I've been on a anime kick recently watching old anime clips on YouTube. And since I reviewed Cat Planet Cuties last August, I rather as well do more anime stuff like post my favorite anime intros. I don't really have a type that I like, I just go by "Do the song and visuals get me hype for the show or not?" Alot of times I like the song, but the visuals are meh to me. Or, the visuals look exciting, but the music doesn't seem to fit making it forgettable. These intros for the most part strike the perfect balance between music and visuals and make me actually want to watch the intro over and over again to see if there is anything I missed, like Raw's "Across the Nation" theme from 2002-2006 by The Union Underground.
As I made this list, I realized Japan really likes putting in random English words in their songs (and anime) and doesn't care about capitalization rules like we do in America. I see band/artist/song names in lowercase and all caps that would trigger English teachers here. I guess it makes them unique, but when you don't know who the hell these people are and don't understand a lick of Japanese, I have to double, triple and quadruple check I'm getting these names right. Anyway, before I get to the list, I should start with the Cat Planet Cuties intro since that was cut out of the episodes I reviewed.
Cat Planet Cuties Opening "Now loading...SKY!!" by Sphere
We got Tits McGee frolicking in the water. We got gun girls doing sexy posing. We got them singing along with the song. And we got our protagonist recording it all as they do a Charlie's Angels pose. I like they show what viewers are getting themselves into with the intro.
10. Bleach Opening 9 "Velonica" by Aqua Timez
I liked the visuals from the first half of the intro with them posing on
a brightly colored platform with dramatic wind and stylized camera angles.
Then Ichigo and friends appear one by one in the horizon ready to take on
Aizen and his cronies. That's some good intro storytelling!
9. Death Note Opening 2 "What's Up People?!" by Maximum the Hormone
This is the only intro for a anime on this list I never watched. I only know about Death Note because I watched this fan made video:
So I of course searched for the intro and even watched the music video for this song...it was weird. The band is rocking their cocks off while girls are ribbon dancing in the background. It's quite fitting that Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" was next in recommended videos. I get the gist of the show. Guy gets book that kills anybody whose name is written in it. Guy gets God Complex from killing people he views as evil. Other people don't like that criminals are dropping dead so they try to stop him. Both parties have a battle of wits and eventually God Complex guy is defeated. Since the plot is more complicated than that, it's helpful that I found this animated video that summarizes the show in 2:38 minutes.
8. Bleach Opening 7 "After Dark" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation
I feel the music complements the visual of Ichigo and friends racing through Hueco Mundo to save Orihime as she's sinking in water. Then we see the Espadas enter their conference room as Ichigo runs through a hallway towards them. Finally he busts into the room aiming to take out Aizen. Once again, great job at explaining the plot in the intro.
7. Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Opening 1 "Masterpiece" by mihimaru GT
Even though I don't like Zexal because I can't stand Yuma, I liked the show's intro song. Is it rapping? Is it gibberish? Who the fuck knows since I don't understand Japanese! But the comments under the video are hilarious though.
6. Naruto Opening 5 "Rhapsody of Youth" by Sambomaster
Season 3 was about the time I became aware of Naruto. I don't remember what episode I watched, but I liked the song for the intro. It's your typical anime intro with characters running, standing around looking at random places, two characters shown back to back, enemy roll call and heroes roll call. Also it does a good job hinting the brewing conflict between Naruto and Sasuke as useless ass Suckura whines from the sidelines.
5. Naruto Shippuden Opening 10 "Newsong" by tacica
This intro is from the infamous "Boat Arc" where Naruto literally spent the season on a boat. They had their swim trunks and flippy floppies, but they wished they had burgers and there's no Kinko's to make copies. Since it's filler, you had all kinds of random things like Naruto clones running from a giant octopus, dead ninjas, Tenten trying to look badass, adult ninjas leaping in-sync on a beach, Naruto, Sakura and Sai flying, and the teen ninjas dancing.
Now in the comments section, they got all kinds of jokes like how happier they are with that emo fuckboi Sasuke gone. Why is Team 8 missing from the dance party? And how the hell Naruto convince Gaara of all people to be part of this? But the most important question is what kind of drugs are Rock Lee and Sakura on?
LOOK AT LEE! He looks like he fucked a mermaid and can't stop grinning!
Sakura on the other hand got derp face but at least she's not going SASUKE-KUNNNN
My main problem with this season was: Why didn't they just ninja run across the water to the island? They stopped at Nikasai Island where they met Sakura, Ino and Choji. Days later, they meet Shikamaru and Tenten at Mokuzu Island. And even later in their trip, Kakashi caught up with them after receiving a SOS from Guy. Even though Naruto is supposed to be out at sea for weeks or a month or so, his friends not only got ahead of him but they made it to him and back to the village in like a day. So again, why the hell didn't they just ninja run to the island? They would've got there much faster and less bullshit to deal with. But what do I know, I'm just a guy who hates pointless filler that Naruto is known for.
4. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1 "Again" by YUI
I must say, I don't remember the first 48 seconds of this intro at all. I guess the dub shortened the intro by cutting that first part out and going straight to the disintegrating bodies. Either way, the song matches perfectly with the action on screen.
3. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Opening 4 "Precious Time, Glory Days" by Psychic
Lover
Ah, Season 4, the season 4Kids were too cowardly to dub only to butcher 5D's into a incoherent mess. I liked GX so much that I went ahead and watched it with subtitles like I did with Season 0 of Yu-Gi-Oh. And let me tell you, it wasn't THAT bad. Sure, Jaden is all emo and shit with Yubel inside of him but they still could've dubbed this season. Since they got the voice actors to reprise their roles for Duel Links, there's still a chance of this season getting dubbed. No one thought the Snyder Cut of Justice League would be released, but after years of fans clamoring for it online, it's now on HBO Max. All we need to do is Keep Holding On!
2. Bleach Opening 3 "Ichirin no Hana" by High and Mighty Color
I was playing video games at my cousin's house when his PS2 was running hot. So he had me turn it off so it wouldn't ruin his disc or mess up the console or something. He never cleaned the dust off it and roaches would hide inside it so he had to buy like two more consoles before the PS3 came out. Anyway, when I switched it back to cable, he left it on Cartoon Network so they was in the middle of the Adult Swim block.
This intro got me into Bleach because I felt the characters in shadows along with the music was cool. I remember watching the episode and thinking they sure are losing alot of blood in this show. The other thing I remembered was going "OH SHIT!" when Momo found Aizen's "dead" body. From then own, I've been a fan ever since. I didn't watch every episode or movie or play the video games, but at least I know Ichigo's voice actor is Adam from Power Rangers!
Bonus: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Opening "Theme for
Panty & Stocking" by Hoshina Anniversary
Panty and Stocking is the only anime that I watched both Subbed and Dubbed. It helps that it's heavily influenced by American cartoons like Drawn Together, they speak English more often in each episode than your typical anime (especially when cursing) and it only lasted one season. It's amazing what you can do when you're on a drunken resort trip with raunchy Comedy Central cartoons on your mind.
1. Bleach Opening 10 "Shojo S" by SCANDAL
DANCE PARTY!!! Sure, the song is catchy and the characters are posing around town instead of in a open field as Ichigo walks towards the camera but what makes this #1 for me is the dance sequence by Orihime and Rukia while in school girl outfits. As they're dancing I'm going "YAAAAASSSSSS!!!!!!!" and Orihime looking extra THICC next to Rukia. Hell, Orihime looks like a full grown woman next to that small child Rukia. But them basic bitches best make way for the Queen B of this intro Rangiku, as they pose together at the end.
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