Considering each anime season typically has one or two different openings per season, there is a ton that goes pretty unnoticed by fans as most just skip by the intro to watch the actual show. There are also cases like in Naruto or One Piece, where the series is incredibly long so many of the early openings become forgotten over time.
Anime openings are quintessential to the overall vibe the anime will give viewers. Sometimes anime openings reveal a bit too much about the series, and sometimes they don’t reveal a thing. Here are some of the most underrated anime openings, ranked.
10 Welcome To Chaos - Dorohedoro
This opening is totally fun and really shows the total and utter grittiness of the series. This show is dark in nature and this opening doesn’t shy away from showing that in the most fun and whimsical way.
The song itself perfectly captures the vibe of the series as a lot of it just seems totally chaotic. People murder one another and then have a whole comedic bit direction after, and a lot of morality is totally thrown out the window. The psychedelic colors throughout the video also portray this well making it just extra bizarre.
9 Tower Of God - TOP
“TOP” is the first opening for the new anime series, Tower of God, that originally began as a webtoon but was converted into a series in the most recent anime season. As a visual opening, the video gave nothing about the anime away which was pretty awesome. Viewers couldn’t guess what was going to happen, nor did it give away any major scenes that would play out later in the series.
The song itself, “TOP,” was actually made and sang by the popular K-Pop group, Stray Kids, who writes and composes all their own music. Stray Kids later made two other versions of the song aside from their original Japanese release, one in English and one in Korean.
8 Abnormalize - Psycho-Pass
“Abnormalize” is the first opening in Psycho-Pass, a futuristic cop show with a very noir-like aesthetic. The song was made by the Japanese rock group, Ling tosite Sigure, who actually went on to make the other openings for season two and Psycho-Pass: The Movie.
The first opening is amazing, like Tower of God, it doesn’t really reveal anything about the actual storyline or direct scenes from the series. Instead, it captures the overall vibe of the series and characters. It shows the audience that this will be a noir and that the characters may have some reason to not fully trust one another.
7 Papermoon - Soul Eater
“Papermoon” is the second opening for season two of Soul Eater. It strikingly contrasts the first opening in tone, which made each of the openings sound even better when compared to one another. “Papermoon” is an amazing song and seems to perfectly fit what the characters were going through in that season, particularly Soul and Maka, the protagonists of the series.
The video for the opening also doesn’t give away any spoilers while still managing to showcase all the characters, familiar and new, who will play major roles in the season. Alongside that, viewers could understand based on the opening that Soul and Maka are going to have some major conflict within the season and they will have to fight in order to remain together.
6 Ambiguous - Kill La Kill
Kill la Kill is an incredibly fun series and one of the most iconic from the popular animation studio, Trigger. “Ambiguous” is the second opening to the anime and really does an amazing job of capturing the overall vibe of the season, and all of the characters within.
This series has so much to do with clothes, so the opening also starts off by showing all the main characters in their different outfits, symbolizing where they stand in the fight against one another. This was also the song that put popular Japanese pop-rock duo, GARNiDELiA on the map. After this, the duo went on to make a bunch of other anime openings.
5 Flashback - Kokkoku
“Flashback” is pretty unlike any other anime opening, and is totally amazing. The song itself isn’t a J-Rock song, like many anime openings, but has a more pop and EDM vibe to it.
Many fans of the opening haven’t even seen the series and just love the song for what it is. The video for the opening doesn’t give anything away and just shows the characters from the series in a set of flashy colors and visuals that compliment the song wonderfully. The song is performed by Miyavi vs KenKen and is overall a truly enjoyable bop of an intro.
4 Deal With The Devil - Kakegurui
One of the best aspects of this opening it the “all over the place” feeling it’ll give to viewers to totally mix them up and then throw them right into the series. “Deal With the Devil” is the first opening of the wild gambling anime, Kakegurui. The series is odd which is what makes it so loveable as all the characters are disturbingly obsessed with gambling.
The opening does a lot to showcase this, many of the girls seem to be all over each other, but in reality, just want to gamble it all out. Then the male protagonist, Ryota, sits on the table surrounded by all the gamblers as they feast away. Ryota is meant to be the normal member of the series and the eyes of the audience. He is the character who explains to viewers what is going on, so to see him sitting on the table, as if he is a meal, almost implies that the viewers are part of the charade as well. Also, the video is just so utterly smooth while the song is all over the place leaving for a truly amazing whirlwind.
3 *~Asterisk~ - Bleach
“*~Asterisk~” is the very first Bleach opening and totally sets the tone for the rest of the series and openings alike. It starts off with a bang, literally, and does a great job at capturing the silly yet gritty themes throughout the series. The song was made by Orange Range, a pretty popular J-Rock group of the time who made other anime openings, such as “O2” in Code Geass.
The theme song showcased the duality of Rukia and Ichigo, a theme that continues throughout the series as the sun and moon, while also showcasing all the other important characters in the series. Though the colors and overall attitude of the opening are happy, bright, and colorful compared to the series that is relatively dark in nature, the opening manages to catch the character’s personalities wonderfully and their attitudes towards one another and their arcs.
2 Rocks - Naruto
The very first Naruto opening is highly, highly underrated, and oftentimes forgotten. Many fans seem to have forgotten about it completely, just assuming “Haraku Kanata” is the first, though it is the second opening.
Much like the first Bleach opening, this song sets the tone for numerous to come. It gives off a more classic rock feel (hence the name) and just seems to fit as the very first opening for Naruto. It shows fans a happier time, when team seven actually got along, before all the drama. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi working together, super in sync.
1 Flyers - Death Parade
“Flyers” is the extremely fun and amazing opening for the super short series, Death Parade. This one-season anime is pretty dark in nature, as it deals with games that will either grant the players access to heaven if they win or hell if they lose. The games are overseen at The Quindecim Bar, where the main characters reside. “Flyers” gives off the polar opposite vibe of what the series entails.
The opening is incredibly fun and will make any listener want to immediately dance or sing along. This opening is truly memorable yet totally underrated and deserves to be one of the best anime openings of all time.