anime involving guns, silliness and obscenely large breasts. :(

Anyway, I would never have stuck with Elfen Lied were it not for the show's incredibly classy and beautiful OP. Elfen Lied is completely packed with violence, nudity and all sorts of shocking imagery; the gentle opening song and accompanying still images help me brace myself for the oncoming slaughter. The OP's artwork actually imitates several famous paintings by the artist Gustav Klimt--if nothing else, it's really detailed and lovely. More importantly, the melody played over that artwork is actually very significant and emotionally meaningful within the context of the anime... I like it when series give their OP and/or ED sentimental value.

~Dagger~

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]Did some one say Haruka Kanata? No? Well, that's because you're all crazy.

The song is full of energy, and the bass manages to bounce all over the place, giving the impression that something very important is going on.

The dark shading and snippets of battle scenes, hinting at certain techniques and character traits we are not yet aware of, are simply beautiful and the whole deal just sets the mood of the show perfectly.

The last few seconds are my favourite out of the whole thing, where we see the characters standing in formation that we begin to understand as the show progresses, looking cut-up and like they've been through everything (which some of 'em have).

Great stuff there.

Also, the Paranoia Agent OP, with its overwhelming amount of symbolism and crazy alternative beat and vocals is simply stunning.
One seems to notice something new every time one watches that opening, especially when it is pared with its ending. (The fact that they're all about to die in the OP, and then that they're dead in the ED is quite creepy.)

It's also just a fun song to sing. : 3

And, of course...

NaruTaru. The harmonica, the drums, the vocals, the animation. Sheer. Genius.

It's one of those insane opening themes that makes you cry by the end of the series, because you understand it by that point (hard as this may be to believe).

That's right, Skippedry: you simply missed out on the last twelve episodes of a magnificent series. T_T[/FONT][/COLOR]

[2010DigitalBoy]

opening that blew my mind: Gundam 0080

When it shows all the crazy blue mobile suits doing ground combat, I was in awe. I love have those blue ones would slide across the ground behind a building to staart annihilating the other ones. Those thins were great.

The opening to FLCL was insane. Freaky guitar with flies in and beats the crap out of Noata then starts wondering if she killed him.

S.Cry.Ed was sweet when Kazuma jumps out of the plane and pulverizes the building.

Samurai Deeper Kyo starts off with the battle of Seki-ga-hara raging in the background, which was PRETTY cool.

NUMBER ONE best opening would have to be from Escaflowne the movie, when Van falls from the sky then slauters the soldiers.

[Dagger]

[quote name='Godelsensei][COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]That's right, Skippedry: you simply missed out on the last twelve episodes of a magnificent series. T_T[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote]

I later went back and watched up to episode 3. :) Narutaru is the kind of series which I'd buy if it got licensed, but I don't currently feel motivated enough to download it (odd though that may sound).

As soon as I finished my first post in this thread, I realized I had forgotten two of my all-time favorite OPs. The first is either the last opening to the Hunter x Hunter TV series, or the only opening used in the original eight-episode OVA. I [i]think[/i] it's called Pale Ale--it's the one in which Kuroro stands on top of a skyscraper, "conducting" the dark city below, and Kurapica does all sorts of nifty things with his Nen chains. It's a great song with fluid, superbly choreographed animation and a raw, edgy feel: perfectly suited to the ending of that particular arc. I love many characters from Hunter x Hunter, but the last few episodes of the television series, coupled with the excellent OVA, immediately made Kuroro and Kurapica my absolute favorites.

The second opening I forgot to mention is Cruel Angel Thesis from Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's a brilliant (not to mention annoyingly addictive) song, and the OP animation is very well timed. Although there are a lot of dizzyingly quick cuts, they're not so fast that the viewer can't tell what's going on. I've never grown tired of watching this OP.

~Dagger~

[Ezekiel]

[COLOR=SeaGreen][SIZE=1][B]Slayers Next[/B] hands down is my all time favourite. Plus the fact I'm in love with the theme tune, Give a Reason, the energy that comes from the characters is amazing.

Sure, Slayers isn't the best animated anime around, but I still smile everytime I watch the OP on my DVDs.

The one thing that I don't really like about the OP though, like Dagger mentioned before, the quick flashes. Slayers does it for all the characters but it's just a bit too fast for my liking and I find myslef not knowing what's going on.

[B]Outlaw Star's[/B] OP is pretty good too, the song is amazing and the animation and movement really seems to draw me in. Of course, I may just be amused easily, heh heh.

I may add more as I discover new anime, lol.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Pumpkin]

[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]

[B]All Slayers[/B] - I just like the introductions, all the songs are perfect, the animation looks great to me. plus who doesnt like Lina Inverse? ;)

[B] Fushigi Yuugi [/B] - This isnt everyones favorite, but i actually saw the intro and heard the song which attracted me to watch this anime in the first place. I find it entertaining, and i love the opening song ^.^

[B]Revolutionary Girl Utena[/B] - Absolutely love the song Rinbu Revolution, if you havent heard it yet, go download it now! Its awesome and the intro looks very cool and is nicely done. The animation is wierd and unique different from any anime ive ever seen.

[/FONT][/SIZE]

[Sword Breaker]

Well, when I posted the first one, I completly frogot about my other favourites!!!

Naruto: Pretty much all of the OP/Endings for this series have royaly owned (Fansub wathers know what I mean) they just gooo sooo well! My favourite opening was Go!!! Fighting Dreamers! It went soo well with the Naruto fealing and it made me watch it over and over again! The best ending was (in my opininon) Harmonia, just becouse it had Sakura-chan and Ino-chan dancing, chibi-style. (Plus the song went well with the season it was in)

Last Exile: I really like this OP becouse of the Animation! Last Exile has some of the best animation i've seen in a while, it was just breathtaking and it was why I got into that series!

[Delta]

[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1]
Most definitely opening sequences from [b]Earth Girl Arjuna.[/b]

The first episodes (the ones I've watched) had different opening sequences; They'd either show scenes from the previous episode or just start the story right away. The only thing common among them is the use of amazing camera angles and great background music (or the lack of it, sometimes).

[b]Great Teacher Onizuka[/b]'s op sequences are very... unconventional, which I like. The animation's great (one was done in black and white so it almost looks like moving manga art!) and they timed the transition between the scenes (or images) perfectly.

Love and Peace!
[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[CB Shin]

Well, I liked the OP of Cowboy Bebop, and I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned this one already. The song was Tank by Yoko Kanno. It started with a surpised and had a good wrap up. Of course I practically like all the songs composed by Yoko Kanno. She makes up a variety of genres from Jazz to unorthodox rock. Anyways, a few other good ones I liked were Outlaw Star, as someone mentioned before, and Trigun. Anything energetic and makes me jump for a second is good, and the before-mentioned anime are all very good. I guess a good OP can decide the quality of the actual anime itself.

[Muad'Dib]

[QUOTE=Sword Breaker]
Last Exile: I really like this OP becouse of the Animation! Last Exile has some of the best animation i've seen in a while, it was just breathtaking and it was why I got into that series![/QUOTE]
[FONT=Palatino Linotype][COLOR=Navy]Hey! That's MY line!

I love the Last Exile OP not just because of the wonderful visuals, but because the music is so... so... what's a better word for 'fantastic'? Oh well. The first few words are in english, then in goes into a long stream of japanese. Of course, there's a short, melodically impressive pause, and then the melody changes. The name of the song (it's in the begginning credits, heh) is Cloud Age Symphony. Forgot who sings it though. The End Credits have equally good music, though it's much calmer and soothing. The little changes in key make you shiver... or at least they make [b]me[/b] shiver.

Has anyone mentioned Rouroni Kenshin's intro yet? I can't remember... ah well. I just love that song! I've heard the full version of it, though I can't remember where. And the visuals are pretty coold too, showing some of the nice little action scenes.

I'm done now.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Dagger]

[quote name='CB Shin']Well, I liked the OP of Cowboy Bebop, and I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned this one already.[/quote]

Same here. It's not precisely one of my favorite OPs--I actually prefer Samurai Champloo's--but it was among the first that made a big impression on me. The music and animation come together very nicely; it exudes that sense of "cool" which still draws so many people to CB.

~Dagger~

[pbfrontmanvdp]

I have to agree that Samurai Champloo's OP was extremely good as well. I mean to use the genre of rap/R&B into that type of anime is pretty ingenius.

[font=Verdana][size=2]Probably my favorite OP is the one from either RahXephon (I mean every song from RahXephon is amazing but i like how the upbeat to that OP is) or from His & Her Circumstances. I pretty much just enjoyed the dialogue in the OP of H&H.[/size][/font]

[Zen]

[color=darkred][size=1]

[B]READ OR DIE[/B] had an excellent opening sequence. It literally blew me away with its instantly amazing animation and unrivaled coolness in the Egines power. The White House blows up, President 'Bush' wets himself, and a crazy, eletrical samurai clone mistakes it all for the public library. Now thats a way to catch someones attention!

[B]Cowboy Bebop[/B] has a good one too. The instant set off of colorful animation and an up beat and fast-paced Jazz orchestra really catches you. That one thing I enjoy consistantly threw the series, it's music.[/color][/size]

[Luminaire]

[color=crimson]Man, it's been a REALLY long time since I have posted. I wanted to respond to this thread so badly.

Read Or Die has the best opening I have ever seen. It's confusing, and crazy, and I just love. I love it almost without knowing exactly why.

Outlaw Star comes in a close second. The song "Into the Night" is really catchy. There's lots of action, gunshots, character shots, possible hints to love relations (PM me about that one). Seeing as I have no life, I once sat and watched it over and over. And then it was stuck in my head for days. >gets sparkley-eyed< It's so ungodly awesome...

~Lumi ^_^[/color]

[Readordie]

The opening to the Read or Die OAV really blew my mind because the music and the animation melded together perfectly, and they were both nearly perfect.

The opening of Cowboy Bebop is a very close second because it was almost like an abstract painting on how it was done.

Finally, a close third is the .hack//sign opening for the same reasons as the first two, but the music wasn't quite as good.

[Dagger]

I personally prefer R.O.D the TV's opening to that of the OVA. Both are excellent, but--well, the OVA just doesn't have Junior-kun or Michelle. This is, admittedly, pure character bias on my part... in certain respects I prefer the Paper Sisters to Yomiko (lovely though she may be), and I like how they're portrayed in the first and second television OP.

Juuni Kokki (The Twelve Kingdoms) has an elegant, graceful opening that consists entirely of still images and instrumental music. Despite the sequence's simplicity, I've never grown tired of watching it.

~Dagger~

[Syk3]

When considering an opening, I tend to prefer and concentrate on the music rather than necessarily the animation sequence, though if it's really bad that would definitely leave a mark. :/ Some of my favorite openings are (ironic or not :p) also some of my favorite animes, including Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Trigun, Berserk, and Outlaw Star, which all have awesome music, especially Outlaw Star. Cowboy Bebop's sequence is very original and intruiguing, Eva's is filled with symbolism and stuff, Trigun's is halarious, Berserk's is cool, and Outlaw Star's is awesome. Perhaps a good sequence predicts a good series, or maybe the ones that go with the good series just stick out in our heads.

[Dagger]

I started buying Gad Guard [i]solely[/i] on the basis of its awesome opening sequence. Fortunately the show itself has turned out to be very good, and successfully maintains the quirky, jazzy atmosphere established by the OP. Texhnolyze and Requiem from the Darkness are two other recent anime whose opening songs alone served to pique my interest.

Tsukuyomi ~Moon Phase~ has an amusing OP whose main purpose seems to be showing off the adorable main character, a young female vampire with gratuitous cat ears. Appropriately enough, the vocal track consists mainly of her saying "Neko Mimi Mode!" Without such a light-hearted, silly opening, the series might have come across as being vaguely pretentious.

~Dagger~

[eleanor]

[color=firebrick] I'll probably get killed for saying this, but I don't get why so many people love the Neon Genesis Evangelion opening. I think it's the lamest thing EVER and the song! ARGH! Every time I watch a Evangelion episode on the Anime Network I have to fast forward through the opening...

O_o

Anyways, any OP that has good music is an OP I'll like. So truthfully, the only OPs I actually enjoy watching are Cowboy Bebop and uh... I think FLCL. I personally hate the drawings in the Cowboy Bebop OP, but I'm music fan. :) [/color]

[Syk3]

[quote name='maladjusted][color=firebrick'] I'll probably get killed for saying this, but I don't get why so many people love the Neon Genesis Evangelion opening. I think it's the lamest thing EVER and the song! ARGH! Every time I watch a Evangelion episode on the Anime Network I have to fast forward through the opening...[/color][/quote]Haha, that's what my friend said when I showed him this thread and my post. I just think the song is pretty cool, and the sequence itself is filled with a lot of symbolism and metaphorical stuff, so you tend to appreciate it more once you've seen the entire series. Of course, as my friend pointed out, the song [i]is[/i] kind of upbeat which doesn't match the series at all, but I wasn't really considering that, lol.

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='Syk3']I just think the song is pretty cool, and the sequence itself is filled with a lot of symbolism and metaphorical stuff, so you tend to appreciate it more once you've seen the entire series.[/quote][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]Not to turn this thread into an Eva debate, but what symbolism and metaphorical stuff? It's essentially nonsense. To me, it just appeared to be an abstract character introduction with pictures of stuff flashing at you here and there. Watching it after knowing everything didn't really do anything.

Personally, I like the song in the OP, since it does a good job of creating suspense before the big, fast-paced part. But that's irrelevant to this thread, haha...

Now, if you want to talk about symbolism, Tsukihime is where to go. The opening has the whole story laid out for you, but it doesn't make a bit of sense until the end. One of my favorite things to do while watching Tsukihime was to watch the opening after every episode and see how much I could piece together. I don't know, the entire opening was stitched in such a fashion that it gave you a feeling it was symbolizing [i]something[/i]. Of course, this experience is something you can only do the first time around, haha.

I know this is what you were saying about the Eva opening, but I'm making a point: I understand how those types of openings work and Eva doesn't appear like that to me.

Also, I have to disagree with the Last Exile opening. While it was a visual treat, the opening was rather generic compared to the rest of the show. What I mean is, if you took out the music and random shots, the opening was essentially pieces of the show. The music wasn't that spectacular either.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the "Go!!!" opening in Naruto simply because it introduces everything right. Of course, this opening (like most) isn't something people should make a first impression with (a topic suited for another thread maybe?), but it puts static pictures into motion. For those who don't know, this Naruto opening looks like manga shots taken from the Naruto manga and just has animation alongside it. It moves from panel to panel, and each panel has motion within it. Clever indeed.

The third and last off-topic comment: I heard that there are animated mangas (or animated manga projects) around the net. Attached is an example of what I mean. Anyone know anything, possibly? :D

EDIT: Too large. -_- Lemme upload it then. [url=http://home.earthlink.net/~azurwolf/images/SarutobiMangaGIF.gif]Here we go[/url].[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Dagger]

[quote name='AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]Now, if you want to talk about symbolism, Tsukihime is where to go. The opening has the whole story laid out for you, but it doesn't make a bit of sense until the end. One of my favorite things to do while watching Tsukihime was to watch the opening after every episode and see how much I could piece together. I don't know, the entire opening was stitched in such a fashion that it gave you a feeling it was symbolizing [i]something[/i]. Of course, this experience is something you can only do the first time around, haha.[/color][/size'][/font][/quote]

Truthfully, I never really thought about Tsukihime's opening in the context of the overall show. For a while there I just figured it was a bunch of well-timed pictures--the super-dark fansub video didn't help too much in that respect. However, I always did like the choral music and how everything seemed to go along with it so smoothly.

Care to explain the significance of the soda bottle? At least, I think it's a soda bottle... you know, the lumpy yellow-white thing. I couldn't for the life of me determine how that fit in, especially since it seemed to somehow represent Arcueid. And every time I saw it land, I started wondering why it made Shiki's knife look so enormous... ^_^;;

~Dagger~

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']Care to explain the significance of the soda bottle? At least, I think it's a soda bottle... you know, the lumpy yellow-white thing. I couldn't for the life of me determine how that fit in, especially since it seemed to somehow represent Arcueid. And every time I saw it land, I started wondering why it made Shiki's knife look so enormous... ^_^;;[/quote][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]O_o It's a white statue. At least, I'm pretty sure it is... I think - now you've got me confused!

Anyway, [spoiler]the perfect white princess, tainted by bloodlust, retains it in a fragile container, which was shattered when Shiki first met Arc and cut her into pieces. It was the first time she was killed, and it made her bloodlust more prominent and hard to control (hence the glass breaking and the blood spilling).

The knife is just Shiki (or just his knife, which was used to break the glass). I don't know if the size of stuff has any relevance, but the knife on the blood is important.

So that's why the perfectly white statue (which is what Arc was almost like), being spoiled/stained by the red wine (or blood - who cares) is symbolic of her[/spoiler].[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]O_o It's a white statue. At least, I'm pretty sure it is... I think - now you've got me confused!

Anyway, [spoiler]the perfect white princess, tainted by bloodlust, retains it in a fragile container, which was shattered when Shiki first met Arc and cut her into pieces. It was the first time she was killed, and it made her bloodlust more prominent and hard to control (hence the glass breaking and the blood spilling).

The knife is just Shiki (or just his knife, which was used to break the glass). I don't know if the size of stuff has any relevance, but the knife on the blood is important.

So that's why the perfectly white statue (which is what Arc was almost like), being spoiled/stained by the red wine (or blood - who cares) is symbolic of her[/spoiler].[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Ohhh, that makes much more sense! For some reasons I thought the statue resembled one of the ramune bottles in RahXephon--which seemed rather odd, seeing how as it neatly fits into a wineglass. Thank you so much for explaining the opening. It's very cool how you drew the connection between [spoiler]the shattering glass and what happens to Arcueid in episode 1.[/spoiler]

On a different note... I'm surprised I didn't mention this earlier, but the main reason I started watching Detective Academy Q was its peppy, energetic opening. Despite the fact that the OP animation isn't exactly anything to write home about, the song itself just sounds so cheerful that it made me feel excited about the actual show.

~Dagger~