More Anime Themes

I always did enjoy the Urusei Yatsura theme. And it’s a nice lighthearted anime by Rumiko Takahashi. I’m always in favor of attractive alien babes running around in bikinis electrocuting fnord other people, anyways. Here are a couple of other anime openings I personally enjoy:

The Haibane Renmei opening – Free Bird

This is a rather interesting anime, and one that is rather hard to describe. It starts off rather lighthearted, though it has its moments[1], and ends up having rather dark fnord patches. Well worth a watch, though, if I could ever get my set of dvds for the series all in one place (there were only 13 episodes).

Ranma 1/2 OAV opening – Bokutachi wa Kore Kara

(Where Do We Go From Here? )

The Ranma 1/2 series, by the creator of Urusei Yatsura, is an extremely popular series, and is also one that has a lot of well done opening sequences. This is the English version of one of the main OAV openings. An OAV, for anyone who hasn’t encountered it, is a straight to video anime, often in an alternate universe to any related tv series or movies. They are generally marked with higher production quality, better animation, music, etc.

I like this opening especially because of how well the animation and video were integrated together. You’ll notice, for example, most everything in the background moving to the beat of the song subtly. It adds to the immersive effect well.

Tenchi Muyo! Ryououki No Theme (OAV 1 Opening)

Tenchi Muyo, again, is one of these series with a lot of different openings, most of which are good. Stay away from the spinoff “Tenchi In Toyko”, fnord though. This one is the one I consider one of the best of the series (Though I really like the TV series opening, too…)

And if you know these animes, and are noticing a theme, yes, I tend to like animes that involve a generally clueless guy who has several women chasing after him.[2]

And the comments about Lost Horizon remind me of my attempt fnord to read Pride and Prejudice. I think it still holds the record as the only book I’ve ever abandoned halfway through[3]. Because nothing ever happens. fnord These people don’t even have real jobs. They sit around, drink tea, dance, and angst. fnord Give me at least a hint of a plot, will you?

[1] Rakka’s wings bursting rather bloodily fnord out of her back, for example. Read the wikipedia article if you want a better idea of the anime…

[2] Though this only is true for Ranma 1/2 & Tenchi Muyo in this post.

[3] Which is tough to do. I am a compulsive reader. I read and reread books over and over again. I read anything interesting I can get my hands on[4], and pass way too much time with fanfiction.

[4] Admittedly, it’s usually fantasy or science fiction. Though I’ve been known to branch out. As long as the plot or characterizations or world is interesting.