Board 8 > my top anime OPs + EDs, plus chatting some anime in general

(+) Yeah! (+)

I loved both seasons of Clannad. Just an amazing show all the way through for me.

KommunistKoala posted...

woo just awake

it makes me sad no one talks about this one

pyresword posted...

I don't really care for the ending of Clannad After Story, but the stretch of like 10-15 episodes before that is still outstanding enough to make it one of my favorite of all time.

yeah i haven't really reevaluated my top anime of all time, but that stretch definitely merits consideration

Maybe one day I'll watch Hunter X Hunter

I'm just always hesitant to watch super long anime

yea it's my personal favorite song from HxH but Hyori Ittai is great too (and is associated with the best arc so naturally more people think/talk about it)

2. Tobira no Mukou e - Fullmetal Alchemist 03 ED2 (FMA theme 2 of 2)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/fullmetal_alchemist/ED2-NCBD1080

Like the corresponding OP for this arc, this might be the definitive anime ED for me. Love the way that the music swells in the lead-in before the a capella cry that kicks it all off. It's such a great sound and it greatlyenhances the arc that it's part of.

I'm not sure I have that much to say about FMA 03 as it's been so long since I've seen it, but it's one of the first animes I really binged - I probably took down about half of the 52-episode show over the course of about two days. The second set of OP/ED is probably my favorite pair in any single anime arc, and that arc, where we kick off the Scar storyline, is my favorite overall part of the 03 series as well.

It's interesting that the 03 anime is actually a lot darker than Brotherhood. I get that the first twelve episodes of 03 aren't great, but the pacing during episodes 14-25 (where we get this theme) is sublime, and the extra development they give to Maes Hughes is particularly great as he's my favorite character from the show. The breakneck pacing early on in Brotherhood is to the detriment of the show. Brotherhood has a much more coherent second half and ending without question, but it's kind of unexpected that it ironically is more battle-oriented and optimistic than the anime version!

Several years ago I rewatched about two thirds of the 03 anime. I didn't get all the way to the incoherent end, and I'm not really sure I care enough to restart just to get to that again. But it does hold a special place for me.

1. Hyori Ittai - Hunter x Hunter 2011 ED5 (HxH theme 5 of 5)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/hunter_x_hunter_2011/ED5-NCBD1080
Version with intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riufO6yAgHo

Just Awake is the best song, but Hyori Ittai is the best outro. At this point in the show we're fully invested in Gon and Killua (which also helps out REASON lower on this list). And man, this probably has my single favorite intro of any ED - that piano part is so great, and during this arc the narrator - who gets in the way of the story a lot - is always saying some cool shit too. It brings me an unbelievable amount of hype, especially since this arc has soap opera stakes and presentation with massive melodrama. This arc is crazy-long and that gives us many times to appreciate this ED.

The slowness of the Castle Invasion arc in HxH allows for some really fun storytelling but to me it's quite tedious as well. Lots of interesting things come from this storytelling method, but overall the message you take away is one where violence really fucking sucks, that glorification of battles is all well and good but is more of a game than a government system, that pride is a ridiculous reason to fight but that that doesn't mean it's not worth it, and that primal evils can be redeemed. It's kind of annoying and slow how it's revealed, but Palm's horror that the King really has decided not to slaughter everyone is really powerful. Like why does this have to be so horrific? And then there's Gon's antiheroic arc - the kid is our protagonist but he winds up detaching dramatically from the main thrust of the story. It's all insanely unconventional for a shounen, which we maybe should have expected after the Phantom Troupe arc.

But in the end the singular reason that Hyroi Ittai ED hits so hard, of course, is the final scene with the arc's villain. It emotionally devastated me in a way I either didn't expect or didn't know was possible at the time. It was a strange phase in my life - my relationship was running its course, my company I'd been at four years was shutting down, I was considering moving cities, and my parents were aging. I didn't know it at the time, but less than a year later my mom would die. But somehow it just killed me to watch - and listen to, once it gets dark - a tyrant and this blind girl who just keep talking to each other to hear they're alive, but knowing that at some point, one or the other will no longer be.

I haven't tried doing any sort of anime rankings in a long time, and so many of my favorite series are in the deeper recesses of my memory if they're anywhere at all at this point. I doubt HxH would be #1, but it would certainly chart if only for the way it handles this arc.

Poor Haruhi, can't get any love for two good OPs and a good ED

Also My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU has multiple top tier OPs and EDs

Leonhart4 posted...

Also My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU has multiple top tier OPs and EDs

An opinion I've never seen from anyone else! SNAFU's OPs and EDs are all pretty middle of the road as far as anime goes.

I love harumodoki (SNAFU S2 OP)

the rest are just fine

SNAFU S2 ED is one of the all-time greats imo. I also liked the S1 OP pretty well.

MacArrowny posted...

An opinion I've never seen from anyone else! SNAFU's OPs and EDs are all pretty middle of the road as far as anime goes.

Well, that's certainly unfortunate.

I suppose I should cape up for Toradora's OPs and EDs, too. All high quality.

i liked haruhi all right - particularly the last aired episode where haruhi's subconscioua goes kaiju - but it's nowhere a favorites' list overall and its OP didn't really stick with me

haven't seen snafu or toradora! in general i find myself slightly repelled in anime about how everything seems to be set in high school

That was only season 1!

I wish there was any chance it'd ever go beyond what the anime has covered because there's so much good stuff that will never be seen.

Can't remember what else Yuzu have done for anime songs, but they are a very good duo.
Always enjoy seeing them perform on the NYE show. At this point they are Jpop royalty.

toki wo kizamu uta too low.

I love Jun Maeda's sense of rhythm. How can something with, when you write it down, practically free meter feel so natural? He extends and contracts meter the way most composers use mere dynamics, it's incredible. And then on the other hand, you have the perfect 5/4 syllable-for-syllable pulsing of the coda. It's just... wow. And the lyrics, too -- especially in the full version. The swap on the final chorus from "Kimi dake" to "boku tachi" -- from "I loved you and you alone" to "Time marched for us and us together, and now you want me to go it alone? NO! YOU CAN'T!" leaves me a blubbering mess every time. And the final coda, the cherry on top: "now and forever / i will remember / no matter how much / our town is changing / No matter how much / melancholy that / we are forced to face / there along the way / I still can show you / there was a time I / wholly and truly / managed to stay strong / Come on, let's go now / It's time to set off / Along that hilly road" with the callback to the first verse at the end too and god dammit I don't know what to do with myself anymore i'm gonna go cry now.

In other news, I am the weirdo who prefers Melissa most out of the FMA original OPs. No idea why that one sticks with me so much, but it very much has. Tobira no Mukou he is fantastic tho.

Toki wo Kizamu Uta is definitely an all-timer. Pretty much perfect, and goes with the arc extremely well (despite me being the weirdo who doesn't like After Story that much).

The original FMA ones here don't do much for me. I've always thought that show's OPs and EDs were a bit overrated. Period is nice, but that's about it.

I would like Toki wo Kizamu Uta a lot more if not for the talking/chanting/whatever sections of the song that just sound very off to me.

also I don't like Code Geass but it has a couple of banger OPs

pyresword posted...

I would like Toki wo Kizamu Uta a lot more if not for the talking/chanting/whatever sections of the song that just sound very off to me.

That's my favorite part!

LeonhartFour posted...

also I don't like Code Geass but it has a couple of banger OPs

think i couldn't get past mine 3-6 episodes of this show despite the hype. it felt like death but but 100% more "anime" which was felt pretty rough.

dowolf posted...

toki wo kizamu uta too low.

seems pretty popular here! this is the one i had at #7 and as i wrote about it i just felt compelled to lift it higher. it just knows and succeeds at so completely what it wants to be

just be glad you didn't watch all the way to the end