Ask John: Why Do Anime Opening Sequences Include Spoilers?

Question:
I have noticed that frequently many shounen anime introduce spoilers about future events, new characters that have yet to make an appearance, and/or the protagonist or some other character possessing a new power-up, which still do not have acquired in the current storyline.

D.Gray-man, for example, makes heavy use of spoilers in most of its opening and ending sequences from what I have seen. Average viewers don’t need to have read the manga ahead of watching the anime to understand right away that what they see in the OP and ED are giveaway spoilers.

Answer:
Intertwined with an explanation of why anime series opening animation sequences sometimes include “spoilers” is the debate over whether these hints and glimpses actually constitute spoilers at all. Especially action/adventure shows about supernatural or superhuman kids may sometimes have opening animation sequences that briefly depict upcoming story arcs or antagonists. On one hand it may be said that seeing Nico Robin or Franky among Lufy’s pirate crew in a One Piece opening animation before Robin or Franky have formally joined the crew, or seeing glimpses of future antagonists in the Rurouni Kenshin TV series opening animation may constitute spoilers. However, the argument may also be made that by the time these hints appear in opening animation sequences, the references are already common knowledge anyway. Millions of Japanese viewers have already read the originating manga stories well beyond the events depicted in the anime. It’s also difficult for Japanese viewers to avoid being exposed to hints about the future of popular anime series through advertising and merchandising.

Furthermore, revealing new techniques in an opening animation sequence may be only a moderate spoiler. After all, viewers expect characters to learn or gain new abilities. In fact, long running action shows like St. Seiya and Pretty Cure are unusual because their main characters don’t regularly gain new attacks and power-ups. In effect, something is a spoiler only if it reveals a detail that viewers didn’t expect. Simply revealing plot details that viewers didn’t previously know isn’t considered “spoiler” because if it was all previews and trailers would be classified as “spoilers.”

Small revelations and brief glimpses of things to come revealed in anime opening animation sequences may be more accurately described as teases. These brief hints whet the appetite of viewers, teasing them with the promise of what’s to come. For many Japanese viewers, these hints aren’t spoilers because many Japanese viewers already know what shonen and shoujo adaptations of adventure manga have planned. These brief shots of future plot developments also please fans in retrospect because after the references come to pass, viewers can reflect on these opening animation sequences and recognize all of the clues and “spoilers.”

I won’t deny that anime opening sequences sometimes include “spoiler” references to characters and events prior to them appearing in the anime, but these references are usually brief or partially obscured, and they typically don’t reveal characterizations, nuances, and the situations surrounding these glimpses of the future. The value of these “spoilers” to create anticipation for future episodes and create exciting opening animation sequences, I think, outweighs the relatively minor compromise in storytelling suspense that they create.