How’s it going y’all? I'm back at it with a funky sampling of some openings and endings that I think should be added to your playlists. None of these should have major spoilers in the visuals for the plots of each of their respective series and all are ones I've completed at least one season of. Let's jam.

Source

"Loosey" - The Stripes

Burst Angel 1st Opening (Studio Gonzo; Summer - Fall 2004)

I wish I could erase this series from my memory and find it all over again. It has never been popular and definitely was not an objectively "good" show, but it was fun as hell and something I rewatch with popcorn every few years. The best way I can describe it: what if Cowboy Bebop, the Fallout game series, Louisa May Alcott's classic novel Little Women and G Gundam decided to get drunk and make an Anime series. Studio Gonzo used to be one that would take on wild, original projects and blow their budgets hard to make them happen (hence why they now do mostly lower budget, fairly low risk shows for companies that want to make a profit regardless of quality). This was one of their most unique projects for me; I have gone through most of their classic works over the years and have found the early to mid 2000s to be my favorite production period for them. I dance to this opening in public and don't care one bit who sees it. It has visuals that still look great to me even though the early 3D mechs and vehicles are pretty ugly by today's standards.

"Koko de Iki o Shite" - eill

Tokyo Revengers 1st Ending (Studio Liden Films; Spring - Summer 2021)

I was originally going to use a different track here for my first ending but this one came on immediately after that original one finished. I saw all of the first season and had a decent time with this series itself, despite not being a huge Shonen fan these days; it was the time travel aspect and a bit of mystery that hooked me. This track and these visuals, though, triggered my anxiety the first time this ending played. The English translation of the song's title is roughly "Take a Breath Here" and it really did feel like a panic attack. The happy little piano solo at the beginning, the trigger. The heavy bass soon after, chest palpitations. The backing vocals, that questioning voice one drowns out but grows in desperation until it becomes the only thing left of you in that moment. The full brass orchestration midway into the guitar drop at the end, making it through the tempest of one’s own mind. If only the character that dominated the visuals had as much screentime in the series itself. My friends that have completed the source manga have told me that was their biggest complaint with the adaptation. I might read it sometime now for that aspect alone. This ending track has gotten me through some scary times and came into my life at a time that I was looking for just this kind of vibe.

"Last vision for last" - Faylan (NSFW)

Hyakka Ryōran: Samurai Girls 1st Ending (Studio ARMS; Fall 2010)

I hope you recognize the studio name. That should honestly give you everything you need to know about what kind of series this is. If you don't know who ARMS is, they made the super obscure and very wholesome cute girls doing cute things series, Elfen Lied, and are credited with being the studio that made the Yandere archetype become very popular. 🙃 This opening song is downright criminal with how sexually charged it really is (when you look up the lyrics) and is what mostly got me listening to more J-Pop; I was in my early 20s when I found this. I wish the Anime itself looked worse but the visual style of this barely safe-for-television generic Battle Harem was only about 1% of what the animators could do when they had the budget and desire to flex their talents. Watch the series Sankarea sometime if you want to see even crazier work from them. That was a Studio Deen lead adaptation but the Ecchi scenes and some of the first person camera shots were credited to ARMS for several episodes and they delivered, in my personal opinion.

"Subversive" - Kanako Takatsuki

I'm Standing on a Million Lives 2nd Ending (Studio Maho Film; Summer 2021)

Most Anime fans didn't make it far enough into this Isekai to experience this ending which makes me sad to think about. I'm going to leave my thoughts mostly there because I genuinely don't know how to fully explain watching both seasons of this "weird" series and then going back and reading part of the manga. Like Redo of Healer, this was one of those ones that does some really fascinating things once you took yourself out of the standard viewer mindset. I did have problems with it but it lives rent free in my mind. This ending is just my happy place and a perfect cap to this list. It's also the audio counterpart to the first opening of this series. If there's never a season 3, this existing is plenty to ease the pain of loss for me.

My Closing Thoughts

Have you seen any of these shows? What are your thoughts on these openings and endings. Like always, vote, reblog, and comment below if you so choose. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful rest of your day.