The Greatest Anime Opening Ever Tournament

[Inkwolf]

Heh-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aa64kPRSmQ

Good old AMV Hell...

1. "Ohayou" (Hunter X Hunter (1999))  - Quite liked this, all around.
2. "What's Up People?" (Death Note)  - Wild and interesting
3. "Monotone Summer" (Urusei Yatsura) - It was very nice.
4. Fist Of The Northstar English Opening. Just didn't do it for me.

To be honest, none of this round really blew me away.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

1. "What's Up People?" (Death Note) - 14
2. Fist Of The Northstar English Opening - 9
3. "Monotone Summer" (Urusei Yatsura) - 17
4. "Ohayou" (Hunter X Hunter (1999)) - 20

"Ohayou" and "Monotone Summer" move on to round 2.

Round 1: Match 42

1. "Rhythm Emotion" (Gundam Wing) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEunWWjmUmM
2. "Coppelia's Casket" (Noir) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch8QLdBiDqI
3. "Puzzle" (Welcome to the NHK) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDinGYteoJ0
4. "Butterfly" (Digimon: Adventure) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSB1IZU_8U

My Picks:

"Coppelia's Casket" - Great song, consistently interesting visuals.
"Puzzle" - Great song, beautiful visuals.
"Butterfly" - Good, but I think the song loses steam in the second half.
"Rhythm Emotion" - Not feelin' either the rhythm or the emotion from this one.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Butterfly- Sometimes your criticisms make no sense, CX, the second half is factually more energetic
Puzzle- Pretty good
Coppelia's Casket- Decent enough
Rhythm Emotion- Meh

[gunswordfist]

Pass.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Butterfly- Sometimes your criticisms make no sense, CX, the second half is factually more energetic

The energy of the singer and the beat is there and fine...but something about the delivery of the lyrics in the second half comes off underwhelming to me somehow.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Butterfly- Sometimes your criticisms make no sense, CX, the second half is factually more energetic

The energy of the singer and the beat is there and fine...but something about the delivery of the lyrics in the second half comes off underwhelming to me somehow.

Which I basically translate to you saying: "I'm trying to critique this music but I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about because my opinions will never be as awesome as Dr. EK's."

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Same as E-k.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be honest, none of this round really blew me away.

But that's the problem with most modern anime openings. It's all about the next big explosive thing that will "blow people away." I have come to appreciate the calm but fun openings like Ohayou and such a lot more these days because they stay in my head and feel like they have a bit more substance to them, even if I can't understand the meaning of the words. Basically they make me feel good. I wish more anime openings would do that, personally.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Same as E-k.

Somebody give this man a metal for having the mode consecutive awesome opinions on this thread (besides myself, of course).

For this reason I will forgive him for forgetting to address me as doctor....just once, though....

[LumRanmaYasha]

Which I basically translate to you saying: "I'm trying to critique this music but I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about because my opinions will never be as awesome as Dr. EK's."

Admittedly I know jack-shit about music outside of how nice it sounds to me so you may very well be right about that in this particular circumstance. 

But that's the problem with most modern anime openings. It's all about the next big explosive thing that will "blow people away." I have come to appreciate the calm but fun openings like Ohayou and such a lot more these days because they stay in my head and feel like they have a bit more substance to them, even if I can't understand the meaning of the words. Basically they make me feel good. I wish more anime openings would do that, personally.

I don't think Inkwolf meant it in that sense, considering many of the openings he nominated are slower, not very flashy but rather contemplative or otherwise fun choices.   

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I must have misunderstood him then. My bad.

[Inkwolf]

No problem.

By 'blew me away' I didn't mean that they had to knock me out of my chair with sheer jaw-dropping excitement, just that they failed to impress me as being out of the ordinary...in a good way. I liked Ohayou for the same reasons you did. The upbeat music and sense of fun made it my first choice, over the much more fuel-pumped, tense and stylistic Death Note op. My only criticism would be that the animation is conventional and unimaginative.  There is nothing wrong with that, as it's well done, and it's an excellent OP.  But we are trying to choose the best of the best, and as much as I would give Ohayou an A++ and pronounce it perfectly satisfactory and an excellent OP (which made me actually kind of interested in watching the series) when it comes down to the end, I don't believe it has the ability to stand up in competition to the final round against openings with more artistic power in addition to feels and good music.

1. "Coppelia's Casket" (Noir) - Fun to watch, great song, funky, old-schoolish.
2. "Butterfly" (Digimon: Adventure) - Lots of fun
3. "Puzzle" (Welcome to the NHK) - A bit disjointed. Probably intentional, considering the series subject.
4. "Rhythm Emotion" (Gundam Wing) - Song didn't impress.  Visuals were pretty much the same as any mecha anime might have.

[VLordGTZ]

Same as Dr. EK

[gunswordfist]

Like the Greatest Video Game Theme Ever Tournament, I decided not to use pictures for this competition

I decided to not use any..because it's strictly an audio competition. And yes, I am bored.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

1. "Rhythm Emotion" (Gundam Wing) - 5
2. "Coppelia's Casket" (Noir) - 14
3. "Puzzle" (Welcome to the NHK) - 14
4. "Butterfly" (Digimon: Adventure) - 17

"Coppelia's Casket" and "Puzzle" are tied. You guys know what to do.