Openings

Pretty much every anime has it. The opening is the "hook" that is supposed to help the viewer understand what they're getting into.

In shonen series, the opening usually displays a fair-high level of action. Here are some of my favorite shonen openings.


Haruka Kanata accurately displays all the characters and gives a good view of the preliminary rounds.


Once again showing all the characters, Go!!! succeeds at displaying the jounin and Naruto in a badass light.


After 20 episodes of pointless comedy, this second opening to Katekyo Hitman Reborn succeeds in showing off what Tsuna and his family can do when the happy days come to an end while the dark side of the mafia begins to rear its ugly head.


After the events of Skypiea, we are treated with the infamous Water 7 arc, a key turning point in the series. While this opeing does spoil a few important events, the camera movement and transitioning between scenes coupled with the catchy song is fantastic.


While misleading and not really a coherent way of describing the series, the first Bleach opening succeeds in being one of the most stylish openings ever. Showing the characters in interesting clothing and positions makes it seem like some kind of jeans ad, but the music and eventual action open up a world of interpretations that can't be found anywhere else.


After the horrid filler seasons that preceded it, this third opening to D.Gray Man is a breathe of fresh air, displaying a perfect combination of drama and action for the events that are about to unfold.


With a catchy tune and a high level of action, the first Soul Eater opening maintains a perfect equilibrium of tension, action, and drama that describes the series in almost every way. Showing off the power of all three main characters as well as the villains makes this one of the best openings of all time.

Sometimes openings are very misleading. A certain subject matter might be completely ignored or worse yet, the opening will make a very dark series seem like a light hearted kids show. The best example of this would be the Narutaru opening.


You wouldn't think something as tame as that would have a scene involving rape with a test tube and little girls getting dismembered now would you?

There are good openings and there are bad openings. Sometimes you just can't let the opening be the basis for the show. The purpose is to give you a good idea, not flat out spoil you. Sometimes the animators will put in weird things that are never shown or even characters that might not exist. The important thing is to watch at least 4 episodes of a series before making a proper judgement (or you can just ask someone that's seen it)