Ask John: What Anime Have the Most Misleading Openings?

Question:
Is there an anime movie or TV series in which you thought that the opening and closing songs and images (both opening and closing) better reflected the title than the movie or TV series itself? As in, have you been disappointed by a movie or TV series because the opening and closing sequence was superior?

Answer:
In practical effect, this question can only be applied to anime TV series or possibly OAVs. Generally theatrical anime movies don’t have distinct opening animation sequences unless they’re theatrical versions of television anime. And in that case, it’s probably more useful to refer to the original TV anime. It should come as little surprise that occasionally anime opening animation sequences, including animation and/or song, may be better than the shows they introduce. A lot of work goes into opening animation sequences because they’re used over and over again and create a first impression of the show. Ending credits don’t always get the same effort because their impact on viewers isn’t as significant or important as that of opening animations. In order to really distinguish a major difference between the quality of an opening and the show it introduces, there’s got to be a tremendous difference between the two parts of a show. Two titles immediately come to mind which fit that criteria, and I’m somewhat inclined to mention a third.

Masami Obari’s opening animation sequence for the 1998 Weiss Kreuz television series was an exciting, edgy and gritty bit of action anime. The character designs, coloring, and editing were all sharp, precise, and had a cutting edge modern feel. The opening animation promised a tense, mature action extravaganza. Unfortunately, none of the characteristics of the opening animation were carried over into the show itself, possibly because Obari directed the opening animation but had no direct involvement in the episodes themselves. The Weiss Kreuz TV series was filled with lackluster action, terrible art design, stilted animation, infuriatingly clich.$B!&.(Bcharacterization, and embarassingly predictable story development.

The opening animation of the 1999 Himiko-den anime TV series was an elegant, gorgeous sequence introducing the beautiful cast (originally designed by manga artist Oh! Great), set to the ethereal theme song “Pure Snow,” performed by Yuko Sasaki. Unfortunately, the body of the show featured unusually poor animation quality, a convoluted and uninteresting story, and character designs that didn’t remotely evoke the beauty of the original concept designs and opening animation.

I’m hesitant to cite the 1998 Record of Lodoss War: Legend of Heroic Knight television series, but I can’t prevent it from coming to mind. The Lodoss TV series had stunningly beautiful opening animation with especially appealing editing and a wonderfully visual sense of movement and flow. The animation was perfectly paired with a hauntingly beautiful theme song composed by Yoko Kanno and performed by Maaya Sakamoto. Unfortunately, the show itself was only mediocre, and much of the resentment toward the Lodoss TV series that I and many viewers have is based on the fact that the show’s story doesn’t make sense in relation to the original Lodoss War OAV series, even though the TV series is clearly constructed as a direct continuation of the original series story.

The primary thrust of my response has been on identifying opening animation sequences that are significantly higher in quality than the shows that they introduce. In terms of openings with content not reflective of the shows they preceed I find it necessary to point out Hana Yori Dango and Brain Powerd. The “HanaDan” opening, stylistically, is reflective of the actual show, but the opening is an extended dance sequence when there’s no actual dancing in the show itself. The TV series opening seems much more relevant to the 1997 HanaDan movie, which is about dancing, but which has no story or continuity relevance to the earlier TV series. The Brain Powerd (note that the official Japanese Romanization is spelled without an “E”) opening features a sky full of flying naked women, who don’t appear naked in the show. While certainly strange and memorable, stylistically I wouldn’t say that the Brain Powerd opening is out of context for the style of the show.