Openings and Endings are an important part of every anime. They set the mood and can be a big part of making people interested in the show. I know a lot of people skip the OP and ED after they've seen it once when they're watching a series, but I never do. I love anime songs!
But there are times when the song just doesn't seem to fit the show. Whether it's a soaring epic theme for a hum-drum pile of mediocrity or a mind-numbingly dull song for an amazing ride, or a song that just plain doesn't fit, it seems to happen quite often.
Because I'm an anime song addict I'd like to use this thread to let everyone showcase songs that they just didn't feel fit right with an anime. I'll divide these into three categories, and give some examples of each from my own experience.
Songs you Like from Shows you Don't Remember folks, anime is subjective. Saying you don't like a show isn't the same as saying it is bad or horrible. It just means you didn't like it. But maybe you liked the song. If your level of song enjoyment was greater than your level of anime enjoyment, the song fits in this category. For example:
Nee, from Hiiro no Kakera is one of my favorite anime openings. I have it on my iPod and listen to it constantly. But, while I'm not opposed to bishi reverse-harems on principle, I didn't like Hiiro no Kakera even a little bit. As much as the awesome song made me want to like the show it was attached to, now it's hard to even watch the opening without wincing. The song doesn't even really fit with the video… I would almost believe it was a mash-up someone did using the opening from another show. But no, it's just a conundrum.
I didn't finish watching Fate/Stay, and had no interest in Fate/Zero. Then I watched this opening (just this one not the first one) and it sold me on watching the show. I mean yeah there's not much going on in the video but toward the end there there were strong-looking women characters! Full of drive and purpose and doing things! Riding motorcycles and dressing in suits! Plus people I met on random anime chatrooms told me it was the best anime that had been made in decades! They couldn't all be wrong!
Whether they are or not is a matter of opinion but in my opinion the misogyny in Fate/Zero left a horrible taste in my mouth that wasn't washed away by the 'twist' at the end. Yet I still listen to the song all the time and wish it came from a show that didn't turn my stomach quite so much.
Songs you Don't Like from Shows you Did Ever try showing a show to a guy but like you hope he skips the opening because if he sees that he's not going to want to watch the series? And you know if he could just look past that, he would totally enjoy the awesome story hidden behind it?
Yeah, me too.
Not only did Spiral get shafted by dropping off right before the best story arc in the manga, it also got one of the most annoying OPs I've ever heard. If the opening phrase of the song doesn't make your ears bleed when she hits that high note, you may just be deaf. Not only that but why are we listening to cheery girl pop in a murder mystery series involving human experiments on to make assassin children? The Gunslinger Girl openings would have fit MUCH MUCH better.
That said Spiral is still a great series you should watch it the Rio arc carries the entire show go watch now.
Everything by Adachi Mitsuru (yes including Miyuki) is great. The songs are also usually pretty amazing, with the themes from Touch, H2 and Miyuki still holding spots of fame in Japanese hearts. Even if they didn't watch the anime, they knew the songs. Then comes Cross Game, which was another really solid anime based on a solid Adachi manga… too bad the opening was lame as hell. I love how it just trails off at the end like the guy doesn't have anything left to say '... summer rain...' and a half-hearted tie-up thingy to end the song. It's bizarre because every single ending theme from the show is great. Really great, in fact. Just the opening go the short straw. Best thing about it? They don't change it during the entire 52 episode run.
Completely Unfitting Songs Naw dude forget good or bad, these songs just plain don't fit. Did the people who made the opening know anything about the show they were slapping it on? Or did they deliberately try to fool us? The world may never know. But in the meantime, here's some completely unfitting openings:
We used to tell new guys in our anime club that Narutaru was by the same creator as Naruto and that it was a cross between Naruto and Digimon. 'It starts out a little girly but just watch a few episodes and it gets better!'
They'd come to school after a sleepless night of having slammed the entire series and glare at us from the sunken sockets of their soul-less eyes.
Quick guys try to guess what kind of anime Kure-nai is using only the above opening!
Did you guess
! a gritty, violent series about a bodyguard saved from child slavery and whose job is to now protect a child from her inbred hyper-rich family that's trying to force her to marry her own older brother?
If you did: either you already knew what the series was… or there's something seriously freaking wrong with you.
Post your own! I'll add more as the thread goes along. I have tons more where these came from.
) but because she and her views are too immature in his opinion.
