Bluesnow’s Top 15 Anime OPs/EDs

I finally found out how to post youtube video’s, so I thought I’d make a post to put this new found knowledge to good use. Here are my top 15 favorite openings and endings. This doesn’t just apply to the song, I took the animation quality into consideration^.^ (PS: Don’t worry, I only posted the youtube video’s directly here for my top 5, this post shouldn’t kill your internets too much.)

#15 Neon Genesis Evangelion: Cruel Angel’s Thesis

While I have only a medium obsession with Evangelion compared to some people, for some reason I’ve liked pretty much all their songs. If I check my I-pod I’ve listened to all the Cruel angel’s thesis songs a combined total about 1000 times… thats probably more than any of the songs on my I-pod. Then again I have several versions, so its kind of cheating. The only song that could possibly cheat more for listens is Fly me to the moon… because there about 64 different published versions of this song related to Evangelion, although I only have 4 myself. I love the style of the opening with all the flashing scenes for some reason as well, it gives you alot to look at and you have to go through and pause everything to see it all. Kare Kano, by the same director uses the same flash image theme for their opening. My ABSOLUTE favorite version of Cruel Angels Thesis is the “Sannin” version, which pretty much has all the characters singing together. And on a last note, my #16 favorite would have been Beautiful world, the theme song of the Evangelion Rebuilds.

#14 Paranoia Agent: Yume no Shima Shinen Kouen

The first time I ever saw this song… I had woken up in the middle of the night around 3 AM and couldn’t sleep. I decided to turn on “Adult Swim” which airs adult oriented anime and other shows all night on cartoon network. I turned on the tv… and I see people just standing there laughing as the entire world around them crumbles. I was actually very disturbed, like in a creepy way, but just the opening alone drew my attention into watching the entire series.

#13 Air: Tori no Uta

I’ll come right out and say that I’m not a big fan of the air anime at all. It was almost aweful if not for the cute Gaaaooo’s~. The ending made it worth the watch I guess though. But onto the opening; thats probably the only reason I stuck through the entire show till the end… I’m not lieingXD I made sure to watch it every single episode… I just thought the clouds were so pretty, and the song really made an impression.

#12 Elfin Lied: Lilium *** The opening contains nudity

For those of you that are lucky enough not to have seen this anime yet, its basically about a naked female biological machine that goes around ripping army men and small girls heads and limbs off in the most gory manners possible. Then she gets amnesia and mediocre comedy, drama, romance, with a hint of incest ensue till you get to a little bit more limb ripping fun; repeat these steps till the series ends. Putting the plot aside though I wave very impressed when I watched the opening for the first time. Incorporating anime with the artist Gustav Klimpt‘s artwork was very creative. The song being in latin also gave it a very unique flair My first thought when watching this opening was if the opening was so amazing I’m sure the series must be epic. But then I saw the first 5 minutes and my hopes were shatteredXD

#11 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Inner Universe

Yet another series where I enjoyed the opening much more than the actual series. It was like this show was over compensating by having nine syllable title and a completely 3-d rendered opening scene. The music itself also had unique feel to it, though I’m not entirely sure what language its in. I don’t think its japaneseXD

#10 Claymore: Danzai no Hana

Three songs in a row in which I hated the series itself, but loved the song. I made sure to listen to this ending every single time, sometime multiple times. I tend to not find as many fast paced songs as I’d like to. As far as animation goes it could have been better, the giant sword to the left the whole time didn’t exactly help it…

#9 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan: Sorairo Days

I don’t have much more to say for this one other than its gurren lagaan… it would be blasphemy not to like itXD You can check out a remixed version of this song I posted earlier here.

#8 Spice and wolf: Tabi no Tochuu

This is a nice mellow song, with pretty good animation. It suits the anime very well in my opinion. I’m not really sure why I like this opening so much, its just very calming, and has alot of emotion at the same time. I remember I listened to it every morning before my finals last semester to calm my nerves, and it worked like a charm.

#7 Kare no Kyoukai: Fukan Fuukei

The imagery along with this mellow opening theme really left me with a shocked face by the end. I’m not sure if this would count as a typical “Opening,” but this is still an very beautiful song. And its really no surprise since it was made by Yuki Kajiura; I’m a fan of pretty much anything they’ve had a hand inXD

#6 XXXholic: Kagerou

I had a hard time deducing this ending past the top 5… its just so epic on so many levels. I mean… they’re playing air guitars… and Mokono is jamming. The actual song itself is also very good, I really like the singer’s voice. One of the top songs I listen to.

****Top 5 countdown commences*****

*Drum rolls~~~~

#5 Moyashimon: Curriculum

What can I say about how awesome that opening is besides what you’ve already seen for yourself. The song is great… and its sooooo cute. I really love how they blended the 3-D with live action scenes. Its a shame the actual anime wasn’t as cool. Although the ending theme was also pretty decent.

#4 Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

This opening is perhaps the most suitable opening I’ve ever seen for any series. The song and animation are equally heart pounding, and at the same time mysterious. The color and animation are amazing. I actually felt bad when we moved onto the second season and the replaced it with this. This song goes down as one of the most amazing anime songs ever.

#3 Blood+: Colors of the Heart

This was a very hard decision. As with Evangelion way above, I only want one song from an anime to be on my list, but This Love, and Aozora no Namida, are about tied in my heart. I let Colors of the heart win though because of the original animation style, that was colorful and fast paced. But the songs themself are completely tiedXD

#2 Honey and Clover: Dramatic

Dancing food… perhaps the cutest and odd opening I’ve ever seen for a series. And it really matches the anime in some odd way. I’ll give cookies to any one who can visually watch the entire opening and not jump… if you watch it all you’ll see whyXDI also have found out… that the same day I wrote up this post the designer of this video, Nagi Noda, passed away. I’m both sad and creeped out at the same time D= R.I.P. to Nagi Noda…. thanks for making most original opening cinematic ever.

#1 Ayashi no Ceres: Scarlet

This is my favorite opening of all time. It might get a point or so off for the actual animation… it looks a little dated for its age. But the song itself is amazing. I cry almost every time I hear this song… really… I can’t listen to this song in public or I’ll start crying and someone will think I’m nutsXD The song is just so emotional… and if you’ve seen the anime and make the connections while you listen to it you’ll cry even more. The Piano version of this song is probably the most beautiful piano song I’ve heard as well. My favorite version of this song, simply labeled “Version 2″ I won’t be posting since being 25 minutes long it won’t be on youtube and Zen would kill me if I upload it, But here is the first 5 minutes of it. But I highly recommend you get it if you enjoy this song. The second version is much more orchestrated and crisp.Hope someone out there enjoys my list, or is motivated to go out there and watch some of these anime. I’m curious to know what other’s favorites are.