Kicking the year off with a bang!

Yes it’s back!

After the success of the Spring OP Charts last year I couldn’t resist doing it all over again, hopefully this will become a regular event each season.

For those of you that don’t get the premise from the title, this is where I’ll watch almost every Anime OP of the season and rate them against each other to see which one is the best/worst/most surprising.

As with last year a big thanks to Youtube and AnimeNewsNetwork who make this event possible (even if they don’t know it exists).

I have tried to include all of the new shows this season as there aren’t a huge amount, if one is missing then I probably don’t know it exists or couldn’t find a video of it yet. I’ll make sure to keep this post updated each week as videos often get taken down and new ones go up. As usual if anyone has any requests or comments please make yourself heard below.

Last years version wasn’t actually a Chart (best to last in numerical order) but this years will be. I’ll still do the awards bit at the bottom as well and I’ll even try embedding the top 5 videos, what more can you ask for? Now, on to the rules!

The Rules

1.  The show has to have started airing in January 2008 or have a new OP first airing in January 2008
2.  The show has to have a streaming video of the OP on the web (that i can find without learning kanji)
3.  The judge (me) has to be vaguely aware of the show

Criteria

The OP’s will be judged on the Animation, Music and how they have been Combined overall (what I’ll call fusion). Quality of the version watched will be taken in to account as I don’t have time to download a perfect copy of each show. If there is a full version of the song it will not be taken in to account when judging. This is purely my personal opinion, it is not in anyway impartial, scientific, philosophical or based on any professional music training.

Rating

The OP’s will be listed from best to worst, 1st to 17th. They will also be rated on the criteria above from 0.0 to 5.0, 0 being the worst and 5 being the best.

The Contestants

Sisters of Wellber Zwei
Rosario to Vampire
H2O ~Footprints In The Sand~
Hatenkou Yuugi
Major 4th season
Persona – trinity soul -
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
true tears
Shigofumi
Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de
Minami-ke ~Okawari~
Aria The Origination
Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-
Ookami to Koushinryou (Spice & Wolf)
Noramimi
Hakaba Kitarou
Yatterman

The Positions

01.  Aria The Origination – Spirale by Yui Makino (video)

I have a confession to make, I’m in love with this song. From the first time I heard it I was enchanted, I had to hear it again and again. Even more astonishing I wanted to watch Aria even though this was the 3rd series and I’ve never seen any before. The music is so soft and soothing as is Yui Makino’s voice and the small bass kick just brings it in to this century. The animation is simple but attractive, the characters are cute yet complex. I could go on for days…..

Animation – 4.6 / Music – 4.8 / Fusion – 4.5

2.  true tears - Reflectia by eufonius (video)

Now that’s how you do an opening to a high school dating show. Starts slow and gets better, the singer has a really cute voice and the song really becomes catchy. The animation seems really nice quality and the characters doesn’t feel as generic as some of the other shows on this page. The OP gives me the impression that this series is really fun and fresh, in fact I like it so much that I’m gonna have to watch episode one now.

Animation – 4.0 / Music – 4.1 / Fusion – 4.4

03.  Hakaba Kitarou - Mononoke Dance by Denki Groove (video)

Once again I have no idea what the show is about, however this OP really intrigues me, I just might check this out if it gets subbed. The animation isn’t really to my liking but it’s definitely striking and a little retro. The song is excellent, a really good electro/dance piece that seems to pair with the animation perfectly. Mononoke Dance is simple but effective, I want to listen to it again!

Animation – 4.2 / Music – 4.4 / Fusion – 4.2

04.  Persona – trinity soul - Breakin’ Through by Shuhei Kita (video)

Ah the first anime of the new season with random feathers falling from the sky. On a serious note the songs really catchy, the singer has a great voice, the guitar riffs good and it gives me a positive feeling about the show. The animation seems pretty good as well but the character designs seem a bit bland, a man falls in some garbage though which gives it more points. Overall a nice OP, still on the fence about whether to watch the show or not.

Animation – 3.9 / Music – 4.3 / Fusion – 4.0

05.  Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - kuso Rumba by Kenji Ohtsuki and Zetsubo Shojo-tachi (video)

The show that dares to be different returns with another good OP. If you don’t want to do the Rumba after this song then there’s no life in you! Ok the music is a bit ‘harsh’ but I think it fits the mental state of the show perfectly, the female voice actresses really pull it together as well. Not much can be said about the animation as it seems to change each episode. In the first episode there really wasn’t any, but I won’t mark it down to much on that. Overall great OP.

Animation – 3.5 / Music – 4.2 / Fusion – 3.9

06.  Ookami to Koushinryou (Spice & Wolf) - Tabi no Tochu by Natsumi Kiyoura (video)

While this show doesn’t really interest me the OP seems polite and inoffensive. The music seems to suit the pacing and style of the show while the animation seems varied and detailed. The nudity is a bit odd but I guess that’s part of the show. While the OP didn’t really make me want to watch the show it did give a good impression of itself, the music and animation complemented each other well.

Animation – 4.0 / Music – 3.7 / Fusion – 4.2

07.  Hatenkou Yuugi - Heartbreaking Romance by Kanako Ito (video)

I’m a little torn about this OP, it starts well, gets worse and then gets better at the end. The song is quite nice apart from the chorus and the animation is quite nice apart from the lazy character design. Seems to be a show that’s nearly there, but would probably tend to be more bland than exciting. Still the OP does a reasonable job of selling it, music and animation go well together.

Animation – 3.4 / Music – 3.6 / Fusion – 3.8

08.  Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino- Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi by KOKIA (video)

Straight off the bat I have to say that i really love this song, its a powerful ballad that seems to fit the persona of the show, unfortunately I can’t say the same for the animation. The animated landscapes seem reasonably nice but the rasterized photos are a bit confusing, I’m not sure what they have to do with the show. Once again this didn’t really make me want to watch the show and it doesn’t really give you any indication what the shows about.

Animation – 3.0 / Music – 4.0 / Fusion – 3.6

09.  H2O ~Footprints In The Sand~ - Katayoku no Icarus by Yui Sakakibara (video)

This OP starts well and gets worse for me. It goes from nice moving animation to moving the camera about to simulate movement with girls that look like they are cut out of any random h-game. The song likewise starts off nice and softly then goes all shouty at the end, the woman’s voice just doesn’t sound shouting like that. Overall though the music and animation seem to compliment each other.

Animation – 3.4 / Music – 3.6 / Fusion – 3.8

10.  Noramimi – ????? (video)

Sorry but I couldn’t find the name of this song so if you know then please share. The main reason I even bothered putting this OP in is because of the watercolour style artwork, its absolutely lovely. While I can’t say the song is good, it definitely suits the show and has a playful air about it. Overall the OP put across a heart warming feeling and I’m sure the shows thoroughly enjoyable, if this is your sort of thing.

Animation – 4.0 / Music – 3.0 / Fusion – 3.8

11.  Minami-ke ~Okawari~ - Kokoro no Tsubasa by Rina Satou, Marina Inoue & Minori Chihara (video)

Oh dear, the people that animated Shuffle! strike again… The songs ok, but unless the shows completely changed from season 1 then its a bit out of place, to loud and excited. The animation is pretty poor, especially at the beginning, robot walking? flashing eyes? I’ll take the first seasons OP thanks. Not really sure what to say about the fusion, it wasn’t a mismatch but then they hardly went brilliantly.

Animation – 2.9 / Music – 3.3 / Fusion – 3.4

12.  Sisters of Wellber Zwei – Theme of Wellber by Dobashi (video)

The song so good they used it twice, well, not quite. While they have indeed used the song again I don’t think the animation fits the song as well this time, the action and over the top cgi just feel a bit out of place. There’s not really much you can say about the song, its quite grand and definitely has some grace about it, but using it again just feels like pure laziness. I heard the first season wasn’t that good so I’d expect the same this time round.

Animation – 3.6 / Music – 3.8 / Fusion – 3.2

13.  Yatterman – Yatterman’s Song by Saemon Onyakichi (video)

Hm. Yes… Yatterman. Well it’s not awful, I’ve seen far worse OP’s. Still there’s not much to go with here. The animation is bright and inoffensive and its hard to complain about a giant mecha dog, I’m not sold on the hats though… The song appears to involve a lot of barking and shouting “Yatterman”, its definitely retro but it has a certain charm about it. Overall at least it didn’t send me to sleep like the Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de OP.

Animation – 3.4 / Music – 3.2 / Fusion – 3.4

14.  Rosario to Vampire – COSMIC LOVE by Nana Mizuki (video)

Fanservice go! Right, the songs catchy and exciting but nothing ground breaking. It seems to me that it probably matches the mood of the show, a bit silly, a bit violent and very insubstantial. The animation is pretty much the same, generic looking characters, high school, pantsu, bright colours, weaselly males and nothing to get worked up over. Seems a rather average OP for an average show, still, its a bit of fun I suppose.

Animation – 3.0 / Music – 3.2 / Fusion – 3.4

15.  Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de – Hizamazuku Made 5 Byo Dake! by Miyuki Hashimoto (video)

Another game conversion. The OP is hardly anything to get excited about, cue cheery Jpop with bouncy bass and an average singer. Characters aren’t quite so generic but the setting seems enough to put me to sleep. Girls living in a house?! Wow that sounds….. like 500 other shows. Definitely a very average OP which leaves me wondering why so much VA talent is on board for it.

Animation – 3.0 / Music – 3.0 / Fusion – 3.0

16.  Shigofumi - Kotodama by ALI PROJECT (video)

I’m gonna come straight out and say it, I don’t like Ali Project. Their music is always over excited, confused and the lyrics are all over the place, this song is a perfect example of that. The animation is alright and that’s being a bit generous. Lots of black, ctrl-c and more generic characters. Oh and there were more feathers. I was going to watch this show but the OP has nearly put me off, never a good sign. Still, despite the boring OP I’ll give it a try.

Animation – 2.2 / Music – 2.4 / Fusion – 2.6

17.  Major 4th Season - Rise by Ootomo Kouhei (video)

The man singing this song seriously needs to clear his throat, god what an awful song. I wasn’t expecting much from the OP to Major season 4 and it definitely smashed my expectations out of the park, home run, as fast as possible away from this OP. Bland manly song with highly unoriginal animation. About the only positive thing I can say is that it was baseball animation for a baseball show, good job….

Animation – 2.5 / Music – 1.3 / Fusion – 2.8

Awards

Most Surprising OP – true tears (This OP convinced me to start watching the show, not much higher praise than that)

Most Surprising Song - Hakaba Kitarou (Wasn’t expecting anything from this OP but the song’s pretty good if you like electro music)

Most Surprising Artist - Persona – trinity soul - (I’d never heard of Shuhei Kita before but I’ll definitely look out for them/him in the future)

Most Surprising Animation - Noramimi (The watercolour style is really nice, makes the animation seem less childish)

Worst OP - Major Season 4 (Atrocious song, generic animation, no thanks)

Worst Song - Shigofumi (Give it up Ali Project you can’t sing)

Worst Animation - Minami-Ke ~Okawari~ (I really expected more from this OP…)

Best  OP – Aria the Origination (Probably just me on this one but its perfect)

Best  Song – Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Was close between this and Persona but I had to give Zetsubou Sensei a nod)

Best  Animation - Persona - trinity soul - (The animation seems quite detailed and stylish)

Aftermath

Overall I was surprised by the quality of the OP’s this season as with no big name shows I wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised by several of the songs and some solid animation. Persona, true tears and Hakaba Kitarou all did well with convincing animation and catchy songs. Minami-ke ~okawari~ disappointed me with an average song and awful animation while Major season 4 and Shigofumi were just plain bad.

It feels like I was more generous with the marks this time round, I’m not sure if the OP’s have gotten better or my standards have gotten lower. Overall the music was of better quality than the animation with nothing really memorable on that front. As usual most of the shows combined the music and animation together in a decent fashion.

Conclusion

Once again this was an enjoyable experience, other than watching episode one of every show I don’t think there’s a much better way to get a feel for the series on offer in any given season. Once again I messed up with the HTML and the spelling as always is atrocious, hopefully it didn’t spoil the experience to much. This seemed to take up more time than I’d bargained for but looking back over it, it still feels a bit basic. I’ll definitely have to think of a way to spice this up next time round.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope everyone finds it useful to have all the seasons OP’s in once place. I’ll also try and get some full version of the songs up on the box music player thing as they get released.

Bleach – Did You Feel Any Resistance?

- Tear Off, Golondrina! (Swallow?!)

Thank god for this episode.

Recently Bleach was in danger of taking itself far to seriously and seemed to have the impression that ludicrous enemies and awfully boring fights were what people wanted. Well they aren’t.

This episode however was saved by some quite silly but very effective comedy. I’m not entirely sure if Dattebayo purposefully tinkered with the subs to make them seem this funny or if this is what intended originally, but, it worked for me.

I won’t go into what happened to much, because nothing did really happen. The episode starts off with Ishida still running from Cirucci’s crazed yo-yo attacks as he tries to guage the limits of her power. Luckily the episode quickly turns in to a giant farce as Pesche turns up and basically wastes the entire episode. Ishida and Pesche spend most of their time trash talking each other, and Cirucci, while running away a lot. At some stage they piss Cirucci off enough for her to show them her released form, if you thought the yo-yo attacks were bad that’s nothing compared to what she turns into. She reveals herself to be Arrancar 105, Cirucci Thunderwitch. If the silly name wasn’t enough she appears to be a giant moth with vibrating blade wings, another triumph in character creation by Tite Kubo. From this point on the episode basically resets itself, more running around, gauging her powers and trash talking. The only slightly interesting point is when Ishida reveals that he is an honorary Jedi Knight and unsheathes his mighty lightsaber, possibly.

Now at this point you might think I don’t actually like Bleach much, you may even be slightly accurate at the moment. However I have enjoyed Bleach an immense amount over the years and I’ll watch it no matter how bad it gets, I like many others hope that it will get better as this saga progresses and actually lead to some good fighting and … story?!

Anyway, on with the main point of this post, the comical dialogue!

Pesche arrives on the scene and points out some crucial information:

Being the decent fellow he is, Pesche takes a closer look:

After Pesche is discovered peaking Ishida says hi, obviously this can mean only one thing:

Cirucci rudely points out what Pesche looks like, Ishida seems to agree:

While running away Pesche explains why he’s there:

Pesche then reveals his sordid power:

Pesche decides Ishida is more his type, Cirucci doesn’t seem to pleased:

Cirucci has seen this trick before?!

But did she see this coming?

I guess not……

Appears infinite was not quite accurate:

Mothtard I choose you:

It seems at this point Pesche has out stayed his welcome:

By this time I was laughing to much to have any idea what was going on:

The danger of day dreaming:

Yeah… can this be called fanservice?

The screenshots probably don’t portray how funny it was, or maybe I’m just really sad. Anyway, I hope some other people enjoyed the episode as well.

Love infects worldwide!

No wait that’s not it….

Ah yes, ActiveCore is back from Hiatus!

I can only apologize for my lack of posts since last year, I went on holiday and then just couldn’t get back in to the blogging.

But no fear! I have been watching lots of anime and I’ve recruited a friend this time round to help me talk/complain about it. Expect lots of incoherent rambling, boob screenshots and random music very soon!

I hope you’ll all enjoy the revitalised blog with posts from myself (ActiveCore) and my friend (GenericIndividual).

Oh the look of the blog is changing as well, please stick with it and feel free to say what you think.

Also a big thanks to anyone that kept coming back to visit over the off period, I won’t let you down this time!

Well that’s enough from me, I’ll get back to watching Bleach and Naruto so I have something to post.

Best wishes to all readers.

ActiveCore

Hayate the Combat Butler – He Talks With The Animals

- PlayStation 5, Animal Abuse and The Fake Moustache

Briefly, this was probably the best episode yet. In terms of comedy, animation and loli (erm story).

Next Episode – Snake infiltrates a school in search of Loli Ocelot

I’ve added one of those Box.net widgets to my page, it seems pretty useful and much more stable than similar offerings.

A few random jpop songs have been uploaded to try it out, i’ll probably add a bunch more if it works well.

Sorry for the lack of anime related posts but I have been dead busy the last few days, although i’m hoping to catch up with Hayate at least before I head off at the weekend. I’m also willing a.f.k. to finish subbing Lucky Star 3 as well.

There’s a mountain of Gurren Lagann to catch up with and i’m sure there will be Bleach and Naruto over the weekend to. Gah!

Oh well, hopefully i’ll come back and produce a post frenzy with my rested mind.

Goodnight.

PS. My suitcase is nearly packed!

I can’t decide if I want to be dark and brooding or cute and fluffy.

I made a nice lucky star banner clicky.

Not sure what look to go for, i’m in a mess around in photoshop mood. 

Dammit, should be writing…

Edit: A few more banners I am experimenting with Bleach, ROD Style, Old Mecha.

A big thank you to everyone who has visited so far.

I hope you continue to enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it.

It’s been a busy two weeks, I had thought about starting a blog last Spring Season but at the time I was even lazier than I am now. The blog was started for several reasons, I wanted to occupy my mind,be able to improve my writing standard and of course talk about one of my favourite subjects. So far I think those things are coming along nicely. Here’s hoping that this blog gets bigger and better over time.

I have been trying to post something every day at the moment so that I get in to the habit of it. My first post took me six hours, since then I have managed to get it down to around twohours (including watching the show twice and taking/uploading screenshots). I’m trying to keep a lose feel to the blog while maintaining the basic layout between posts. I ’should’ be actively blogging around five shows at any one time, although several more seem to be creeping in. But hey, i’m not on a paid schedule, I want to keep this as my blog and not rush content just to keep up with others. One thing I am quite certain of is that I want to have some sort of feature each weekend, even if it’s something silly. I also want to change the design as some stage, I am a bit of a perfectionist and things rarely satisfy me for long

Tomorrow i’ll be posting about 10 of my favourite anime related songs. I’ll try and get some videos linked and download-able songs to go along with my blurb. I am always listening to Japanese music now and it all started from anime OP’s and ED’s. I really want to do some music reviews but I have been put off so far as my knowledge of musical terms is very low and I don’t just want to say “Spitz new song is good!”. If anyone has any tips they would be appreciated.

Regarding posts so far, the Anime OP charts was surprisingly popular, although I want more people to comment! Even if it’s to tell me I am utterly wrong and that Shining Tears is the best thing since sliced bread. Naruto and Bleach prove quite popular, which as a Shounen fan I am glad to see. Apart from that Darker than BLACK and Lucky Star seem to be the big two that people are interested in.

I really shouldn’t have posted this before completing my Lovely Complex post, but I wanted to make sure people knew how much I appreciate them coming here. Especially those who have linked to the blog, commented, bookmarked or subscribed to the feed. Thank you all again!

I could ramble on for ages but I am off to Greece next weekend so I have a few things to do. As always I want to hear your comments, although if they are criticism’s please keep them constructive

Lovely Complex – We Don’t Allow Shadow Boxing In Here

- He’s Small, She’s Tall, Whats Not To Like?!

A genuinely enjoyable romantic comedy.