5. Mashle: Magic and Muscles Season 2
OP Director: Shun Enokido
OP Storyboard: Shun Enokido
OP Animation Director: Hisashi Toujima
I can already feel the disgust from readers seeing this at number five. The opening that hit 10 million views in less than a week and has put more anime fans onto the series than the actual series itself, the opening for Mashle Season 2 deserves to be in the top five for this season and no less. Creepy Nuts is back with another smash hit, this time it has become the center for anime playlists everywhere.
Sometimes less is more. This opening doesn’t have heavily detailed artwork like all the others on this list. Instead, it’s completely rooted in Enokido’s touch which I think matches the color design of everything.
Using solid colors with little to no shading, and the least amount of background art as humanly possible, everything was heavily focused on the characters and their specific facial marks (go back and watch how everyone is framed), which gave the 3D camera rotations and unique animation a higher level of focus. Usually, 360 camera rotations are considered cheap in cinema, but in animation I can’t help but love it.
The chorus animation with Mash doing what now seems like his iconic dance in sync with copied layers of himself reminds me of something that the prominent animator Masaaki Yuasa (Spy x Family Season 2 OP director) would concoct.
Now am I saying the opening theme carried the opening this high to the list? No….well, sort of. But props need to be given to the animation staff as well. There’s character in this opening with great animation during the chorus all compiled into a cool storyboard thanks to Enokido.
4. Solo Leveling
OP Director: In-Seung Choi (PPURI Studio Animation)
OP Storyboard: In-Seung Choi
OP Animation Director: Kim Jeong-Eun
What do we get when the Solo Leveling opening staff combines one of the most popular Korean boy bands with an iconic music composer? One of the best opening themes of the entire season, that’s what.
I think the opening would be even higher on this list had the end of the chorus put a lid on everything, not a second verse of rapping. I know it’s a sort of standard protocol for anime openings to go verse-bridge-chorus but that’s because it works. It’s also the second opening to do this, with The Witch and The Beast being the other.
That’s not to take away Together x Together’s work with Hiroyuki Sawano, the song is great regardless. But I’d say Solo Leveling‘s opening got to this height on the list because of the stellar animation work by the staff over at PPURI Studio Animation. I’d go as far as to say that this opening has one of my favorite sequences of any others on this list (check below).
The action animation in this opening is top-level and that’s the way it should be. Solo Leveling needed to come with some heat for a series built on its action so it delivered an inferno. The opening lacked any real creative transitions but instead relied on multiple cuts to different camera angles of the same scene it was showing to give a much more fluid action feel to the opening. The animation itself is fantastic, especially the fight choreography which could arguably be the best on the list.
3. Urusei Yatsura (2024)
OP Director: Yuuki Kamiya
OP Storyboard: Yuuki Kamiya
OP Animation Director: Masashi Yamada (CAD), Yumiko Ishii
Yuki Kamiya’s creative genius has yet again burst onto the seam—this time with Urusei Yatsura Season 2. At this point, if Kamiya is in charge of an opening, it’ll more than likely make these kinds of lists. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 saw both of its openings land on a couple of our best 10 openings lists, same with the second opening of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. That’s all thanks to Kamiya’s innate ability to avoid being one-dimensional.
What’s not to love about this opening? The color design and humor are perfect for Urusei Yatsura. Ataru constantly interacting with the background characters that would otherwise be another still layer in the background of other openings brings this one to life.
Lum’s bright and colorful personality mirrors the tone of the song as if she’s singing it herself. What might be my favorite par is the end of the opening transitions back to the beginning of it if the video is played on a loop, making sure every ounce of creativity possible fills the entire one-minute and 30-second spot.
Kamiya manages to capture the entire 1980s theme of the series that would make the staff of the original anime series proud. What may even be more of a challenge is following up on Shingo Yamashita’s opening for the series that succeeded in doing the same. And if you can make an opening that rivals Yamashita’s ability, you’re creating something memorable for fans everywhere.
What impresses me more is that Kamiya has managed to do that twice now with Yamashita, previously doing the two openings for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2. If I could give Kamiya credit for one thing over Yamashita’s opening, it is that Kamiya had a lot more new characters to work with than Yamashita did.
Yet, Kamiya managed to include every single one of them in a fun way instead of all of them just standing around looking at the camera. Transitions that are center-focused are becoming a Kamiya specialty at this point and this one is not short of them. If it wasn’t for the next two, I would undoubtedly have made this the number one opening and the best one of 2024 so far.
2. One Piece (OP26)
OP Director: Megumi Ishitani
OP Storyboard: Megumi Ishitani
OP Animation Director: Keisuke Mori
I’d go as far to say this might be the best One Piece opening to date, and I’d go even further to say it’s one hell of a masterpiece. A handful of well-known industry animators under the Ishitani umbrella brought us one minute and thirty seconds of pure gorgeous frames, storyboard work, direction, color design, and transitions for one of the greatest anime series ever created. I almost feel sorry for rating this second in a way.
Usually, openings can leave little things here and there that I may not like. But there’s truly not a single thing I dislike about this opening. From the way it starts to the way it ends, it just feels like what One Piece is all about—a fun adventure with intense action. It’s an opening that excites me to watch a new episode and the artwork is undoubtedly the most creative on this list.
I could sit here for hours dissecting every frame with awe but I also want to give Sayoko Yokoyama as much praise for this opening as Ishitani, Mori, and all those who animated it. Yokoyama worked on the color design for the opening and it’s what stood out to me more than anything. I think it shows what exquisite coloring can do for any piece of animation, no matter if the art is heavily detailed or not.
Yokoyama has worked on coloring in the animation industry since the late 90s and has handled the color design for many popular anime including Accel World, Love Live! School Idol Project, One Piece Film: Red, and Planetes, which is based on the manga by Makoto Yukimura (Vinland Saga). If there’s any opening from this list that can go toe-to-toe with Urusei Yatsura in terms of color design for the opening, it’s this one without a shred of doubt…perhaps even better.
1. The Dangers in My Heart Season 2
OP Director: Tetsurou Araki
OP Storyboard: Tetsurou Araki
OP Animation Director: Kii Tanaka, Kenji Segawa (CAD), Masato Katsumata (CAD)
If there’s one person who can compete nowadays with delivering the utmost beautiful and well-constructed openings alongside names such as Yamashita, Yoda, and Kamiya, it’s Testurou Araki. His genius with openings at this point has become one minute and thirty seconds of, to use the meme here, pure cinema. And that’s what watching an Araki opening feels like—a cinematic masterpiece.
He delivered the best anime opening of 2022 with the second opening of Spy x Family and he may have brought out another yearly winner with The Dangers in My Heart Season 2. It’s one thing to have great transitions here and there with stunning animation. But when practically every single frame in the entire span of the opening is articulated with the utmost care and consideration that blooms into its own story how can this not be the opening of the season?
Yamada and Ichikawa are both framed uniquely in every single shot we see them in and sometimes they are in continuation with one another (him walking behind her in the beginning, both in the library, both looking up to the sky after each other, then to have them dancing out of sync). That also comes from a wonderfully crafted storyboard and direction.
In the above collage, we can see how the use of objects (flowers, bookshelves, stuffed animals, flowers, etc.) in the characters’ surrounding settings are used to fill negative space while simultaneously framing (lines) them. They’re also used as focal points so the viewers’ gaze leads towards them (dotted lines), or objects, in those same frames as well wherever I’m looking. When you take into consideration these artistic and direction choices, the opening pops out that much more.
As someone who hasn’t even started watching the series, I can still tell there are meaningful frames that hold weight for those who do watch the series—that’s something to be considered with this opening as well. It creates a warm feeling inside and almost eggs me on to watch the series just off of the emotion and storytelling within the opening. I think that’s what Araki can manage to do more than anyone else. He just knows how to wrap any opening around an anime that resonates with the series itself to a T.
Slowing the video down during the chorus when they’re dancing together exposes the two aren’t completely in sync with each other during the dance until their fingertips touch at the end. Even then, Yamada is looking at the camera and Ichikawa is looking up to make sure he did it right. The sheer amount of detail, along with character expression in this is simply jaw-dropping and the theme song by Atarayo is chef-kiss perfect.
This opening, much like the second opening for Spy x Family, is what they’re supposed to be about. When you create such an opening that gets fans excited every week just to see it on their screens one more time, you know you’re watching something special created by people even more so.
Your Thoughts on the 10 Best Anime Openings of the Winter 2024 Season?
Did you have a favorite from this top 10 anime opening list? Did I leave out one that you loved? Let us know in the comments! Here are some that barely missed out on this top 10 anime opening list:
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (OP2)
- The Apothecary Diaries (OP2)
- Undead Unluck (OP2)
- Sasaki and Peeps
- BUCCHIGIRI?!
Thumbnail image:
© Katarina, Ryosuke Fuji, Kodansha / “Shangri-La Frontier” Production Committee
© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha / Toei Animation
© Hajime Komoto / Shueisha / Mashle Production Committee
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