Ranking of OPs & EDs 2021
Welcome back to the second part of Erufailon4's Best Anime of 2021 series. This time I'll be going through my top 10 openings and endings of the year. Easy task, right? ... Right?
So yeah, this is going to be a very arbitrary list that is more of a reflection of how strongly I feel about each entry at this moment, rather than any judgement of quality. All of these OPs and EDs are excellent, and ranking them was not easy.
Now then, let's get started.
Top 10 OPs
This was one I was not initially the biggest fan of, but it grew on me eventually. The song is okay, and the lyrics vaguely fit the series, but the best part is the visuals, which are at some points very striking and hold quite a lot of meaning too - child Emilia with blood on her face, as well as the quick sequence of Subaru, Emilia, Ram and Beatrice's eyes with their most important persons reflected in them, are some of my favourite shots in the OP. Also all-around solid editing, nearly on the level of part 1's OP "Realize". Just look at those brief cuts starting from 0:18 and 1:07, on top of the aforementioned eye reflection sequence at 0:53. Good stuff.
The word that best describes this series in my opinion is "delightful", and that extends to the OP as well. Plenty of fun ideas executed brilliantly. The fourth wall -breaking character-led transitions are sure to bring a smile to anyone's face, although my personal favourite sequence is the one where Kazama captures a tender moment of Futaba putting a coat on sleeping Takeda's shoulders on video, much to the displeasure of Futaba. (Also clever foreshadowing for episode 11.) Sakugablog's kViN has made a thread that touches upon the direction and animation of the OP as well as the anime's first episode, so be sure to check that out.
Somehow Shingo Yamashita managed to top his OP1 for the same series - this opening is ridiculously strong in the visual department, and the music choice is great too. While "Kaikai Kitan" had more forward momentum, so to speak, with its fast cuts and subtle transitions, "Vivid Vice" opts for a slightly slower approach, almost melancholic at points, supported by some striking, widely framed imagery. There is some action too, of course, but the gray-tinted backgrounds and post-processing give it almost a dreamlike feel. (If you want to learn more about the technical side of things, kViN has once again got you covered.) If OP1 was an opening for hype, OP2 is an opening for impact. Quite similar to the 6th place in this list in that regard.
But before that, let's talk about TPN. The second season was arguably the biggest disappointment of the year with its nonsensical, lazy writing and disastrous production. However, the OP is none of those things. Instead it communicates the series' core themes with unambiguous clarity, in a visually stunning way that uses colors (and the lack of them) to put together all the other elements of memorable shot compositions. On top of that add a banger of a song, and you've got an opening that season 2 did not deserve. Ken "leaf" Yamamoto is a phenomenal director, and this is not the first time he'll appear in this list.
The first thing worth mentioning about this OP is that it has two versions. Horimiya is a story about a romance that completely changes the lives of its two parties for the better, so it's only appropriate that midway through the series, the second half of the OP changes as well to reflect that positive change: dark visuals of depression and anxiety are replaced with scenes of connection, laughter and memories that will last forever. And even apart from that, the OP is filled with some unique stylistic choices that make it stand out from all others on this list. I've recently started to appreciate Masashi Ishihama more and more, in part because of my rewatch of From the New World, and in part because of Horimiya. There's something about his style that just... appeals to me.
On the topic of stylistic choices, the entirety of this OP is one! I don't have the words to describe it, but if you watch even one second of it, you know what I mean. Lovely character animation moments, good symbolism and an unbelievable banger of a song - seriously, listen to it, it's impossible to not bang your head to the melody in the bridge. I love it so much.
It goes without saying that an anime that is all about music has a great OP song, but the visuals aren't anything to scoff at either. Dividing the screen into differently tinted sections during an early sequence is a clever way to visually hint at the time travel aspect of the series, which is reinforced throughout the OP in other ways of... varying subtlety. The shots of Vivy singing on a (virtual?) stage are nothing special but they look damn pretty. My personal highlight out of everything would be the quick shot where the camera "passes by" Estella, Elizabeth, Grace and Ophelia while "approaching" Earth and Vivy, stopping right at the front of her face. Lasts about 2 seconds but is just so exhilarating to watch that I looked forward to it every time I watched a new episode.
I don't know if I prefer season 1's or season 2's OP, because they're both just that damn good. This one can certainly claim to move a lot more, starting off by a fun sequence of camera zoom-ins and followed up after the title card by dancing scenes. The flying parts starting from the money shot lead to some beautiful backgrounds in the flashback shots to Tohru and Elma's shared history. What really impressed me, however, is the brilliant transition from Ilulu's tears to Kobayashi and Tohru descending from the sky from 1:11 to 1:14. I'm not saying it has any deeper meaning (it doesn't), it's just so technically impressive that I had to highlight it. KyoAni don't miss.
Ahem. *clears throat*
YAMADA NAOKO.
That's all I have to say about it.
Okay, seriously tho, this is a great OP to a great anime. The song is really good (why is it not up on subscription platforms yet? why, Pony Canyon?) and it works together with the visuals splendidly. There are some parts of it that can very easily make someone who has seen the entire series cry - I'm not spoiling anything, but let's just say that there's a reason why that shot of two birds flying is placed where it is. (Please watch The Heike Story, I'm begging you)
And last, but certainly not least, is the return of Mr. Leaf himself. A polar opposite of TPN in nearly every way, 86 is more than deserving of his talents. A warzone has never looked this beautiful before. And even outside of the usual gorgeous color stuff (which I already touched upon back at #7), some of the shots are just wonderfully dynamic - just look at the main four walking towards their mechs, or that unbelievably stunning shot of the camera moving towards Kiriya through a flock of blue butterflies. Not to forget our bloody queen Lena in all her glory at the very end. All set to a powerful song by Amazarashi. Now that is what I call OP of the year.
Honorary Mention: Mushoku Tensei OPs
While they're not exactly OPs in the traditional sense, being played over the actual episode content, I just wanted to quickly highlight how good these are. Each song sets the mood for each phase of the story perfectly. My personal favourite is the second one, Mezame no Uta, but they're all good in their own ways.
Top 10 EDs
I wasn't very impressed with the Mugen Train Arc's TV version, having already seen the movie in cinemas, but I gotta admit this ED is pretty good. The visuals aren't exactly mind-blowing or anything, but the song bangs hard, as you would expect from Yuki Kajiura and LiSA.
Now this is what you could call a "guilty pleasure". The anime itself isn't particularly great, and I think I pretty much dropped it after a few episodes, but the ED is actually better than it has any right to be. The visual style is quite distinctive, and manages to feel new and fresh despite a good chunk of the pictures being reused from the anime. The song is genuinely fantastic, and it's kinda crazy that some of my least favourite characters in the series are voiced by such talented singers.
Re:turning (hehe) to the list is Re:Zero, this time with S2P2's ending. It's a very simple concept, but it manages to be more interesting visually than you'd expect from just "Emilia standing on top of some water". Lovely song by (I think?) a former Myth&Roid vocalist.
The picture book -esque feeling of Ranking of Kings is perhaps nowhere made as clearly visible as in the ED, which combines a gentle, warm and softly uplifting song with some absolutely beautiful art. There's also a music video for the song which is basically an extended cut of the ED - highly recommended.
Moving from warm to cold, we have an ED that is unique on this list in the sense that it's all one, continuous cut: Lev and Irina on a motorcycle and its sidecar on the way back from training, as sun sets and evening turns to night. While it's for the most part a loop of the same trees rolling by again and again, there's some small, easy-to-miss animation moments, as well as a very noticeable and impressive one: the "camera" rotating around the two to show them from the side, animated completely by hand and pretty much flawlessly. (Seems to be a directorial quirk.) Love the song too, very nice and quiet, almost like a lullaby.
86's endings had different visuals each episode, being mostly static screencaps from the anime with a photograph filter on and occasionally some elements being highlighted with paint too. It works in a series like this, and the song being a certified Hiroyuki Sawano banger also helps immensely.
If the OP was delightful in a very spontaneous, almost chaotic way, the ED is delightful in a more subdued, cute way. The character designs are just about as simple as they can be without going full chibi, but that's just a part of its charm in my opinion. "Mundane things made cute through good character animation" is a genre that this ED nails, and the song being like purposefully crafted to make you smile is just icing on the cake.
On the more serious side, there's Vanitas and it's intriguing (and occasionally horny) vampire steampunk fantasy. The ED song actually has two versions, a Japanese one for Japanese releases and an English one for overseas simulcasts. The songwriter-singer is bilingual so they're both good, although I prefer the English one slightly. Visuals are simple but they fit the mood set by the song perfectly.
Speaking of good songs and simple visuals, "-Shirushi-" doesn't exactly move a lot. Most of its duration is still illustrations of the main characters. But god damn is the song an absolute banger! This one might not honestly deserve such a high placement but this is my blog and my feelings and they're telling me that anything lower than this would be a crime to this song.
And finally, my #1 ending of the year. And what an ED it is. Mushoku Tensei makes up for its lack of a consistent OP with fantastic EDs filled with interesting visuals, and this one is no exception. Starting with flashes of the displacement incident and where all the major characters from part 1 have ended up - framed through window glass - the ED then shifts its focus to Rudeus, as he musters the courage to open a window and looks up to the sky. The chorus part shows scenes of the main trio having fun together, featuring expressive character animation and nice effects work. The song has a melancholic feel to it, and that also affects the impression the viewer gets of the visuals - indeed, as the season gets closer and closer to its finale, the images of fun and adventures become but memories of the past to wistfully look upon. It's the kind of mature, subdued storytelling you wouldn't expect from this anime if you haven't seen it or aren't very far into it, but when all is said and done, that's actually a quite accurate representation of the kind of series Mushoku Tensei is.
Honorary Mention: Sonny Boy ED "Shounen Shoujo"
It's not exactly an ED, as it's just credits rolling over black, but the song is so good (and its lyrics very meaningful and relevant to the story) that I felt I should give it a brief shout-out.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Next week, on New Year's Eve, I'll finally face the impossible question posed by this year: what is the best anime of 2021?
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