Top 10 OPs & EDs of 2025

Another year has passed, it's Christmas Eve again and my accidental Christmas tradition continues. In other words: it's time to go through the best anime openings and endings of the past year.

Top 10 OPs:

10. The Shiunji Family Children OP “Honey Lemon”

This list always needs a guilty pleasure one, so let's get it out of the way first. Heavily carried by the song, which surprised me with how good it sounds. The chorus melody just… works. Visuals range from tasteless to mildly innovative, with a lot of “just okay” in the middle - not unlike the series it's attached to.

9. Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle OP “Liar”

Not quite the kind of song I’d expect from a high school harem anime, but Chiramune is weird in many ways so I guess it fits. Looks amazing, with a heavy focus on the girls because of course, but the MC gets a solid amount of screentime too.

8. Ruri Rocks OP “Hikari no Sumika”

Speaking of things that look amazing, we’ve got some incredible background art and compositing in this one - the portrayal of light is absolutely gorgeous, fittingly for an anime that spends a lot of time in nature - and solid animation too with a couple of outstanding cuts. Works well with the beautiful song.

7. The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 OP1 “Hyakka Ryouran”

In usual Kusuriya fashion, there's a lot of clever visual references to specific events and mysteries in the season, though this opening really takes it to a whole new level with all the symmetrism and other geometrical fun. Song is not my favourite in the series but not my least favourite either, and the whole package is very effective.

6. Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective OP “SCOPE”

It's always nice to hear Aimer in an anime opening, and especially with a more fast-paced song than what I’ve heard from her recently. Ryu Nakayama’s team outshines the visual quality of the anime itself with ease, creating an atmosphere that almost feels unearned when you've seen the anime… anyway, the imagery is great, the editing is great, it's a great opening.

5. Witch Watch OP “Watch me!”

I haven't watched the One Piece anime, at least none of the recent stuff, so this was my first time seeing Megumi Ishitani in action and she certainly has earned her reputation! A nonstop barrage of fun visual ideas, with a bit more dramatic flair towards the end. I love when credits are integrated in the animation, and even more when the characters interact with the credits. Good stuff. Solid Yoasobi song too.

4. Spy x Family Season 3 OP “Hi wo Mamoru”

This season of Spy x Family has focused heavily on the wider picture of the premise, and with it reinforced that it's a story about adults who lost their childhood to war striving to create a better world for their children. The opening, fittingly, reflects on childhood: the ones who live it and the ones who protect it. It's unusually poignant for the series, but not grim. It helps that the song, while emotional, is ultimately rather upbeat, a rock song full of life.

3. This Monster Wants to Eat Me OP “nie”

Meanwhile, Watatabe is about a girl who just straight up wants to die. So it's to be expected that the opening is not a very happy one either. The song is a banger, no doubt, though if you know Japanese you get to hear lyrics like “guide me to the end of this beautiful life”. The animation is more about the otherworldly nature of the situation our main character finds herself in, and boy does it portray it in a coldly beautiful but ominous way! 

2. Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary Season 2 OP “Kaseijin”

How do you beat an Eve song coupled with visuals that perfectly sum up the relationship of the main characters with simple but effective symbolism? Naturally with a Yorushika song coupled with visuals that ditch simple storytelling in favor of a constantly shifting stream of different visual ideas, styles and even production methods. If season 1 was “we’re trying to be ordinary”, season 2 is “we can't be ordinary after all” and this opening is a look inside their brains that explains why, as much as art can explain.

1. Secrets of the Silent Witch OP “Feel”

For the first time since 2021 (the first year I wrote a blog post like this!) Hitsujibungaku is here with an anime opening song and it's just as incredible as you can expect from them. And the animation that accompanies it! Starting from Monica's cold, melancholic inner world, to the stunning portrayal of her magic as like a shooting star that brightens the day of those around her, to the warm, colorful days of her new student life - it's a beautiful opening. Choosing the number one of the year wasn't easy, but this really does hit different.

Top 10 EDs:

10. ZatsuTabi -That's Journey- ED “bookmarks”

Fairly unremarkable visuals, but the song is great and fits the tone of the series really well.

9. The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You Season 2 ED “Unmei?”

A very fun ending for a very fun season of a very fun anime. The chibi artstyle is charming but there's some dazzling illustrations in a more detailed style too. And the lyrics remind us of what's important: that Rentarou is the King of Kareshi. Long may he reign.

8. Toilet-bound Hanako-kun Season 2 Part 1 ED “With a Wish”

The very premise of Hanako-kun is drenched in tragedy, and the second season’s highlight arc (Make Believe or Picture Perfect depending on which translation you prefer) dialed that aspect up to eleven, so naturally the ending follows suit. Akari Kito sings with such emotion that eyes might get wet without even looking at the screen, and the animation heavily borrows imagery from the aforementioned arc to remind us of what could have been if things had gone differently… It's difficult to decide a favourite Hanako-kun ending between this and Tiny Light, which is a good thing really.

7. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX ED “Mou Dou Natte mo Ii ya”

Narratively it's a bit of a deception, but even with that hindsight it really is irresistible. Simple but effective concept, fun character animation and a banger of a song.

6. Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze ED2 “One Road”

Niko wasn't quite my favourite character, but her ending is the best by a significant margin. While the visuals are pretty, this is another one where the song does a lot of heavy lifting, but it is a damn good song: blending catchy melody (the intro and outro melody lives in my head rent free) with an occasionally heavier rock sound, and Aoi Koga does a great job of balancing with the character's tough front and more delicate feelings.

5. Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary Season 2 ED “SugaRiddle”

The first season’s ending’s unique visual style, that places anime characters in live-action footage and makes it look seamless, caught my eye back then and now it has returned with an actually good song this time. Like the season’s opening, all pretending of “these characters can be ordinary” has been dropped, and the ending signals that by going for a more dark and tense mood, as questions of what shady business Yuki Osanai is up to (apart from eating sweets) rise to mind. The song is different from what I expected from yanaginagi, but it works wonderfully to add to that ambiguous atmosphere.

4. Secrets of the Silent Witch ED “mild days”

It really is a blessing to be able to include two Hitsujibungaku songs in the same year's ranking post. Unlike the opening, the ending goes for a more softer, relaxed sound, reflecting the more positive emotions in Monica’s life. It's just a lovely song. Visually not all that remarkable, but the soft coloring does contribute to the mood.

3. Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 2 ED “no man’s world”

I didn't vibe with the first part’s ending at all, but this was not only a huge improvement but also possibly Dr. Stone’s best ending ever. Otoha’s song blends both rock and more natural sounds and even morse code into a beautiful but powerful whole, and the visuals support it with gorgeous colors and lighting. And as a cherry on top, a certain mini-arc used a modified version of the visuals that left me speechless. No spoilers, but this season really has taken my appreciation of Dr. Stone to a whole new level.

2. mono ED “Weekend Roll”

mono was a series of ups and downs, but the ending was not one of the downs. A certified feel-good song from halca (lots of non-capitalized names in this paragraph, huh) with an especially catchy chorus, which just so happens to be matched with the most impressive part of the animation: a full-cel rotating shot with multiple characters taking turns holding the constantly moving camera, not to mention that said camera has a wide-angle lens so there's a significant degree of distortion going on. And the whole thing is solo key animated by FMA:B director Yasuhiro Irie. Wow.

1. The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 ED2 “Hitorigoto”

Much like Dr. Stone, The Apothecary Diaries also had its best ending yet, and a big part of that is that it's just heartbreaking. Fitting the cour where their trio is tragically changed forever, this ending focuses on Maomao and her two closest friends, Xiaolan and Shisui, through a lens colored by melancholy. And Omoinotake’s song just crowns the whole thing with utterly beautiful music and mournful lyrics. Like with the openings, ordering this list wasn't easy, but this number one was clear to me from the beginning.

And that's it for this year's openings and endings. Next week I’ll continue my accidental New Year's tradition of collecting my thoughts on the actual anime themselves. Until then: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and so on.