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 initiatives 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 best anime of the 12 months and the place to look at them, we additionally needed to focus on one of the essential but missed parts of any nice anime: the opening title sequence.
Opening title sequences in anime have so much of functions, from crediting the employees of animators who pour their hearts and craft into creating a superb manufacturing to foreshadowing important moments within the sequence itself. Mixed with a very memorable theme track, a well-done title sequence has the potential to create an enduring impression on audiences and followers, if not even probably eclipsing the standard of the present itself.
With that in thoughts, we’ve pulled collectively an inventory of some of our favourite anime openings of the 12 months to focus on 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 the 12 months’s large 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 cherished.
Chief animation director and character designer Masamichi Ishiyama’s opening sequence was the proper reintroduction of Scott to new and outdated followers of the sequence, taking the video game-inspired visuals of the comedian and injecting them with vibrant anime aptitude. Other than 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 sensible 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 observe “Bloom” courtesy of the Japanese pop rock band Necry Talkie, and also you’ve acquired 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 position of directing the present’s second season from earlier director Sung Hoo Park, so too did Yuki Kamiya inherit the position 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 the 12 months’s best. 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 additionally the tragic passing of one of the sequence’ most beloved characters. It’s an apt opening for a bracing, violent, and heartbreaking season.
Heavenly Delusion — “Innocent Arrogance”
Director: Weilin Zhang
Music by: BiSH
Heavenly Delusion was 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 often known as Utsushita into scenes that really feel as unruly and adventurous because the sequence’ protagonist.
One specific 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 determination 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 track “Innocent Arrogance” 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, one of the best animated motion comedies in latest reminiscence, if you would like it to be an absolute legendary effort? Why Masaaki Yuasa, former president of Science Saru, of course!
The opening sequence for Spy x Household feels just like the anime equal of an Avengers-style group up, with Yuasa’s whimsical polka-dotted animation backed by a theme track carried out by Ado (of One Piece Movie: Purple-fame) and composed by none aside from Cowboy Bebop’s Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts. The result’s a sequence that feels each bit as auspicious because the inventive group behind it, a wild and rollicking journey that finds everybody’s favourite household of undercover spy-assassins-psychics having fun with a great cup of tea in-between performing donuts of their automotive.
Trigun Stampede — “TOMBI”
Director: None listed
Music by: Kvi Baba
A lot has been stated about Trigun Stampede, the most recent 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 the important thing 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 over 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 cherished the western-inspired title theme track 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 soak up the most recent 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 beneath the radar of many anime viewers this 12 months, regardless of the pedigree of expertise connected to its manufacturing. Make time to look at 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 an attractive 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 gentle piercing via 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 which 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 route. 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.
