Games

Best OPs In The Fall 2024 Anime Season

Published

3 weeks ago

October 31, 2024

There truly is an ‘art’ to anime openings. By definition, these openings are art, but there’s also an ‘art’ to making a good opening. Sure, the production studio can get the rights to a catchy song, but if the visuals aren’t interesting in any way people aren’t going to care.

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And, the opposite is of course true, without a catchy song, who cares how neat the opening looks? It’s all about pairing the right song with the right visuals to make an incredibly memorable final product that’s more than the sum of its parts. And, at least for the anime coming out in the Fall 2024 season, these are some of the ones that manage to pair these two aspects the best.

10 Dandadan

Otonoke by Creepy Nuts

It only makes sense to start with by far the most iconic anime opening of the season, Otonoke by Creepy Nuts. Creepy Nuts have done a fair few openings now, with their most well-known one before this being the opening for Mashle Season 2. Creepy Nuts is also known for their incredibly unique sound, which is why they were such a perfect pick for the opening of Dandadan. Dandadan is a show that is incredibly ‘weird’ at its core, unabashedly so.

By the 2nd episode, aliens have attacked the protagonists, a high school teen has his genitals stolen by a ghost, and is then possessed by that ghost with her curse only being held back by another student’s (AKA Momo Ayase’s) psychic abilities. In any case, Otonoke is not only visually stunning as an opening, it’s infectiously catchy, beautiful at specific moments, and a total ‘bop’ the entire way through.

9 Blue Box

Sam Blue by Official Hige Dandism

Next up is one of the best openings of the season from one of the best shows of the season, Blue Box. Blue Box is an adorable little romance series about high-school romance, the pursuit of your passions, and so much more. It’s a very mature series with a very childish outer appearance, and this opening by Official Hige Dandism is a great representation of that.

For those who might feel like the singing in this OP is familiar, Official Hige Dandism has also done other well-known OPs such as Cry Baby for the Tokyo Revengers opening. In any case, the OP for Blue Box is both visually and audibly fantastic, as every single frame of the visuals has so much detail and every single second of the music itself hits so hard. All-in-all, just an absolutely stellar opening for an already beloved manga to anime adaptation.

8 Ranma 1/2

Iinazukkyun by Ano

Next up is an absolute classic, or it would be more apt to say the modern iteration of an absolute classic. Ranma 1/2 (2024) is a full remake of the classic anime series a lot of us either grew up with or cited as one of our introductions to the world of anime overall.

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And, as a new modern OP, Iinazukkyun by Ano perfectly tows the line between modern visuals and references to the original series. And, on top of all that, the song is so incredibly catchy. This is an incredibly creative opening in terms of the visuals with the storybook or almost collage-like versions of the characters, and the music itself never has a dull moment, so it’s obvious that this opening was going to end up somewhere on this list.

7 Orb On The Movements of the Earth

Kaijuu by Sakanaction

Orb On The Movements of the Earth Anime Opening

Coming up next is another recommendation for an incredibly unorthodox opening, and that’s the opening for a series called Orb: on the Movements of the Earth. This is a series that has some pretty heavy spoilers that can ruin a lot, so we won’t go too much into what the anime actually entails, just know that it’s going to pull at your heartstrings. On top of that, the opening itself already manages to make just about anyone listening to it feel something without even really knowing the characters yet.

The piano notes in Kaijuu are both so beautiful but also placed so masterfully in a way that constantly keeps the listener on edge, which is likely exactly what they were going for. Again, not to spoil anything, but the opening itself does actually change (at least visually) in some ways as the show progresses, so make sure to keep an eye out for that.

6 Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms

Vortex by Setsuko

The opening for Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms is what could only be described as ‘incredibly comfy’. It’s a very standard shonen-esque opening that primarily shows all the important characters, their abilities, their Mecha-Ude, and a small look at their personalities based on their poses or actions. However, Setsuko’s vocal work on the OP Vortex really propels this opening to another level.

At a glance, this should just be a series about a kid who gets a cool alien mechanical arm that he punches stuff with, but while listening to Vortex and watching the visuals of the OP, it feels so much deeper and existential. Of course, the show itself does have a lot of nuance and depth, but it is a testament to the OP that it manages to evoke such emotion despite the ridiculousness of the overall ‘concept’ of Mecha-Ude.

5 As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World (2nd Season)

Skill Awake by Passcode

Reincarnated As A Noble With An Appraisal Ability OP

No one is going to really argue that the isekai series about a guy getting reincarnated as a noble with the ability to see everyone’s stats is worth taking all that seriously, but the show is actually quite good. The characters are relatively simple but fun to watch, the concept itself is relatively unique for an isekai, and the visuals and overall art style of the show are fantastic.

And, As a Reincarnated Aristocrat also has something else going for it, its openings. Not only was the opening for the first season of this anime adaptation an absolute bop, but the OP for the 2nd season (aka Skill Awake) is also incredibly catchy.

4 A Herbivorous Dragon of 5,000 Years Gets Unfairly Villainized (2nd Season)

Brave One by Fukurow Note

Herbivore Dragon Is Unfairly Villainized Anime OP

This next inclusion is a funny one, because it’s an opening for what, for all intents and purposes, is a comedy series, but it just goes so unexpectedly hard. This is another opening for the second season of a show, and it’s another one that, like As a Reincarnated Aristocrat has a very unique art style.

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Not only are the visuals of this opening incredibly eye-catching (the letterboxing and how certain parts of the visuals aren’t affected by it, in particular, are fantastic) but the song itself compliments the visuals perfectly. Again, this is a comedy series (for the most part), but sometimes even the comedy series get the hardest-hitting OPs.

3 Blue Lock (2nd Season)

Boujaku No Charisma by Unison Square Garden

Blue Lock is (understandably) getting a lot of flack for decisions made in its second season. People have said the animation in episodes looks like a Powerpoint presentation, like pictures sliding across a screen and more. And, regardless of where one’s opinions fall on this matter, everyone can admit that the level of high-quality animation has dropped noticeably so in the second season of this beloved sports series.

However, the opening of the anime absolutely goes hard, is incredibly creative visually, and has some of the best moments of animation in season 2 overall. The way that each of the strikers in the opening has their own ‘aura’ is so incredibly cool, and the people who worked on the visuals of this weren’t afraid to get experimental with things. On top of all this, the actual song by Unison Square Garden (an incredibly well-known band) has the perfect amount of energy to match something like Blue Lock.

2 Yakuza Fiance

Under and Over by The Oral Cigarettes

Next up is another fantastic opening, this time it’s Under and Over by The Oral Cigarettes for a little spicy romance show called Yakuza Fiance. This is a series all about twisted people, petty revenge, fiery passion, and more. It’s part comedy, part romance, part slice-of-life, and 100 percent a ton of fun to watch.

However, while the show itself (at least in the first 4 or so episodes) is relatively tame and more comedy-focused, the OP of the show is incredibly spicy. Quite frankly, there are some scenes in this opening that most other shows are afraid to do for the big romantic climax. In any case,

1 You Are Ms. Servant

Otozure by Tricot

And last up is the opening for a little series called You Are Ms. Servant. This is another one that’s so incredibly inventive visually and so incredibly pleasing to listen to with regard to the audio. However, this anime has to take the cake overall in terms of experimental visuals, even compared to all the other fantastic openings on this list.

This almost comes across like it’s a college final project for an art student, that’s how ‘out there’ the visuals in this OP tend to be (and we mean this as an incredibly high compliment). Then, pair these visuals with the soothing and catchy vocals of Tricot, and you have the makings of an incredibly memorable OP.