2009 Spring Season Openings

This season has been interesting as pretty much all of the existing shonen series have gotten a new opening right around the same time. There's usually a few stragglers here and there, but this season has been pretty consistent with the new openings. Like with each new season, some of the openings are good and some are bad.

Of the 4 main shonen series I watch, the worst new opening has been a toss up between Naruto and Bleach.


Rather than showing badass scenes between the fights that Sasuke will soon take part in, the studio decided to have him walk into a bath suggestively, only serving to maximize the homosexual undertones between him and Orochimaru. The song itself just screams "this is a series about an emo ninja that wants his best friend/lover to pay attention to him again" and not "ninja epic with a badass hero and a colorful cast of side characters". Perhaps the series will be deserving of a good opening once it returns to its former glory (whenever that may be).

The Bleach opening is just confusing. Take a look.


Just like Naruto, this opening could be showing badass fights, in this case between the members of Soul Society and the Arrancar. Instead, we get dancing from 3 female characters (1 not even being a lead) and a bunch of still frames of the entire cast. Ichigo is overshadowed by the girls, leading the uniformed to possibly believe this is a shojo series that has nothing to do with action. The song could've been much worse, but that doesn't change the fact it doesn't fit the series at all.

Despite those 2 atrocities, the openings of this season aren't all bad. The One Piece opening is definitely high quality.


Since One Piece has the advantage of having an opening twice as long as the others, a lot more stuff can be packed into it. Like the previous opening, pretty much all the characters are shown. Covering everything from the Sabondy Archipelago to the invasion of Impel Down going on currently in the manga, this opening packed with spoilers and action. Had it not been for the cheesy and unfitting J-Pop song, this would have been the clear winner.

Since both song and visuals count, my winner of the season is the one for Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Check it out

This covers the base invasion arc pretty well. After 2 opening with a noticeable absence of Tsuna doing cool stuff, we are treated with an opening that shows exactly what he's capable of. The fast paced fight with Genshiki is also recreated nicely. The song coupled with the visuals perfectly describe the look and feel of the series in its current arc. I can honestly say this is the best opening of the season for existing shows and the 2nd best KHR opening (after "Boys and Girls").

Let's hope the fall season of openings is even better.