Japanimation in a very large nutshell

November 29, 2010 1:48 PM

Every Anime Opening Ever Made (an admittedly exaggerated title) is a SLYT romp through the repeating themes in 93 different opening sequences, compiled by Derek Lieu (via Neatorama)

Almost 4-and-a-half minutes of birds, quick upward pans, trees, eye close-ups, running (mostly right-to-left), heads turning, flashes of pseudo-nudity, pensive poses, wow! expressions, groups gathering, swords clashing, (some miscellaneous not-so-repetitive quick cuts), vertical stripes, walking, silhouettes, two-shots at odd angles, flying (mostly into the camera), crying, magical orbs, hands reaching out, more birds and more two-shots (mirror effects).

Bonus barely-related content: Every Pee Wee's Playhouse Word of the Day Ever (don't forget to scream, via Urlesque)

posted by oneswellfoop (34 comments total)

They may be "all the same", but damn does it jump out every time they use Bebop.
posted by Artw at 1:56 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

That's because Cowboy Bebop is just that fucking awesome.
posted by kmz at 1:58 PM on November 29, 2010 [10 favorites]

I never thought Pee Wee would seem calm or sedated, but placed next to that anime sequence...
posted by not_on_display at 2:00 PM on November 29, 2010

Birds. Running. Over-the-shoulder. Gaze-into-the-distance. Gather! Clash! Random stuff! Reflective stroll. Flying! Tears. Shiny! Hands. Birds again.

Yeah, I guess that about covers it.
posted by Gator at 2:06 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Be prepared to watch four minutes and twenty-four seconds of anime characters all holding in a massive shit.
posted by cellphone at 2:07 PM on November 29, 2010

That's because Cowboy Bebop is just that fucking awesome.

No arguments there.
posted by Artw at 2:08 PM on November 29, 2010

That's because Cowboy Bebop is just that fucking awesome.

Danadana danadana duh-duh-DAH!
posted by shakespeherian at 2:10 PM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Watching this with my gf was *incredibly* entertaining because, without having seen it, she shouted what was going to happen before it actually did --

"Bird! People running! Pensive look! Hair blowing, probably in a field! Group walking shot!" etc. etc.

I like her.
posted by kyrademon at 2:11 PM on November 29, 2010 [7 favorites]

God, Sailor Moon is just ugly, isn't it.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:13 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ooh ooh. Now do the end credits of every anime.

Slow moving pan around an object unrelated to show over a schmaltzy J-Pop ballad.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:17 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

There was no Star Blazers. I want my money back.

(And now I have 4:30 minutes fewer left to save the earth! Will they make it to Iscandar in time?)
posted by hippybear at 2:22 PM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

orz
posted by slimepuppy at 2:22 PM on November 29, 2010

From Reddit, a summary of the shots:

1. Intro birds
2. Song drop
3. Scroll up
4. Sunshine through the trees
5. Zoom in on an eyeball
6. Run!
7. Suprise buttsecks [turning to look at camera]
8. Girlinabox
9. Stargazing
10. Hero stance
11. Solemn sit
12. Statuesque maiden
13. Flowing hair
14. Drop-in cast
15. Crossed blades
16. FOCUS FUCK [gratuitous shakycam]
17. Idle/in-place stroll
18. Upside down/Right side up
19. In flight
20. Starlight tears
21. Seed of life
22. Drift on the breeze (sakura, feathers, snow)
23. Hand in hand
24. Helping hand
25. Outro birds
26. Mirror image

posted by flatluigi at 2:23 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I am being informed that it is also acceptable to pan around a naked woman or a ribbon at the end, eyeballkid.
posted by kyrademon at 2:24 PM on November 29, 2010

I'm happy to say that I only recognized about a third of the shots.
posted by Memo at 2:28 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's like haiku. The structure is the same, and it's the details that make them unique. /weeaboo

But seriously?
God, Sailor Moon is just ugly, isn't it.

Oh no you didn't.
posted by Mizu at 4:23 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Is Sailor Moon the one that looks like everyone's idea of what bad anime is?
posted by Artw at 4:25 PM on November 29, 2010

Unless you're thinking of Dragonball Z, Artw, yes.
posted by rifflesby at 4:46 PM on November 29, 2010

Sailor Moon is the girl with meatballs on her head.
Number 18 should be "yin-yang bi-polar tsuntsun-deredere".
posted by zengargoyle at 4:57 PM on November 29, 2010

Fun! Although Sailor Moon is the only one i recognized.* Did I miss Detective Conan?

*because she is AWESOME
posted by janepanic at 5:42 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow, I actually recognized three of these (for the record: Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi. Who knows which Tenchi he is. But he's one of them).
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:06 PM on November 29, 2010

I don't get it, animators who want to draw expressive characters in a stylistically unique way animate their characters doing character developing and expressive things while demonstrating the uniqueness of their style using common themes at the beginning of each show while the credits roll. What part of this doesn't make sense?
posted by Blasdelb at 9:13 PM on November 29, 2010

Yeah, putting bebop in there was kind of a weird move because the opening is so stylistically different than EVERY SINGLE OTHER OPENING in it.
posted by tehloki at 9:52 PM on November 29, 2010

Ditto Haruhi. Season 1 pretty much decimated everything else airing that year, and many people talked about it revolutionizing anime as a genre. And then Season 2 happened ... sigh.

Overall this video reminded me why I'm as selective as I am about the genre: because it's like anything else. Hollywood action movies have a template, too, but just as I don't dig Bay and Bruckheimer, I don't enjoy giant flying space robot mecha anime.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:03 AM on November 30, 2010

I don't enjoy giant flying space robot mecha anime.

It's not really about that, though... it's about how a boy has to fly and a girl has to sing.
posted by ServSci at 5:56 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing: "I don't enjoy giant flying space robot mecha anime"
You obviously haven't watched Gurren Lagann (and if you've seen it and don't like it, you have no heart).

PS: Linked trailer has some spoilers for the first 8 episodes. This an even better trailer but it has spoilers for the whole series (even if they don't make sense without context).
posted by Memo at 7:47 AM on November 30, 2010

No, really, I don't like mecha, with the exception of Star Blazers. I may give Star Driver a shot, though, as reliable sources have told me it's brilliant.

Not that I'm all about slice-of-life. I also don't like K-On, even though everyone screams in my face to watch it. I'm following five shows this season (Kuragehime, Ika Musume, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Arakawa Under the Bridge and Bakuman) and they couldn't be more dissimilar.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:52 AM on November 30, 2010

I knew 60 of those off the top of my head. I'm gonna go curl up in a corner and cry now.
posted by emmling at 8:02 AM on November 30, 2010

emmling: "I knew 60 of those off the top of my head. I'm gonna go curl up in a corner and cry now"

NO. You should dress as Gemini Sunrise, climb onto the roof of your house and fire your pistols in the air, singing the praises of anime! Take back the genre! Reclaim it! Disprove all stereotypes! Make your neighbors fear your power levels!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:09 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also, all these could use a couple more drawings per second.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:56 AM on November 30, 2010

Related: Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work.
posted by mhum at 12:23 PM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Needs more Lain.
posted by lhall at 2:50 PM on November 30, 2010

I am honestly surprised about how many I recognized. Also, I am surprised how many didn't make it into the sequence because they contained all of those "shots."
posted by lizarrd at 3:06 PM on November 30, 2010

Everything needs more Lain.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:38 AM on December 1, 2010