The Importance of Being an OP/ED

April 25, 2006 on 7:41 pm | In *Polls |
  • How important are OP/ED?

Does anyone really pay attention to anime opening and ending themes? Well, I do, and I’m not alone. OP/ED function as more than pretty animation backgrounds for Japanese (and/or fansub) credits to scroll down. They may heavily influence your opinion on a show or even have the power to miff you a little.

  • The Importance of Presentation

    • Opening themes act as an introduction to a series. Aside from any promos, they are literally the first pieces of animation one views before actually moving into the episode. This makes the OP very important. A terrible or uninteresting OP already plants a little negative seed in your brain even as you just begin to watch your first episode of a series. A good song, bad song, happy or sad song, will set the atmosphere for whatever show you are about to watch.

    OP also convey vital information to the viewer as to what kind of show they can expect. Most OP are at least somewhat relevant to the actual show; you won’t see completely made up characters and scenes. The kind of music played in combination with the animation content will tell you if you are watching a shounen, shoujo, horror, or mecha show. You can immediately identify the main characters and (a lot of the time) their relationships to each other. Many love comedies already pair characters for you (School Rumble is an example).

    So does the quality of the song or animation in an OP/ED actually affect whether you like a show or not? Personally, if an OP/ED has a really good song, I am more likely to come back to that anime, even if it is just to listen. I can also become more interested or less interested in a series according to the information the OP/ED provide me. “Oh, it’s one of these kind of anime.” I am a sucker for romance embedded in action anime, so when I saw how close the main characters of Erementar Gerad were in the OP (lots of hand-holding), I began downloading more, expecting the OP to somehow prove true.

  • The Importance of Change

    • How much does it bother you when an anime’s content has progressed far beyond its opening or ending themes? Is it really that important to have appropriate and relevant OP/ED?

    • Mai Hime/Otome (SPOILERS)

      • I don’t know if I am alone in this, but what really bothered me the most about Mai Hime was not the distorted emo faces, angsty writing, or cheesy resurrections, but the fact that throughout the entire series, its opening song never changed! Even after the turning point episode, when green sparklies began to run the streets and the lesbians turned bloodthirsty, the most violent episodes opened up with the same happy, bouncy “Shining Days” (Minami Kuribayashi), showing everyone smiling in the fields together. It was as if the animators were mocking those of us who cried over the deaths of beloved Takumi and Mikoto’s betrayal. “Remember when everything was so perfect? Where’s your happy love comedy NOW, wussies?!”

      I never thought I had actually cared about opening songs until Mai Hime. I would have liked a friendly signal for the abrupt shift from happy comedy school to scary military school. In turn, one of the things that I appreciated most about Mai Otome was the inclusion of a changing opening theme. When I watched a new episode of Otome, I was greeted with the proper battle music and grim faces for the following content of the show. I did not feel the cruel jabs of anime sentimentality I would have if the theme had remained the same. (Though Otome was also not as powerful in its delivery of casualties and tragedies the same way Hime was).

  • The Importance of Spoiling

    • Many anime possess opening and/or ending animations that have more than a little spoilage flying across the screen. Many series actually contain many animation clips taken from actual scenes in the anime all spliced together. Bleach’s second theme is one example: future battles actually spliced into the opening animation. Does it bother you to be spoiled by an OP/ED?

    • Black Cat (SPOILERS)

      • It doesn’t take a 150 IQ to figure out according to the ending song’s animation of Black Cat that Saya was not going to last the entire series. (I state this regardless of whether she returns or not, since Black Cat was dropped from my watch list a while ago). To those who revelled in the Saya Train relationship present in the very beginning of the series, the sight of her vanishing at the end of the animation is extremely disquieting when first watched. Especially Sven replacing her when Train’s chibi cat form attempts to kiss her cheek, suggesting that Train’s company would soon change.

    My biggest concern out of all of this, though, is usually the anxiety I feel when all the characters and situations featured in an OP/ED are covered by the show. This antsy feeling creeps up my spine and makes my toes squirm. “Is there going to be more?” Many series have fixed episode counts, but when an anime covers all its featured characters and scenes during the middle of the series, I become uneasy. It is the same deal with movie trailers, since those are direct splices from the actual film. When you are watching a movie you really enjoy, you exact relief from the fact that there are still scenes featured in the trailer that have not shown up in the movie yet.

Many people just skip through the OP/ED after their first viewing, but I give them a few more runs than that. It is like watching a commercial again (except with more purpose). No real entertainment value can be gathered from watching it repeatedly, but if you see it again and again, you will notice something different every time. So, how important is all this to you? Am I alone in my nerdy analyzations?

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34 Comments »

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  1. Personally, I don’t pay much attention to the OP, and if I don’t like it - I just skip it. I agree the OPs might be big spoilers, and just to go back to HiME and Otome opening animations (don’t like the HiME-verse songs).

    In HiME I was also kinda annoyed with the super genki OP when everyone was dying, and thought an OP change would be a good idea, but then when I got the OP change in Otome - as much as I liked the new animation - it also turned out to be one huge spoiler, which had almost everything from the rest of the series condensed in 90 seconds. That wasn’t what I wanted after all.

    Going back to a show for just the OP/ED? And people call me weird when I say I’m watching shows for just BGM (fate/stay night, anyone?), haha.

    Comment by kacper — April 25, 2006 #

  2. You still have a Black Cat banner, though.

    Pani Poni Dash is nice in that it screws with the TV viewer’s mind, playing the OP perhaps 15 minutes into the episode at times and running the ED right at the beginning.

    Comment by Eleutheria — April 25, 2006 #

  3. Otome OP change may be good, but I have a huge issue with the ED. The first 10 or so eps were fine with the current ED. Then when the train wreck started and the episode ended on a sour note, suddenly in comes “DO YOUR BEST DESHO” and I’m like WTF. The worst of it all, they still had to use till the VERY VERY END.

    Also Sunrise has been very lazy with their opening and ending designs. There have been a lot of images circulating showing the comparison of GSD vs. Otome and Gundam Seed vs Cyberforumla.

    Obviously the hot ED to mention today is Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu: 1.) loads of blogs and posts on the dance. 2.) lots of parodies and real life versions 3.) quest to push the ED to the top of the Oricon chart.

    ED sequences in School Rumble OVA was great too. It didn’t reveal or spoilt anything. Instead of the usual Harima SD in Season 1, they SD’ed the girls.

    Comment by gundamfans — April 25, 2006 #

  4. I’ve mentioned this on my blog before, but I think the main reason I kept watching .hack//dusk was the excellent OP by Round Table. I’m talking the actual song. I don’t really care about the visuals too much.

    I’ll admit that for some series, I look forward to the ED more than the actual show itself. Sad, but sometimes true.

    So yeah, the OP and ED are very important.

    Comment by Hung — April 25, 2006 #

  5. >>Eleutheria: I still have the ED screenshot up there because it’s cute. SEE, OP/ED DO matter—I need them for banners!

    Comment by Saria — April 25, 2006 #

  6. PPD is also cool for me because they keep switching up the OPs and EDs, both with different songs and with different people singing the songs.

    OP also convey vital information to the viewer

    This is one of the things that I really liked about the OP for Evangelion. It was exactly what the show was “about” or in reaction to and not what the show would be like.

    I personally liked how My-Hime’s OP never changed, but that’s also because like with Eva, I was always looking at My-Hime as being really meta and being about what it’s about. (If that makes ANY sense…)

    Comment by jpmeyer — April 25, 2006 #

  7. Given how Mai-HiME ended, perhaps the never-changing OP makes sense. It’s a shame we had to endure that horrid song for 26 episodes, though.

    Comment by Jeff Lawson — April 25, 2006 #

  8. I usually pay attention to the OP/ED alot, if I watch the anime on a weekly basis. Or unless I’m marathoning a series, and have seen it, that’s when I’ll probably I skip it after the first few times.

    Unless it’s uber awesome, kinda like Yakitate Japan’s 2nd one. I can’t get enough of it. DISCO FEVER FTW!

    Comment by Kozumura — April 25, 2006 #

  9. OP and ED basically never sell or destroy a show for me. It’s plus points if they’re thematically appropriate, plus points if I like the music and animation sequence, and plus lots of points for both. But if I don’t like them, that’s what the fast-forward buttons are for.

    Comment by Seth — April 25, 2006 #

  10. For me OP and ED are very important. Let’s say i watch some new series i have no idea how good or bad it is, OP and ED give at least 50% from first impression. If the song isn’t good and show itself is same old stuff i probably don’t touch that again.

    As for spoilers in animation. I think OP of the Lemon angel project spoiled at least half of the series. After that there wasn’t any suspense left.

    Comment by Anga — April 26, 2006 #

  11. Important… very. OP especially, since a strong OP makes the viewer want to watch the show. It even has the effect of PSYCHING up the viewer.

    Eg. D-technolife and Ichirin no Hana. They are great songs that make you want to watch some fighting. Or older ones like The Gatekeepers’ theme.

    Comment by tj han — April 26, 2006 #

  12. The fact tat OP/EDs from animes tend to sway one’s viewership holds true for me. heck, the only reason i got interested in Aria was cuz of Undine (the rest of the show in terms of story turned out to be excellent as well though).

    I downloaded Higurashi no Naku Koro ni solely cuz Kurogane was raving about it and cuz of it i think i enjoy the show alot more than wat i would usually enjoy from a show like this.

    Comment by Claude — April 26, 2006 #

  13. I seem to find I like the OP/ED’s for anime I dislike and dislike the OP/ED’s for anime I love. This dosen’t happen all the time but enough for me to think it’s a bit odd.

    I like my OP/ED’s to change as a series progresses aswell, adding new animation or maybe changing into a different song entirely as the plot develops or the mood of a series changes.

    An OP/ED can’t get me to watch a show though, music dosen’t tend to effect my opinion of things enough.

    Comment by Mangaminx — April 26, 2006 #

  14. I agree with you on the spoilers. Ginga Densetsu Weed is a good example of this. The show overall is good, but especially at the beginning of the series you can really predict which characters are about to die, because they’re nowhere to be found in the OP. ^^

    Comment by psgels — April 26, 2006 #

  15. OP/EDs are a big deal for me since they play a HUGE role in first impressions. I remember the reason I stuck with Chrno Crusade for so long was because I like the OP (more of the sequence than the song actually)

    Interesting you should mentioned Black Cat since I just hit your spoiler at ep 6. However, for me, I read her fate from the OP rather than the ED. :)

    Comment by Stripey — April 26, 2006 #

  16. I dunno, it takes a LOT for me to get super pumped by an OP. I’m sorta cheating here by using video games, but it needs to be like the OPs in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (or whatever it is when you get pumped up with emo-ness–oh, and specifically the video game here, because Blue Tears is way more emo than Precious Memories) or Sakura Taisen 3.

    Comment by jpmeyer — April 26, 2006 #

  17. I’m a big fan of good OP/ED. Honestly, I really enjoy it when shows spend extra time making a good OP/ED and of course when there are good OP/ED songs to go along with it. I’m one of those crazy people who actually sings along to the music as it’s being played (although I am NOT crazy enough to very slowly analyze every scene like crazy Gundam fanboys do) so I do enjoy something good to watch while singing along!

    Comment by Epi — April 26, 2006 #

  18. OP/ED songs have their place - they may not make or break a series… but the sequences are like the packaging on a product; it gives you the idea behind the product or show… and is what’ll get your attention first. And, speaking for myself, I enjoy a good OP or ED sequence as much as anyone else.

    One recent ED I enjoyed was Maji Suki MAGIC by Clover, for Magikano - the dancing chibi character sequence was vaguely hypnotic, and the way they included the ep’s ‘major’ scenes in the first half of the series was interesting. :D

    OP sequences, on the other hand… well, they’re useful for setting the theme of the show, and when they jar like the HIME one did… I don’t enjoy it nearly as much as I could otherwise. One thing I found interesting with more recent Sunrise shows like SEED and SEED Destiny were how they introduced the major characters… and how the songs sometimes didn’t fit the action on screen, or the feel of the series (Realize from SEED, for example).

    Personally, I tend to listen to OP/ED songs a lot, if they’re good… even if the OP sequence that accompanied it made little sense to me (like Honey & Clover’s).

    Comment by Haesslich — April 26, 2006 #

  19. […] Saria’s bit on OPs and EDs got me thinking about the subject. Or perhaps it’s the fact most of this season’s new OP and ED singles hit store shelves this past week. So much music to listen to. Wow. […]

    Pingback by OPs ‘n EDs, Odds ‘n Ends at Hop Step Jump! — April 27, 2006 #

  20. Why is everyone suddenly discussing OP/ED? I think Pixy Misa started this fad here:
    http://ai.mu.nu/archives/2006/04/hello_everyone.php
    But it’s not just that… It rolled across Usenet, and today I saw it on Hop Step Jump, too.

    Comment by Pete Zaitcev — April 27, 2006 #

  21. Found this entry from Jal’s site; you raise some great points and I like where you’re going with it. Embellish it some more, maybe? In the future?

    Comment by omo — April 30, 2006 #

  22. >>omo: Thanks for the compliments. I am a pretty concise writer by nature so sometimes what I think will turn out to be a long-winded opinion piece will wind up being pretty short. I guess it depends on the kind of style you appreciate more. Jeff is extremely concise. I will try to elaborate more in the future if I feel I have more to say. :)

    Comment by Saria — May 1, 2006 #

  23. Also found this from Jal’s site. :P

    I also think that OPs can be used to misdirect (or maybe it’s an ufotable thing). The OP animation for 2×2 Shinobuden featured scenes of some sort of our heroine fighting a reverse version of herself, or something like that, that was never seen in the anime. And the Futakoi Alternative OP, not to mention the first episode, hinted at a mainly action packed type of show, though that sorta wasn’t the case. :P

    Comment by TheBigN — May 1, 2006 #

  24. The OP-ED Op-Ed…

    It’s like Zefiris and a Big Piece of Rock, this topic.
    Back in the day…like, 1997 or 1998, I was just getting acquainted with the internet and all that it beheld. This was when 8 gigs was a lot of space, folks. I traded clips from anime (of…

    Trackback by Omonomono — May 1, 2006 #

  25. […] Importance of OP/ED <– Clickedy Click! […]

    Pingback by Are OP/ED important for you? « Tea Shop Beloved — October 26, 2006 #

  26. […] No, it isn’t just me that thinks this way… […]

    Pingback by the Astronomicon » Blog Archive » OP seduction — November 30, 2006 #

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