“Every Anime Opening Ever Made”
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Nov 25, 2010 20:59 JST
- Tags: Character Design, Comparison, ED, Legends, Moe, Music, OP, Parody, Video Gallery
Somebody has finally noticed that all anime openings are identical cut-and-pastes of the same elements ad nauseam, and gone so far as to compile a helpful meta-OP template video to prove it.
The video:
Player 1
The creator’s explanation and the all important list of titles viewers will otherwise be struggling to identify:
Music: Ayu’s Euro Mega-Mix [Y & Co. Mix] by Ayumi Hamasaki
It’s always amused me the repeated imagery that exist in anime opening credit sequences. This video doesn’t cover them all, but it has a lot of the big ones. Interesting thing I learned, if a character is running it’s overwhelmingly to the left of the screen.
I first started thinking about this years ago when I saw the X-Men intro that they made in Japan to replace the American one. The part that especially hit home was Wolverine, and Cyclops standing on some nondescript land mass.
For this I used only textless credits I found on Youtube (with the exception of Evangelion). So if your favorite anime isn’t in here either there was no textless version or it had a pretty unique opening sequence.
Here’s the complete list of what anime made it into this.
009-1
Ah! My Goddess
Ai Yori Aoshi
Angelic Layer
Asu no Yoichi
Azumanga Daioh
Berserk
Big O
Black Lagoon
Bleach
Blood+
Blue Dragon
Burst Angel
Cardcaptor Sakura
Chrono Crusade
City Hunter
Clannad
Claymore
Cobra
Code Geass
Cowboy Bebop
D. Gray Man
Death Note
Diebuster
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Z
H2O Footprints in the Sand
Eureka Seven
FateStay Night
Full Metal Panic!
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu
Full Metal Panic The 2nd Raid
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fushigi Yuugi
GaoGaiGar
Genshiken
Ghost Stories
Girls Bravo
Gokusen
Golgo 13
Gosyusho sama Ninomiya-kun
GTO
Gundam 00
Gundam Wing
Gurren Lagann
Hajime no Ippo
Hellsing
Hikaru no Go
Ikki Tousen
Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny
Inu Yasha
K-On!
Kanokon
Kare Kano
Kaze no Stigma
Last Exile
Love Hina
Love Hina Again
Mahoromatic
Mai Hime
Mai Otome
Martian Successor Nadesico
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Midori Days
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
Nadia – The Secret of Blue Water
Nana
Nanatsuiro Drops
One Piece
Planetes
Rahxephon
Ranma 1/2
Read or Die OAV
Ruin Explorer
Sailor Moon
Samurai Deeper Kyo
School Days
School Rumble
Shakugan no Shana
Strawberry Panic
Strike Witches
Tenchi Muyo Universe
Third – the Girl with the Blue Eye
To Aru Majutsu no Index
Toward the Terra
True Tears
Tsukihime
Utawarerumono
Welcome to the NHK
Wolf’s Rain
X-Men
Yu Yu Hakusho
His Twitter account for those interested.
As 2ch has it, “Wherever you look, all our games and anime are just cutting and pasting the same things over and over.”
Fortunately, all major anime have access to at least 8 hair colours, 2 genders and 5 different costumes to help make the cutting and pasting a little less noticeable.
| 
Yandere Simulator Gets Personal
Naruto SUN Storm 4 OP Endlessly Energetic
Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut Hardly Draconic
Splatoon Squid Sisters Invade NicoNico Tokaigi 2016
Top 9 Anime of 2015, According to IGN
Rena Momozono’s Hot Hardcore F***ing Eloquently Titled
Rance Hikari o Motomete Battles Hard
Final Fantasy XV “Might As Well Be An FPS”
Dimension W Spreads It Open
Okasare Hero Strategically Sexy
Studio FOW Alice H-Short “Truly Mad!”
Uppers PV “All About The JKs!”
Danny DeVito Desired For Great Detective Pikachu
Kantai Collection Movie PV Bright & Cheery
Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Story Trailer Rather Redundant
Slimy Yuusha Marudea Figure
Top 20 Most Romantic Anime Confessions
Shinmai Testament Burst BD Running A Fever
Anti-Demon Fox YUZUHA Rather Bestial
Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Xtremely Exhibitionist
Goddess of Twitter “Pink & Perky!”
Serene Horo Cosplay Pure Gold
Iona Ero-Cosplay by Komugi Taking on Water
Cute Kashima Cosplay Full of Elegance
Umaru Ero-Cosplay by Asami Hamsterific
Goddess of 2ch: “Pink & Soft All The Way!”
Kuroneko Cosplay by Mikehouse Full of Life
Busty Hotaru Cosplay Delightfully Delectable
Adorable Ati Cosplay by Kaieda Kai Kemonomimi Chaos
Momo Velia Deviluke Cosplay Bursting With Bridal Beauty
But admittedly, a lot of these features are things I like in an opening.
So.. yea. Every Hollywood action movie has guys holding guns sideway, noir movies with mafias robbing banks, sci-fi alien movies with UFOs, romance dramas with ppl crying for every 15 minutes, etc, etc.
Personally, I rather call it as Stereotype elements that will always stay cool no matter how many anime keep on using it; similar like Nostalgia Critic's Top 10 Coolest Cliches.
This guy got too much free time... but thanks to that,I can watch this awesome vid.
This guy must have been bored to death
yeah guess so
but i noticed after watching it once while eating dinner
that the list isnt complete
i saw a sequence from NGE opening (at 4:23 after searching for it)
And I, for one, am happy for it. I got a big kick out of watching that.
Err...so what? They're reused because they're what people like to watch in an anime opening. Imagine a action/fighting anime without a proper "Power walk" scene in the opening ? I'm sure people would love to see a scene like that in their action anime even though every action anime have scenes like that.
I say this guy must have had so much free time and got bored to death to do this thing :)
So... Basically, what I am seeing is that anime openings have animation of characters?
Seems like a pretty good assumption to be made.
So.. what was the point?
Seems like someone is saying that opening themes have themes in the forms of audio and visual, pertaining specifically to music and animation.
Yeah. Honestly I don't see the point in it. Sure, anime has certain tropes that are present in OP as well, but a lot of those similarities are so vaguely similar it's ridiculous. Such as zooming in, characters running. I mean, what ARE you supposed to do in animation? You animate it! Panning, zooming, characters in motion. The standard stuff. There's no shocking revelation there.
i agree with you dude!
"2 genders", only 2 genders? What about Hideyoshi?
lol! XD
I REFUSE TO LET ANYONE SAY THIS BEFORE ME
"It's funny because it's true!"
The thing is, these are all, lets say, motifs that are used because they work so well. If you compared specific genres you'd find they share more similar aspects of their OPs
If you, say, compared a genre of european live-action TV shows you'd find the same thing. I mean, that bit in CSI where they do a heli-shot of a whole city. What investigative thriller show, similar to CSI, doesn't do that? Really?
No flying pantsu?
Belldandy <3
If it works, why change it?
Because it get's boring once in a while.
Can't help but love the video. :3
And even though some things are reused in OPs again and again, it's because it still looks cool so I don't really mind.
yeah, gotta love this video. brought back so many memories in 4 minutes.
Is it me or that the Ayumi song in the clip sound alot like one of the Initial D songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i4gqswaYBY
Yeah and the served their purpose right
Only SHAFT does it differently, for example: Negima!, Pani Poni Dash, Zetsubou Sensei, etc.
Maria*Holic...
my thoughts exactly
Bakemonogatari?
too bad.. but at some point it still have similarities...
negima still have the run scene...
zetsubou sensei still have walking scene(many ending have this one)
Negima Ala Alba OAD doesn't.
Shaft Quality ^_^ It doesn't sound so bad now.
At least it feels a lot more varied than Hollywood movie trailers.
Actually, if you think about it, with so many thousands of Anime made, there's bound to be repetition.
to summarize
-sky scene, preferably with birds or other flying thing.
-Panning scenery (vertical or horizontal).
-zooming shot into the eye.
-character(s) running.
-character(s) looking back
-nude character(s) (can also include ball of light)
-'looking into the distance' scene (usually from some high places)
-group shot or rival clash
-the character(s) walking
-characters flying, usually towards the screen
-sad tears (are there manly tears scene?)
-ball of light/soul/essence
-something blowing in the wind (leaf, petals, feather, etc)
-hands
-closing scenery scene (upward pan or zooming out)
The "Offering Ones' Hand" thing might be fairly new since I don't remember a lot of older animes using it.
I could be wrong though.
Meh, doesn't matter to me. Epic opening sequences with epic songs are epic, period. =)
Quite right. It does not matter. Epic Opening is EPIC
THE OVER THE SHOULDER LOOK THING WAS KINDA RIDUCULOUS THOUGH
Well, I forgive them, because after all anime is still the best thing in the world, even with all it's stereotypes/copy-paste/cliché/repetition/watever
you can't expect to have several thousand series, that are all different and innovative
I pretty much just like watching OP for the music ^_^
~ Does it really matter?
Just leave a - "good working formula" - alone... besides, in a way they are different, and so are distinguishable by those factors for that particular animu.
If its not broken, why fix it?
"If its not broken, why fix it?"
Because with this reasonning you will never improve anything, just like Jrpgs are doing the same shit over and over and are dying.
@21:35
Congratulations for managing to connect your hate for JRPG's to a unrelated topic on animated openings.
Shoot yourself now.
Well...
Considering that this ~ *same formula* ~ has been going strong since the middle of the 1960's - (to now) - as its also been used in similar effect with character animals of the likes of "Kimba the White Lion" and also with "Speed Racer" in those openings.
and since that time... animé has improved since then and still going strong.
So, for me, I see no problem..
To simplify, let's assume these so-called "unoriginalities" as a set of Lego Blocks. They all basically look similar but the same way as a creative dude building an Epic-Win Lego structure, anime OP directors and animators tend to use them to set a sequence of cool looking 1 minute introduction clip.
Who's worried about the opening credits?
WHAT ABOUT THE PLOT?!
It's all the same: boy gets girl.
And it doesn't matter if the girl is from the outer space, his own sister, or even his own mother, too!=3
That was actually pretty nice. We already know the 'standards' they use for OPs. No point blowing your whole budget on a good OP and having a crap series. :/
the best thing is that i don't care if it's cliche, it still looks good.
Really? So let me get this straight.
-Cannot have running
-Cannot have turning or rotation of the body
-Cannot have camera angles
-Cannot have cities
-Cannot have forests
-Cannot zoom
-Cannot show eyes or face
Oh real fucking amazing you just learned what goddamn composition is, what bullshit, try making something that doesn't have any sort of setting or dynamic camera movement and lets see how good it turns out, I mean most movies have GUNS, gasp should that mean we shouldn't have guns, or talking either because everyone talks, I swear so obsessed with "OHMAHGAH this person copied this person! IT SUX BALLS" that they don't even realize that's the goddamn basics, bunch of damn armchair artists.
must of taken him ages to go through all the openings!
again the obvious is stated, and yet there is way much variety in those few minutes, that in some poor people's whole life!
Oh come on, old man Disney used used it long ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL6FYxIuJlA
Some major animes only has access to *1* gender.
...lolis...
You mean moeblob or yuri/yaoi?
Their (generally) purpose is to make otaku fall in love with the characters and to bring profits. The 2nd gender might be a threat to them, however pitiful it may sound.