Ryoma45’s Weblog

If there is one thing that’ll keep me watching an anime, it’ll be the intro. While it may only last just over a minute in most cases, first impressions count, and many a time have i read a review of an anime, only to watch the intro and first 5 minutes and gone ‘done’ and walked off. This is usually a rarity among subbed anime, but with dubbed anime, the intros can be better than the whole dub because of the ridiculous songs they seem to use instead of the originals ( whether it is because of the rights to the songs or not i guess). Here i present, in my opinion, the very best and worst intros to animes i’ve watched.

Firstly, i liked to start with a good intro, just so we know what we’re looking for.

The Air Gear intro is a good place to start. The song is good ( as is the rest of the Air Gear soundtrack if you can get it) and you get a feel of what the anime is about roughly. Even though the anime has ended ( hopefully a second season will appear but i hear the ratings in Japan were not that great) then manga continues, and is well worth the reading after you’ve finished watching all the episodes. A good solid opening.

Now let me show you the opposite end of the scale.

I wouldn’t consider this to be the worst, but it could easily take 2nd place without a second thought. It’s a shame as the series never really did that well stateside or over here. Like most people, i can’t help but laugh when i hear the song actually start. At what point did the creative team decide this would be the best option for an intro to one of the longest running anime series ever. Clever, clever people.

Here is what i think is the best intro i’ve seen to an anime.

Now i could have easily of put the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann intro in there as it qualifies for the same reasons this intro belongs at number 1. But for a series i still need to finish ( i’ve started watching it about 6 or 7 times and get about 3/4 the way through) this always makes me want to watch it. An intro i do not mind watching over and over again is a good intro. If you start get annoyed of tired of i, it’s not that it’s bad, but some i just want to get past it and get straight on to the action. This doesn’t happen with Beck.

So with the best there must be a worst.

You just gotta be s*****g me. Really? I mean really? No i’m not just picking on a bad anime ( sorry but i can’t do the whole magical school girl thing, actually the whole Clamp thing, apart form Tsubasa Chronicles and Code Geass for some reason) but c’mon. Really? It’s wrong i tell you. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Other anime intros to look for that are actually worth watching ( although in my opinion the rest of the anime after the intro isn’t but that’s another story that i may continue with later) include the 1st and 2nd intros for Bleach, Naruto’s 2nd, 5th and at a push Shippuudens 1st, Tengen Toppa Gurren Laganns intros ( doesn’t matter which one), the 1st Initial D intro, and some others that if you really wanna know then leave a comment and i’ll elaborate further.