The Spring 2022 season is packed to the brim with fantastic opening sequences from anime of all genres. Unlike the Winter 2022 list, this season proved to be much more difficult to compile due to the abundance of wonderful openings this time around. There will probably be five or six names left off of this list that many of you would like to see on here—and I wouldn’t argue with it either. As stated last time, this list will focus on the entire sequence—animation, music, composition, colors, replayability, etc.—not just one thing or the other. So without further ado, here are the top 10 anime openings of the Spring 2022 anime season.
10. Tomodachi Game
This was probably the hardest spot of the entire list to set because this easily could’ve been a top 15 list. Ultimately, I decided to start this one with the Tomodachi Game opening. While the song seems very Kakegurui-esque and doesn’t really you draw you in like the others on here, it eventually grows on you to where you really enjoy it after a few times. The artwork and use of transitions with camera movement, on the other hand, are eye-popping throughout and are what helped land Tomodachi Game at #10. The face glitches that start at the 52-second mark are eerily similar (in a good way) to the ones we’ve seen throughout the series 86 Eighty-Six as well.
Cool fun fact, the opening theme is sung by Nana Mizuki, who is also the voice actor of Reiko Tamai from Tomodachi Game. She is more widely known for her role as Hinata Hyuga in Naruto. Mizuki has quite the history when it comes to anime theme performances, more recently for the wonderful second opening of Shaman King (2021).
9. Komi Can’t Communicate Season 2
Komi Can’t Communicate made a big splash during the Fall 2021 season and it’s back with yet another great season and, of course, another wonderful opening. The camera perspective of seeing a day in the life of Komi at school is a wonderful touch you won’t find in any other opening on this list. Not to mention, part of the opening contains shots from the Season 2 announcement we received earlier this year, but from Komi’s perspective. Seeing that incorporated into this opening was a nice creative touch.
The transitions are clean, the composition is calming, and the animations are fluid throughout. Throw in a wonderful track by Miku Ito that just compliments the entire mood of the series and this opening really shines on all levels. It might not live up to the first opening or have the same level of replayability but it fits Komi Can’t Communicate perfectly and we couldn’t ask for more.
8. Ao Ashi
Ever feel like sports anime openings have a completely different feel to them compared to other genres? Well, that’s because it’s true and openings like this one from Ao Ashi showcase it perfectly. What some might think is the most underrated anime of the entire Spring 2022, Ao Ashi delivers a classic sports anime opening theme that’s one of the best in recent memory.
A key part of a sports anime opening is telling a partial story while showing us all of the characters involved in said story. But the wonderful script for this opening is what lands it at #8. While it has its fair share of rather plain still shots with slow camera panning, the opening still gives plenty of fluid animation moments and a wonderful track by Alexandros that makes you really feel like you’re watching a teaser to the story of the main character, Ashito Aoi.
Nothing from this opening is overwhelming, but it’s all-around solid on every front. The transition between Aoi’s eye and the crow’s eye was flawless and a nice touch near the end. This opening simply has everything you could ever want in a sports anime opening. Even the chant during the chorus is a nice cherry-on-top and almost seems to be customary for a sports anime opening at this point.
7. Date a Live IV
Most recently known for her roles as Miko Iino from Kaguya-Sama: Love is War and Kizuna Kazayama from The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2, Miyu Tomita brings fans everywhere an electric performance for this opening. The Date a Live series has yet to miss on a single opening and it looks like that positive trend continued with this season.
The intense piano with a church choir behind it leading into a headbanging guitar riff and then transitioning back into a calming piano during the verse truly sets the tone for the opening. The wonderful buildup during the bridge into the chorus gives it a true anime opening feel to it as Tomita’s wonderful voice makes you feel every emotion while watching the opening.
The wonderful pauses, transitions, and blood splatters to match the beat, beautiful fighting animation, eye-popping backgrounds to match each individual character, and incredible use of colors easily make this Date a Live IV opening one of the best this Spring 2022 season. This is also the very first Date a Live opening where the words “Date a Live” aren’t actually part of the song. Hisashi Sugawara directed the opening while the series director Nakagawa Atsushi worked on the storyboard and it’s safe to say that we need more openings with these two at the helm if this is the end result.
6. I’m Quitting Heroing
Want to talk about an anime opening that completely took me and plenty of others by surprise? Look no further than the opening for I’m Quitting Heroing. The camera work and animation here are among the best of all the openings this season. In fact, many could argue this one itself should be in the top 3 on the list—and they would make a great point.
An anime opening’s main premise is to make the viewers hyped for the episode and this one’s replay value is off the charts. It’s almost like we lept into a late 2000s time capsule for this opening. It’s perfectly fine that it doesn’t have the best script or storyline because it doesn’t need to. Amazing action scenes, respectful cinematography, and beautiful artwork and composition on top of an amazing performance by Minori Suzuki, who also voices Dianette from the series, rightfully lands I’m Quitting Heroing at #6 on this list.
The more you watch the opening, the more you become invested in wanting to watch the series chock full of incredible staff, including the main characters Echnida, voiced by Kaede Hondo (Elaina – Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Eiko Tsukimi – Ya Boy Kongming!), and Leo Demonheart, voiced by Kensho Ono (Tetsuya Kuroko – Kuroko’s Basketball, Yuri Briar – Spy x Family).
5. Skeleton Knight in Another World
Undoubtedly the most unique opening of the entire Spring 2022 season, Skeleton Knight in Another World more than deserves to be on this list. Rarely do anime openings ever incorporate actual sound design from the scenes in the opening like they do here. PelleK showed off his four-octave vocal range in his opening theme debut performance leaving the viewers with chills and ready to run through a brick wall. The hard rock music mixes perfectly well with the opening’s theme and action, and the humor that’s mixed in during the bridge before the chorus is so perfectly timed that it uplifts the opening rather than deterring it.
Plus, what other anime opening are you watching when the main character actually becomes the horse for his own horse carriage in the midst of a getaway?! This opening in all of its explosive glory felt like part of an episode more than it did an actual opening—making it impossible to hate. Cute moments mixed in with humor and wonderful action with blazing animations earns Skeleton Knight in Another World at #4 on the list. Let’s hope we hear more of PelleK on future opening themes as well.
Also, does Arc’s laugh (the skeleton knight) sound familiar? Well, it should because he’s voiced by Tomoaki Maeno, the voice of the iconic role of Pain in Naruto: Shippuden and more recently Veldora from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime!
4. Ya Boy Kongming!
There isn’t a single opening so far from this year that has left an impact like the one for Ya Boy Kongming! In fact, this is the one opening of the entire Spring 2022 season that probably put most of the current fanbase on to the series in the first place. What’s not to love? It’s a fun, upbeat, mid-2000s-sounding club banger with the best replayable theme of the entire Spring 2022 anime openings list. The setting artwork and use of colors are a perfect reflection of the song and the overall mood of the series. It’s a wonderfully positive opening from the artwork to the music matching perfectly with the wackiness of the series.
Motoki Nakanishi is another director on this list making a statement with this opening. And after a hit like this one, it’s only a matter of time until “Motoki Nakanishi” becomes a household name in a few years. While some would argue this is undoubtedly the best anime opening of Spring 2022, there are three that are more deserving when we get down to the more detailed aspects. Even so, I expect many people throughout the year will come back and watch this opening.
It is currently the fourth-most viewed video on HIDIVE’s official YouTube Channel this year and is the only opening the channel has ever posted. With the official opening video at almost a quarter of a million views, the full song with almost 3 million on avex’s YouTube channel, and both the TV size version and official version with over 6 million streams on Spotify, this opening has indeed made more than a big splash—it took the Spring 2022 lineup by storm.
3. Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie
Critics can say what they want about the series, but Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie delivered a downright jaw-dropping opening from beginning to end and that’s one thing that can’t be denied. The composition for this opening is in every sense of the word beautiful. The use of mind-boggling transitions while simultaneously giving us a linear storyline throughout the opening, rather than just a bunch of moments meshed together, is god-tier directing and storyboarding by Ciao Nekotomi that had me losing my mind the first and 100th time I watched it.
And what’s even more incredible is the use of still shots. While that’s a no-no to most, Nekotomi took on the challenge and made it work. The opening starts with the use of a phone’s aspect ratio centering all the characters leading to the beautiful pictures taken which transitions to Izumi putting the camera in his pocket was incredibly creative (similar to what happens in the opening for A Couple of Cuckoos from this season). From then on, it becomes a work of art and marvelous direction. Every frame flows to another in perfect sync.
None of the series on this list before Shikimori even come close in terms of direction and composition. The opening does a perfect job of mixing a great opening theme by nasuo☆ and it portrays Shikimori and Izumi’s chemistry as the main characters in the most wholesome way possible. It also intertwines scenes from different chapters of the manga throughout while simultaneously giving us that sprinkle of originality. If it wasn’t for these next two openings, Shikimori would undoubtedly be first. That transition at the 43-second mark is mesmerizing which, again, ends up having a beautiful transition afterward to push the mini-story in the opening forward.
2. Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3
You don’t have to even watch the Kaguya-sama: Love is War series to appreciate the greatness that it offers with its openings. And yet, here we are again with another classic Kaguya opening. The comedy of the series is perfectly felt in the opening and that’s just a small piece. As soon as you hear Masayuki Suzuki and Suu singing together, you already know you’re in for an incredible time and can’t help but sing along when you eventually learn the lyrics. Being the performer for every opening theme for the series so far, it’s almost as if Suzuki was born to sing opening themes for Kaguya-sama: Love is War. While it may not be as popular as last season’s opening, it still remains nearly perfect from top to bottom.
Much like Suzuki, Eiko Hirayama, who directed the opening for Season 1, is also back for the Season 3 opening, taking a drastic leap forward with his direction this time around. Capturing the humor and the tension of characters to a T, Hirayama also topped that off with some of the most creative scene transitions I’ve ever seen in an anime opening. The creative use of 3D space, especially with how it interacts with the characters in the beginning, is unlike anything else from the other openings this Spring 2022 season.
And of course, like Season 1, this opening becomes full of wonderful colors when the chorus hits. Then Hirayama leaves us with a little nod to the first opening with Kaguya and Miyuki meeting in the middle of the shot at the very end, this time on opposite ends. Animations, composition, creative use of 3D space, transitions, storyboarding, background art, everything with this opening is utterly remarkable. So why isn’t it #1 on this list? Simple, it’s because the next one deserves to be there more.
1. Spy x Family
There’s no denying what’s the best opening this season. Official HIGE DANdism is back and delivered yet another phenomenal theme after giving us one of the best last year in “Cry Baby” for Tokyo Revengers. So let’s just dive right into why Spy x Family owns the #1 spot for the “Top 10 Anime Openings of the Spring 2022 Season”.
While some of the openings on this list have stop-and-go animations, also thanks to the use of time remapping most likely used in post-production, none of them did it better than Spy x Family in the 57-second to the 1-minute time span as shown below. Nobody else on this list used color palettes better than Spy x Family, although Shikimori is mighty close. And no other opening had a better theme song than Spy x Family. Are you getting the point now? There’s the Spy x Family opening then there’s everyone else this season.
The way the theme flawlessly captures the entire series is extraordinary. Yor, Loid, and Anya all receive their moments in the opening equally and it’s not going to stop there. The use of different art styles and colors for each is truly magnificent even near the end when they each have their own spotlight circles with their own colors. Ending with a 360 camera rotation of the entire room with those three at the table is such a captivating way of ending the opening, something none of the others on this list do. Everything about this makes it a stroke of genius and is undoubtedly competing with Ranking of Kings for the best opening for the entire year so far.
From opening with a classic, comic book art style on top of a spy-themed, jazz soundtrack to calming down for Anya’s portion, the opening is perfect and even fits the characters. As Loid fires his shot from the car at the beginning, you see the bullet circling with strokes of blue, pink, and yellow which then expands to the three-panel shot of our favorite family. Then that same three-panel shot of the characters shrinks and morphs into a more simplistic art style for Anya’s portion of the opening, as it eventually does for Loid and Yor as well—going from a younger kid’s art style to a more refined style for our favorite spy and assassin duo. This is all just a small section of the opening, too, spanning less than a few seconds.
Another nice transition is right when the chorus hits as cartoon Loid turns off the lights, his eyes still remain in the shadows, and you see them creep closer to the camera which transitions to his full self that we see in the anime. The fine attention to detail and flow of every single frame in this opening is just a spectacle to watch. If I were to talk about everything that is right with this opening, you’d be reading this article for another few hours.
This #1 spot on this Top 10 Anime Openings of Spring 2022 list rightfully goes to Spy x Family thanks to the marvelous directing and storyboard work done by Masashi Ishihama, who has a reputable history of opening works including Bleach Op. 5 and Op. 13, Attack on Titan Op. 2, the opening for HoriMiya, and the opening for Psycho-Pass Season 2.
Your Favorite Anime Opening From Spring 2022?
So what was your favorite opening this season? Did yours not make the list? Let me know in the comments! Be sure to vote for your favorite anime in this week’s poll! Also, our polls for the Best Male and Best Female voice actors are currently up so be sure to vote for them as well. Reminder, you can vote for more than just one nominee just like you can in the weekly polls!
Thumbnail image: ©︎Keigo Maki, Kodansha/Shikimori-san Production Committee
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