Top 25 Opening Themes for Fall 2012

Perhaps it's more due to the expectations I had assigned to the fall season after such a fruitful spring session, but I had high hopes that we'd get some creative approaches to the openers this season. Overall, while I think the music itself has gotten easier on the ear and catchier in the brain, I'm finding myself sighing more after the first ninety seconds of the episode.

I'm uncertain if it is due to the content of the shows. Long-distance hikes such as Space Brothers and Gintama' have resigned themselves to glancing out the window and appreciating the scenery, while shows granted a second season such as Sword Art Online and Medaka Box are sleepwalking, plenty satisfied with their content keeping the viewer's interest. Outside of the eternally-enjoyable Polar Bear Café and the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure remake, all of the shows in the Top 10 are first-time appearances.

The decent shows have managed to make ripples, but I can guarantee you this: the bad shows sank like shrapnel. You won't see To-Love-Ru Darkness and Girls und Panzer in these rankings, but you will see a show I wish we could scrub from the collective fanbase's memory, only for its incredible failure. I'm sure you've already guessed by now.

With that, I give you the hardest rankings I've ever had to sit through—the Top 25 opening themes of Fall 2012.

(Clicking the title of the song will bring you to the YouTube'd OP; clicking the artist will bring you to their PV for the song.)

Read more »

Top 25 Opening Themes of Summer 2012

This summer desperately needed good music.

You could have put an anime to just about any song (as the above video has so eloquently showed us), and I would have considered it rankable before I considered it rank. Mind you, that doesn't mean it's time to see a K-On! "Gangnam Style" parody at the next convention's anime music video contest, but at least there was something good to watch for a few minutes before I turned the streaming service off.

So I present to you this season's Top 25 opening themes. It took a while to weed through so much. Perhaps I should have kept things short, since it was pretty hard to settle on one, but I think I've made the right call.

And not one horse trot in any of 'em.

Read more »

Best Opening Themes of Winter 2012

I'll state my position on the Winter 2012 opening themes by restating my position on the ending themes. There was not a lot to be excited about. I have a feeling that many staffs asked their moneymakers to either take the season off or nap until it was time to shine for the last two minutes. I suppose that's why so many shows felt dry in Winter; too much hibernation, not enough hi-fidelity.

Okay, then. Let's try to pry whatever meat we can find on these carcasses left over by the buzzards and make some sort of ranking for the opening themes. Slim pickings, folks. Hope you have eaten earlier.

Read more »

Best Opening Themes of Fall 2011

Suffice to say, it's been hard to read the surface of the past Autumn 2011 anime season. Die-hard fans will admit that the summer usually brings lazier titles, while the winter is more of a hibernation, leaving the equinox seasons to be the ones to carry the load. Considering the restraints usually come off in the fall, the load certainly appeared hefty this season.

The same ideas of renewal and competition tend to go with the animation and music for the opening sequences--I'd say that only Mawaru-Penguindrum, Gintama', and Nichijô impressed me with their  opening numbers last season, while the other shows struggled for a unique display. Fall seasons usually are meant to be more impressive, although the lack of a Shaft animation again made me a little hesitant to rip through the fifty-plus opening songs from anime shows this season.

The general consensus? Better! Less fluff, more stuff! J-Rock seemed to dominate the airwaves a lot more than last year, perhaps in an effort to wake up fans before the winter slumber. Here's my personal rankings for the latest anime trimester—hopefully we won't be singing in baby-talk next winter.

(Pictures, once again, provided by the awesome folks at CD Japan.)

Read more »