2023 was a banner 12 months for anime. From beloved persevering with sequence like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen to long-awaited ardour tasks like Pluto and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, there was just about one thing for each kind of anime fan. Whereas we’ve already printed our picks for the very best anime of the 12 months and the place to observe them, we additionally wished to spotlight one of many vital but ignored components of any nice anime: the opening title sequence.
Opening title sequences in anime have a variety of functions, from crediting the workers of animators who pour their hearts and craft into creating a superb manufacturing to foreshadowing vital moments within the sequence itself. Mixed with a very memorable theme music, a well-done title sequence has the potential to create a long-lasting impression on audiences and followers, if not even probably eclipsing the standard of the present itself.
With that in thoughts, we’ve pulled collectively a listing of a few of our favourite anime openings of the 12 months to spotlight the work of the animators who created them whereas sharing our favourite anime theme bops.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off — “Bloom”
Director: Masamichi Ishiyama
Music by: Necry Talkie
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was one of many 12 months’s huge surprises, regardless of being extremely anticipated. The anime adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s motion rom-com comedian sequence turned the story of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers’ whirlwind romance on its head, reinventing its world as a approach of reintroducing characters that followers knew and beloved.
Chief animation director and character designer Masamichi Ishiyama’s opening sequence was the proper reintroduction of Scott to new and previous followers of the sequence, taking the video game-inspired visuals of the comedian and injecting them with vibrant anime aptitude. Except for a really intelligent blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to the opening sequence of the 2004 anime Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, what makes the opening sequence for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is for the way a lot it doesn’t tease the large twist of the sequence. It’s only a good distillation of what made Scott Pilgrim such a beloved haunt within the first place, and that’s all that it actually must be. Mix that with an superior monitor “Bloom” courtesy of the Japanese pop rock band Necry Talkie, and also you’ve obtained a licensed banger.
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 — “SPECIALZ”
Director: Yuki Kamiya
Music by: King Gnu
This season of Jujutsu Kaisen took a considerably darker flip, and the sequence’ second opening title sequence encapsulates that. Simply as Shōta Goshozono took on the function of directing the present’s second season from earlier director Sung Hoo Park, so too did Yuki Kamiya inherit the function of crafting this season’s opening title sequences from Jujutsu Kaisen’s former animation director Shingo Yamashita.
Of the 2 sequences Kamiya directed for this season, it’s the second, created for the “Shibuya Incident Arc,” that stands out as one of many 12 months’s finest. It’s darkish, ominous, and foreboding; foreshadowing not solely Yuji Itadori’s fraught battle in opposition to the cursed spirit Mahito and the elevated prominence of the malicious jujutsu sorcerer Sukuna, but in addition the tragic passing of one of many sequence’ most beloved characters. It’s an apt opening for a bracing, violent, and heartbreaking season.
Heavenly Delusion — “Harmless Conceitedness”
Director: Weilin Zhang
Music by: BiSH
Heavenly Delusion was certainly one of my favourite anime premieres of the 12 months, so it’s little surprise the sequence’ opening title sequence would additionally win a spot in my coronary heart. Weilin Zhang completely nails it with this opening, translating the already wonderful character designs by the artist generally known as Utsushita into scenes that really feel as unruly and adventurous because the sequence’ protagonist.
One explicit second within the sequence that stands out to me is on the one-minute mark, when Kiruko is operating in opposition to a pink and purple sundown sky, the define of their physique racing out of sync alongside them earlier than finally merging. It’s a memorable and spectacular inventive choice that feels, in hindsight, like a symbolic metaphor for Kiruko’s struggles with physique dysmorphia all through the season. The attractive sequence is made much more impactful for the way completely BiSH’s authentic theme music “Harmless Conceitedness” enhances it.
Spy x Household season 2 — “Ado Kura Kura”
Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Music by: Ado
Who do you select to direct the opening title sequence for the second season of Spy x Household, probably the greatest animated motion comedies in current reminiscence, if you would like it to be an absolute legendary effort? Why Masaaki Yuasa, former president of Science Saru, after all!
The opening sequence for Spy x Household feels just like the anime equal of an Avengers-style crew up, with Yuasa’s whimsical polka-dotted animation backed by a theme music carried out by Ado (of One Piece Movie: Purple-fame) and composed by none apart from Cowboy Bebop’s Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts. The result’s a sequence that feels each bit as auspicious because the artistic crew behind it, a wild and rollicking journey that finds everybody’s favourite household of undercover spy-assassins-psychics having fun with a superb cup of tea in-between performing donuts of their automobile.
Trigun Stampede — “TOMBI”
Director: None listed
Music by: Kvi Baba
A lot has been stated about Trigun Stampede, the newest 3D CG anime adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow’s house western manga, and the variations between it and the beloved 1998 anime produced by Madhouse. One of many key factors of rivalry that followers of the unique anime have is the absence of any equal to the 1998 Trigun’s rock-’n’-roll-inspired rating by Tsuneo Imahori, with Trigun Stampede composer Tatsuya Kato taking up a extra digital and orchestrally impressed strategy for the brand new sequence.
As a fan of the 1998 anime, I completely get it. However I’ll fortunately go to bat for it, and I completely beloved the western-inspired title theme music by Kvi Baba and its accompanying sequence. With out fail, each time I watched this sequence earlier than a brand new episode of the sequence, I used to be locked in and prepared to absorb the newest chapter in Vash the Stampede’s mission to guard the individuals of the planet Gunsmoke from his murderous brother Knives. It units the tone for the sequence completely, hanging a stability between mournful, adventurous, and appropriately epic.
The Hearth Hunter — “Usotsuki”
Director: Kenichi Kutsuna
Music by: Leo Ieiri
The Hearth Hunter flew below the radar of many anime viewers this 12 months, regardless of the pedigree of expertise hooked up to its manufacturing. Make time to observe it — Ranma 1⁄2 director Junji Nishimura reunites with Mamoru Oshii (Ghost within the Shell) on an epic apocalyptic fantasy story and the opening title sequence for the sequence completely rocks.
Directed by Kenichi Kutsuna, who beforehand labored as a key animator on Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Dororo, the opening for The Hearth Hunter is a fantastic and memorable sequence that expounds on Takuya Saitō’s delicately rendered character designs and pairs them with elegantly pictorial backgrounds. I imply, take a look at that shot on the 23-second mark with the shafts of sunshine piercing by means of the thinly outlined mass of clouds! Artwork!
Vinland Saga season 2 — “River”
Director: Yūsuke Sunouchi
Music by: Anonymouz
Like Jujutsu Kaisen season 2, the second season of the historic journey epic Vinland Saga took a pointy tonal shift from the vibe of its first season. Removed from a revenge story, this season’s focus was on Thorfinn’s seek for a way of that means and a life separate from the vengeance that beforehand drove him.
Directed by Yūsuke Sunouchi, who beforehand labored as an episode director on the primary season of Vinland Saga, the opening title sequence for Vinland Saga season 2 completely captures the sensation of somebody rising out of the darkness and greedy after a way of renewed readability and course. It’s a sequence that drops you instantly into Thorfinn’s mindset on the outset of the season and primes the viewers for the subsequent chapter of his story.