So instead of that, here are nine series I kind of meant to watch at some point during the last ten years and never got around to, either because I was too busy or too lazy or too cheap or forgot about it. Maybe I’ll get around to some of these eventually, but some of them will probably just slip on further and further into the back of my mind where I’ll forget about them like I’ve probably already forgotten about a dozen other things I intended to watch at some point.

These are in no real order.

1. Voices of a Distant Star (2002)

After seeing 5 Centimeters per Second, I was very interested in seeing Makoto Shinkai’s other works. I was going to include The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004) in this as well, but I think I’ve actually seen a few minutes of that, either of the beginning or the end, I don’t remember. Voices of a Distant Star seems to have a theme similar to 5 Centimeters, which is depressing in that I can relate too well, but it also reminds me a little of PLANETES, which was considerably less depressing, perhaps because it slipped in a lot more comedy. Either way, this movie is definitely something I still intend to check out eventually. I really don’t know why it’s so hard for me to sit down with movies; I never feel like I have enough time.

2. Seirei no Moribito (2007)

As with most series that manage to get on [adult swim], I intended to watch this when it aired there. Unfortunately, its debut coincided with me not owning or having regular access to a television set, and [as] didn’t care to provide it with an online stream like many of its other series at the time, including Code Geass. So I missed out for the while, and I guess it was just as well considering the various bullshit [as] put the series. I think they eventually did air all of it, but yeah, it definitely never got the respect or attention it probably deserved. To be honest, I really don’t have a good grasp of what the series is actually about or why it’s good, but ghostlightning, among others, assures me that there’s good character development and such, so I guess I’ll probably get around to it eventually. (Then again, ghostlightning, among others, also goaded me into Eureka seveN, so maybe I don’t trust his judgment anymore…)

3. Junjou Romantica (2008)

Actually, nothing about this series interests me. The premise bores me and the character designs bore me, and those are really the only solid things I have to go off of. It seems like a huge combination of all the things that would make a newcomer skeptical of the genre, and after having dabbled in a few other shounen-ai series, I’m inclined to think that maybe my fondness of Gravitation is a huge, huge fluke. Nothing else has appealed to me since, and in retrospect, I can accept that Gravitation really wasn’t all that amazing either. Junjou Romantica interested me solely because, for a while, it seemed almost as popular as Gravi had been in its heyday, especially in that a fair number of guys seemed to regard it with some positivity. It also managed to get a second season. It’s definitely not high on my list of things to see, but I may eventually check out a few episodes at least. Dunno.

4. Kino’s Journey (2003)

My brother’s read and recommended me the manga a few times, but I’m better about eventually seeing an anime than I am about eventually reading a manga, and Kino’s Journey is wonderfully short at 13 episodes. Observations of the human condition always tend to interest me and for one reason or another, I feel that this series has a whimsical nature to it. (Maybe it’s the talking motorcycle.) I definitely want to see this eventually. Eventually!

5. Gankutsuou (2004)

I really like Alexander Dumas’s Count of Monte Cristo. Perhaps that is reason enough not to see this series. I mean, I hated Romeo x Juliet, though honestly, I think that hatred stems more from the atrocities of storytelling and character development than any offense I took to the utter bastardization of Shakespeare’s play. But Gankutsuou looks so like such a trippy visual treat! But I’ve already had Monte Cristo ruined for me once before a la the terrible 2002 movie adaptation. Not sure I want to deal with that again. Sure, I’d expect Gankutsuou to be a much looser adaptation, and really, as long as it manages to tell an okay story with okay characters, I probably wouldn’t be that pissed at whatever they end up changing… but by now I know that I’m a purist at heart, even when I try my best not to be. So will I ever see this series? Maybe.

6. Azumanga Daioh (2002)

I just feel like I’m missing out on a lot of Internet nerd culture references by not having seen this, y’know? That and not having read more than a few chapters of Yotsuba&!.

7. Yakitate!! Japan (2004)

When I’d first heard about this show and that it was about bread and puns, I really, really wanted to see it because really, who doesn’t love bread and puns? For one reason or another though, I was unable to do so immediately and so forgot about it and then put it off and then put it off. With a final episode count of 69, it now violates my usual rules for picking up a new series that isn’t currently airing, which are basically “it’s gotta be less than 27 episodes or a Gundam series.” There have been exceptions to this rule certainly, but the more I continue to put it off, the less confident I am that Yakitate!! will be ever an exception.

8. Xam’d: Lost Memories (2008)

I was excited about Xam’d being launched on the PSN and all, but that was mostly irrelevant to me since I didn’t have access. Still, as the series aired, I heard many good things about it. BONES’s animation looked gorgeous as usual and Michiru Oshima did the music! Not to mention the awesome, awesome theme songs Boom Boom Satellites provided. With all those technical goodies, I still haven’t really bothered to see what the story’s about. Maybe if it’s cool sounding, I’ll get to checking it out faster. If it’s forgettable, I’ll probably keeping putting it off and putting it off…

9. Chi’s Sweet Home (2008)

I think I just need more simple adorable sweetness in my life. It’s ongoing and already has like sixty episodes, but this probably isn’t a series for hardcore watching, analyzing, and discussion, so whatever, right? Maybe I’ll be able to sneak some episodes this year in between all the running around hectic and stressed. Who knows. Kitty is so cute.

Happy New Year!

This post isn’t actually about Engrish songs though. With Engrish as such a common element in so many anime themes and inserts (and indeed, Japanese music on the whole), it’s always a real surprise when you hear a song that’s in English. English! No mispronunciations. No sketchy grammar. Minimal or no accent. They’re a rare breed, but not all that difficult to find considering a number of very popular series include them. Sometimes they’re sung by native speakers and sometimes they’re still Japanese artists, but they’re always a real treat when you come across them:

8. “living inside the shell” – Steve Conte, Shanti Snyder, and Yoko Kanno (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG ED)

It’s a huge given that there’s going to be Yoko Kanno somewhere on this list. In fact, exactly half of the songs on this list are composed by Yoko Kanno, two of which are performed by Steve Conte. Few people would argue against Kanno’s astounding skills across all styles and genres of music. Blues, jazz, hip-hop, classical, orchestral, pop, folk, rock, electronic, whatever, you name it, she’s done it. Language? Japanese, Latin, Italian, French, Russian, some made up gibberish that sounds Latin-based, and of course, English. It’s hard narrowing down her extensive portfolio of works to a handful of songs, but “living inside the shell” is surely one of my favorites. SAC’s first season ending, “Lithium Flower” was also a contender, but I prefer Conte’s vocals to Scott Matthew’s and the lyrics I find better suited to the thoughtfulness of SAC’s themes. The spoken portion by Shanti Snyder also adds an eerie dimension to the mood of the piece.

7. “Duvet” – Bôa (Serial Experiments Lain OP)

You know, Lain is one of those series I’ve meant to watch for years and years and years and still haven’t gotten around to. I have a freakin’ poster of Lain and I haven’t actually watched a single episode. One of these days, eh? Regardless, I’ve seen and heard the opening of the series and though it kind of classes with my impression of it, it’s a nice song and pleasant to listen to. Bôa is a British indie-alternative band that was pretty much unknown prior to their involvement with Lain and pretty much unknown afterwards as well. That can probably be said for a lot of artists that only contribute one song to a series though. The vocalist has an odd desperation to her voice that I also find kind of apathetic, which clashes for a strange effect. Maybe that strangeness is what relates it to the series itself then?

6. “key of the twilight” – Emily Bindiger and Yuki Kajiura (.hack//SIGN OST1)

Maybe this one’s kind of cheating since it’s neither an opening, an ending, nor an insert as far as I know. It just shows up on the soundtrack though if I’m wrong, you can blame it on the fact that I found no real merits in .hack//SIGN beyond its music and therefore never actually finished the series. “key of the twilight,” like most of the other music for the series and much of Yuki Kajiura’s compositions in general, has a strong celtic sound and influence to it that helps tie it to the slightly mystical qualities .hack. It also features a lot of echoy canons and sustained notes, which I’m a huge sucker for. Indeed, the same qualities make “In the land of twilight, under the moon” my favorite song of the series. I would have included it on this list instead, but while the lyrics are all in perfect English, the vocalists occasionally have accents. (It’s more obvious here than in the studio recording assuming they’re the same people because I can’t seem to find any information on the vocalists of the song.)

5. “gravity” – Maaya Sakamoto and Yoko Kanno (Wolf’s Rain ED)

The second of four by Yoko Kanno. Maaya Sakamoto has some of the most impressive English for someone who doesn’t seem to have been raised at some point in an English-speaking country. “gravity” was my first exposure to her music and an instant hit. The clear quality of her vocals helped emphasize the crispness of her pronunciation as well as the gentle melody. It suits the series well enough, but I think it’s an especially great foil to Wolf’s Rain’s opening theme, “Stray,” which is performed by Steve Conte. The two songs’ contrast reflects the series better than either of the songs could do alone.

4. “The Sore Feet Song” – Ally Kerr (Mushishi OP)

This fact that this opening was in English really surprised me when I first saw Mushishi since the series seemed so steeped in traditional Japanese visuals and influences, what with the dozens of self-sustained villages scattered around the mountains. Ally Kerr is a Scott of little renown, but the calming nature of the song and the whimsical, far-off lyrics he sings really define the series, and it soon became clear that no other song could fit Mushishi as well as “The Sore Feet Song” does. Even the name of the song invokes appropriate imagery for the show and the accompanying animation for the theme drives that in. It’s awesome.

3. “kiri” – MONORAL (Ergo Proxy OP)

I haven’t seen Ergo Proxy either, but I’m planning to in the near future. Hell, the theme song’s name is “kiri”! It’s like it’s calling me. :P Seriously though, the song does have a beckoning voice to it and the style feels very Western. If Wikipedia didn’t tell me that both members of MONORAL were at least partially Japanese and signed by Sony Music Japan, I would have just guessed that they were American or British (or Australian or Canadian). Still, while the bassist/guitarist was raised in Tokyo, the vocalist/guitarist was born in London and raised in France — he’s also apparently fluent in Japanese, English, French, and Arabic. Wow. Ergo Proxy’s theme has a very desolate mood about it and the accompanying visuals suit it wonderfully; it’s definitely enough to make me want to watch the series. Curiously enough, Ergo Proxy’s end theme is by Radiohead (“PARANOID ANDROID”), but that’s really nothing alongside “kiri.”

2. “Call Me, Call Me” – Steve Conte and Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop insert/OST3 “Blue”)

This and the next song are probably exceedingly predictable, but certainly they’re predictable for a reason. I don’t actually remember if  “Call Me, Call Me” was ever actually used as an insert song or whether it only appeared on the soundtrack (that’s an excuse for another rewatch, amirite?), but regardless, it’s a wonderfully appropriate song for the near-end of the series and the character of Spike in general. Conte’s voice is sincere but not rough, and he turns rather simple lyrics into something very powerful, especially in those sustained notes. Most of Cowboy Bebop’s music is very memorable, but this one’s still up there.

1. “Blue” – The Seatbelts (Mai Yamane) and Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop insert)

Whatever you think about the end of the series, this song suited it. ♥

~

Annnd, here are a few others I thought about but took off for one reason or another.

Disqualified:

“Life is like a boat” – Rie fu (Bleach ED1) — I love this song and I love Rie fu, but only half of it is in English. :P Also, it’s gotta have the most boring PV ever.

“Wind” – Akeboshi (Naruto ED1) — I love Akeboshi and this was my first exposure to him; unfortunately, though he’s spent a bit of time in Britain, he still has quite the accent and is sometimes difficult to understand.

“Sakura Kiss” – Chieko Kawabe (Ouran High School Host Club OP, FUNimation dub) — This is one of the best examples of a dubbed over theme song I’ve ever encountered. The lyrics aren’t far from the original and the vocal quality is amazing. I have no idea who they got to record it, but the voice is both close to Kawabe to be reminiscent of the Japanese version and different enough to give it a life of its own. True, it does sound a little odd to hear the words in English because it’s so much more obvious how corny it is, but as far as capturing the energy and mood of the original goes, it’s perfect.

So here are five webcomics that 1) don’t suck, 2) almost always update when they’re supposed to, and 3) are currently running. There are also four runner-ups that occasionally fail to meet one of those requirements, usually the updating thing, but they’re far from being dead.

5. Anime News Nina by Robin Sevakis

This is the Anime News Network’s official webcomic and ventures to mock and satirize various aspects of otaku culture, usually in a good-natured way; after all, otaku are undoubtedly its intended audience. Occasionally, I do see things that some people might get upset over, but I doubt Sevakis ever intends the comic to be insulting towards the reasonable members of society. Each strip is can be standalone, but many strips also tie together in short story arcs.

The art is in full color and pretty simple, but Sevakis doesn’t shy away from grand exaggerations of expression and action, which always results in chaos and hilarity. She also mimics styles from specific series to emphasize punch lines involving art. Good times. ANN updates every Wednesday with few exceptions.

Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4/5
Updates: 4/5

4. Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Gunnerkrigg Court, with little exception, will probably remind you initially of Harry Potter. This is thanks mostly to its British-style boarding school setting and magical inclinations, but that’s really where the similarities end. As a continuing story, it starts off fairly whimsically and builds steadily towards a more involved, overarching plot that draws inspiration from an impressive number and range of world myths. The end of many chapters also include silly gag pages or informative explanations, and Siddell’s one-liners that accompany every page are always amusing.

The full color art is unimpressive to begin with, but evolves significantly during the course of its run. Siddell ventures back and forth from very detailed scenes and very simple characters, but the style is unique and really grows on you after a couple of chapters. Gunnerkrigg Court updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and has never missed an update in the time I’ve been following it; in fact, Siddell reportedly works two or three months ahead of the current pages to ensure that he is never late even if he ends up sick or otherwise incapacitated for a few weeks. That’s dedication, man.

Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4/5
Updates: 5/5

3. Today Nothing Happened by Shazzbaa

This is probably the least known comic on the entire list, including runner-ups. Shazzbaa is a friend of mine and will be graduating with her Sequential Art FUNNY BOOKS degree in three weeks. Today Nothing Happened is her journal comic, and as such, all events told are true and real and absolutely hilarious. You certainly don’t need to know her to enjoy it, though you will find yourself knowing her better and better as you read through. Journal comics seem to be a big thing in the department as one of the professors loves and encourages them hardcore, but of all the ones I’ve read, TNH is my favorite, no contest. The life of an art kid! You know you want to read about it.

Shazz’s art for TNH is black and white (with occasional color) and endearingly cartoony while maintaining wonderful likenesses of the real people she’s depicting. If you read her comic before you meet her, you will be able to recognize her at your first meeting based on her caricatures alone. It’s pretty awesome. TNH updates every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and Shazz takes great pains to ensure that this is the case. Even if she isn’t quite done with a comic at midnight, she will upload and post the unfinished page as filler until the final is done. Pretty impressive. What makes it even more impressive though, is that every update also comes with a new voting incentive for Top Webcomics, so you are, effectively, getting two comics per update, three times a week. Rock on.

Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4.5/5
Updates: 5/5

2. Sinfest by Tatsuya Ishida
Sinfest just might be the longest running webcomic strips on the Internet. It is a daily strip and updates every, single, freakin’ day. In the past, there have been a few stretches where he fails to update, but this hasn’t happened again since I started reading it. Each strip is standalone, but Ishida often has week-long series or repeatative themes, very much like traditional newspaper strips, though its unlikely that Sinfest will ever grace the pages of a family newspaper. Sinfest is sacreligious and hilarious, but does not stop only to poke fun at Christianity. Devil worship and all manner of other beliefs and customs are also satirized every day. God is an asshole, but Jesus is a pretty nice guy. And since the 2008 election, Sinfest has also touched on various political subjects, but always in a humorous manner. Honestly, no matter what your religious and political beliefs, if you’re open-minded to any degree, you can enjoy this comic.

Ishida’s style is simple, clean, and very effective. Daily strips are black and white with the occasional tones; Sunday strips are huge and in color. Honestly, there’s not much to say, but for a comedic strip, expressions are wildly important, and Ishida always makes them perfect.

Content: 4.5/5
Artwork: 4.5/5
Updates: 5/5

1. xkcd by Randall Munroe

This is my favorite webcomic. Period. As the site describes, xkcd is a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. That’s a pretty wide range of nerdy topics, and thus, xkcd has covered everything from 4chan to raptors to nuclear physics to flying kites. The comic also consequently covers a lot of esoteric subjects, but the ex-computer science major in me is always happy when there programming and science-related things that I still understand and find hilarious. And they are always hilarious. If it isn’t hilarious, then it’s because you don’t understand enough dammit. Each strip also features a tooltip caption (hover over the image for it); occasionally, this accompanying caption is more hilarious than the comic itself. The comics are generally standalone, but do feature a handful of reoccurring characters and the occasional multi-strip storyline.

I’ve gotten into a debate about this before, but I will stand by my opinion that Mr. Munroe draws the best damned stick figures I’ve ever seen. All the circle heads close and are nicely rounded and limbs are generally of reasonable sizes and proportions. The accessories he gives certain characters to tell them apart are consistent and easy to recognize. Everything is effective and has just enough detail that they are unquestionably what they are. Computers and TVs do not look identical. There are occasionally backgrounds. Mr. Munroe draws some damn sweet diagrams and maps too. The man can draw; he just chooses simplicity.

xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with occasional weeks where there’s an update every weekday in a continuous story (like this past week). It has also never missed an update as long as I’ve followed it.

Content: 5/5
Artwork: 5/5
Updates: 5/5

Runner Up: A Softer World by Joey Comeau and Emily Horne
Content: 4/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
Updates: 5/5

Runner Up: Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart
Content: 5/5
Artwork: 5/5
Updates: 3.5/5

Runner Up: Lackadaisy by Tracy Butler
Content: 5/5
Artwork: 5/5
Updates: 3/5

Runner Up: Evil Diva by Team Diva
Content: 4/5
Artwork: 4.5/5
Updates: 4.5/5

I was bumming around some forums recently and found a topic about opening themes that people actually watched through every single time (or something close). I thought it was a darn good question and consequently sat down to think about which applied to me. I’m usually pretty impatient to get to the content of each episode; after all, I really only watch series one of two ways: either I binge it and swallow the whole thing in the span of two or three days, or I follow it as it releases, which means agonizing over each episode for a week and then downloading it the second it surfaces on its release day. Both situations call for the skipping of opening themes because I’m so damn eager to get to the content.

Still, for one reason or another, there are indeed a handful of opening sequences that I was just so fond of that I watched every single time. And here they are for your viewing pleasure! (They are also, of course, accompanied by my usual verboseness if you want to read. ;3)

(5) “Super Drive” – Gravitation (OP, Yousuke Sakanoue)

To start off with, I know this isn’t the greatest opening in the world, and a lot of my attachment lingers from when I was obsessed with the series. Still, looking back, there are a lot of things about it that are unique and rather endearing. The very beginning of the theme, with its sunlight and leaves, remains one of the most memorable aspects of any opening I’ve ever seen — why exactly, I’m not sure, but to this day, every time I find myself looking upward at sunlight filtered through leaves, I’m reminded of this opening and this series. Maybe it’s just the fangirl in me. The animation snaps back and forth from rather simple/generic character pans to strange, semi-realistic environment and background shots. That aspect of the animation is one of the quirkiest things about Gravitation, and I really think it helped to add to the reality of the musical environment, even when other elements remained farfetched and ridiculous.

The song itself is wonderfully upbeat and just goshdarn happy, which really fits the attitude of the series’ protagonist. I’m somewhat sad that Sakanoue didn’t get to do more music for Gravitation because “Super Drive” is a really fun song, and I’d love to know what his other stuff sounds like (as a side note, the official music video for “Super Drive” is absolutely hilarious and I’d also recommend people check that out if they like the song). So yes, I did sit and watch through this opening for every single episode, but what’s interesting is that even though this is only a thirteen episode series, it took me nearly a year to finish it because the episodes were so hard to find. This was back in the days before torrents and before Gravitation itself became ridiculously popular as a gateway shounen-ai series. Each episode came to me from a friend who painstakingly hunted them down for me on KaZaA (yeah, remember that?) because the damn program didn’t work for me. So you would think that I’d breeze right through the opening and on to the episode when I finally got each one, right? Nope. Had to watch the opening. It was just part of the experience, and it filled me with happy. :3

(4) “Hit in the USA” – BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (OP, BEAT CRUSADERS)

Know me and know I love Engrish. Thus, this opening (hell, this entire series) was a sure winner. BEAT CRUSADERS is one of those in the growing ranks of Japanese bands playing very Western-influenced music. They employ Western riffs and rhythms and will sing in the best English they can, which is often incredibly haphazard, but hey, they’re trying. It’s worth noting that BECK itself is a series about British-influenced Japanese artists, so this was definitely a fitting opener. “Hit in the USA” is catchy from the very beginning — it really makes you want to tap your feet, snap your fingers, or clap your hands. It’s upbeat and exciting without the airy poppiness that was present in Gravitation’s “Super Drive.” The animation is incredibly well adapted to the music as well; not only do the characters actually sing the song, but the movements of everything and the changing of scenes — everything is synced to the music, and perfectly so.

One of my favorite parts is the first “You are no lonely” line where the woman is spinning on her mop. It’s such an ordinary scene and not a very exciting action, but it just fits SO DAMN WELL. It floors me. The chorus of our band members singing “I was made to hit in America” is just great to look at; the lip syncing is top notch and the characters’ faces are all wonderfully expressive and realistic. Back to the animation, it’s really great to see such detailed scenes in an opening sequence. There’s no reused stock, no cheap fading in and out of characters; everything here is unique animation with fleshed out backgrounds crammed full of details. It’s a bonus to be able to recognize actual locations too. In all, BECK’s opening captures the essence of the series incredibly well; it’s definitely a great attention getter for anyone who hasn’t seen it, and even on the last episode of the series, you still feel compelled to sit through it. :D

(3) “Haruka Kanata” – Naruto (2nd OP, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION)

Maybe it’s surprising to see this here, but come on, most of us were totally into Naruto back in the day (and many of us still are, you Narutards). And this was a great opening. As my gateway to ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, “Haruka Kanata” is pretty much everything that’s awesome about the band compacted into a single song. Even after I’ve plowed through the rest of AKFG’s discography, this remains my favorite. It’s just so damn catchy! It’s energetic in yet another different way; it gets your blood pumping for action and fills you with fist-pumping cheers. …Really. And the animation, while nothing mind-shattering, syncs very well with the music. The heavy beats accompanying the part beginning with “kokoro wo sotto” is probably my favorite part of the song, and the animation that goes with it is great not only because it fits the music, but because it also serves as the perfect platform to showcase the huge assemblage of characters that are (semi-)relevant at this point in the series.

When chorus explodes into “iki isoide~” in the final third of the opening, the animation does too. The music is on final slope of rising action, and the animation is just exploding with excitement with fights, angry-looking people, mysterious-looking people, Kyuubi!Naruto! It’s this amazing accumulation of all the crazy shounen action that drew people to the series in the first place, the manifestation of the core of the series. It’s been a long time since I stopped watching the Naruto anime, but watching this particular opening really makes me nostalgic, y’know? And you gotta love when singers go crazy in the end, right? “DakaraAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! …Haruka kanata…” This song plays for 27 episodes of Naruto, but it’s a fun ride every single time.

(2) “What’s up people?” – Death Note (2nd OP, Maximum the Hormone)

This opening has had a ridiculous amount of publicity, I know, but there’s definitely a reason for it. This theme breaks tradition in my books. Considering the general gravity of the series, it seems kind of strange that they should have an opening that seems so self-mocking, what with the terrifying Light heads screaming in the flames, among other things. And yet, there’s something strangely appropriate about it all. All of the psychedelic colors and wacky animation sequences, the roaring, the apprehensive way the vocalist sings after that, the repetitiveness of the “hey, hey, ningen sucker” — the mood it sets in the music’s rising action is wonderfully representative of the second half of this series, even if the anime rushed through it. There’s a tension in the song; it’s like running towards the finish line and not knowing if you’re going to get shot before you get there.

The animation quality is pretty darn impressive too, even though the aforementioned field of Light heads was a pretty cheap copypasta. The rest of the sequences — the dancing Ryuk, the spinning L, the fanservice Misa — are all well done and lively, doing well to contribute to the mood of the theme. My favorite part of the entire opening in both animation and music is the “hey, hey, ningen sucker” part though. The repetitiveness is great at building trepidation, and the accompanying animation that follows Light walking calming across the city is equally suspenseful. The heavy shadows cast over the other characters can be considered heavily symbolic (Kira is the only “light”), so there’s definitely been some thought put into the overall sequence despite the chaos in some places. And finally, with the “what’s up people?” conclusion of the song, all hell breaks loose. Perfectly fitting, I think, considering the conclusion of the series.

(1) “Resonance” – SOUL EATER (1st OP, T.M. Revolution)

I was in love with this opening from the first time I saw it. It was pretty funny too that I didn’t even realize it was T.M. Revolution singing until halfway through because I was just so damn entranced by everything. After I realized it though, I could only love it even more. You see I have a lot of respect for Takanori Nishikawa (TMR’s vocalist) and the work he puts into his music, especially for anime themes. As a fan himself, he generally researches and/or watches/reads some portion of every series he makes music for in order to write songs that are specifically tailored to the themes of the show. For SOUL EATER, this is very easy to see from just the title of the song, but a closer look at the lyrics reveal even more thought and depth.

“Resonance” contains all of Mr. Nishikawa’s usual explosive energy, and the heavy techno beat pounding through the song keeps your blood pumping throughout. Right from the start, your attention is claimed by the perfect syncing of animation and music — the closeups of Soul and Maka are dramatic and draw you in immediately. The quick tour of Death City that comes afterwards is done at extreme and impressive angles; it does well to introduce the viewer to the series and is definitely worthy of praise. The character introductions that follow are all jam packed with action, and the slight slow-down in tempo near the middle of the song is enticing and mysterious, never abandoning its attention-getting goals. The theme ends with an ever spectacular and actiony shot of Maka nearly lip-syncing the final lyrics, and everything comes together neatly in the end. Perfect. So perfect. I’m not really sure how many more episodes this theme will play for, but I’m almost certain that the second opening for SOUL EATER won’t be able to live up to it.

Runners Up:

“Ai (Chuuseishin)” – Excel Saga (OP, Excel Girls)
“Cruel Angel’s Thesis” – Neon Genesis Evangelion (OP, Yoko Takahashi)
“Hito toshite Jiku ga Bureteiru” – Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (OP, Kenji Ohtsuki)*
“Bokutachi no Yukue” – Gundam SEED Destiny (3rd OP, Hitomi Takahashi)
“Rise” – Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG (OP, Origa)

* Kinda NSFW, nothing explicit though