Forum - View topicAnswerman - Who Makes Anime's Opening Sequences?
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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Hey the OP sequence often sells the album and the show. But I've seen some OP sequences where you find yourself scratching you head and ask
"Why?" Escaflowne is a great OP and composed by the great Yoko Kanno. It's a great song. And evokes such emotion. The visuals are a plus as well. But you find that if the fans are into it that makes it all the more worthwhile. Kill la Kill's frenetic OPs went perfectly with the music. One stinker I can think of it's the 2nd half of Witchblade's OP "Dear Bob" by Koloogi was a horrible choice. But hey anyone that knows the band probably didn't buy it for the show. And the OP was crap. But the 1st OP worked. |
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2024 |
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I've always noticed opening sequences are usually "high energy" and ending sequences are usually "low energy," almost somber at times. The original Dragon Ball is a good example of this.
My favorite opening sequence is probably Bebop's. It's got so much style, and sticks out so much in your memory, it's hard to watch dozens and dozens of times and get tired of it. It fits the show perfectly too. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13549 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Though it's no longer on YT, I do remember seeing a video with Toledo-born Fred Ladd (the director of the original Astro Boy dub) where he said something about how the Americanized Astro Boy theme song inspired Japan in putting theme song's in the Japanese versions of shows.
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Sachiko2010
Posts: 68 |
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Yay! Escaflowne gets some props. That is absolutely one of my all time favorite opening sequences.
I also agree wholeheartedly with the aside on Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. I had just finished watching the original Madhouse Record of Lodoss War OVA, which is one of my all time favorite anime to this day, and it has a spectacular opening sequence with wonderful music (just a really beautiful set-piece for the show, capturing it completely in my view). So I eagerly bought the TV series. I was absolutely amazed by the opening theme and sequence, and thought "here comes a masterpiece of an anime for sure." But the show was just an unbelievable disappointment. One of those "don't judge an anime by its opening sequence" moments for sure. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4420 |
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I might be wrong, but I've always figured the reason for that was the opening is meant to get you excited that the show is starting, and the ending is supposed to leave you feeling a bit disappointed that the episode is over. |
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xchampion
 Posts: 370 Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho |
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Come to think of it I have many openings/closings that I really enjoy. They are mainly from shows that I grew up watching. Of course the before mentioned Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne are great. I also enjoyed the terrible but equally great Rock the Dragon opening for Dragonball Z. I know it was made for the Pioneer American dub of it, but I still love it. My under the radar choice would have to be S-Cry-ed. I love all the opening/closings for that show. It might just be a Adult Swim thing with Cowboy Bebop and S-Cry-ed
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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Whoever chose the opening theme to the US dub of Dragon Ball Z is responsible for the high points of my childhood, and I thank them. Yes, I know it is not the Japanese version, but "Rock the Dragon" was awesome and deniers are fools.
I've also been sold on a few songs that were Naruto and Bleach openings. I've always figured that openings were meant to sell songs first and the anime second, especially because music companies are often involved in production. Most recently the Attack on Titan opening theme 'Guren no Yumiya' probably sold a lot of albums. That was very great opening sequence. |
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Sachiko2010
Posts: 68 |
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Speaking of Escaflowne reminds me that Haruhi has a great little homage to the the first few seconds of the Escaflowne opening sequence (I think of it is an homage at least). An opening sequnce quoting classic opening sequences: a good reason why the Haruhi opening sequence is also one of my favorites
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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While working to make an OP look real nice and cool is all well and good, they also need to keep in mind not to spoil the viewers on events that will happen later in the anime. I see this way too often in adaptations.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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"I think it's time to blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together. Ok, three, two, one let's jam."
There are only a few OPs and EPs I have on my song lists... I have both opening and ending songs for Samurai Champloo, the OPs for Lain, Scrapped Princess, and another one that's slipped my mind... plus the EP for Kannagi. I used to have a couple more but they were gobbled up by Youtube. They're all really good at setting moods. Even so, most of the time I'll watch through an OP once, and after that I'll skip it. Same with the ending sequence, which has sometimes caused me to miss something when there's a coda to the episode added after the credits (I hate that). |
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AngryMoM
 Posts: 63 |
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Jojo's OP and ED are one of my favorite part of the series. I saw the OP for part 1 on YouTube and immediately got hooked. I'm really looking forward to part 4 in hope of listening to prince on the ending.
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Chrno2
Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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I wanted to mention this. Back when I ran hung out with some older anime fans one of the things liked to do was produce what is called the "credit tape". This was something sampler which consisted of nothing but OPs from the 70's, 80's and 90's.
Basically someone take openings from shows and record them back to back producing a "credit tape". Over time the tape would just get skewed. This was due to tracking issues, wear and tear, footage quality used, and then running off copies or someone running off their copy for friends. If you're not doing anything you just pop it in and sit around and watch it until whatever runs out and you have space for someone to add some more. It's what happens when you're recording on 6hr speed. This was a good way for someone to enjoy or become introduced to a show. As well as the music. Now with the internet now things are produced digitally or streaming. One JP YT'ber that I used to follow did whole segments posting robot OP and EDs by year. It was a lot of work he put in. He did all Sunrise robots by year, from the 1970's to 2000's, then Tatsunoko. Eventually he'd lose material, by being forced to take it down by the owners of said material. But I was always under the impression that the song had to fit what the OP visual entailed. If it's fast paced it should be faced paced. You do see some EDs that are often fast pace. Kurau Phantom Memory have subtle OP & EDs, since the composition for the overall show used New Age. Welcome to the NHK has a subtle OP like a game show, but the ED plays into the madness. One Punch Man, let's you know where it's going. It punches you face, kicks you in the nuts, it's causes your walls to crumble around you and then rips your head off, while screaming at you who is the man b***. Then you get kooky combinations like Valkyrie Drive Mermaid that has a frenetic OP but then smack you upside you head with a pillow with that Hyper Miracle Romantic and some sh*t. LOL!!! It always kills me when they do this. But thing I find funny is that these songs end up on the artist album sometimes. But visually that's what sucks you in. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2441 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Speaking of, has everyone seen the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' As An Anime Opening Works Way Too Well that's been making the rounds today?
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18168 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I found Justin's point about how working on an OP (or ED) can sometimes be a stepping stone for an aspiring animator to be especially interesting because, in retrospect, I've come across several examples of this while looking up the credits of of a series' director. (Sadly, I don't remember any examples off the top of my head.)
And yeah, I'll totally agree about the OP of ROLW: Chronicles being a qualitative outlier. The OP would be a slam-dunk for my All-Time-Greats list, but the series might not even rate in the top half. Another infamous case where the opener abjectly varies from the main series is Brain-Powered, whose opener was almost wall-to-wall nudity even though the series itself had almost no fan service. |
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