Anime Rants

A beloved part of an anime lovers viewing experience is what we call an OP. It is an intricate combination of music and animation that introduces the anime to the viewer and helps to establish a general understanding of the mood of the upcoming series, season, or episode. I especially enjoy the songs; my ipod playlist is full of Eureka 7, Naruto, Bleach, etc. OP songs. Many of these songs are deliberately chosen to fit the anime and video, and are usually chosen from songs already created by outside bands. The intro also occasionally gives animations of a higher quality, which many of us know is to pull us into the anime, but they are interesting nonetheless. I have even been entranced by OP’s with static images e.g. Casshern Sins. [Casshern Sins Static Image Example Below]

It was obviously a low budget tact, but each image seemed like a work of art, and correctly portrayed the interesting artwork direction experienced in the anime. The past couple of years; however, have seen a sharp decrease in the quality and length of many different anime. It has also come to be known as the “moe” era, full of wide eyed cute girls and guys, usually in the genres of slice of life or comedy. These are widely known for their cutesy and happy-go-lucky anime intro in combination with a contemporary song by a J-pop singer (usually a high-pitched female).

Well……

The intros to these anime are HORRIBLE, FUCKING HORRIBLE. It was alright maybe 3 or 4 times, but when nearly EVERY OTHER ANIME has this type of OP, it starts to grind at the mind and make you never want to ever see, hear, or touch another slice of life or “moe” anime again. Here is where the problem starts: Being so fucking pissed at these intros, and keeping in mind that intros are a window into the type and quality of the anime, one will stay the HELL away from any intro that has any sort of bright colors or miscellaneous objects flying across the screen e.g. stars. Many anime companies however know the popularity of these “moe” intros and thus have made these type of intros to their anime, or because it is a reliable low budget OP, even though the anime might not rely that much on the “moe”, or does use “moe” but has an actual plot or decently funny episodes. One of these deceiving anime that caught me was Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu.

I took a look at the OP on Youtube, and one look at the intro sent me running to the hills. (<< Example) However, I had to sit through an episode one day during one of my College’s Anime Club meetings. After cringing at the high pitched Japanese pop song and flying stars of the OP, I saw the comedy that unrolled thereafter. While dangerously gay at times, it was actually giving me some enjoyment, and I could see how much it focused on parodying other anime and I appreciated its humor.

Now I love a mindless anime just like the next guy, but sometimes I need a fuckin’ laugh or two. But, there is just too many of them out there by now. The fact that some actually decent anime are being masked by these horrendous OP’s really gets on my last fuckin’ nerve, and for now I can only rely on my local anime club to force me to sit through them and find the good behind the bad.